KIM IL SUNG: On the Establishment of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Question of Founding the Workers' Party of South Korea

Date: September 26, 1946

Source: Kim Il Sung: Selected Works, Vol. I, pp. 102-120

Transcription: Victor Barraza

HTML Markup: Salil Sen, 2008

Public Domain : Marxists Internet Archive (2008). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit "Marxists Internet Archive" as your source.

The foundation of the Workers' Party representing and defending the interests of the labouring masses of Korea through the merger of the Communist Party and the New Democratic Party is the greatest event in the political life of our people at the present time. This great event has aroused profound social interest and focused the attention of the entire people.

We have triumphantly completed the foundation of a unified Party of the labouring masses in north Korea.

In south Korea, however, the activities of those people who are sincerely striving for the merger of the Parties, are obstructed and the merger has not yet taken place owing to the divisive activities of those who are opposed to the merger and unity. The divisive activities of those who are against the merger are supported by the reactionary Right-wing camp.

As was expected, the reactionary forces has come all out to frustrate the merger of the democratic political parties of the working people. U.S. imperialism and its lackeys smuggled their spies into these parties to rig up the so-called "opposition groups" and cause unprincipled disputes and factional strifes in an attempt to split the democratic forces.

The criminal acts of the factionalist have caused a waste of time which is most precious for the liberation movement and created favourable conditions for the reactionary forces. This is precisely the basic cause of the delay in the merger of the Parties in south Korea.

We cannot on any account overlook the fact that the merger of the Parties is retarded in south Korea nor can we tolerate the double-dealing attitude of the factionalists. For only the unity and cohesion of the democratic forces throughout Korea is the prerequisite to the building of a new, genuinely democratic Korea and constitutes the most important guarantee of the political, economic, and cultural development of our country.

We can attain victory only if we have a correct understanding and make a politically right assessment of this matter. For this purpose we must correctly grasp the following questions:

(1) What has happened in north and south Korea in the one year after liberation of the Korean people from the Japanese imperialist yoke of slavery, and what is the difference between them?

(2) Why is it that the merger of the political parties of the working people into a single party, the Workers' Party, and the unity of the entire working people are the most important, inevitable and undelayable task in the political life of our country at the present stage?

What are the tasks of the unified Workers' Party?

(3) What do the opponents of unity want and whither do they try to lead the Korean people?

(4) What, in the final analysis, are the immediate tasks at the present stage?

(1)

One year has already passed since Korea was liberated from the colonial rule of Japanese imperialism. Great changes have taken place in the political, economic and cultural life in north Korea in this short span of time.

In the past year we have laid a solid foundation for developing Korea along truly democratic lines and building a People's Republic by carrying out the great democratic reforms.

Our people who took power into their own hands, have come to enjoy democratic rights and liberties never known at any period in the history of our country. This can be seen from the fact that the entire people take an active part in political life, and it is also graphically shown in the social composition of the people's committees.

The composition of the people's committee membership now active in north Korea is as follows :

Workers                 —         5.7%

Peasants                 —         71.8%

Office employees   —         15.8%

Handicraftsmen     —         2.1%

Tradesmen             —         4.6%

The people's committees, incorporating representatives of the broad masses of the people as seen above, strive to guard the interests of the people, maintaining close ties with them. All policies and activities of the people's committees are aimed, first of all, at the democratic development of our country and the enhancement of the well-being of the broad masses of the people.

In carrying out its policies, the people's committee relies on the firm unity and the democratic united front of all the political parties and social organizations. This united front embraces more than 6 million people from all walks of life. This covers nearly all the adult population of north Korea.

Before long the people in north Korea will elect people's committee members in accordance with the democratic Election Law. The forthcoming election will further extend and strengthen our people's power and the democratic forces united around it.

In this manner, the people's committees were set up on the strength of the broad masses of the people, and they have elevated the political zeal of the entire people in north Korea, thereby inducing them to take an active part in the building of a new, democratic Korea.

Already in March this year, the agrarian reform was carried out in the rural areas of north Korea, bringing about a radical change in production relations. The agrarian reform dealt a decisive blow to the landlord class, the most reactionary class in Korea, wiping out its economic base. The peasantry was freed from feudal exploitation and oppression and became the master of land, which had been their centuries-old aspiration. The peasants have not only come to work the land as their own land which was distributed free by the people's committee, but also have got rid of the system of exorbitant forced delivery of farm produce plus all kinds of exacting taxes and levies extorted from them in the years of Japanese imperialism and have become free to dispose of their farm produce after delivering only 25 per cent of the harvests as tax in kind. As a result, the peasants' zeal for production has risen as never before and our agriculture which had been stagnant for a long time has embarked upon the course of rapid progress.

