Belshyea
04-06-2008, 05:05
Democratic Republic of Belshyea
http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/nigeria--54.jpg
Motto: Powerful and prosperous nation.
Capital: Chogundi
Official Language: Belshyean
Demonym: Belshyean
Ethnic groups: Almost completely homogeneous ethnic Belshyean, with only tiny amounts of Kheigese peoples dispersed over the country.
Government: developing post-colonial republic with strong presidential powers, de-facto dominant-party state under the movement who fought for independence (Democratic Party Belshyea).
President of the Republic (executive): Ghaile Chongu
Belshyean National Assembly (Legislative): 237 deputies
Independence from the Empire of Kheig.
Declared Today
Recognized -
Population: 5,000,000
GDP
Total $USD 2,253,430,623.55
Per capita $3,013.02
Currency: chenduoy
===HISTORY===
The Empire of Kheig’s direct colonial rule over the Belshyean peninsula - as established over 35 years ago- lasted until Belshyea’s final liberation today. For more than thirty years, therefore, Kheig’s colonial plunder of Belshyea’s resources and manpower prevented the normal development of capitalist relations of production by keeping the country in a backward, agrarian, semi-feudal state. Kheigese imperialism secured exclusive ownership in all key branches of Belshyean industry and in agriculture, maximising its profits through the harsh exploitation of the local labour force. Given the extent of this colonial yoke, the Belshyean bourgeoisie remained weak and divided between its comprador section and its national section.
The comprador capitalist class in Belshyea, or comprador bourgeoisie, was made up by comparatively big capitalists who - in alliance with feudal land-owners - were allied with Kheigese imperialism. On the other hand, the non-comprador, national capitalist class in Belshyea, or national bourgeoisie, mainly consisted of middle and small entrepreneurs. Since it was subjugated by both the Kheigese imperialists and the Belshyean comprador capitalists, this national capitalist class was particularly disaffected with foreign colonial rule. Nonetheless, the most exploited classes suffering under Kheig’s imperial yoke in Belshyea consisted of peasants and workers. As Kheig’s military preparations were increasing for its aggression against foreign countries - the heavy industry sector in Belshyea was specifically stimulated by major Kheigese companies through various mining projects. Belshyean manpower was mobilised in mines and factories, in both Belshyea and Kheig, as effectively slave labour required for Kheig’s imperialist war efforts. Under close Kheigese supervision, there were 350,000 Belshyeans working in Belshyea’s mines in addition to 600,000 working in various factories throughout the country. Some 700,000 Belshyeans were forcibly sent to work in Kheig and the number of Belshyeans who had moved to Kheig as economic immigrants reached over a million.
As for Belshyea’s countryside, the Kheigese took over land and property, thus increasing poverty and homelessness among its peasants. The overwhelming majority of the big landlords (i.e., 81% of the landlords owning more than 200 hectares of land) were Kheigese. Landless peasants accounted for some 80% of the farm households and over half of the total crop area was possessed by landlords who accounted for only 3% of farm households. The latter extracted from the peasants farm rents which amounted from 50% to 90% of their total yields. Colonial, feudal and capitalist oppression and exploitation often forced the destitute rural population - always on the verge of starvation - to migrate to towns or abroad.
Attempts by Belshyeans to fight for their independence were bloodily suppressed by the Kheigese authorities (according to official Kheigese statistics, during the initial period of colonial rule in Belshyea - from 1911 to 1918 - there were 330,025 cases of summary conviction). Whether in their own land or in Kheig, Belshyeans were regarded and treated as racially inferior, possessing none of the political rights enjoyed by the Kheigese. Through enforced "Kheigization", harsh measures were undertaken to eliminate traces of Belshyean identity: Kheigese was, in fact, declared as the official language in Belshyea and all forms of cultural expression with a national Belshyean content were abolished under the slogan "Kheig and Belshyea Are One Entity". This racial discrimination became particularly brutal towards the end of the revolutionary war, as more than 200,000 Belshyean women and girls were rounded up by Kheigese troops to be confined as their sex slaves. According to some scholars, this harsh colonial rule by Kheig produced the effect of deepening Belshyean nationalism by later determining some analysts describe as "national solipsism", i.e., the idea of an:
"Untainted, self-contained community of Belshyeans" intending to resist any outside pressure.
Significant nationalist uprisings developed in Belshyea nine years after its annexation to Kheig: more than two million people from all walks of life were involved in about 3,200 demonstrations and revolts throughout the country one year alone. An additional force of 6,000 Kheigese troops was thus dispatched to Belshyea: 7,509 Belshyea were killed, with many thousands arrested, wounded and beaten. Many activists and nationalists were forced either to go underground or to carry on their struggle overseas.
