천도교청년당의 지도이념과 조직체계

Abstract

The force for the domestic racial movement was divided into the force of nationalism and socialism in 1920s. In the early 1920s the force of nationalism led the campaign for liberation of the Korean people, however, as young people that accepted socialism appeared as the central force of a social movement, the two forces of the racial movement tried to expand their influence through competition and solidarity in order to hold the leadership. In the middle of 1920s young people of the Cheondogyo who wanted to grow into the wheels of the racial movement established the Young Men’s Party of the Cheondo religion with the concept of a modern political party from the existing Young Men’s Association of the Cheondogyo with the disposition of propaganda. And also they wanted to newly recognize the concept of the Young Men’s Party, that is, they recognized that a party should have the doctrine and aim of identity, its members, organization, leader and strategy, and it should be operated like an organism. Accordingly, the Young Men’s Party was an organism formed by the believers of the Cheondogyo to accomplish its doctrine and aim socially. Besides they prepared the terms to realize its doctrine, code of conduct, promise and fulfillment. And they enacted the provisions of its operation under the rules of “unconditional obedience”. They operated its organization through resolution system based on the common law in the early stage of its establishment because of the unpreparedness of its organizational system as a political party and its internal trouble due to a dispute between conservatives and reformists, however, as the Cheondogyo order settled down and its local system expanded, it was required to organize its system. Furthermore, ordered organizational system was required first to be equipped with capabilities as a central organization for the racial movement. Accordingly, the Young Men’s Party abolished its resolution system based on the common law and enacted its written party constitution. As a result, it established a democratic power system through the centralization on the basis of the equality of human rights, and then it organized a system of the upper and lower parts composed of a party headquarters, district department, Jeob and Yeon. As its decision-making body, there were a party representative convention and a central executive committee in the party headquarters, and there was a convention of district party members or a district executive committee in the district department, and in Jeob there was a Jeob committee. The written party constitution was established in order to support its organizational system. The reason why the party established its strong democratic power system was to operate the party efficiently, and secure the role of the vanguard of the Cheondogyo and central force of the racial movement.