The Autumn Uprising of 1946, also called the 10.1 Daegu Uprising of 1946 () was a peasant uprising in South Korea against the policies of the United States Army Military Government in Korea headed by General John R. Hodge and in favor of restoration of power to the people's committees that made up the People's Republic of Korea. The uprising is also sometimes called the Daegu Riot or Daegu Resistance Movement. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Korea uses a neutral name, the Daegu October Incident.
The uprising was preceded by the Korean General Strike in September, in which more than 250,000 workers had participated. The strike was declared illegal by the US Military Government and strikers were attacked by police. On October 1, a protest by strikers in Daegu was fired on by police and a railway worker named Kim Yong-Tae was killed. The following day thousands of protestors, including high school and college students, carried his body through the city streets despite police attempts to halt them. The strike then evolved into the more general Autumn Uprising (or Daegu 10.1 uprising).
The uprising started in Busan, and eventually spread to Seoul, Daegu, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, Chungcheongnam-do, and Jeollanam-do. The uprising finally ended in mid-November. The demands expressed by protesters during the uprising included better working conditions, higher wages, larger food rations, the right to organize, and the release of political prisoners.
The United States Military Government responded by mobilizing strikebreakers, police, and right-wing youth groups; these were accompanied by U.S. troops and tanks following a declaration of martial law. The USMG succeeded in putting down the uprising, which had resulted in the deaths of 92 policemen, 163 civil workers, 116 civilians, and 240 rioters. 2,609 people were arrested by the police and military. Some analysts say that the uprising, which was in part a reaction to the October elections for the South Korean Interim Legislative Assembly, organized by the United States Military Government, was a better indicator of public opinion than the election itself.
The defeat of the uprising is considered to be a turning point in establishing political control over Korea, as the people's committees and the National Council of Korean Labour Unions were weakened in the suppression. To the Americans, the Autumn Harvest Rebellion added new urgency to the effort to find some formula for unifying the two occupation zones of Korea under an elected government.
In 2010, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presented its findings. There were 60 victims, whose families it suggested the government should provide compensation for, and around 7,500 other people who suffered during the incident. Some victims were arrested and tortured, then police and extreme right wing groups damaged or confiscated their homes and property. The families of the victims had to endure the shame of being viewed as criminals.
Background
It is called the October Uprising, the October 1 Incident, the Yeongnam riots, and the October riots, depending on the historical point of view. From an advocate standpoint, it is called the October Uprising, a criticism call it as Yeongnam riots and October riots, and from a neutral standpoint it is called the October 1 Incident. From the perspective of asserting the agitation and initiative of the Communist Party of Korea, it is sometimes referred to as the October riot. In the past, the terms of the October riot, the Yeongnam riot, and the October riot were used interchangeably, and officially the term was referred to as the more neutral October 1 Incident.
After liberation, Koreans under the USAMGIK US military command in South Korea faced starvation due to the failure of USAMGIK's rice ration policy. The hunger in Daegu, where there were outbreaks of cholera during this period, was particularly severe. After 2,000 cholera cases occurred in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do, the government blocked off Daegu without taking proper measures for treatment, as an effort to prevent transmission. Vehicles and people could not cross the city boundary, so the supply of crops and daily necessities was cut off. Above all, rice was scarce.
In addition, police from the former pro-Japanese government who became national police after the war robbed farmers of rice like they had when Korea was under Japanese rule. Citizens' anger against pro-Japanese policemen grew, and the police retaliated against them. In the midst of this, the public sentiment in Daegu and Gyeongsnabuk-do was very chaotic.
Meanwhile, in May 1946, amidst a case of counterfeit bills by Jung Pan-sa, USAMGIK announced the 'illegalization of communist activities' and issued a mass arrest order for communist party officials. The forces of the Communist Party of Korea of Pak Hon-yong (Hangul: 박헌영, Hanja: 朴憲永) adopted more extreme methods, called 'new tactics' saying, "I will fight against USAMGIK". Subsequently, the Communist Party and Jeon-pyeong () agitated the workers and held a general strike, led by railroad and transportation workers, in September 1946.
The September general strike spread across the country, starting with the strike of railroad workers in the Busan area. In this way, the Communist Party and Jeon-pyeong struck head-on against the USAMGIK in earnest. The general strike in September quickly spread across the country, and workers went on strike. The USAMGIK attempted to use the national police and anti-communist youth groups to crush the strike, but there was an unexpected situation here. When the police fired on strikes by workers in Daegu, the incident developed in response.
