Síndrome compartamental

Nowadays the question of conflicts is generally considered a difficult one by both writers and critics. One day, at a seminar to study Comrade Kim Il Sung's Juche-oriented ideas on art and literature, a questioner asked whether there were any conflicts in the film We Are the Happiest and if there were, how they should be explained. This question demonstrates the lack of a correct understanding of the nature of conflicts.

In the case of this film, there is no obvious focus of struggle, no character who is directly opposed to the hero. Therefore, no specifically negative characters appear on the screen. This point caused some people to have doubts about its value.

In order to have a correct understanding of conflicts you must know life, and if you want to know life you must know the law of class struggle. Conflict in art is the reflection of the class struggle in life. The contradictions and the struggle between opposed class positions and ideas in real life are the basis of artistic conflicts. The conflicts in revolutionary art and literature are always based on the class struggle, and as such they can only show the law of historical progress and truth correctly when they faithfully mirror the life in which the class struggle takes place.

Our revolution is the struggle to destroy everything that is outmoded, and to create things that are new. The struggles between the progressive and the conservative, between the active and the passive, between collectivism and egoism, that is, the struggle between the new and the old, between socialism and capitalism in

general, are the basic content of our revolutionary struggle. This acute struggle undergoes constant development in all fields of politics, the economy, culture and morality.

Just as the real revolutionary struggle is diverse and rich in content, so the artistic conflicts which mirror the class struggle through specific life-stories must also be diverse in nature.

Conflicts in artistic works are diverse in their nature, their substance, their forms and their lines of development. Artistic conflicts are clearly marked by the nature of social contradictions, and by the way these change at each stage of the revolution, requiring different forms and methods of struggle.

But the diversity of conflicts does not alter their essence, which reflects the class struggle. The apparent diversity of conflicts in artistic works is based on the diverse forms of the class struggle, and is permeated with the unifying principle of class struggle. This is the very reason why questions concerning conflicts which reflect diverse and complex contradictions must be solved in accordance with the law of class struggle.

Solving the conflicts as required by the law of class struggle provides a powerful stimulus to the social functions of revolutionary art and literature. In reflecting the class struggle, the conflicts in literary works expressly show the essence, vitality and validity of the Party's class line and mass line. The correct solution of the conflicts in literary works can thus provide people with a proper understanding of the law of social progress and the inevitable victory of socialism and

communism, clearly demonstrating the vitality and validity of the class and mass lines followed consistently by our Party in forwarding the revolution and promoting construction.

Conflicts are important in that they mirror life accurately and clearly demonstrate the essence of revolutionary struggle. Since life consists of people's attempts to realize their ideals and purposes through action, struggles form an inevitable element of their lives, and they find expression in the form of class antagonism and class conflicts. Clashes between the interests of the exploiting class and the exploited class, and the antagonism between the socialist and capitalist ideologies, are clearly expressed in life.

Conflicts therefore constitute the basic content of life as mirrored in literary works, and the truth of the conflicts represented is the factor which guarantees the faithful representation of life.

In the representation of life in a dramatic work, dramatic relationships between characters are established on the basis of conflicts, and the story line unfolds and develops in accordance with these conflicts. In the drama all structural elements are intimately related to conflicts, so these conflicts must be correctly defined and resolved if the characters are to be drawn accurately and their relationships and story lines described in a natural manner.

The important thing in describing conflicts correctly is to treat them in conformity with the distinguishing features of socio-historically defined contradictions and forms and methods of struggle.

The class struggle is continually changing and developing. This means that the character and content of class contradictions and the forms and methods of struggle also change. The character of class struggle is determined by the nature of the contradictions on which the struggle is based. The forms and methods of struggle are determined by the character and purpose of the struggle and by the specific socio-historical circumstances under which the struggle takes place. This is why the conflicts in literary works should be defined and resolved in accordance with the changes taking place as the class struggle develops.

A correct solution of the question of conflicts requires, first of all, a correct understanding of the nature of the contradictions determined by the basic social relationship, and, based on this, a clear definition of the character of the conflicts. In the exploiting society, antagonism and struggle between the exploiting class and the exploited class, between the dominating class and the dominated class, constitute the basis of social relations. Accordingly, the conflicts in any artistic work which mirrors this social relationship are antagonistic. But in socialist society, which is free from exploiting classes, comradely cooperation and unity between the working class, cooperative farmers and working intellectuals form the basis of social relations. So the artistic conflicts which reflect this social relationship are reconcilable. Conflicts in art must therefore be correctly defined in accordance with the character of the social relationship which they reflect. Only in this way can they be defined

in accordance with the law of social progress.