Last August the Provisional People's Committee of North Korea proclaimed the law on the nationalization of industrial, transport and communications facilities and banks which had been owned by the Japanese imperialists, pro-Japanese elements and traitors to the nation. With this we have brought under national ownership, ownership of the entire people, the backbone of the economy which constitutes the material basis for building a fully independent and democratic state.

In June this year, the Provisional People's Committee of North Korea promulgated the Labour Law freeing factory and office workers from harsh, colonial-type exploitation and introducing the eight-hour working day and a social insurance system. And a law was passed to guarantee the women social rights equal to those of the men for the first time in the history of our country.

Besides, the Provisional People's Committee of North Korea abolished the former system of colonial slave education, established a democratic educational system, and took measures to rapidly rehabilitate and develop the national culture and arts.

Last year boys and girls attended 2,387 primary schools and 91 middle schools, and 126 middle schools have been built anew this year. These figures show that the number of schools has increased by far as against the years of Japanese imperialist rule. Not only that, a university of the people has been built in no more than a year after liberation and now a teacher's training college and a medical college are now in process of establishment, whereas there was not a single university in north Korea under Japanese imperialist rule, and 30 various new specialized technical schools are under construction around the major factories. At all schools lessons are given in the Korean language and over 50 types of textbooks have already been prepared and published in our language.

Over 8,000 adult schools were opened last year to eliminate illiteracy among persons beyond school age and provide them with general education. Besides, 83 theatres and cinema houses are in operation, 717 libraries have been set up and more than 30 newspapers are published in north Korea.

The people's committees have done a great deal of work to improve the material and cultural life of the masses of the people and to ensure their political rights. In north Korea the democratic political parties and such social organizations as the trade unions, the Peasants' Union, the Youth League, the Women's Union and the Arts Federation have been organized, with the result that the masses of the people freely participate in political life. The people are assured all political rights and complete freedom of speech, the press, assembly and association.

With the carrying out of the great democratic reforms a radical change took place in the socio-economic basis and the positions of all classes and strata in north Korea.

The enforcement of the Law of Nationalization of Industries has wiped out the foundation of Japanese imperialist colonial rule and deprived the traitors to the nation who had collaborated with Japanese imperialism of their economic footholds. The landlords whose land was confiscated were liquidated as a class once and for all. Thus, all the forces that had oppressed and exploited the Korean people hand in glove with Japanese imperialism, were deprived of their economic footholds and politically liquidated.

Meanwhile, the people's committees protect the property of the national capitalists and encourage the business activities of individual entrepreneurs and traders. They provide all the entrepreneurs and traders who support the democratic reforms and are ready to contribute to the improvement of the people's livelihood with possibilities for having a share in the important economic branches like industry and trade, and assist them in every way. In this manner, we ensure free business activities to entrepreneurs and traders and, at the same time, enlist and utilize all available capital for the development of the national economy.

Our working class that had been subjected to the most barbaric exploitation under Japanese imperialist rule, has now acquired the right to work at the state enterprises which have come under the people's ownership, and works for the people and society. The workers have won all rights and possibilities to take part in the state political life. Our working class constitutes the core of the democratic forces in north Korea, and its organization and its politico-ideological level are quickly rising.

Our peasants have also been freed from the feudal exploitation of the landlords and are able to work freely on the land which has come into their possession. The peasants who have become masters of land are taking an active part in the building of an independent democratic state and their political enthusiasm is running ever higher.

The positions of the intelligentsia have also changed. The absolute majority of our intellectuals have closely united with the entire working people. No longer our intellectuals serve Japanese imperialism and the exploiters as before, but are working with all loyalty for their state, nation, and working people. They regard the interests of the state and the people as their own. This means that their views and ideas have changed and that they are resolved to work with all devotion for the country and the people.

All these changes have further strengthened the political unity of the workers, peasants and working intellectuals. Their united strength is the basis of the National Democratic United Front in the struggle for building a new Korea and, at the same time, constituted the unshakeable foundation for the merger of the Communist Party and the New Democratic Party into a unified party of the toiling masses.

