Collective action and organization in the Gwangju Uprising *

The 1980 People’s Uprising involved civil resistance against the new military authorities, which had declared martial law. At that time, one of the military factions under General Jeon Doo-hwan was believed to be in control during the vacuum of political power created after the military dictator of the time, Bak Jeong-hee, was assassinated by his own former security chief. The direct cause of the uprising was the brutal crackdown on the demonstrating university students. Soldiers’ brutality was so vicious that the vast majority of citizens became enraged, leading to a large-scale uprising involving hundreds of thousands of people. Army Special Forces, acting under martial law, employed indiscriminate violence upon the unarmed citizens with rifles, flamethrowers, helicopters and armored vehicles, causing local citizens to arm themselves. After repeated clashes, the armed civilian militia finally defeated the Martial Law Army and was able to control several districts of the city, creating a so-called “liberated zone,” and they kept on driving the soldiers out of the city. The uprising, however, came to an end after a week, despite the desperate resistance of the civilian militia, as the reinforced regular army moved in and conducted an extensive military operation. ¹