Through the correct resolution of conflicts, art can also depict the true essence of social systems and the law of the development of life, and teach the people the principles and methods of class struggle.

Artistic conflicts which reflect antagonistic social relations are acute and extreme from the outset, and they end in confrontation. But artistic conflicts which mirror the life of the working people in socialist society should not be portrayed as extreme nor should they lead to hostility. They should be settled through the overcoming of the negative element and the strengthening of comradely unity.

If a work of art deals with the struggle to overcome the remnants of outmoded ideology still surviving in the minds of working people in socialist society by measures of liquidation, namely, the putting-down of hostile elements, on the ground that this is an impressive and serious way of handling the issue, then not only will people be given an incorrect idea of the ideological struggle, but the constrained atmosphere which will develop in society will, in the final analysis, hinder the consolidation of unity and solidarity amongst the working people. If, on the other hand, the class character of contradictions is presented vaguely in dealing with the struggle against hostile elements, then people's class consciousness will be dulled, reactionary elements will be revived, and the revolutionary forces will be weakened. The result will be dangerous.

It is important in creative work to define clearly the essential content of contradictions which are determined by basic social

relations and resolve the relations between the positive and the negative sides of conflicts in a correct manner.

A writer who deals in his work with the national and class contradictions of the Korean people during the period of Japanese imperialist colonial rule or the current anti-US struggle of the south Korean people to save the Korean nation, may be faced with the following situation. Although the kinds of conflict he has to describe will depend on the requirements of his seed, he will find it imperative, in the course of his attack on foreign aggressors, to hit out at the comprador capitalists and landlords who are totally unscrupulous in their collaboration with the aggressors, serving them as guides, selling out the country and undermining the national interest. The national and class contradictions reveal themselves most sharply in this area. In fact the contradictions between the non-comprador capitalists and the workers must also be antagonistic, since they stand in the relationship of exploiter and exploited. Nevertheless, the non-comprador capitalists stand by the revolution, whereas the comprador capitalists are a target which must be decisively destroyed in the national-liberation revolution against the aggressors. Therefore, the non-comprador capitalists, though antagonistic from the class point of view, must not be defined and described as the target of the revolution in the struggle to solve national contradictions.

In the period of socialist revolution, the character of these contradictions and the way in which they are solved will, of course, change in accordance with new socio-historical conditions. This is

because the main elements of the contradictions change in accordance with the basis of social relations and the circumstances of each historical period of revolutionary development. If this law of class struggle is not implemented thoroughly in creative work, the Party's class policy will be distorted.

The question of the role and significance of the positive and the negative in a work is settled in various ways, depending on the social relations dealt with by the work.

The positive holds the predominant place in socialist society because in this society, in which the politico-ideological unity, solidarity and cooperation of the people, the masters of the country, have been fully achieved, there are no hostile classes and, therefore, no oppression and exploitation. Of course, there are negative elements as well as positive ones, but in socialist society these have already been relegated to a secondary role. This means that conflicts which reflect the lives of the working people in socialist society should be settled by giving prominence to the positive and overcoming the negative by its influence. If, in dealing with the situation in socialist society, the negative is strongly emphasized and the positive is accorded a secondary place, then that is already a distortion of the truth, for in socialist society the positive is the basic factor.

In capitalist society the positive cannot be the basic factor because the exploiting classes such as the capitalists and landlords hold the dominant position and oppress and exploit the working masses, the

overwhelming majority. It is precisely this domination of the negative which determines the reactionary nature of the social relations of capitalism. The working class wages a life-and-death struggle to eliminate once and for all the outmoded, corrupt and negative factors which dominate capitalist society. Therefore, artistic conflicts which reflect capitalist social relations can only portray the relationship of positive and negative as sharply antagonistic, and productive of extremes of opposition and confrontation.

Since class contradictions and antagonisms in society constantly change and develop and the methods of struggle also undergo change, literary works must always concentrate their descriptive efforts on highlighting and resolving the main conflicts, which accurately reflect the relations of social contradictions. Confusing basic and secondary conflicts and obscuring the relationship underlying the main conflicts will not only render the theme and idea vague, but also distort the truth. When many targets of the revolutionary struggle are involved in the various lines of conflict, you must hold firmly to the main line of conflict connected with the main target of struggle.

Conflicts should be settled politically from the point of view of the working class. In revolutionary works this means that all contradictions must be viewed from the viewpoint of the working class, and settled in their interests in clear demonstration of the law of historical progress that the new triumphs and the old perishes. If you do not see and describe the subject from the angle of what the

working class is going to achieve through the struggle, you will be unable to resolve the conflicts in a politically significant manner.

