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A History of Korea

‘... a powerful and persuasive new interpretation of Korea’s history...’ A History of Korea (ISBN 9781872843865), often hailed as a conscious call for a particular interpretation of Korean history, marks a particular moment in the northeast Asian peninsula’s social and political experience right up to the 1980s. Published in the aftermath of popular uprisings that brought an end to military dictatorship in South Korea, A History of Korea is the result of a joint authorship by the Korean Historical Research Association, whose members were active participants in the democracy movements at the time. The authors viewed A History of Korea as a facilitator for the democratisation and unification of Korea These historians were writing against previous versions of Korean history that they perceived as legitimising political and economic oppression from both Korean élites and foreign powers. The book’s publication provoked strong reactions in Korea and abroad. An essential read for a more rounded understanding of Korean history

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Saffron Korea Library | A History of Korea

A History of Korea

Authors

Korea Historical Research Association Translated by Joshua Van Lieu

A History of Korea Korea Historical Research Association Translated by Joshua Van Lieu ISBN 9781872843865 Hard cover ISBN-10 1 872843 86 7 ISBN 9781872843872 ISBN-10 1 872843 87 5 Soft cover Saffron Korea Library • Number Six ISSN 1748 0477 Published by Saffron Books, Eastern Art Publishing (EAP), with the support of the Korea Literature Translation Institute [LTI], Seoul, in commemoration of Korea’s designation as the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, 2005 Cover created by Prizmatone Design Consultancy, a division of EAP This edition is developed by EAP from a translation of Hanguk yeoksa (History of Korea), compiled by Korean Historical Research Association (Hanguk Yeoksa Yeonguhoe) and published by Yeoksa Bipyeongsa (Historical Criticism Publishers), Seoul. The original title was first published in 1992 and its 25th reprint was published in 2002. ISBN 89 7696 001 7 Copyright © 2005. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form (graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems) without permission of the publisher. Additional copyright information appears as follows: Korean Romanisation © Sajid Rizvi; Index © EAP Published by Saffron Books, an imprint of Eastern Art Publishing Publisher and Editor in Chief Sajid Rizvi Eastern Art Publishing P O Box 13666 London SW14 8WF United Kingdom Telephone Facsimile

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E-mail saffronbooks@eapgroup.com Web www.eapgroup.com www.saffronbooks.com Designed by Prizmatone Design Consultancy [EAP] Printed and bound in the United Kingdom British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

The Korean Historical Research Association

The Korean Historical Research Association (Hanguk Yeoksa Yeonguhoe) was founded on 3 September, 1988, as the ultimate result of several years of organisational work by historians who participated in the Korean social reform movements of the 1980s. The Association began as a mass organisation of Korea historians that, according to its founding mission statement, sought to ‘actively participate in the creation of a truly democratic and independent Korean society by joining together with a new determination to establish and continuously implement a scientific historiography based upon the correct worldview.’ The Korean Historical Research Association thus took up the goal of ‘contributing to the independence and democratisation of Korean society through the establishment of a scientific and practical historiography.’ The Association engages in joint research projects, spreading the results of historical research to the masses, and publishing and distributing academic journals and popular history texts. The Korean Historical Research Association now has more than 700 members and has created an efficient organisation that publishes and disseminates papers, books, and bulletins. The Association continues to enhance its position as a mass organisation of Korea historians by continuously publishing the general history text History of Korea (Hanguk yeoksa) and the series How Did They Live? (Eoddeoke sarasseulkka). Joshua Van Lieu, the translator of this volume, is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Washington and is currently conducting dissertation research in nineteenth century Sino-Korean relations and Korean political history.

Table of Contents

Translator’s Preface

Introduction

Part One • Primitive Society • 21 Chapter 1 • Primitive Communal Society

1 | People and Labour: Human Evolution

2 | Human Life in Primitive Society

3 | The Disintegration of Primitive Communal Society

Part Two • Ancient Society • 29 Introduction

Chapter 2 • The Establishment of Ancient Society

1 | The Appearance of Class and Emergence of Old Joseon

2 | The Ruling Structure of Old Joseon

Chapter 3 • The Development of Ancient Society • 40

1 | The Rise of the Three Kingdoms & the Establishment of Goguryeo

2 | Political Systems and Social Structures of the Three Kingdoms

Discussion 1 • The Ideology of Ancient Society • 50

1 | Ideology and Mythology: Its Appearance and Function

2 | Buddhism in the Three Kingdoms Period

• A History of Korea

Part Three • Medieval Society • 57 Introduction

Chapter 4 • The Establishment of Feudal Society

1 | The Transition to Feudalism and Unification of the Three Kingdoms

2 | The Establishment of Northern and Southern States

3| Political Structure in the Establishment Period of Feudal Society

4 | Peasant Resistance and the Rise of the Hojok in the Late Silla Period

Chapter 5 • The Development of Feudal Society • 71 1 | The Unification of the Later Three Kingdoms and the Creation of the Political System of Early Goryeo 71

