ABSTRACT
The Korean Communist oligarchy contained four distinct elements: domestic Communists, former Manchurian guerillas, Korean soldier-guerillas of the Yan'an group, and Soviet-Koreans. The most significant group, the domestic Communist group, comprised Communists who had conducted operations within Korea for much of the Japanese colonial period. Soviet backing provided essential resources such as practical bureaucratic expertise and a cadre of Soviet-Koreans who were experienced at political mobilisation. This was invaluable for a movement which had specialised in underground political agitation, protracted military and small-scale guerilla operations, and crude transactions such as banditry and terrorism. Kim II Sung and the Manchurian guerillas had formidable state resources at their disposal, but had little formal education or administrative experience, and had no network in the South, where well over half the population lived. The many and varied strains of the prewar Korean Communist tradition disappeared as Kim established a leadership group dominated by former Manchurian guerillas.
