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finally led the former Soviet Union and the countries of central and eastern Europe to ruin to reorganise and revitalise the international communist movement - a cause to which President Kim Il Sung devoted enormous efforts in his last years, comparable, in certain ways, I believe, to the herculean efforts of Lenin to establish and develop the third Communist International. It was during the celebrations of President Kim Il Sung's 80th birthday, in April 1992, that the Workers' Party of Korea took the initiative to prepare and proclaim the historic Pyongyang Declaration, 'Let us defend and advance the cause of socialism', which to date has been signed by more than 220 parties and organisations on the five continents and which has served as a powerful impetus towards communist, working class and anti-imperialist unity on the national, regional and international levels. Beyond these concerns, there are specific reasons why working and other progressive people in Britain have a responsibility to build friendship and solidarity with the Korean people. In the heyday of colonialism, Britain was one of the imperialist powers that committed aggression against and coveted Korea. As part of the build-up to the first imperialist world war, Britain concluded two treaties with Japan in which they pledged support for that country's designs on the Korean peninsula. Emboldened by such support, Japan annexed the ancient Korean nation and subjected its people to a degree of oppression that was so cruel it can accurately be described as a policy and strategy of genocide. Likewise, it was Britain, under both Labour and Conservative governments, that was the most zealous supporter and participant in the US imperialists' war of aggression against the Korean people between 1950 and 1953. Britain remains one of a comparative handful of countries to refuse diplomatic relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. And, at a time when tensions and the danger of war have once

again intensified on and around the Korean peninsula, the British Defence Secretary, the arch-reactionary Michael Portillo, last month visited south Korea in an openly-touted arms selling expedition, an example of mendicant diplomacy as crude as the current attempts to deport the Saudi Arabian democratic political activist, Professor Muhammad al-Masari, to Dominica, where he pledged active British support to the US aggressors and the south Korean puppet regime in the event of another Korean war. Against this sordid record and reality, we have not only our responsibilities, but also a history that can guide and inspire us. Friendship and solidarity with Korea has an honourable place in the history of the advanced sections of the British working class movement. At the time of the Korean War, the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Young Communist League mobilised a vast and active solidarity movement. This took the form of articles in the Daily Worker and other publications, street demonstrations, mobilisation of parliamentary contacts as well as direct action protests in parliament, strikes and, above all, work with members of the armed forces. Comrade Tom Durkin often recalls how he was sacked from his building site job for opposing the Korean War, and how his workmates went on to strike to win his reinstatement. One of the leading members of the British delegation to the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students, which was held in Pyongyang in July 1989, recalls how his grandmother was physically thrown off a troop train by army officers in the north of England as she agitated among the conscripts, calling on them to refuse to go and fight the Korean people. A number of distinguished British citizens braved vilification and danger to visit Korea on solidarity missions at that time - the late Dr Joseph Needham with the World Federation of Scientific Workers, the late Monica Felton with the Womens' International Democratic Federation,

and Jack Gaster, who remains active in progressive politics in his 80s, with the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. Michael Shapiro and Alan Winnington both reported from the front for the Daily Worker. To their great credit, they were branded as "traitors" and stripped of British citizenship, Comrade Shapiro becoming a citizen of the People's Republic of China and Comrade Winnington, a citizen of the former German Democratic Republic, both symbolising, I believe, the real meaning of Marx's statement that working people have no country. Comrade Kim Jong Il, whose 54th birthday falls tomorrow, is not only a leader of the practical movement but also a prominent thinker and theoretician. Over the last years, he has published a number of highly important and thought-provoking works, evoking a great deal of interest not only from the Korean people but among progressive forces worldwide, and dealing both with key topical issues and also profound issues of theory, philosophy and ideology. Among these, one might mention, in particular, 'On the Juche Idea' (1982), 'The Workers' Party of Korea is a Juche-type revolutionary party which inherited the glorious tradition of the Down With Imperialism Union' (1982), 'Let us advance under the banner of Marxism-Leninism and the Juche Idea' (1983), 'Let us march forward dynamically along the road of socialism and communism under the unfurled banner of the anti-imperialist struggle' (1987), 'The Workers' Party of Korea organises and guides all the victories of our people' (1990), 'Our socialism centred on the masses shall not perish' (1991), 'The historical lesson in building socialism and the general line of our party' (1992), 'On the fundamentals of revolutionary party building' (1992), 'Abuses of socialism are intolerable' (1993), 'Socialism is a science' (1994), 'Giving priority to ideological work is essential for accomplishing socialism' (1995), 'The Workers' Party of Korea is the party of the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung' (1995) and 'Respecting

