In November this year, Workers’ Solidarity newspaper warned that the crisis would force Yoon Suk Yeol to resort to authoritarian measures, but Yoon was quicker and employed a more shocking measure.

In fact, WS had been warning that the regime had such reactionary measures in mind ever since Yoon moved the presidential office to the Defense Ministry compound. During his right-wing turn this summer, we again warned that he would use the security crisis to launch authoritarian attacks. When the martial law plot was uncovered, we warned that although the plot may not be carried out immediately, it was likely that the regime was preparing for one.

Yoon, like a gambler, tried to pull a fast one, but now he has more than his fingers to lose.

The situation is far from over, and the outcome of the fight remains undetermined.

It was the ordinary people who foiled the coup

In the immediate wake of Yoon’s declaration of emergency martial law, it was ordinary people who stood up to the army and police. They were ordinary people returning home after a long day of hard work. They were chauffeurs who had just left for work, young delivery riders working at night; students who were watching the scene on TV at home before rushing to the site; young people who rushed to the National Assembly by expensive cab rides from outside Seoul.

People fought at every entrance and exit to the National Assembly, blocking military vehicles with their bodies. One after another, when armed helicopters flew overhead, people arrived by public transport and taxis. Even when the National Assembly passed a resolution to lift martial law, they encouraged each other not to disperse until Yoon accepted it and the military withdrew.

The fact that the next day was a plenary session of the National Assembly, so that many opposition party MPs were nearby, and the fact that opposition party leaders quickly called up the MPs were also among the factors in preventing the coup. But the most important factor that was missing from the martial law command’s calculations was the conviction and courage of ordinary people who rushed to the scene, where they could have faced machine guns and tanks. It may have not been the only factor in that early morning’s victory, but it was the most critical one.

The commandos who stormed the National Assembly were highly trained to shoot and kill elite enemy forces. But for them, the unarmed civilians who refused to back down at gunpoint out of moral and political conviction must have been a far more formidable threat. That’s why the troops were so psychologically shaken.

The events of the day reaffirmed that it is the power of the ordinary masses class that keeps the democratic elements of capitalist democracies functioning. Yoon’s surprise coup attempt was an electric shock to millions of people, and the courage of the masses in stopping it electrified them once more.

Yoon’s provocation is part of global political polarization and instability

Yoon’s crisis and coup attempt are part of a global crisis of ruling-class politics. This year was billed as an election year, and in five of the most powerful G7 nations, political upheaval is underway, with governing parties taking a hit. In the United States and the United Kingdom governments were changed, while France and Japan held unscheduled elections in which the governing parties lost. France avoided a regime change, but its prime minister was recently voted down by parliament for the first time in 62 years. Also in Germany, the center-left coalition collapsed. In East Asia, all three governments in the military alliance between South Korea, the United States, and Japan were defeated.

But in most cases, the new governments and new cabinets are facing immediate crises. The system of capitalist democracy itself is becoming unstable as the center-right and center-left parties that underpinned parliamentary democracy in each country have collapsed amid polarization between the left and right. This is because there is no clear-cut solution no matter which party comes to power in this era of multiple crises.

The crisis in people’s livelihoods, geopolitical conflicts, and the incompetence and failure of mainstream parties are fueling right-wing chauvinism on the one hand. This has led to authoritarianism and the rise of the far right in many countries. The lefts have been more or less marginalized and in their place, the Palestinian solidarity movement, anti-fascism movement and others are leading or reflecting the radicalizing current.

Into the turmoil

South Korean politics is no exception from this basic trend. Yoon came to power by capitalizing on the disillusionment and lack of alternative created by Moon Jae-in, who claimed to represent the spirit of the candlelight movement [which toppled president Park Geun-hye], but betrayed hopes for reform during his presidency. But Yoon also quickly fell into crisis after pursuing hardline neoliberalism and overtly belligerent pro-US and pro-Japanese policies.

Whereas the West has seen the fall of centrist (left and right) parties and the rise of the far right, South Korea has seen a polarized front drawn between the right-wing ruling party, the People’s Power Party (PPP) and the centrist Democratic Party and the top of the administration moved to the far-right.

The Catholic Church’s emergency declaration, which included the highest-ranking clergy rather than just progressive priests, likened Yoon to “a beast that fattens only the few whose bellies are already full”. This signaled that civil society, which is supposed to act as a buffer between the state and the public, was giving Yoon less and less leverage.

