Worker protests/rioting in Korea are having a big reaction in Korea and US

[chimx]

http://images.businessweek.com/story/08/600/0609_korean_protest.jpg

For those of you not following South Korean news, ROK president Lee is under heavy criticism for lifting a ban on American beef, which had not been allowed into the country for 5 years due to a fear of Mad Cow Disease.

In protest thousands of students and workers filled the streets in Seoul. As a result a bunch of government officials have offered to resign due to the disturbances, including the Prime Minister and the head of the dept. of agriculture. And of course, whether or not this cabinet reshuffling will really satisfy Koreans is largely up in the air (I suspect not).

The important thing is that this isn't really just about Mad Cow Disease. In the past couple of years, Bush has been trying to push through a Korea-US Free Trade Agreement which will be the largest free trade agreement since NAFTA. American lawmakers had vowed to not ratify the agreement if Korea does not lift the ban on American beef. As a result, ROK President Lee lifted the ban, much to the dissatisfaction of Koreans. If protests continue following the resignation of government officials and the ban is maintained, it could effectively stop the ratification of the KOR-US FTA.*

Most recent article on events:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/10/asia/10korea.php

Video of the protests
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/09/skorea.resignations/?iref=hpmostpop#cnnSTCVideo


There are potentially other roadblocks still to the passage of the Kor-US FTA. Obama has come out in opposition to the agreement, and if he is elected prior to its passage, it could also kill the agreement. link (http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=050000&biid=2008052626288)

[Joe Hill's Ghost]

Interesting stuff. It all fits into a long tradition of Korean mass struggle. After WWII most of Korea was run by anarchist led or anarchist influence village committees, when the Americans came in they slaughtered tens of thousands of militants. Since then there's been a rather antagonistic relationship. You had Kwanju, and then the militant Korean protests in Cancun and Quebec city. Just another chapter in a long book if you ask me. :)

[chimx]

I did a large paper on the Kwangju Uprising. I posted it in the history forum a long time ago if you are interested.

It's interesting though, the village committees you talk about (CPKI: Committees for the preparation of Korean Independence) were adopted by both what became north and south korea. The USSR more actively engaged with the CPKI whereas the US tended to back the Korean Provisional Government a bit more. Because of this the CPKI eventually became the framework on which the DPRK was built. Still, most people in the CPKI in southern Korean were liberals, not socialists.

As far as American's slaughtering tens of thousands of militants, I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about. The US backed the suppression of the Cheju-do (Jeju-do) Uprising, which was very bloody, but no where nearly 10,000. I can't think of anything between 1945 and 1950 that was on that kind of scale.

[Joe Hill's Ghost]

I did a large paper on the Kwangju Uprising. I posted it in the history forum a long time ago if you are interested.

It's interesting though, the village committees you talk about (CPKI: Committees for the preparation of Korean Independence) were adopted by both what became north and south korea. The USSR more actively engaged with the CPKI whereas the US tended to back the Korean Provisional Government a bit more. Because of this the CPKI eventually became the framework on which the DPRK was built. Still, most people in the CPKI in southern Korean were liberals, not socialists.

As far as American's slaughtering tens of thousands of militants, I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about. The US backed the suppression of the Cheju-do (Jeju-do) Uprising, which was very bloody, but no where nearly 10,000. I can't think of anything between 1945 and 1950 that was on that kind of scale.

Heh for once my odd interest in "Agorist" blogs is useful.

It just came to light.

http://radgeek.com/gt/2008/06/02/unearthed_in/


Hundreds of sets of remains have been uncovered so far, but researchers say they are only a tiny fraction of the deaths. The commission estimates at least 100,000 people were executed, in a South Korean population of 20 million.

As usual the anarchists were lumped in with other leftists. But at the time the Korean Anarchist Fed was rather large. It's guerrillas controlled largish zones, that often were attacked by the Stalinists as well as the Japanese. Its safe to say that at least 10 thousand of those folks were anarchists.

Have you read Kastificas' stuff on Kwanju? I think he is or has finished writing a pretty detailed book on it. His shorter article on it is pretty good.

[chimx]

Heh for once my odd interest in "Agorist" blogs is useful.

