Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, sent an important letter to those attending the First Workshop of Officials in the Information Field of the WPK On Eliminating Formalism and Bringing about a Fundamental Innovation in the Party’s Ideological Work on March 28.
Noting that the workshop is held at a historic time when our dignified and powerful state unfolded a grand plan for its overall development and has demonstrated its great unity and tremendous, reserved strength, the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un in his letter said:
I extend greetings of enthusiastic encouragement to the participants in the workshop and all other information workers of the Party who have made significant contributions to the great work for bolstering the politico-ideological strength, the foremost power of our Party and social system, exerting efforts to make the Party and the popular masses breathe in one and the same idea.
I would also like to take this opportunity to extend warm militant greetings to the primary information workers across the country who have spared no efforts for the ideological education and transformation of people, always finding themselves among the masses and in the ideological positions of the Juche revolution as well as to other comrades who are striving at such important posts of the Party’s ideological front as the fields of the preservation of revolutionary relics, literature and art and media.
The thought-out and bold struggle which our Party and people have been carrying on after the historic 8th Congress of the Party opened up a new victorious phase of bringing about significant changes in succession by courageously advancing in the face of the worst difficulties, and our revolution has finally and confidently reached its higher stage of achieving the comprehensive development of socialist construction.
Despite continued severe hardship and challenges, our revolution is vigorously advancing.
The 4th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Party Central Committee decided to surely guarantee the successful implementation of the new five-year plan set forth at the Party Congress and make substantial progress in improving the people’s living standards, and put forward a grand programme for ultimate solution to the socialist rural question.
To carry out such important tasks which would never be easy to fulfill owing to manifold barriers to our advance, we should regard the ideological and moral strength of the popular masses as the foremost weapon as ever and stir it up in every way.
The Juche theory of giving importance to ideology, which means that ideology decides everything and there is nothing impossible to do when the people are motivated ideologically, will fully demonstrate its justness and vitality forever as our Party’s principle in leading revolution and its political philosophy.
For our Party constantly holding fast to the Juche theory of giving importance to ideology, the ideological work is most important among all its works.
The ideology-first principle is just the fundamental key to emerging victorious from difficult situations and way of revolution peculiar to the WPK. The Party Central Committee attaches the foremost importance to the ideological front in order to propel the victorious advance of the revolution and reliably guarantee it by dint of ideology.
The Party information workers play a very important role in implanting the ideas and policies of the Party Central Committee deep into the minds of officials, Party members and other working people and orienting all their efforts to the one goal of implementing the Party policies and arousing them to attaining it.
Not only the work for patiently and substantially educating all members of society to accept the idea of the Party Central Committee and arm themselves with it, but also a huge share of the work for correctly embodying the Party Central Committee’s plan and will in the whole field of the revolutionary struggle, socialist construction and social life are carried out through the operation and practice of the Party information field. Particularly important in steadily increasing the might of the single-minded unity of our revolutionary ranks and making the whole country keep strong faith and be full of vim and vigor is the duty of the Party information workers.
When they are well prepared enough to fulfill their duty, ideological purity and unity of the Party and the revolutionary ranks will be ensured, and the Party’s leadership over socialist construction will produce satisfactory results. It is the truth proved by history and reality that socialism remains steadfast and advances victoriously as much as the Party ideological front is solid and vibrant.
The Party Central Committee convened this workshop to awaken all the Party officials to the importance of the ideological work once again and inspire the Party information workers to renewed efforts so that they can display enormous strength in their revolutionary work full of imposing dignity and honor.
It is the noble title awarded to the information workers particularly among all the Party officials that they are called faithful mouthpieces of the Party Central Committee and buglers of the revolution.
Our Party information workers should become powerful loudspeakers and hi-fi amplifiers in conveying and communicating the Party Central Committee’s idea and intention down to the lowest units correctly in time and arousing the entire Party, the whole country and all the people to their materialization. This is the main spirit of the workshop.
Already emphasized is that the Party information field should become a hi-fi amplifier which correctly conveys the Party’s idea and intention. The Party Central Committee’s aim at the workshop is to further raise the output of those loudspeakers and amplifiers and, in other words, to remarkably enhance the role and might of the Party information field through the workshop.
