___ Libero International _____________________________________________
No. 1 - January 1975
A Note on Libero International If the activities of anarchists in the west have been overshadowed and overwhelmed by those of opportunistic politicians and premature revolutionaries, those of their Asian comrades have been almost obliterated. The experience of Asia in the first half of the 20th century, where the predominant trend was the nationalist struggle against foreign control, demanded that revolutionaries of all creeds pool their resources in the fight against imperialist domination. This has made it difficult to assess the range of political activity which took place in each individual country. In China the movement was upstaged by the communist party, following the success of the revolution in Russia; in Japan the assumption of the trappings of a bourgeois state after 1868 created social-democratic trends in the labour movement very early on; in Korea, efficient control by the Japanese occupation authorities after the 1910 annexation drove most political activists out of the country to Japan and China, where their energy, particularly that of the anarchists, often merged with that of the local movement. Nevertheless, taking each country individually, there was much more variety of political belief than is immediately visible. Anarchism was an important element in all three countries. Many of the Chinese intellectuals who later founded the Chinese Communist Party had originally been. anarchists, and the labour unions organised by Mao Tse-tung in his native province in the 1920s were in fact built on existing anarchist ones. The first intellectual to declare himself independent of the pacifist and Christian tendencies in Japan was the anarchist Kõtoku Shüsui, while the Oriental Socialist Party (founded in 1881), Japan's first socialist organisation, was comprised largely of anarchists and was heavily influenced by the Russian Narodniks. Koreans exiled in Japan formed many anarchist and anarcho-communist groups among students and workers, many of the latter tending towards syndicalism, although the tenacious nationalist fostered by forty years of rule by Japan persuaded many anarchist groups to attempt to work within the political structure.
Part of the reason for launching Libero International has been the belief that the facts about the energetic libertarian history of Asia should be marshalled and made available for Western as well as Asian comrades. Much of the historical material will be based on translations of existing materials in Chinese, Japanese and Korean. At the same time, we will try to bring together the general threads of the Asian situation by producing chronologies, summaries, book reviews, biographies, and so on.
Libero International will not be entirely given over to historical material, however. As a general rule, we will try to divide historical and current material on a fifty-fifty basis, on the principle that although the struggle for human dignity now being waged throughout Asia is of crucial importance to a world free of political, racial, economic and psychological oppression, it is equally essential for libertarians to become acquainted with the history of that struggle. Much of the current material will come from Japan, where this magazine is being produced, and where most of our contacts are. For information from other parts of Asia we rely upon comrades to write to us and tell us of conditions where they are active.
By confining the above notes on Asia to the three countries of China, Korea and Japan, we don't mean to invite any assumptions, but simply to express the limits of our knowledge and experience. Once again, we look forward to hearing from comrades with knowledge or experience of historical or current struggles in other parts of Asia. The primary focus of Libero International will be on libertarian movements, broadly defined, both historical and current.
Other things which Libero International hopes to achieve are, first, an annotated list of the few available English language writings on Asian libertarian movements; second, to keep abreast of publications in Asian languages and, by summarizing or reviewing them, make their contents more internationally available; and third, to introduce the activities and viewpoints of local libertarian groups to non Asian readers. Yet again, we rely on the cooperation of I comrades to let us know about English-language materials and to send us information about local activities in Asia.
* * * * * * *
CIRA-Nippon is a federation of autonomous libertarian groups, one of them being the Section for International Correspondence (SfIC), which is a small group of comrades living in the Osaka-Kobe area. As the name suggests, the SfIC works as the communication link between domestic anarchist groups associated with CIRA-Nippon, and various groups outside Japan. To achieve its aims of enhanced international communication, understanding and, hence, solidarity, the SfIC has three main functions:
- to deal with the day-to-day correspondence between groups outside Japan and CIRA-Nippon;
- to publish news and materials concerning the anarchist movement in Japan and East Asia; and
- to translate or summarize published materials received from outside Japan so that they may be made more readily available to our comrades in the movement here.
Publication of Libero international is meant to achieve the second aim. We are hoping that libertarian publications outside Japan will agree to an exchange of literature, to help us in achieving the third. Materials which are new or largely unknown in Japan will be summarized, translated, etc., by SfIC, after which they will be sent to Fujinomiya to become part of the CIRA-Nippon collection (see introduction to CIRA-Nippon in this issue). We hope that our friends overseas will be interested in not only receiving Libero International and what other pamphlets and materials as we may produce, but will also help us in making information relating to their theory, practice and experience as widely available in Japan as possible.
Our present plan is to publish bi-monthly. Future issues will probably be about the size and format of this one. Sole editorial responsibility for the contents lies with the Editorial Collective of the SfIC, the publisher. Correspondence relating to the contents, requests for further information, subscription inquiries, or letters dealing with other matters relating to the anarchist movement in Japan and Asia, should be addressed to the SfIC, whose address appears on the back cover.
Nissan Motors: New Developments The cruel victimization of workers at factories of the Nissan Motor Corporation all over Japan, and the collusion of union leadership and company management in this system, have been painfully described by Matsuo Kei in the Solidarity Pamphlet: DATSUN MOTOR: HELL'S BATTLEFIELD (reprinted from AMPO No. 20, pp 35-47). The facts revealed in this report are an unequivocal condemnation of the Japanese system of 'goyo kumiai' or company-patronized unions.
