Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 June 2011
The paper deals with the trends of fascist and fascist-like right-wing social and political thought in colonial Korea in the early 1930s. It shows that in the 1920s, Korea's right wing, its ability to reach out to the masses being severely limited, preferred mostly conciliatory tactics in its relationship with leftist radicals, often making efforts towards inventing ‘hybrid’ ideologies which would integrate the leftist social concerns into the mainstream religious or nationalist constructions (an example of such a hybrid were various Korean versions of Christian socialism). After the Great Depression, however, Korea's nascent bourgeoisie felt more threatened and became more interested in keeping abreast with right-wing extremist trends in the mother country (Japan) and elsewhere. Such representative ideologists of the Korean propertied class as Yun Ch'iho and Yi Kwangsu were praising Mussolini and employing strong Social Darwinist language in their exhortations to the Korean people to ‘regain their vitality and develop [a] spirit of collectivism, obedience and self-sacrifice’. However, until the very end of the 1930s many of Korea's right-wing ideologues remained pronouncedly religious (Yun as Christian, Yi as Buddhist). While highlighting the religious essentials of their worldviews they often abstained from imitating the most extremist traits of European fascist ideologies (for example, anti-Semitism). In many ways, Korea's fascism continued until the end of the 1930s to be an intellectual discourse rather than a mass movement, and retained a strong aura of belonging to more mainstream religious or nationalist traditions.
1 Russel, B. (1936), ‘The Ancestry of Fascism’ in In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays, George Allen and Unwin, London, pp. 89–108Google Scholar.
2 Mosse, G. (1999), The Fascist Revolution: Toward a General Theory of Fascism, Howard Fertig, New York, pp. 1–44Google Scholar.
3 Sottile, J. (2004), ‘The Fascist Era: Imperial Japan and the Axis Alliance in Historical Perspective’ in Reynolds, B. (ed.), Japan in the Fascist Era, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, pp. 1–49Google Scholar. The classical arguments of the progressive Japanese scholars viewing the Japanese state in 1937–45 as fascist are summarized in Masao, Maruyama (1969), Thought and Behaviour in Modern Japanese Politics, Oxford University Press, New YorkGoogle Scholar. The arguments against applying the paradigm of fascism to pre-war Japan are deployed in: Duus, P. and Okimoto, D. (1979), Comment: Fascism and the History of Pre-War Japan: The Failure of a Concept, Journal of Asian Studies 39 (1): 65–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
4 Nishida, Kitarō (1966[1943]), ‘Sekai sinchitsujō no genri’ (The Principle of the New World Order) in Nishida Kitarō zenshū (Complete Works by Nishida Kitarō), Iwanami, Tokyo, Vol. 12, p. 430Google Scholar. See an English translation and commentary to this important essay in: Yoko, Arisaka (1996), The Nishida Enigma: ‘The Principle of the New World Order’, Monumenta Nipponica, 51 (1): 81–105Google Scholar.
5 Larsen, S. U. (2001), Fascism outside Europe: The European Impulse against Domestic Conditions in the Diffusion of the Global Fascism, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 720–732Google Scholar.
6 Sznajder, M. (1993), A Case of Non-European Fascism: Chilean National Socialism in the 1930s, Journal of Contemporary History 28 (2): 269–296CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
7 Wakankar, M. (1995), Body, Crowd, Identity: Genealogy of a Hindu Nationalist Ascetics, Social Text, 45: 45–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
8 Chi, Sugǒl (1993), Ilcheha Nongmin chohap undong yǒn'gu: 1930 nyǒndae hyǒngmyǒngjǒk nongmin chohap undong (A Study of the Peasant Unions Movement under the Japanese Colonial Rule: the Revolutionary Peasant Unions Movement of the 1930s), Yǒksa Pip'yǒngsa, Seoul. On more moderate agrarian nationalism, with its trademark utilization of the (‘re-imagined’) pre-modern values (‘collectivism’, mutual aid, etc.) for modernist purposes, see also: Shin, Gi-Wook (1999), Agrarianism: a Critique of Colonial Modernity in Korea, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 41 (4): 784–804CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
9 Yi, Oksun (2006), Singminji Chosǒn ǔi hǔimang kwa chǒlmang, Indo (Colonial Korea's Hope and Despair – India), P'urǔn Yǒksa, Seoul, pp. 94–135Google Scholar.
