For example, look at this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Chwa-chin

This absolute fucking Chad. People call him the "Korean Makhno", but I think there's more than that. Like, he makes Makhno look like an underachiever if you look into him.

I'm sure you're all familiar with John Brown. Now, while John Brown's raid was a major escalation towards the Civil War and rallying cry for abolitionists, it ultimately wasn't successful by itself. If we praise John Brown as much as we do for this, I think Kim Jwa-Jin deserves at least equal recognition for his accomplishments in this field if we are looking at things fairly. He released 50 families of slaves by publicly burning the slave registry (making him the first person to free slaves in Korea), AND he provided the families land to live on -- he understood the concept of land and liberty. Oh, and he was also 18 when he did this. It is outright criminal that we don't recognize him for this!

The dude spent most of his life fighting against Japanese imperialism as part of the broader Korean independence movement. The most significant battle here was the Battle of Cheongsanri, where Kim Jwa-jin led 3000 Korean soldiers to victory against a force of 30,000-50,000 Japanese soldiers (who were in all likelihood much better equipped and trained). The death count for the Japanese varies: they claim 11 of them died, the Koreans claim they killed 1200 of them. Either way, if you had the enemy outnumbered 10 to 1, were better trained and equipped, and didn't decisively win, then you fucking lost. Just upholding the proud anarchist tradition of winning battles against unfavorable odds. He was 31 when he did this.

The people loved him. He was appointed to a cabinet position in the provisional government, but didn't take office in order to continue leading the fight for independence. He did later get designated as the president of the Korea Independence Party.

He was also appointed to lead the army of the Korean People's Association in Manchuria, an anarchist community of 2 million people. Larger than all other anarchist movements combined. Unfortunately, Kim Jwa-jin was assassinated by an imperial Japanese agent, followed by other assassinations of anarchist leaders, and continued attacks by imperial Japanese forces and pro-Kuomintang forces, and the Japanese invasion of Manchuria forced the anarchists to go underground. But for two years, people went from experiencing brutal repression by the Japanese to experiencing real freedom which is an achievement in itself. Their militaries continued to fight against the Japanese alongside the Chinese communists.

He was a major leader of the Korean independence movement, and he's probably the only anarchist to have an annual festival in his name (it happens every October in his birthplace, Hongseong). Apparently, both North and South Korea remember him for his role in the independence movement. There are apparently statues of him in both DPRK and South Korea. That's right -- TANKIES RESPECT THIS ANARCHIST! Unless you're a lib, you now have no excuse to not stan. He may have had a short life, but he started young and got a LOT more done than most revolutionaries can claim.

At a bare minimum, we need a Kim Jwa-jin emote.

      • gammison [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Wait that just says it maybe influenced concepts of autonomy, that's a far cry from the initial claim lol.

    • aru [they/them,any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I've seen "Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World" recommended, although Korea is only one chapter of it.