Let the Party information workers become powerful loudspeakers and hi-fi amplifiers faithful to the Party Central Committee!, this is the slogan to be upheld by our information workers and the spirit to be fully displayed by them at present.
The main mission of our Party’s ideological work is to model the entire Party and the whole society on the revolutionary idea of the Party Central Committee. This means, in a word, making the Party Central Committee’s idea and intention dominate the struggle and life of all the members of society. In other words, it means fully arming the officials, Party members, other working people and the rising generations with the Party Central Committee’s idea and policies before thoroughly and perfectly embodying them in the overall fields of Party building and activities, state affairs and social life.
The cause of modeling the entire Party and the whole society on the revolutionary idea of the Party Central Committee urgently requires a great revolution in the ideological work. Now the revolution and the times demand fresh innovations, bold creation and continual advance, and for this the ideological front should make the first step and bring about fundamental changes as befits its mission of inspiring and leading all changes and development in practice.
Kim Jong Un stressed in the letter that an important matter in improving the Party’s ideological work is to intensify the theoretical study and the work of disseminating theories.
Noting that the Party building can be done without deviation and the victorious advance of socialism can be guaranteed only when precedence is given to the ideological and theoretical building, he said that to carry forward to completion the revolutionary cause of Juche generation after generation means just the inheritance of ideology and ism and traditions of struggle.
Saying that the political and theoretical circles should be powerful so as to steadily develop in depth the Party’s ideological work as required by the revolutionary practice, he indicated the detailed orientation and ways for raising the level and role of the political and theoretical circles.
Noting it is the analysis made by the Party Central Committee at present that the revolution in the Party’s ideological work should start in shattering formalism, he set forth the tasks for thoroughly eradicating formalism that remains in the Party’s ideological work.
In order to root out formalism, we should, first of all, make Party information workers keep as their lifeline the mission of paramount importance that they are entirely responsible for the ideological and moral life of all the people who live on this land, he said.
Noting that lack of awareness of being masters of the revolution is the ideological basis of formalism, he stressed that the attitude unbecoming for masters should be no longer allowed among Party information workers.
Saying that officials in the information field are the revolutionaries who are directly in charge of the Party’s ideological front and the master of our Party’s ideological work, he added that the Party information workers should be responsible for the ideological life of the Party members and other working people in their areas and units before the Party and guarantee the mental growth of the rising generations before the country and the revolution.
Noting that if they forget such important mission even a moment, it will leave a vacuum in the brains of the people and break the Party’s ideological front and nothing can make up for such consequences, he said that the Party information workers should take charge of the ideological education among the people, be aware of their important obligations as career revolutionaries guiding the ideological remolding and positively find and use the fresh way and the best method for information work and education.
After analyzing the forms of vivid manifestation of formalism in the Party’s ideological work and their aftermath, he stressed that in order to root out formalism remaining in the sphere of the ideological work, it is necessary to make it an iron rule and strict discipline for the Party ideological field to hold fast to the important contents of the ideological work as intended and distributed by the Party Central Committee and conduct effective ideological work in correlation with each other.
He emphasized that the theoretical education is the first task for inspiring all members of the society with the revolutionary idea of the Party Central Committee.
He said that it is necessary to make the officials, Party members and other working people and rising generations easily realize the essence, structural system and deep contents of the Juche idea, the guiding ideology of our Party, and explain the theory of the Party’s politics in combination with the actual work and life and in a proper and reasonable way so as to make them grasp the Juche idea correctly and theoretically and adopt it as part of their outlook on the world and viewpoint on life.
He noted that the essence of ideological education is the education in the greatness of the Party and the education in the loyalty to it, adding that it would be no more than empty talks to call for modeling the whole society on the monolithic idea without implanting the greatness of the Party in the minds of the officials, Party members and working people and educating them to be faithful to its leadership.
He said that these educations are inseparable, and the aim of implanting the greatness and exploits of the Party and the leaders in the minds of the officials, Party members and working people is to make them regard the loyalty as an article of their faith and conscience. He noted that only when they are impressed by the greatness of the Party and the leaders through their actual life experience and absolutely follow the Party and the leaders, not just based on the explanation of principles, their loyalty will certainly be honest and firm.