2 | Strengthening the Feudal Political Structure

3 | The Socio-economic Conditions of the Peasantry

Chapter 6 • Social Change and Peasant Resistance in 12th-14th Centuries • 81

1 | Twelfth Century Socio-economic Change and Political Instability

2 | Peasant Resistance Struggles

3 | Anti-Mongol Resistance and Mongol Interference

4 | The Search for Reform

Chapter 7 • The Reorganisation of Feudal Society • 93

1 | Peasant Trends and the Rise of the New Scholar-Officials

2 | The Foundation of Joseon and the New Political Structure

3 | The Socio-economic Position of the Peasantry

99 Table of Contents •

Chapter 8 • Social Change and Ruling Class Response in the 16-17th Centuries • 103

1 | Development of the Landlord System and Yangban Dominance

103

2 | The Development of Factional Politics and the Search for Reform

105

3 | Social Ethics and Neo-Confucian Ideology

109

Chapter 9 • Economy and Society in the Period of Feudal Disintegration • 113

1 | Changes in the Feudal Economic Structure

113

2 | The Destabilisation of the Status System and Taxation Reorganisation

116

3 | Changes in Local Political Structures

119

Chapter 10 • Thought, Politics, and the Disintegration of Feudal Society • 122

1 | Concentration of Power and Political Change

122

2 | Intellectual Conflict and the Rigidity of the Ruling Ideology

126

3 | Resistance and the Growth of Peasant Consciousness

129

Chapter 11 • Development of Anti-Feudal Peasant Resistance • 132

2 | The Northwest People’s Resistance Struggle

133

3 | The Peasant Resistance Struggle of 1862

136

Discussion 2 • Medieval Land Tenure Systems

141

1 | Special Features of Korean Feudal Land Ownership

141

3 | The Development of the Medieval Land Tenure System

144

4 | Reorganisation of the Medieval Land Tenure System

147

Discussion 3 • Medieval Status System • 150

1| Formation and Development of the Medieval Status System

150

2| Character of the Medieval Status System

156

Discussion 4 • Medieval Thought • 158

1 | Buddhist Thought

158

2 | Confucian Thought

166

• A History of Korea

Part Four • Early Modern Society • 171 Introduction

172

Chapter 12 • Unequal Treaties and the Exploitation of the Masses

175

1 | Open Ports and Unequal Treaties

175

2 | Foreign Economic Encroachment and the • 178

Chapter 13 • Modern Reform Movements

183

1 | The Gapsin Coup and the Gabo Reforms

183

2 | The Peasant War of 1894

187

Chapter 14 • Social Change and Reform during the Great Han Empire • 193

1 | Socio-economic Change in the Great Han Empire Period

193

2 | The Independence Association and the Gwangmu Reforms

196

3 | The Anti-Foreign, Anti-Feudal Resistance of the Masses

200

Chapter 15 • The Crisis of Colonisation and National Resistance • 203 1 | The Fundamental Project of Japanese Colonisation

203

2 | The Righteous Armies and the Anti-Japanese War

207

3 | The Enlightenment Movement

210

Chapter 16 • Japanese Annexation and Anti-Japanese Nationalist Movements • 214

1 | Japanese Annexation of Joseon and Military Rule

214

2 | Domestic and Overseas Nationalist Movements

217

3 | The March First Movement

219

Chapter 17 • Growth and Division of the National Liberation Movement • 224

1 | Divisive Rule and Exploitation of the Masses

224

3 | Growth and Division of the Domestic National Liberation Movement

229

Chapter 18 • Development of the National Liberation Movement • 234

1 | Fascist Rule and Changing Modes of Exploitation

234

2 | Mass Movements and the Socialist Movement

238

3 | National Liberation Movements outside Joseon

240

Chapter 19 • The United Front Movement and Preparation for National Liberation • 243

1 | Fascist General Mobilisation and Ethnic Eradication Policy

243

2 | Mass Struggle for Survival and the United Front Movement

247 Table of Contents •

3 | The United Front Movement and Armed Struggle outside Joseon

248

4 | Preparations for National Liberation, Proposals for Independence

250

Discussion 5 • Early Modern Society and Imperialism • 252

1 | Imperialism and Colonial Control

252

2 | The National/Colonial Problem and National Liberation Movements

255

Part Five • Modern Society • 263 Introduction

264

Chapter 20 • Failure to Establish an Independent Nation State and the Korean War • 267

3 | Divided Government and the Anti-Division Struggle

273

4 | The Korean War

276

Chapter 21 • The April Mass Resistance Struggle and the Establishment of the Military Regime • 279

1 | The Yi Regime and the April Mass Resistance Struggle

279

2 |The Rise of the Military Regime and the Anti-Foreign, Anti-Authoritarian Movement 285