The relationship between the positive and the negative in the situation under socialism should also be defined with keen political understanding, in accordance with the law of class struggle. The struggle to overcome the remnants of outmoded ideas which survive in the minds of people in socialist society is also a serious class struggle, because it is a struggle between the socialist and capitalist ideologies.

Even blood brothers can act out of different ideological beliefs. As the film When We Pick Apples shows, there is a serious ideological contradiction, which cannot be ignored, between the two sisters. The younger sister considers it shocking to see so many fallen apples rotting and makes up her mind to save more of them for the people, as required by the Party. The elder sister leads an easy-going life, and seems unperturbed, as if she could not see the apples. In our society a far-reaching class struggle results from contradictions between socialist ideology, expressed in the attitude of treasuring and taking good care of public property, and the selfish attitude of regarding as paramount one's own interests and personal comfort, and paying no heed to the waste of property belonging to the country and the people. These contradictions can only be resolved through an ideological struggle, so they must be resolved politically, in accordance with the law of class struggle, which continues to apply in socialist society.

When attempting to resolve conflicts in accordance with the nature, purpose, content and forms of class struggle, some writers find it more difficult to describe reconcilable conflicts than irreconcilable ones. In particular, they often prove unsuccessful in their attempts to deal with negative characters when describing the struggle amongst working people in socialist society.

In order to solve this problem correctly, they should depict the negative characters well, making of them a typical example suited to the socio-historical circumstances and the specific situation. The careless description of negative characters, simply because they are negative, will not result in an accurate representation of the conflicts involved.

With the exception of actual hostile elements there are no negative people in socialist society who find fault with Party policy or oppose it, nor could such people exist. The negative elements in our society are largely represented by those people who lag behind the developing situation because they still retain vestiges of outmoded ideas or fail to accept Party policy promptly and understand it correctly. These people differ from the members of the reactionary classes, who accept the ideas of the exploiting classes as absolute and apply their energies to the resurrection of the old system. The negative elements in our society are typified by people who, in spite of their subjective desire to follow the Party, are influenced by the remnants of obsolete ideas which linger in their minds and therefore reveal various shortcomings in their work and their lives. Therefore, the

struggle against the non-hostile negative elements in our socialist system must not be conducted in such a way as to brand people as negative, to punish and alienate them, or make it impossible for them to raise their standards from the level to which they have fallen. The same applies to works of art and literature, in which the opponents in the struggle are not the negative people themselves, but their empiricism, conservatism, passivity, and other remnants of outmoded ideas and outworn habits. The content of the conflicts represented must be the struggle between advanced ideas and the residual attitudes and habits which oppose them, and these conflicts have to be settled through the struggle for the re-education of the negative by means of the positive, for improved comradely cooperation and stronger unity.

In conformity with the law of class struggle in socialist society our Party considers it to be the basic method of mass education to put the emphasis on the positive as the most important factor and re-educate the negative under the influence of positive example. Education by means of positive influence accords fully with the essential nature and requirement of the class struggle, which is conducted in the form of ideological struggle amongst the socialist working people. This is the most adequate method of struggle, since it demonstrates the way forward by holding up an example which guides people in acting against the negative, and criticizing and reeducating it thoroughly, without weakening or giving up before the struggle has achieved its aim. Conflicts in works of art must also be resolved

according to this principle.

The criticism expressed in revolutionary art and literature must be serious, thorough and sharp. In revolutionary art and literature the edge of criticism must never be blunted, for they are called upon to contribute to the elimination from people's minds of remnants of outmoded ideas to assist in the revolutionary transformation and assimilation to the working class. Blunting the edge of criticism of the negative will only result in weakening the militant revolutionary character of art and literature. Revolutionary art and literature must confirm the victory of the new ideology in its fierce struggle against the negative and clearly demonstrate its immense vitality.

When the conflicts concerned reflect internal contradictions amongst the working people of socialist society, it is important both to make the social origin of the negative quite clear, and to ensure that its disposal is correctly managed. It is not acceptable to dispose of the negative element by simply stigmatizing it as old and knocking it down. A negative person must always be led to repent of his mistake and take the right road.

Literary works which deal with the situation under socialism can create excellent images based exclusively on positive facts, images which really move people, depending on the nature of the seed and the material.

Dramatic conflicts are an expression of the confrontation and struggle of opposing factors in life. It is only natural, therefore, that a work which deals with life without showing the direct confrontation