It just came to light.

http://radgeek.com/gt/2008/06/02/unearthed_in/

Interesting! I must have missed that in the news when it came out a few weeks ago. One thing that I'll point out is that this website is wrong to say that the CPKI was an anarchist invention. I did a lot of studying on the CPKI and nowhere is anarchism mentioned other than by anarchists websites. I even managed to track down the only English translation of the CPKI's platform, which is honestly pretty liberal -- although there were a lot of socialist elements (especially in regards to the nationalization of Japanese/collaborator property)

As far as the killing fields. I would place the bulk of the responsibility on the Rhee government before pointing fingers at the US. I think its important to remember that this was predominately Koreans killing Koreans, while some Americans sat by complacently. (I would say the same thing about the Kwangju Uprising)


Have you read Kastificas' stuff on Kwanju?

Yeah. He's the one that turned me onto the Kwangju Uprising years ago. Unfortunately a lot of his work is biased. If you are interested in these Korean committees, I strongly strongly strongly urge you to get "Origins of the Korean War" by Bruce Cumings. It's out of print right now, so as a secondary option, get the book "Without Parralel" edited by Frank Baldwin (Cumings has a great article in this that essentially summarizes his work in Origins)

[PRC-UTE]

Here's a recent article on the massacres.



By CHARLES J. HANLEY and JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writers1 hour, 27 minutes agoDAEJEON, South Korea - Grave by mass grave, South Korea is unearthing theskeletons and buried truths of a cold-blooded slaughter from early in theKorean War, when this nation's U.S.-backed regime killed untold thousandsof leftists and hapless peasants in a summer of terror in 1950.ADVERTISEMENTWith U.S. military officers sometimes present, and as North Koreaninvaders pushed down the peninsula, the southern army and police emptiedSouth Korean prisons, lined up detainees and shot them in the head,dumping the bodies into hastily dug trenches. Others were thrown intoabandoned mines or into the sea. Women and children were among thosekilled. Many victims never faced charges or trial.The mass executions — intended to keep possible southern leftists fromreinforcing the northerners — were carried out over mere weeks and werelargely hidden from history for a half-century. They were "the most tragicand brutal chapter of the Korean War," said historian Kim Dong-choon, amember of a 2-year-old government commission investigating the killings.Hundreds of sets of remains have been uncovered so far, but researcherssay they are only a tiny fraction of the deaths. The commission estimatesat least 100,000 people were executed, in a South Korean population of 20million.That estimate is based on projections from local surveys and is "veryconservative," said Kim. The true toll may be twice that or more, he toldThe Associated Press.In addition, thousands of South Koreans who allegedly collaborated withthe communist occupation were slain by southern forces later in 1950, andthe invaders staged their own executions of rightists.Through the postwar decades of South Korean right-wing dictatorships,victims' fearful families kept silent about that blood-soaked summer.American military reports of the South Korean slaughter were stamped"secret" and filed away in Washington. Communist accounts were dismissedas lies.Only since the 1990s, and South Korea's democratization, has the truthbegun to seep out.In 2002, a typhoon's fury uncovered one mass grave. Another was found by atelevision news team that broke into a sealed mine. Further corroborationcomes from a trickle of declassified U.S. military documents, includingU.S. Army photographs of a mass killing outside this central South Koreancity.Now Kim's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has added governmentauthority to the work of scattered researchers, family members andjournalists trying to peel away the long-running cover-up. Thecommissioners have the help of a handful of remorseful old men."Even now, I feel guilty that I pulled the trigger," said Lee Joon-young,83, one of the executioners in a secluded valley near Daejeon in earlyJuly 1950.The retired prison guard told the AP he knew that many of those shot andburied en masse were ordinary convicts or illiterate peasants wronglyensnared in roundups of supposed communist sympathizers. They didn'tdeserve to die, he said. They "knew nothing about communism."The 17 investigators of the commission's subcommittee on "mass civiliansacrifice," led by Kim, have been dealing with petitions from more than7,000 South Koreans, involving some 1,200 alleged incidents — not justmass planned