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April 23, 1956

Record of a Speech delivered by Kim Il Sung at the Third Congress of the Korean Workers' Party

 

Secret

23 April 1956TASSsheet 28-D

 

THE REPORT OF KIM IL SUNG AT THE 3rd CONGRESS OF THE KOREAN WORKER'S PARTY

 

MI.SE.113 PYONGYANG, 23 April (TASS). Kim Il Sung gave a summary report at the 3rd congress of the Korean Worker's Party which opened in Pyongyang on 23 April. An account of the report is given below.

 

Eight years have passed since the 3rd Party congress, said Kim Il Sung. Great changes have taken place in the foreign and domestic situation during this period. In the intra-government area the Party has waged a fight for the peaceful reunification of the motherland, and strengthened and developed the popular democratic system established in the northern part of the republic in every possible way.

 

All our people headed by the working class and under the leadership of our Party have defended their popular democratic system from the armed encroachments of international imperialist reaction with honor and are successfully building the foundations of socialism in the northern part of the country, the material basis for the reunification of the motherland.

 

In the area of international life the might of the socialist camp headed by the great Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China grew and strengthened incomparably during this period. The forces of peace and democracy opposed to war and imperialism are growing and strengthening in the entire world and becoming invincible.

 

Kim Il Sung said, in our era, as Cde. N. S. Khrushchev noted at the 20th CPSU congress, socialism has already gone beyond the bounds of one country and turned into a world system, and there is no power in the world capable of interfering with this process of world historical importance.

 

Dwelling on the successes of the Soviet people in the building of Communism, Cde. Kim Il Sung noted that the historic 20th CPSU congress had adopted a grandiose fighting program on the basis of which the great Communist Party of the Soviet Union is leading the Soviet people to new successes of world historical importance in the building of Communism. Based on a deep Marxist-Leninist analysis of some principled questions of the contemporary international situation, the congress drew conclusions of enormous practical importance. This boundlessly inspires the struggle of all Communist and worker's Parties and the peoples of the entire world to fight even more actively for peace, happiness, and a bright future.

 

During the reporting period in Asia the great Chinese people's revolution ended victoriously. The six hundred million people of China, having put a complete end to the system of imperialist colonial domination, are now confidently traveling the path of the construction of socialism and are  very important memberss of the camp of democracy and socialism.

 

The might of the socialist camp, Kim Il Sung then said, consists not only of the fact that the socialist relations encompass such a broad territory and such a large population, but primarily consist of the unbreakable friendship, solidarity, and unity of the peoples of this camp. The strength of this unity has found its bright reflection in the active support and aid to the Korean people of the peoples of the camp of democracy and socialism during the just patriotic war of liberation, especially in the invaluable fraternal aid of the Chinese people's volunteers.

 

Touching on the ongoing collapse of the colonial system, which has held the peoples of Asia in its grip, where half of the population of the entire world lives, Cde. Kim Il Sung noted that the victory won by the Korean people in the three-year patriotic war of liberation was one of the most important victories of the peoples of Asia who are fighting against the colonizers, and it further inspires the peoples of dependent countries to fight for their freedom and independence.

 

Covering the course of international events in recent years, Kim Il Sung stressed the relaxation of tension in international relations achieved thanks to the peace policy of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, the strengthening of cooperation with the USSR and PRC, with India, Burma, and other Asian countries, the importance of the Bandung Conference of 29 countries and the creation of a broad "zone of peace" which includes both the socialist and non-socialist peace-loving countries of Europe and Asia. He said, about one and a half billion people live in this zone.

 

We live in an era when the forces of peace, socialism, and democracy are growing and strengthening immeasurably, and the forces of imperialism weaken with each day.

 

It is a great joy for the Korean people, who are defending their historic achievement, the popular democratic system, and are fighting for their national unity, to be a member of the powerful socialist camp in which it sees a reliable guarantee of their final victory.

 

Our Party should henceforth continue to take an active part in the struggle for a durable peace and security in the entire world, preserve fraternal friendship and solidarity as one's dearest possession, and strengthen the political, economic, and cultural cooperation with the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, and the other countries of people's democracy in every possible way.

 

At the same time we should firmly hold to the Leninist principle of the peaceful coexistence of countries with different social systems and devote efforts in order to establish political and business ties with all peace-loving countries of the world based at the same time on mutual respect for sovereignty and equality.

