Japanese dissidence during the Shōwa period

Japanese dissidence during the Shōwa period was dissidence by Japanese citizens of the Empire of Japan (1868–1947) during the Shōwa period, the reign of the Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito (1926–1989). The Shōwa period witnessed the rise of militarism in Japan, and the Empire of Japan's full-scale invasion of China in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), which escalated into a full-scale invasion of the Asia-Pacific during the Pacific theatre of World War II (1941–1945). Throughout the period, there was political repression in Imperial Japan.

Communism

The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) was suppressed by the Imperial Japanese government. Mass round ups took place on March 15, 1928, and were followed by mass round ups on April 16, 1929.[1]

In February 1930, the central committee of the Japanese Communist Party approved the formation of "red self-defense bodies", which were made up largely of members of the Zenkyo [2] (National Council of Japanese Labor Unions).[3] In Tokyo, 15 squads, armed with knives and pistols, distributed handbills and hanged posters, some of which called for "armed strikes, arson and the destruction of factories".[4]

Almost all of Zenkyo's leaders were young intellectuals, and members of the Japanese Communist Party. According to Robert A. Scalapino, the Zenkyo was the most active organisation controlled by the Communists in this period. The Zenkyo did not hide its Communist position. On January 30, 1929, Rodo Shimbun-Zenkyo (Labor News), the Zenkyo's organ, stated:

"In order to liberate the working class from the pits of oppression, to subjugate capitalism, and to realize communism, our Council must be under the political leadership of the Japanese Communist Party which is the organizational unit of the most advanced element of the Japanese proletariat and must protect the class characters of left-wing unionism"[5]

In mid-March 1930, the Zenkyo's central committee sent instructions to members that read:

"At this difficult time, who is going to defend us - the workers - and literally fight to the death? Only the Communist Party. The Japanese Communist Party has come out into the open . . . and is directing all struggles with the acclamation and overwhelming support of the masses of workers and peasants. . . . We will support it, join its struggles,, and fight to the death at the head of the class war until a new day comes for the workers. . . . Only a council of armed workers and peasants led by the death-defying Communist Party and only armed political mass strikes and great demonstrations can eliminate wage cuts, layoffs, and long work hours, and free the workers from a life of slavery. . . . To carry out these tasks, it is absolutely necessary to form red- self-defense bodies and factory self-defense bodies."[6]

The Tokyo committee of the Communist Youth League took a similar position in April 1930. In an editorial in April 24 issue of The Second Proletarian News, the workers were urged to rise and to "march on the Diet building" on May Day.[7]

The May Day Uprising was a failure. The few armed workers who shouted "To the Diet" were arrested by the police. In Kawasaki, the police arrested another group of armed workers who stormed into the May Day parade. The May Day uprising would show how weak the JCP and its affiliated organizations were.[8]

Following the Manchurian Incident, the Red Flag, the JCP's official organ, blamed Japanese Imperialism for the conflict in Manchuria, and stated that "We must transform the war of imperialism that will intensify the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie into a civil war in order to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat."[9] Following the Manchurian Incident, between September 18 and October 31, 1931, the JCP and its affiliated organizations conducted 262 anti-war actions, mostly leaflet distribution. The JCP also distributed a monthly magazine "The Soldier's Friend.". The JCP made efforts to organize within the army, distributing a monthly magazine called "The Soldier's Friend.[10]

Party activities ceased on an organized basis following the arrest of Hakamada Satomi of the Central Committee in early 1935.[11]

In November 4, 1941, it was uncovered with the written confession of Yoshihide Kiyono, a communist arrested in Hsinking, that Kenzo Yamamoto, the representative of the Japanese Communist Party, and in previous years Yoshiko Okada, as well as Ryoichi Sugimoto were at the far eastern office at Khabarovsk. The far eastern office at Khabarovsk was established by the Comintern. The Comintern from this office through the directive Communist office in the French concession in Shanghai carries out its Communist program in Japan.[12]

The "Committee for Reconstructing the Japanese Communist Party" with which Takashi Okabe was connected, was instigated by Kenzo Yamamoto. The organizing head of this committee was Tadao Hiraga.[13]

The intelligence on Yoshiko Okada, Ryoichi Sugimoto, and Kenzo Yamamoto uncovered with the written confession of Yoshihide Kiyono[14] may be inaccurate. Ryoukichi Sugimoto and Yoshiko Okada escaped together from Japan to the USSR early in 1938. They were both arrested by Soviet Border police. Sugimoto was shot on the 20th of October 1939 and Okada was sent to the gulag for 10 years forced labor. Kenzo Yamamoto was shot as a "Japanese spy" on 19 March 1939.[15]

Sato Shuichi, Kamiyama Toshio, Terada Mitsugu, Hasegawa Hiroshi, Okabe Ryuji, and Ito Ritsu had constituted another communist party rebuilding committee. It was active until May 1941, when the last of its members and supporters, about 70 in all, were rounded up.[16]

The only Communist "cell" that remained active through the war was in Osaka, where they worked in war factories.[17]