The result was a coup. Yoon tried to provoke a limited war to justify martial law, and indeed most attempts at martial law in South Korea have been linked to geopolitical and security crises. These include the Korean War, and 1972 when the U.S. was facing defeat in Vietnam. Looking at the reaction of the ruling class after Yoon’s coup, it is doubtful whether they would have opposed it had the coup succeeded.

The former defense minister was detained, and the national police chief and Seoul police chief were arrested earlier. While Yoon’s chances of a comeback have diminished, he is still the head of the executive branch and holds military command. He remains as the biggest threat.

PPP opposes the impeachment and wants to buy time to recover and counterattack and develop a post-Yoon alternative. Prosecutors, police, and others are also trying to minimize the damage to their own organizations. Conservative media are divided, and business organizations are silent. Of course, all of them are likely waiting for an opportunity to strike back.

The far right is actively in defense of Yoon. Moreover, Jeon Kwang-hoon and his ilk have organized large public rallies in defense of Yoon. Some are urging Yoon to stand up and to confidently put forward his legitimacy.

The latest Gallup Korea poll shows Yoon’s approval rate is 11% while 24% are against punishing Yoon. Although Yoon suffers from a very low approval rate, the opposition to Yoon’s punishment is much higher. This is no time for complacency.

Anti-Yoon Democratic Grand Alliance

The Democratic Party is a pro-capitalist party, but has waged its own anti-Yoon fight amid polarization. It acted quickly to lift martial law immediately after the coup. The Democratic Party has gained momentum and is now pushing for impeachment. The Democratic Party’s influence within the movement has grown stronger.

At the same time, the Democratic Party is trying to show the ruling class in panic that it can manage the situation. Its leader Lee Jae-myung intervened to mediate the railway strike and the strike was called off the next day. The party does not wage struggle against the right by building movement from below.

Looking at the forces on the left, the organizations which has sought the anti-right Democratic Grand Alliance with Democratic Party has taken the lead in the street movement.

In fact, the most notable of these, the Candlelight Action and the Progressive Party, were the first to organize in front of the National Assembly on the day of martial law.

Given the current political polarization between the Democratic Party and Yoon, Yoon’s attacks on parliamentary democracy and the fact that Democratic Party played a role in defeating it, and the low level of political impact of working-class struggle, the primary beneficiaries of the coup’s awakening and radicalizing effects are the Democratic Party and organizations such as Progressive Party and Candlelight Action.

On December 11^th, along with Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), they have launched anti-right Democratic Grand Alliance named “Emergency action for Yoon Suk Yeol’s immediate resignation and social transformation.”

The failed coup gives the movement a major boost

The gap between anti-Yoon’s sentiment and the size of the movement had existed largely because workers and young people had been on the sidelines under the pressure of the economic crisis and disillusionment with Moon Jae-in’s betrayal of reforms.

For 20-somethings, political disillusionment with the Moon administration’s betrayals, the lack of alternatives due to the leftist parties’ insignificance, and anxiety about the future have kept them on the sidelines for years.

But it was the 20-somethings who were the first to turn their backs on Yoon. They were so discontented that they were incredibly volatile. Now, Yoon’s coup has ignited that volatility.

The incident in which the president attempted to destroy democracy by deploying the military is rapidly politicizing a new generation of youth who had seemed indifferent to politics. What they had only seen in history textbooks is now unfolding before their eyes.

The sense of justice has been ignited in the youth as they feel that democracy itself is threatened. The December 7th rally attracted hundreds of thousands of young people in between their teens and 30s (though this is not to say there were few middle-aged participants). Suddenly, university students became the vanguard of the movement.

Of course, due to their limited political experience, there may be somewhat naïve expectations that the elected “representatives of the people,” the members of the National Assembly, will naturally participate in the impeachment process.

While not as dramatic as students, workers are also changing. While the number of strike days has decreased, that of strike action has increased. For example, the number of strikes in 2023 was double that of 2022. The militancy is still not enough, but the desire to fight is there. We expect to see more workers’ strikes due to the deepening economic crisis. The railway strike had a higher participation rate than in previous years.