 

We should vigorously fight the aggression of American imperialism in Asia and a resurgence of Japanese militarism. We should tirelessly strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation with the peoples of India, Burma, Indonesia, and Japan, and actively support the national liberation struggle of the peoples of the colonial countries of Asia to strengthen the common struggle of the Asian peoples against colonialism.

 

We should also support in every possible way the peace policy of the peace-loving countries of the world headed by the Soviet Union and their struggle for a reduction of arms, the prohibition of the production and use of nuclear weapons, vigilantly keep track of the treacherous intrigues of enemies striving to unleash a new war, further strengthen our defensive might, and firmly preserve the freedom and independence of our country and the peaceful construction in the northern part of the republic.

 

Speaking of the struggle for the peaceful reunification of Korea, for the strengthening and development of the popular democratic system in the northern part of the republic during the reporting period, Kim Il Sung noted that these events cover three periods, the period of peaceful construction, the period of the patriotic war of liberation, and the period of the postwar recovery and construction.

 

People's power, created in the northern part of the country after liberation under the leadership of the Party, carried out land reform, the nationalization of industry, and other democratic reforms. Land reform eliminated landowners and feudal production relations in the countryside, and made working peasants owners of the land. The economic base of the Japanese imperialists and the pro-Japanese elements in the country was completely eliminated as a result of the nationalization of industry, the state sector occupied the dominant position in its economy, and socialist industrial relations were established. In the five years after liberation enormous progress has been achieved in the northern part of the republic in all sectors of politics, the economy, and culture. Telling of the course of the three-year patriotic war of liberation Kim Il Sung noted the great feats of the heroic Korean people. Our just war, he pointed out, encountered the enormous aid and support of millions of people of the entire world who opposed the predatory acts of the invaders.

 

The Soviet Union has devoted every effort for a peaceful settlement of the Korean question, and has vigorously exposed the aggressive acts and barbarous crimes of the American imperialists in Korea. It made a great contribution to the cause of the rapid end of the bloody war in Korea.

 

Cde. Kim Il Sung then said that the historic victory of the Korean people is a brilliant victory of Marxism-Leninism. It convincingly confirmed the inexhaustible vital strength of our popular democratic system and its superiority over the capitalist system, and was a demonstration of the correctness of the line of our Party, directed at the creation and strengthening of a democratic basis.

 

The Korean War also showed that a people who are vigorously fighting for their national independence and freedom, for peace and against imperialist aggression, will always gain the powerful support from the camp of peace, democracy, and socialism and the peace-loving peoples of the entire world and certainly triumph.

 

The conclusion of the armistice agreement, Cde. Kim Il Sung then said, put an end to the bloody war in Korea, and our people again moved to peaceful economic construction.

 

We were faced with enormous tasks: to turn an armistice into a durable peace, further strengthen the support of our revolution, the democratic base in the northern part of the republic, politically, economically, and militarily, and turn it into a powerful material base in the cause of the peaceful reunification of our country.

 

The Party and government of the republic developed a three-year plan for the revival and development of the economy, the main task of which is the achievement of the prewar level of production in all sectors of the economy.

 

About two years and four months have passed since the time we began to fulfill the three-year economic plan. During this period under the leadership of the Korean Worker's Party our people overcame all difficulties and obstacles, thanks to their own creative initiative and selfless work and achieved great successes, inspired by the unselfish economic and technical aid of the USSR, PRC, and fraternal countries of people's democracy.

 

The speaker cited detailed information demonstrating the successful fulfillment and overfulfillment of the targets of the three-year plan. As of the end of January of this year the level of production of state and cooperative industry had already exceeded the production level provided by the plan for 1956, the last year of the three-year plan. The amount of gross production of state and cooperative industry has risen by 2.3 times compared to 1953 and exceeded the 1949 prewar level by 56%. Our Party has firmly held to a policy of rapid restoration and development of industry with priority growth of heavy industry. Two hundred and thirty-six large and medium-sized state industrial enterprises had already been fully or partially restored and put in operation by the end of 1955, and 71 new large and medium-sized industrial enterprises were also built. The history of our country has not yet known such a large scale and such high rates of construction and repair work in industry.

 

Kim Il Sung further characterized the development in the postwar period [of] individual industrial sectors, showing that a considerable increase in the production of consumer goods had taken place along with the rapid improvement of heavy industry. Compared to 1949 in 1955 the textile industry had risen by 2.2 times, the leather and footwear [industry] by 96%, and the food and gustatory [industry] by 20%.

