한국사 정체론 비판과 1960년대 한국사 발전론의 확립

Abstract

This paper sought to prove that criticism and overcoming of the stagnation theory in Korean history, which is the core content of colonialist historiography, has been established as development theory in Korean history since 1960 by two different historical views - ‘modernization theory from the U.S.’ and historical materialism. The stagnation theory in Korean history, started as the theory of ‘lack of feudalism’ in the beginning of the 20th century, has served as a key theory that justified Japanese rule over Korea even after Korea''s liberation. On the contrary, Korean Marxists have formed the development theory of Korean history by embracing the proposition of historical materialism since the 1930s, claiming that feudalism, bourgeoisie, and the bourgeois democratic movement existed in Korean history. The development theory of Korean history has been established since 1960, when the modernization theory from the U.S. was accepted and Marxist and neo-nationalist historiography were revived. The modernization theory was intended to prove the development of Korean history by detecting similar phenomena as the capitalist development of Western Europe, and to recognize capitalism under the Japanese rule as ‘modernization from outside’. However, due to Korean nationalist backlash, the introduction of modern systems or the development of capitalism under the influence of Japan have never been approved as “modernization”. Historical materialism played an important role in detecting “capitalist sprout” in Korean history such as rich farmers and hand industries growing into capitalists, accepting the achievements of “controversy over transition from feudalism to capitalism”. It was applied to the period classification of the Korean history. However, it was difficult to distinguish historical materialism from modernization theory, because it was domesticated to nationalism enough to remove its key elements such as class confrontation and struggle. The intact historical materialism, distinct from the modernization theory, began to emerge in Korean historiography in the 1980s through the Gwangju People''s Resistance, the growth of Korean capitalism, and the development of popular movements.