The Historical Lesson in Building Socialism and the General Line of our Party Quotes

“A struggle in the sphere of ideology is the prelude to a political struggle, and naturally develops into a struggle for power.”
― Kim Jong Il, The Historical Lesson in Building Socialism and the General Line of our Party

“Unlike in capitalist society where every realm of social life is based on individualism, a socialist society is a collective society where all the people work together sharing a common goal and common interests.”
― Kim Jong Il, The Historical Lesson in Building Socialism and the General Line of our Party

“Even in the difficult circumstances when we were healing the war wounds and promoting the socialist revolution and construction, we introduced universal free compulsory education step by step, combined school education with social education and developed the study-while-you-work system so that all the younger generation and working people could receive education at state expense.”
― Kim Jong Il, The Historical Lesson in Building Socialism and the General Line of our Party

“The ideological consciousness of people does not transform itself of its own accord. It is wrong to think that a change in the social system and material conditions will inevitably be followed by a change in the ideological consciousness of people, which would mean viewing ideological consciousness as a simple reflection of reality. Although a change in the objective conditions affects the development of the ideological consciousness of people to some extent, the establishment of the socialist system and a growth in material wealth do not mean that people follow the communist idea spontaneously. As exploitation and oppression are abolished and the people's material standards improve, ideological education should be intensified.”
― Kim Jong Il, The Historical Lesson in Building Socialism and the General Line of our Party

“In the building of socialism and communism, the realization of a communist society is the ultimate goal; the establishment of the socialist system is the starting-point. When we say that the socialist revolution has emerged victorious and the socialist system has been established, this means that, with the establishment of a socialist government and of the socialist relations of production, the skeleton of a new society, in which the popular masses are the masters, has been set up. Viewed as part of the progress of human society, the establishment of the socialist system is a historic reform. But viewed as part of the process of building socialism and communism, it is nothing but a beginning. The fledgling socialist society which emerges with the establishment of the socialist system is a new society containing some communist elements. At the same time, it is a transitional society embodying many remnants of the old society.”
― Kim Jong Il, The Historical Lesson in Building Socialism and the General Line of our Party