Alexander Mostov | DPRK International Youth Friendship League (Russia)
Dear Comrades!
Brothers and sisters in the anti-imperialist struggle!
The old world order, built on the foundation of imperialist domination, has exhausted itself, and in its deepening cracks the contours of a new world are emerging ever more distinctly. The flames of war, ignited by US imperialism and its henchmen, have spread from Eastern Europe to Asia. In this historic battle, the fate of humanity is being decided: will it follow the path of endless predatory wars, fascist oppression and spiritual corruption, or will it choose the path of self-reliance, people’s democracy and socialism?
One of the decisive roles in this global confrontation belongs to progressive youth. It was precisely to unite them around the ideas of anti-imperialism, to break down the information blockade erected by enemy propaganda around Korea, and to raise a generation capable of distinguishing scientific truth from skilful lies that the DPRK International Youth Friendship League was created.
The foundation of our activities has become the “Friendship Clubs,” already opened in leading Russian universities and now expanding around the world. In essence, the DPRK International Youth Friendship League is a training ground for cadres, preparing the reserve of the DPRK International Solidarity Group. With the support of comrades from the leadership of educational institutions, our clubs operate in three main directions.
The first is educational work. Renowned scholars regularly hold lectures and seminars where young people study the true history of Korea—from the anti-Japanese partisan struggle and the Korean War to the modern era of nuclear deterrence—and become acquainted with documents of the Workers’ Party of Korea and serious analytical materials.
The second is counter-propaganda activity. Drawing on the knowledge they have acquired, club members publish articles in social media and the mass media, translate and disseminate official statements of the DPRK, and promptly expose the fakes manufactured by the enemy.
The third is the training of cadres. Activists of the League gain experience in leadership work, and over time, as they occupy certain positions in their countries, they will form a strong and extensive network of international solidarity.
It is fundamentally important to emphasise: our activists prove their loyalty to common principles not in word but in deed. Many members of the DPRK International Youth Friendship League are involved in organising humanitarian aid to the front or have become veterans of the struggle against fascism, having taken part in the special military operation in Ukraine.
Comrades!
It is striking, but I too often encounter a lack of understanding of the importance of the role of youth. Sometimes in certain organisations the average age of members exceeds 60 years. Such an irrational approach inevitably leads to the atrophy of the organisation, whatever goals it may set. For it is youth that is the lifeblood of any organisational structure.
History testifies inexorably: in all turning-point epochs—from anti-fascist resistance to national liberation wars—it was youth that was the first to rise up in struggle. Young people feel injustice more acutely, but at the same time they are the main target of the imperialist consciousness industry. That is precisely why the key task of our League is to snatch them from the tenacious clutches of enemy propaganda and to provide them with all opportunities for conscious self-development.
To appreciate the full significance of work with youth, it is enough to assess the scale and sophistication of the information war being waged against the DPRK.
The imperialist warring forces led by the United States and the puppet regime of the Republic of Korea have for decades been systematically fabricating a grotesque image of the DPRK. Lies about “human rights violations,” “famine,” “nuclear blackmail” are drummed into the consciousness of millions with the same purpose with which the Soviet Union was once demonised, and today Russia and China are demonised: to justify imperialist aggression and to isolate and strangle the disobedient countries that have embarked on the path of self-reliance.
At the same time, the Republic of Korea itself occupies a special place in this propaganda machine. While talking about the need to resume the so-called “inter-Korean dialogue,” in reality it mobilises the entire arsenal of lies to justify the unbridled militarisation being forced through at the behest of the Pentagon.
However, the Republic of Korea is not limited to propaganda in the media alone. Through diplomatic missions and controlled religious organisations, systematic subversive work is being carried out aimed at stifling any sprout of truthful information. A characteristic example is the infiltration into universities of different countries of agents of influence masquerading as organisers of “Korean language days” and “culture days.”
Under the guise of “cultural centres,” sects merged with the state structures of the puppet regime are often at work. Students are drawn into religious gatherings where they are instilled with anti-communism, hatred of the DPRK and reverence for the Republic of Korea.
The DPRK International Youth Friendship League, which has already achieved certain successes in combating the spread of puppet culture, will continue to dismantle the plans of the enemies with full responsibility.
However, we have to fight not only against overt enemies, but also against revisionist forces such as the followers of the Communist Party of Greece. They have spawned the theory of the so-called “imperialist pyramid.” This absurd concept, which in essence equates the United States and the DPRK and erases the line between oppressor and oppressed, has, unfortunately, gained some currency in certain left-wing groups. For example, the Moscow City Committee of the Leninist Komsomol, which had previously actively cooperated with our organisation, under far-fetched pretexts banned its activists from participating in solidarity actions with the DPRK, and subjected those who refused to obey to pressure.
Of course, no bans, threats or attempts at direct interference will turn us from our path. We consistently explain the Leninist understanding of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism. A country where the means of production are in public ownership and the communist party is the leading force cannot by definition be considered imperialist. Young people who have assimilated these truths acquire a reliable immunity against both right-wing opportunism and left-wing sectarianism.
Comrades!
Objective reality completely refutes the enemy’s fabrications.
The DPRK is living proof of the collapse of the myth of the inevitability of capitalism. A country that has survived the most brutal war and decades of unprecedented sanctions has not only survived, but under the wise leadership of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, has built a genuinely people’s state. A state where the masses of the people are the masters of the means of production, where there is no unemployment and homelessness, where education and healthcare are free, and where the ruling party serves selflessly not a handful of oligarchs, but the working people.
The new world will not come by itself. It will be built in persistent and conscious struggle, and our task is to prepare for this struggle steadfast and enlightened cadres. Our League will continue to expand its network of clubs, deepen theoretical training and expose imperialist lies, however sophisticated they may become. The epoch demands a choice from every generation, and today the choice of progressive youth is to side with the anti-imperialist camp, with the DPRK, with historical justice!