He said that it is necessary to conduct the education methodologically so as to help the officials, Party members and working people fully understand the greatness of the Party.
He said that our Party which keeps the people-first principle as its political idea has made all efforts to stabilize and improve the standard of people’s living as soon as possible, adding that even on the harsh conditions, the works for realizing the Party’s long-cherished desire for the people were conducted in a bold way and thus valuable fruitions have been attained and the attention of the Party and the state is focused most preferentially on protecting the people’s interests and promoting their wellbeing.
It is important to provide the people with a happy and highly-civilized life but it is more important to educate them on being thankful for the benefits of the Party and the state sincerely and striving to repay them, he said.
He stressed the importance of effectively conducting the education through revolutionary relics in the ideological education at present.
He said that ideological degeneration originates from oblivion of history and tradition, and a human being is little short of a corpse if he or she is devoid of spiritual mainstay, adding that’s why he prioritizes the education through revolutionary relics and leadership exploits and emphasizes several times that it should never be neglected.
He noted that it can be said that the education through revolutionary relics and Party’s leadership exploits is the roots of our Party’s ideological work and that the ideological education originates from it. He said that the education through revolutionary relics and leadership exploits means the education in the revolutionary traditions and the education in the greatness of the leaders and the education in the loyalty to them.
He stressed that it is necessary to courteously furbish the educational bases including revolutionary museums, rooms where revolutionary relics are exhibited, rooms for the education in the revolutionary history and rooms dedicated to the history of units and always pay close attention to the education through them.
He said that the education in implanting the Party’s leadership exploits associated with one’s field, unit and area in the minds of the people is a crucial task for every Party official, senior Party official in particular, which should be examined and disseminated by them every morning and evening and be reviewed in strong terms by them on a daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. He added that all the Party officials should regard it as their habit and peculiar daily task.
He stressed that it is necessary to conduct the education in patriotism steadily and effectively.
He said it is necessary to make all the people across the country regard patriotism cherished and embodied by Chairman Kim Jong Il all his life as their viewpoint on life, possess the noble ideological and spiritual qualities of a socialist worker and devote themselves to socialist construction with pure and ardent patriotism.
He noted that it is needed to make the people’s daily life the course of nurturing, cherishing and hardening patriotism, adding that the aim of our Party in providing the rising generations with school uniforms, shoes, schoolbags, notebooks and other school things made by our own efforts at the state’s expenses responsibly is to make them feel thankful to the Party and the state from childhood and acquire the nature of valuing their native home, motherland and their own things.
He stressed that the Party information field should understand that the education in patriotism should be neither a lecture nor instillation in any case and only when it helps the people realize and cultivate patriotism in their daily life, can it be possible to train them to be genuine patriots in the era of our state-first principle. He said that it is essential to positively seek the methodology for bringing patriotism closer to the people’s life and work and put it to practical use.
He noted that the Party organizations at all levels should pay attention to preparing various political events with much care and holding them at the highest level so as to make them important occasions for education in patriotism, adding it is an opportunity of great effect to raise the people’s awareness to remain faithful to their duty proper to a citizen for their great motherland shining with the august names of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il and emerging victorious under the leadership of the Party while looking up to the national flag and singing the national anthem.
He said that it is necessary to take initiatives in the education in collectivism in close correlation with the education in class awareness and morality on the principle of helping all members of society overcome individualism and egoism and acquire the ideological and moral qualities befitting a socialist human being.
In the 1950s when the spirit of Chollima was created on the debris after the war, people regarded it as their bounden duty, honor and pride to devote themselves to their work and affairs of the country, overcoming hardships with confidence in the future though they lived in poverty because of tough economic conditions, he noted, saying that such a sound social trait should be carried forward as our peculiar national custom not only for today but also for the future.
Consciousness that anyone can overcome the difficulties encountered and bring about prosperity and happiness when he or she creates wealth of society by industrious efforts at a factory and a worksite should be implanted, he added.
Kim Jong Un stressed the need to concentrate the ideological campaign on anti-socialist and non-socialist practice in a minute way.
