‘What does it mean to defend People’s Korea, with ‘no ifs or buts’?
‘ Here in the West, Socialist Korea is under constant attack from the mainstream media. The most ridiculous lies are manufactured and spoon-fed to people so they might regurgitate them on command. As principled communists – this, I hope is understood by us all – it is important we counter misinformation: claims that people in the DPRK are starving, that they are brainwashed, that they are oppressed, etc. etc. Throughout history, many countries have been given harsh treatment by western news outlets, but none today as much as the DPRK.
During the civil war which succeeded the October Revolution, many British communists ( including Willie Gallagher and Harry Pollitt ) were active in a campaign named ‘Hands off Russia’, aimed at opposing Britain’s support for the Whites and its eventual intervention against the Bolsheviks. A well-known action of the campaign was the refusal by dock workers to load arms – arms which were going to Polish soldiers in the Polish-Soviet war – onto a boat ( the SS Jolly George ). Practical actions such as these are very necessary and are in fact still carried out today ( albeit mostly at a smaller scale ) by organisations formed to defend socialism. Many groups have been formed in the UK with the purpose of showing solidarity with the victims of imperialism: the British-Soviet Friendship Society, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, the Britain – Vietnam Solidarity Front ( active in the 1960s during the Vietnam War ), the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and of course the Korean Friendship Association. The KFA is particularly unique in that it must fight an unusual battle: it must promote solidarity with a country which has been so extensively lied about that most people’s conception of it is entirely different to its true nature.
Unsurprisingly, different battles require different tactics. This is where the idea of defending People’s Korea with ‘no ifs or buts’ comes in. Essentially, in order to successfully combat the propaganda spread about the DPRK, a much more thorough approach to solidarity work is required: holding the DPRK at ‘arm’s length’ will not do.
The few revisionists who don’t reject the DPRK entirely ( normally those who, when push comes to shove, are social – democrats ), can be divided into two categories in terms of their attitudes towards both People’s Korea as a whole and Kimilsungism – Kimjongilism.
Firstly, there are those who try to ignore the DPRK, as if it’s some minor attempt at socialism which failed forty years ago. I see members of communist parties doing this a lot: they will talk about solidarity with Cuba, Vietnam, Laos and China, but stop there, and when confronted, they might timidly admit they support the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ‘critically’!
The British left loves to rattle on about Cuba but can not spare even a minute to acknowledge the great achievements of the socialist system in Korea.
The other grouping of those only willing to hold People’s Korea ‘at arm’s length’ are those who oppose sanctioning ( and on a good day, maybe even the division of Korea ), but feel the need to condemn the DPRK as a ‘totalitarian regime’, one which must be put an end to.
The similarity we can see between these two camps is that neither understands what the real incentive for defending People’s Korea is. It is neither out of some Kantian obsession with telling the truth nor out of ‘critical support against US imperialism’: the reason we have to defend People’s Korea and the reason this defence must take place with no ifs or buts is the socialist construction currently taking place in the DPRK under the leadership of Marshal Kim Jong Un.
You see, the phrase ‘defending People’s Korea with no ifs or buts’ can be interpreted as referring back to the KFA’s much more radical and confident stance. Many organisations which exist today to promote solidarity with the DPRK either:
1) Do not attribute the DPRK’s success to Juche or Songun;
2) Claim that Juche is an adaptation of Marxism – Leninism ( like Mao Tse – tung Thought or Kaysone Phomvihane Thought ), instead of an original philosophy, or:
3) see the Juche Idea as inapplicable outside the DPRK. The Korean Friendship Association recognises the originality of Juche – style socialism and its contributions to Korean independence: this recognition is absolutely necessary for the dispelling of anti – DPRK propaganda to have any serious weight.
In the West today, the mainstream media not only attacks the DPRK as a country but also the Juche Idea, falsely comparing it to a ‘religion’ or a ‘brainwashing tool’. Some revisionists seem to think that we needn’t spare a second for the DPRK post-reunification; principled communists should look to the DPRK as inspiration for how we can build socialism in Britain. To comprehensively defend People’s Korea – when most won’t have the opportunity of refusing to load boats with weapons destined for the Korean Peninsula – we must stand by the Leadership, the Workers’ Party and the Juche Idea.
[ Author: CNY Rao ]