Chapter 22 • Militarist Fascism and the Growth of Mass Movements • 290

1 | Yusin System and Socio-Economic Structural Change

290

2 | The Mass Movements of the 1970s

293

3 | Military Coup and the Gwangju Mass Movement

295

4 | The Expansion of Fascism and the 1980s Mass Movement

297

Chapter 23 • New Developments in the National Democracy Movement • 301

1 | Rapid Economic Growth and Class Differentiation

301

2 | The Anti-Authoritarian United Front and the Mass Struggle of 1987

303

3 | Transformation of the Political System and the Development of the National Democracy Movement 305

4 | Great Transformations in World History and Contemporary Themes

309

Discussion 6 • Women and the Early Modern and Modern Periods • 313

1 | The Historical Development of Women's Issues

313

2 | Early Modern Women and the Women's Movement

315

3 | Modern Women and the Development of the Women's Movement

319

10 • A History of Korea

Discussion 7 • The Development of Modern Historiography • 325

1| Early Modern Historiography

326

2 | Developments in Modern Historiography

330

3 | New Directions in Historical Research after the 1980s

335

Appendix: Korean Romanisation

337

Index

340

Table of Contents • 11

Translatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Preface

History of Korea is a product of a particular moment in South Korean social and political history. First appearing in 1992, it is a work published in the aftermath of the popular resistance movements of 1987 that brought an end to military dictatorship and ushered in direct elections for the presidency of South Korea. The historians of the Hanguk Yeoksa Yeonguhoe (Korean Historical Research Association), who compiled the volume were not dispassionate recorders of these events but rather active participants in the democracy movements of the time, who understood their scholarship as a contribution to popular resistance against military rule and as a tool for the democratisation and unification of Korea. They were writing against previous understandings of Korean history that they perceived as legitimising political and economic oppression from both Korean ĂŠlites and foreign powers. As they stood in opposition to previous histories and their political underpinnings, they proposed their own visions of past, present, and future Korean societies. In so doing, they helped to move the popular struggle for the democratisation of South Korea toward the centre of the national narrative. The 1970s were a time of enormous change in South Korea as the Bak regime embarked upon a policy of rapid industrialisation coupled with a move towards an increasingly authoritarian political system. As the economic policy shifted towards the creation of heavy and chemical industries, people moved into the cities and swelled the ranks of the urban working classes. The resulting social and economic dislocations in combination with an increasingly oppressive political environment gave rise to a vigorous labour movement. Some writers saw in these popular struggles the key dynamic forces of Korean history and sought to work for the liberation of workers, farmers, and the urban poor through the production of a chamyeo munhak (participatory literature) that provided a critical view of industrialisation from the perspective of the labouring underclasses. South Korean Protestant theologians also took an interest in the struggles of the period and organised ministries to address the problems of democracy and human rights. These 12 â&#x20AC;˘ A History of Korea

writers and theologians saw the underclasses, collectively called the minjung (the people, the masses), as the agents of historical development and as such, authentic historical subjects. From this standpoint, the democratisation and unification of Korea as a fully independent nation state would come about only through the agency of the masses. The minjung perspective remained largely within the literary and Protestant theological communities during the 1970s but with the opportunity for democratic reform presented by the fall of the Bak regime in 1979, it spread widely throughout the cultural and academic spheres of South Korean society. Numerous organisations adopted the ‘mass line’ (minjung noseon), giving rise to minjung perspectives in the arts, education, social sciences, and humanities.1 By the mid-1980s younger historians were developing new research organisations devoted to producing minjung history. Although there was no theoretical or methodological consensus on what exactly constituted minjung historiography, it is possible to identify some general themes. 2 First, minjung historiography was a consciously political project intent on facilitating social change. Minjung historians were highly critical of previous renderings of Korean history as mired in Japanese colonial perspectives and lost in archaic academism; indeed, they often saw earlier scholarship as little more than tools for the legitimisation of oppressive regimes and economic systems. The minjung history texts written in this period were to serve as vehicles to raise the consciousness of the masses and arm them in their struggle for democracy, self-determination, and national reunification. Second, the minjung historiographical project sought to establish the masses as the subjects of historical development, the primary agents moving human history. While this perspective was by no means new in the 1980s, it was bolstered by the growing numbers of industrial workers and the rapidly developing South Korean labour movement. This organisation and resistance became the object of research projects looking for the historical development of the agency of the masses throughout Korean history and acted as a unifying theme throughout much of minjung historical studies. Third, minjung historians sought to uncover histories of resistance and expose histories of oppression. Peasant resistance to exploitation in all forms figure prominently in minjung histories while élite culture, philosophy, religion, and statecraft were reinterpreted as the tools of social and political domination. Bringing the stories of the struggles of the masses to light and exposing the oppressive nature of the political and intellectual systems

See Wells, ed, 1995 for an overview of the different manifestations of minjung movements and perspectives.

