東亞日報
- The Scientific Process of the Class Movement
- Break with the Kenkyūkai Disregarded
This partial reading of the Tonga Ilbo for 12 October 1926 covers two passages. The first is the opening installment of an unsigned editorial, "The Scientific Process of the Class Movement," which argued that class should be defined by consciousness rather than property. It held that awakening class self-awareness, by intellectual or emotional means, must come before purely practical agitation among peasants, and it called for more "scientific" pioneers. The second block sits under a headline about disregarding a break with the Kenkyūkai, but the legible text is an essay on why good Korean houses were scarce. The essay blamed the cold climate, bare mountains and plunder by corrupt late-Joseon officials, and it rejected the claim that warm ondol rooms had made Koreans idle. It is followed by a satirical column on threatening letters against Japan's prime minister and a change of chief in the colonial police.
This edition translates two passages from the Tonga Ilbo of 12 October 1926 and leaves the rest of the page untranslated. Most of the small vertical body text was too blurred to transcribe. The legible parts contain gaps marked [?], and the second sentence of the class-movement editorial breaks off mid-construction. The text read under the headline about the Kenkyūkai concerns Korean housing and a satirical column, so it does not include the article that belongs to that headline. Numbers and names in the fine print were not inferred.
Translation
The Scientific Process of the Class Movement
(Authorized as third-class mail matter, March 11, Taishō 13), Taishō 15
The Scientific Process of the Class Movement — 1
Class must not be distinguished solely by whether one has property or not; it must be distinguished by the state of one's consciousness. No matter how propertyless a person may be, without property and earning a living from day to day, throwing oneself with an ardent heart solely into practical movement among people is something that forerunners should weigh seriously for the sake of social development. Of course, practical movement is also necessary for the peasant class. But there seem to be some who regard movements other than practical movement as worthless, or, at the extreme, as harmful and useless; we believe this is a great misunderstanding. In our view it is exactly the opposite [?]: the movement that brings people to possess that consciousness, that is, the [?] that, by some means, whether on the intellectual side or the emotional side, awakens their class self-awareness, must be the principal and first-order movement. We hope and pray that many pioneers will arise who grasp this fact firmly from a scientific standpoint. Page 6
Break with the Kenkyūkai Disregarded
Box [?] form of conduct [?] … of its own [?] final years [?] weighty [?] rites and forms [?] … [?] daily [?] observ- [?] the people [?] livelihood [?] did [?] manner [?] its talent [?] how [?] nation [?] [?] not …
Examining the causes of this scarcity: one is that, because the climate is cold, a room that is too large is inconvenient to heat and therefore disadvantageous; another is that the mountains do not have many trees; and another is that if one builds a handsome house and lives in it, there is much occasion to suffer the encroachment and plunder of greedy and corrupt officials. And when we consider that the scarcity, in the distant mountains, of forests that could furnish timber for beams and ridgepoles is also partly caused by the tyranny of corrupt officials, which destroyed the common people's interest in woodland, it is clear that the political corruption of the late Yi dynasty spread cruel harm in many directions and became an evil cause of misfortune where houses are concerned.
Generally, in both Korea and Japan, people take off their shoes when they come into the house, and because the rooms have ondol floors, the rooms are warm; once one sits down inside, one has less thought of going outside to work. That is, it is said that the ondol is one cause bearing on the forests. But I do not readily agree with this. People living in cold regions invariably warm their living quarters by one means or another. It is because they keep their rooms warm that those people are able to be active out in the cold. Accordingly, people living in the north, colder than our Korea, keep their rooms far warmer than in Korea. The idea that warm rooms in particular have sapped the activity of us Koreans is said to be the usual one.
Talk Crosswise and Lengthwise
◇ Lately in Japan threatening anonymous letters have been appearing frequently, almost like a fad ◇ and this time, they say, yet another strange-letter case has arisen, in the name of "Yoshida Shōin, Patriot Concerned for the Nation," attacking the present cabinet's misrule and calling for the assassination of the prime minister ◇ If he is to be threatened even by a "patriot" in the underworld, the prime minister, too, will sleep badly ◇ Maruyama [?] has been replaced as director of the Police Bureau of the Government-General, and now Asari arrives; will there then be no deep harm? 高長十
Context
Why class consciousness was contested on the Korean left in 1926
The editorial insists that class be defined by consciousness rather than property, and it treats the awakening of class self-awareness as the "first-order" movement, ahead of practical organizing among peasants. It appeared when organized Korean communism was very new. The Communist Party of Korea had been founded at a secret meeting in Seoul in 1925, and feuds between rival factions plagued the party from its founding. The editorial's case for putting ideological awakening ahead of grassroots action thus reached readers while the organized left was young and divided. The editorial names no faction or party. Its call for pioneers who grasp the issue "from a scientific standpoint" is the paper's own position, not a report of any group's programme. By this time the Dong-A Ilbo had become a popular place for introducing foreign ideas, which helps explain how a Marxian vocabulary of class, consciousness and scientific method could fill an editorial.
