1930년대 경주지역의 적색농민조합운동

The Red Peasantry Movement of the Gyeongju Area in the 1930s

This study is research on the Red Peasantry Movement of the Gyeongju area, which was led by several yangban (nobility) families in the region during modern times. They tended to be very conservative, so the people who belonged to the Red Peasantry Union were rarely from those yangban families which led regional opinion. The Gyeongju area was not a favorable place for the Red Peasantry Movement. From the 1920s, social movements were not so much promoted. This was because peasants in the region lived comparatively secure lives. The regional base on which the Red Peasantry Union would spontaneously be formed was weak. This was the background of the Red Peasantry Movement in Gyeongju which made student activists, native to Gyeongju who had returned from Seoul and Daegu, lead the regional movement. The Red Peasantry Movement of the Gyeongju area began when Hyo Chul Kim organized a reading club in downtown Gyeongju in 1930. In 1932 Chil Seong Lee joined the reading club, which spurred the organization of the Red Peasantry Union. From September, 1932, he operated a night school at Seongji-ri, Cheonbuk-myeon, and actively began to organize the Red Peasantry Union hand in hand with members from the Son Family which originated in Gyeongju. He educated some Son family members in communist ideas. As a result, he succeeded in organizing a preparation committee for the Gyeongju Red Peasantry Union at Seongji-ri around March, 1933. Then he organized a preparation committee for the Gyeongju Red Peasantry Union in downtown Gyeongju in mid January, 1934. In late February, 1934, he held a comrade meeting of ‘the Dongji Hyeopuihoe’ which was an organization directing the Red Peasantry Union. Those who participated in the meeting included Chi Yong Lee and Su Bong Choi who were student activists. After they formed the Red Peasantry Union in the Gyeongju area this way, they put the movement into practice. They implanted communist ideas by making an organization called the Iljeonhoe across Naedong-myeon. They began to attract some fishermen at Gampo-ri, Yangbuk-myeon. However, the Red Peasantry Union was exposed and came to naught. Bong Ho Son destroyed the dragon lamp which was put up for the First Shilla Festival which was held from 24 to 28 of September, 1934. In the end, nine members of the union were tried for the conspiracy, which brought the Red Peasantry Union to an end. The reason why the Red Peasantry Movement couldn’t be resumed was probably that the socio-economic situation of the peasants in the Gyeongju area was not suitable for the organization of the Red Peasantry Movement. As mentioned above, the peasants in the Gyeongju area lived considerably comfortable lives. Another reason was that Chil Seong Lee and other activists couldn’t promote their ideas due to the repression by the Japanese government in Korea. Meanwhile, after the liberation from the Japanese occupation, some members of the Red Peasantry Union were found to promote communist ideas. This led to the conclusion that the Red Peasantry Union of the Gyeongju area in the 1930s was succeeded by the People’s Committee after the liberation from the Japanese occupation.