This movement became known as the August First Movement, or the Mansei revolution, since a declaration proclaiming "the independence of Belshyea and the liberty of the Belshyean people" was signed on in the capital Chogundi by 33 prominent patriots (land-owners, capitalists, religious leaders, intellectuals and others). The declaration called for peaceful resistance to Kheig and appealed to foreign powers for assistance. But as Kheig had succeeded in repressing the movement, some nationalists went into forced exile and it was outside Belshyea that a provisional Belshyean government, led by Ghaile Chongu was set up. At that time about 600,000 Belshyeans lived in south-eastern Gangy, about 200,000 in the Maritime Provinces and about 6,000 in other feudal colonies not directly occupied by the Kheigese. The geographical dislocation of the various nationalists around the world, together with their internal disputes and differences about whether to use either peaceful, diplomatic means or armed force against Kheig, soon led to factional disputes in the provisional government.
Ghaile Chongu was born in Mangyongdae, near Chogundi, of a peasant family with clear patriotic traditions. At the early age of 14 as a schoolboy in Huatien, Gangy he formed the Down-With-Imperialism Union (DIU), whose goal was to defeat Kheigese imperialism and achieve Belshyean liberation and independence. One year later Ghaile Chongu reorganised the DIU into the Anti-Imperialist Youth League (AIYL) and also founded the Young Patriotic League (YPL), a political youth organisation. These two organizations, together with the Peasants’ Union, the Children’s Pioneers and other organizations, were clandestinely organising the struggle against Kheigese imperialism throughout Belshyea.
Ghaile Chongu led the students’ struggle against the Kirin-Hoeryong railway project, a scheme designed to extend Belshyean communications into Gangy. He soon emerged as the leading figure among a "new generation of patriots", somehow different from those involved in the early independence movement in Belshyea. PRB’s current political literature emphasises the fact that this new generation represented a rupture with factionalism for two reasons. Firstly, they had embraced nationalist ideas from the outset of their struggle, with no involvement in former sectarian groups. Moreover, they had belonged mainly to peasant and working class families.
After having been detained for seven months in the Kirin prison, Ghaile Chongu became instrumental in organising the anti-Kheigese armed struggle. It was in Kuyushu that the first unit of the Belshyean Revolutionary Army (BRA) was formed upon the initiative of members of the YPL and the AIYL. Small BRA groups were dispatched to various locations but especially in the countryside. However BRA bases could barely operate within Belshyean territory, for Kheigese authorities strictly controlled it. They therefore decided to set up the armed struggle’s headquarters in the wooded area along the Tuman-gang river in East Gangy, a region whose population was made up by nearly 400,000 Belshyean (i.e., 80% of its total number).
The anti- Kheigese armed struggle grew and developed through different and difficult stages. Kheig soon launched its invasion in Gangy, thus threatening the guerrilla bases and urgently prompting the formation of the Anti-Kheigese Guerrilla Army (AKGA) in Antu, Gangy. On the occasion of its founding, Ghaile Chongu stated:
"The aim and mission of the people’s guerrilla army is to overthrow the colonial rule of Kheigese imperialism in Belshyea and bringing national independence and social emancipation to the Belshyean people. . . The foundation of the AKGA will open up a phase in implementing the line of the anti- Kheigese united front and the policy for founding a nationalist party."
Ghaile Chongu, "On the Occasion of Founding the Anti-Kheigese Guerrilla Army: Speech at the Ceremony to Found the Anti-Kheigese Guerrilla Army", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, p. 47.
Guerrilla units crossed the Tuman-gang river, advancing into the Onsong district on the northern border of Belshyea. A "people’s revolutionary government" was set up in the liberated areas so that the ranks of the guerrilla army could considerably grow and strengthen. In March 1934 the AKGA was reorganised into the Belshyean Revolutionary Army (BRA) with divisions, regiments, companies, platoons and squads, systematically organised and placed under a unified organisational system. Battles were fought against Kheigese forces, as KPRA units were extending their operations into wider areas of Belshyea and North and South Gangy. In the meantime, Kheigese authorities were reacting by intensifying repression of these mounting popular struggles. According to official Kheigese figures, in a period of approximately one month more than 900 strikes took place involving over 70,000 workers and during the same time more than 453,800 Belshyeanns were arrested, imprisoned or punished.
Various paramilitary organizations were also active in the guerrilla zones: the Anti- Kheigese Self-Defence Corps, the Children’s Vanguard, the Youth Voluntary Army and the Shock Brigade. Self-governing bodies and people’s committees were created and, in order to increase popular support, on the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland (ARF) was also founded. The creation of this anti-Kheigese united front organisation represented -according to Ghaile Chongu :
"an event of epochal significance in consolidating the mass basis of the national revolution."
The ARF was, in fact, intended to unite all patriotic sections of Belshyean society, with the exclusion of pro-Kheigese landlords, comprador capitalists and traitors to the nation. Its main aim was:
"to mobilise the entire Belshyean nation and realise a broad-based anti- Kheigese united front in order to overthrow the piratical Kheigese imperialist rule and establish a genuine people’s government in Belshyea."