executions, but also 215 cases in which the U.S. military isaccused of the indiscriminate killing of South Korean civilians in1950-51, usually in air attacks.The commission last year excavated sites at four of an estimated 150 massgraves around the country, recovering remains of more than 400 people.Working deliberately, matching documents to eyewitness and survivortestimony, it has officially confirmed two large-scale executions — at awarehouse in the central South Korean county of Cheongwon, and at Ulsan onthe southeast coast.In January, then-President Roh Moo-hyun, under whose liberal leadershipthe commission was established, formally apologized for the more than 870deaths confirmed at Ulsan, calling them "illegal acts the then-stateauthority committed."The commission, with no power to compel testimony or prosecute, facesdaunting tasks both in verifying events and identifying victims, and intracing a chain of responsibility. Under Roh's conservative successor, LeeMyung-bak, whose party is seen as democratic heir to the old autocraticright wing, the commission may find less budgetary and political support.The roots of the summer 1950 bloodbath lie in the U.S.-Soviet division ofJapan's former Korea colony in 1945, which precipitated north-southturmoil and eventual war.In the late 1940s, President Syngman Rhee's U.S.-installed rightist regimecrushed leftist political activity in South Korea, including a guerrillauprising inspired by the communists ruling the north. By 1950, southernjails were packed with up to 30,000 political prisoners.The southern government, meanwhile, also created the National GuidanceLeague, a "re-education" organization for recanting leftists and otherssuspected of communist leanings. Historians say officials met membershipquotas by pressuring peasants into signing up with promises of ricerations or other benefits. By 1950, more than 300,000 people were on theleague's rolls, organizers said.North Korean invaders seized Seoul, the southern capital, in late June1950 and freed thousands of prisoners, who rallied to the northern cause.Southern authorities, in full retreat with their U.S. military advisers,ordered National Guidance League members in areas they controlled toreport to the police, who detained them. Soon after, commissionresearchers say, the organized mass executions of people regarded aspotential collaborators began — "bad security risks," as a police officialdescribed the detainees at the time.The declassified record of U.S. documents shows an ambivalent Americanattitude toward the killings. American diplomats that summer urgedrestraint on southern officials — to no obvious effect — but a StateDepartment cable that fall said overall commander Gen. Douglas MacArthurviewed the executions as a Korean "internal matter," even though hecontrolled South Korea's military.Ninety miles south of Seoul, here in the narrow, peaceful valley ofSannae, truckloads of prisoners were brought in from Daejeon Prison andelsewhere day after day in July 1950, as the North Koreans bore down onthe city.The American photos, taken by an Army major and kept classified for ahalf-century, show the macabre sequence of events.White-clad detainees — bent, submissive, with hands bound — were throwndown prone, jammed side by side, on the edge of a long trench. SouthKorean military and national policemen then stepped up behind, pointedtheir rifles at the backs of their heads and fired. The bodies were tippedinto the trench.Trembling policemen — "they hadn't shot anyone before" — were sometimesoff-target, leaving men wounded but alive, Lee said. He and others wereordered to check for wounded and finish them off.Evidence indicates South Korean executioners killed between 3,000 and7,000 here, said commissioner Kim. A half-dozen trenches, each up to 150yards long and full of bodies, extended over an area almost a mile long,said Kim Chong-hyun, 70, chairman of a group of bereaved familiescampaigning for disclosure and compensation for the Daejeon killings. Hisfather, accused but never convicted of militant leftist activity, was onevictim.Another was Yeo Tae-ku's father, whose wife and mother searched for himafterward."Bodies were just piled upon each other," said Yeo, 59, remembering hismother's description. "Arms would come off when they turned them over."The desperate women never found him, and the mass graves were quicklycovered over, as were others in isolated spots up and down thismountainous peninsula, to be officially "forgotten."When British communist journalist Alan Winnington entered Daejeon thatsummer with North Korean troops and visited the site, writing of "waxydead hands and feet (that) stick through the soil," his reports in theDaily Worker were denounced as "fabrication" by the U.S. Embassy inLondon. American military accounts