Kim Il Sung – Master of Theory and Practice of Socialism-Juha Kieksi General Secretary, Finland Korea Friendship Society Chairman, The Society for the Study of Juche Idea, Finland

President Kim Il Sung was the most prominent statesman and theoretician of socialism in the second half of

the 20 th century. It is no exaggeration to say that he was a master of both theory and practice of revolution.

Under the leadership of President Kim IL Sung, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was founded,

which gave freedom and human rights to millions of Koreans who had lived for decades enslaved by

Japanese imperialists.

History has shown the Juche idea's unique power in building society.

Marx and Engels formulated socialism for the first time as a worldview of the working class. Under the

leadership of Lenin, the socialist revolution was carried out in Russia. President Kim Il Sung writes:

“We have adopted the revolutionary theory and methods of struggle from pioneers of the

revolution like Marx and Lenin. But we cannot simply and dogmatically apply their

revolutionary theories and methods forever. As years pass, the nature of the times and social

conditions change, and so do the goals of the revolution. As the goals of the revolution

change, its character also changes. Accordingly, its theory and methods should also change.

(Let Us Embody the Revolutionary Spirit of Independence, Self-Sustenance, and Self-Defense

More Thoroughly in All Fields of State Activity, 1967).

President Kim Il Sung's premise of building a revolution from one's own conditions and relying on one's

own strength has proven to be the only successful and sustainable way to build a revolution. Relying on

your own means economic independence. Without economic independence, a nation is at the mercy of

other nations. If there is no economic independence, there is no political independence either.

Economic and political independence are the premises for building an independent nation. I want to

highlight something that President Kim Il Sung has creditably developed and clarified, namely the

understanding of basic human characteristics, independence and creativity. Recognizing the basic character

of the man and utilizing these to build the revolution is extremely important for the success of the

revolution. It also ensures that revolution and socialism are always built on the basis of people's needs.

The unity and consensus of the nation is important so that society can be built quickly. However, unanimity

does not mean that the people's opinions and viewpoints are not taken into account. The creativity of the

masses means that the people themselves solve the problems that arise. President Kim Il Sung has in

several different contexts brought out this importance in party work. When the party listens to the people

and supports the creativity of the masses, the revolutionary spirit can be strengthened and revolutionary

construction work can be significantly accelerated.

I would also like to highlight the ideological revolution from President Kim Il Sung's extensive production.

He writes:

“The struggle to equip the whole of society with the Juche idea is, in essence, a struggle to

ensure the complete independence of the working masses. The complete independence of the

working masses requires that the remnants of the old society be eliminated from all spheres

of social life—politics, economy, ideology, and culture—and that society be reorganized

revolutionarily in both the superstructure and the base. (Let Us Promote Socialist

Construction 1965).

As we know, to guarantee complete independence, three revolutions are needed, ideological, technological

and cultural. President Kim Il Sung has stated that the ideological revolution is the most important of these.

The founders of scientific socialism, Marx and Engels, correctly described the phenomena of the economic

base and superstructure of society while analyzing the then capitalist society. Naturally, they could not

have had experience of what kind of challenges arise in the construction of socialism. Lenin refined

scientific socialism with the theory of imperialism, which was an excellent description of what kind of

situation capitalism was in more than 100 years ago.

In retrospect, it can be said that the importance of the ideological revolution in the construction of

socialism was neglected in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Peoples' ideological education was not

taken care of. At the same time, capitalist propaganda about the superiority of capitalism penetrated the

country through many different routes. Because the ideological revolution had been neglected, the citizens

were unable to respond properly to bourgeois propaganda.

President Kim Il Sung had understood this problem. He writes,

"The continuous strengthening of the ideological revolution is an absolute necessity of the

revolution. If this revolution is not continuously intensified in a socialist society, outdated

ideas may revive in people's minds, and the capitalist ideas spread by imperialists from

outside may infiltrate society." (On the Immediate Tasks of the Party in Socialist Construction

and the South Korean Revolution 1965.)

In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, President Kim IL Sung's theory based on the Juche idea has

been promoted together with revolutionary practice. Making full use of people's creativity requires a very

large degree of independence. But once independence is achieved, there is no limit to the progress of the

revolution. Any goals can be achieved with consensus on goals and when human creativity is harnessed to

serve the construction of socialism.

The development of the Juche idea created by President Kim Il Sung has continued first under General

Secretary Kim Jong Il and then under General Secretary Kim Jong Un. Nowhere else in the world has

socialist theory been built as scientifically and unwaveringly, and nowhere else has the realization of the

theory been tested in practice in the 21 st century. When theory is applied to practice, the challenges raised

by practice can be quickly corrected and the building work of the revolution will not slow down. This also

ensures that external factors do not become an obstacle to the progress of socialism.

Kim Il Sung has developed the theory of scientific socialism a great leap from the era of Marx, Engels and

Lenin. By relying on the idea of Juche created by Kim Il Sung, revolution can be built all over the world even

today.

We live in a very difficult situation today. Imperialist capitalism is getting more and more cramped, and

because of that, it strives to an ever-greater extent to expand its market areas with weapons. The

imperialist world is dominated by the military industrial complex. War industry affects everywhere and

capitalist growth is linked to war. Without constant wars, there is no capitalistic growth.

If we want peace we need socialism. The only option to build a human-centered socialism is the Juche idea

developed by President Kim Il Sung. The Juche idea was developed to respond to the current world

situation. It is natural to move towards socialism along the path indicated by the Juche idea.

President Kim Il Sung was the most prominent theoretician and statesman of the second half of the 1990s.

I am sure that based on the Juche idea, we can start building a new world. That is why it is of the utmost

importance to study the theory of the juche idea and its application in the DPRK and to spread information

about the Juche idea. There is no other idea in sight to solve global problems and increase the welfare of

the people than the unique Juche idea developed by President Kim Il Sung.