10 P'asǔsissǔt’ǔ dan ǔi wallyǒk sǒnggong, Mussolini ga sin naegak ǔl chojik (Success of fascists’ naked force [politics], Mussolini forms the new cabinet), Tongnip Sinmun, 8 November 1922.
11 Kongsandang Rama ch'ongp'aǒp sǒnǒn. Kongsandang, ‘p'asǔsissǔt’ǔ’ ch'ungdol lo (Communists declare general strike in Rome. Communists and ‘fascists’ are on the course towards a clash), Tong'a Ilbo, 15 April 1921.
12 Iguk sin naegakwǒn, Mussolin ssi oesang kyǒm naesang (Italy's new cabinet—Mr. Mussolini becomes both foreign and internal affairs minister), Tong'a Ilbo, 2 November 1922.
13 For example, there was an early brief report in 1925: Tok taet'ongnyǒng huboja, ‘p'asisǔt’ǔ’ p'a ‘Ludǒndop’ǔ’ ch'uch’ǒn’ (‘Fascists’ propose Ludendorff as presidential candidate in Germany), Tong'a Ilbo, 21 March 1925.
14 Takayoshi, Matsuo (translated by Takiguchi, S.) (1979), The Japanese Protestants in Korea, Part Two: The 1st March Movement and the Japanese Protestants, Modern Asian Studies, 13 (4): 597–599Google Scholar.
15 Cynn, Hugh Heung-wo (1920), The rebirth of Korea: the reawakening of the people, its causes, and the outlook, The Abingdon Press, New York, pp. 139–149Google Scholar.
16 Sanin, Kuam (1920), Ch'ungdal-kong Kim Okkyun sǒnsaeng (Mr. Kim Okkyun, posthumously honoured as Ch'ungdal-kong), Kaebyǒk 3: 41Google Scholar. Kuam sanin was a penname of Min Yǒngsun, the Ch’ǒndogyo activist who owned Sinmun'gwan Publishers, where the Kaebyǒk was printed. See: Cho, Kyut'ae (2006), Ch’ǒndogyo ǔi minjok undong yǒn'gu (Research on the National Movement by Ch’ǒndogyo), Sǒnin, Seoul, pp. 130–138Google Scholar.
17 Yi, Kwangsu (1963[1922]), ‘Minjok kaejoron’ in Chǒnjip (Collected Works), Samjungdang, Seoul, Vol. 17, pp. 179–181Google Scholar.
18 Chang, Kyusik (2001), Ilche ha Han'guk kidokkyo minjokchuǔi yǒn'gu (Research on the Korean Christian Nationalism under the Japanese Colonial Rule), Hyean, Seoul, pp. 163–186Google Scholar.
19 Pang, Kijung (1999), Pae Minsu ǔi nongch'on undong kwa kidokkyo sasang (Pae Minsu's Agrarian Movement and Christian Ideas), Yonsei Univeristy Publishing Department, Seoul, pp. 101–107Google Scholar.
20 Yi, Hŏnch'ang (2006), Han'guk kyŏngje t'ongsa (The Outline Economic History of Korea), Pŏmmunsa, Seoul, pp. 320–324Google Scholar.
21 Cho, Tonggŏl (1979), Ilche ha Han'guk nongmin undong sa (The History of Korea's Peasant Movement under the Japanese Rule), Han'gilsa, Seoul, pp. 112, 248–258Google Scholar.
22 On the worldwide autarkic turn of the 1930s and the formation of the closed regional blocks, see: Frieden, J. (2006), Global Capitalism: its Rise and Fall in the Twentieth Century, W. W. Norton and Co., New York, pp. 195–229Google Scholar.
23 Young, L. (1999), Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism, University of California Press, Berkeley, p. 42Google Scholar.
24 Eckert, C. J. (1991), Offspring of Empire: the Koch'ang Kims and the Colonial Origins of Korean Capitalism 1876–1945, University of Washington Press, Seattle, pp. 167–174Google Scholar.