 

In the postwar years, Kim Il Sung continued, new industrial sectors were created in the industry of our country. This was made possible by the production of a whole series of new types of products, including direct current generators, modern turning lathes, mining machines, drills, and high-quality fabrics. The creation of a series of new industrial sectors and their rapid development has caused a change in the structure of industrial sectors. In the total volume of industrial production the share of the machinebuilding and light industries, the most backward sectors before liberation, has increased considerably. The speaker also dwelt on the growth of labor productivity in the postwar period, the labor competition of the masses, and the introduction in production of numerous innovations and improvement suggestions, and touched on issues of training engineering and technical personnel and labor reserves.

 

As is evident from the above, he said, in the postwar years our industry has basically treated the serious wounds received in the course of the war, and heavy industry is developing at a rapid rate.

 

After the war the Party directed all its attention in the area of the restoration and development of agriculture to first of all reaching the prewar level of production of grain crops during the three-year plan and along with this creating a base for the further improvement of the agriculture of our country. Cde. Kim Il Sung noted that in the course of the fulfillment of the three-year plan in the area of agriculture it was found that this plan did not correspond to the real possibilities. The plan was overestimated in the area of agriculture and drafted without proper consideration for the degree of damage caused agriculture by the war and other specific conditions. Kim Il Sung continued, in order to rapidly restore and develop agriculture in the postwar years the Party CC outlined specific ways to rapidly correct the defects which existed in the management of the countryside. The plans for capital investment in agriculture for 1956 were somewhat increased, large-scale construction of irrigation systems and river dams was carried out, and steps were taken to provide irrigation structures with machines, increase the production of agricultural machines and fertilizer, etc.

 

In 1954 and 1955 cultivated land was expanded by 37,700 jeongbo, large-scale irrigation construction was carried out, including the construction of an irrigation system in the province of South Pyongan, and 43 new reservoirs and 568 pumping stations were repaired and rebuilt anew. These measures took on an even broader scale in 1956. From 1954 through the present time irrigated fields were expanded by 50,000 jeongbo as a result state capital investments alone, and more than 100,000 jeongbo of fields were protected from floods by the construction of river dams.

 

In the postwar years the Party and government created 31 new machine rental stations in order to increase the peasants' labor productivity and also to solve the problem of the shortage of labor and draft animals in the countryside. In 1955 the number of machine rental stations tripled compared to 1953, and the number of tractors (converted to 15-hp equivalents) by 3.9 times.

 

The most important event in the development of agriculture after the conclusion of the armistice is the fact that the movement to cooperate agriculture with the goal of socialist reform is rapidly developing in the countryside. As of the end of February 1956 there were more than 14,650 agricultural cooperatives in our countryside encompassing 65.6% of the total peasant households and 62.1% of all cultivated land. Almost all the agricultural cooperatives are cooperatives of the highest type. The speaker then told about the successes of the cooperatives in the expansion and improvement of cultivated areas, and the introduction of advanced agrotechnology and subsidiary industries, noting that along with the aid to the agricultural cooperatives the state also gives comprehensive aid to individual peasants, who compose a large part of the peasant households of the country. He pointed to the serious backwardness of animal husbandry.

 

Characterizing the improvement of transportation and communications in the postwar years, and the expansion of trade turnover, Cde. Kim Il Sung moved to the government's work to improve the material and cultural level of the people's lives. He said, the national income rose considerably in the first two years of the three-year plan. In 1955 the national income was 160% of that of 1953, and 111% that of 1949. Prices for consumer goods have been reduced four times in the postwar period. In 1955 the level of prices for goods in state and consumer trade were reduced by 40%, as a result of which the population received a benefit of about 30 billion won during this time. The real wages of manual laborers and office workers rose. The state gave much aid to the peasants with monetary loans, seeds, and fertilizer, and released many of them from repaying debts of taxes in kind and monetary loans. Not long ago the law about the agricultural tax in kind was changed, as a result of which its amount was reduced.

 

The Party and government have devoted constant attention to the repair and construction of residential buildings and educational institutions. Residential buildings with a total area of more than 3,500 m2, 1,285 schools, and 182 hospitals were built at state expense since the armistice to the end of 1955. The number of cultural institutions and healthcare network was considerably increased.

 

As is obvious from the above, our work to revive and build the economy is going well.

 

Our popular democratic system is becoming increasingly stronger based on an strengthened alliance.