(Ghaile Chongu, "The Ten-Point Programme of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, p. 112. )
Ghaile Chongu reiterated and emphasised the independent character of the Belshyean struggle in the following terms:
"The Belshyean patriots should, above all, adhere to a firm independent position in order to crown their revolutionary tasks in success . . . The masters of the Belshyean revolution are the Belshyean people and the Belshyean patriots. The Belshyean revolution must be carried out by the Belshyean people under the leadership of the Belshyean national party . . . Victory and glory belong to the Belshyean patriots who are fighting unyieldingly under the unfurled banner of the Belshyean revolution."
Ghaile Chongu, "The Tasks of Belshyean Nationalists: Treatise Published in Sogwang, Organ of the Belshyean Revolutionary Army", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, pp. 166-7.
After the outbreak of the general war soon after, military and political activities against Kheigese imperialism intensified in scope throughout Belshyea, and extensive preparations were made for anti- Kheigese revolts as a prelude to the BRA’s general offensive throughout the country. BRA units crossed the Tuman-gang river, rapidly advancing to the areas of Kyonghung and Kyongwon. Other units, in the meantime, landed at Unggi, Rajin and Chongjin. As the BRA had successfully intensified its attacks and liberated many areas, the Kheigese army was forced to surrender unconditionally, that day now marks the Belshyea people’s final liberation from Kheig’s 35-year-long colonial rule.
The anti-Kheigese armed struggle has indeed gone down in Belshyea’s history as an heroic national-liberation war which had activated and mobilised all patriotic forces, from both inside and outside the country, in order to successfully liquidate Kheigese imperialism. Belshyea’s national liberation movement developed autonomously and relied mainly on its own forces, with no direct assistance from outside. Nor did it maintain organic links with or become pawns of Great Powers. During this time, Ghaile Chongu ardently fought for his country’s liberation as a revolutionary, patriotic leader.
At the time of its liberation, Belshyean society still maintained a semi-feudal character as capitalist development had been hampered by Kheig’s 35-year-old colonial domination. Belshyea soon embarked along the path of "progressive democracy" in order to carry out its anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolution. The immediate post-war task was therefore:
"to form a democratic national united front embracing all the patriotic, democratic forces of our country such as the workers, peasants, progressive intellectuals, conscientious national capitalists and conscientious men of religion and, on this basis, to establish a Democratic Republic." Excluded from power were the pro- Kheigese comprador capitalists and landlords.
Ghaile Chongu, "On Building the Party, State and Armed Forces in the Liberated Homeland: Speech Delivered to Military and Political Cadres", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, pp. 235-6.
As Ghaile Chongu indicated soon after, democracy - in this sense - was:
"not a democracy for one class only, one political party, one organisation or one religion; it is a democracy for the broad masses of people."
Ghaile Chongu, "On Progressive Democracy: A Lecture Given to the Students of the Chogundi Worker-Peasant Political School", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, pp. 259.
Progressive democracy was therefore intended to establish a joint dictatorship of several classes in Belshyea with the inclusion of the national bourgeoisie, as well:
"a Democratic Republic . . . must be built by forming a democratic united front . . . which embraces . . . the national capitalists with a national conscience."
Ghaile Chongu, "On the Building of New Belshyea and the National United Front: Speech to the Responsible Functionaries of the Provincial Party Committees", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, pp. 298.
Ghaile Chongu told the people to adhere to:
"the principle of uniting to the maximum all forces that love the country and people."
Ghaile Chongu, "On Building a Patriotic Party in Our Country and its Immediate Tasks: Report to the Inaugural Congress of the Central Organizing Committee of the Democratic Party of Belshyea", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, p. 286).
"There is no reason why we cannot all unite in the efforts for nation-building. . . . Unity alone is the patriotic road for the country and the people and the true road to nation-building, the road to guaranteeing a new, democratic Belshyea." Ghaile Chongu, "Talk with Participants in the Nationalist Movement", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, p. 347.
In Belshyea’s progressive democracy became associated with Belshyean patriotism and independence. Ghaile Chongu reported the following anecdote during a mass rally in Sinuiju:
Imbued with considerable doses of nationalism, the Democratic Party of Belshyea (DPB) was officially founded. Besides the DPB, other parties and social organizations emerged during the post-revolution and independence period: the Peoples Party (mainly made up of small and middle class capitalists and Christians), the Chongu Party (made up of Chondo believers, mostly peasants) and the New Democratic Party (made up mainly of middle peasants and intellectuals). Social organizations included the General Federation of Trade Unions, the Peasant Union, the Democratic Youth League, the Democratic Women’s Union, the General Federation of Unions of Literature and Arts, the General Federation of Industrial Technology, the Christian Federation, the Buddhist Federation and others. Representatives from all these parties and organizations - together with those from local committees - convened in Chogundi in order to establish the Provisional People’s Committee of Belshyea (PPCB) functioning as the democratic government and aiming at deepening the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal democratic revolution.