This discussion of minjung historiography draws upon Wells (1995), Abelmann (1996), Yi (1999), and Jeong (2001) and does not cover fully the many trends and forms of minjung history in South Korea. For a detailed review and critique of the minjung perspective in Korean historical scholarship, see Yi (1999). For a ‘practitioner’s perspective’ on minjung historiography, see Kang (1995).

Translator’s Preface • 13

of the ruling classes throughout Korean history served to establish a narrative of struggle and resistance that linked the then current movements for democratisation and unification to the developmental process of Korean history in which the masses gained their rightful position as authentic historical subjects. Fourth, minjung historiography was concerned deeply with establishing a scientific understanding of Korean history. In this case a scientific understanding is not to be taken as a positivist historiographical method but rather as a materialist conceptualisation of historical development broadly dividing the course of human history into primitive, slave, feudal, and capitalist phases of development.3 In tandem with this characterisation of historical development, minjung historians posited a continuing maturation of the masses as the true agents of historical change. Within this framework, Korean history was seen through the lenses of changing modes of production and the dynamic development of the historical agency of the masses. The supposed scientific nature of this perspective was to provide a base from which historiography could be used not only to understand the past but also to predict the future as an extension of a materialist developmental trajectory. 4 A History of Korea is one among several general history texts published from the minjung perspective.5 The book is divided into five parts entitled ‘Primitive Society,’ ‘A ncient Society,’ ‘Medieval Society,’ ‘Early Modern Society,’ and ‘Modern Society.’ With the exception of Part One, each section concludes with one or more appended discussions providing more detailed treatments of the themes the authors deemed most important in understanding the social formations and dynamics of each period. These discussions cover the topics of ideology, land tenure, status systems, religious and political thought, imperialism, women’s history, and modern historiography. The organisation of the book clearly illustrates the authors’ concern for writing a history not of the rise and fall of states and royal houses but rather of the development of social formations. 6 The topics of the discussions focus the attention of the reader on the issues of ideology and systems of political, economic, and social control, on the struggle of the masses throughout Korean

For an analysis of periodisation in general Korean histories of the twentieth century, see Jeong (2001: 108).

This concern for a scientific approach grounded in historical materialism shows an intimate relationship with Marxist historiographical practice but the nationalist focus on the Korean masses as a particular historical subjectivity renders a simple Marxist labelling problematic. In addressing this issue, Yi Gidong (1999: 115) suggests that the minjung perspective is the ‘Korean edition of Marxist historiography’ (hanguk pyeon mareukeuseu juui yeoksahak).

Other texts include Hanguk minjungsa [History of the Korean Masses], Hanguk Minjungsa Yeonguhoe, 1986; Hanguksa gangui [Lectures in Korean History], Hanguk Yeoksa Yeonguhoe, 1989; Baro boneun uri yeoksa [Our History in Proper Perspective], Guro Yeoksa Yeonguso, 1990.

It has been argued that Korean materialist historians have been unsuccessful in abandoning the dynasty as the foundation of periodisation and have only replaced the names of states and dynasties with Marxist conceptual categories (Jeong, 2001).

14 • A History of Korea

history against exploitation, and on the writing of minjung history as a form of political practice contributing to the construction of an independent, democratic, and unified Korean nation-state. A History of Korea is a manifesto, a conscious call for a particular interpretation of Korean history for deployment in the democratisation, unification, and class liberation movements of the period. The authors could rightly assume that their intended audience, primarily Korean university students in introductory Korean history courses, had already been exposed to a variety of issues in Korean history throughout their primary and secondary education and so the received historiographies critiqued and reinterpreted from the minjung perspective were already widely known. The key issue for the minjung historians was the centrality of the masses and their development as historical subjects through their continuous struggle against oppression and exploitation through successive social formations. With this purpose and intended audience in mind, it is not surprising that many of the names, dates, and definitions that one might expect in a more conventional history do not figure prominently in the narrative of A History of Korea. While this organisation is not especially problematic in the original context in which the text was written and read, it does present obstacles to the task of producing a meaningful translation for non-Korean readers who may come to this text with little or no background in Korean history. I have tried to use commonly accepted English translations for special terminology and periodisations wherever possible but there were many cases in which I opted to use Korean words for terms absent in English with a brief definition embedded in the text where the term first appears. I have also added common era dates, especially in the frequent cases of references to reigns and dynasties as temporal markers. This translation could not have been completed without the efforts of Yun Gilseop who checked the translation of problematic passages and fielded numerous questions on syntax and usage. Adam Bohnet provided considerable assistance in the translation of chapters twenty through twenty-three as well as the sixth discussion concerning women’s history. I also wish to express my appreciation to the Korean Literature Translation Institute for their patient support throughout this project and to the original General History Compilation Committee of the Korean Historical Research Association for their contributions to the study and interpretation of Korean history.