The latest event in the process of the Nissan company union's assimilation to the state machinery came in a statement of November 1974 by the union leadership announcing that it had decided, "on behalf of the membership", to forego this winter's regular bonus payment. The twice yearly bonus system here amounts to sheer blackmail, and is one of the excuses traditionally offered by Japanese bosses to rationalise the usually miserable wages paid by Japanese firms to their employees. The statement came amid a chorus of whimpering by the major firms that they could not afford to pay bonuses to their workers this year on account of the increasing business slump in Japan. The union leadership is thus clearly acting as the mouthpiece of the management on the issue, seeking to avoid a confrontation like those which have already achieved major gains for workers in other sectors.
The specific line taken by the union statement in renouncing the New Year bonus was that the long-term future of Japan's economy had to be taken into account; in the interests of the nation, therefore, the workers of Nissan Motor had decided to tighten their belts as an example to those of other firms.
Review: Monthly Local Struggles
The people-eating, pollution-shitting conglomerate which is industrialized Japan today reminds you of a great bloated hippo straddling the country and crushing the people. The fore legs of this colossus are represented by the government, the hind legs by big business. When people here struggle against the danger and destruction caused by rampant economic expansion, therefore, they are faking on the full might of the political status quo in this country.The variety of resistance movements which have nevertheless sprung up all over Japan to fight for basic human survival is only comparable to the variety of murderous excrescences inflicted upon the Japanese people by industrial plants which operate with the open or concealed approval of the government. The degree to which the Japanese people have realised the need to take the future into their own hands before it is too late (for some it is already too late: the 100th pollution death since 1970 in Amagasaki, near Osaka, occurred in November) has to some extent become known outside Japan through the struggles against the New Tokyo International Airport at Narita, and the fight to squeeze compensation for the victims of Minamata Disease. out of the smelting company responsible.
A prominent role in publicizing these local struggles and in providing a link between different struggle groups is played by the monthly magazine LOCAL STRUGGLES (CHI-IKI TÕSÕ). This magazine, put out by a local group which names itself after Don Quixote's horse Rossinanti, has been published without interruption since October 1970. An average issue contains about 15 pages dealing with a problem selected for consideration that month,. such as the anti-pollution struggle in one particular area or the education of children to understand the reasons for pollution; a 'notice board' section giving details of meetings, victories, new struggles and so on; on-the-spot reports from struggle areas such as Narita; reports from local groups; discussions of new publications; readers' letters etc.
The editorial statement reads: "All manuscripts should be from people actually involved in struggle; 'reportage', critiques, and scholarly studies are not welcome. The independence of each struggle group, and the right to open criticism within this magazine are guaranteed. We have absolutely no links with any one political party or faction. The funds to produce this magazine are provided by the capital invested in Rossinanti Press on an individual basis at 5000 yen per share. Anyone is able to buy such shares.
The drawback to Local Struggles as a liaison medium is that being monthly, and with the added problem of distribution outlets, much of the information concerning forthcoming meetings and so on is out of date before it reaches the readers. A move towards fortnightly and eventually weekly publication is essential for this part of its role to be fully exploited.
Kõtoku Shüsui: Founder of Modern Anarchism in Japan
Kõtoku Shüsui, whose name has become a kind of legend since the war (although in the country town where he was born, people still look embarrassed if you mention his name), was Japan's first real anarchist and the Japanese movement's first revolutionary martyr. At the time when Japan was launching its imperialistic programme, Kõtoku opposed nationalism and militarism despite the popular fervour aroused by the way against Russia in 1904. In 1906 he predicted an eventual war with the US.He was born in a small country town in southern Japan, one with strong traditionalistic tendencies, in 1871, At the age of ten (!) he began publishing his first political newspaper; at 15 he ran away to Tokyo, but was soon expelled under the new Peace Preservation Law. From the beginning, Kõtoku was a warrior in the samurai tradition. Thus he opposed Christianity at a time when the dominant trend in the Japanese movement was Christian Socialism (his last work was titled 'Rubbing Out Christ'), and never really trusted parliamentary socialism.
In 1893 he got a job translating cables from Europe, so he became familiar with developments overseas. Soon after, his family provided him with a submissive Japanese wife from his home district. Within two months he sent her back and divorced her, saying that she did not match his ideal of a wife.
By 1897 Kõtoku had announced his intention to "investigate socialism". Since be had previously placed responsibility for checking Japan's moral decline' in the hands of a few upright individuals, it was a big step to take. In 1898 he began working for a radical scandal-sheet named Yorozu Chõhõ; as a result of his editorials it became the most popular paper in Japan. At the same time, following the railway workers' strike in 1897, modern Japan's first big labour dispute, Kõtoku saw for the first time the need for union organization and helped form the Rõdõ Kumiai Kisei-kai (Association of Labour Unions), Japan's first body aimed at promoting unionism. Shortly after this, he became a member of the Society for the Study of Socialism along with many future socialist leaders. It was a kind of Fabian Society. Meanwhile, Kõtoku had got married again, this time to an intellectual; it was another disaster.
