Marshal Kim Jong Il on the Role of the Leader

--- John Paul Cupp, Public Relations Director of the North American Committee Against Zionism and Imperialism (NACAZAI)\

Recently, I returned from socialist Korea after spending extensive time with the Korean Association of Social Scientists discoursing Juche idea and Songun, ideas which presuppose Marxism, but are not Marxism and correct its serious limitations.

Today, we find that much of the communist movement is entirely degenerate, liberal and defeatist. Ideas like "pluralism" were introduced to weaken ideological resolve and trick revolutionaries into "co-existance" with outmoded and reactionary ideas. The center of this conspiracy revolves around the desire to undermine the forerunners of the revolution and terminate the socialist spirit of single-hearted unity by undermining the central role of the revolutionary leader.

In Juche theory the masses are the driving force of history creatively shaping their destiny. It teaches us that we cannot simply place emphasis on objective material factors but must recognize humanity as a creative and independent for which shapes its destiny with greater emphasis on the role of the social conciousness.

However, the masses do not simply just magically find the guiding light of destiny, and express their desire for unity and independence out of no were. Every great idea has been created by a revolutionary leader and it is the leader which is the brain of the body.

The revolutionary leader of the Juche type is very differant from a number of authoritarian leaders of the past and present, for they represent a benevolent human-centered style of leadership and they are uphold for the progressive role they play in society and not out of a mere "personality".

Many people say that Juche Songun and the question of the leader are questions which will alienate anti-imperialist forces in the world, and that hence that we should avoid discussion on the matter, which they claim is a distraction from revolutionary work. The problem with this is that how you view the world around you and the process of revolutionary devolopment is central to the eventual failure and success of your efforts. Dogmatic Marxism-Leninism is now dead and will never return. Those people beating their heads against the wall trying to get square wheels to turn become more divorced from revolutionary struggle each day. Only Juche Songun idea is the comprehensive overall worldview of the present era, and central to it is the question of the leading role of the leader.

The following is a compilation of quotes from Marshal Kim Jong Il that were comprised for me to distribute on the US Songun homepage by the AINDF (formerly NDFSK) Mission in Pyongyang some years back.

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http://www.songunpoliticsstudygroup.org

- KIM JONG IL Selected Works 1 p.81

   The leader's greatness is in reality the greatness of our nation.
   Upholding the great leader, national hero and peerlessly great man as the leader of our nation is the great honour and pride of the entire Korean nation.
   In order to inspire the south Korean people with a high sense of pride as the Korean nation, we must give them a correct understanding of the leader's greatness.
   If they clearly understand that the leader is the greatest man in the world and the genuine father of our nation, the south Korean people will believe in the leader and follow only him and hence become more courageous in the struggle for national reunification.

- KIM JONG IL Selected Works 1 p.246-247

   The building of socialism and communism is the historic mission of the working class, and the cause of socialism and communism is the essential cause of the outstanding leader of the working class.
   The glorious revolutionary history of our Party proves that the historic cause of the working class is, in effect, the cause of the leader and that the victory of the revolution depends on the esteem in which the great leader is held.
   Before the leader set out on the road of revolution the people of many countries were not even sure where in the world Korea was situated.
   Moreover, many even thought that Korea would never again rise from the status of a colony of the Japanese imperialists.
   However, today our country is a brilliant beacon, a "model socialist country", the "country of Chollima" which the whole world looks to with respect, and our people take pride before the whole world in being the most dignified and the happiest, and the most diligent and heroically talented people in the world.
   Our people enjoy all this glory and happiness because they have the great leader.
   If we are to continue along the road of victory and glory in the future, as we did in the past, we must accord the leader exclusive reverence and be unfailingly loyal to his guidance.
   Our people are firmly determined to hold the leader in high esteem and follow him, with an unshakable faith in him.
   Such is the noble revolutionary loyalty of our people who have received genuinely full life and happiness under the care of the leader.

- KIM JONG IL Selected Works 1 p.293

   Our leader is the supreme revolutionary genius, the sun of the nation and the benevolent father of our people, who has built a socialist paradise on this land and brought the people the happiness and glory we see today, by leading the arduous Korean revolution along the path of trials to victory without the slightest vacillation.
   Because of the immortal feats he has performed for mankind, his extraordinary intelligence, outstanding leadership ability and lofty communist virtue, the great leader is supported and boundlessly revered by the people.
   Our people eagerly desire to meet their fatherly leader who, by devoting his entire life to the freedom and liberation of the people and leading the vanguard of the revolution and socialist construction, has provided them with the greatest happiness and continues to provide the condition for their lives to flourish, and once they have met him, they brim over with the resolution to give their wholehearted loyalty to the leader, they are engrossed in infinitely solemn feelings and emotions.

- KIM JONG IL Selected Works 9 p.114

   It is important in boosting loyalty to make people cherish it as their faith and moral obligation.
   Cherishing loyalty to the leader as a faith and moral obligation means having a firm determination to be unfailingly loyal to the leader and making it an integral part of their revolutionary faith and moral obligation.
   It is only when loyalty to the leader is based on revolutionary faith and a moral obligation that it can be real, honest and solid in any circumstances, free from affectation and changing attitudes.

-   KIM JONG IL Selected Works 9 p.254

Revolutionaries must firmly establish a revolutionary outlook on the leader.
To acquire a revolutionary outlook on the leader means to devote oneself to the leader, with a correct understanding that the leader is the centre of the socio-political organism, and hold him in high esteem with a pure heart.

- KIM JONG IL Selected Works 9 p.254-255

   The leader rouses the masses to the revolutionary struggle and construction by creating the guiding ideology of revolution and uniting the masses and leads their struggle in transforming nature and society to victory by setting forth correct strategies and tactics.
   The practical experience of the international communist movement and our revolution has eloquently proven that the leader plays a decisive role in the revolutionary struggle.
   Since the leader, the party and the masses constitute a single socio-political organism, the role of the leader in the revolutionary struggle is unified with the role of the party and the masses.

-   KIM JONG IL Selected Works 9 p.256

The most important thing in establishing a revolutionary attitude towards the leader is to hold the leader in high esteem, sincerely and with pure conscience.
Since a revolutionary grows up and fights under the care of the leader, he must show sincere and hearty respect for the leader and be loyal to him, with a genuine sense of moral obligation.

- KIM JONG IL Selected Works 9 p.256

   The leader stands in the centre of unity and leadership, represents the desires and interests of the masses and embodies noble moral virtues.
   It is a supreme expression of communist morality for revolutionaries to be loyal to the leader.
   For revolutionaries, the leader is the benefactor and teacher who accords political integrity and brings them up to be revolutionaries, as well as the father who provides them with worthwhile lives and happiness.

-   KIM JONG IL Selected Works 9 p.258-259

People acquire and consolidate their revolutionary view on the leader through the education to equip them with the leader's ideas and the ideological struggle to root out outmoded ideas from their minds.

- KIM JONG IL Selected Works 9 p.256-257

   True revolutionaries in Korea, who fought under the guidance of the great leader, were model communists who firmly established the revolutionary outlook on the leader.
   They sincerely held him in high esteem based on a noble sense of obligation and conscience, not on any sense of duty.
   Cha Kwang Su, Kim Hyok and other early communists were older than the leader, but they respected him as the sun of our nation and as a young general and remained loyal to him to the last moments of their lives.
   To revere and follow the leader of the revolution sincerely and with clear conscience is a precious tradition created during the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle and an unshakable will of all the Korean revolutionaries.

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