[Column] Keeping up the proud spirit of the revolution

Lee Chung-soo

The author was the student chairman of Seoul National University School of Humanities during the April 19 Revolution

The April 19 Revolution that sprouted out in Korea 63 years ago started out with an abstract cause and ended up pushing out founding president Syngman Rhee after a lengthy rule. The students storming out of their university campuses on the morning of April 19, 1960, chanted out calls for “freedom, democracy and justice” to “root out communism by restoring democracy.” The slogans buttressed the invincible cause for the mass protests.

As the student movement spread across the country and was joined by citizens, the calls began to take a more specific form, such as the demand for staging the election again. The protesting crowd rushed toward the presidential office and was met with gunshots from police. Many students and citizens fell. The bloodbath raged the protestors who shouted for the resignation of the first president. A week later, on April 26, Rheek, humbled by the wishes of the public, stepped down.

Few revolutions achieved their goal in just a week in history. It took a year for the Glorious Revolution in England to attain the mission of overthrowing King James II; seven years for the American Revolutionary War to gain independence from British rule; three years and a half for the French Revolution to bring down aristocracy; and eight months for the Russian Revolution of 1917 to achieve its goal. Through the momentum of the April 19 Revolution, Koreans carried out civilian movements and mass protests to finally achieve democratization in the span of 30 years. The country achieved industrialization faster at the expense of slower and harder democratization.

Student activists behind the April 19 Revolution acted on the belief that the tree of democracy bred on blood, tweaked from a saying by Thomas Jefferson. Amidst the independence movement, he said, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” “The tree of democracy” was first used by journalist and dissident-turned-politician Chang Joon-ha ahead of the April 19 Revolution. Pacifist thinker and writer Bertrand Russell famously said that a revolution could succeed when rationalism is coupled with romanticism. The mix had been the winning recipe for the revolution in Korea.

In his lecture marking the 20th anniversary of the April 19 movement in 1980, Kim Dae-jung, a dissident politician, reminded the people of Jefferson’s quote. A month later, a mass democracy movement panned out on May 18 in Gwangju. Kim was sentenced to death in a trial overseen by the military regime. His dissident rival Kim Young-sam joined hands with the military regime to win the election in 1992 to end the military rule and become the first civilian president. Kim Dae-jung succeeded him after campaigning with words, not blood.

But the temptation of blood remains in politics. Democracy in Korea should no longer be bred by the blood of sacrifice but from words of hope. The country must proceed with reforms and innovations so that no one has to shed blood to make a point or difference. That is the first legacy the April 19 Revolution left.

Another incomplete homework from April 19 legacy is the reappraisal of the founding president and historical reconciliation. Some of the student activists during the April 19 movement visited Rhee’s cemetery and paid respect in a symbolic gesture of reconciliation.

Rhee had made the right decisions for the country to plant the seed of free democracy and a market economy. He set the foundation for the country to transform into the world’s 10th-largest economy from one of the poorest. There is no need to reassess Rhee’s merits and faults. His biggest sin was his resignation, only after 186 lives were sacrificed in their bloody struggle against autocracy.

Still, Rhee was not like most other dictators who kept to their seats till the end. He gave up the crackdown and resigned in just a week. He kept to the democratic principle in the end by complying with “public wishes.” Some are not ready to reconcile with him yet, as they champion no pardon for dictatorship. Still, we need to study history in a bigger context.

When the two Koreas unite one day, North Koreans would demand to name Kim Il Sung as the founding leader of a unified country. In that case, Koreans may not have strong grounds to insist on their founding president as the new leader, even as Rhee’s wrongdoings are incomparably minor compared to Kim’s. To keep up the proud spirit of the April 19 Revolution, we must keep the legacy alive and finish the unfinished work.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.