As a member of the Society Kõtoku grew closer to socialism, though he as yet placed little importance upon the labour movement. Finally, in April 1901 he wrote a famous article under the heading "I am a Socialist and a Member of the Socialist Party". Although there was no such party at the time, a Social-Democratic Party was formed just one month later, only to be banned within hours. Many large newspapers had already printed the party's manifesto however, which, based upon that of the German SDP, had called for Socialism, Pacifism and Democracy, to be achieved within the limits of the law. Pacifism was the offending element: Japan had just defeated China and was preparing a war with Russia. The Social-Democratic, Party was the only one to oppose these trends, and was thus regarded as unpatriotic.
Kõtoku's writings of this time included 'Imperialism: The Spectre of the 20th Century', in which he accused the Japanese government of shifting the people's attention from their economic problems onto foreign adventures. Shortly after, he published 'The Quintessence of Socialism', the leading Japanese treatise on socialism before World War 1. However, he had not yet read Marx, and retained a naive loyalist belief that socialism could be established under the benevolent gaze of the Emperor.
In February 1904 the Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on Russia. Up to this time, the 'Yorozu Chõhõ' had given Kõtoku and its other socialist writers a mouthpiece for their pacifist views. When circulation-----began to drop however, the paper changed its line to MW one of support for Japanese policy, Kõtoku and the others immediately resigned. The result was the 'Heimin Shimbun' (Common People's Paper), which soon became the leading radical paper in Tokyo, until its anti-war position persuaded the government to crack down on the news stands which sold it. In summer 1904, it carried a "letter to Russian Socialists" calling for international socialists to fight a united struggle against militarism and patriotism; 'Iskra' responded with a similar article. Subsequent issues printed articles calling on teachers to strike and denouncing religion. Although the line was predominantly parliamentarian and direct action was rejected, the government grew more and more concerned. Finally, when the paper announced that its anniversary issue would carry a translation of the 'Communist Manifesto', the government acted. The issue was banned, the Society for the Study of Socialism closed, and Kõtoku and the others arrested. The last issue of 'Heimin Shimbun' appeared in January 1905, and soon after Kõtoku began a five-month prison spell.
In prison he translated works by Engels, and then came across Kropotkin's "Fields, Factories and Workshops', his first encounter with anarchism. Under this influence he began to criticise the Emperor for the first time. When he left prison, he decided to travel to America to improve his failing health. In San Francisco he was welcomed by the local branch of the 'Heiminsha', the group which had put out 'Heimin Shimbun', and made contacts with many local anarchists, many of whom were émigré Russian revolutionaries. Later he became a member of the American Socialist Party, and addressed meetings of the IWW. This was his first introduction to the theory of direct action.
His experiences in California convinced Kõtoku that the new trend of world revolution was anarchism; he thus began to advocate direct action and the General Strike. The primitive socialism which briefly followed the great earthquake of April 1906 strengthened his belief; reaction against the radicalism of the Wobblies persuaded him that "there is no country... that pretends to be as liberal, but is in fact as illiberal, as America".
That summer Japanese socialists asked Kõtoku to return to help form a new party, the Japan Socialist Party. Before he left he organized the Japanese radicals of California into the Social Revolutionary Party of Oakland in June. When he got back he announced-that his ideas had changed; in the future parliamentary politics were irrelevant to the social revolution--only strikes, leading up to the General Strike would have the necessary effect. Despite the immediate split which this caused in the Japan Socialist Party, in January 1907 the new (daily) 'Heimin Shimbun' began to appear. At the party convention in February, the two sides fought it out; while not strong enough to carry the whole party, Kõtoku's influence was sufficient to prevent inclusion of the phrase "within the limits of the law" in the party platform. A few days later the party was banned, and the 'Heimin Shimbun' voluntarily dissolved in April. Kõtoku left for the country to translate Arnold Roller's 'The Social General Strike', and Kropotkin's 'The Conquest of Bread'.
In November 1907, on the Emperor's birthday, an 'Open Letter to the Emperor of Japan from Anarchist Terrorists' appeared on the door of the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco. The result was the chain of events which led to Kõtoku's execution three years later. While Kõtoku denied responsibility, he was probably influential at the very least. From this point on, the Japanese government decided to have his head. He was placed under constant surveillance and his family was harassed by the police.
In the 'Red Flag Incident' of June 1908 and the repression which followed, almost all the known socialist leaders were arrested. Kõtoku, who had been living in the south for his health, was almost alone and seems to have begun talking about bombs and things. While there is no evidence of a plan on his part, the people he talked to took him seriously and began gathering materials and testing explosives in the mountains in preparation for an attack on the Emperor's life. Two things suggest that Kõtoku was actively involved: one, he was suffering from advanced TB and had only a few years to live anyway; two, the continuing police repression made it impossible to organize constructive revolutionary activities. He seems to have approved the plan, even if he took no active part in the preparations.