25 Yi, Kyǒnghun (2009), Singminji wa kwanggwanji (The Colony and the Tourism Destination), Sai 6: 73–108Google Scholar.
26 Hŏ, Suyŏl (2005), Kaebal ŏmnǔn kaebal (The Development without Development), Ŭnhaengnamu, Seoul, p. 203Google Scholar.
27 See, for example, Chǒnsi rǔl yesang, pisang ǔl chunbi: Chǒngno ǔi kunsa kongǒp (Planning for the wartime, preparing for the emergencies: the military industry of Red Russia), Chungoe Ilbo, 14 June 1931.
28 Yang, Hyǒnhye (1994), Yun Ch'iho wa Kim Kyosin (Yun Ch'iho and Kim Kyosin), Hanul, Seoul, pp. 34–56Google Scholar. See also: Wells, K. (1990), New God, New Nation: Protestants and Self-Reconstruction Nationalism in Korea, 1896–1937, University of Hawaii Press, HonoluluGoogle Scholar.
29 Obviously, the first edition of the English translation by Richard Washburn Child (C. Scribner's sons, New York, 1928) was meant.
30 Yun, Ch'iho (1971–1989), Yun Ch'iho Ilgi (Yun Ch'iho's Diary), T'amgudang, Seoul, Vol. 9, pp. 197–198Google Scholar.
31 Ibid, Vol. 10, (9 July 1935), pp. 460–461.
32 Ibid, Vol. 10, pp. 125–126.
33 He once compared in his diary the colonial conditions of Korea to the conditions of Judea under Persian rule as described in the biblical Book of Nehemiah: ‘See, we this day are but slaves in the land thou gavest to our forefathers that they might eat its fruit and enjoy its good gifts, and it yields a great income to the Kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins’ (26 January 1931). Ibid, Vol. 9, pp. 325–326. On the other hand, by the early 1940s the colonial authorities identified the nationalist mood in the Korean Christianity as ‘Judaist’ (yudaejuǔijǒk). In 1944, they even prohibited the use of the ‘Judaist’ Old Testament in Christian church services, because of the obvious parallels between Jewish and Korean national deprivations: Yang, Hyǒnhye (2009), Kǔndae Hanil Kwangyesa sok ǔi kidokkyo (Christianity in the Context of History of the Modern Korean-Japanese Relations), Ihwa Yǒja Taehakkyo ch'ulp'anbu, Seoul, pp. 160–161Google Scholar.
34 Yun, Ch'iho, Yun Ch'iho Ilgi (Yun Ch'iho's Diary, 4 May 1938), Vol. 11, pp. 40–41.
35 Yu, Yǒngnyǒl (1985), Kaehwagi ǔi Yun Ch'iho yǒn'gu (Research on Yun Ch'iho during the Modern Reform Period), Han'gilsa, Seoul, pp. 154–156Google Scholar.
36 Yun, Ch'iho, Yun Ch'iho Ilgi (Yun Ch'iho's Diary, 26 August 1939), Vol. 11, pp. 208–211.
37 Ibid, Vol. 11, (22 June 1941), pp. 396–397.
38 Ibid, Vol. 11, pp. 404–405.
39 Ibid, Vol. 11, (9 February 1943), pp. 425–426.
40 Ibid, Vol. 11, p. 463.
41 Chǒng, Chinsǒk (1983), Han'guk ǒllonsa yǒn'gu (Studies on the History of Korean Media), Ilchogak, Seoul, p. 137Google Scholar.
42 Kim, Tongmin (1990), ‘Ilche ha sinmun kiǒp e kwanhan koch'al’ (Research on the Newspaper Enterprises under the Japanese Rule) in Kim, Wangsǒk & Im, Tonguk (ed.), Han'guk ǒllon ǔi chǒngch'i kyǒngjehak (Political Economy of the Korean Media), Ach'im, Seoul, p. 143Google Scholar.
43 Ilbo, Tong'a (ed.) (1984), Tong'a Ilbo sasǒl sǒnjip (Selected Editorials of Tong'a Ilbo), Tong'a Ilbo, Seoul, Vol. 2, pp. 153–154Google Scholar.
