We now bring an extract from the newly published book: History of Revolutionary Activities of Chairman Kim Jong Il(2015)

Chapter 6. Organizing and Leading the Struggle to Defend People-Centred Socialism of The Korean Style (January 1990 - July 1994)

1. Ideological and Theoretical Activities To Defend And Advance
The Socialist Cause

Kim Jong Il conducted energetic ideological and theoretical activities to
defend and advance the socialist cause in the first half of the 1990s.
He said:

“In order to defend and develop socialism in its fierce struggle against enemies of all hues, we must further develop the revolutionary ideology and theory of the working class and make them perfect as required by the times and the developing revolution.”

In the period between the late 1980s and the early 1990s the people’s cause
of independence, the socialist cause, encountered vicious challenges by the
imperialists and reactionaries. The wind of reform blew hard in some socialist countries, rapidly degenerating socialism and reviving capitalism. Consequently, socialism collapsed and capitalism revived in the Soviet Union and some East European countries. Taking advantage of this, the imperialists and reactionaries made a fuss about the end of socialism and slandered the ideal of socialism.
As rapid progress was made in socialist construction, the limitations of the preceding revolutionary ideas and theories of the working class, those on socialist construction in particular, became more apparent.

With a keen insight into the prevailing situation Kim Jong Il elucidated the essential characteristics and advantages of the Korean-style socialism and the
source of its invincible might in several works including the speeches titled, On
Some Problems of the Ideological Foundation of SocialismandSocialism of Our Country Is a Socialism of Our Style as the Embodiment of the Juche Idea delivered to senior officials of the WPK Central Committee on May 30 and December 27, 1990, respectively and in a talk titled, Our Socialism
Centred on the Masses Shall Not Perish given to senior officials of the WPK
Central Committee on May 5, 1991.

First of all, he proved that Korean-style socialism is a unique one, the ideological foundation of which is the great Juche idea. Socialism is a society based on the revolutionary ideas of the working class and its development is guaranteed by the scientific accuracy, revolutionary character and a practicability of the ideas and theories on which it is based. Korean-style socialism is a unique one based on the Juche idea, the most scientific and revolutionary idea of the working class. As it is based on the Juche idea it is marching along the road of victory without vacillation in the face of all manner of pressure and slander by the imperialists and reactionaries.

Next, he clarified the advantage of Korean-style socialism.
He said:

“The basic advantage of our form of socialism is that it is a
man-centred society, a society which considers everything with man at the centre and makes everything serve him. This advantage is defined by the Juche idea, a man-centred idea.”

He noted that Korean-style socialism is advantageous in that it embodies the
intrinsic requirements of man on the highest level. Independence, creativity and consciousness are the essential attributes of a social being and collectivism is an intrinsic requirement of man who can carve out his own destiny only in the social collective. Korean-style socialism is the advantageous socialism which splendidly embodies this intrinsic requirement of a social being as clarified by the Juche idea.

Kim Jong Il elucidated that Korean-style socialism is the most advantageous social system which provides the masses of the people with a genuine independent and creative life. Political life, economic life and ideological and cultural life are major fields of social life. How the working people enjoy their independent rights and creative abilities in every field of social life is the key factor in determining the progressive nature and advantage of society.

The advantage of the Korean-style socialism which is based on the Juche idea lies not merely in that the master of the state power and means of production is the masses of the people but in that it substantially provides them with an independent and creative life in all fields of political life, economic life and ideological and cultural life. Herein lies the advantage of the socialist life over the capitalist life and the greatest advantage of the Korean-style socialism over the one in other countries which was established on the basis of the materialistic world outlook.

Next,Kim Jong Il elucidated the invincibility of the Korean-style socialism and its eternal viability. The driving force of socialist society is the masses of the people. However, only when they are united behind the party and the leader as one can they perform the role of the independent motive force of the revolution and carry out socialist construction successfully. Even after the establishment of socialist system the single-hearted unity of the whole society can not be achieved of its own accord. The work of advancing a correct guiding ideology and scientific strategy and tactics for the masses’ struggle and of awakening and organizing them is carried out only by the outstanding leader and the party of the working class.
As they are guided by the outstanding leader and the seasoned leadership of
the party the single-hearted unity of the masses around the party and the leader can be achieved, and this unity serves as the source of invincibility of socialism and its eternal viability.

