This was translated from Korean to English. Not so polished. However, this article contains the skeleton of our program and the Korean situation.
<Contents> Our Position on 17th presidential election of Present situation and presidential election --The
meaning of Soviet revolution’s victory and defeat --The ultra
exploitation in --The
crucial feeling of workers and presidential election Election and illusion --Bourgeois
democracy and election --Bourgeois
workers’ party and illusion on election The anti-working class policies of KDLP after grand election in
2004 -- Dokdo:
falling into the frenzy of nationalism --Anti-prostitution
law: the confusion of KDLP --“Income
alliance strategy (strategy of income alliance?)”: the alliance of slaves --Rejecting the
registration of Lee Gap-yong as a candidate of internal election The most important points on this presidential election; the
political independence of working class and 1. --The process from
national liberation to split --The social revolution
in --The character and
limitation of North Korean regime --Reunification of --Two Koreans summit
talk --The KDLP on 2. Popular Front --Disastrous policy --United front and
popular front --The Progressive
alliance: two kind of 2007 version of popular front -Popular front tendency in KDLP: NL
group -Popular front tendency in KDLP:
All-together (SK IS) Kwon Young-ghil: the representative of the upper
layer of working class who were conciliated by bourgeois The
Position of IBT on 2007 presidential election For the Rebirth of the 4th
International! Present situation and presidential election The Soviet revolution: The meaning of its victory and
defeat Just as the October revolution was the working class’s greatest
victory of the 20th century, so was the collapse of the The Bolshevik revolution of October 1917 was a political tsunami
that stirred up the oppressed around the world. Its example to the European workers’
movement brought several countries to the threshold of revolution, and it
inspired the oppressed peoples of the colonial countries in The counter-revolutionary changes
in eastern European and the After the disappearance of the Soviet Union, which had been the
strong rival in the competition on the system of state, the plundering of Meanwhile, the standard of living of workers around the world has
seriously declined. Government provision of education, health care, housing and
transportation has been drastically cut. A tiny elite has grown rapidly richer,
while the vast majority of humanity has been getting poorer. In the neo-colonial countries, the exploitation of workers has
continued even more vigorously. The super-exploitation
of South Korean workers On the other side of the ledger, capitalist profits have been progressing well. The bourgeoisie has accumulated considerable
profits as a consequence of its attacks on workers, at the same time grumbling about recession to the press. The global financial
capitalists, which are mostly
Americans, have easily achieved super profits in According to Korean Exchange, the total surplus ??? of highest 10 groups, which is including Samsung, SK, LG, Lotte
and Hyundai Motors, was 156 trillion won in March, 2007, therefore the rate of
reserved reached up to 741.47 %. The crisis
of the working class and the Presidential election The strengthening of exploitation in the countries, which have
little secure system such as South Korea, means the direct threatening the
lives of the people. The proportion of irregular workers
has sharply increased under IMF trusteeship. The ‘irregular worker’, a term coined under the IMF trusteeship, has become the most important word to
explain the situation of South Korean society because the irregular employments
are taking more than 60% among the whole employments. The number of people bankrupted reached 4 million in 2004. Crime rates have rapidly increased, with property
crime and violent crime increasing by 10% and 20%
annually. The so-called ‘don’t ask murder’, which
means the murder unspecified people to take small amount of money, has been
popular word in the newspapers. The number of prostitutes has been increased up to more than 1 million according to the scholars. The birth rate has dropped from 1.58 in 1998 to 1.02 in 2006. In 2003, The frustration of the South Korean
working class has continuously risen,
even though their consciousness has not gone as far as rejecting the capitalist system.
A series of significant struggles—including the long-time struggle of KTX (Korean Train eXpress) female crews against discrimination, and the fight of workers of retailers New Core and Eland for regular status—prove that the Korean working class is feeling the life-threatening crisis. Against this political and social backdrop, the Korean presidential election is
coming closer. Illusions and
elections The meaning
of bourgeois election Bourgeois democracy is valuable to the bourgeoisie chiefly because
it promotes the illusion that voters decide social and economic policy, and
must therefore accept responsibility for the consequences. While specific
mechanisms vary from one country to another, capitalist elections are always
organized to ensure that the interests of the bourgeoisie are not threatened.
At the same time they provide an opportunity for different factions of the
ruling class to sort out their differences (IBT, Class politics and French election).
In addition, bourgeois elections are an efficient system for digesting and neutralizing the anger and frustrations of working people within the framework of the capitalist system. Elections disguise the fact that the source of the workers’ pain in not the particular capitalist
administrators of the day, but rather the capitalist system itself. They create the illusion that if the President or
Prime Minister were changed, the working class’s conditions
of life would be qualitatively improved. The June Struggle and
Great Labor Struggle in Social democrats, who believe
(at best) that capitalism can be gradually transformed into a fairer social system, are key for the capitalist class in spreading that
illusion. Their favorite slogan is not ‘strengthen the consciousness and
organization of working class!’ but is ‘punish the bourgeois at this election!’
They have strengthened illusions in bourgeois
democracy and the parliamentary to socialism
among workers. However, elections can also pose questions among
workers about who are the masters of this society, who
should be the masters, and what should the shape
of a future society be. Elections such as the
Our Position on 17th presidential election of