Saying that mass oppressive offensive and social struggle atmosphere should be raised continuously and methodologically to beat all kinds of negative phenomena that gnaw away at our revolutionary position and crush them without mercy, he noted that the Party information work is a keystone in sweeping away evil spirits of anti-socialism and non-socialism finding their way into the heads of the people.
Officials in the Party information field should be a skilled physician to timely, quickly and correctly give an accurate diagnosis and proper prescription for alien ideological factors and phenomena and scalpel and remove their cause in time, he said.
He stressed the need to fiercely unleash an information and agitation offensive so as to make the whole country seethe with struggle for achieving a new victory of socialism by implementing the idea and policies of the Party Central Committee.
The 8th Conference of Ideological Workers of the Workers’ Party of Korea put emphasis on building up the Party’s ideological position in the direction of attacking formation, not defensive formation, but the Party information field failed to get down to this work positively while only repeating the words of revolutionary ideological offensive and ideological position of attack formation, he pointed out, saying: Information offensive spreading the idea of the Party Central Committee to the whole country and agitation offensive stirring up a hot wind of implementation of the Party policies should be the inherent nature of the Party’s ideological work.
When the Party Central Committee advances a new fighting programme or policy, the Party information workers exclusively appointed for the post and primary Party information workers should turn out to give lectures and conduct explanatory statement campaign in succession, the media should intensively and consecutively carry articles and programs reflecting the Party policies to foster the atmosphere, and the art squads and groups for agitation for increased production should wage vigorous performing activities for increased production at major sites of socialist construction, he said.
He stressed the need to give priority to the information and inspiration by visual means in the information and publicity work and ensure the political and ideological principles and timeliness.
Revolutionaries of Juche type advocating the theory of giving precedence to ideology should attach importance to the ideological content, when forming a street and building a structure, and make sure that the features of a world-level political power and the spiritual development of our times are retained, he said, adding: Visual means like slogans and watchwords are important information and inspiration means and a lever of the ideological work that can never be neglected. The Party information sector should always bear this in mind.
Inspiring slogans and watchwords directly and impressively reflecting the idea and policies of the Party Central Committee should be displayed everywhere, thus making the whole country a collection of slogans and an education space.
Information and publicity should be the one to evoke sympathy of the masses and stir up their hearts. To this end, it is important to keenly penetrate into the people’s consciousness and mentality and mobilize all the possible means and forces in keeping with circumstances and momentum and steadily improve the forms and methods.
Kim Jong Un detailed the issues of making the whole country seethe with enthusiasm for revolution and struggle by producing many masterpieces suited to the requirements of the new era of change and prosperity in the literature and art field as a whole by bringing about a turn in the film making, an ideological education means of the greatest influence, and making it an initial spark.
He stressed the need to steadily improve the forms and methods of ideological work on the principle of ensuring novel and popular character and raising the cognitive and educational effect.
Saying that the ideological work should be done substantially and deeply, he noted it is the consistent demand of the Party Central Committee that strict vigilance over imitation and repetition should be kept in the Party’s ideological work and strenuous efforts be paid to create new modality and methods suited to the new era.
He said that Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the Party Central Committee, and other newspapers and publications should continue to renovate their styles while carrying many articles helpful to modeling the entire Party and the whole society on the monolithic idea, befitting the guide of ideological revolution, and the TV and radio broadcasting sector which has gained public favor by having recently produced in succession peculiar and fresh programs that give deep impression should further enhance the might of our broadcasting while valuably nurturing the already made successes.
He underscored the need to stir up the wind for creating new and modern means and modes by widely introducing the latest sci-tech achievements into the information and publicity work.
He expounded the ways for conducting the work in the Party information field actively and creatively while stirring up the wind for putting it on a modern and IT basis, including the issue of buckling down to the wide introduction of modern science and technology and other IT means to major forms of the Party ideological work like education, lecture and agitation, regarding it as an essential revolutionary task and the issue of adopting our own style of means and methods of the ideological work in a creative way by reinforcing and putting in motion talents.
Kim Jong Un stressed the need to find out deviations from the Party information field in all aspects and take proper measures to enhance the promptness and effectiveness of the ideological offensive.
He also called on officials in the Party information field to raise their level and capabilities to the maximum to meet the requirement of the revolution, the desire of the times and the expectation of the people.