In a talk titled, The Historical Lesson in Building Socialism and the General Line of Our Party delivered to senior officials of the WPK Central Committee on January 3, 1992, Kim Jong Il elucidated the reasons for the frustration of socialism in some countries and the lessons drawn from it and the general line to which the WPK was adhering in socialist construction. Above all else, he specified the reasons for the collapse of socialism in some countries and the lessons drawn from it.
He said:

“In short, the basic reason for the frustration of socialism in some countries is that they did not put the main emphasis on strengthening the motive force for building socialism and on enhancing its role; they failed to understand the essence of socialism, of centring on the masses of the people, the makers of history.”

Socialist society is one in which the masses are the masters and that is developed by dint of the creativity of the masses who are united as one. The essence of socialist society which makes it different from all exploitative societies and the driving force which promotes the progress of the socialist society lie in the fact that the masses work in comradely unity and with a high degree of consciousness of being masters and displaying their ability as such. Therefore, the basic way to promote the building of socialism successfully is to strengthen the motive force of the revolution by giving priority to the remoulding of the people, as well as to enhance the role of the driving force by giving the fullest play to the revolutionary enthusiasm and creativity of the masses. Because they did not understand this, the parties in some countries which were building socialism failed to strengthen the motive force of the revolution and enhance its role. Herein lies the basic reason for the collapse of socialism.

Kim Jong Il clarified that another reason is that they failed to recognize the qualitative difference between socialism and capitalism and adhere consistently to the fundamental principles of socialism. Defending the masses’ desire for independence and their interests and embodying them is the fundamental principle that should be consistently adhered to in socialist construction.
In order to build socialism to meet the masses’ desire for independence and
their fundamental interests it is imperative to strengthen the working-class party organizationally and ideologically, ensure its leadership of the revolution and construction, steadily enhance the functions and role of the socialist government, safeguard and develop socialist ownership and resolutely combat
imperialism. In the past the people of some countries that were building socialism wavered in the face of transient difficulties that arose in the course of
building socialism and went so far as to yield to the pressure of the imperialists,
gradually conceding and abandoning their revolutionary principles. This resulted in the frustration of socialism and revival of capitalism.

Kim Jong Il pointed out that the frustration of socialism in some countries is also due to the fact that the parties of those countries had not strengthened international solidarity based on independence in their relations. To unite and cooperate with one another on the basis of independence and maintain their independence while strengthening international solidarity is a basic principle that the parties of socialist countries must hold up in their relations.

On the basis of the comprehensive analysis of the reasons for the frustration of socialism in some countries Kim Jong Il concluded that historical experience shows that when people steadily strengthen the motive force of the revolution, with a strong conviction in socialism and a correct guideline, hold fast to socialist principles in all circumstances and strengthen comradely unity and cooperation on the basis of independence, the socialist cause will advance along the road of victory; otherwise it will suffer setback and frustration. He added that this is a serious lesson mankind has learned on its path to socialism.

Next,Kim Jong Il elucidated the general line the WPK pursues in socialist
construction and its validity. He formulated that to carry out the ideological, technological and cultural revolutions thoroughly while strengthening the people’s government and steadily enhancing its functions and role is the general line for building socialism put forward by Kim Il Sung. He clarified that the general line is a scientific and revolutionary line indicating the road for accomplishing the socialist cause and fully realizing the independence of the masses of the people by embodying the Juche idea. He stressed that this line is applied in the building of the Korean-style socialism and its validity and viability have been substantiated through practice.
He advanced principles to be maintained in laying bare the absurd nature of the sophistry by the enemies who are slandering socialism and in shattering it to accomplish the cause of socialism.

Kim Jong Il published a discourse titled, Abuses of Socialism Are
Intolerable on March 1, 1993 in Kulloja, the official magazine of the WPK
Central Committee.
He said:

“It is sophistry to call socialism ‘totalitarian,’ ‘barracks-like’ and
‘administrative and commanding.’ ”

He laid bare the impropriety of the sophistry of the enemies who call
socialism“totalitarian.”

Totalitarianism served as the political idea of fascist dictators. The fascist dictators like Hitler and Mussolini stamped out even the most elementary democratic freedom and rights of the masses of the working people and enforced unprecedentedly tyrannical policies, behind the misleading name of
“national socialism,” claiming that for the sake of the whole nation and the
whole state no working-class movement and no class struggle could be
permitted. The reactionary nature of totalitarianism is that the interests of the
working people are sacrificed for the sake of the rapacious interests of the
reactionary ruling class under the pretence that the individual should be
subordinated to the whole. 

The two fascist dictators Hitler and Mussolini who tyrannized Europe in the first half of the 20th century.

