|
 KIM JONG IL ON ESTABLISHING THE JUCHE OUTLOOK ON THE REVOLUTION
Talk to the Senior Officials of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea
Greeting the 42nd anniversary of the foundation of our Party today, I would like to emphasize once again the matter of establishing the Juche outlook on the revolution among Party members and other working people.
Ever since its foundation our Party has become steadily stronger and more developed by conducting a series of difficult and complex revolutionary campaigns, and has all along led our revolution to victory. It has developed into a revolutionary party which now has unconquerable strength primarily because it has inherited the glorious traditions of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle. The true revolutionaries during this struggle held the Juche outlook on the revolution. So they were able to fight resolutely for victory in the revolution without the slightest vacillation even in the most trying of circumstances, rallied solidly behind the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung and forming unbreakable ties with the popular masses.
The revolutionary outlook of the anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters was not mere knowledge obtained from a book or in a study. It was an unshakable belief acquired while fighting a grim war to destroy the brutal enemy, under the guidance of the great leader who had blazed the trail of the revolution. A revolutionary outlook that has been shaped and consolidated into a belief through practical struggle in this manner can become an ingrained characteristic peculiar to revolutionaries.
Our revolution has made great headway, and many changes have taken place in the status of the revolutionaries and in their circumstances. Nevertheless, making the revolutionary outlook a belief remains an important matter for us. Our revolution has not yet been completed, and we still have a long and rugged revolutionary path to tread. But our revolutionary veterans have gradually been decreasing in number, while a great many younger people who have not been trained during an arduous revolutionary struggle are joining the ranks of our revolution. If we are to overcome the trails and difficulties and achieve eventual victory in our revolution, we must equip all Party members and other working people firmly with the Juche outlook on the revolution.
The revolutionary outlook must be shaped to become one’s belief rather than being taught as general knowledge. An ideology can only be firm when it has been acquired through a practical struggle because it is social consciousness that reflects one’s desires and interests. An outlook on the revolution can be one’s unshakable will when it has not only been understood theoretically, but also experienced in the course of one’s life.
The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung has said that people cannot be considered to have established a revolutionary outlook on the world until they realize their class positions and interests, feel hatred for the exploiting class, are ready to champion their class interests, and then embark upon the path of the revolution with a firm determination and will to fight to destroy the society of exploiters and build a new society for the working masses. This is an outstanding idea, the first of its kind in history to explain scientifically the process of the formation of the revolutionary outlook on the world.
I can see, however, that the work of our officials in teaching Party members and working people to establish their revolutionary outlook remains, on the whole, at the stage of simply making them understand. Due attention is not being paid to the matter of encouraging them to shape their outlook and make it their belief through a practical struggle. Some officials seem to think that the matter of establishing the revolutionary outlook will be completely settled if they compile statistics on the number of study sessions and public lectures that have been given and organize such things as competitions for reciting phrases. Even question-and-answer contests are conducted in such a way as to make the contestants learn phrases by heart mechanically, instead of using methods of stimulating a large number of people to form a broad and deep understanding of the essence of the given question by drawing on their collective intelligence through argument. The purpose of imbuing Party members and working people with the revolutionary ideology is, in essence, to help them to participate in the revolutionary struggle with a high degree of willingness and with the attitude of masters, rather than to make them learn phrases by heart and show them off. Of course, it is necessary to go through the stage of cognition if one is to shape one’s outlook on the revolution. But cognition is not an end in itself; it is significant only as a prerequisite for encouraging people to participate enthusiastically in the revolution with revolutionary determination and fighting spirit. We must not deal perfunctorily with the work of establishing the revolutionary outlook, but do it substantially in close combination with revolutionary practice so that this outlook can become an unshakable belief and will.
The Juche outlook on the revolution is the Juche-orientated revolutionary concept and attitude that must be acquired by a master of the revolution. Establishing this outlook means acquiring a correct understanding of the essence of the revolution, its basic aim and the method of carrying it out, and having a resolve and will to devote everything for the revolution, with a strong belief in their cause.
The revolution is an undertaking for providing independence for the masses; it is an undertaking that must be conducted by the masses themselves, the masters. The aim of the revolution is to realize the independence of the masses, and the basic method of carrying it out is to enhance their creative role under the leadership of the Party and the leader. Victory in the revolution depends, in the long run, on how the subject of the revolution, the integral whole of the leader, the party and the masses, is strengthened and how its role is enhanced. In establishing the revolutionary outlook, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the object of the revolution, but it is most important to have a correct concept of and attitude towards the subject of the revolution.
Since the subject of the revolution is the integral whole of the leader, the party and the masses, shaping a correct outlook on the leader, the organization and the masses is a prerequisite for establishing an outlook on the revolution. In addition, the Juche outlook on the revolution must be fortified by the revolutionary moral outlook which requires sharing life and death, weal and woe, on the basis of revolutionary ethics and comradeship, because the subject of the revolution is a socio-political organism which has a common destiny. Just as the leader, the party and the masses constitute the subject of the revolution by forming a socio-political organism, so the outlooks on the leader, the organization, the masses and morals constitute an integral outlook on the revolution in an unbreakable relationship. Therefore, in order to establish an unshakable Juche outlook on the revolution it is essential to acquire the revolutionary outlooks on the leader, the organization, the masses and morals together.
If one is to establish the Juche outlook on the revolution, one must, above all else, establish the revolutionary outlook on the leader.
In doing this, it is important to have the correct understanding that the leader is the centre of the life of the socio-political community.
The importance of the leader’s role of guidance has been emphasized a great deal in previous revolutionary theories. Needless to say, the leader plays an important role as the centre of leadership in shaping the destiny of the masses. But the leader must not be regarded simply as the man in high command. The importance of leadership has been recognized in every society and by every class, but no other class has ever given such high prominence to its leader as the centre of the life of the socio-political community as the working class does. The relationship between the leader and the people must not be understood as a mere relationship between the man who leads and the men who are led. If the leader is viewed simply as a man with authority to command, and the people simply as being in duty bound to obey, their relationship will be no more than that of authority and duty and not that based on a love for comrades and on revolutionary ethics. Bourgeois democracy, which is based on an individualistic outlook on life, views the relationship between the man in command and his subordinates as that of authority and duty. From the point of view of bourgeois democracy, it is impossible to understand the revolutionary outlook on the leader.
The essence of the leader in all contexts lies in his being the centre of the life of the socio-political community. There is no doubt that the centre of life is important for the existence and activities of the organism. Unless the masses are united, centring on the leader, they cannot acquire vitality as an independent socio-political community. We must understand and believe that the leader is the centre of the life of the socio-political community and that it is only when we are linked to the leader organizationally, ideologically and as comrades that we can acquire immortal socio-political integrity.
The anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters remained loyal to the leader through to the end because, while fighting decisive battles against the enemy, sharing life and death, weal and woe, united closely behind the leader, they formed a clear understanding, through actual experience, that the leader was the centre of the life of our nation and that their destiny was inseparably linked to the leader. So the question arises of how we should, in today’s circumstances, induce Party members and working people to acquire the life experience of the inseparable ties linking the leader and the people, just as the anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters experienced. Certainly, works of literature and art can provide them with secondhand experience of what the revolutionaries in those days experienced. In helping them to establish their outlook on the leader, it is necessary to produce and show them. |