The planning continued through 1909 and the date was set for August 1910. In May 1910, in a routine investigation, the police discovered explosive chemicals at the home of one of the conspirators. Within a few days all were arrested, Kõtoku himself being the last, although the evidence suggests that he was more interested in publishing at that stage. The trial, which began in December, was a mystery. It was held in camera and the records have never been made public. Some compared it to the Chicago Anarchists' trial in 1886. Despite the seriousness and complexity of the case, the trial lasted less than three weeks. When Kõtoku arrived at the courtroom, in a dramatic scene, the socialists in the room for the trial judgment unfurled the red flags for him to see.
On January 18, 1911, Kõtoku and 23 others were found guilty of all the charges against them, most of which were "crimes against the throne", and sentenced to death. Before the court was cleared by guards, it rang with shouts of "Long Live Anarchists!" and "Long Live Anarchy!" While twelve of the convicted later had their charges commuted to life imprisonment, those for Kõtoku and the others stuck, and he was hung in the morning of January 24, 1911 after smoking a final cigarette..
Notehelfer's 'Kõtoku Shusui' is a detailed, academic study which, in its attempts to be objective, succeeds in totally destroying the atmosphere which surrounded the early 20th century Japanese radical movement. since it is the only full-length study of a Japanese anarchist in English, it is a very important source. Yet comrades reading it will come away with the feeling that they have learned a lot about Kõtoku's personal hang-ups but very little about the movement itself. Partly this is because most of Kõtoku's activities predated the radical phase of the movement. Much of the book is thus spent trying to relate him to other Meiji intellectuals rather than to other trends in the revolutionary movement. Hence developments in his radicalisation process are dotted here and there amongst a stream of socio-psychological theorising and long quotations. It would be nice if someone from the movement could start from the other end and write a history of the movement which puts Kõtoku in his proper place. At the moment, however, we have to rely on the offerings of academics.
Chronology: The Pre-War Korean Anarchist Movement
1919.2.8
JapanDECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATED: Tokyo Conference of Assoc. of Japan Korean Students in declares Korean independence in name of 'Young Koreans' Independence League'.
1919.3.1
KoreaDITTO: at Kyong Sung Dae Wha Park, Seoul, the Declaration is read out; further reading at meeting of students and others at Tab Dong Kong Park marks start of Manse (Long Life) movement.
1919.4.17
ChinaPROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED: Provisional Government of Republic of Korea established in Shanghai; President Syngman Rhee.
1919.11
Manchuria'BAND OF HEROES' (ElYULDAN) FORMED: at Husain Men-wai, Kirin Province, new group formed to fight for national liberation; members mostly anarchists and nationalists.
1920.6
KoreaFIRST 'BAND OF HEROES' INCIDENT: Pyungnam local government office; Shin Eiju station; Pusan and Milyang police stations; Korean Governor-Gene-ral's office; Chongro police station; Dongchuk and Kyum I iron works all simultaneously exploded or bombed by members of the 'Band of Heroes'.
1920.10.19-22
ManchuriaBATTLE OF CH'ING-SHAN-LI: Korean Independence Army under anarchist general Kim Joa-jin wipes out entire division of Japanese Imperial Army.
1921.11.29
JapanBLACK CURRENT SOCIETY (KOKUTOKAI) FORMED: Socialists among Koreans in Japan form this new anarchist group in Tokyo; main figure Park Yul.
1922.9.7
JapanSHINANOGAWA MURDER CASE: Korean and Japanese activists organize joint conference to protest atrocities against Koreans in Japan.
1923.2
JapanBLACK FELLOWSHIP ASSOCIATION (KOKUYÜKAI) FORMED: first all-anarchist body among Koreans in Japan; main figures Lee Si-woo, Chang Soung-chung, Kim Kun.
1923.5
JapanSOCIETY OF REBELS (FUTEISHA) FORMED: new anarchist group; main figures Park Yul, Ryuk Hong-kwun, Choi Kyu-chong.
1923.8
JapanBLACK LABOUR ASSOCIATION (KOKURÕKAI) FORMED: first anarchist labour union among Koreans in Japan; main figure Lee Kang-ri.
1923.9.10
JapanPARK YUL INCIDENT: massacre of Koreans following Great Kanto Earthquake; Park Yul and ten other Korean anarchists, with Kaneko Ayako and three other Japanese anarchists arrested on false charge of planning to-kill Japanese Emperor; Park and Kaneko given death penalty.
1925.3.10
Manchuria'NEW PEOPLE'S GOVERNMENT' FORMED: Korean anarchists Kim Joann, Choung Shin, others help organize commune among Korean refugees.
1925.4.17
KoreaBLACK FLAG ALLIANCE (HEUK KI YUN MAENG) FORMED: first nationwide anarchist organization in Korea itself established in Seoul; main figures Seo O-sun, Seo Sang-kang, Lee Chang-shik.
1925.4.18
KoreaTRUE FRIENDS' ALLIANCE (JIN WU RYONG MONG) FORMED: new, powerful anarchist group established in Taegu by Shin Jae-mo, Bang Han-sang, Choung Myong-kun, others.
1926.4
KoreaTRUE FRIENDS' ALLIANCE INCIDENT: on charges of planning to assassinate Japanese citizens and blow up government offices Japanese authorities arrest entire Alliance membership including two Japanese, Kurihara & Ryakumoto.