What is meant by the whole in totalitarianism is not the whole of the masses of the people but a tiny handful of the privileged circles. Calling socialism, under which the masses of the people are the masters of everything, “totalitarianism”is, ultimately, a preposterous lie which identifies the most progressive idea that reflects the demands of the masses of the people with the reactionary idea of fascist rulers.
Kim Jong Il laid bare the impropriety of the preposterous lie of the enemies who are calling socialism barracks-like. Socialism is the most progressive of ideas that reflects the intrinsic demands of people, and the socialist system is the most advanced of systems under which the masses of the people enjoy an independent and creative life to the full. The restraint of their independence and creativity occurs not under the socialist system but under the capitalist system in which the working class are the slaves of capital. Claiming that socialism is“barracks-like” is pernicious propaganda that attempts to turn black into white.

Kim Jong Il also clarified the impropriety of the sophistry of the enemies
who claim that socialism is barracks-like. In general, the administrative and commanding method of management is an old method of rule that serves the demands of the privileged classes by invoking legal authority in an exploiter society. In socialist society the masses of the people, who have become the masters of the state and society, hold the position of masters and play the role of masters in the administration. The administrative and commanding method of management which was manifested in socialist practices in the past did not emanate from the essential nature of socialist society but was a legacy of the exploiter society. Therefore, accusing socialism of being “administrative and commanding” is also unreasonable.

Kim Jong Il also presented important principles to be maintained in defending and accomplishing the socialist cause. He said that if the socialist cause is to be defended and completed, the socialist idea should be developed and perfected constantly and the masses of the people should be equipped with it, so that they accept socialism as their unshakeable conviction.
He clarified that in order to defend socialism and add eternal brilliance to it,
people should regard it as their moral duty to defend it. He noted that the party and the state of the working class should concentrate their efforts on giving full play to the advantage of socialism by carrying on the construction of socialism properly in order to defend the socialist cause and bring it to completion. He put forth concrete ways of giving full play to the essential advantage of the socialist society. He underlined that the principle of collectivism should be thoroughly applied in every field of social life to safeguard and defend socialism.

The pernicious propaganda of dubbing socialism “totalitarian,”“barracks-like”and“administrative and commanding” is aimed at undermining socialist collectivism and eulogizing bourgeois individualism. So opposing individualism and applying the principle of collectivism to the letter in all fields of social life is crucial to defending and accomplishing the socialist cause. Kim Jong Il’s ideological and theoretical activities in the several years of the first half of the 1990s rendered a great contribution to revitalizing on a new ideological basis the socialist movement that was undergoing temporary setback.

History of Revolutionary Activities of Chairman Kim Jong Il, Foreign Languages Publishing House Pyongyang, Korea Juche 104 (2015)

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/awky8y/in_the_1920s_to_the_1930s_some_people_thought/

Yeah, it was absolutely true. Many colleges, Ivy League and not, had quotas for Jewish attendance. This mostly became an issue in the interwar period.* While Jews had been emigrating to the US for several hundred years, since the first settlement of what is now New York, a massive wave of Eastern European Jewish emigration began in 1881 and continued in full force until (and to an extent through) World War I. In the 1920s, this ended due to racist, eugenicist influences on Congress- draconian immigration laws were enacted in 1924 to drastically limit immigration particularly of poor and “less white” people, like Jews, Italians, and Greeks, by basing the permitted immigration on numbers from 1890, when relatively few had emigrated. However, by the 1920s, colleges felt like they were facing a different problem- second-generation advancement. Jews who had arrived since 1881 had come with little to no English and relatively little education in general, but especially given the emphasis on assimilation and the “melting pot” which their children received in schools and settlement houses, the children of immigrants were far more Americanized, and their parents pushed them toward academic success. By 1915, for example, about 40% of students at Columbia were Jewish (either immigrants or first generation Americans)- ironically due to the fact that Columbia had made it easier for them to get in as public school students by basing admissions on standardized tests.

College administrators were not happy about this, so they decided to do something about it.

Examples:

• In 1922, Harvard implemented a 10% quota for Jews in order to prevent a “Jewish problem,” in the words of its president, A. Lawrence Lowell. He rationalized this by saying that he wanted to decrease potential antisemitism on campus.

• Harvard also changed its admission system from an entrance exam (which favored studious Jews from the well-performing NYC public school system, who generally succeeded) to a system in which they accepted students from the top seventh of their class regardless of their score on the exam. This favored students in other parts of the country who had received lower quality education, and had the additional “benefit” of reducing the number of Jewish accepted students.

