The Formation of Bourgeois Nationalism during Japanese Colonial Rule and Korean Capitalists

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This article investigates the historical characteristics of bourgeois nationalism in the colonial period while keeping in mind to compare it with civil nationalism which resisted the despotic political structure of Korean. Korean nationalism grew after experiencing setbacks and suppression since its conception as a response to the shock of imperialism in the latter half of the 19th century. Korean nationalism during the Japanese colonial period in particular became exalted through the March 1st Movement of 1919, after which it suffered an ideological division into capitalism and socialism. Bourgeois nationalism which emerged in the 1920s with great volition advocated for independence and self-determination of the people based on the acceptance of the principles of the ideology of liberalism and bourgeois democracy. And the economic national movements (encouragement of native products) unfolded in early 1920s with the goal of establishing autonomous national economy under the lead of the Korean bourgeoisie received great support from the Korean people.
The ideological leadership of the bourgeoisie, however, could not continue for long in the colonial Korean society, because the advocated nationalism was perceived by the Korean people as a mobilizing ideology that requires unilateral fortitude over “personal” sacrifice. The bourgeoisie were active in utilizing national movements for capital movements, but they were passive or even indifferent to skyrocketing prices of “Joseon products” resulting from the movement process and in social problems faced by the people. As well, they attempted to justify the nationalism that they advocated by transmitting ultranationalistic awareness based on the founding myth to the people. Rather than attempting to gain agreement from the colonial Korean society, they attempted to educate from the top down only. The industrial bourgeoisie with modern knowledge and capital as well as pioneering characteristics was one of the key forces leading nationalism in colonial Korea, but the distance between it and the colonial Korean society widened as time passed. They became a part of the dominant system of the industrial policy advocated by the Japanese Government-General in Joseon under the supposed purpose of self-reliance of “the Joseon economy” since they began to accept the state-led economic ideology after the Great Depression. Bourgeois nationalism of the Korean capitalists transitioned into the main body that accepted and practiced the ideology of the Japanese fascist system (modern totalitarianism) based on the emperor as Japan entered wartime at the end of Japanese imperialism. As such, bourgeoisie nationalism experienced the cycle of highs and lows during the colonial period; the fragility of the ideology of liberalism and ultra-nationalistic national consciousness of Korean bourgeoisie became the key variable in the abandonment of bourgeois nationalism along with the challenge from the laborers and peasants as well as fascistization of Japanese nationalism.
Bourgeois nationalism of Korean capitalists turned into anti-Communist nationalism of the Republic of Korea after liberation, thereby maintaining cooperation with the tyrannical government. If the progressive tendency of Korean nationalism of the 1920s can be “revived” in the future, it will become a process through which the historical shadow from colonial experience will be shed on the one hand, and provide a possibility for creating a Korean model for social development by reaching a social agreement between capital and civil society the other hand. From this perspective, bourgeois nationalism of the Japanese colonial period simultaneous reveals potential and limitations.