Organized workers, who are bound to the relations of production, are naturally slower than young people and students in the political sphere. But the overall political mood is changing, and the anti-Yoon movement’s advances could inspire workers. And when the workers begin to move, they are the most powerful force.

Working-class mass action is central to the outlook

In the struggle for real social change, what is more important than a bundle of reform legislation is the uplifting of action by the people. Self-organization from below and democratic control and management of society based on it is the essence of socialism.

On the other hand, the strategy of the anti-Yoon movement is not based on liberation of the people. The Popular Front may be accompanied by street struggles, but it is essentially a political bargain that gains access to political power in exchange for limiting the possibility of revolutionary social change.

For them, working-class struggles must be contained and managed so as not to alarm the liberal centrists and ruling class with whom they are allied. Therefore, the strategy of the revolutionary left, in competition with the popular front, is a strategy of social transformation through workers’ struggle from below.

That doesn’t mean that we should dismiss the movement with the same suspicion as sectarians, based solely on the strategy and ideology of the movement’s leadership. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx said that sectarianism is when one emphasizes their difference as a label instead of commonality with the class based on the long-term interests of the working class as a whole. It is an attitude that does not know how to learn from the class and sees the world as a school where they are the teachers.

The youth representative of the Justice Party, who had criticized the anti-Yoon movement as only serving Lee Jae-myung’s interest, went to the right-wing Lee Joon-seok in this year’s general election. This is example showing that the impatience that underlies sectarianism can quickly turn into opportunism.

The removal of Yoon, the failed coup plotter, is a progress for the working class. The collapse of government that is blatantly pro-business through popular revolt, and the growing demise of the ruling class’s control over society, is good for the working class as a whole. It gives confidence.

Marxists should sincerely hope for the victory of the anti-Yoon movement. We should argue from the perspective of how our common aspirations can be realized. We should be patient with young people who are new to politics and whose ideas are confused. We should use the KCTU’s strike call as an opportunity to call for strikes in our own workplaces. Economic strikes can also be a breakthrough.

Combining political and economic struggles

We should not simplistically counterpose the call for impeachment to that for immediate resignation. The call for immediate suspension of Yoon’s powers is legitimate. Yet, impeachment does not mean immediate removal from power. Therefore, even if impeachment goes through, the struggle must go further to demand immediate removal.

In fact, Yoon was already in severe crisis by early summer when the petition to impeach Yoon had exceeded 1.4 million signatures. On that very moment, the Samsung Electronics Workers’ Union, which had been cautious until then, went on strike. However, the timid reformist leaders of KCTU blew the opportunity and avoided building solidarity with the strike. Because of that the union called off the strike and many far right figures including those from the New Right were appointed into the administration.

Allegations of martial law plot erupted shortly thereafter.

From late October to the recent, during the peak of Yoon’s crisis the union members of Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Electronics both rejected their leadership’s weak tentative agreement.

These two cases illustrate how workers’ discontent is gradually turning into militancy, and how the political situation and political struggles have influenced economic struggles.

We must consciously pursue the connection between political struggles and economic struggles. Political struggles, where workers generalize their struggle as a class-based one, broaden workers’ political horizons and raise class awareness. Economic struggles in the workplace encourage more workers to take action, building up their fighting capacity.

There is another aspect in connecting the political and economic struggles. Now the question of democracy has been raised by Yoon’s coup attempt. Now that Yoon broke a 45-year taboo, martial law and coups have become ever-present variable in South Korea politics, albeit as a small possibility.

It would be simply wrong to think that democracy is an agenda just for the Democratic Grand Alliance or the Democratic Party, or that the left should focus on raising socioeconomic demands now that Yoon’s removal is assured.

Even capitalist democracy has as its substance the organizations and movements of the working class. Just as the attempted coup was stopped by the resistance of ordinary people, and just as the attempted martial law against the anti-Park Geun-hye movement was abandoned due to the continuation of popular resistance, the power to defend democracy lies within the self-activity of the masses, especially of the working class.

What matters is which social forces should be in the driving seat for the struggle for democracy, and that the working class is the only force who have interest and ability to transform the struggle for democracy into a struggle for workers’ democracy, that is, socialism. That is why it is necessary and good for workers to participate in street movements en masse.

Through such a process anti-Yoon movement must boldly advance, not merely aiming to remove Yoon himself, but targeting Yoon’s entire regime.