• In the 1920s, Columbia basically invented the modern college application form. Why? So that they could weed out Jewish (and potentially other undesirable) applicants. Knowing that many Jews changed their names to hide their Jewishness, these forms required that past names be listed and also asked for country of origin, mother’s maiden name, and social organizations. And you know those questions about extracurriculars? Those were also invented for this purpose, as a measure of “character”- with character meaning “not Jewish.” Jews were known for being studious and “greasy,” not participating in all of the typically WASPy social concerns, and so by making “character” a requirement they were able to eliminate Jews from the pool. Nicholas Murray Butler, when discussing the more limited admission of Jews, stated that there had been no conscious effort to eliminate Jews- after evaluating the application forms, Jews were simply among “the lowest grade of applicant,” this despite the fact that so many had previously been accepted on the basis of grades.Harvard soon followed suit in using an application form, and many other colleges adopted it in the coming years.

• While universities like Princeton had been interested in making a quota, it took Harvard and Columbia making the first move for them to implement one, along with colleges like Barnard, Yale, Duke, Rutgers, Adelphi, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Penn State, Ohio State, Washington and Lee, the Universities of Cincinnati, Illinois, Kansas, Texas, Minnesota, Virginia, and Washington, and the Bronx campus of NYU.

• Colgate University kept six Jews enrolled specifically in order to counter charges of antisemitic admissions.

• Syracuse University housed Jews separately from other students and had a KKK branch on campus.

• Sarah Lawrence College had a question on its application about whether applicants had been raised with “strict Sunday observance.”

-Even as late as 1945, Dartmouth retained a quota for its Jews, citing its status as a Christian college for Christian men.

• If a Jew WAS accepted to an elite university, he (they were generally not coeducational yet) could expect not to be accepted into university culture. The social clubs and fraternities which made these colleges one big boys’ club did not let Jews among their number. They were often considered to lack college spirit, be physically repulsive, not drink enough, be brown-nosers, and not participate in sports enough, as well as to raise the academic standard too high. They were also considered to be below the appropriate level of social class and standing.

-At Brown University, Jewish students were barred from fraternities, but also barred from creating their own fraternity, purportedly to prevent antisemitism.

• At the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, the page with the number two ranking cadet, who happened to be Jewish, was perforated so that those who desired could remove it without defacing the volume.

• Even at universities which accepted small numbers of Jews, almost no Jews would be accepted as college professors. Fewer than 100 Jews were hired as faculty throughout the country, and nearly all under protest or some kind of special circumstance, with the caveat that they didn’t usually hire Jews.

• Graduate programs admitted few Jews, using as the pretext the fact that they would never be hired as university faculty.

Despite all this, Jews continued in their quests for education, becoming 9% of college students despite being 4% of the general population. They were also nearly half of the total number of college students in New York City. They generally matriculated at City College of New York (called by some the “cheder [religious school] on the hill”) or NYU’s downtown campus (nicknamed “New York Jew”). In 1920, CCNY and Hunter College (the women’s college) had 80-90% Jewish student bodies. CCNY had been the first college to create a Jewish fraternity, ZBT, which stood for Zion Bemishpat Tipadeh, or Zion Shall Be Redeemed With Judgement. Even there, there were few Jewish faculty members- for example, there were only four at CCNY. By the 1930s, there were still only 5, and CCNY was faced with charges of antisemitism in their hiring.

There were absolutely protests of this practice. There was an outcry, for example, when Columbia implemented its application form. However, for the most part, Jews preferred not to attend colleges where they would be social outcasts and often (especially those who already lived in NY) actively chose schools like CCNY/Hunter College and NYU (and initially Columbia) as they were close to home and would provide a more Jewish-friendly environment. In general, especially in the 1930s and 40s, the US was a pretty antisemitic place (I touch on this here). For example, in a poll in the 1940s, 45% of college students said they would not want to be roommates with a Jew. The end of the practice of Jewish quotas wasn’t so much due to outcry as due to an internal examination of antisemitism in the US and the decline of the phenomenon in the postwar years. (The Civil Rights Act didn’t exist til 1964, so the practice wasn’t illegal.)

*That’s not to say there was no discrimination against Jews in colleges before this- many prominent Jews of the early 20th century, such as Oscar Straus and Bernard Baruch, later noted the difficulties they faced as Jews in university.

“Reformism, in general, means that people confine them selves to agitating for changes which do not require the removal of the main foundations of the old ruling class, changes that are compatible with the preservation of these foundations.”

