Among the responses to Kim Jong-il’s death, that by the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) stood out. The group, which is not be confused with the Communist Party of Britain or the Communist Party of Great Britain, mourned the death of a “great friend and teacher of the international communist movement, of the international working class, and of the national-liberation movements”.
Without reference to North Korea’s forced labour camps or Kim Jong-il’s $800,000 cognac bill, it declared that
Comrade Kim Jong Il devoted his entire life to the freedom and happiness of the Korean people, to the building of a thriving and powerful socialist nation, and to the anti-imperialist, socialist and communist cause of mankind.”
The party, which is led by the veteran Indian Stalinist Harpal Brar, one of the leading figures of the British Stalin Society, emphasised that
In so doing, he helped to create an impregnable anti-imperialist fortress, whose people are equipped with single-hearted unity of purpose and armed with a nuclear deterrent – and all this in spite of the sanctions, pressures, threats and provocations of US and other imperialists and their lackeys, the treachery and collapse of modern revisionism in the USSR and elsewhere, and repeated severe natural disasters.
The statement goes on to extend “special and personal condolences to respected Comrade Kim Jong Un” and expresses the party’s belief that he will “continue and enhance the revolutionary legacy bequeathed to him by Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Kim Jong Il.”
It ends:
We pledge our firm resolve to maintain and strengthen our unconditional support and solidarity to the revolutionary cause of the Korean people, led by Comrade Kim Jong Un and inspired by the revolutionary teachings and example of Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Kim Jong Il.
Long live the memory and legacy of Comrade Kim Jong Il!
When Kim’s death was announced, I set my watch and waited for a statement in just this vein. I knew Brar’s mob wouldn’t let me down. The CPGB-ML is the group that responded to Zimbabwe’s rigged 2005 election by extending “its heartfelt congratulations to Comrade Robert Mugabe” and denouncing “Morgan’s Mafia”, and that described Saddam Hussein as a “martyr of the Iraqi resistance“.
We all joke about the Judean People’s Front and the People’s Front of Judea but the CPGB-ML is a reminder that parts of the far-left remain deeply sinister.
Incidentally, if you’re around on Friday, the CPGB-ML will be holding a “memorial meeting to honour Comrade Kim Jong Il” at 6.30pm in Southall.
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