focused instead on North Koreanreprisal killings that followed in Daejeon.But CIA and U.S. military intelligence documents circulating even beforethe Winnington report, classified "secret" and since declassified, told ofthe executions by the South Koreans. Lt. Col. Bob Edwards, U.S. Embassymilitary attache in South Korea, wrote in conveying the Daejeon photos toArmy intelligence in Washington that he believed nationwide "thousands ofpolitical prisoners were executed within (a) few weeks" by the SouthKoreans.Another glimpse of the carnage appeared in an unofficial U.S. source, anobscure memoir self-published in 1981 by the late Donald Nichols, a U.S.Air Force intelligence officer, who told of witnessing "the unforgettablemassacre of approximately 1,800 at Suwon," 20 miles south of Seoul.Such reports lend credibility to a captured North Korean document fromAug. 2, 1950, eventually declassified by Washington, which spoke of massexecutions in 12 South Korean cities, including 1,000 killed in Suwon and4,000 in Daejeon.That early, incomplete North Korean report couldn't include those executedin territory still held by the southerners. Up to 10,000 were killed inthe city of Busan alone, a South Korean lawmaker, Park Chan-hyun,estimated in 1960.His investigation came during a 12-month democratic interlude between theoverthrow of Rhee and a government takeover by Maj. Gen. Park Chung-hee'sauthoritarian military, which quickly arrested many then probing for thehidden story of 1950.Kim said his projection of at least 100,000 dead is based in part onextrapolating from a survey by non-governmental organizations in oneprovince, Busan's South Gyeongsang, which estimated 25,000 killed there.And initial evidence suggests most of the National Guidance League's300,000 members were killed, he said.Commission investigators agree with the late Lt. Col. Edwards' note toWashington in 1950, that "orders for execution undoubtedly came from thetop," that is, President Rhee, who died in 1965.But any documentary proof of that may have been destroyed, just as thefacts of the mass killings themselves were buried. In 1953, after the warended in stalemate, after the deaths of at least 2 million people, half ormore of them civilians, a U.S. Army war crimes report attributed allsummary executions here in Daejeon to the "murderous barbarism" of NorthKoreans.Such myths survived a half-century, in part because those who knew thetruth were cowed into silence."My mother destroyed all pictures of my father, for fear the family wouldget an image as leftists," said Koh Chung-ryol, 57, who is convinced her29-year-old father was innocent of wrongdoing when picked up in a broadpolice sweep here, to die in Sannae valley."My mother tried hard to get rid of anything about her husband," she said."She suffered unspeakable pain."Even educated South Koreans remained ignorant of their country's past. Asa young researcher in the late 1980s, Yonsei University's Park Myung-lim,today a leading Korean War historian, was deeply shaken as he sought outconfidential accounts of those days from ordinary Koreans."I cried," he said. "I felt, 'Oh, my goodness. Oh, Jesus. This was mycountry? It was true?'"The Truth and Reconciliation Commission can recommend but not awardcompensation for lost and ruined lives, nor can it bring survivingperpetrators to justice. "Our investigative power is so meager,"commission President Ahn Byung-ook told the AP.His immediate concern is resources. "The current government isn't friendlytoward us, and so we're concerned that the budget may be cut next year,"he said.South Korean conservatives complain the "truth" campaign will only reopenold wounds from a time when, even at the village level, leftists andrightists carried out bloody reprisals against each other.The life of the commission — with a staff of 240 and annual budget of $19million — is guaranteed by law until at least 2010, when it will issue afinal, comprehensive report.Later this spring and summer its teams will resume digging at mass gravesites. Thus far, it has verified 16 incidents of 1950-51 — not justlarge-scale detainee killings, but also such events as a South Koreanbattalion's cold-blooded killing of 187 men, women and children at Kochangvillage, supposed sympathizers with leftist guerrillas.By exposing the truth of such episodes, "we hope to heal the trauma andpain of the bereaved families," the commission says. It also wants toeducate people, "not just in Korea, but throughout the internationalcommunity," to the reality of that long-ago conflict, to "prevent such atragic war from reoccurring in the future."___Associated Press investigative researcher Randy Herschaft in New Yorkcontributed to this report.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080518/ap_on_re_as/korea_mass_executions