Bibliography

Abelmann, N 1996: Echoes of the Past, Epics of Dissent: A South Korean Social Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press. Guro Yeoksa Yeonguso 1990: Baro boneun uri yeoksa [Our History in Proper Perspective]. Seoul: Guro Yeoksa Yeonguso. Jeong, D 2001: Hana ui yeoksa, du gae ui yeoksahak [One History, Two Historiographies]. Seoul: Johap Gongdongche Sonamu. Hanguk Minjungsa Yeonguhoe 1986: Hanguk minjungsa [History of the Korean Masses]. Seoul: Hanguk Minjungsa Yeonguhoe. Translator’s Preface • 15

Hanguk Yeoksa Yeonguhoe 1989: Hanguksa gangui [Lectures in Korean History]. Seoul: Hanguk Yeoksa Yeonguhoe. — 1992: Hanguk yeoksa [History of Korea]. Seoul: Hanguk Yeoksa Yeonguhoe. Kang, M 1995: ‘Contemporary Nationalist Movements and the Minjung’ in South Korea’s Minjung Movement: The Culture and Politics of Dissidence. Honolulu, Kenneth M Wells, ed. Berkeley: University of California Press. Wells, K, ed 1995: South Korea’s Minjung Movement: The Culture and Politics of Dissidence. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. — 1995: ‘The Cultural Construction of Korean History’ in Kenneth M Wells, ed: South Korea’s Minjung Movement: The Culture and Politics of Dissidence. Berkeley: University of California Press. Yi, G 1999: Jeonhwangi ui hanguk sahak [Korean Historiography in a Changing World]. Seoul: Iljogak.

16 • A History of Korea

Introduction

oth Korean society and the world are changing radically and questions naturally arise as to how history will develop and about the very nature of history itself. It is the duty of the historian to answer these questions and many have come to be concerned about how to respond. To date, the response of Korean historians has been the publication of general histories, which have contributed to the systemisation of the development process of Korean history. However, we no longer believe that these results sufficiently address the issues that now confront history and historiography or that they provide a vision of how to proceed in the future. There is now an acute need for a new kind of general history that can build a vision of the future from a position that understands the development process of Korean history more scientifically and grasps contemporary themes and contradictions. The Korean Historical Research Association is an attempt to meet this demand for a new general history. The Korean Historical Research Association (Hanguk Yeoksa Yeonguhoe) was founded in the fall of 1988 with the goal of contributing to the true democratisation and independence of Korean society through the adoption of a scientific and practical historiography based on an appropriate world view. In July of 1990, the publication of this book was planned on the basis of the search for a scientific historical consciousness and methodology that first brought the Korean Historical Research Association into being. In the following September, we formed the General History Compilation Committee and began to explore and analyse the general histories that had been published to date. These histories understood historical development in terms of changes in the power of ruling ĂŠlites and even while they constructed comprehensive history in terms of cultural history, culture was taken to mean the culture of these ruling ĂŠlites. Moreover, lacking a consistent historical perspective, they did not establish interrelationships between historical events and systems and, as histories linearly enumerating events by time period, they were not even comprehensible. Furthermore, even though some sought to Introduction â&#x20AC;˘ 17

establish a progressive historical perspective, there were many instances where the practical content did not integrate the results of progressive research. With this assessment, the compilation committee was divided into research divisions based on time period. Research and education teams were assigned by period gathered to discuss and formulate an overall table of contents and then more than fifty members of the Korean Historical Research Association created the first draft of the text. The draft was the result of the cross pollination of the various discussions among these teams. We mediated the creation of overall systems and differences of opinions among the research divisions and teams in the compilation committee. In December of 1991, we assigned revision committee members, and on the basis of the first draft, began the task of giving coherence to the narrative. Over a two-month period, we completed the manuscript through a process of discussion, adjustment, revision, and refinement in order to come to a consensus as to the basic foundation of the narrative for each period. Since this book was created through a thoroughly communal effort there are cases in which we could not achieve consensus and thus some items could not be included. In this way, this text is of a character fundamentally different from previous general histories written by individual historians. As we created this book, we strove to maintain the following principles: 1. To maximally reflect all results of academic research up to 1991. 2. To create a narrative centred upon the formation and development of the contradictions and forces of change in each period from the perspective of the development of social formations and to throw into relief the historical character of each period. 3. To periodise Korean history on the basis of the phases of development of social formations and to consider the special qualities and historical themes of social formations and contradictions of each period. 4. To maintain a consistent perspective and to produce a narrative replete with historical facts on the basis of hard evidence. 5. To include appended discussions on those central points difficult to grasp in the overall structure of the general narrative in order to heighten the readerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consciousness of the historical character of each period.

