Dossier revista Libero internacional sobre asia y corea

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 outh Korea today. !is
younger brother, Lee "ung-kyu, also well known as an anarchist, is a leading
light in the #ove#ent. ince Liberation, Lee "ung-kyu has been president of
the $onfucianist ung Kun Kwan %'E&uality $reating !all'' (niversity.
!ence, #any people in the educational world who have co#e under the
influence of his ideas have begun to gravitate towards the village #ove#ent.
)ncidentally, #ost people are aware that it was the 'tudent *evolution' of
+pril ,-./ that overthrew the outh Korean '0odfather' yng#an *hee.
!owever, that revolution's road to victory was not &uite so straight as it has
been portrayed in retrospect. 1efore the student-led riots of +pril 2.-23, there
had already occurred the confrontation which beca#e known as '1loody
Tuesday' on +pril ,-th, followed by the celebrated '4aculty De#o', on the
22nd. +ccording to Lee 5un-chang, Lee "ung-kyu was one of the professors
who participated in that second de#onstration. Their appeal used the slogan6
'+t a ti#e when our own students are being beaten before our very eyes, what
can we teach the# in the classroo#7 Let us respond to the blood of our
students8' The '4aculty De#o' apparently consisted of the professors, lecturers,
#iddle- and high-school teachers who responded to this appeal.
)'ve digressed a bit fro# #y #ain point, but the thing ) want you to re#e#ber
is this6 a#ong the teachers and students who gathered at that ti#e, there was a
strong feeling that it was 'too late for returning to school8 There is nothing to
teach, nothing to learn. The ti#e re&uiresaction8' )t was when this feeling
reached its peak, through ,-./ and ,-.,. that the search for #ethods of action
led the# to the village #ove#ent. ) think, however, that the decision to go
back to the villages also ste##ed largely fro# Lee "ung-kyu's Kropotkinis# -
his ideal of a federal society based on autono#ous, self-defensible far#ing
villages. 9hen ) heard of this #ove#ent, ) i##ediately thought6 'The
:arodniks of Korea8'
So it was not the same as the commune movement?
) don't know what you #ean by 'co##une #ove#ent', but at any rate it is
different fro# the cooperative #ove#ents in "apan. +ccording to the #odel in
Kropotkin's '4ield, 4actory and 9orkshop', the for#er students and teachers
went to the villages - or rather, went back to their own native villages where
they beca#e pri#ary-school teachers, far#ers or local functionaries, and tried
to build autono#ous, self-defensible villages.
Is each individual working on his own?
:o, not at all. They keep in touch with each other through an office
established in eoul. 4or so#e reason the signboard reads, ':ational $ulture
*esearch )nstitute', although in fact this office is the head&uarters of the
':ational $onference of ;illage +ctivists'.
What exactly do they do?
) don't have too #any details, since ) lack #aterials and also because of the
language proble#, but one concrete e<a#ple of their activities is their atte#pt
to grow seed potatoes in one place and distribute the# throughout south Korea
through the $onference. 4or another, they are trying to activate a relief
#ove#ent for poor villages which cannot support the#selves by agriculture
alone, by establishing, wherever possible, light industry, handicrafts, or
cloisonne-#aking as secondary pursuits
I still don't really understand.
)'# not too clear #yself, since ) haven't been to the villages and have to rely
on other people's reports. !owever, when ) e<plained the four struggle
principles of our own cooperative #ove#ent in hi#ane =refecture, "apan -
,' turn the villages into co##unes, %2' set up our own distribution network,
%>' supply organic food to local urban consu#er organisations, and %?'
establish co##une schools and educational institutes - they were very pleased
and said that it was #uch the sa#e as their own #ove#ent. )n fact, ) heard
the# talk about the struggles against pollution, and against the capitalist
syste# of distribution.
So does there exist anywhere in South orea the kind of society that ropotkin
envisioned?
+s ) @ust said, ) don't know for sure because ) haven't looked into it as
carefully as all that, but there do see# to be so#e interesting cases. !owever,
this #ove#ent belongs to the future, too. +t any rate, it has been going on for
al#ost ten years, and so its real value will be appraised fro# now on. ) feel
sure that it has a great future, for ) saw #any young students and workers
going in and out of the office fro# early #orning till ten at night. Af all the
places where ) went to #eet anarchists in Korea, only here did ) see so #any
active young people. Bou ca#e away with a very strong i#pression, though
#aybe )'# over-esti#ating...
!ou've told us that "r. #ee $ung%kyu is an anarchist and that the movement
inspired &y him is a 'arodnik%type one aiming at an anarchist society. So
what are they like, the young people who have (oined the movement?
) suppose that there are few who# we could really call anarchists. 5ost of
these people, however, have probably co#e around to a de facto anarchist
position without the#selves realising it, through e<perience in the #ove#ent
and through contact with 5r. Lee "ung-kyu. !ence the 454 is trying to create
an anarchist awareness by holding lectures on anarchis# and by organiCing
propaganda activities based on the &uestion, '9hat is anarchis#7'
,. Kaneko +yako6 =ark Bul's co##on-law wifeD she was arrested with
hi# in ,-2> and died in prison. ee '$hronology' above.
2. Ki# Dae-@ung6 unsuccessful :ew De#ocratic =arty presidential
candidate in ,-E,D he was abducted fro# a Tokyo hotel in +ugust ,-E>
by agents of the Korean $)+ and taken back to outh Korea to face
charges of electoral law violations.