The establishment of the Workers' Party through the merger of the two parties is of tremendous historical significance in expanding and strengthening the democratic forces and promoting democratic construction in our country.

A party is the advanced detachment of a class defending its interests and fighting for the realization of its demands and aspirations. The Communist Party as the advanced detachment of the working class has fought in behalf of the interests of the working class. The New Democratic Party was active as a party defending primarily the interests of the peasants and the working intellectuals. Thus, the Communist Party and the New Democratic Party represented the interests of different classes; nevertheless, they fought under a common programme since their inception. This can be explained by the fact that the workers, peasants and working intellectuals are all labouring masses and their interests are identical.

The working class gave active support and assistance in carrying out the agrarian reform. It is because they were fully aware that agriculture could be developed at a fast tempo only when the feudal tenant system was abolished and the peasants were freed from bondage to the landlords, and that without the development of agriculture neither industry could advance nor the prosperity and development of the country and improvement of the people's welfare could be achieved.

The peasants actively supported the Law on Nationalization of Industries and the Labour Law, for they knew that unless the economic footholds of Japanese colonial rule and the residue of the cruel, colonial-type forced labour were removed, industry could not be developed and this, after all, would also prevent the development of agriculture.

Our intellectuals were also aware that the execution of the democratic reforms was in full accord with their vital interests, and so participated in it with keen interests.

Thus, the common interests of the workers, peasants and working intellectuals determined the common goals and tasks of the Communist Party and the New Democratic Party and furnished the basis for the common struggle of the two Parties for the independence and democratization of the country. That is why the two Parties, actively supporting the people's committee, waged a common struggle for carrying out the democratic reforms including the agrarian reform and nationalization of industries.

Owing to such common features and interests the two Parties have merged into a single party-the Workers' Party.

The greater success the democratic movement gains and the farther our society advances in the future, the closer the unity of the workers, peasants and working intellectuals will become and the stronger the unity and cohesion of the Workers' Party established through the merger of the two Parties will grow. Thus, the foundation of the Workers' Party marks an event of great historical and political significance in strengthening the unity and cohesion of the working people and further developing our country. The Workers' Party as the advanced detachment of the labouring masses of Korea-the workers, peasants and working intellectuals-will lead the entire people to the complete independence and sovereignty of the country and the final victory of democracy.

Our Party, however, is not the one and only Party existing in our country. From this arises the question of mutual relations with other parties and other classes.

Our Party gives active support to the democratic demands of the Chongu Party, and closely co-operates with it in order to advance together in step with it. The Chongu Party, in spite of its religious characteristics, can advance hand in hand with our Party for Korea's independence and democracy.

As for the Democratic Party that represents the interests of part of the intellectuals and the traders and entrepreneurs, our Party will likewise support its democratic programme. For the rapid rehabilitation of the national economy, we encourage the business activities of the national capitalists and actively draw the traders and entrepreneurs into democratic construction.

In this way our Party has waged and is waging a common struggle in unity with all the democratic political parties. We must maintain closer ties with members of the Chongu Party and the Democratic Party and unite with them more firmly under the banner of democracy, thereby steadily expanding and strengthening the National Democratic United Front.

Our Party is now confronted with weighty and complex tasks. To carry out these tasks successfully it is necessary, first of all, to consolidate the successes gained in the merger of the Parties and strengthen and develop our young Party organizationally and ideologically.

We must by all means bring the lines and strategic and tactical policies of the Party home to all its membership and arm the entire Party with the scientific Marxist-Leninist theory and throughgoing revolutionary ideas. Thus, we must make each Party member a conscious revolutionary fighter who struggles most courageously for the freedom and happiness of the people, and must turn our Workers' Party into the steel-strong, core detachment of all the patriotic, democratic forces.

The actual situation in south Korea is fundamentally different from that in north Korea. There the U.S. military government, having seized all power, oppresses the Korean people, and the introduction of democratic reforms is quite inconceivable.

Some people think that south Korea merely lags behind north Korea. This is an utterly wrong viewpoint implying that south Korea, too, is advancing along the road to democracy, only at a little slower tempo than north Korea. In reality, north Korea is advancing along the road of democratic development, whereas south Korea is moving along an entirely different course.

The indicator by which to tell democracy from pseudo-democracy lies in whether the people can participate in the state administration or not. And the south Korean people are denied the right to participate in government. They have not the slightest elementary democratic rights.