18 â&#x20AC;˘ A History of Korea

Despite these efforts, the text has a number of unsatisfying characteristics. First, we were not able to clearly stipulate the character of the social formation of each period. Although this reflects the level of concern for historical methodology in the Korean academic community, it stems from the assessment that an excessively rigid stipulation schematises the process of historical development and cannot explain the character of the societies of each period. Second, this book is limited in that it does not deal adequately with the histories of culture, everyday life, and foreign relations. The research association does not have enough specialists in the first two fields and in the case of the history of foreign relations we have included it when we decided it had a significant influence on the formation and transformation of social formations. Perhaps the greatest limitation is that we could not but omit the history of North Korea. Writing such a history is difficult given the research environment and restrictions in approaching the sources and it is thus difficult to place North and South in the same visual field. Regretfully, we must leave these issues for future consideration. We think of this book as a kind of process. On the basis of the many problems we encountered while writing and our readersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; criticism, we will strive to more scientifically systematise Korean history. Finally, we express our appreciation to the people of Yeoksa Bipyeongsa (Historical Criticism Publishers) who worked so hard on this project. We look forward to the critiques of our readers. Korean Historical Research Association February, 1992

Part One â&#x20AC;˘ Primitive Society

1 | Primitive Communal Society

1 | People and Labour: Human Evolution

hen human ancestors were first active on the face of the earth, they walked in a clumsy, hunched posture. With the passage of time they became accustomed to walking on two feet and standing erect. It is from this point that the skills of hands and feet became differentiated. This process was extremely slow and arduous. The differing roles of hands and feet and the ability to walk erect represent the point at which humans cast off their animal characteristics in the process of evolution. Hands continued to develop as sticks and stones were used in the search for food. In this way ancient humans, different from, yet similar to, modern humans, appeared millions of years before the present. The use of fire played an important role in the differentiation of humans from animals and holds great significance in the history of primitive humans. In their animal state, humans too were afraid of naturally occurring fire and avoided it. But from the point they began to use fire they were able to protect themselves from wild animals and also discovered that cooked meat was far more tender and delicious than raw meat. Fire gave humans a degree of power to dominate natural forces and thus humans completely moved beyond their previous animal state. The human use of fire began 400,000 to 500,000 years ago. The process of human biological evolution in which modern humans appeared was completed long after ancient humans first appeared, perhaps 40,000 years before the present. During this time the earth went through a variety of climatic changes. There were repeated cold glacial periods interspersed with relatively warm interglacial periods suitable for human habitation. This period in which humans first appeared on the earth and continuously evolved and developed before classes were differentiated and states were established is called the Primitive Era. This was an extremely long period that takes up more than 99 percent of human history but the rate of social development was 22 â&#x20AC;˘ A History of Korea

extremely slow and humans were interested only in surviving from day to day, avoiding starvation, and protecting themselves from the elements and wild animals. The struggle with nature was the primary factor that governed people’s lives. Humans and Labour The natural world existed even before the appearance of humans, and humans themselves were in turn part and parcel of the natural world, but they could not live merely as a part of the larger natural environment. For the sake of survival, they had to obtain food through the use of their physical and mental strength and meet their goals by modifying the natural world. Thus, given the creation of tools and the purposeful transformation and processing of nature through labour, human existence was not at all passive. Humans established themselves as active and autonomous subjects. The ability to engage in labour, more than anything else, played the most decisive role in the human evolutionary process. Labour began as tools were first produced. Animals too catch their food with sharp claws and teeth and there also are cases in which apes use sticks or stones to obtain food but they cannot fashion wood or stone into tools used to meet their own needs like humans. This is an important difference between animals and humans. Although the power of the human body is limited and weak, it can be expanded though the use of tools and efficiently applied to the task of labour. A single individual, however, has no power before nature so humans naturally lived in groups because survival on one’s own was too difficult. Working together in groups, people needed to verbally communicate their intent to one another. They initially communicated through hand and body gestures or shouts but as vocal organs capable of producing clearly defined syllables developed, they came to employ language. Through the use of language, group society could be more strongly maintained. Moreover, the use of language brought logical and structured thought that resulted in the beginning of great intellectual development. Producing tools and engaging in labour, building a society, and purposefully and creatively working with others are the most important characteristics that separate humans from other animals. The mode of labour in a society and the binding reciprocal human relations in the labour process were hereafter no longer simply means of survival but functioned as the fundamentals of thought, daily life, and culture.

2 | Human Life in Primitive Society Group Society The long primitive period during which humans fashioned implements from chipped stone is called the Paleolithic Period. Paleolithic people generally lived in caves, in the shelter of cliff overhangs, or erected simple shelters near rivers and the sea to avoid the elements and used tools made from both chipped stone and sharpened bone. Although they also gathered fruit and hunted animals, these resources were not always waiting nearby and so it was often the case that people were unable to obtain even the most basic items needed for survival and commonly died from starvation, exposure, and attacks from wild animals. Life was characterised by constant instability and it was Part One • Primitive Society • 23

