The Yeongbojeong Incident and Local Community in Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do in the 1930s

The Yeongbojeong Incident, which occurred in Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do in 1932, was a peasant movement, tenancy dispute, and anti-Japanese independence movement centered around the youth association, night school, revolutionary farmers’ union, and communist council. The Yeongbojeong incident was led by intellectuals and landed and tenant farmers in rural villages. The leaders of the incident sought to establish a communist society and free Korea from Japanese colonial rule. In April 1932, they formed the secret organization known as the communist council. Meanwhile, from March 1932, they actively intervened in issues surrounding the landowners’ transfer of tenant rights. They took action to ensure that tenants who had lost their tenant rights regained them from their landowners. And on June 4, 1932, during the lunar May Day, they organized a protest against the transfer of tenant rights. This protest was not a fleeting event but seemed to spark a series of demonstrations led by the peasant class over some time.