 

During the reporting period, and especially in the postwar period, the socialist sector has grown even further thanks to the successes achieved in all sectors of our economy.

 

Whereas the share of state and cooperative industry in the total amount of industrial production comprising the socialist sector, was 90.7% in 1949, in 1955 it had risen to 98.3%.

 

In 1949 in agriculture, when there were no agricultural cooperatives yet, the share of the socialist sector, which encompassed state agricultural animal husbandry farms and machine rental stations at that time, was only 3.2% of the total volume of agricultural production. In 1955 the share of the socialist sector became dominant in all agricultural production of our country.

 

Thus, the socialist sector has already occupied the dominant and leading position in all sectors of the economy of our country and become a reliable material basis of the socialist reformation of the entire economy in the future.

 

Great changes have also occurred in the social class structure of the population. All these facts show that we have achieved considerable economic and social progress in the struggle to build socialism in our country.

 

Then Kim Il Sung touched on the problem of the construction of a socialist economy in the northern part of the republic. He noted that the majority of the targets of the three-year plan have already been met. There is no doubt that this plan will be fulfilled and overfulfilled on the scheduled deadlines.

 

The successful conclusion of the program of the three-year plan will create even broader prospects for the development of the country's economy and allow a new scientifically-based plan to be developed in the field of economic and cultural policy for a long period, namely a first five-year economic plan. It is necessary to make a big step forward on the path of the construction of the foundations of socialism in the northern part of the republic in the first five-year plan, the achievement of which will begin next year.

 

The main role is given first of all to heavy industry in the development of the economy in this five-year plan, that is, the production of means of production. Relying on the preferential development of heavy industry, on the basis of this we should sharply raise agricultural production and light industry even further, and improve the material welfare of the people. In the development of the economy we should devote special significance to the further expansion of economic ties and the strengthening of mutual aid among the socialist countries.

 

The most important task in the area of metallurgy is the continuation of work to repair and build blast, open-hearth, electric, and Bessemer furnaces and a coke-oven battery. It is necessary to apply efforts in order to meet the country's needs in rolled steel by expanding the construction of rolling-mill equipment. The production of cast iron needs to be increased by 2.8 times, of steel by 3-3.5 times, and rolled products by 3,5-4 times in 1961 compared to the current year.

 

The machinebuilding industry is faced with the task of increasing the production of metal-cutting machines; electrical, agricultural, mining, and construction machines; motors; and ships even further.

 

It is necessary to complete the repair of existing electric power stations and put the network of electrical transmission and electrical distribution points in order. Then it is necessary to resume the construction of the [Tokrogan] and [Kange] hydroelectric power stations, which was halted as a result of the war. The production of electric power should reach 8,500 million kilowatt-hours in 1961.

 

The speaker continued, in the coal industry the most important task is the elimination of an impermissible phenomenon when we, sitting on coal, annually import it from the outside in enormous quantity. During the years of the first five-year plan it is necessary to increase the extraction of coal by more than 1.7 times compared to 1956.

 

The main task of the chemical industry is an increase of the production of fertilizer in 1961 to 400,000 tons a year. Dwelling on the tasks in the area of the industries of construction materials and forestry, Kim Il Sung said that it is necessary to seek a considerable increase in the development of light industry, putting the main emphasis on the production of textiles and the food industry. The production of fabrics in 1961 needs to be raised by one and a half to two times compared to the current year. The report also raises specific tasks in the fields of transportation and communications.

 

Kim Il Sung then said, whereas the years of the three-year plan were basically a period of repairing existing enterprises the five-year plan will be period of the reconstruction and expansion of enterprises, and furnishing them with new equipment for the construction and operation of new plants and mills. To accomplish these tasks it is necessary to deeply master and introduce new technology into production, actively mobilize and use all the reserves harbored in the industry itself, considerably improve the use of equipment, increase labor productivity, save raw materials and material, and tirelessly lower the prime cost of production.

 

The main tasks with which agriculture is posed during the first five-year plan are the following: first, the considerable increase of the production of agricultural products, especially grain crops, in order to meet the needs of the economy. Second, the further development of the cooperation of agriculture, and also in the organizational and economic strengthening of agricultural production cooperatives. These measures are directed at completing the cooperation of agriculture.

 

Kim Il Sung said, considerable work has been done in the postwar period to increase the production of agricultural products. However, the current level of agricultural production still cannot fully meet the needs of our country in food and industrial raw material. During the five-year plan we should reach the production of such a level of grain at which we could basically provide our own needs with our own products and expand the cultivation of various technical and oil-seed crops on this basis, and develop animal husbandry even further.

