1960년대 민간 협업농장의 경험과 자산

The Experience and Assets of Private Cooperative Farms in the 1960s. - Focused on the Hwanam Cooperative Farm in Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do

협업농장은 1960년대 정부 시범농장으로 여러 군데에 설립되었다. 이들 농장들은 구성원들의 자발성보다는 정부 주도의 성격이 강했다. 이와 달리 1961년 결성된 화남협업농장은 민간 주도의 조직으로 구성원들의 강한 능동성에 기반하고 있었다. 화남협업농장의 설립과 운영에 관여한 그룹은 세 부류였다. 첫째는 고향마을로 귀농한 농촌운동을 지향한 대졸 지식인들이다. 둘째는 청소년기에 4H운동을 통해 농촌운동가로 성장한 청년들이다. 셋째는 이들을 뒷받침하고 있는 서울과 지역의 지식인들이다. 화남협업농장에 참여한 인물들은 1950년대에는 협동조합운동과 4H운동을 주도하였다. 그리고 그 한계를 극복하기 위해 1960년대 협업농장운동을 전개하였다. 1961년부터 1970년 무렵까지 약 10년간 존속했던 이 조직은 정부의 협업농장 정책과 문제의식을 공유하였다. 즉 영세화된 한국 농촌의 문제를 협업경영을 통해서 극복하고자 하였다. 그러나 이들은 민간 주도의 협업을 지향하였을 뿐 아니라, 생산뿐 아니라 소유까지도 공유하는 무소유 공동체를 실험하였다. 또한 농법에서도 농약과 비료를 거부하고 인간과 자연이 함께 살아가는 친환경 농업으로 나아갔다. 화남협업농장은 1970년 해체되었다. 그러나 화남협업농장의 경험은 현대 농촌운동·농민운동의 중요한 흐름을 형성하게 되는 자연과 인간이 공존하는 친환경 농업을 지향하는 생태·생명운동, 자본주의 시장원리로부터 농촌을 지키기 위한 협동(조합)운동과 공동체운동의 소중한 자산이 되었다.

Cooperative farms were established in several places as government pilot farms in the 1960s. The initiative of almost all of these farms was government-led rather than private-led. However, the Hwanam Cooperative Farm, which was formed in 1961, was a private-led organization based on the strong activity of its members. There were three groups involved in the establishment and operation of the Hwanam Cooperative Farm. The first group included college-graduate intellectuals who had returned to their hometown and were willing to take part in rural movements. The second group included young men who had become rural activists through the 4H movement during their adolescence. And the third group included intellectuals in Seoul and the region who supported the other two groups. The people who participated in the Hwanam Cooperative Farm had led the cooperative movement and the 4H movement in the 1950s. And in order to overcome the limitations of the movements, they launched a cooperative farm movement in the 1960s. The Hwanam Cooperative Farm, which lasted for about 10 years from 1961 to 1970, shared the government’s cooperative farm policies and issues. In other words, the organization wanted to overcome the problem of the Korean rural areas which had been divided into small farming lands, through cooperative management. The participants of the organization pursued the private-led cooperation. Moreover, they experimented with a non-possession community which shared not only the production but also the possession. They rejected pesticides and fertilizers and moved on to eco-friendly agriculture where humans and nature could live together. The Hwanam Cooperative Farm was disbanded in 1970. But the rural movement of its founders continued, and the experience of the cooperative farm was accumulated and continued in the movement. The experience of Hwanam Cooperative Farm served as a valuable asset to the ecological and pro-life movement that aimed at eco-friendly farming where nature and humans coexist, and to the cooperative and community movement to protect rural areas from capitalist market principles.