[chimx]

URL's broken, as are the paragraphs. :/

[PRC-UTE]

URL's broken, as are the paragraphs. :/

What did you do to it? :(

[chimx]

More good news. the KCTU, one of Korea's largest trade union federations is threatening a massive strike next week if US beef imports aren't once again banned. This will have a very large effect on the Korean government which is already at risk of loosing some officials due to the massive protests last week.

The protests that were discussed in the original post to this thread brought 200,000 Koreans onto the streets in opposition to the beef imports ban lifting. This action will put well over 600,000 Korean workers on strike.

The KCTU was largely opposed to the KOR-US FTA and I suspect that for them this is not just about Korean beef. This is about opposing the free trade agreement.

I would be curious to hear left communist thoughts on the actions the KCTU is taking.

link (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/09/content_8334789.htm)

[Devrim]

Chimx, I know very little about the situation in South Korea. I will try to get someone with more knowledge to reply.

Devrim

[Joe Hill's Ghost]

Interesting! I must have missed that in the news when it came out a few weeks ago. One thing that I'll point out is that this website is wrong to say that the CPKI was an anarchist invention. I did a lot of studying on the CPKI and nowhere is anarchism mentioned other than by anarchists websites. I even managed to track down the only English translation of the CPKI's platform, which is honestly pretty liberal -- although there were a lot of socialist elements (especially in regards to the nationalization of Japanese/collaborator property)

As far as the killing fields. I would place the bulk of the responsibility on the Rhee government before pointing fingers at the US. I think its important to remember that this was predominately Koreans killing Koreans, while some Americans sat by complacently. (I would say the same thing about the Kwangju Uprising)



Eh you're probably right. Though my sources point towards them working on "land reform" not working specifically in the village committees.

*shrugs* I'm sure it was a team effort. I'm more concerned with secret killing of hundreds of thousands of people. Jaysus, talk about hush hus.

[Stormy Petrel]

I did a lot of studying on the CPKI and nowhere is anarchism mentioned other than by anarchists websites. I even managed to track down the only English translation of the CPKI's platform, which is honestly pretty liberal -- although there were a lot of socialist elements (especially in regards to the nationalization of Japanese/collaborator property)

I strongly strongly strongly urge you to get "Origins of the Korean War" by Bruce Cumings.

This is my first post on this forum, but unfortunately it's late here and it will have to be brief. Devrim suggested I write something.

I lived in Seoul for 5 years and my partner is Korean who was a militant during the late 1980s, particularly active working and organizing in factories in an underground cell during the period of the Great Strike of 1987.

When I met S. Korean radicals in the mid-1990s, they laughed at the mention of Anarchists because in the Korean context it always implies hardcore nationalists; Korean Anarchist got the label because they practiced "propaganda by deed" during the Japanese occupation (1905-1945). But I agree with chimix that their politics are pro-capitalist liberal. So they were kinda "liberals with bombs," quite literally! But you could count the number of Korean Anarchists today on one hand.

I once had an English copy of a book containing the platform of the Korean Anarchist Federation (KAF), written by Ha Ki-rak. Utter rubbish. I read it and then threw it in the trash. What infuriated me was reading the KAF's account of the 1946 Railroad Strike, which began in Pusan but then was centered in Taegu when it became a general strike and paralyzed the whole country. The general strike was incredibly inspiring, but the KAF opposed it and supported the U.S. military putting it down. The KAF called for "social harmony" and claimed that the U.S. was benevolently only trying to help Korea "rebuild."

Here's what George Ogle, in his excellent South Korea: Dissent Within the Economic Miracle (1990) quoted an American occupation bureaucrat as saying:

"We went into that situation just like we would go into battle. We were out to break that thing up and we didn't have time to worry too much if a few people got hurt. We set up concentration camps outside of town and held strikers there when the jails got too full. It was war. We recognized it as war. And that is the way we fought it."And the KAF supported this! The U.S. military arrested over 1,000, convicted many, and hung 16 for "insurrection."

In the late 1980s some Americans and Brits went to an "Anarchist" conference sponsored by Ha Ki-rak. They described him as a "wingnut" and when the conference failed to discuss the strikes raging across the country and the students rioting right outside, most of them ditched the conference and were treated to some of the most spectacular, replete with molotov cocktails, street fighting they'd ever seen. Anarchism in its traditionally liberal form died with the ol' guard like Ha Ki-rak. If it continues in any form, it is so insignificant that it's barely detectable.

I met Cumings at a conference in Seoul and his research is stellar. He reads Korean, Japanese and Chinese and was able to write his books based on reading source materials.

