Politics

Heyday in the era of Workers’ Party

A great heyday in the history of development of a country refers to a period of prosperity and grandeur when the national strength grows more than ever before, epochal events occur in succession and everything goes well in it and so society livens up and the people’s happiness flourishes.

In the 1970s and 1980s when the flames of grand socialist construction were raging in the spirit of Chollima spurred on by the speed campaign in the DPRK, President Kim Il Sung said that as Comrade Kim Jong Il helped him, he was working with ease now and that never before had there been such a time in the history of the WPK when everything went well as much as these days. Such time can be claimed to be an era when our Party thrives, the heyday in the era of the Workers’ Party, he added.

In retrospect, prosperity and development were achieved at the time not because the conditions and environment were particularly good.

At that time, there were signs of socialism degenerating in the world socialist camp and the aggressive moves of the imperialists reached the extremes.

The US imperialists provoked the Panmunjom incident in 1976 and committed nuclear blackmail by dispatching a formation of strategic bombers loaded with nuclear weapons to fly up to the demilitarized zone. Under such unstable and acute circumstances, with what strength the DPRK could open up an era of prosperity and a new heyday?

One day in January 2005, Chairman Kim Jong Il recalled that a historic turn was brought about in the development of the WPK and a great heyday in the era of the Workers' Party was ushered in in all fields of the revolution and construction in the 1970s as he talked about the main characteristics that officials possessed in the period of the succession to the leadership of the Party.

The party of the working class is the general staff of the revolution and the guiding force of society. In socialist society there exists a law that a boost in the party’s leadership ability and fighting efficiency leads to growth of national rejuvenation. The law was fully proved by the 1970s and 1980s, which were recorded as the golden age in the history of the DPRK.

As he had a meaningful talk with the President one day in the fall of 1974, Kim Jong Il said that the country fell short of the national economic plan with the year-end near at hand and that he intended to launch an ideological campaign.

It was his creed that everything could be solved, reserves could be tapped everywhere and a surge in production could be brought about when the people are ideologically motivated.

Finally, under the leadership of the Party, the DPRK people created a new Chollima speed and statistics on the economic growth of the country at that time were carried on the column of the Far East of the UN yearbook, surprising the world.

The people rallied closely around the Party always wins. When the tragic news spread that the food crisis was so acute under the influence of the cold front that 470 million people, or about 10 per cent of the world population, ate only one meal every two days, the farmland of the country reaped a rich harvest. When the torch of comprehensive automation was kindled at the then Hwanghae Iron Works thanks to the grand goal and enormous power of execution of the Party Central Committee, the large long-distance conveyor belt of the Unnyul Mine stretched out to the sea and a 10 000-ton press and large oxygen plant were built by the efforts of the local people, demonstrating the might of the Juche-based industry.

Though the US imperialists staged frantic war exercises every year, the WPK courageously mobilized a large number of military personnel for the construction of the West Sea Barrage and other gigantic nature-remaking projects. They worked a miracle to build the world-leading barrage, which was believed to take the countries with developed industry half a century or even several centuries to build, in only five years.

Buildings can be claimed to be indelible traces left by the times.

Streets and structures mushroomed in the country racing against the time, including Ragwon Street, Changgwang Street, Munsu Street, the Mansudae Art Theatre, the Tower of the Juche Idea, the Arch of Triumph, the Changgwang Health Complex, the Ice Rink, the Grand People’s Study House, Pyongyang Maternity Hospital and May Day Stadium. They were the brilliant fruition of the golden age of Pyongyang brought by Comrade Kim Jong Il.

Therefore, President Kim Il Sung described the miracle created in the golden age of Pyongyang as the one as beautiful as a mirage.

Such an eye-opening miracle, which can be likened to a mirage, a peculiar natural phenomenon worthy of seeing as it is mysterious, beautiful and fascinating, was performed year after year in Pyongyang, the capital of the DPRK, in the era of the speed campaign.

The golden age of Pyongyang was not simply a course of construction. It was a revolution to eliminate all remnants of the obsolete ideologies and provide the people with more plentiful and cultured living conditions.

One day when the 1980s came to a close, Kim Jong Il saw more than 100 photos of the monumental edifices and modern street scenery in Pyongyang. Looking at the photos one by one with deep emotion, he said that there were no precedents for building several modern streets and dozens of monumental structures in 15 years in the history of the construction of the capitals of more than 110 countries of the world and that in the golden age of Pyongyang the DPRK people created a miraculous speed beyond human imagination.

The period of the Renaissance in the 20th century in the DPRK is a synonym for the revolution in art and literature that was carried out under the leadership of the Party.

He planned to stage a revolution in art and literature unprecedented in the history of world art and literature in order to relieve the President of his cares, who said that he was always worried about the work of art and literature and that he would feel relieved for a while if the work in this field was improved.

Under his energetic guidance, a revolution took place in the production of movies, operas and dramas in the DPRK in the course of adapting the immortal classic works created during the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle for various forms of art and literature.

In the period of the revolution in the production of films all parts of the cinematic art, including scriptwriting, direction, acting and shooting, were created in Korean way, and in the years of the revolution in the production of operas and dramas new ground of “The Sea of Blood”-style operas and “The Mountain Shrine”-style dramas was broken.

In that period, five operas of a new form which was fundamentally distinct from the old operas were produced in a little over a year. It was also a miracle.

Along with the sound of gunfire of the revolution in art and literature, the revolution in newspaper, news report, broadcasting and publication took place in succession, the most advantageous universal 11-year compulsory education system was successfully introduced and a large army of technicians and specialists, numbering more than one million, was trained.

Indeed, in the great heyday in the era of the Workers’ Party the slogan “When the Party is determined, we can do anything!” became the spirit and mettle of the DPRK people.

The 13th World Festival of Youth and Students took place in the country, attended by more than 20 000 foreigners including representatives of youth and students from 180 countries and delegates from 64 international and regional organizations, beautifully decorating the 1980s as a “grand oasis of political events” and the “acme of grand festival that human wisdom and intelligence has reached”.

There were times in human history when dramatic social changes were brought about and they were called by many appellations. But never before had there been such an era named after the party, like the great heyday in the era of the Worker’s Party, and such a history of national prosperity created under the leadership of the party.

The WPK will continue to write a new history of the era shining with its noble name and the DPRK will prosper forever under the flag of the Workers' Party.