Some time later, Ghaile Chongu would state that, since the establishment of the 1946 provisional government, Belshyean society had entered the period of a democratic society.
"With the establishment of the people’s government, for the first time in their history, our people became genuine masters of the country, with state power firmly in hands. Under our Party’s leadership, the people’s government . . . opened up wide avenues for social progress. In this way the Republic carried out the tasks of the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution."
Ghaile Chongu, "On the Nature of the Revolution in Our Country at the Present Stage and the Basic Direction of the Nation: Concluding Speech at a Meeting of the Political Committee of the of the Democratic Party of Belshyea", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 9, Chogundi, pp. 169-70.
Soon after Chongu announced the first national plan of the new Republic:
"To confiscate the land of the Kheigese imperialists and the landlords and distribute it among the peasants; to nationalise the industries, transport, communications, banks, etc., belonging to Kheigese imperialism and the comprador capitalists and transform them into the property of the people; to introduce an eight-hour working day and a social insurance system for factory and office workers; to grant women equal rights with men; to ensure the people freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association and religious belief; to institute a democratic system of public education and establish compulsory education; and to develop science, national culture and arts."
Ghaile Chongu, "For the Establishment of a United Party of the Masses: Report to the Inaugural Congress of the Democratic Party of Belshyea", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 2, Chogundi, p. 336.
Soon after the DPB joined in coalition with the two other existing political parties and with fifteen social organizations in order to set up the Democratic National United Front of Belshyea (DNUFB). Its purpose was to organise elections to the provincial, city, county, ri (Dong) and sub-county people’s committees. The elected representatives from these people’s committees formed the Belshyean National Assembly (BNA).
The BNA thus became the country’s supreme organ of power, with the Belshyean National Committee (BNC) as its executive body. The 237 BNA deputies were affiliated to the existing parties as follows (in percentage): 36% to the BNA, 13% to the People’s Party, 13% to the Chogu Party and 38% non affiliated. As for their social origin, 22% were workers, 26% peasants, 24% office employees, 15% intellectuals, 3% enterprisers, 4% traders, 2% handicraftsmen and 4% religious men.
Although not advanced when compared with other foreign countries Belshyea still possessed a relative advantage in inheriting most of the country’s heavy industry and mines, the scale of Kheig’s sabotage before its final surrender in had been so damaging that 19 hydro-electric plants had been put out of operation, 64 mines totally flooded, 178 partially flooded, 6 enterprises (including the Chogundi Aircraft Factory) completely destroyed and 47 enterprises partially destroyed.
Nonetheless, remarkable progress was soon achieved, as reconstruction and economic development began to be planned (on a yearly basis and 1948 and then on a two-year basis). As compared to before the revolution, industrial output grew by 53.3%, by 117.9% the next year and by 236.7% the following year. All domains of society were affected by democratic reforms - from the agrarian reform and the nationalization of the main industries to new laws on labour protection, equality of sexes, the democratisation of the judiciary, education and culture, etc. - thus beginning to eradicate the colonial and feudal features inherited from the past.
Given Belshyea’s backwardness and its overwhelming peasant population, of particular importance was the "Law on Agrarian Reform in Belshyea", promulgated soon after independence. All lands possessed by Kheigese colonialists and by landlords who owned more than five hectares were confiscated without compensation and distributed free to the landless and poor peasants, according to the size of their families. Sale, purchase and mortgaging of the distributed land and all systems of tenancy were now prohibited. The agrarian reform was carried out successfully in a short time: more than 1,000,000 hectares of land were confiscated and distributed to over 720,000 peasant households. A subsequent law on "agricultural tax in kind" required the peasants to pay the state 25% of their yields (this percentage was later revised in the range between 10% and 27%, according to crops or land fertility). This tax was then abolished in 1966.
According to the "Law on the Nationalization of Industry, Traffic, Transport, Communications and Banking", all major industries, formerly owned by the Kheigese state or by traitors to the Belshyean nation, were nationalized without compensation and transferred to the state. As a result, more than 1,000 industrial establishments, railways, communications and banks (i.e., over 90 % of all industries formerly owned by Kheigese imperialism or by the comprador bourgeoisie) were brought under state ownership. This nationalization, though having a democratic, anti-imperialist and anti-feudal character, did not liquidate capitalist ownership as a whole: the properties belonging to the national capitalist class remained unaffected by this nationalization and were legally protected. The law protecting private ownership and encouraging capitalist private businesses was, in fact, approved shortly after.
The overwhelming state-ownership in the industrial sector, the small private peasant economy and the urban handicrafts economy could therefore coexist with the national capitalist sector, comprising private capitalist trade and industry in towns and rich peasants’ economy in the countryside.
http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/nigeria--54.jpg
Motto: Powerful and prosperous nation.