I met Katsiaficas the other day and although his research seems solid, his conclusions aren't. The first Korean radical I ever met emphatically told me that the Kwangju Uprising was NOT comparable to the Paris Commune. This comrade was a Marxist who is down with class struggle. The brief resistance in Kwangju was cross-class and it's bitter end may have been brought on by the "leadership," composed of religious and bourgeois figures, who betrayed the students and workers who had armed themselves and prepared to fight it out to the end. Katsiaficas doesn't have class politics and his analysis, i.e. "Eros Effect," shows it. Frankly, he also has no critique of the hardcore regional chauvinism of people in Chollonamdo (province of Kwangju). Korea is rife with this type of regionalism.

As for the anti-beef demos, I've been arguing with my partner who claims they are the expression of radical sentiments. I can't see beyond their expression of hardcore nationalism. Recently the French big box retail chain Carrefour bought the local E-land chain and made the conditions of the precarious workers there even worse. Striking workers occupied stores for weeks. 60% of Korean workers are temporary workers with no job security. Where were these throngs of people when the retail workers needed solidarity? When a couple hundred strikers occupying a store were attacked by as many as 8,000 riot cops?

South Korean students throwing molotov cocktails, who are pro-North Korea, have graced the cover of bourgeois newspapers like the New York Times many a time. People often see these contentless images and cheer them on uncritically. Not realizing that these Stalinist students reject class struggle and support Kim Jong Il (just as their predecessors had supported Kim Il Sung and his juche ideology). I think that this looking at forms while ignoring the content is what is going on with the cheerleading for the anti-beef demos. Exciting to watch, but what's radical about them?

Stormy

[Stormy Petrel]

I would be curious to hear left communist thoughts on the actions the KCTU is taking.



Simply spectacular showboating at best and naked opportunism at worst.

With 60% of Korean workers having insecure, precarious, and temporary jobs there's lots of resentment towards the workers in the KCTU. This is because there have been situations where striking, non-union temps have been attacked by "regular" non-striking workers from the KCTU.

Radicals hate the KCTU and consider it a slightly social-democratic bureaucratic trade union. I remember one militant telling me he thought they had "German envy" and wanted to be more like IG Metall.

[chimx]

Welcome to the forums first off. I love discussing Korean politics and history with folk, so I very much hope you stick around!


When I met S. Korean radicals in the mid-1990s, they laughed at the mention of Anarchists because in the Korean context it always implies hardcore nationalists; Korean Anarchist got the label because they practiced "propaganda by deed" during the Japanese occupation (1905-1945). But I agree with chimix that their politics are pro-capitalist liberal. So they were kinda "liberals with bombs," quite literally! But you could count the number of Korean Anarchists today on one hand.

I couldn't agree more. I would add though, that this was not limited to anarchism. The Korean communist party which had its start around 1919 or the early 1920s was as equally guilty. More than anything Koreans were looking for international political allies that would help them deal with Japanese imperialism in Korea. Russia had historically been enemies with Japan so communism for many Koreans was seen as a means for their countries national liberation. Many of the founding communists of the Korean communist party could barely explain what communism was. They were nationalists first and communists or anarchists second.

It's funny you mention the book by Ha Ki-rak. I have it behind me on my bookshelf and it is a gigantic piece of trash. Not only is it absurdly biased and untruthful, there are no citations given. It's as if Ha was just making the story of Korean anarchism up as he went along. I would never recommend that book to anybody.



I met Katsiaficas the other day and although his research seems solid, his conclusions aren't. The first Korean radical I ever met emphatically told me that the Kwangju Uprising was NOT comparable to the Paris Commune. This comrade was a Marxist who is down with class struggle. The brief resistance in Kwangju was cross-class and it's bitter end may have been brought on by the "leadership," composed of religious and bourgeois figures, who betrayed the students and workers who had armed themselves and prepared to fight it out to the end. Katsiaficas doesn't have class politics and his analysis, i.e. "Eros Effect," shows it. Frankly, he also has no critique of the hardcore regional chauvinism of people in Chollonamdo (province of Kwangju). Korea is rife with this type of regionalism.

I agree with your criticism of Katsiaficas (which in turn makes me wonder about his other popular books such as the Subversion of Politics). Honestly his paper comparing Kwangju to Paris is what initially intrigued me and I began studying Korea further. It took some time for me to realize that Katsiaficas' approach was largely incorrect.