1926.4.5
JapanBLACK MOVEMENT SOCIETY (KOKUSHOKU UNDÕ SHA) FORMED: plans to form blanket organization for all Korean anarchists in Japan launched by Won Sim-chang.
1926.9.10
JapanEASTERN WORKERS' ALLIANCE (TÕKÕ RÕDÕ DÕMEI) FORMED: in Tokyo Choi Nak- chong, Choi Hak-ju, Yang Il-dong and others form most powerful organization of Korean workers in Japan at that time.
1926.9.10
JapanBLACK BATTLE-FRONT (KOKUSHOKU SENSEN) FORMED: Society of Rebels renames itself, begins to publish 'Black Friend' (Kokuyü) newspaper.
1927.2
ChinaMEETING OF JOINT CONFERENCE OF OPPRESSED PEOPLES OF THE EAST: Korean delegates to this conference in Nanking are 'anarchists Yoo Ja-myong, others.
1927.2.22
JapanCASUAL WORKERS' UNION (JIYÜ RÕDÕSHA KUMIAI) FORMED: the first union among Korean casual labourers in Japan; organized by anarchists Mun Seong-hun, Lee Si-woo, 0 Seong-mun, others.
1927.2.22
KoreaKWANG SOH BLACK FELLOWSHIP ASSOCIATION FORMED: a Pyongyang organization designed to unify separate groups like Hanju Casual Labourers' Union, Pyongyang General Workers' Union, Social Livelihood Study Society, Free Youth Association, Village Movement Society etc; main figures Lee Hong-kun, Choi Kap-ryong, Lee Ju-seong.
1927.5.7
KoreaDANJU BLACK FELLOWSHIP ASSOCIATION FORMED: alliance of Danju Black Fellowship Society, Danju Shin Heung Youth Alliance, Sun Duk Shin Heung,Youth Group, Kwangduk Tenants' Union, etc; main figures Jo Chung-bok, Kim Nak-ku, Kim Chul.
1928.1.15
JapanLEAGUE OF FREE YOUTH (JIYÜ SEINEN REMMEI) FORMED: main figure Han Ha-yun.
1928.1.15
JapanBLACK FELLOWSHIP ALLIANCE (KOKUYÜ REMMEI) FORMED: main figures Won Sim- chang, Lee Dong-sun, Cheong Tae-seoung.
1928.2
JapanBLACK FELLOWSHIP ASSOCIATION INCIDENT: Mutual Love Society (Sang Ae Hoi), reactionary pro-Japanese Korean group, leads police to raid HQ of Black Fellowship Association and Black Fellowship Alliance.
1928.3.21
ChinaLEAGUE OF EASTERN ANARCHISTS (TUNG-FANG WU-CHENG-FU CHU-I-CHE LIEN-MENG) FORMED: Korean anarchists in China meet in Nanking to form this organization, the first of its kind; main participants Yoo Ja-myung, Lee Jung-kyu, Lee Eul-kyu, Baek Chung-kee, Shin Chae-ho, Chung Hwa-am.
1928.6.7
JapanSTUDENTS' CLUB (GAKUYÜKAI) INCIDENT: Korean anarchists Won Sim-chang, Lee Si-woo, Han Ha-yun, Yang Sang-ki and others attack Gakuy5kai, communist-sponsored organization of Korean students in Japan,; fierce dispute follows between anarchism and bolshevism.
1929.4
KoreaANJU BLACK FELLOWSHIP ASSOCIATION FORMED.
1929.7
ManchuriaGENERAL LEAGUE OF KOREANS (HANJOK CHONGRYONG HAPHOI) FORMED: all Korean anarchists in Manchuria, including Kim Joa-jin, Kim Wan-jin, Lee Hae-bung Lee Eul-kyu, meet at Nan-tla-kuan-a-chleng to form a new commune-type organization.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
THE PRESENT KOREAN MOVEMENT UNDER MARTIAL LAW INTRODUCTION
Power in south Korea has been seized by the fascist clique of Park Chung-hee, as cruel as, if not worse than that of Franco in Spain in the 1930s. Is there an anarchist movement in a country such as this?
Well, yes and no. You cannot understand without realising that the anarchist movement among Koreans before the war was, by and large, a national independence movement, and that conditions within the movement after the war (here they call it "post-liberation") were terribly chaotic. To be more specific, on the one hand you have some anarchists who have become involved in political or popular movements I think it would be difficult to refer to these as an anarchist movement as such. On the other hand, there is a more ideological anarchist movement which got under way a year or so ago but, apart from erecting a monument to Kaneko Ayako* at the birthplace-of Park Yul, it does not seem to me to have achieved very much. This group is known as the Jajyuin Yuenmaeng (the "Korea Free Men's Federation" - FMF), and perhaps it is the only group which could truly be referred to as 'anarchist'.
When you say that anarchists are active in the political and popular movements, what exactly do you mean?