44 Kim, Hakchun (1990), Koha Song Chinu p'yǒngjǒn (Critical Biography of Koha Song Chinu), Tong'a Ilbo, SeoulGoogle Scholar.
45 Song, Chinu (1930), Sahyǒng p'ejiron (On the Abolition of the Death Penalty), Samch’ǒlli 6: 42–43Google Scholar.
46 Tong'a Ilbo (ed.), Tong'a Ilbo sasǒl sǒnjip (Selected Editorials of Tong'a Ilbo), Vol. 2, pp. 218–220.
47 Ibid, pp. 238–239.
48 Ibid, pp. 170–171.
49 Ibid, pp. 198–200.
50 Ibid, pp. 210–212.
51 Ibid, pp. 267–268.
52 Ibid, pp. 366–367, 420–421.
53 Ch'oe, Minji & Kim, Minju (1978), Ilche ha Minjok ǒllonsaron (On the National Media History under the Japanese Rule), Irwǒlsǒgak, Seoul, pp. 226–320Google Scholar.
54 Chǒng, Chinsǒk (1995), Inmul han'guk ǒllonsa (History of Korean media in Personages), Nanam, Seoul, p. 227Google Scholar.
55 It was translated under the title ‘Kungmin saenghwal e taehan sasang ŭi seryŏk’ (The Influences of the Ideas on National Life) and published in April 1922 in Kaebyŏk 22: 30–36. See also: Kong, Imsun (2005), Singminji ŭi chŏkcha tŭl (The Legitimate Offspring of Colonialism), P'urŭn Yŏksa, Seoul, p. 74Google Scholar.
56 Le Bon, G. (1915), Minzoku shinri oyobi gunshū shinri (Psychology of the Peoples and Crowd Psychology), Bunmei shōin, TokyoGoogle Scholar. This Japanese edition put together both best-known works by Le Bon, Les Lois psychologiques de l’évolution des peuples and La psychologie des foules.
57 LeBon, G. Bon, G. (translated by Chōta, Maeda) (1914), Kakumei no shinri (Psychology of Revolution), Dainihon bunmei kyōkai jimushō, TokyoGoogle Scholar.
58 LeBon, G. Bon, G. (2001), The Psychology of Revolution, Batoche Books, Kitchener, pp. 57–69Google Scholar.
59 Kim, Hyǒnju (2001), ‘Yi Kwangsu ǔi munhwajǒk p'asijǔm’ (Yi Kwangsu's Cultural Fascism) in Kim, Ch’ǒl & Sin, Hyǒnggi (ed.), Munhwa sok ǔi p'asijǔm (Fascism in Literature), Samin, Seoul, pp. 103–107Google Scholar.
60 Yi, Kwangsu (1932), Chosǒn Minjok undong ǔi sam kich'o saǒp (Three Basic Lines of Work of Korea's National Movement), Tonggwang 30: 13–15Google Scholar.
61 Chang, Kyusik, Ilche ha Han'guk kidokkyo minjokchuǔi yǒn'gu (Research on the Korean Christian Nationalism under the Japanese Colonial Rule), pp. 334–349.
62 Yi, Kyǒnghun (1998), Yi Kwangsu ǔi ch'inil munhak yǒn'gu (Studies on Yi Kwangsu's Pro-Japanese Literature), T'aehaksa, Seoul, pp. 34–35Google Scholar.
63 Chang, Kyusik, Ilche ha Han'guk kidokkyo minjokchuǔi yǒn'gu (Research on the Korean Christian Nationalism under the Japanese Colonial Rule), pp. 140–153. Among the newer books on An Ch'angho in English see: Kim, Tschung-Sun & Reinschmidt, M. (eds.) (1998), Strengthened Abilities: Assessing the Vision of Tosan Chang-Ho Ahn, Academia Koreana of Keimyung University, Los AngelesGoogle Scholar. Yi was moved by An's patriotic speech already as a teenage student in Japan in 1907, and began studying the Bible after that. Cho, Yǒnhyǒn (ed.) (1981), Ch'oe Namsǒn kwa Yi Kwangsu ǔi munhak (Literature of Ch'oe Namsǒn and Yi Kwangsu), Saemunsa, Seoul, pp. 35Google Scholar.
