The Universal-Particular Debates in Marxist Historiography of Colonial Korea

Marxist historiography emerged as a brief but intense intellectual movement in 1930s colonial Korea. Its historians asserted that their approach was more scientific and epistemologically superior, grounded in the principle of rationality, the laws of history, and the concept of class alignment. Initiated by Paek Nam-un and Pak Mun-gyu in 1933, this school attracted approximately ten Marxist historians who actively investigated various periods of Korean history and explored historical methodology until the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.Marxist historiography in colonial Korea influenced both contemporary historical scholarship and the later development of historical studies in postcolonial Korea. At the time, it helped introduce a world-historical perspective to the study of Korean history. For instance, Paek Nam-un developed the idea of universal laws of world history, while Kim Kwang-chin and Lee Ch'ŏng-wŏn articulated Asiatic particularism as one among multiple trajectories of historical development.This historiographical school also shaped the development of socioeconomic history and Minjung-sa (People’s History) in later decades. It offered frameworks for understanding post-liberation history, spurred historical debates among South and North Korean historians, and laid the foundation for further scholarly advancement. Korean historians’ continuing engagement with the “scientificity” of historiography owes much to this colonial-era Marxist school.