By 'political movement' I mean the Korean Democratic Unity Party (DUP) of Yang Il-dong, Chung Hwa-am, Ha Kee-rak and others. The 'popular movement' is the 'Autonomous Village Movement,' centered upon the National Cultural Research Institute, whose members include Lee Jung-kyu, Lee Mun-chang, Cho Han-ku and Park Soung-han. Strictly speaking, these two, plus the FMF, should be thought of as constituting the anarchist movement in Korea today. There are also efforts such as Lee Dong-sun's 'Commune Movement,' and Lee Hong-kun's activities, as well as Choi Hea-cheung's 'Educational Cultural Movement, but these have to be classified as individual endeavours. Of course, anarchist activity is always individualistic, but I have to confess that I don't know too much about them myself, so I would prefer to leave them out for the moment. Nevertheless, l want you to keep in mind these truly anarchistic and individualistic activities, even if they are scattered; I would like to tell you about them on another occasion.
ACTIVITIES OF THE FMF
First of all I'd like a few facts about the FMF. About when was it established, and what are its aims?
Here is a copy of the 'General Principles of the FMF' which comrades have sent to me. Let me explain to you the parts which can be admitted openly:
'THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE FMF'
- Each of us is an individual, a free person with control over his or her own actions, We aim to build a free society where free people have come together of their own free will.
- All individuals have equal sovereignty over their own actions, No one can violate this right. We reject all political concepts which divide the people into rulers and ruled.
- We regard as criminal anyone who, by whatever means, seizes the fruits of the labour of others without contributing his or her own labour.
- In this free society of free men and women, economic life should be organized along the lines of 'from each according to his or her ability, to each according to his or her need.
- In line with these basic principles, the free society of the future will allow the development of a variety of modes of life according to the special nature of each district and each occupation.
- At the same time as transmitting the distinct cultural characteristics of each nation as they have been passed through the ages, we aim at the achievement of world peace through the harmonization of those many colorful cultures.
The remaining seven principles I would prefer not to mention here. The Federation is managed plurally by a four-man committee, one member of which is invested with responsibility. His term of office is one year. Because, with a few exceptions, almost all the pre-war anarchists seem to have joined the FMF, it has the look of a National Federation. Yet the atmosphere is predominantly a salon-type one among the prewar people - most of whom are over 50 - and few attempts have been made to get ideas across to younger people. They do publish anarchist literature and hold lecture meetings for young people, but these don't seem to me to have gone very well. Still, there is nothing else. They meet twice a week to talk at coffee shops.
Even so, under the present conditions of martial law in south Korea, they have done well to sustain any activity at all.
This is the reason that the FMF has become a secret, illegal organization. All publications are produced in secret and passed around by hand. Repression under martial law also meant that the FMF could not be openly called an anarchist federation; this is why its general principles are so moderate as to astonish anyone familiar with the Korean anarchist movement in the past.
There is one peculiarly Korean point which must be kept in mind: this is that 'anti-communism' is a position on which both the anarchists and Park Chung-hee are in accord. It may well be that, because of the anarchists' services to the independence movement in the past, and also because he wants to instill anti-communism as deeply as possible into people's minds, that Park Chung-hee cannot crack down on the anarchists as ruthlessly as he would like. But more than this - more than anything - the saddest point of all " is that the FMF has yet to cause even the slightest inconvenience to Park's regime. Even the members themselves admit, 'We are probably tolerated because we have caused the authorities not even so much as a fleabite.'
THE NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT AND THE ANARCHIST POSITION
Next I want to ask you about the DUP. Mr. Yang Il-dong is the man who met Mr. Kim Dae-jung just before he was kidnapped, isn't he?**
That's right.
Is he an anarchist?
I would think so, yes. Although he is at present engaged in political activities, his spirit remains an anarchist one. His anarchist career is well-known. Before the war he went to study in Tokyo, where he helped organize Korean workers into the 'Eastern Labour Union,' co-edited the 'Black Newspaper,' the organ of Korean anarchists in Japan, and worked on Jiy5 Rengo (Free Federation), the Japanese anarchists' newspaper. He was also held for a time in the I chigaya prison in Tokyo. His career as an anarchist really ought to be better known to the Korean people than it is.
Eh? I don't understand. Wouldn't it be damaging, under present political conditions, for people to discover that Yang Il-dong, leader of the DUP, has a history of anarchist activity and has even been imprisoned for it? Would it not simply give the government a means of attacking the opposition?
No, on the contrary! The point should be played up! You see, there is absolutely no one in the ruling party who has risked his life to fight Japanese imperialism. Even the New Democratic Party, which is little different from the ruling party, is a party of petty bourgeois national capitalists and completely lacks such staunch fighters in the independence movement as Yang Il-dong and Chung Hwa-am. This contrast is what makes the present DUP so distinctive, and in my opinion they should publicize it much more.
How do you explain the mere fact that anarchists are taking part in political party activities at all?
This, too, reflects the special conditions surrounding the Korean anarchist movement. As of way back, from the establishment of the Provisional Government in Shanghai following the March 1st Incident, to the formation of the independent Workers' and Peasants' Party after Liberation , and right up to the creation of today's DUP, the Korean anarchist movement has adopted a political posture. The entire Korean people, for years under the rule of foreign invaders, have longed to be able to create their own nation and form their own government, even the anarchists. No one, not even anarchists, who disregarded this national longing, has ever been able to organize a mass movement in Korea. Even now this remains the case. One might say, too, that the movement to set up a viable nation and to fight for genuine independence still continues today. In this sense the Korean anarchists who have joined the DUP probably still see themselves as they did in the pre-Liberation independence movement clays, wouldn't you agree?