Capital: Chogundi
Official Language: Belshyean
Demonym: Belshyean
Ethnic groups: Almost completely homogeneous ethnic Belshyean, with only tiny amounts of Kheigese peoples dispersed over the country.
Government: developing post-colonial republic with strong presidential powers, de-facto dominant-party state under the movement who fought for independence (Democratic Party Belshyea).
President of the Republic (executive): Ghaile Chongu
Belshyean National Assembly (Legislative): 237 deputies
Independence from the Empire of Kheig.
Declared Today
Recognized -
Population: 5,000,000
GDP
Total $USD 2,253,430,623.55
Per capita $3,013.02
Currency: chenduoy
===HISTORY===
The Empire of Kheig’s direct colonial rule over the Belshyean peninsula - as established over 35 years ago- lasted until Belshyea’s final liberation today. For more than thirty years, therefore, Kheig’s colonial plunder of Belshyea’s resources and manpower prevented the normal development of capitalist relations of production by keeping the country in a backward, agrarian, semi-feudal state. Kheigese imperialism secured exclusive ownership in all key branches of Belshyean industry and in agriculture, maximising its profits through the harsh exploitation of the local labour force. Given the extent of this colonial yoke, the Belshyean bourgeoisie remained weak and divided between its comprador section and its national section.
The comprador capitalist class in Belshyea, or comprador bourgeoisie, was made up by comparatively big capitalists who - in alliance with feudal land-owners - were allied with Kheigese imperialism. On the other hand, the non-comprador, national capitalist class in Belshyea, or national bourgeoisie, mainly consisted of middle and small entrepreneurs. Since it was subjugated by both the Kheigese imperialists and the Belshyean comprador capitalists, this national capitalist class was particularly disaffected with foreign colonial rule. Nonetheless, the most exploited classes suffering under Kheig’s imperial yoke in Belshyea consisted of peasants and workers. As Kheig’s military preparations were increasing for its aggression against foreign countries - the heavy industry sector in Belshyea was specifically stimulated by major Kheigese companies through various mining projects. Belshyean manpower was mobilised in mines and factories, in both Belshyea and Kheig, as effectively slave labour required for Kheig’s imperialist war efforts. Under close Kheigese supervision, there were 350,000 Belshyeans working in Belshyea’s mines in addition to 600,000 working in various factories throughout the country. Some 700,000 Belshyeans were forcibly sent to work in Kheig and the number of Belshyeans who had moved to Kheig as economic immigrants reached over a million.
As for Belshyea’s countryside, the Kheigese took over land and property, thus increasing poverty and homelessness among its peasants. The overwhelming majority of the big landlords (i.e., 81% of the landlords owning more than 200 hectares of land) were Kheigese. Landless peasants accounted for some 80% of the farm households and over half of the total crop area was possessed by landlords who accounted for only 3% of farm households. The latter extracted from the peasants farm rents which amounted from 50% to 90% of their total yields. Colonial, feudal and capitalist oppression and exploitation often forced the destitute rural population - always on the verge of starvation - to migrate to towns or abroad.
Attempts by Belshyeans to fight for their independence were bloodily suppressed by the Kheigese authorities (according to official Kheigese statistics, during the initial period of colonial rule in Belshyea - from 1911 to 1918 - there were 330,025 cases of summary conviction). Whether in their own land or in Kheig, Belshyeans were regarded and treated as racially inferior, possessing none of the political rights enjoyed by the Kheigese. Through enforced "Kheigization", harsh measures were undertaken to eliminate traces of Belshyean identity: Kheigese was, in fact, declared as the official language in Belshyea and all forms of cultural expression with a national Belshyean content were abolished under the slogan "Kheig and Belshyea Are One Entity". This racial discrimination became particularly brutal towards the end of the revolutionary war, as more than 200,000 Belshyean women and girls were rounded up by Kheigese troops to be confined as their sex slaves. According to some scholars, this harsh colonial rule by Kheig produced the effect of deepening Belshyean nationalism by later determining some analysts describe as "national solipsism", i.e., the idea of an:
"Untainted, self-contained community of Belshyeans" intending to resist any outside pressure.
Significant nationalist uprisings developed in Belshyea nine years after its annexation to Kheig: more than two million people from all walks of life were involved in about 3,200 demonstrations and revolts throughout the country one year alone. An additional force of 6,000 Kheigese troops was thus dispatched to Belshyea: 7,509 Belshyea were killed, with many thousands arrested, wounded and beaten. Many activists and nationalists were forced either to go underground or to carry on their struggle overseas.
