Kim Jong Un following in the footsteps of those who have gone before him |
By Andy Brooks
SEPTEMBER 9th is a special day for communists because on
that day in 1948 the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was established in
the free northern part of the Korean peninsula that had once been part of the
Japanese Empire. It is a special day for Koreans on both sides of the divided
country and amongst the overseas Korean community because on that day in 1948
the Korean people expressed their democratic will through popular power and
immediately took the first steps towards building a new socialist life for the
workers and peasants who had fought to free themselves from the Japanese yoke
that had enslaved them for many decades.
They were led by Kim Il Sung, the
outstanding communist leader and thinker who founded of the modern Korean
communist movement that began amongst the patriotic youth of Korea when he was
a student in the 1920s.
From student
leader to guerrilla leader, the “Young General” took up the gun to drive the
Japanese colonialists out of the country. When Kim Il Sung gathered a small
band of heroes to form the first guerrilla units to take on the might of the
Japanese Army no one could have imagined that this would become the People’s
Army that brought the American imperialists to their knees begging for an
armistice in 1953.
But above all
Kim Il Sung was the communist leader who built the Korean communist movement
from the grass-roots in the 1920s to the Workers’ Party of Korea that was
founded in 1945 and leads the Korean people from victory to victory in the 21st
century.
Kim Il Sung not
only grasped Marxism-Leninism but he applied it to the concrete conditions of
the Korean people. He knew that once the masses realised their own strength
they would become unstoppable. He knew that serving the people was the be-all
and end-all for the Korean communists and for the Workers’ Party of Korea that
he launched in 1945.
He developed
Korean style socialism into the Juché idea – which elevates the philosophical
principles of Marxism-Leninism as well as its economic theories – and focuses
on the development of each individual worker, who can only be truly free as
part of the collective will of the masses.
When great
leader Kim Il Sung passed away in 1994 the torch was taken up by Kim Jong Il,
who devoted his entire life to serving the Korean people. Following Kim Il
Sung’s footsteps Kim Jong Il led the Workers’ Party of Korea into the 21st
century. He too was a leading Marxist
thinker who made an important contribution to modern communist theory as well
as an astute statesman who led the Korean people through thick and thin to
overcome natural disasters, imperialist blockade and diplomatic isolation.
While ensuring the DPRK’s defence against the threats and provocations of US
imperialism and its lackeys, Kim Jong Il worked tirelessly to ease tension on
the Korean peninsula to pave the way towards the peaceful reunification of
Korea.
Now the banner
has been taken up by Kim Jong Un, the young leader of the Workers’ Party and
the people of Korea, who is following in the footsteps of those who have gone
before him to build a strong and prosperous democratic republic.
We believe that
the will of the Korean masses, expressed in concrete terms by their vanguard
party, will overcome all obstacles to fulfil the revolutionary tasks that faced
the Korean people when they established the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea on 9th September 1948.
The New
Communist Party of Britain joins with the millions upon millions in the world
communist movement in honouring the determination and sacrifice of the Korean
people to defend their people’s government, which has fulfilled the hopes and
dreams of the generations that fought for freedom and socialism and will
continue to do so as we advance into the 21st century.