the forerunners of the revolution is a noble moral obligation of revolutionaries' (1995). Thanks to these works, the Korean party and people were prepared for the collapse of the systems set up by modern revisionism, were able to adjust their policies in good time and assist the regrouping of the global socialist forces. As Comrade Kim Jong Il wrote in his most recent article, 'Respecting the forerunners of the revolution is a noble moral obligation of revolutionaries', published in Rodong Sinmun (Workers' Daily), the organ of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, on December 25 1995: "The Korean revolutionaries are genuine internationalists; they respect the revolutionaries, anti-imperialist fighters, anti-fascist fighters, progressive figures and revolutionary people of all countries... "Our party and people respect Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin as the leaders of the working class and speak highly of their distinguished services. Reflecting the demands and aspirations of the working class, Marx and Engels, the first leaders of the working class, developed socialism from a utopian concept to a science and started the socialist and communist movement. Lenin inherited and developed Marxism to meet the change in the times and won the victory of the October Socialist Revolution by organising and mobilising the working class. Stalin, succeeding to the cause of Lenin, built the first young socialist state into a world power and defended the socialist fatherland from the fascist invasion, leading the army and the people. In their days, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin represented the aspirations and demands of the exploited working masses, and the cause of socialism was inseparably linked with their names. The fact that imperialists and the traitors to the revolution viciously defame the leaders of the working class and abuse their

leadership as 'dictatorship' or 'infringement on human rights' only proves that the leaders of the working class were zealous champions of the people's interests and enjoyed their trust and support, and that they were steadfast communist revolutionaries who held fast to the revolutionary principle without compromising with the enemies of the revolution." It is in this same spirit that we view the birthday of Comrade Kim Jong Il - not as an individual or personal matter, but as the symbol of fraternal socialist Korea, representing its independence, dignity and unity, and its contribution to the world struggle. Tonight is an occasion to reaffirm our shared solidarity with our Korean comrades-in-arms and to pledge to rebuild a powerful and effective friendship and solidarity movement, as the CPGB did more than four decades ago. It is in this context, of course, that tonight's celebration is linked to an appeal to help the Korean people in their flood emergency situation. The difficulties faced by the Korean people at present are not simply due to the floods of 1995 and the freak hailstorms of 1994, as devastating as those were, with the 1995 floods being the worst for over a century and causing material damage to the tune of 15 billion US dollars. To this must be added, 45 years of a US blockade, as severe as those imposed on Cuba and Iraq, and which has still only been very partially lifted, and the loss of some 70 per cent of Korea's foreign trade, and of the raw material sources for much of its industries and factories, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and many of its allied countries. More generally, as a Pakistani friend put to me recently: "We know that Korea is a poor country. It has not been sucking the blood of the rest of the world for the last 500 years." The Korean people welcome all humanitarian contributions in their present hour of need, but I am sure they value particularly those from

organisations like the SFK, as well as those made by a number of British trades unions, which are linked by shared class interests. Among the trade union leaders to have taken a sympathetic interest in flood relief in Korea is Bill Morris, General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union, and this is of great significance if we recall the proposal of Comrade Avtar Jouhl of the Indian Workers' Association (IWA GB), made at a Southall public meeting on the very day that President Kim Il Sung's passing away was announced, that we work towards a situation where the cause of Korea, like that of Cuba, can be constructively raised at an annual meeting of the Trades Union Congress (TUC). Following the flood disasters, and the deterioration of the objective situation facing the Korean revolution, the bourgeois media has not surprisingly intensified its anti-Korean, anti-socialist offensive. Regrettably, this even includes some friends with a certain claim to be on the left, such as John Gittings, a former friend of China and Korea, and Victoria Brittan, with an honourable record of solidarity with Cuba and Angola. Last month, these two collaborated in the production of a sensational spread beginning on the frontpage of The Guardian, retailing much of the professional lies and poison currently being spread about socialist Korea. But even such reports found them using such phrases as "awe-inspiring" when it came to describing the self-reliant efforts of the Korean working people to repair and rehabilitate the flood damage. This is the spirit captured in this year's joint New Year editorial of the Korean newspapers, 'Let us advance vigorously in the New Year, Flying the Red Flag'. It states: "Last year, the internal and external situation of our revolution was very rigorous. The imperialists and the reactionaries persistently tried to isolate our Republic, the bastion of socialism, and stamp out the socialist cause. Without the slightest vacillation, however, our party energetically

encouraged the party members and all other working people to fight with indomitable revolutionary spirit, holding aloft the red flag of revolution. Under the leadership of the party, our people redoubled their efforts with firm confidence in the validity of the socialist cause and its victory." Comrades, I believe that that is also the spirit of our meeting tonight and the essence of what we must strive to learn from Comrade Kim Jong Il and the heroic Korean people.