The people's committees set up by the south Korean people immediately after liberation were not recognized and, worse still, they were dissolved and their functionaries were arrested and thrown into jail. The democratic political parties, deprived of the freedom of political activities, are forced to go underground.

It is the Communist Party of all democratic political parties that is waging the most determined struggle for the freedom and independence of the country and happiness of the working people. This is a hard fact admitted by all conscientious people of Korea. And how have the U.S. imperialists and their lackeys who are obstructing the democratic independence and sovereignty of Korea dealt and are dealing with the Communist Party of South Korea? Those villains have arrested, imprisoned and murdered large numbers of the leading cadres and members of the Communist Party and banned its organ Haebang-ilbo. To lower the prestige of the Communist Party in the eyes of the masses of the people, the reactionaries have fabricated the so-called forged-note case and staged a farcical trial for it; they have framed the so-called "Right-Left collaboration" plot in an attempt to isolate the Communist Party.

Not only the members of the Communist Party but also those of the People's Party and the New Democratic Party are subjected to suppression and persecution. The reactionaries persecuted Mr. Ryo Un Hyong, the leader of the People's Party, and went so far as to attempt to strangle him in their brigandish violence.

The reactionaries are perpetrating barbarous acts-suspending democratic publications, arresting a large number of members of the democratic political parties, forming terrorist bands to murder patriots in the streets in broad daylight and so on. The terrorist acts of the reactionaries grow more violent with every passing day and their suppression of the democratic forces becomes still more outrageous.

The persecution of the working class, in particular, has reached extremes. See the massacre in Kwangju of last August 15! With tanks, planes, machine guns and bayonets the Yankees attacked over 1,000 workers of the Hwasun Colliery who were marching towards the city of Kwangju to attend the mass meeting in honour of the anniversary of August 15, killing one and wounding 109 seriously or lightly. With a cruel fact this is! There have taken place tens and hundreds of cases of atrocities of this type committed by the enemy, which are sternly condemned by the whole nation. This is precisely the so-called "democratic order" of the Syngman Rhee clique and this is the "humanitarian assistance" to Korea which the Americans are advertising loudly.

The land problem has not been solved at all in south Korea. The peasants are subjected to merciless exploitation by the landlords and suffer from all kinds of exacting levies and the forced delivery of farm products as in the Japanese imperialist years. The only change, if any, is the transfer to the Korean squires of the land owned by the Japanese landlords and the replacement of the "Oriental Development Company" of Japanese imperialism by the "New Korea Company" of U.S. imperialism.

Far from enforcement of a labour law, the workers are exploited more harshly than ever before and are suffering from unemployment and hunger. The industrial establishments which were owned by Japanese imperialists and the traitors to the nation, far from being nationalized, have rather turned into means for the pro-Japanese stooges and profiteers to line their pockets greedily.

The women, far from emancipation, find themselves in an indescribably wretched plight.

All facts thus irrefutably prove that the goings-on in south Korea are totally different from the developments in north Korea. A firm basis of democracy for the people has been laid in north Korea, whereas the traitorous Syngman Rhee clique with the undisguised backing of the U.S. military government are openly pursuing an anti-popular, anti-democratic policy in south Korea. They are scheming to set up a reactionary ruling machine which, while hanging out the signboard of "democracy," aims, to all intents and purposes, at oppressing the entire Korean people.

In this grave situation, the primary task of our nation and the entire working people is to unite and unite.

Then, what kind of unity do we advocate? Though there are varied arguments about it, the unity we advocate is a unity based on the interests of the toiling masses, namely, the interests of the workers, peasants and working intellectuals. There can be genuine unity only when it is based on this correct principle.

Contrary to this, both the "Right-Left collaboration" pursued by the reactionary clique in south Korea under the manipulation of the U.S. military government and the "unity" with the traitorous Right-wing forces sought after by the Rightist elements in the Left-wing camp are all anti-popular "unity" detrimental to the interests of the labouring masses and the entire people. Such "unity" is a "unity" pandering to the activities of the reactionary groups. We do not need "unity" of this kind.

Genuine democrats must wage an uncompromising struggle against the attempts to forge "unity" of this kind. For such a "unity" will undermine the democratic forces, help the reactionaries and hamper the democratization of Korea.

The factionalists and anti-Party elements who have sneaked into the democratic political parties are noising abroad as if the "unity" they are pleading is for the good of the country and the people; but it is, to all intents and purposes, an act profiting the enemy, which will break up the working masses and help the U.S. imperialists and the traitorous clique.

