On this day, 21 April 1980, the working class mining community in Sabuk, South Korea, took control of their town setting up a “liberated zone” amidst a strike of coalminers demanding a 40% pay increase.
The movement began on 15 April when 25 workers protested against their union. On 21 April, four protesting workers were seriously injured by a police jeep. In response, protests grew, and workers occupied key parts of the town, seizing police weaponry and dynamite from the mines. The following day, 300 armed police arrived, but 5,000 protesters succeeded in driving them from the area.
Local women, housewives and other residents took an active part in the struggle, and the community set up their own security detachments. The movement was even more remarkable given that South Korea was governed by a brutal military dictatorship backed by the US.
By 24 April, employers and authorities agreed to all of the workers’ demands, including a pay increase and an amnesty for the protesters, in return for workers laying down their weapons.
However, after this took place the state ignored its promise and on 7 May abducted and tortured over 70 people. On 4 August, 30 of those were sentenced to between one and five years’ imprisonment. Three of those who were tortured died young as a result.
*
If you value our work researching and promoting people’s history like this, please consider supporting us on patreon: https://patreon.com/workingclasshistory https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1406453012873178/?type=3