We can only hope to carry our flag to victory by securing the aid of all those workers every- where who desire to see an effective force carrying the green flag of an Irish regiment whilst unconditionally under the red flag of the proletarian army. (July 4 1914) A free nation is one which possesses absolute control over all its own internal resources and powers, and which has no restriction upon its intercourse with all other nations similarly circumstanced except the restrictions placed upon it by nature. ... A free nation must have complete control over its own harbours, to open them or close them at will, to shut out any commodity, or allow it to enter in, just as it seemed best to suit the well-being of its own people, and in obedience to their wishes, and entirely free of the inter- ference of any other nation. (Feb 12 1916) 48
world over that advocate Chajusong must struggle jointly, in close unity under the revolutionary banner of anti-imperialism and independence. This is the only way to abolish the imperialist world order which is based on unequality and full of contradictions, and to set up a new international relationship based on Chajusong and equality amongst countries and nations. (OJI 23) The communist movement is an independent move- ment of the party and people in every country aimed at doing away with all types of subjugation and inequality and becoming the true masters of their destiny. So there should be neither superior-subordinate relations nor master-servant relations in this movement. Chajusong is the life and soul for every country and people, and no relations of domination and submission, order and obedience could be permitted between them. The Juche idea defined Chajusong as the fundamental principle of the relations between parties and between countries, and thus helped towards a change in the international communist movement and the development of international relations. (OJI 81) James Connolly: Under a socialist system every nation will be the supreme arbiter of its own destinies, national and international; will be forced into no alliance against its will, but will have its independence guaranteed and its freedom respected by the enlightened self-interest of the social democracy of the world. (1898) The internationalism of the future will be based upon the free federation of free peoples, and cannot be realised through the subjugation of the smaller by the larger political unit. (June 10 1911) 47
arms for a real republican liberty. We bespeak for the Provisional Committee the support of all ready to face whatever that fight may entail, in the determination that we shall show the world that, though Redmond may sell Ireland he cannot deliver the goods! (Oct 3 1914) INTERNATIONALISM Kim Jong Il: Chajusong of a party and a state is expressed, after all, in foreign relations. To exercise com- plete sovereignty and equality in foreign rela- tions is fundamental in ensuring political Chaju- song. Sovereignty is an inviolable right of all parties, all countries, and all peoples. There are big and small parties, big and small coun- tries, and economically developed and underdevel- oped peoples in the world, but all parties, all countries and peoples are equal and independent. No one should encroach upon the sovereignty of others and no one should tolerate encroachment on one's sovereignty. Chajusong is not in conflict with internation- alism but is the basis of its strengthening. Just as the world revolution is inconceivable without the revolution in one's own country, internation- alism divorced from Chajusong cannot exist. As a matter of principle, internationalist solidarity must be based on freedom of choice and equality. Only when it is founded on Chajusong will inter- nationalist solidarity become based on free choice and equality and become genuine and durable. (OJI 43-44) 46 All countries, all nations, and peoples the
of socialists allowing themselves to be used in the slaughter of their brothers in the cause. A great continental uprising of the working class would stop the war; a universal protest at public meetings will not save a single life from being wantonly slaughtered. (Aug 15 1914) If ever you shoulder a rifle, let it be for Ireland. ... You have been told you are not strong, that you have no rifles. Revolutions do not start with rifles; start first and get your rifles after. Our curse is our belief in our weakness. We are not weak, we are strong. Make up your mind to strike before your opportunity goes. (Sept 5 1914) The independent elements are everywhere as- serting themselves, and there has already devel- oped a fierce fight to prevent the Irish Volun- teers being -- as Mr Redmond intended -- handed over to the War Office. Up to the time of writing, the Provisional Committee of the Irish Volunteers has stood firm. They have refused the offer of the War Office to supply officers to the Irish Volunteers, and insisted upon being officered by men of their own choosing under their own control, and they have stated that they prefer to buy and own their own arms rather than get them from Lord Kitchener and know that they are subject to his recall. ... It is feared that ... the British Government would commandeer the foodstuffs of Ireland. ... It is determined on all hands that should this be done resistance will be offered, and the export of this food fought against even to the extent of armed resistance. (Sept 5 1914) For some of us the finish may be on the scaf- fold, for some in the prison cell, for others more fortunate upon the battlefields of an Ireland in 45