Kwangju in 1980 was a cross-class conflict to some degree, but class struggle clearly manifested itself within the city. Studies have been done that show that the militias that had formed were almost entirely composed of working class elements, with students than making up a relatively substantial minority. But as you said, the local politicians, state bureaucrats, and business owners worked to collaborate with the Chun government and were able to convince enough militants to turn in their weapons for a peaceful end of the conflict.

You mention regionalism, but I think that in some ways this can be seen as an extension of class struggle in Kwangju, although perhaps misguided. During Korea's period of rapid industrialization, Park Chung-hee heavily industrialized the south east and largely ignored Chollonamdo. The economies between these regions became skewed. It could be argued that this regionalism in Kwangju can partially be explained as frustration felt by Korean workers who were not receiving their fair share of the nations improving economy.


South Korean students throwing molotov cocktails, who are pro-North Korea, have graced the cover of bourgeois newspapers like the New York Times many a time. People often see these contentless images and cheer them on uncritically. Not realizing that these Stalinist students reject class struggle and support Kim Jong Il (just as their predecessors had supported Kim Il Sung and his juche ideology). I think that this looking at forms while ignoring the content is what is going on with the cheerleading for the anti-beef demos. Exciting to watch, but what's radical about them?

Certainly. I had actually tried to edit out the "rioting" from the title after realizing that it was mainly done by a small minority of students like you said, but unfortunately only moderators and admins can do that.

As far as what is radical about them, I think that if this move is being taken by the KCTU to oppose the current government and cripple the KORUS FTA, than it is certainly progressive. Whether this all stems from a sense of Korean nationalism on the other hand is a different story. Unfortunately its difficult to gauge those kinds of things from news stories.


Radicals hate the KCTU and consider it a slightly social-democratic bureaucratic trade union. I remember one militant telling me he thought they had "German envy" and wanted to be more like IG Metall.

That surprises me considering that the KCTU started as a semi-illegal trade union. Much of the work it did in the 90s was technically illegal I believe.

I also could have sworn that I read the KCTU had been fighting with temporary workers in Korea before. I'll try searching the web. But if what you're saying is true, than it is a shame they aren't working to organize these workers. Despite that I would still be happy if they called a general strike next week to oppose the KORUS FTA and American beef.

[Leo]

I couldn't agree more. I would add though, that this was not limited to anarchism. The Korean communist party which had its start around 1919 or the early 1920s was as equally guilty.

Actually I am pretty sure that I read that they completely opposed any support for the Korean national liberation movement when they were formed but were eventually forced to "reevaluate" their position.

[chimx]

Actually I am pretty sure that I read that they completely opposed any support for the Korean national liberation movement when they were formed but were eventually forced to "reevaluate" their position.

Well the Korean communist movement was absurdly diverse, but some of the original founders were undoubtedly nationalists before they were communists. I've read some articles that mentioned how some of these communist leaders had the most elementary grasp of communism and were primarily using it as a means for Korean nationalism. There may have been others though that were asked to change their position following greater inclusion in the comintern.

I'll see if I can find some literature on the subject, I haven't done any of that reading in a while.

[Leo]

I think when we talked about this in the past, you said that there was one local sort of wing, who were more nationalists, and a more "Russianized" wing which was against Korean nationalism. You remember that guy I asked you about, Pak Din Shun?

[chimx]

oh yeah, i vaguely remember that conversation. I don't suppose you could track down that thread? I have since purchased a book on the Korean communist movement by Suh Dae-sook.

[Leo]

I think we had that conversation through PM's, not in a thread. You might even have sent me something from a book or an article on it, and the name of the book you're talking about so somewhat resembles it.

I'll try to find it in my PM's after Sunday.

[Bogo]

Much of the discussion on Korea here somehow misses the US role in aiding dictatorship. Surprising given that this is a "rev" list. Cumings' work, which is very biased against Koreans' own capacity for self-government in 1945 and simultaneously a justification for US intervention in a "civil" war, needs a more critical eye. Clearly, without US airpower based in Japan, there would have been no long Korean war, no killing of up to 5 million people. Korea would today probably be a slightly wealthier version of northeast China--perhaps not the most desireable outcome, but certainly a much more humane and self-determined place than what exists today.