Inside Yeongnam
Daegu During the Communist Party of Korea's September strike, the Jeonpyeong leadership in Daegu began a general strike from September 23, and strikes and demonstrations continued until October 1. However, on the evening of October 1, during a protest in front of the Daegu Metropolitan City Hall to prepare countermeasures against hunger, civilians named Hwang Mal-Yong and Kim Jong-Tae were shot and killed when the police fired. When the disbanded crowd heard the gunfire, they became angry and began to gather in front of the headquarters of the Daegu City Fighter Committee, and thousands of people gathered. The police fired again to disperse the crowd, and in response, the crowd attacked the police, resulting in casualties.
The next morning, October 2 when they heard that two civilians were shot and killed by the police firing, workers began to gather in the city, and ordinary citizens and students joined the protests. Surrounded by a crowd of about 10,000 people, the chief of the Daegu Police Department declared himself disarmed and handed the keys to the detention center to release political prisoners. Workers under the control of the leadership of the Korean Communist Party tried to take the police power in an orderly manner. At this time, however, excited crowds on one side of the street started throwing stones at the police, and police officers in the corner fired guns at the crowd, killing 17 protesters.
On the occasion of the 'incident' on October 2, the strike developed into a violent form as it was combined with the mass struggle. The Daegu City Struggle Committee tried to unfold the strike struggle within a legal framework and to prevent the struggle from unfolding violently. However, as the public hatred for the police soared, spontaneously attacking and destroying the houses of police and military officials.
The crowd robbed the rich and the homes of the former pro-Japanese, brought necessities and food, piled them up on the street, and distributed them to people in need. Places such as general stores and banks rarely suffered damage. The reason why the policemen were assaulted or killed was that most of them were pro-Japanese police, who have harassed Koreans since the Japanese colonial period.
Even the Daegu Department of Health, a doctor's meeting in Daegu, issued a warning to the police, saying "First, police officers should stop firing on citizens. Second, refuse to treat the injured officers who fired on compatriots."
The USAMGIK declared martial law in Daegu at 7 pm on October 2, the next day, and mobilized the US military. So it seemed that order had been restored externally in Daegu. However, as the protests expanded to Gyeongsan County, Seongju County, and Yeongcheon County near Daegu, the conflict between civilians and USAMGIK in Gyeongsangbuk-do did not stop but continued to occur. Afterward, in the process of suppressing civilian protests in the Gyeongbuk region, the conflict expanded nationwide and continued until the end of 1946.
North Gyeongsang Province The disturbance seemed to be calming around October 2. However, the incident spread throughout Gyeongbuk as people around the incident moved to other areas to protest and riot. In Yeongcheon, 10,000 protesters raided and burned down the police station. Also, they killed military officers, police officers, and officials. (October 3) When the police cheerleaders arrived, the order in the region was restored, but police officers and right-wing youth members looted the homes of those involved in the incident and harassed them. Here in Yeongcheon alone, over 1,200 houses were burned down and destroyed, resulting in 40 deaths, 43 serious injuries, and 1 billion won in damage. In Seonsan-gun (now Gumi), the instigators did not come down, but a crowd of 2,000 people led by Park Sang-hee (ko: 박상희, Hanja: 朴相熙) attacked the Gumi Police Station, paralyzing the function of the police station, and hung a signboard of the Sunsan People's Committee Security Station to manage the area. They imprisoned the police and right-wing personnel, and destroyed the property of the wealthy.
In Yecheon-gun, police were dispatched in advance to prevent protests, but they failed due to a conflict with civilians, and a crowd of about 1,000 people raided the police station and even engaged in a battle. Local order could not be restored until the arrival of the US military. However, even after that, attacks at the police station continued, causing the police to be injured and the arsenal to be taken, and there was no police even in the outskirts. On the other hand, in Yeongil-gun, a missionary was killed by a civilian attack.
A similar event occurred in Chilgok. A crowd of 500 people attacked Yakmok police substation and killed three policemen by tying them to a pole. In Waegwan, 2,000 residents attacked the Waegwan Police Station along with protests, and four additional policemen were killed. Before the incident, the Waegwan area had very strong resistance to the order to collect rice, but the anger of the Waegwan residents was so great that Jang Seok-Han, the chief of the police at the time, was killed by splitting his head from the top to the bottom with his face being mutilated.
In addition, incidents occurred in Dalseong, Goryeong, Seongju, Gunwi, Uiseong, Gimcheon, Gyeongsan, Cheongdo, Gyeongju, Yeongdeok, Andong, Sangju, Mungyeong, Yeongju, and Bonghwa, and about 773,200 people participated in the incident. Incidents in the Gyeongbuk region unfolded using various strengths (classified as non-occurring/low strength/medium strength/high strength/maximum strength) and tactics (first strike, raid on police station, use of market day, use of balance of power between political and ideological forces, use of rice paddy area with high ripple), followed by harsh retaliation by the police.
South Gyeongsang Province