We call for such unity of the toiling masses as can meet the democratic demands of the workers, peasants and working intellectuals. All democrats must wage a resolute struggle for genuine unity to safeguard the interests of the labouring masses.

The fact that the Communist Party and the New Democratic Party merged and developed into the Workers' Party in north Korea has exerted influence to induce a similar movement for merger in south Korea, too. The initiator of the movement was the leadership of the People's Party; it proposed the merger to the Communist Party and the New Democratic Party on its own initiative. Though more than one month has already passed since the proposal was put forth, the movement has failed to proceed successfully as yet.

The broad segments of the labouring masses in south Korea, aware of the need for unity, are strongly demanding it. Many social organizations in south Korea, for instance, have adopted resolutions calling for the unity of the parties of the working people. The resolutions adopted by the National Council of Trade Unions and the National Confederation of Peasants' Associations point out that the entire memberships of the two organizations unreservedly support the merger. Besides, the joint statement issued by the Central Committee of the Culture and Arts Federation, the National Women's Union, the Co-operative Committee, the Democratic Youth League, etc., stresses that they condemn those who are bent on divisive manoeuvres in opposition to unity and that they are given unqualified support to the merger of the three Parties.

The functionaries in the lower bodies of the Communist Party, People's Party and New Democratic Party and all their members, realizing the necessity of merging the three Parties, have actively come out for its early materialization.

The merger movement developing on such a mass scale is of tremendous significance. The movement shows that the merger of the three Parties is the most urgent question at the present stage and represents the unanimous demand of the broad masses. All democrats must duly heed this mass demand.

Meanwhile, a preparatory committee for the merger of the Parties was set up in south Korea, and it has drawn up and made public the draft programme for the merger. This is a democratic programme, a programme that is correct in principle. We give an unreserved approval to this programme.

The question of merger, however, has not yet been solved, and, considering the whole situation, its solution is likely to be much delayed. What is obstructing the accomplishment of this important task?

It is the difficulties created by the hostile activities and subversive plots of the reactionaries supported by the U.S. military government. The reactionaries, manipulated by the U.S. military government, are making every vicious attempt to frustrate the merger. They are brutally persecuting the leaders of the democratic Left-wing political parties and social organizations, and have wantonly suspended or banned progressive publications in south Korea.

Along with this, another main cause of the retarded merger is the factional acts of the anti-Party elements who are manoeuvring within the Parties which are to be amalgamated. An anti-Party group has appeared within the Central Committee of the Communist Party of South Korea. Six anti-Party elements who belong to the group insist that although they themselves agree to the merger, it should necessarily be approved at a Party Congress. They argue that a merger without the approval of the Party Congress They argue that a merger without the approval of the Party Congress is a violation of the democratic principles of the Party. Upon what grounds do they charge that the democratic principles of the Party are being violated?

In north Korea the merger proceeded in general along the following course. Namely, the question of merger was decided at the Central Committee of the New Democratic Party at first, and then at the Central Committee of the Communist Party. After that, the question was discussed and decided at a Joint Enlarged Meeting of the Central Committees of the Two Parties, and the draft Programme and Rules of the Workers' Party and the Declaration on the merger were submitted to the lower organizations of both Parties for discussion. Following the discussions at the lower organizations of the Parties, the conferences of the provincial, city and country Party organizations elected delegates to the Inaugural Congress of the Workers' Party. Thus, the merger of the two Parties was finally decided at the Inaugural Congress of the Workers' Party attended by the delegates from both Parties.

Do the anti-Party factionalists think that this way of solving the question runs counter to the democratic principles?

If the anti-Party group had had a truly close link with the masses and paid deep attention to their opinions, it would not have committed the grave anti-Party mistake. If the anti-Party group is really conversant with the democratic principles and respects them, why does it not pay heed to the demand of the Party members and the toiling masses who earnestly desire to fuse the Parties quickly without missing the chance and without delay, in the serious situation of reaction prevailing in south Korea? This only proves that the factionalists have got too far out of touch with the masses. Therefore, their anti-Party acts amount, in the final analysis, to opposing the merger itself and helping the reactionaries in their divisive operations, whether by design or not.

These actions of the anti-Party group are doubtlessly attributable to sheer position-seeking. And position-seeking helps the reactionaries and disorganizes the parties of the labouring masses from within. So, the expulsion of the anti-Party elements by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of South Korea is a correct measure. Otherwise, the revolutionary ranks would be torn asunder.