This movement became known as the August First Movement, or the Mansei revolution, since a declaration proclaiming "the independence of Belshyea and the liberty of the Belshyean people" was signed on in the capital Chogundi by 33 prominent patriots (land-owners, capitalists, religious leaders, intellectuals and others). The declaration called for peaceful resistance to Kheig and appealed to foreign powers for assistance. But as Kheig had succeeded in repressing the movement, some nationalists went into forced exile and it was outside Belshyea that a provisional Belshyean government, led by Ghaile Chongu was set up. At that time about 600,000 Belshyeans lived in south-eastern Gangy, about 200,000 in the Maritime Provinces and about 6,000 in other feudal colonies not directly occupied by the Kheigese. The geographical dislocation of the various nationalists around the world, together with their internal disputes and differences about whether to use either peaceful, diplomatic means or armed force against Kheig, soon led to factional disputes in the provisional government.
Ghaile Chongu was born in Mangyongdae, near Chogundi, of a peasant family with clear patriotic traditions. At the early age of 14 as a schoolboy in Huatien, Gangy he formed the Down-With-Imperialism Union (DIU), whose goal was to defeat Kheigese imperialism and achieve Belshyean liberation and independence. One year later Ghaile Chongu reorganised the DIU into the Anti-Imperialist Youth League (AIYL) and also founded the Young Patriotic League (YPL), a political youth organisation. These two organizations, together with the Peasants’ Union, the Children’s Pioneers and other organizations, were clandestinely organising the struggle against Kheigese imperialism throughout Belshyea.
Ghaile Chongu led the students’ struggle against the Kirin-Hoeryong railway project, a scheme designed to extend Belshyean communications into Gangy. He soon emerged as the leading figure among a "new generation of patriots", somehow different from those involved in the early independence movement in Belshyea. PRB’s current political literature emphasises the fact that this new generation represented a rupture with factionalism for two reasons. Firstly, they had embraced nationalist ideas from the outset of their struggle, with no involvement in former sectarian groups. Moreover, they had belonged mainly to peasant and working class families.
After having been detained for seven months in the Kirin prison, Ghaile Chongu became instrumental in organising the anti-Kheigese armed struggle. It was in Kuyushu that the first unit of the Belshyean Revolutionary Army (BRA) was formed upon the initiative of members of the YPL and the AIYL. Small BRA groups were dispatched to various locations but especially in the countryside. However BRA bases could barely operate within Belshyean territory, for Kheigese authorities strictly controlled it. They therefore decided to set up the armed struggle’s headquarters in the wooded area along the Tuman-gang river in East Gangy, a region whose population was made up by nearly 400,000 Belshyean (i.e., 80% of its total number).
The anti- Kheigese armed struggle grew and developed through different and difficult stages. Kheig soon launched its invasion in Gangy, thus threatening the guerrilla bases and urgently prompting the formation of the Anti-Kheigese Guerrilla Army (AKGA) in Antu, Gangy. On the occasion of its founding, Ghaile Chongu stated:
"The aim and mission of the people’s guerrilla army is to overthrow the colonial rule of Kheigese imperialism in Belshyea and bringing national independence and social emancipation to the Belshyean people. . . The foundation of the AKGA will open up a phase in implementing the line of the anti- Kheigese united front and the policy for founding a nationalist party."
Ghaile Chongu, "On the Occasion of Founding the Anti-Kheigese Guerrilla Army: Speech at the Ceremony to Found the Anti-Kheigese Guerrilla Army", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, p. 47.
Guerrilla units crossed the Tuman-gang river, advancing into the Onsong district on the northern border of Belshyea. A "people’s revolutionary government" was set up in the liberated areas so that the ranks of the guerrilla army could considerably grow and strengthen. In March 1934 the AKGA was reorganised into the Belshyean Revolutionary Army (BRA) with divisions, regiments, companies, platoons and squads, systematically organised and placed under a unified organisational system. Battles were fought against Kheigese forces, as KPRA units were extending their operations into wider areas of Belshyea and North and South Gangy. In the meantime, Kheigese authorities were reacting by intensifying repression of these mounting popular struggles. According to official Kheigese figures, in a period of approximately one month more than 900 strikes took place involving over 70,000 workers and during the same time more than 453,800 Belshyeanns were arrested, imprisoned or punished.
Various paramilitary organizations were also active in the guerrilla zones: the Anti- Kheigese Self-Defence Corps, the Children’s Vanguard, the Youth Voluntary Army and the Shock Brigade. Self-governing bodies and people’s committees were created and, in order to increase popular support, on the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland (ARF) was also founded. The creation of this anti-Kheigese united front organisation represented -according to Ghaile Chongu :
"an event of epochal significance in consolidating the mass basis of the national revolution."
The ARF was, in fact, intended to unite all patriotic sections of Belshyean society, with the exclusion of pro-Kheigese landlords, comprador capitalists and traitors to the nation. Its main aim was:
"to mobilise the entire Belshyean nation and realise a broad-based anti- Kheigese united front in order to overthrow the piratical Kheigese imperialist rule and establish a genuine people’s government in Belshyea."
