The purpose of this study is to examine the dynamic interaction relationship between state power and peasant society during the Syngman Rhee administration through a diary. Rural research during the existing Syngman Rhee administration was mainly appr...
The purpose of this study is to examine the dynamic interaction relationship between state power and peasant society during the Syngman Rhee administration through a diary. Rural research during the existing Syngman Rhee administration was mainly approached by the government's policies. Recent studies in the 1950s have shown a remarkable tendency to pay attention to the subjective responses of peasant society that are not captured in government policies. This study is in line with the tendency to examine the active role of peasant society that was influencing policy behind policy.
This article uses the diary of Lee Kang-woon (1931-2015), who has long worked as a head of the Myeon in Samgye-myeon, Imsil-gun, Jeollabuk-do, when he was a soldier-related public official at the Myeon office. He kept a diary for about three years and four months from May 1, 1954 to September 9, 1957. From June 1951, when he was appointed as a public official, to June 1961, when he submitted his resignation letter for enlistment, Lee Kang-woon worked in the Samgye-myeon office for 10 years. As a result, many of the diaries are related to handling conscription work for residents of Samgye-myeon. However, the Myeon office was in charge of overall public affairs due to the nature of the lowest administrative agency, and Lee Kang-woon's diary also contains stories of not only military affairs but also various fields of work. In this article, three of the situations Lee Kang-woon faced in "Samgye Diary" were selected to track the dynamics of the community in Samgye-myeon, Imsil-gun, Jeollabuk-do in the 1950s.
Lee Kang-woon, a civil servant of the myeon office, a low-level administrative organization, was between the state and the community. He performed various duties as a public official, but at the same time, as a resident and citizen living in a rural community, he questioned the unreasonable instructions of his superiors and expressed his feelings in a diary. In relation to the Land Incom Tax Law, not only Lee Kang-woon but also other public officials in the Myeon office were opposed to the policy, and eventually, the head of the Myeon office worked to collect the income tax less than the set tax rate. Lee Kang-woon wrote down his work, what happened around him, and his impressions on them in "Samgye Diary," showing that he was a mere public official, but he judged himself in it and resisted it in his own way if it conflicted with the instructions of his superiors. Lee Kang-woon was not alone in this way, but others in Samgye-myeon also had it.
Lee Kang-woon may have paid less attention to the outside society of Samgye-myeon and acquired less democratic mindset in the 1956 election, but he continued to maintain the subjectivity of the right to vote in his diary. Since elections are the most basic and core of democracy, Lee Kang-woon's efforts to continue to remember and maintain the people's right to vote have kept his faith in democracy despite the limitations formed by the times. From the state's point of view, local residents and low-level civil servant Lee Kang-woon were controlled, but they did not necessarily live in compliance with the state's rule. That didn't mean they were free to choose everything. The part dealing with elections in "Samgye Diary" shows the subjectivity of self-judging and acting within a given environment.
From 1954 to 1957, when "Samgye Diary" was written, local residents were people who experienced direct war. For them, conscription was like being thrown before the threat of war. In addition, the recruitment of healthy young people in rural communities meant that the loss of labor would disrupt agriculture and reduce income, increasing the possibility of poverty. The conscription system itself was not welcome, but in addition, complaints were spreading as the fairness of the conscription system was questioned due to the postponement of the recruitment of students. As a result, local residents responded to the state's conscription in various ways, and this response was evident by interacting with the officials of the Myeon office, the state's terminal administrative agency that meets local residents. Lee Kang-woon was in charge of delivering the enlistment warrant directly to the subject, so he was able to leave a more vivid picture of residents coping with the country's conscription in various ways in his diary.
The case of "Samgye Diary" shows that the community in Samgye-myeon in the 1950s was not just lethargic and groaning at the national administration in the aftermath of the war. Samgye-myeon, and even rural communities in Korea, had the dynamism to overcome the given environment and develop further. The dynamism was expressed by the residents' independent actual actions, resistance, and autonomy.