Similar anti-Party elements are found within the People's Party and the New Democratic Party as well. The factionalists in these Parties, like attracting like as fellow factionalists, have gone to the extent of scheming to cook up a separate "Workers' Party."

But no matter how viciously the factionalists might try by means of sophistry, tricks and schemes, the party which they are seeking to organize could not be a militant party for the labouring masses but would only become a party of compromise with the reactionary Rightist elements and traitors.

It is said that the factionalists have even drawn up a programme for "unity" and a programme for organizing the "Workers' Party." But no matter how much they might embellish their programmes, the anti-Party elements cannot conceal the fact that they are helping the reactionaries and only pursing their dirty ends.

The factionalists have perhaps forgotten that the separatists making up the minority who act in an unprincipled way against the majority who act in an unprincipled way against the majority will eventually go over to the side of the traitors to the nation and the enemies of the people.

Besides, some members of the democratic parties are standing in the way of the merger because they fail to have a principled, correct understanding of the need for it. For instance, some elements maintain that the present merger is momentary and temporary. What sort of temporariness are they ever talking about? This is quite a wrong view.

A party, whatever party it may be, cannot hope for eternal existence. Because a party is not a party for its own sake, but a weapon necessary for achieving the aims of a certain class.

And it is clear to everybody that the Communist Party, the People's Party and the New Democratic Party are parties of the working people with common aims. What are the aims which the labouring masses of Korea are struggling for today? They aim to establish a unified, democratic provisional government in Korea at an early date, effect throughgoing democratic reforms in south Korea, too, as in north Korea, expand and consolidate the democratic victories already gained, and build the rich and strong, fully independent and sovereign democratic state that is required by the Korean people. And even winning victory in this battle, our working people must join in a struggle for a better future. This historic cause of the Korean workers, peasants and working intellectuals and their common interests determine the common tasks of the parties of the labouring masses, provide the possibility for and raise the necessity of their merger and unity. This being the case, how can it be said that the merger of the parties of the working people could be momentary and temporary?

And certain people say that unity is impossible because of the difference between the Programmes of the Parties.

If so, does the Programme of the People's Party tally with those of the reactionary Right-wing parties? No. The Programme of the People's Party is poles apart from those of reactionary Right-wing parties and contrasts fundamentally with them. Then, what does it mean that certain elements, shoving aside the question of merging the parties of the labouring masses, insist on the so-called "Right-Left collaboration" and go so far as to hold consultations on it? What could their idea be when they say it is impossible to merge the democratic parties with their programmes in common, while maintaining that it is possible to collaborate with the reactionary political parties whose programmes totally differ from theirs, with nothing in common between them? The intention of those whose say so is, in a word, nothing but to desert the democratic Left-wing camp and go over to the anti-popular, anti-democratic, reactionary Right-wing camp.

True, there exist some differences between the programmes of the democratic political parties, but their programmes have more common and coincidental points. These common points provide them with the possibility of waging a joint struggle against the common enemy and uniting into one for accomplishing the same goals. Must we fight and beat the reactionaries by swiftly achieving the unity of the parties of the working people based on common aims and interests? Or else, must we be crushed by the enemy by operating separately and scatteredly? To this question everybody will answer with one voice that the merger of the Parties is the only correct solution.

All democrats, truly mindful of the interests of the labouring masses, must overcome the intrigues and obstructions set up by the reactionary forces, expose and crush the divisive actions of the position-seekers, self-seekers and factional elements, and awake some of their Party members who do not yet have a correct understanding of the merger, thereby completing the works of merging the Parties with concerted efforts in a short span of time.

*         *         *

United, we stand; divided, we fall.

The independence and sovereignty of Korea on democratic lines can be achieved at an early date only if the labouring masses are united as one and all the democratic forces are knit together.

The establishment of a unified party of the labouring masses is a decisive guarantee for accelerating the expansion and strengthening of the democratic forces and for assuring the triumph of democracy. This has been confirmed by the experience in north Korea where the fusion of the Communist Party and the New Democratic Party has been realized with triumph in a short period of time.

Let us concentrate all efforts on the struggle for the unity of the labouring masses and the formation of a mass party in south Korea!

Victory belongs to the Korean people who aspire to unity, national independence and democracy. Let us all march forward confidently to victory!