(Ghaile Chongu, "The Ten-Point Programme of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, p. 112. )
Ghaile Chongu reiterated and emphasised the independent character of the Belshyean struggle in the following terms:
"The Belshyean patriots should, above all, adhere to a firm independent position in order to crown their revolutionary tasks in success . . . The masters of the Belshyean revolution are the Belshyean people and the Belshyean patriots. The Belshyean revolution must be carried out by the Belshyean people under the leadership of the Belshyean national party . . . Victory and glory belong to the Belshyean patriots who are fighting unyieldingly under the unfurled banner of the Belshyean revolution."
Ghaile Chongu, "The Tasks of Belshyean Nationalists: Treatise Published in Sogwang, Organ of the Belshyean Revolutionary Army", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, pp. 166-7.
After the outbreak of the general war soon after, military and political activities against Kheigese imperialism intensified in scope throughout Belshyea, and extensive preparations were made for anti- Kheigese revolts as a prelude to the BRA’s general offensive throughout the country. BRA units crossed the Tuman-gang river, rapidly advancing to the areas of Kyonghung and Kyongwon. Other units, in the meantime, landed at Unggi, Rajin and Chongjin. As the BRA had successfully intensified its attacks and liberated many areas, the Kheigese army was forced to surrender unconditionally, that day now marks the Belshyea people’s final liberation from Kheig’s 35-year-long colonial rule.
The anti-Kheigese armed struggle has indeed gone down in Belshyea’s history as an heroic national-liberation war which had activated and mobilised all patriotic forces, from both inside and outside the country, in order to successfully liquidate Kheigese imperialism. Belshyea’s national liberation movement developed autonomously and relied mainly on its own forces, with no direct assistance from outside. Nor did it maintain organic links with or become pawns of Great Powers. During this time, Ghaile Chongu ardently fought for his country’s liberation as a revolutionary, patriotic leader.
At the time of its liberation, Belshyean society still maintained a semi-feudal character as capitalist development had been hampered by Kheig’s 35-year-old colonial domination. Belshyea soon embarked along the path of "progressive democracy" in order to carry out its anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolution. The immediate post-war task was therefore:
"to form a democratic national united front embracing all the patriotic, democratic forces of our country such as the workers, peasants, progressive intellectuals, conscientious national capitalists and conscientious men of religion and, on this basis, to establish a Democratic Republic." Excluded from power were the pro- Kheigese comprador capitalists and landlords.
Ghaile Chongu, "On Building the Party, State and Armed Forces in the Liberated Homeland: Speech Delivered to Military and Political Cadres", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, pp. 235-6.
As Ghaile Chongu indicated soon after, democracy - in this sense - was:
"not a democracy for one class only, one political party, one organisation or one religion; it is a democracy for the broad masses of people."
Ghaile Chongu, "On Progressive Democracy: A Lecture Given to the Students of the Chogundi Worker-Peasant Political School", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, pp. 259.
Progressive democracy was therefore intended to establish a joint dictatorship of several classes in Belshyea with the inclusion of the national bourgeoisie, as well:
"a Democratic Republic . . . must be built by forming a democratic united front . . . which embraces . . . the national capitalists with a national conscience."
Ghaile Chongu, "On the Building of New Belshyea and the National United Front: Speech to the Responsible Functionaries of the Provincial Party Committees", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, pp. 298.
Ghaile Chongu told the people to adhere to:
"the principle of uniting to the maximum all forces that love the country and people."
Ghaile Chongu, "On Building a Patriotic Party in Our Country and its Immediate Tasks: Report to the Inaugural Congress of the Central Organizing Committee of the Democratic Party of Belshyea", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, p. 286).
"There is no reason why we cannot all unite in the efforts for nation-building. . . . Unity alone is the patriotic road for the country and the people and the true road to nation-building, the road to guaranteeing a new, democratic Belshyea." Ghaile Chongu, "Talk with Participants in the Nationalist Movement", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 1, Chogundi, p. 347.
In Belshyea’s progressive democracy became associated with Belshyean patriotism and independence. Ghaile Chongu reported the following anecdote during a mass rally in Sinuiju:
Imbued with considerable doses of nationalism, the Democratic Party of Belshyea (DPB) was officially founded. Besides the DPB, other parties and social organizations emerged during the post-revolution and independence period: the Peoples Party (mainly made up of small and middle class capitalists and Christians), the Chongu Party (made up of Chondo believers, mostly peasants) and the New Democratic Party (made up mainly of middle peasants and intellectuals). Social organizations included the General Federation of Trade Unions, the Peasant Union, the Democratic Youth League, the Democratic Women’s Union, the General Federation of Unions of Literature and Arts, the General Federation of Industrial Technology, the Christian Federation, the Buddhist Federation and others. Representatives from all these parties and organizations - together with those from local committees - convened in Chogundi in order to establish the Provisional People’s Committee of Belshyea (PPCB) functioning as the democratic government and aiming at deepening the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal democratic revolution.