Hugh: I found this document when I was going through some papers - looking for something I didn't find. I bashed it out for bob after repeated pestering by Gail for a Nord-Sud XXI do - I think probably around June last year. I don't know if Bob got it together to read it! • I also can't remember whether I sent it to you at the time. Anyway, I thought it might be worth a read.

To: Bob Parry MP From: Keith Bennett As requested, thoughts on: Point II of Agenda: "Contradictions in the field of human rights" Human rights are today one of the key and essential issues in contemporary politics and today's international society. All governments in the world pay lip service to them and millions of people - young and old, men and women, rich and poor - on all continents belong to, support and are active in campaigning bodies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) concerned with different aspects of this issue. The defence and extension of human rights is an issue on the agenda everywhere - in capitalist and socialist countries; and in both developed and developing countries. However, the key question that I believe this conference needs to highlight is the fact that in today's increasingly interdependent world it is no longer enough - if indeed it ever was - to look at human rights from the vantage point of individual countries alone, as important as this may be. Today more than ever, human rights are a question of international relations. I would like to mention three aspects in which this is the case. First, there is the role of the big powers in installing and propping up repressive regimes that trample human rights, particularly, but not exclusively, in what is often referred to as the "Third World". Alongside this, of course, goes the destabilisation, and where possible the overthrow, of progressive regimes that seek to safeguard the independence of the country and raise the conditions of life of their people from darkness to light. Looking at the western hemisphere alone, we can see that the US CIA has played this murderous game in almost every country without exception - and in certain instances, such as the Dominican Republic, it can be said to have intervened literally scores of times. Certain instances stand out - looking at it on the basis of decades we can recall, the overthrow of the Arbenz government in Guatemala in the 1950s, the overthrow of the Goulart government in Brazil in the 1960s, the overthrow of the Allende government in Chile in the 1970s, the destabilisation of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the 1980s, and the emasculation of the Aristide government in Haiti in the 1990s. Above all, we must not forget the literally hundreds of attempts to murder the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.

-2- Much the same can be said of British imperialism's role in the Middle East, not only historically but also very much in a contemporary context, as witnessed by the role of British security agencies in keeping afloat such reactionary regimes as those of Bahrain and Oman and the 'sleaze' connections that bind leading Tory politicians into a financially lucrative package with just about every feudal remnant on the globe, based on the supply of everything from thumbscrews to prostitutes. Secondly, we need to consider how nominally and formally independent nations are having their sovereignty - economic, political and military - stripped away by multilateral agencies, foremost among them the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, that are actually under the control of the great powers. Through such instruments as the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), governments, particularly in Africa, face acts of diktat forcing them to curtail such social provisions as they may have been able to put in place, abolish subsidies on essential foodstuffs, and slash spending on health care and education. Needless to say, the first victims of such evil policies are those who are the most vulnerable members of any society - women, children, old people, the sick and the poor. Third World governments often find themselves placed in a double vice, as the policies they are compelled to implement lead to the exacerbation of internal contradictions, drawing down on their heads condemnation for human rights failings from the very people who enforced the disastrous policies on them in the first place. Moreover, whilst the demand of the IMF and the World Bank is for unfettered free market policies, the same powers, through the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which has emerged following the renegotiation of the GATT accords, are demanding the imposition of a series of 'social clauses' on Third World economies - of a type that the British Tory government refuses to implement at home - which, in the main, these countries are not yet in a position to observe. It does not require a great deal of imagination to see that this furore over the 'social clause' is not inspired by any genuine concern for Third World workers, women, indigenous peoples or the environment, but rather reflects a desire to hamstring economies such as that of Malaysia, which are managing to break free of the cycle of post- colonial dependency. In other words, it is a case of free trade for whites only. It is thanks to such an internationally dictatorial imposition of the free market model that the posh stores of London and Paris receive cut flowers and exotic vegetables on a daily basis from African countries throughout the year, whilst outside the false, glittering city centres, famine stalks the land.