325 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
325 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
A talk by Alan MacSimoin to the WSM Dublin
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branch in September 1991
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The Korean anarchist Movement
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In the 2,000 years of Korean history there
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arose movements fighting for peasants rights
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and for national independence. Within these
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movements there were tendencies that may be
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seen as forerunners of modern anarchism, in
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the same way as we might view the Diggers in
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the English revolution.
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In 1894 Japan invaded, under the pretext of
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protecting Korea from China. The struggle
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for national independance became central to
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all radical political activity.
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The modern anarchist movement in Korea began
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to take form among the exiles who fled to
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China after the 1919 independence struggle,
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and students & workers who went to Japan.
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This struggle, the 3.1 Movement within which
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anarchists were prominent, involved 2
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million people; 1,500 demonstrations were
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held; 7,500 were killed; 16,000 wounded and
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more than 700 homes and 47 churches
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destroyed.
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In the period up to the close of World War
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II the Korean Anarchist Federation has
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identified three stages.
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The first stage covered the first half of
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the 1920s and is described by the KAF as the
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gestation period.
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In the early years of this century as the
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Japanese ruling class started their
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imperialist drive into other Asian countries
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they also ruthlessly cracked down on any
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opposition at home. Japanese anarchists
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were to the forefront in anti-imperialist
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agitation. In 1910 Kotoku Shusui, a leading
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Japanese anarchist, was executed for
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treason. The Commoners Newspaper was
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rallying opposition to the Russia-Japan war
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and to the occupation of Korea. With the
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Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917, the
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rice riot of 1918 and the mass uprising in
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Korea in 1919, the Japanese ruling class was
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worried.
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Following the bloody suppression of the 3.1
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Movement and the rise in the level of class
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struggle in Japan itself, the Japanese
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bosses blamed anarchists and Koreans for the
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Tokyo earthquake of 1923. More than 6,000
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Korean workers in Japan were hunted down
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with clubs and bamboo spears. All known
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Japanese and Korean anarchists were
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arrested. Park Yeol and his wife Kaneko
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Fumiko, Korean anarchists, veterans of the
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independence struggle and organisers of the
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Tokyo "Black Workers Society", were
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sentenced to death. Many others were jailed.
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The charge of causing an earthquake may have
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been a bit embarrassing to sections of the
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ruling class so the sentences were commuted
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to life in prison. Kaneko died in jail and
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Park was not released until the end of WWll.
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Many of the Koreans jailed in what became
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known as "the High Treason case" went on to
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become leading activists in the anarchist
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movement in their own country.
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The Korean Anarchist Federation in China was
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formed in April 1924. and published the
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"Korean Revolution Manifesto". It was
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militantly anti-imperialist "we declare that
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the burglar politics of Japan is the enemy
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for our nation's existence and that it is
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our proper right to overthrow the
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imperialist Japan by a revolutionary means".
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It went on to stress the to do more than
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merely exchange rulers, pointing out the
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difference between a political revolution
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and a social revolution. It had no doubts
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about the role of anarchists, it laid
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emphasis on the leading role of the
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anarchists in a revolutionary situation. The
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Federation began to produce papers like
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Recapture and Justice Bulletin.
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By 1928 the spread of libertarian politics
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allowed the Korean Anarchists to organise
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the Eastern Anarchist Federation with
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comrades from China, Vietnam, Taiwan and
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Japan - which published a bulletin, Dong-
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Bang (The East). The "Manifesto" was adopted
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by the Eastern Federation as its formal
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programme.
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The second stage which covered the years
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1925-30 was dominated by the organisation of
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the movement. Armed with the theory of
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anarchist revolution set out in the
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"Manifesto" and practical experiences drawn
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from the 3.1 movement, the workers
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organisations in Japan and "the High Treason
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case" groups were organised in Seoul, Taegu,
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Pyongyang and other areas. By November 1929
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there had been a huge growth and the Korean
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Anarchist Communist Federation was formed as
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a national organisation. As part of the anti
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Japanese resistance it was a totally
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underground body. This should not lead
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anyone into thinking that it was small or
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lacking in widespread support.
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To give some idea of how the movement had
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grown I want to look at how things had
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progressed since the early 1920s. In Kiho
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province the daily newspaper Dong-a Ilbo
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reported in October 1925 that ten members of
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the League of Black Flag had been jailed for
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one year each. The following year the same
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paper reported that five young workers were
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jailed for putting out a manifesto very
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similar in style and content to the "Korean
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Revolution Manifesto". In 1929 Dong -a Ilbo
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tells of a secret society of anarchists
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organised by Lee Eun-Song which had one
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hundred members in the town of Icheon in
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Kwangwon province. In that year it
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transpired that the entire membership of the
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Chunju Artists Movement Society were all
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anarchists, such were the names and fronts
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used to throw the Japanese police off the
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scent. In response to this the death
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penalty was brought in for organising
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societies with the aom of "changing the
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national structure".
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In Taegu a League of Truth and Fraternity
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was set up in 1925 by exiles who returned
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from Japan. The Revolutionists League also
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came into being and both were in regular
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contact with the Tokyo Black Youth Society.
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I have also come across anarchist grou s in
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Anui, Mesan, the Changwon Black Friend
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League, the Jeju Island Mutual Aid group.