Some time later, Ghaile Chongu would state that, since the establishment of the 1946 provisional government, Belshyean society had entered the period of a democratic society.
"With the establishment of the people’s government, for the first time in their history, our people became genuine masters of the country, with state power firmly in hands. Under our Party’s leadership, the people’s government . . . opened up wide avenues for social progress. In this way the Republic carried out the tasks of the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution."
Ghaile Chongu, "On the Nature of the Revolution in Our Country at the Present Stage and the Basic Direction of the Nation: Concluding Speech at a Meeting of the Political Committee of the of the Democratic Party of Belshyea", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 9, Chogundi, pp. 169-70.
Soon after Chongu announced the first national plan of the new Republic:
"To confiscate the land of the Kheigese imperialists and the landlords and distribute it among the peasants; to nationalise the industries, transport, communications, banks, etc., belonging to Kheigese imperialism and the comprador capitalists and transform them into the property of the people; to introduce an eight-hour working day and a social insurance system for factory and office workers; to grant women equal rights with men; to ensure the people freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association and religious belief; to institute a democratic system of public education and establish compulsory education; and to develop science, national culture and arts."
Ghaile Chongu, "For the Establishment of a United Party of the Masses: Report to the Inaugural Congress of the Democratic Party of Belshyea", in Ghaile Chongu, Works, vol 2, Chogundi, p. 336.
Soon after the DPB joined in coalition with the two other existing political parties and with fifteen social organizations in order to set up the Democratic National United Front of Belshyea (DNUFB). Its purpose was to organise elections to the provincial, city, county, ri (Dong) and sub-county people’s committees. The elected representatives from these people’s committees formed the Belshyean National Assembly (BNA).
The BNA thus became the country’s supreme organ of power, with the Belshyean National Committee (BNC) as its executive body. The 237 BNA deputies were affiliated to the existing parties as follows (in percentage): 36% to the BNA, 13% to the People’s Party, 13% to the Chogu Party and 38% non affiliated. As for their social origin, 22% were workers, 26% peasants, 24% office employees, 15% intellectuals, 3% enterprisers, 4% traders, 2% handicraftsmen and 4% religious men.
Although not advanced when compared with other foreign countries Belshyea still possessed a relative advantage in inheriting most of the country’s heavy industry and mines, the scale of Kheig’s sabotage before its final surrender in had been so damaging that 19 hydro-electric plants had been put out of operation, 64 mines totally flooded, 178 partially flooded, 6 enterprises (including the Chogundi Aircraft Factory) completely destroyed and 47 enterprises partially destroyed.
Nonetheless, remarkable progress was soon achieved, as reconstruction and economic development began to be planned (on a yearly basis and 1948 and then on a two-year basis). As compared to before the revolution, industrial output grew by 53.3%, by 117.9% the next year and by 236.7% the following year. All domains of society were affected by democratic reforms - from the agrarian reform and the nationalization of the main industries to new laws on labour protection, equality of sexes, the democratisation of the judiciary, education and culture, etc. - thus beginning to eradicate the colonial and feudal features inherited from the past.
Given Belshyea’s backwardness and its overwhelming peasant population, of particular importance was the "Law on Agrarian Reform in Belshyea", promulgated soon after independence. All lands possessed by Kheigese colonialists and by landlords who owned more than five hectares were confiscated without compensation and distributed free to the landless and poor peasants, according to the size of their families. Sale, purchase and mortgaging of the distributed land and all systems of tenancy were now prohibited. The agrarian reform was carried out successfully in a short time: more than 1,000,000 hectares of land were confiscated and distributed to over 720,000 peasant households. A subsequent law on "agricultural tax in kind" required the peasants to pay the state 25% of their yields (this percentage was later revised in the range between 10% and 27%, according to crops or land fertility). This tax was then abolished in 1966.
According to the "Law on the Nationalization of Industry, Traffic, Transport, Communications and Banking", all major industries, formerly owned by the Kheigese state or by traitors to the Belshyean nation, were nationalized without compensation and transferred to the state. As a result, more than 1,000 industrial establishments, railways, communications and banks (i.e., over 90 % of all industries formerly owned by Kheigese imperialism or by the comprador bourgeoisie) were brought under state ownership. This nationalization, though having a democratic, anti-imperialist and anti-feudal character, did not liquidate capitalist ownership as a whole: the properties belonging to the national capitalist class remained unaffected by this nationalization and were legally protected. The law protecting private ownership and encouraging capitalist private businesses was, in fact, approved shortly after.
The overwhelming state-ownership in the industrial sector, the small private peasant economy and the urban handicrafts economy could therefore coexist with the national capitalist sector, comprising private capitalist trade and industry in towns and rich peasants’ economy in the countryside.