 

We are faced with the task of opening up and restoring virgin and neglected lands to solve the problem of grain farming and industrial crops. Along with this we should carefully protect the land being worked. It is necessary to continue the construction of a number of large irrigation structures, including in the region of [Edidon].

 

The issue of increasing the yield of grain crops in waterless fields, which compose ¾ of total cultivated land, is of decisive importance in the matter of increasing grain production.

 

During the first five-year plan we should definitely increase the area planted for corn and increase it to no less than 500,000 jeongbo. [We] ought to encourage the growing of corn not only as the main crop in every way, but also as the last crop before the harvesting of barley from a given field.

 

Cde. Kim Il Sung then said that industrial workers should improve construction and produce more agricultural machines and implements based on the actual needs of agriculture.

 

The main task facing animal husbandry is to eliminate the shortage of draft animals in agriculture and to considerably increase the production of livestock products. To do this the main emphasis needs to be made on the creation of fodder resources in agricultural cooperatives.

 

Switching to issues of the socialist transformation of agriculture, Kim Il Sung said that the movement for the cooperation of agriculture is developing at a growing rate. He continued, without being satisfied with what has been achieved, we should continue to stimulate the growing movement of the peasants for cooperation, and strengthen the cooperatives already created even further in the organizational and economic sense. In the movement for the cooperation of agriculture it is quite important that the enlistment of peasant farm owners into the ranks of the cooperatives should go gradually, without haste, in conformance with the peasants' readiness and with strict observation of the principle of voluntary participation.

 

Kim Il Sung said further, our Party should strengthen the management of agricultural cooperatives still further to successfully ensure the socialist transformation of agriculture and to continue to help them.

 

We should ensure the correct management and be in the avant garde of the mass movement when launching a determined campaign with certain excesses which might be manifested in the course of the cooperation of agriculture.

 

Cde. Kim Il Sung also stressed the enormous role of the state agricultural and animal husbandry farms and machine rental stations.

 

Then Cde. Kim Il Sung switched to the tasks of capital construction. He said, the main directions of capital investments during the five-year plan are the assignment of a considerable role of capital investments to production construction and ensuring higher rates of production construction. It is also necessary to continue the investment of a certain amount of money in agricultural construction, ensuring a sharp improvement of agriculture. The scattering of materials and manpower at numerous sites cannot be allowed in capital construction. It is necessary to strictly calculate construction priorities, and direct serious attention to preparatory work. The introduction of standard designs, the standardization of structural elements, the broad application of the prefabrication method in construction, the mechanization of construction work, and the industrialization of the production of construction materials are extremely important questions.

 

Noting that work on urban construction is still not at the level of the requirements presented by the Party, Kim Il Sung dwelt on the tasks in this area and stressed that the building process of cities needs to be carefully thought over, in a planned manner, paying constant attention to the creation of the best conditions for the life of the population. He noted the great importance of the full use of local materials in construction and the broad use of small-scale mechanization.

 

In the nine years of people's power, said the speaker, our higher educational institutions and specialized secondary schools have trained many specialists. However, the scientific and technical personnel we have lag far behind the rapid pace of the growth of the country's economy. Therefore the Party should adopt a number of measures to train technical personnel, the need for which is growing in connection with the rapid development of the economy. The network of specialized secondary schools was considerably expanded after the armistice, and additional technical training courses were created for people who had graduated incomplete secondary schools, and many high schools were turned into specialized secondary schools, and specialized secondary schools of a higher type were created which accept graduates of high schools. It is necessary to continue to improve this work.

 

We need not just a large quantity of workers with a secondary technical education right now. The need for workers with a higher technical education is also growing rapidly. It is necessary to provide for the creation of an independent mining and smelting institute during the first five-year plan, assigning the appropriate departments from the Kim [Chak] Polytechnic Institute, and also [to provide for] the creation of a higher transportation institution. We should expand the network of correspondence technical schools still further, and strengthen work for the technical training of workers in factories and enterprises without leaving production. It is necessary to restructure the work of schools, specialized secondary schools, and higher educational institutions in order to bring study close to production, to the needs of living.

 

The tireless concern about the people's material welfare is the highest principle of the activity of our Party. It was and remains at the center of attention of our Party and government.