— V.I. Lenin (1913)

The relief of the Union of Workers and Peasants on the facade of the Central Museum of V.I. Lenin. 1918, Georgii Alekseev.

A column of demonstrators at the Aleksandrovskii railway station.

Unknown author, March 1917, Moscow.

Commissar of the food detachment, 1918, Soviet Russia.

Reconnaissance car on the street, March 1917, Revolutionary Russia.

By Iakov Vladimirovich Steinberg.

Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin speaking in 1920.

Task Number One was established at the 16th Congress of the VKP(B) to create a second coal-metallurgy industrial zone. [Top photo of Stalin, at left]“In the course of the newest growth of our economy it has happened that the coal-metallurgy zone (in Ukraine) has become insufficient for us. What is new is that while developing this zone in different ways in the future, we must start immediately a second coal-metallurgy zone. This zone should be the Ural-Kuznetsk Plant….” — From Comrade Stalin’s speech at the 16th Congress of the Party.

Black and white photos at left are highlights of speeches at the 16th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) held in Moscow in 1930. The second photo and quote comes from Valerian Vladimirovich Kuibyshev who died 1935 and the third photo and quote comes from Sergo Ordzhonikidze who killed himself in 1937 yet his death was reported as heart failure. [First red banner at right]: “We will fulfill the resolutions of the 16th Congress of the VKP(B) [Second red banner at right] We will produce 17 million tons of cast iron by the end of the 5-year plan.” [Third red banner at right]: “The coal-metallurgy base will be created on schedule.”

Soviet poster from 1930.

“Bolster Our Defense with Whatever You Can!” (Krepi chem mozhesh’ oboronu!).

Maquette for the inside cover of the journal «Za rubezhom» (Abroad), no. 2c. 1930.

Fighters of the working battalion, engineer V.P. Ivanov and metro driver D.S. Dyachkov.

Moscow militia.

An early postcard in Soviet Ukraine of the first soviet government — the Peoples Secretariat of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic, December 1917.

“Trade unions are the backbone of Soviet power. Members of trade unions, all for the elections of the Baksovet!”

Published in Russian and Azerbajani by the Cultural department of ASPS, 1924, (Baku: State typolithography of Azpolygraphtrest VSNKh).

Demonstration on Uritskii Square, May Day, 1925, Leningrad. MAMM/MDF.

Orphanage. Unknown author, 1925, Leningrad, MAMM/MDF.

Festive decoration on the exterior of the arcade “Passage” (Пассаж), dedicated to the International Day of Cooperation.

1925, Leningrad.

“For a lasting Peace! Against the warmongers of a new war! For people’s democracy!”

Art. P. Golub’, 1949, “Iskusstvo”, Moscow-Leningrad.

“Go on a preschool trip. Bring up the communist change. Build a new life.”

Soviet poster from 1930.

“Drive out the kulaks – Elect the poor and middle peasants to the soviets.”

[Panel 1 of poster reads]: “How in the village of Kalistratka, all the peasants, without a looking back, elected the kulaks… . and shows how that lead to things going to hell in a handbasket. There was no bread. Then when the chased the kulaks out, everyone got grain back, had bread and a nice prosperous life.”

UkROSTA (All-Ukrainian Bureau of the Russian Telegraph Agency), 1921.

“How to study your readers?”

“Librarian, study your readers! Studying the reader and his interests helps the librarian to lead readers, gives the center the ability to send needed books to localities, and publishing houses to publish them. Write down book requests, write down exactly what the reader said about the book, get written reviews from readers, use charts and statistics, observe what books your readers have in the tea house, at home etc, keep a reader diary, hold reading outloud sessions.”

Soviet poster from 1926.

The cover of the magazine «Pioneer» No. #6, 1924.

In the collective farm shop.

Photographer: Mikhail Prekhner, 1934.

Spring sowing in the fields of the country. Komsomolets Volodya Kovalenko. Vsevolod Tarasevich, 1950s, Crimea region, Evpatoria district, Pervomaisky collective farm, MAMM/MDF.

onlar yarının dünyasını ister istemez yaratmaktadırlar. her adımda geri çekilmek istemeleri ve tutarsızlıkları en güçlü çelişkileri, boşluklarıdır. çünkü yaratmakta oldukları bu dünyanın kendilerini içine almayacağını içgüdüsel olarak bilmektedirler.

christopher caudwell - yanılsama ve gerçeklik

Hi, I just found an amazing tiktok series of a guy explaining the basics of capitalism, socialism, and communism and I just thought I’d share it because I thought it was a great simple summary.

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That’s his account’s link, go give him a follow.

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