Korean People's Association in Manchuria

Following the outbreak of the Donghak Peasant Revolution, the Empire of Japan intervened in Korea, which brought the peninsular under Japanese influence.[10] Meanwhile, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria had caused heightened tensions with the Russian Empire, which was itself also occupying Manchuria. Following the subsequent Russo-Japanese War, the Empire of Japan secured vast concessions in Manchuria,[11] taking control of the railways, establishing a number of imperial enclaves and eventually consolidating its military forces into the Kwantung Army.[12] Korea was itself formally annexed by the Empire of Japan, forcing many Korean dissidents to flee into exile in Manchuria, where they established study groups and military schools in order to prepare the Korean independence movement for action.[13] Following the repression of the March 1st Movement, even more Koreans fled to Manchuria, leading to the development of the Korean anarchist movement in exile.[14]

Meanwhile, the collapse of the Empire of China had given way to the Warlord Era, during which Manchuria came under the control of Zhang Zuolin.[15] When he first rose to power, the Empire of Japan attempted to assassinate Zhang, but by 1924 they began bankrolling his activities due to his anti-communism,[16] with Zhang going on to collaborate in repressing the Korean resistance in Manchuria.[17] In June 1927, Zhang's Fengtian clique seized control of the Beiyang government and proclaimed the establishment of a military dictatorship.[18] As Zhang was pulled into engagements with the National Revolutionary Army, the Japanese government started looking to destablize his hold on power and take control of Manchuria.[19] By June 1928, the Northern Expedition had forced Zhang to flee Beijing and retreat back to Manchuria by train.[20] A few miles outside the Manchurian capital of Mukden, his train was blown up by Japanese imperial agents, killing him and sixteen other passengers.[21] He was succeeded as warlord of Manchuria by his son, Zhang Xueliang, who took a decisively anti-Japanese stance and aligned himself with the Nationalist government.[22]

The anti-Japanese sentiment of the new administration in Manchuria opened up space for the Korean anarchist movement to restart its activities, now safe from political repression.[13] This process culminated, on July 21, 1929, with the establishment of the Korean Anarchist Federation in Manchuria (KAFM) in Hailin.[23] The KAFM was primarily focused on providing mutual aid for all Koreans in Manchuria, with the eventual goal being to establish a stateless society based on liberty and social equality, in which resources were to be distributed "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs".[24]

Kim Chwa-chin, chairman of the Korean People's Association in Manchuria and commander of the Korean Independence Army.

By this time, three self-governing Korean authorities had been established in Manchuria: the General Staff Headquarters (Korean: 일반참모본부, romanized: Cham-uibu) on the Manchurian side of the Yalu River; the Righteous Government (Korean: 정의로운 정부, romanized: Jeong-uibu) in the provinces of Jilin and Liaoning; and the New People's Government (Korean: 신민부, romanized: Sinminbu) in northern Manchuria, led by Kim Chwa-chin.[8] Although initially driven by Korean nationalism, the New People's Government increasingly began to take up anarchist principles, in order to counter the rising influence of Marxism-Leninism in the region.[25] This culminated in August 1929, when the New People's Government and the KAFM were integrated into the Korean People's Association in Manchuria (KPAM),[26] with Kim Chwa-chin being elected as its chairperson.[8]

The KPAM's plan was to develop systems of cooperative agriculture, free education and arms training in Manchuria.[27] Its primary goal was to meet the immediate material needs of Korean migrant workers and to protect them from exploitation, both by Chinese landlords and Korean nationalist authorities. In order to help them settle and cultivate land, it introduced collective farming, which collectivized the production and sale of agricultural produce.[28] Although Korean nationalists cooperated in the KPAM, nationalist goals of independence were subordinated to the immediate survival of Korean migrant workers, grounded in the Korean anarchists' principles of mutual aid. Activities that would have agitated for an independent and/or anarchist Korea were postponed, in favor of sustaining their economic programs.[29]

The Korean autonomous zone in Manchuria was eventually encircled by Imperial Japanese forces in the south and Soviet forces in the north, with covert operatives being sent into the territory to target prominent Korean anarchists.[30] The KPAM began to suffer a number of difficulties with the loss of many of its leading figures: on January 20, 1930, Kim Chwa-chin was assassinated by Korean communists while repairing a rice mill; in September 1930, Yi Eulgyu was arrested by Japanese imperial police and extradited back to Korea; and in July 1931, Kim Jongjin was assassinated.[31] Finally, on September 18, 1931, the Japanese invasion put a definitive end to the Korean anarchist experiment in Manchuria,[32] with the puppet state of Manchukuo being established in its place.[33] The remnants of the Korean anarchist organizations retreated to southern China, where many of them volunteeres to fight in the Second Sino-Japanese War.[34]