해방이후 북한의 노동조합 성격논쟁과 노동정책 특질

The Post-liberation Controversy over the North Korean worker unions' nature, and traits exhibited by the North Korean labor policy in the same era North Korean Socialists started to exhibit a new stance toward labor, when the national purpose shifted from 'revolution' to 'construction' after the liberation in 1945. And over such situation, differences in opinions led to a debate in 1947 over the nature of the labor unions. Oh Gi Seob argued that the job unions should organize the workers for production, but they should also fight for the interest of the workers, the laborers. Yet this argument received criticism from inside the Labor party, as an argument that would put the workers on the opposite site of state and encourage them to fight the authorities. At the time, most of the Socialists including Kim I1 Seong, were considering 'nationalization' as part of Socialism. Yet their logic, figuring that working hard would automatically ensure and protect the interest of the labor class, while merely emphasizing the fact that production relationships had changed over the years, was in danger of shoving aside the rights and opinions of the labor population as a secondary one. In reality, the role of the job union was being reduced to merely overseeing the labor efficiency enhancement. In this environment, some of the laborers started to exhibit an attitude pursuing their own private interests ahead of the interest of the group or the state, in other words, the interest of the whole. So, to attract the labor force, the deployment of economic incentives came to be considered as a viable option. This whole situation shows that in spite of the 'ideology-inclined thoughts possessed by the Socialists regarding the industry area, they had to employ policies based upon the 'lower foundation' as well. This means that the North Korean People's democracy could have evolved in two directions, either regulating the 'reality' based upon abstract ideology, or regulating the pace of leaning over ideology based upon the reality it was standing on.