 

Therefore our task is to achieve a sharp improvement of agriculture and a faster development of the light and food industries on the basis of the priority development of heavy industry in the years immediately ahead, and also to carry out a further expansion of social and cultural measures, the network of medical and educational institutions, scientific research institutions, and to expand the housing stock. During the five-year plan the average wage of manual laborers and office workers will increase on the basis of a rapid growth of industrial and agricultural production and an increase of labor productivity, the monetary income and the income in kind of the peasants will grow from a successive lowering of state retail prices, and the real income of manual laborers, office workers, and the working peasantry will increase considerably.

 

During the first five-year plan the ration card system for the supply of manufactured and food goods will be abolished.

 

During the five-year plan it is necessary to speed up the rate of housing construction and build residential buildings of over six million square meters from state resources.

 

In the field of public education it is necessary to create conditions in the cities and villages to gradually carry out universal compulsory incomplete secondary (seven-year) education on the basis of the implementation of universal compulsory primary education. It is necessary to still further improve work in the system of higher education so that the number of students of higher educational institutions reaches more than 28,000 by the end of the five-year plan. Work in the area of public health will be considerably improved: the public health conditions in population centers have been improved, the number of hospitals, clinics, and maternity wards have been increased, and their equipment has been improved.

 

Such are our immediate tasks in the area of the economy. These are large, difficult tasks. But we are confident that all our people will fulfill them successfully under the leadership of our Party thanks to their patriotic activity and creative work.

 

Then the speaker dwelt on the tasks in the area of strengthening and developing the political and social systems. He said: we need to constantly increase and develop our political and social systems in order to successfully accomplish the peaceful reunification of the motherland and the building of a socialist economy in the northern part of the country.

 

In order to do this the Party has to first of all increase the work of the YeDOF and rally all the patriotic forces of the popular masses of our country around it. An increase of the leading role of the working class and a strengthening of the unbreakable union of the working class and the peasantry politically and economically are important conditions in this matter. At the same time we should pursue determined work to strengthen the close ties with members of other parties; believers with middle-sized and petty traders, people of the free professions, that is, with broad strata of the population.

 

In order to successfully accomplish the gigantic political, economic, cultural, and military tasks facing our Party we need to strengthen and develop people's power, the strongest weapon of our revolution, and increase the role of the organs of internal affairs, the procuracy, and justice. We ought to strive for the popular masses to make maximum use of their democratic rights and create real conditions in which the popular masses can creatively display an inexhaustible collective intellect in order to bring the bodies of people's power closer to the masses and rally the masses around them more strongly.

 

Cde. Kim Il Sung dwelt on the ruinous consequences of the 10-year dominance of the American imperialists and the Syngman Rhee clique in South Korea: the enslavement of the South Korean economy, the ruination of the peasantry, the impoverishment of broad masses of workers, and intensified military preparations.

 

Kim Il Sung said, the dismemberment of the motherland is a misfortune not only for the population of South Korea but also for the entire Korean people. It is also a great obstacle for the development of our country. The Korean people continue to be left with the national tasks of fighting the aggressive forces of American imperialism and its allies, the landowners, the comprador bourgeoisie, and the pro-American elements of the southern part of the country, a struggle necessary for the liberation of the population of South Korea from the imperialist and feudal yoke and exploitation, and for the reunification of the motherland on a democratic basis and complete national independence. The policy of our Party, directed at the accomplishment of the main task of the Korean revolution at this stage - to achieve the reunification of the motherland on a peaceful democratic basis - is the only possible correct line in the country's current domestic and foreign conditions.

 

Dwelling on the need to carry out democratic reforms in South Korea, Kim Il Sung then said: we insist on combining the efforts of all political parties, public organizations, and individual leaders of South Korea to achieve a common goal, the peaceful reunification of the motherland. We propose to convene a joint conference of political parties and public organizations of South and North Korea in order to accomplish such a reunification and create a united front, joining together all patriotic political parties, public organizations, and individuals of South and North Korea with national feelings, and as long as there is no possibility of convening such a conference it is necessary to hold meetings of individual political parties, public organizations, and patriots. Everyone who takes part in this combination of efforts, which pursues the goal of the peaceful reunification of the motherland, ought to forgive their old misdeeds, ensure participation according to their merits and capabilities in a united government which will be established after the reunification of the country, and to keep their property and social status. Stressing the importance of establishing political, economic, and cultural ties between the two parts of the country, the realization of free movement and postal correspondence between South and North Korea, Kim Il Sung said: the government of the DPRK is ready to offer the population of South Korea the electric power, coal, and timber, of which it is feeling an acute need.