64 Yi, Kwangsu (1925), Tosan An Ch'angho sǒnsaeng ege (To Mr Tosan An Ch'angho), Kaebyǒk 62: 27–33Google Scholar.
65 Yi, Kwangsu (1924), Minjokchǒk Kyǒngnyun—3 (National Plan of Action—3), Tong'a Ilbo, 4 January.
66 Yi, Kyǒnghun, Yi Kwangsu ǔi ch'inil munhak yǒn'gu (Studies upon Yi Kwangsu's Pro-Japanese Literature), pp. 121–124.
67 Yi, Kwangsu (1926), Yesul p’ǒngka ǔi p'yojun (Criteria of the Judgement in the Arts), Tonggwang 1: 38–40Google Scholar.
68 Yi, Kwangsu (1925), Udǒksong (An Ode to the Virtues of Cows), Chosǒn mundan 4Google Scholar.
69 Yi, Kwangsu (1931), Yǒ ǔi chakkajǒk t'aedo (My Attitude as a Writer), Tonggwang 20: 81–85Google Scholar.
70 Ibid, 81–82.
71 On the right-alternatives to capitalism popular in pre-war Japan, see: Najita, T. and Harootunian, H. D. ‘Japan's Revolt against the West’, in Wakabayashi, B. T. (ed.) (1998), Modern Japanese Thought, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 207–273CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
72 Pak, Yǒnghǔi (1926), ‘Munye swaedam’ ǔl ilkkosǒ—sowi ‘chosǒnin ǔi mangguk kǔnsǒng’ ǔl uryǒ hanǔn Ch'unwǒn Yi Kwangsu kun ege (On having read the ‘Serialized Talks on the Arts’—to Mr Ch'unwǒn Yi Kwangsu, who is anguished about the so-called ‘lack of patriotism’ in the Koreans), Kaebyǒk 65: 111–117Google Scholar. In 1933, Pak recanted his erstwhile leftist beliefs, and was actively cooperating with the Japanese wartime propaganda in 1937–1945. He was taken by the North Korean troops when they seized Seoul in the beginning of 1950–53 Korean War, and from this point his fate is completely unknown.
73 Yi, Kwangsu (1931), Chidojaron (On Leadership), Tonggwang 23: 8–9Google Scholar.
74 Chang, Kyusik, Ilche ha Han'guk kidokkyo minjokchuǔi yǒn'gu (Research on the Korean Christian Nationalism under the Japanese Colonial Rule), pp. 186–192.
75 Kim, Myǒngsik (1931), Chido kwannyǒm kwa wǒndong seryǒk, Yi Kwangsu ssi ǔi ‘Chidojaron’ pip'an (The Idea of Leadership and the Driving Forces—Critic of Mr Yi Kwangsu's ‘On Leadership’), Samch’ǒnni, 3 (9): 17–20Google Scholar.
76 Kim, Myǒngsik (1932), Yǒngungchuǔi wa p'asijǔm, Yi Kwangsu ssi ǔi mong ǔl kyeham (Hero-worship and Fascism—Teaching Mr Yi Kwangsu a Lesson), Tonggwang 31: 62–64Google Scholar.
77 Cited in Kim, Wŏnmo and Yi, Kyŏnghun (eds) (1997), Tongp'o e koham: Ch'unwŏn Yi Kwangsu Ch'inil munhak (I Address my Countrymen—Ch'unwŏn Yi Kwangsu's Pro-Japanese Literature), Ch’ŏrhak kwa hyŏnsilsa, Seoul, pp. 155–157Google Scholar.
78 Yi, Kyǒnghun, Yi Kwangsu ǔi ch'inil munhak yǒn'gu (Studies on Yi Kwangsu's Pro-Japanese Literature), p. 104.
79 Yi, Kwangsu (1931), Yasu eǔi pokkwi: Ch’ŏngnyŏna, tan'gyŏlhaya sidae ǔi ak kwa ssahoja (Return to the State of the Beast, Youth, Unite to Fight the Epoch's Evil!), Tonggwang 21: 43Google Scholar.