The US-backed massacre in Cheju (Jeju) killed at least 30,000 people out of an island population of about 150,000. Under the US military goverment in Korea, the slaughter began in 1948 (earlier if you count people killed at peaceful demonstrations against Korea's impending division by separate US-promoted elections in the South). These are official South Korean government figures; the truth is probably many more. For someone (posted above) to say no more than 10,000 with authority is sadly reflective of no investigation.

The Gwangju citizens' army was drawn mainly from working class people, and the city's workers led the struggle after the military suppressed the student protests. The taxi drivers in particular were heroic in rallying the citizens to resist with a 100+ vehicle demo--many of the drivers were killed.The auto factory workers were also exemplary in the struggle, supplying dozens of new vehicles to the citizens army (including brand spanking new armored cars), joining the armed citizens, clearing the many destroyed vbehicles once the city was liberated, etc. etc. For someone above to say Gwangju was not a working class struggle is again sadly reflective of little investigation/too much ideology.

Those who think only working class people participated in the Paris Commune must be talking about some other event than the Commune of 1871.

The critique of Cholla people's "regionalism" is misplaced. There is much discrimination against them and prejudice (like that blindly repeated by the writer above who raised this issue). Cholla people have their own distinct cultural forms like pansori (mostly aiding resistance to oppression), but to see these as obstacles to revolutionary practice is mistaken. Check any significant South Korean radical group and you will find Cholla people at its core.

[Merces]

I hope the north koreans will liberate them.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

^^^Is this a sick joke?

[Merces]

Well the government's party is the workers party. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_Party_of_Korea)

[Enragé]

And Cambodia under pol pot was called "Democratic Kampuchea"

[Merces]

^ Yeah but its called the workers party, and its structure revolve around marxism-leninism, although they have made adjustments to it by being self relient (Juche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche)), and their economy is state controlled and centrally planned. He is also the general secretary of the workers party and the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Front_for_the_Reunification_of_the_Fath erland) in north korea. A few other small factions within this party include the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Il_Sung_Socialist_Youth_League).

[Pogue]

^ Yeah but its called the workers party, and its structure revolve around marxism-leninism, although they have made adjustments to it by being self relient (Juche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche)), and their economy is state controlled and centrally planned. He is also the general secretary of the workers party and the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Front_for_the_Reunification_of_the_Fath erland) in north korea. A few other small factions within this party include the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Il_Sung_Socialist_Youth_League).

Adjustments such as capitalism and brutal state repression, niiiiiice

[Merces]

Capitalism :confused:. Explain how their economic policies are on the right.

[revolution inaction]

Capitalism :confused:. Explain how their economic policies are on the right.

north Korea like all "socialist" countries is state capitalist
and there polices are on the socially as well as economically

[Merces]

^ The Economy of North Korea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_North_Korea) is centrally planned. No small businesses are currently operating there and since 58 all individual farm land was operated by the government as well as the goverment took over media, literature education etc so there wouldn't be any privitization. Although due to increase famine and the economic devestation the state has experimented with capitalism along the same lines as china did a few years back.

writings and study group about the struggle
http://www.geocities.com/songunpoliticsstudygroup/

check it out http://www.geocities.com/songunpoliticsstudygroup/sw-5.htm

[revolution inaction]

^ The Economy of North Korea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_North_Korea) is centrally planned. No small businesses are currently operating there and since 58 all individual farm land was operated by the government as well as the goverment took over media, literature education etc so there wouldn't be any privitization.


I said state capitalist as in capitalism run by the state.
Privatization is irrelevant. And and economy run by the government is in no way socialist.

[Merces]

well North Korea is doin it like the USSR Vietnam cuba,Laos,Cambodia,congo, and well every other socialist country. Thats sounding like a christian labeling something satanic or a muslim infidel.

[Bilan]

well North Korea is doin it like the USSR Vietnam cuba,Laos,Cambodia,congo, and well every other socialist country. Thats sounding like a christian labeling something satanic or a muslim infidel.

Or a Communist labeling it State Capitalist, because that's what it is. Capitalism run by the state =/= Socialism.

[Raúl Duke]

State Ownership isn't the end/all, only hallmark, etc of socialism.
I think even Marx said something similar.