<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:14pt"><DIV>This analysis leaves out the tremendous regional influence that played into Kwangju -- the sense in the Cholla region, southwest Korea, of dominance by the crowd from in and around Taegu and the southeast as led by Park Chung Hee and then Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo. In all these posts, there's not been a word about that. Yes, I was in Kwangju and Seoul at the time. The sense of unrest spread to Seoul in enormous demos, but Kwangju as an uprising was essentially confined and isolated -- and does not fit into any of these models or continuums so readily.</DIV>
<DIV>Incidentally, I don't recall describing the crowds that surged through Kwangju as "mobs." That's not to say that I didn't -- just that I don't recall. If you could remind me of the reference, I'd appreciate it.</DIV>
<DIV>Don Kirk<BR></DIV>
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<B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Frank Hoffmann <hoffmann@koreaweb.ws><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Tue, February 15, 2011 10:51:37 AM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Re: [KS] Egypt and Gwangju 1980<BR></FONT><BR>Rüdiger, sure!<BR><BR>Marx called me up recently to say he had made some mistakes, after finally having read Rudolf Bahro. Kwangju 1980s is a perfect example for a growing middle class "revolution" using pre-Marxist and later also Marxist terminology mixed with nativist agendas that were developed in reaction to both the pre-colonial area and the American dominance. (One then wonders, of course, if there ever was in history anything like a proletarian revolution.) The "mob" -- as Don Kirk refers to the people protesting in the streets of Korean cities -- interesting choice of terminology --
and as he noted this with some good insights (earlier link posted) -- were then mostly not part of the proletariat and aren't now either, or at the very least, the proletariat is not what Marx anticipated that it would become. This is no news. This was a classical "new middle-class" revolution: is this not also the interpretation the majority of historians agree on? I really think we have nicely incorporated the Marx brothers in all newer theories. So I was looking at a little more 'upgraded' concept or theory that would connect the history of colonialism, post-war economic development, the China-First success, and all those 1980s to 2000s changes we see into some sort of new history, new historical perspective ... some addendum to Weber and Wallerstein. Thanks.<BR><BR>Frank<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>> PS: Frank, as far as I know Marx provided a model that you might find useful. He asserted that societies develop continuously; however, most of the time they
do so quantitatively. Then, if a certain threshold (das Mass - not die Mass, by the way) is reached, society gets ready for a qualitative change (from one quality to another). All it takes is a spark that ignites the fuse, so to say. This is called a revolutionary situation. Such a situation can last for a rather long time without any change; but then suddenly - boom. It is hard to predict the exact time when that explosion happens, which can be frustrating for analysts like us. So if in country A there is a revolutionary situation, and country B has an actual revolution, the latter's example could indeed become the trigger for country A to finally act. I have speculated that KJI's death could fulfill such a function in case economic reforms keep sharpening the contradictions in NK's society, to remain with Marx' terminology. Note that I used the subjunctive.<BR><BR>--<BR>--------------------------------------<BR>Frank
Hoffmann<BR>http://koreaweb.ws<BR><BR></DIV></DIV></div></body></html>