Anarchism

Anarchism in Japan was active until its collapse in 1935[18] The Black Youth League, or Kokuren, was active from 1926 when it published the Kokushoku Seinen (Black Youth) beginning in April.[19] Kokuren was a nationwide federation. In 1929 and 1930 sections of Kokuren's membership in Western Honshu broke away. Kokuren was reduced to a narrower grouping of uncompromising pure anarchists.[20] Farming Villages Youth Association, or Noseisha, was short lived, founded in February 1931, and disbanded in September 1932.[21] The Zenkoku Jiren was founded on 24 May 1926[22] In 1931, Zenkoku Jiren reached a peak of 16,300 members.[23] The Koto branch of the Tokyo general workers Union and the Tokyo Food Workers Union joinly formed the anarchist syndicalist union federation Libertarian Federal Council of Labour Unions of Japan, or Jikyo.[24]

Following the Manchurian Incident, Zenkoku jiren published an article in the issue of Jiyu Rengo Shinbun on 10 November 1931. The article stated:

The true cause of the mobilisation to China is none other than the ambition of the Japanese capitalist class and military to conquer Manchuria. Japan has its own Monroe doctrine. Japanese capitalism cannot develop or even survive, without Manchuria. That is why its government has made up its mind to risk anything so as not to lose its many privileges in China . . . American capital has flowed into China in larger and larger amounts. This represents an enormous menace to the Japanese capitalist class. In other words, now Japan is forced to oppose American capital in China. This is, in fact, the direct cause of the mobilisation.[25]

Zenkoku jiren argued that there was no fundamental solution to war other than the achievement of anarchist communism.The article concluded:

"Complete international unity of the anarchists would signal our victory, not only economically but in the war against war. Anarchist groups of all countries, unite! Abolish Imperialist war![26]

Organisational separation of pure anarchists and anarchist syndicalists occurred in many unions and in other fields of anarchist activity after the split in Zenkoku Jiren.[27] The fall of Zenkoku Jiren came with the mass arrests of anarchists in 1935-1936.[28] The anarchist movement in Japan collapsed in 1935 following the nationwide roundup of members of anarchist groups in response to one of the anarchist movements small groups robbing a bank.[29]

Takigawa Incident

In 1933, faculty and students of Kyoto Imperial University protested against the government's suspension of Professor Yukitoki Takigawa from the university. The government was able to suppress the protests. This incident became known as the Takigawa incident.[30]

Labor Unions

By 1938, the government could no longer tolerate dissent amongst the working class. In 1940, labor unions in Japan were dissolved, and replaced by the ultranationalistic Industrial Association for Serving the Nation (Sangyō Hōkokukai, or Sampō).[31]

Emigres

100 Japanese went to the USSR during the 1920s and 1930s. They were mainly communists, such as Sen Katayama, Sanzo Nosaka (alias Susumu Okano), and Kenzo Yamamoto (alias Tanaka). There were also workers, intellectuals and artists who were not communists who went to the USSR. They were organized and led by the Japanese Communist Party, whose representatives in Moscow in the 1930s were Sen Katayama, Sanzo Nosaka and Kenzo Yamamoto. Many Japanese would be arrested, killed, or would disappear during Stalin's Great Purge.[32]

A number of well-known public figures, activists, and writers from Japan, including Wataru Kaji and his wife Sachiko Ikeda, Eiko Midorikawa, Kazuo Yamada and Susumu Narikura, lived in China and joined the Chinese resistance against Japan.[33] Susumu Okano, and Jun Sawada, who both belonged to the Communist Party in Japan, escaped to North China in 1943. Kaji Wataru fled to China in January 1936.[34]

Others went to the United States, such as Taro Yashima, and Ikuo Oyama. Others traveled to Mexico and France.[35]

At least eight well-known Japanese Communist exiles were expected to return to Japan from Russia, Manchuria and China following the end of World War II.[36][37]

Japanese in the Chinese resistance to the Empire of Japan

During the Second Sino-Japanese War there were Japanese in the Chinese resistance to the Empire of Japan. Japanese who joined the Chinese resistance were either Political dissidents or reeducated POWs. They produced, and distributed propaganda throughout Japanese occupied China. A number of resistance organizations would emerge in China, including the Japanese Anti-war League, and the Japanese People's Emancipation League.[38]

Dissidence within Japan during World War II

In wartime Japan, only passive resistance, and insignificant protests occurred.[39] Political prisoners in Imperial Japan were not released until the end of WWII.[40]

In 1943, Sōka Gakkai founders Tsunesaburō Makiguchi, and Jōsei Toda, along with others, were imprisoned for advising their followers not to buy amulets from the Grand Shrine of Ise. Makiguchi died in prison.[41] Toda was released in July 1945. He rebuilt the Sokka Gakkai after the war.[42]

