The Meaning of the April 19 Uprising



A mass popular uprising took place in April 19, 50 years ago, in south Korea.

The uprising was an eruption of the pent-up indignation of the south Korean people against the colonial domination policy of the US imperialists and the cruel fascist rule of their puppets. And it was an anti-US anti-fascist mass uprising to bring about a new independent and democratic society.

At that time the Syngman-Rhee clique, engrossed in a wild ambition for long-term ruling, even drove students of high schools to their election campaign in a bid to hold the treacherous “March 15 corrupt election” in a conspiratorial way.

On March 15, thousands of youth, students and people took away the rifles of the police, assaulted police stands and other suppression strongholds and destroyed the Masan City Office, “vote-counting building”, after the students fell down during the fierce face-off with the police.

At that time the corpse of Kim Ju-ryol, who was killed by the fascist police while participating in the March 15 demo, was found in the sea off Masan on April 11.

The anger of the people and students sky-rocketed and it triggered the April 19 Uprising.

Students from 303 schools in 83 cities and counties including Seoul spearheaded the uprising and the workers, peasants, intellectuals, small and medium-size merchants, shoeblacks and even women with children on their backs turned out and conducted death-defying uprising shouting slogans such as “Syngman-Rhee, step down!”, “Corrupt politics, begone!” and “the US, don’t interfere!”.

The US imperialists and the Syngman-Rhee clique, in much fright, formed the “riot squads” and conducted indiscriminate suppression.

Owing to the bestial atrocities more than 180 students and people were killed and over 6 200 wounded on April 19 alone.

However, the uprisers undauntedly staged the desperate battle; they destroyed the fascist ruling organs, repressive institutions and anti-communist organizations and attacked the “Kyungmudae”(the then presidential office), the bastion of the fascist dictatorship, and toppled down the Syngman-Rhee puppet regime in the end.

The April popular uprising fully demonstrated that the US imperialists and their puppets, whatever cruel suppression they resort to, cannot squash the righteous fighting spirit of the south Korean people who rose up for democratic freedom and rights and national reunification.

50 years lapsed since the April Popular Uprising. However, the south Korean people's desire for independence, democracy and reunification has not yet been realized.

The US imperialists who illegally occupied south Korea are still behaving as masters, violating the national dignity and sovereignty and incurring all sorts of misfortune and pains to the south Korean people, and the dark era of fascist dictatorship is still continuing century after century.

The south Korean people should resolutely rise up to expel the US aggression troops and terminate the history of sycophancy, treachery and fascist dictatorship, and bring about a new dawn of national reunification without fail having the fighting spirit of the April uprisers.