80 Yi, Kwangsu (1932), Yet chosǒnin ǔi kǔnbon todǒk: chǒnch'ejuǔi wa kusilchuǔi insaenggwan (The Basic Ethics of the Koreans of the Past: Totalitarianism and the Duty-based View of Human Life), Tonggwang 34: 2–4Google Scholar.
81 Yi, Kwangsu (1932), Pisangsi ǔi Pisangin (Unusual People in the Time of Crisis), Tonggwang 39: 2–3Google Scholar.
82 Yi, Kwangsu (1931), Chosǒn ch’ǒngnyǒn ǔn, chagi rǔl ch'owǒlhara (Korean Youth, Transcend Yourself!), Tonggwang 24: 43Google Scholar.
83 Yi, Kwangsu (1931), Sǒmgi nǔn saenghwal (Life of Service), Tonggwang 18: 31–33Google Scholar.
84 Yi, Kwangsu (1936), Tan'gun nǔng (The Tomb of Tan'gun), Samch’ǒlli 8 (4): 41–46Google Scholar.
85 Chu, Yohan (ed.) (1990), An Tosan chǒnsǒ (The Complete Works of Tosan An [Ch'angho]), Pǒmyangsa ch'ulp'anbu, Seoul, Vol. 1, p. 475Google Scholar.
86 Ch'a, Sŭnggi (2009), Pan'kŭndaejŏk sangsangnyŏk ŭi imgye tŭl (The Limits of the Anti-modernist Imagination), P'urŭn Yŏksa, Seoul, pp. 75–119Google Scholar.
87 Pak, Yŏnghŭi (1934), Chosŏn munhwa ŭi chaeinsik—kibunjŏk panggi esŏ silcjejŏk t'amsaek (The reconsideration of Korean culture—from the [general] mood-inspired abandonment to the real search), Kaebyŏk 12: 2–3Google Scholar
88 Kim, Myǒngsik (1935), Wang'gŏm Pyŏnhae (An interpretation of [Tan'gun]-Wang'gŏm), Samch’ŏlli 7 (10): 134–137Google Scholar.
89 Kim, Namch’ŏn (1935), Chosŏn ŭl kwayŏn nuga ch’ŏndaehanŭn'ga? (Who despises Korea in reality?), Chosŏn Chungang Ilbo, 18 October.
90 Sakai, Naoki (1991), Return to the West/Return to the East: Watsuji Tetsuro's Anthropology and Discussions of Authenticity, Boundary 18 (3): 157–190CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
91 Ch'a, Sŭnggi, Pan'kŭndaejŏk sangsangnyŏk ŭi imgye tŭl (The Limits of the Anti-modernist Imagination), pp. 263–265.
92 Parkes, G. (1997), The Putative Fascism of the Kyoto School and the Political Correctness of the Modern Academy, Philosophy East and West 47 (3): 305–336CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
93 Ch'a, Sŭnggi, Pan'kŭndaejŏk sangsangnyŏk ŭi imgye tŭl (The Limits of the Anti-modernist Imagination), pp. 191–195.
94 Sŏ, Insik (2006[1939]), Hyŏndae ŭi kwaje 2: Chŏnhyŏnggi munhwa ŭi chesang (The Tasks of modernity 2: Various images of the culture of formative period), in Ch'a, Sŭnggi & Chŏng, Chonghyŏng (eds), Sŏ Insik Chŏnjip 1 (Complete Works of Sŏ Insik: 1), Yŏllak, Seoul, pp. 148–164Google Scholar. Originally published in Chosŏn Ilbo, February 1939.
95 Maruyama, Masao, Thought and Behaviour in Modern Japanese Politics, pp. 65–76.
96 Typically, see Yi Kwangsu's war-time writings collected in: Kim, Wŏnmo and Yi, Kyŏnghun (eds), Tongp'o e koham: Ch'unwŏn Yi Kwangsu Ch'inil munhak (I Address my Countrymen—Ch'unwŏn Yi Kwangsu's Pro-Japanese Literature).
97 Kang, Musǒng et al. . (1999), Chayu ranǔn hwadu (The Riddle Called Freedom), Samin, SeoulGoogle Scholar.