Organizations

Media

Japanese dissidence in popular culture

See also

References

  1. ↑ Robert A. Scalapino (1967). The Japanese Communist movement, 1920-1966. University of California Press.
  2. ↑ George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo (1969). The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford University Press. pp. 192–195.
  3. ↑ George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo (1969). The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford University Press. p. 395.
  4. ↑ George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo (1969). The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford University Press. pp. 192–195.
  5. ↑ Robert A. Scalapino (1967). The Japanese Communist movement, 1920-1966. University of California Press. pp. 36–38.
  6. ↑ George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo (1969). The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford University Press. pp. 192–195.
  7. ↑ George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo (1969). The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford University Press. pp. 192–195.
  8. ↑ George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo (1969). The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford University Press. pp. 192–195.
  9. ↑ George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo (1969). The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford University Press. p. 220.
  10. ↑ Louise Young (1999). Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism. University of California Press. pp. 165–167.
  11. ↑ Robert A. Scalapino (1967). The Japanese Communist movement, 1920-1966. University of California Press.
  12. ↑ United States. Department Of Defense (1969). Magic Background Of Pearl Harbor Volume IV Appendix. United States. Department Of Defense. pp. 299–400.
  13. ↑ United States. Department Of Defense (1969). Magic Background Of Pearl Harbor Volume IV Appendix. United States. Department Of Defense. pp. 299–400.
  14. ↑ United States. Department Of Defense (1969). Magic Background Of Pearl Harbor Volume IV Appendix. United States. Department Of Defense. pp. 299–400.
  15. ↑ Kato, Tetsuro (July 2000). The Japanese Victims of Stalinist Terror in the USSR (PDF). Hitotsubashi Journal of Social Studies 32.
  16. ↑ George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo (1969). The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford University Press. p. 261.
  17. ↑ Mark Gayn (Dec 15, 1989). Japan Diary. Tuttle Publishing. p. 16.
  18. ↑ George M. Beckmann, and Genji Okubo (1969). The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford University Press. p. 71.
  19. ↑ John Crump (John Crump). Hatta Shūzō and Pure Anarchism in Interwar Japan. Macmillan. pp. 69–71. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ↑ John Crump (John Crump). Hatta Shūzō and Pure Anarchism in Interwar Japan. Macmillan. p. 93. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ↑ John Crump (John Crump). Hatta Shūzō and Pure Anarchism in Interwar Japan. Macmillan. p. 172. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ↑ John Crump (John Crump). Hatta Shūzō and Pure Anarchism in Interwar Japan. Macmillan. p. 75. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ↑ John Crump (John Crump). Hatta Shūzō and Pure Anarchism in Interwar Japan. Macmillan. pp. 92–95. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ↑ John Crump (John Crump). Hatta Shūzō and Pure Anarchism in Interwar Japan. Macmillan. p. 87. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ↑ John Crump (John Crump). Hatta Shūzō and Pure Anarchism in Interwar Japan. Macmillan. pp. 92–95. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. ↑ John Crump (John Crump). Hatta Shūzō and Pure Anarchism in Interwar Japan. Macmillan. pp. 92–95. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ↑ John Crump (John Crump). Hatta Shūzō and Pure Anarchism in Interwar Japan. Macmillan. pp. 87–95. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ↑ John Crump (John Crump). Hatta Shūzō and Pure Anarchism in Interwar Japan. Macmillan. p. 172. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ↑ George M. Beckmann, and Genji Okubo (1969). The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford University Press. p. 71.
  30. ↑ Itoh, Mayumi (2003). The Hatoyama Dynasty: Japanese Political Leadership Through the Generations. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 62. ISBN 9781403981523.
  31. ↑ "Political Protest in Interwar Japan Part I 戦間期日本の政治的抗議活動 「上」 :: JapanFocus". Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  32. ↑ Kato, Tetsuro (July 2000). The Japanese Victims of Stalinist Terror in the USSR (PDF). Hitotsubashi Journal of Social Studies 32.
  33. ↑ "What did people around the world do in support of China’s war of resistance?". Xinhua. 2015-11-07.
  34. ↑ Roth, Andrew (1945). Dilemma in Japan. Little, Brown. pp. 162–192.
  35. ↑ Greg Robinson (Feb 9, 2012). Pacific Citizens: Larry and Guyo Tajiri and Japanese American Journalism in the World War II Era. University of Illinois Press. pp. 94–97.
  36. ↑ "Military Oblivion Is Japs' Fate". The Evening Independent. 7 Oct 15, 1945. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  37. ↑ "7,000,000 JAPS DISARMED GENERAL STAFF ABOLISHED". Toronto Daily Star. Oct 15, 1945.
  38. ↑ Roth, Andrew (1945). Dilemma in Japan. Little, Brown. pp. 162–192.
  39. ↑ Ienaga ,Saburo (2010). Pacific War, 1931-1945. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 203–228.
  40. ↑ Takemae, Eiji (2003). Allied Occupation of Japan. A&C Black. pp. 235–240.
  41. ↑ Peter B Clarke (Dec 16, 2013). Bibliography of Japanese New Religious Movements. Routledge. p. 235.
  42. ↑ Katherine Marshall (2013). Global Institutions of Religion: Ancient Movers, Modern Shakers. Routledge. p. 107.

Further reading

External links

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