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The last mentioned used their remoteness
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from central government to organise co-ops
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of farmers and artisans, even a peasants'
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band. Needless to say the organisers quickly
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found they were not that remote and saw the
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inside of a prison cell.
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In Kwanseo and Kwanbul province I have found
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mention of at least eight more groups.
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Almost all the groups around the country
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were involved in a mixture of producing
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leaflets & papers, oranising trade unions
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and engaging in resistance to the
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occupation.
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By this time we know that most areas could
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boast of an active group. There were also
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organisations in Manchuria and amongst
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exiles in China and Japan.
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The next stage was the fighting period
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which ran up to 1945.
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Among the two million Koreans in Manchuria
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the KAF in Manchuria was able to sink deep
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roots immediately after its formation in
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1929. The Federation's main organiser, Kim
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Jong-Jin, drew up a plan which he put to the
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anti-Japanese guerillas. It covered
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voluntary collectives for farmers, free
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education up to age 18 with adult education
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for those older and arms training for all
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responsible adults. Discussions followed and
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eventually an anarchist plan was agree which
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was described as being "according to the
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free federation principle based upon the
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spontaneous free will of man".
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The difficulty that was not really addressed
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was how to deal with the Stalinists who were
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also organising in this region and were
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slandering the anarchists and others as
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"tyrants". The young anarchists around Yu-
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Rim wanted to fight ideology with ideology
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and demonstrate the superiority of their
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ideas. The older anti-Japanese guerillas
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around Kim Jwa-Jin (sometimes called the
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Korean Makhno) thought it was enough to
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state their support for anarchism but that
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they could ignore the Stalinists until
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national independence was won because only
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then would real politics come to the
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forefront. Not a lot different from the
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stages theory put forward by elements in
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Sinn Fein!
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By August 1929 the anarchists had formed an
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administration in Shinmin (one of the three
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Manchurian provinces). Whether this was a
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government is still a point of contention
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among anarchists. Organised as the Korean
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People's Association in Manchuria it
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declared its aim as "an independent self-
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governing cooperative system of the Korean
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people who assembled their full power to
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save our nation by struggling against
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Japan". The structure was federal going
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from village meetings to district and area
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conferences. The general association was
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composed of delegates from the districts and
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areas.
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The general association set up executive
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departments to deal with agriculture,
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education, propaganda, finance, military
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affairs, social health, youth and general
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affairs. The staff of the departments
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received no more than the average wage.
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We would expect that the organisation would
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start at village level and then federate
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upwards. However the EAPM believed that the
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war situation made this impossible to apply
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the principle immediately. In the interim
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they appointed the staffs and appointed them
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from the top down. Organisation and
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propaganda teams were then sent out to
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agitate for support and for the creation of
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village assemblies and committees. In one
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village a rice mill capable of milling over
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1 million bushels was built to allow the
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local co-op to break from reliance on
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merchants. Seemingly all these teams
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reported a good response and were made
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welcome wherever they went.
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The local administration of the anti-
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Japanese fighters in Shimin voluntarily
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dissolved itself and lent its support to
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KAPM. As the anarchists grew in numbers and
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support the Stalinists and the pro-Japanese
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elements in manchuria felt their own power
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bases threatened.
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On January 20th the anarchist general Kim
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Jwa-Jin was assassinated while doing repair
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work on the rice mill I just mentioned. The
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killer escaped but his handler was caught
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and executed.
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At a meeting in June in Peking of the KAFC
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it was decided to divert all resources
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outside Korea itself to Manchuria and most
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KAFC members moved to the anarchist zone in
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northern Manchuria. It should be noted that
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women comrades were active as agitators and
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arms smugglers.
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>From late 1930 onwards the Japanese were
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attacking in waves from the South and the
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stalinists, supported by the USSR, from the
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North. In early 1931 the stalinists sent
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assassination and kidnapping teams into the
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anarchist zone to murder leading activists.
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They believed that if they wiped out the
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KAFM the KAPM would wither and die. By the
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summer of
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1991 many leading anarchists were dead and
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the war on two fronts was devastating the
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region. It was decided to go underground.
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Anarchist Shimin was no more.
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There is much more to be said about activity
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in China and Japan as well as in Korea both
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in the years up to the close of the second
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world war, about their attitude towards the
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partition of their country, and about their
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position today. It would take too much time
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to deal with it all. What should be very
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clear is that anarchism in Asia has a very
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real history. We need more information to
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properly assess its political development,
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achievements and failings. In the meantime
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we can draw strength from the knowledge
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that anarchism was, and can be again, a
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major force in the region.
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The main source I have used in Ha Ki-Rak's A
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History of the Korean Anarchist Movement
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which was published in 1986 by the Korean
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Anarchist Federation. Apart from being
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poorly translated and chronologically
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confusing, it is written from the
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perspective of the more nationalist and
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reformist tendency in the Korean movement.
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at
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PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland
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or by anonymous e-mail to an64739@anon.penet.fi
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Some of our material is available via the Spunk press electronic archive
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by FTP to etext.archive.umich.edu or 141.211.164.18
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or by gopher ("gopher etext.archive.umich.edu")
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or WWW at http://www.cwi.nl/cwi/people/Jack.Jansen/spunk/Spunk_Home.html
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in the directory /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/groups/WSM
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for an anarchist mailing list send the message
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subscribe firstname secondname to anarchy-list-request@cwi.nl
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