impossible to have any interests beyond simple self preservation. Paleolithic people formed small groups and lived a nomadic life. These groups formed naturally and in most cases were based on blood relationships. Members of other groups were thought to be the same as animals and were the objects of caution. Interactions between groups were rare. Obtaining food and drink, hunting, and consumption, and indeed the entire life of the individual took place within the context of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own group. Groups exceeding 30 to 40 individuals were unusual. As the earliest social forms that humans managed, this kind of formation is called group society. The members of these groups communally raised children and divided and consumed the food they gathered or obtained on the hunt. The consumption of large quantities of food by a single individual was not tolerated because it could mean the death of another member of the group. In such cases, the offending individual was banished. Expulsion from the group meant certain death. Everything within the group was egalitarian with the exception of a sexual division of labour based upon physiological characteristics in which men engaged in the hunt while women gathered wild fruits and vegetables and tended the children. Natural limitations were great and the ability to operate in this context was at an extremely low level. Despite these obstacles, society at this time was far from stagnant. Although the process was slow, human wisdom and culture developed steadily. The basic form of group society hardly changed but the methods for producing tools improved as time went on. At first they used simple stone tools but the craftsmanship gradually improved and the techniques of embellishment multiplied. By the end of the Paleolithic Period, people were using a variety of stone implements specifically designed for a variety of purposes, such as knives, hatchets, and scrapers. The climate and environment of the Korean peninsula during the Paleolithic Period was quite different from modern times. There were times when it was both hotter and colder than the present. Both the bones of woolly mammoths, creatures that lived in much colder periods, and the fossilised bones of water buffalo and hyena, creatures that lived in hotter regions, have been found at Korean Paleolithic sites. Starting from about 10,000 years before the present, the climate, flora, and fauna of the Korean peninsula were largely the same as the present day. Clan Society By the end of the period in which chipped stone tools were used, small, thin layers of chipped stone were being fashioned and eventually, people were grinding stone and using more elaborate ground stone implements. The time period in which ground stone tools were used is called the Neolithic Period. Of course, not all or even a majority of stone implements used during the Neolithic were made of ground stone but their appearance was an important development in comparison to the previous period. Another important aspect that distinguishes the Neolithic Period is the appearance of earthenware. The use of earthenware brought enormous change to human eating habits. 24 â&#x20AC;˘ A History of Korea

Earthenware was used in numerous ways to prepare, transport, and store food. Comb Pattern pottery is the most typical example of Korean Neolithic earthenware. Comb Pattern pottery appears not only in Korea but has also been discovered on the shores of the Bohai Bay in China, showing that the Neolithic people of this culture had settled over a broad area. The Neolithic innovation that brought the greatest transformation to human life was the advent of agriculture. People at first noticed that fallen seeds produced fruit the following year. Later they learned that it was possible to obtain far greater quantities of fruits and vegetables by planting and tending seeds rather than by foraging in the wild. Agriculture was the earliest productive activity through human labour. Previously humans merely obtained natural materials as they found them but from this point they were able to produce needed products and materials at will. With the beginning of agriculture, social life changed as well. Planting and harvesting crops required anywhere from a few months to a year so once the seeds were planted people did not move but rather stayed in one place tending their fields and waiting for the harvest. In comparison to pre-agricultural times, life was more stable and populations naturally increased. As people settled in one place, they gradually came to form villages and the extent of human society greatly expanded. By the end of the Neolithic Period, breeding domestic animals began. As people no longer travelled the land on the hunt and instead raised and slaughtered their own animals, they devoted ever increasing portions of their energies to the pursuit of agriculture. Neolithic people wore clothing made from fibre threads and generally lived in dugout dwellings by the sea or on river banks. There were no longer any cave or cliff overhang dwellings. Houses were most commonly dug out from the earth and covered with a roof and usually housed around five people. This unit, most commonly composed of an adult man and woman and their children, represented a basic social unit quite different from the group societies of the Paleolithic Period. It was the clan, however, and not these residential groups that was the primary unit of production and consumption. These groups formed clans and in turn formed villages. Agricultural activity, to say nothing of fishing, hunting, and gathering, was still impossible on the basis of individual residential units composed of only a few people. Agriculture was still in its infancy, depending upon implements made of wood, horn, or stone and the task of burning fields to bring new lands under cultivation required the effort of many people so production generally depended on the labour of the whole clan, within which distribution and consumption was naturally communal. Through the practice of agriculture, life became more stable in comparison to previous times but in a situation where agriculture itself was greatly restricted by natural factors, people came to have a great interest in nature. Neolithic people believed that not only people but also inanimate objects in nature such as mountains and stones also had souls so they made artistic objects expressing the incantation of prayers for a bountiful harvest. Female figures made of clay excavated at the Yulli shell mounds in Busan and Sinam-ni in Yangsan are representative of these pieces. Part One â&#x20AC;˘ Primitive Society â&#x20AC;˘ 25