cades all over Europe, to break up bridges and destroy the transport service that war might be abolished, we should be perfectly justified in following such a glorious example and contributing our aid to the final dethronement of the vulture classes that rule and rob the world. ... We must consider at once whether it will not be our duty to refuse to allow agricultural produce to leave Ireland until provision is made for the Irish working class. Let us not shrink from the consequences. This may mean more than a transport strike, it may mean armed battling in the streets to keep in this country the food for our people. But what- ever it may mean it must not be shrunk from. It is the immediately feasible policy of the working- class democracy, the answer to all the weaklings who in this crisis of our country's history stand helpless and bewildered crying for guidance, when they are not hastening to betray her. Starting thus, Ireland may yet set the torch to a European conflagration that will not burn out until the last throne and the last capitalist bond and debenture will be shrivelled on the funeral pyre of the last war lord. (Aug 8 1914) Believing as I do that any action would be justified which would put a stop to this colossal crime now being perpetrated, I feel compelled to express the hope that ere long we may read of the paralysing of the internal transport service on the continent, even should the act of paralysing necessitate the erection of socialist barricades and acts of rioting by socialist soldiers and sailors, as happened in Russia in 1905. Even an unsuccessful attempt at social revolution by force of arms, following the paralysis of the economic life of militarism, would be less disastrous to the socialist cause than the fact 44
ate in. Not a mere passive defence of a position valueless in itself, but the active defence of a position whose location threatens the supremacy or existence of the enemy. The genius of the commander must find such a position, the skill of his subordinates must prepare and fortify it, the courage of all must defend it. Out of this com- bination of genius, skill and courage alone can grow the flower of military success. (July 24 1915) COUNTER THE IMPERIALIST WAR OF AGGRESSION WITH THE WAR OF LIBERATION Kim Jong Il: As the leader said, we do not want war, nor are we afraid of it, nor do we beg peace from the imperialists. The best way to preserve national independence and peace and win the revolutionary cause is to counter the imperialist war of agg- ression with the war of liberation, answer the counter-revolutionary violence of reaction with revolutionary violence, and always meet the imperialist moves of aggression and war in full preparedness. (OJI 50) James Connolly: The signal of war ought also to have been the signal for rebellion. ... When the bugles sounded the first note for actual war, their notes should have been taken as the tocsin for social revo- lution. (March 1915) Should the working class of Europe, rather than slaughter each other for the benefit of kings and financiers, proceed tomorrow to erect barri- 43
men, and only hazarded an engagement when he considered that his army was made. (June 19 1915) In the military sense of the term what after all is a street? A street is a defile in a city. A defile is a narrow pass through which troops can only move by narrowing their front, and there- fore making themselves a good target for the enemy. A defile is also a difficult place for soldiers to manoeuvre in, especially if the flanks of the defile are held by the enemy. A mountain pass is a defile the sides of which are constituted by the natural slopes of the mountain sides, as at the Scalp. A bridge over a river is a defile the sides of which are con- stituted by the river. A street is a defile the sides of which are constituted by the houses in the street. ... The fortifying of a strong building, as a pivot upon which the defence of a town or village should hinge, forms a principal object of the prepara- tions of any defending force, whether regular army or insurrectionary. ... A mountainous country has always been held to be difficult for military operations owing to its passes or glens. A city is a huge maze of passes or glens formed by streets and lanes. Every difficulty that exists for the operation of regular troops in mountains is multiplied a hundredfold in a city. And the difficulty of the commissariat which is likely to be insuperable to an irregular or popular force taking to the mountains, is solved for them by the sympathies of the populace when they take to the streets. The general principle to be deducted from a study of the example we have been dealing with, is that the defence is of almost overwhelming importance in such warfare as a popular force like the Citizen Army might be called upon to particip- 42
to fight in Ireland for Ireland, instead of on the Continent for England. Such insurrectionary warfare would be conducted upon lines and under conditions for which text books made no provision. In short, it means barricades in the streets, guerrilla warfare in the country. To all who are prepared to face that ordeal rather than shed their blood for the tyrant and exploiter we appeal to join our Citizen Army. We propose to make that force the best equipped ment- ally in Ireland. We want no parade ground sold- iers. We want young men prepared to die for Freedom in Ireland. (Oct 24 1914) [The Moscow insurrection of 1905] succeeded in establishing the fact that even under modern conditions the professional soldier is, in a city, badly handicapped in a fight against really deter- mined civilian revolutionists. (May 29 1915) [Insurrection in the Tyrol in 1809:] Being compelled to come close in before opening fire the regular soldiery lost their chief advantage over the insurgents and were deprived of the ad- vantages conferred by discipline and efficient control by skilled officers. (June 5 1915) The defence of the Alamo was one of those defeats which are often more valuable to a cause than many loudly trumpeted victories. It gave spirit and bitterness to the Texan forces, and more important still gave time to their comrades elsewhere. Fortunately for their cause also they had in Houston a general who recognised that the act of keeping an insurgent force in the field was in itself so valuable an establishment of the revolutionary position that it gave all the functions and prestige of government. Hence he kept his force in the field without fighting as long as possible, despite the murmurs of his 41