And another thing, also a reflection of Korean conditions: as you well know, with the current political repression in Korea, a straightforward anti-government movement is totally out of the question. The only way remaining to them in this situation is to build up a legal political party and to criticize the government from within it. Leaving aside the real nature of south Korea, the impression of outsiders is that it is a parliamentary democracy in which political parties compete for power. Hence the ruling group cannot ban the opposition parties and create a one-party dictatorship. So the anarchists concentrate their activity upon this last remaining gap in the edifice of power.
Then is the DUP an anarchist party?
No, not quite. To begin with, let's look at the way in which the party was founded. After the election of the President in 1971 the left wing of the Now Democratic Party became dissatisfied with the way the party had moved towards the government, split away, and made a broad appeal to all democratic forces in south Korea. The new party which was formed as a result was the DUP. Mr. Yang Il-dong was one of those who left the New Democratic Party. One cannot help feeling that the DUP is the only bastion of the broad democratic united front in south Korea, especially in the light of its recent persecution by the government. However, the fact that Yang Il-dong is head of the party, that Chung Hwa-am is his top advisor, that Ha Kee-rak heads the Policy Advisory Committee, and that these three occupy places on the five-man central committee shows that, while the party itself is not an anarchist organization, it has most certainly come under the influence of anarchism.
Since the Kim Dae-jung Incident, the Park Chung-hee authorities have been increasingly strengthening their dictatorship through suppression of the student movement and of free speech. But how much practical influence does the DUP have amidst all this?
For the moment, at any rate, it has only two seats in parliament. Although the DUP put up candidates in almost 'all election districts in that preposterously rigged election of 1971, all but Mr. Yang Il-dong and Mr. Ha Kee-rak were defeated. Even they were only elected through an oversight on the part of the government. Therefore, while as a political party it has almost no activities or influence in the parliament, most of its energy is concentrated on the popular, non , parliamentary movement. Surely this kind of activity is interesting from an anarchist point of view? Again, the activities of the rather grandiose-sounding 'Party Committee on Women's Rights' were in fact much the same as those of the Women's Liberation Movement elsewhere: its .chairwoman, in fact, was the daughter of an anarchist. All-in-all, I think that one useful barometer of the social influence of the DUP is the degree of repression inflicted upon it by the government. For various reasons, I cannot go into detail here, except to say that the pace of repression is accelerating. Mr. Yang Il-dong once described present-day conditions in south Korea to me as ones of 'see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing' - the truth about daily events in south Korea, even in Seoul, can only be had through reading the Japanese newspapers. In other words, our comrades are counting on us - on the things we know, the things we write, and on all our efforts. Please remember this, above all else. I too will do what I can from now on.
THE COMMUNE AND AUTONOMOUS VILLAGE MOVEMENTS
I see your point. Finally, what kind of people are the anarchists now active in the village movement, concretely speaking?
They are Kropotkinists, to put it briefly. Lee Eul-kyu, a well-known anarchist once called the 'Korean Kropotkin', is still living in south Korea today. His younger brother, Lee Jung-kyu, also well known as an anarchist, is a leading light in the movement. Since Liberation, Lee Jung-kyu has been president of the Confucianist Sung Kun Kwan ('Equality Creating Hall') University. Hence, many people in the educational world who have come under the influence of his ideas have begun to gravitate towards the village movement.
Incidentally, most people are aware that it was the 'Student Revolution' of April 1960 that overthrew the South Korean 'Godfather' Syngman Rhee. However, that revolution's road to victory was not quite so straight as it has been portrayed in retrospect.. Before the student-led riots of April 26-28, there had already occurred the confrontation which became known as 'Bloody Tuesday? on April 19th, followed by the celebrated 'Faculty Demo', on the 22nd. According to Lee Mun-chang, Lee Jung-kyu was one of the professors who participated in that second demonstration. Their appeal used the slogan: 'At a time when our own students are being beaten before our very eyes, what can we teach them in the classroom? Let us respond to the blood of our students!' The 'Faculty Demo" apparently consisted of the professors, lecturers, middle- and high-school teachers who responded to this appeal.
I've digressed a bit from my main point, but the thing I want you to remember is this: among the teachers and students who gathered at that time, there was a strong feeling that it was 'too late for returning to school! There is nothing to teach, nothing to learn. The time requires action!, It was when this feeling reached its peak, through 1960 and 1961. that the search for methods of action led them to the village movement. I think, however, that the decision to go back to the villages also stemmed largely from Lee Jung-kyu's Kropotkinism - his ideal of a federal society based on autonomous, self-defensible farming villages. When I heard of this movement, I immediately thought: 'The Narodniks of Korea!'
So it was not the same as the commune movement?
I don't know what you mean by 'commune movement', but at any rate it is different from the cooperative movements in Japan. According to the model in Kropotkin's 'Field, Factory and Workshop', the former students and teachers went to the villages - or rather, went back to their own native villages where they became primary-school teachers, farmers or local functionaries, and tried to build autonomous, self-defensible villages.
Is each individual working on his own?
