Ha Ki-rak

Template:Short description Template:Wikidata image Ha Ki-Rak (Korean: Template:Category handler; 1912–1997) was a Korean historian, political philosopher and anarchist activist. A student activist in the Korean independence movement, he went on to become a leading figure in the anarchist movement in South Korea. He led a number of Korean anarchist organisations and led protests at Kyungpook National University during the April Revolution. During the years of the Fourth Republic of Korea, he established a number of organisations, and wrote and translated works on anarchism. He then participated in the re-organisation of the Korean anarchist movement following the country's transition to democracy.

Biography

Ha Ki-Rak was born in 1912.Template:Sfnm As a student, he became involved in the Korean independence movement, and in 1929, he participated in the Gwangju Student Independence Movement.Template:Sfn During this period of anti-imperialist unrest, Ha and Jang Hyeon-Jeek organised an anarchist group at Chung-Ang University, under the influence of leading Korean anarchist Yi Jeong-gyu.Template:Sfn He later moved to Japan, where he studied at Waseda University and was active in the Workers' League of Tokyo (Template:Langx. Following the Surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, in 1945, Ha returned to Korea, which was now liberated from Japanese occupation. There he established the newly-independent country's first anarchist organisation, the League of Free Social Constructors (Template:Langx).Template:Sfn

In February 1946, Ha participated in a conference of Korean anarchists at the Geumgang Temple in Busan,Template:Sfnm where Ha gave the opening speech.Template:Sfn The conference resolved to establish a unified national organisation to participate in the reconstruction of an independent Korea.Template:Sfnm They consequently established the Independent Workers and Farmers Party (Template:Langx; IWFP)Template:Sfnm and Ha became editor-in-chief of its journal, Libertarian Federation (Template:Langx).Template:Sfn

The IWFP collapsed during the Korean War, as many of its members were killed, kidnapped or disappeared, with only its sections in Daegu and Busan surviving. In October 1952, Ha organised the Special Committee of North Gyeongsang Province, with himself as its chairperson.Template:Sfn But due to his professorship at Kyungpook National University, Ha was not actively involved in the organisation's activities.Template:Sfn During the April Revolution of 1960, Ha led protests against President Syngman Rhee at Kyunpook University, which led to the establishment of the Second Republic of Korea.Template:Sfn

After the proclamation of the Fourth Republic of Korea in 1972, some civil liberties were restored in South Korea and political activities were allowed to resume.Template:Sfn That year, Ha Ki-Rak established the Korean Anarchist Federation (Template:Langx) in the South Korean capital of Seoul.Template:Sfn He also participated in the establishment of the Template:Ill (Template:Langx; DUP), led by Template:Ill, with Ha as leader of its policy committee.Template:Sfnm In 1978, Ha published his History of the Korean Anarchist Movement.Template:Sfnm After the establishment of the Fifth Republic of Korea, under Chun Doo-hwan, the DUP was forcibly dissolved.Template:Sfn Ha's translations of the works of Mikhail Bakunin, Karl Marx and others were banned by the new government.Template:Sfn An English language translation of Ha's History of the Korean Anarchist Movement was published in 1986.Template:Sfnm

Following the restoration of democracy in South Korea, in 1987, Ha organised a national anarchist conference in Daegu; the following year, he organised the International Seminar for World Peace in Seoul. He attempted to re-establish an anarchist political party, but he was ultimately unsuccessful.Template:Sfn In 1995, Ha organised the World Peace Conference in Seoul.Template:Sfn He died in 1997.Template:Sfnm

Selected works

Own writings

• A History of the Korean Anarchist Movement (1978)
• Shin Chae-ho as Anarchist (1980)
• The Will for the Self-liberation of the People (1980)
• The Conquest (1985)

Translations

• The Unknown Revolution by Volin (1973)
• Anarchism by George Woodcock (1973)
• Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Peter Kropotkin (1982)
• Fields, Factories and Workshops by Peter Kropotkin (1983)
• God and the State by Mikhail Bakunin (1983)
• Early Writings by Karl Marx (1983)
• The Preconditions of Socialism or Evolutionary Socialism by Eduard Bernstein (1984)
• Anarchism by Daniel Guérin (1986)