 

We propose to convene a permanent commission which could discuss both the questions of establishing contacts between the South and North of the country as well as the questions of the reunification of Korea and the adoption of specific measures connected with this. Representatives of the governments, higher legislative bodies, political parties, public organizations, and also independent individuals from North and South Korea will take part in this body in identical proportions.

 

We think that with the creation of the conditions such measures would be the most realistic and if both sides display readiness to fulfill the hopes of the Korean people then this question will be completely solved.

 

In order to put all our proposals and demands above into effect it is necessary to first of all consolidate the successes of the armistice and turn it into a durable peace. We demand the strict observance of all the conditions of the armistice and the maximum reduction of the number of troops of both sides. Not a single part of Korea should be in a military alliance with other countries. The separate military treaty concluded between the governments of South Korea and the US should be annulled.

 

All foreign troops need to be withdrawn from Korea, including the American army and the Chinese people's volunteers for a solution of the Korean questions by the Koreans themselves, and no foreign interference in the internal affairs of our country is to be permitted.

 

At the same time the countries interested in a peaceful settlement of the Korean question should create real conditions for this, convening an international conference with the broad participation of the governments of South and North Korea.

 

Comrades! Enormous difficulties and obstacles stand in the path of our struggle for independence and reunification of the motherland on a democratic basis. But only this path will bring happiness to our generation and ensure the happiness and prosperity of our descendents.

 

Therefore, as long as we hold to this fighting line and persistently fight for it we will enjoy the fervent support of the entire Korean people and the active aid and support of the peaceloving forces of the entire world.

 

The following section of the report is devoted to the Party. Switching to a description of the question of the struggle to strengthen the Party, Cde. Kim Il Sung said: The historic victories won by our Party and the Korean people in the past period are the result of the policy of our Party being unswervingly pursued on the basis of Marxist-Leninist principles, and the Party organized enormous organizational and mobilization work to accomplish it. At the present time the leading role of our Party has risen incomparably in all areas of state activity and its ties with the popular masses have strengthened immeasurably.

 

As of the 1st of January 1956 the Korean Worker's Party had 1,164,945 members and 58,259 Party cells (subcells). This is 439,183 people and 28,496 Party cells (subcells - speaker's note) more than were in the Party by the second congress, in spite of the fact that an enormous number of Party members died in the course of the three-year patriotic war of liberation.

 

Consistently putting the ideas and organizational principles of Marxism-Leninism into practice and creatively adopting the experience of the struggle of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the other fraternal Parties in the conditions of the Korean revolutionary movement, our Party has inherited the glorious traditions of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle and strengthened the unity and solidarity of its ranks in every way, the backbone of which are the revolutionary fighters.

 

Covering the history of the Party Cde. Kim Il Sung dwelt on the Party's struggle against the factionalist group of Pak Heonyeong, the spies of American imperialism. Kim Il Sung said, one of the reasons that the factionalists continued their activity for so long was that before liberation there was no party of the working class and the Party lacked fighting traditions.

 

The fact that the unprincipled idea of the cult of personality which existed did not provide an opportunity to vigorously fight the factionalists served as one more reason for this, he continued. Many senior officials and Party members who had fallen under the harmful influence of factionalism were too infatuated with the role of personality and assessed the mind of the personality higher than the collective wisdom and, blindly following the personality, could not recognize the mistakes he had made, and they even saw good in the mistakes, as consequence of which they could not organize a powerful struggle against it.

 

If Party members and senior officials in South Korea had not been too infatuated with Pak Heonyeong, his clique, and other factional elements after liberation but had organized a powerful struggle against him, then the criminal acts of this band would have been exposed in time and our Party in South Korea would not have ended up ruined to such a degree.

 

Therefore our Party ought to know full well that it is impossible to strengthen our own ranks, it is impossible to carry out the revolutionary tasks with which the Party is faced, without a merciless fight against factionalism inside our ranks, without its ruthless elimination, and without a complete eradication of the idea of the cult of personality.

 

The speaker then switched to the question of the organizational and instructional work of the Party. He said that the social composition of the Party is: workers - 22.6%, poor peasants - 56.8%, middle peasants - 3.7%, office workers - 13%, and others - 3.9%. More than half of Party members joined it after the beginning of the patriotic war of liberation.