No, not at all. They keep in touch with each other through an office established in Seoul. For some reason the signboard reads, 'National Culture Research Institute', although in fact this office is the headquarters of the 'National Conference of Village Activists'.
What exactly do they do?
I don't have too many details, since I lack materials and also because of the language problem, but one concrete example of their activities is their attempt to grow seed potatoes in one place and distribute them throughout south Korea through the Conference. For another, they are trying to activate a relief movement for poor villages which cannot support themselves by agriculture alone, by establishing, wherever possible, light industry, handicrafts, or cloisonne-making as secondary pursuits
I still don't really understand.
I'm not too clear myself, since I haven't been to the villages and have to rely on other people's reports. However, when I explained the four struggle principles of-our own cooperative movement in Shimane Prefecture, Japan - 1) turn the villages into communes, (2) set up our own distribution network, (3) supply organic food to local urban consumer organisations, and (4) establish commune schools and educational institutes - they were very pleased and said that it was much the same as their own movement. In fact, I heard them talk about the struggles against pollution, and against the capitalist system of distribution.
So does there exist anywhere in south Korea the kind of society that Kropotkin envisioned?
As I just said, I don't know for sure because I haven't looked into it as carefully as all that, but there do seem to be some interesting cases. However, this movement belongs to the future, too. At any rate, it has been going on for almost ten years, and so its real value will be appraised from now on. I feel sure that it has a great future, for I saw many-young students and workers going in and out of the office from early morning till ten at night. Of all the places where I went to meet anarchists in Korea, only here did I see so many active young people. You came away with a very strong impression, though maybe I'm over-estimating...
You've told us that Mr. Lee Jung-kyu is an anarchist and that the movement inspired by him is a Narodnik-type one aiming at an anarchist society. So what are they like, the young people who have joined the movement?
* KANEKO AYAKO: Park Yul's common-law wife; she was arrested with him in 1923 and died in prison. See 'Chronology' above. ** KIM DAE-JUNG: unsuccessful New Democratic Party presidential candidate in 1971; he was abducted from a Tokyo hotel in August 1973 by agents of the Korean CIA and taken back to South Korea to face charges of electoral law violations.I suppose that there are few whom we could really call anarchists. Most of these people, however, have probably come around to a de facto anarchist position without themselves realising it, through experience in the movement and through contact with Mr. Lee Jung-kyu. Hence the FMF is trying to create an anarchist awareness by holding lectures on anarchism and by organizing propaganda activities based on the question, 'What is anarchism?'
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CIRA – NIPPON: A SHORT INTRODUCTION CIRA-Nippon was established in 1970 and modeled upon CIRA in Lausanne (now moved to Geneva). The aims of CIRA-Nippon are to collect literature, documents, periodicals, bulletins and other materials on theoretical and practical aspects of anti-authoritarian, anti-state and all libertarian movements; to arrange them and classify them; and eventually to open them to the public.
CIRA-Nippon consists of members who agree to its purposes and activities and who each pay an annual membership fee.
Regular meetings are held to coordinate the activities of CIRA-Nippon.
These meetings are run according to the autonomous participation and responsibility of the members.
These meetings must report to members twice a year on the financial situation and the activities of CIRA-Nippon.
At the moment CIRA-Nippon has a thirty square-metre stackroom in Fujinomiya, halfway between Tokyo and Osaka, containing two thousand books as well as many periodicals, pamphlets, reviews and leaflets from Japan and all over the world. Last December we were given a house to use as workshop, reading room and living space. The materials are now being arranged, but unfortunately cannot yet be opened to the public.
CIRA-Nippon has two publications at present. 'Libero Monthly' (in Japanese) was originally published in 1973 as a CIRA-Nippon newssheet, but since issue number 14 has been published separately in Kyoto as an independent information bulletin. 24 issues have appeared to date. 'Anarchism' (also in Japanese) is a two-monthly review (originally titled 'Libero') of which four issues have so far appeared.
The regular meetings of CIRA-Nippon, held in December 1973 and January 1974, decided upon the following as the immediate tasks of CIRA-Nippon:
- 1. To arrange the materials already acquired;
- To compile a catalogue of these;
- To complete arrangements for opening CIRA-Nippon to the public;
- To set up a section for international correspondence to:
(a) collect information about foreign anarchist and libertarian groups and their activities; (b) send appeals and correspondence; and (c) exchange materials.- To collect materials with a view to writing a history of the anarchist and labour movements in Japan.
CIRA-Nippon hopes to receive letters from foreign comrades. Please send us any materials you publish. They will be put to good use, will be opened to the public, and useful information will be translated or summarized and put in Libero Monthly or Libero International. Please send your letters, publications, etc., to the Section for International Correspondence, whose address is given on the back cover of this issue.
We will try to answer your questions and to fulfill any requests that you make. We are most proficient in English, French and German, while we also understand Spanish and Esperanto; but we are hoping to receive materials in all languages so as to make CIRA-Nippon a truly international library.
We sincerely hope that you are interested in CIRA-Nippon and will help us make it grow. Please tell us about yourselves - your aims, activities, publications and so on. Our aim is to create solidarity with our friends all over the world. CIRA-Nippon has been created to further this aim.