"It is wrong to try to avoid the struggle against imperialism under the pretext that independence and revolution are important, but that peace is still more precious"
About this Quote
Kim Il-sung’s line reads like a moral reprimand, but it’s really a political trap: it turns “peace” from a universally appealing goal into a suspicious excuse. The phrasing is calibrated for a moment when war-weariness is widespread and any push for stability could undercut revolutionary momentum. By calling peace “more precious,” he invokes the language of humanitarian restraint only to denounce it as a pretext for surrender. The move is rhetorical judo: he borrows the opponent’s virtue and flips it into evidence of bad faith.
The intent is disciplinary. Inside a revolutionary project, the most dangerous dissenter is not the open enemy but the cautious ally: the person who agrees independence matters, just not at the cost of continued struggle. Kim’s sentence anticipates that argument and labels it “wrong” before it can become a platform. “Avoid the struggle” is the operative accusation; it suggests passivity as moral failure, not strategy. That matters in a system where legitimacy rests on constant mobilization and the promise that hardship is not incidental but sacred.
Contextually, the quote belongs to an anti-imperialist, Cold War register where “imperialism” is both external foe and elastic category. It can mean foreign occupation, U.S. influence, South Korean government authority, internal “revisionists” who prefer coexistence. In that elasticity is the subtext: peace is not neutral. Peace without total victory becomes collaboration, and anyone advocating it can be recast as an obstacle to history. The line doesn’t just justify conflict; it forecloses alternatives, making perpetual struggle the only honorable posture.
The intent is disciplinary. Inside a revolutionary project, the most dangerous dissenter is not the open enemy but the cautious ally: the person who agrees independence matters, just not at the cost of continued struggle. Kim’s sentence anticipates that argument and labels it “wrong” before it can become a platform. “Avoid the struggle” is the operative accusation; it suggests passivity as moral failure, not strategy. That matters in a system where legitimacy rests on constant mobilization and the promise that hardship is not incidental but sacred.
Contextually, the quote belongs to an anti-imperialist, Cold War register where “imperialism” is both external foe and elastic category. It can mean foreign occupation, U.S. influence, South Korean government authority, internal “revisionists” who prefer coexistence. In that elasticity is the subtext: peace is not neutral. Peace without total victory becomes collaboration, and anyone advocating it can be recast as an obstacle to history. The line doesn’t just justify conflict; it forecloses alternatives, making perpetual struggle the only honorable posture.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
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