Those officials specialize in the work of dealing with the thinking of all sorts of people and therefore, they should possess high political awareness and multi-faceted abilities, he said, adding that only when the officials in the Party information field are brought up to be perfect elite elements possessed of high insight and qualifications, is it possible to further strengthen the entire Party politically and ideologically and overcome conventional and stereotyped work style in the ideological work and effect a great turn.
He called on the officials in the Party information field to set examples and create experiences in making all the members of the Party study, mindful of the fact that a main key to bringing about a fundamental change in the Party’s ideological work lies in improving qualifications.
He detailed broad issues ranging from the issue of stirring up the revolutionary study wind throughout the Party and society, especially the issue for the officials in the Party information field to make it a rule to study in a planned and serious way on a regular basis, the issue of establishing the trait of studying the Party’s idea, the actual situation and one’s work while racking one’s brains all the time, the issue for the Party information officials to raise their writing and presentation skills, to the issue of building up the ranks of Party information workers into the well-informed and versatile personnel on the principle of selecting and appointing talents.
He underscored the need to enhance the key role of the Information and Publicity Department of the Party Central Committee in radically improving the Party’s ideological work.
The Information and Publicity Department of the Party Central Committee has to be a control tower of the Party ideological front and put efforts into the work of doing the Party’s ideological work in a tactical way on a long-term basis, he said, adding that it should take preemptive measures and set up the traits of doing all things in a perfect way so as to defend our revolutionary and ideological position.
All the officials in the Information and Publicity Department of the Party Central Committee should raise their awareness as being those in charge of the Party ideological front and carry out tasks entrusted to them on the highest level without any defect in practice.
He also called for establishing the strict discipline in the information field throughout the Party and asked the Party officials to give priority to the ideological work and set up the traits of active cooperation in the information field.
Saying that in our country where the Juche theory of ideology is embodied under the leadership of the Workers’ Party, all the officials should conduct the ideological work and work with people, he noted that they have to motivate the people. He continued that they have to find out and take charge of the work from the stand of sharing responsibilities for defending and consolidating the Party ideological position.
The leading officials of the Party committees at all levels including the provincial, city and county committees should show deep care for the Party information field work ranging from designing and operation to execution, give their positive opinions and take the lead in solving knotty problems and creating examples, from the firm stand of taking full responsibility for the Party ideological work in their regions, sectors and units.
The working traits of the Party committees should be the ones of orientating the overall work of its departments and officials to contributing to carrying out the ideological revolution and embodying the idea-first principle and solving all problems arising in the Party work through coordinated operation with the Information and Publicity Department, he said.
The officials in the Party information field are doing lots of work, in fact, he said. He spoke highly of them, remarking that our Party’s ideological front is being defended thanks to the officials in the information field who render great exertions for the education and ideological transformation of the masses while burning their hearts with the resolution to prove themselves worthy of the expectation of the Party and the people.
Genuine information workers desired by our Party are ardent loyalists who lay down their lives in order to defend the ideology and prestige of the Party, transparent-minded revolutionaries who are only intent on doing the revolution though they might be poorly fed and conscientious and able persons who fulfill the revolutionary tasks by displaying their qualifications and good working traits, rather than exerting their authority, he said, adding that our Party regards it as a great pride and strength to have the ranks made up of tens of thousands of loyal and stalwart Party information workers.
The ideological revolution in the new era will certainly emerge victorious as there are standard-bearers in the ideological front and dependable pillars inspiring the people with the idea and intention of the Party Central Committee while sounding loudly the advance trumpet century after century and generation after generation in the same way it was blown by the anti-Japanese guerrillas and there are the great and faithful people throwing in their lot with the Party to the last, he said. He ardently appealed to all to work hard to bring earlier the new victory of Korean-style socialism on the great strength of ideology, full of courage and confidence.
The important letter sent by the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un to the participants in the first workshop of officials in the information field of the WPK is an inspiring banner that instilled fresh vigor into the ideological front firmly guaranteeing and spurring the advance of the new era of state prosperity, and an immortal programme enabling to open up the new stirring era of the revolution by dint of ideology.
KCNA
