Today, it becomes as a common concern in the world arena irrespective of the countries and nations to review the past history of different paths in order to find the most reasonable way ahead.
To have correct understanding of the main orientation of the development of history is of weighty importance in making a right appraisal of today's history, choosing definite goal in the struggle for the future, making an optimistic judgement, employing a scientific method and conducting a positive activity.
The specific processes of the human development are diverse and there have been conflicting opinions of its orientation.
If the development of history is considered in close relationship with the destiny of the popular masses, the great social collective, its main orientation that is latent in different incidents and events must be discovered.
The great leader Comrade
"The history of human society is the history of the struggle of the popular masses to defend and realize independence." ("On the Juche Idea", pamphlet, page 18)
Human history is advancing continuously.
Existentialism which pervaded the capitalist world as a fashionable trend of thought in the period of before and after the World War II has defined that the uneasiness and despair from the self-consciousness of death were the inherent mental state of human being that is inevitable. If all people living in history give up their future and regard pessimism and the degeneration of life as their destined life, the conclusion is that the retrogression of history, too, is inevitable.
There may come twists and turns but history advances drawing lessons from them. The fact that mankind has grown to be an astonishing force, constantly making the future as their own will prove the advance of history.
When we attach importance to the fact that the human history is advancing, there comes a question of what is the main orientation to the future.
The main orientation of the development of history must be determined by the popular masses, because everything in society is created and history advances by dint of the popular masses. The popular masses do never accidentally meddle in all the events propelling the development of history but give rise to such events from their own intrinsic requirement and desire. Any social act harming the popular masses, without exception, should face powerful opposition and should go to ruin. A criterion for evaluating the capacity of the social development is the popular masses' desire and how much it is prepared for materializing its desire. All the social movement is, irrespective of their forms, scale and motive, arises and develops by the efforts of the popular masses themselves.
The main orientation of the development of history lies in the realization of the popular masses' independence. It means that the history advances by the popular masses' struggle to defend and realize their independence.
The purpose of the popular masses' arduous struggle to advance history is to live independently.
The popular masses have struggled against the social order of exploitation and oppression in the whole process of its historical development in order to get rid of all the class and national subordination and create socio-political condition for their independent life.
The socio-political condition for the independent life is the social environment that will grant and ensure the popular masses the right as the master of the state and society.
Popular masses haven't opposed the rulers and their governments only to escape from physical pains from drudgery and poverty. Property obtained in return for submission has never been able to secure the social character and dignity of a human being. The fundamental demand of the popular masses is to break away from the social system which tramples down and suppresses the independence. The popular masses can live independently only when the social system which will ensure the people's independence is established.
Popular masses have long transformed and conquered nature in order to create material condition for their independent life, free from the restriction of the nature.
The material condition for the independent life is the material wealth and natural environment providing the people, the master of nature, with the affluent and hygienic life.
They have never transformed and conquered nature merely to maintain and prolong their life. They have transformed and conquered the nature in order to put an end to the threat and challenge of nature and create means and environment that will guarantee their dignity and value as the master of the world materially.
They have developed themselves consistently to be powerful and cultured beings in order to free themselves from the obsolete idea and culture and create ideological and cultural condition for the independent life.
Ideological and cultural condition for the independent life means sound idea, wide knowledge and rich cultural attainments, which will enable the popular masses to live as the master of nature and society.
They can take their destiny in their own hands and hew out their destiny independently only when they are completely free from the subordination of the outdated idea and culture, and are possessed of independent ideological consciousness and sound culture.
Demand and desire for living and developing independently underlies the popular masses' activities for the development of history. History has advanced in the process of struggle to materialize such demand and desire.
Human history is that of the popular masses' struggle for independence.
Protracted struggle of the popular masses to obliterate all reactionary and outdated things and live independently propelled human history. Through the long history of human society, the popular masses have made strenuous efforts to emancipate themselves from the social subordination and the natural fetters.
Since the beginning of the human history, people have been exposed to severe natural environment. Entering the class society, anti-popular socio-political environment forced the subordination and subjugation upon the popular masses.
They could not but suffer from the pains and misfortunes due to the grave challenge of nature and society, and their own immaturity.
The reactionaries of history considered themselves to be the beings possessed of absolute mental superiority to force the popular masses to follow their will unconditionally.
The ruling class in the hostile class society made desperate efforts to submit the popular masses' aspiration to their own will. Such act was based on the idea that only they are privileged to determine the development of history.
The popular masses should naturally respect and follow their will if the orientation of the development of history is to be determined by the exploiting class. But the popular masses have feared nothing to resist the exploiting class.
History has never advanced in accordance with the intention of the exploiting class running amuck to make all the successes made by the popular masses as their own.
The popular masses, though they were deprived of all rights by the exploiting class, and had to toil and moil for the sake of accumulation of their fortunes, did not adapt themselves to such conditions.
Submission has nothing to do with the aspiration peculiar to the popular masses.
Historically, the popular masses' sacrificing resistance against the exploiting class was not by the legal means such as the mobilization order and compulsory conscription system. The masses grasp arms in their hands of their own accord for the emancipation of themselves, not by the demand or order of the others. This is the intrinsic activity of the popular masses who regard the independence as their life and soul and are ready to dedicate their own life for independence.
It is inconceivable apart from the peculiar aspiration of man to willingly choose his action and dedicate even his life in the course of activity. The popular masses wage struggle in order to put an end to the subordination and subjugation and live independently as the master of history.
The oppressed popular masses had fought for thousands years in order to shake off the yoke of slave and achieve freedom and emancipation. In the days of bloody resistance, the oppressed people demonstrated their strength and mental power, and consistently propelled the collapse of the exploiting class state and system. Their struggle laid a foundation for ushering in a new era.
But the hundreds of millions of people were invariably on a chain of exploitation and oppression for a long time. Resistance of the popular masses to achieve freedom and emancipation suffered repeated vicissitudes till the beginning of the 20th century. The struggle of the oppressed people of thousands of years since the establishment of the first states on this planet left bloody lessons every step. Changed were, if there were, only the names of the rulers who exploited and oppressed the popular masses.
Through the protracted struggle and frustration, the popular masses found the truth that the subject of history can hew out his own destiny most actively through the revolution, the great movement for building a new world.
Human history entered a new historical turn.
Entering the first half of the 20th century, the broad masses of the people who had been oppressed and maltreated in all continents of the world began to emerge as the masters of history and their own destiny.
At last the popular masses began to create a new era in which they become the masters of their own destiny and choose the orientation of the advance of history and carve out history by dint of their own strength.
The world colonial system that had oppressed the popular masses collapsed by their struggle. There emerged the nations who successfully carried out the historic task of class emancipation. Among them, there are standard-bearers who set the goal and dashing forward heroically to completely realize the independence in all spheres of the social life.
It is an ideal of mankind in view of the social nature of the independent human being to live happily all together in the peaceful world of no domination and subordination, aggression and war, and it is the main orientation of the development of history to aspire to such new world. As the social nature of man cannot be changed, so the ideal of mankind cannot be changed, nor can the orientation of the development of history, too, be changed.
The course of history brings about the change of the generations.
Each generation of the popular masses has faithfully fulfilled its own mission in the historic process for independence. Future Generations, too, will advance invariably along the road of independence.
The Korean people who are possessed of confidence and optimism in the future have accomplished an immortal exploit in the struggle for the independence. If the Korean people had not believed in their bright future, their history could never have led to the world-shaking miracles and epoch-making turn of history.
The protracted history of the popular masses will bring about their bight future.
No force can check the course of the historical development for independence. Not only the present era but also the future will advance by the popular masses who struggle for the independence.