 

Kim Il Sung then said that it is necessary to try to raise the level of work by stepping up Party work and to seek an increase of Party seasoning and class self-consciousness of Party members to the level up of the new tasks with which the Party is faced.

 

Touching on the shortcomings in the organizational work, Kim Il Sung said that in particular it is necessary for senior officials to exhibit an example of strict observance of the norms of Party life. He said, there are many such senior officials who do not take an active part in Party life, considering themselves some sort of privileged people. As a result, in spite of the fact that everyone recognizes in word that the Party cannot have two disciplines, one for leaders and another for ordinary [members], in fact in individual Party organizations two disciplines secretly exist, and a different approach is permitted.

 

We should even more strictly observe the Leninist principle according to which active participation in Party life and the faithful implementation of Party directives should be the duty of all Party members regardless of their merits and the posts they hold. It is necessary to increase intra-Party democracy still higher, to increase criticism and self-criticism, and especially criticism from below, and to strictly observe the principle of collective leadership in all the activity of Party organizations at all levels to strengthen Party life, and to thereby increase the activity and initiative of Party members.

 

Kim Il Sung said that up to now some Party members have not realized that they are servants of the people and not exhibit a readiness to selflessly fight for the interests of the masses. He noted further that Party organizations should strictly keep to the Party principle of the selection and placement of personnel and when doing so ensure conditions under which they could devote all their abilities and knowledge to the cause of the revolution.

 

Then the speaker stressed the great importance in organizational party work of the management of the Party and public organizations - trade unions, the union of democratic youth, and women's and youth organizations.

 

Then Cde. Kim Il Sung noted that in the past period the Party had achieved many successes in ideological work; however it still has many shortcomings, the chief of which are that formalism and doctrinaire attitudes, which cause it much harm, have still not been eliminated in ideological work. Ideological work should be set up so that its main goals, the direction, and the content are dictated by the revolutionary goals which are being advanced at a certain period of the development of the revolution.

 

Kim Il Sung continued, to master Marxism-Leninism does not mean to blindly learn individual provisions of Marxist-Leninist theory by heart. It means to be able to understand the revolutionary essence of this theory and on its basis to scientifically summarize the experience of revolutionary struggle and the questions raised by reality, to draw correct conclusions from them, and employ them in practical work.

 

The task of mass political work is to raise the socialist consciousness in the working masses so that they consciously fight for the accomplishment of the political and economic tasks with which the Party and people are faced.

 

Then Kim Il Sung noted that all agitprop work should be closely connected with economic work and its results should find their reflection in economic policy.

 

The report raises tasks in the area of propaganda, publishing, school and educational work, science and culture, and literature and art.

 

In conclusion Cde. Kim Il Sung said that in the past the Korean Worker's Party had done enormous work in the name of the victory of the revolution and had traveled a brilliant victorious path of glorious struggle.

 

However, the victories we have won in the past can be characterized as only a beginning in the face of those grandiose tasks which will henceforth be turned into reality.

 

We should correctly lead all the Korean people, realize the great cause of democratic reunification and the achievement of the independence of the motherland, and victoriously advance the building of socialism in the name of the further strengthening of the revolutionary democratic base in the northern part of the country. Here where the main task of our Party lies at this stage.

 

We have a Korean Worker's Party, the headquarters of the revolution, the steel ranks of which have been tempered and forged together in battle with internal and external enemies, and the united, inexhaustible revolutionary forces of our hardworking, steadfast people. We have foreign friends who give us active aid in our just struggle and fight with us hand in hand….

 

We are immeasurably gladdened by the broad prospects for a boundlessly happy future of our motherland and our people which should be created. The all-conquering banner of Marxism-Leninism lights the broad path forward for us with a bright light, and gives us who travel along this path the courage and steadfastness in struggle. Victory and glory will always be on the side of those who go forward under this banner.

 

Bearing the banner of Marxism-Leninism high, under the leadership of the organizer and inspirer of all the victories of the Korean people, the Korean Worker's Party, more boldly forward to the final victory of the revolution!

 

The summary report about the work of the CC of the Korean Worker's Party was repeatedly interrupted by stormy applause.

 

Kim Il Sung draws on Khrushchev's speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU in his own speech at the Third Congress of the Korean Workers' Party, and speaks to the successes of the Three-Year Plan and discusses the implementation of a similar Five-Year Plan.

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GARF, Fond 5446, Opis 98, Delo 721, Listy 229-250. Translated by Gary Goldberg.

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