The cabinet in the column's sights and the Kenkyūkai
The "present cabinet" and "prime minister" mocked in the Talk Crosswise and Lengthwise column belonged to the First Wakatsuki Cabinet. Led by Wakatsuki Reijirō of the Kenseikai, it governed from 30 January 1926 to 20 April 1927. In the House of Peers the cabinet drew support from two blocs, the Kenkyūkai and the Kōseikai. The 研究會 in the page's headline most plausibly refers to that upper-house faction, so the headline about disregarding a break points to strains between the governing camp and one of its peer allies. The House of Peers mattered because the Meiji leaders had deliberately designed it, on the model of the British House of Lords, as a counterweight to the elected House of Representatives. A party cabinet therefore had to secure backing in the appointed and hereditary chamber as well as in the elected one. The column's joke that even a dead "patriot" was now threatening the prime minister shows how a Korean paper watched political tension in Tokyo from Seoul.
The Dong-A Ilbo in 1926 and its jab at the colonial police
The Dong-A Ilbo existed because, after the March First Movement of 1919, the colonial government announced that it would allow a limited number of Korean-owned newspapers. The paper had increased its size to six pages on 1 August 1925, which fits the "page 6" marker that survives on this page. In March 1926, seven months before this issue, it had printed a speech about the anniversary of the March First Movement and was suspended as a result. Against that background, the column's closing quip turns on two names. Asari (淺利, "shallow gain") replaced Maruyama as head of the Government-General's Police Bureau, and the writer asks whether "deep harm" (深害) will now be avoided. With this joke, a recently suspended paper kept its readers' attention on personnel changes in the colonial police apparatus.
Original
階級運動의科學的過程
（大正十三年三月十一日第三種郵便物認可）、 大正十五階級運動 의 科學的過程一階級 은그것을 財産 의 有無 로 만 區別 할것이아니라 意識 의 如何 로 因 하야 區別 하지아니하면 아니된다아모리 財産 이업서서그 날그날을버러먹는 無產者 라고 사람에게 熱念 한마음으로써 實際運動 에만 熱中 하는것은 先動者 로서 社會的發展 을 爲 하야 크게 考慮 할바라고 할것이다 勿論農民階級 의게 實際運動 도 必要 하다그러나그 實際運動以外 의 運動 을 無價値 하게 생각을하 거나 또는 甚 하면 有害無益 하 게 보는사람이잇는듯하나 이 는큰 誤解 인줄밋는다 吾人 의 見解 에 依 하면 그와는 正反 [?] 로 그 意識 을가지게하는 運即理知的方面 으로나 感情方面 에이서서 어느 方法 으로 그 階級的自覺 을 이르키는 [?] 이 主 가되고 第一次 의 運動 되지아니하면 아니될줄밋는 이러한 事實 을 科學的見地 에 確實 히 把握 하는 先驅者 가만히 기를바라고빈나 六面
研究會絶緣不顧
篋 이 [?] 事行形式 [?] 에또 의 自 한 [?] 末年 [?] 중한 [?] 禮文 [?] 에또 [?] 日常 [?] 察 의 [?] 民 이 [?] 生活 [?] 하다 [?] 方式 [?] 하여 의그 才 [?] 엇지 [?] 民族 [?] [?] 不 으로 稀少 한 原因 을 考察 하건대 氣候 가춥기때문에 방이넘어커서 서는 방을덥히기에 不便 하며딸 아 不利 한것이그한아이오 山 에 나무가만치못함이 그한아이오 집을버첫하게 잘지어노코살면는 貪官汚吏 의 侵害 와 剝奪 을 當 할 要處 가만흠이그한아이다 그런 먼 山 에 棟樑 의 材木 이될만한 森林 이적은것도 貪官汚吏 의 橫暴 가 庶民 의 山林 의 興味 를 업신것 이그 原因 의한아인것을생각하면 李朝末 의 政治 의 腐敗 가 여러 方面 으로 酷烈 한 害毒 을 기치어서 家屋 에 對 하여 不幸 의 惡原因 이 됨이 分明 하니라 一般 으로 朝鮮 이나 日本 이나 집안에들어올적에는 신을벗고 들어오기때문에 방안에서는 溫突 인때문에 방안이따뜻하야 한번들어안즐것가트면 박 게나가서 일할생각이적어진다 곳 溫突 이 森林 의 一原因 이라한 다 그러나나는여기에 對 하야 얼는 贊成 하지아니한다 칩 은 地方 에사는사람들은 반듯 이어떠한 方法 으로든지 그 居室 을 따뜻하게덥이는것이다 그 방을 따뜻하게해노코 지나는 따문에 그사람들은 칩은밧게 서 活動 을할수가 잇는것이다 그러므로 우리 朝鮮 보다더칩은 北方 에사는사람들은 그방을 朝鮮 보다 훨신더덥게 만들어 놋코지낸다 방이따뜻한것이 特 히우이 朝鮮 사람의 活動性 을 減殺 하엿다고 생각하는것은 通常 이라한다 橫說竪說 ◇ 近來日本 에서는、 脅迫的怪文書 가、 거의 流行的 으로 頻頻 한 中 인데 ◇ 今番 에는 『憂國志士吉田松蔭』 의 名義 로、 現內閣 의 批政攻擊首相暗殺 의 怪文書事件 이、 또 생겻다고 ◇ 黃泉 에잇는 『憂國志士』 에게서 까지、 脅迫 을 當 하야서는、 首相 도잠자리가사나울걸 ◇ 總督府警務局長 으로、 丸山 [?] 代 된니、 이제 淺利 가 來 하니、 深害 는업슬는지。 高長十