Primitive Egalitarianism Group societies and clan societies are called primitive communities. A primitive community, as a kind of economically self-sufficient miniature universe composed of groups or clans, contains all the conditions necessary for reproduction. This society is characterised by egalitarian human relations based upon communal ownership of the means of production, communal labour in the agricultural process, and the communal distribution of the resulting products required for everyday life. Given the primitive level of agricultural technology, a single family or individual did not have the necessary strength to overcome environmental conditions so the struggle for survival had to be a communal labour and the basic means of production, starting from the agricultural

implements, were communally owned. It was thus natural that the results of this labour were communally distributed. Division of labour by sex and age existed even in primitive communities, albeit in a minor form. Rearing children, gathering food, and producing earthenware were womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s duties while hunting and fishing were entrusted to the men but as agriculture took on greater productive importance men gradually played greater roles in farming as well. The role of experienced elders was crucial to understanding natural dangers and the habits of animals, while the role of the young and strong was of central importance in luring and capturing animals. Those elders with experience in hunting large dangerous animals, migration, and warfare played leading roles and the members of the group acted in complete accordance with their guidance. This behaviour was far from domination in that the elders played a leadership role for the benefit of all the constituent members of the community. In primitive communities, class relations between constituent members did not form and there was no domination or exploitation of one human being by another. Thus, even the heads of communities were not dominant or powerful and did not exceed the role of a guide in social and economic life.

3 | The Disintegration of Primitive Communal Society Surplus Production and Private Ownership Primitive society degenerated with the development of agriculture. As productive capabilities increased, people became capable of producing more than just the basic necessities of life. This was the beginning of the objective conditions capable of giving rise to those who would be able to enjoy a rich life through the appropriation of the products of the labour of others even though they themselves did not work. By the end of the Neolithic Period, egalitarian relations between the constituent members of society were already beginning to weaken. The use of bronze implements provided the decisive starting point for this dynamic. The

Korean Bronze Age began around 1000 BCE. Bronze was not used so much for agricultural implements as it was for weapons and other kinds of tools. Using the sharp edge of bronze implements, people were able to produce a variety of wooden agricultural implements and these modified tools, used with the older stone and bone tools, played an enormous role in the development of Bronze Age agricultural productive capacity. 26 â&#x20AC;˘ A History of Korea

With the development of agriculture, the importance of large scale communal labour gradually decreased. Rather than devote the entire clan to agricultural tasks, it became more efficient for units smaller than the clan to permanently concentrate and apply their labour power to a particular parcel of land. As the role of men expanded in agricultural activity, they began to take on more important roles in family relations. Groups of several couples and their offspring gathered around patriarchs and formed extended families which grew into the primary units of production and consumption. Land, ponds, and forests were still basically communal property but agricultural implements and products had become private property. Thus the surplus accumulation occurred not on the basis of the clan, but within the unit of the extended family. The extended families that were able to secure large numbers of people capable of farming were able to accumulate greater quantities of product. This led to the expansion of private property relations to land. Following the advancement of private ownership of product, extended families began to be differentiated by wealth and poverty. Egalitarian relations thus collapsed through this matrix of ownership and, along with the growing division of labour, society became divided into classes. Division of Labour Bronze tools were the first metal implements that humans fashioned by adding tin or zinc to copper. There were continuous social changes in the production and use of bronze implements. First, the copper and other ores had to be mined. Then moulds had to be made to produce the desired implements. The die-cast tools, with some stone polishing, were perfect copies of the originals. This complex production process necessitated the expansion of mines and investment in man power skilled workers. As mining and trade in raw materials developed, groups of artisans appeared that had abandoned agricultural labour and devoted themselves to the specialised production of bronze implements. This represented the genuine appearance of a social division of labour. The raw materials for bronze ware were uncommon and produced in small quantities so not just anyone could own jewellery, tools, or weapons made from copper or bronze. The patriarchs of great families who held great power and had accumulated private wealth monopolised bronze implements and thereby made a conspicuous display of their social and political position. The bronze implements excavated from Korean Bronze Age tombs were primarily the private property of patriarchs. Ordinary people were buried with a few pieces of earthen ware or stone tools. War was a frequent occurrence during the Bronze Age. Material inequalities provided the grounds for strife between groups. This was especially true in famine years when groups without sufficient food supplies raided neighbouring groups to seize their food stores. Many houses of that time period were destroyed by fire. While some of these were surely accidental fires, the majority were fires resulting from these kinds of raids. It was of primary importance for a great warrior to secure a variety of weapons to conduct warfare with neighbouring groups and so they produced numerous short swords, axes, arrow heads, spears, and clubs from bronze. Part One â&#x20AC;˘ Primitive Society â&#x20AC;˘ 27

These transformations in production, private ownership, differences of wealth and poverty between groups and individuals, handicrafts and the division of labour, regional trade, and the conduct of warfare and plundering shook the foundations of the long standing primitive communal society. Now, as the form of primitive communal society based upon egalitarian relations underwent these considerable changes, it began to move into an altogether different stage of development.

28 â&#x20AC;˘ A History of Korea

A History of Korea

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