VoLT A Critical History of Socialist Thought In Japan To 1918 John Derek Crump Doctor of Philosophy Centre of Japanese Studies, University of Sheffield June 1980 This study is dedicated to the working class in Japan, in the hope that a day will come when (along with the workers throughout the rest of the world) they will decide to get up off their knees. 1. PREFACE The idea of writing this study came to me a full 10 years ago, when I spoke not a word of Japanese, had never been to Japan, and I knew next to nothing about the country. Over the last 10 years by have walked a long and often hard road, but I have been assisted many people who have given me a helping hand along the way. I should like to thank the staff of the Centre of Japanese in Studies at the University of Sheffield for giving me a grounding Japanese and for putting up with a sometimes difficult undergraduate Healey, student. In particular, I should like to thank Graham who first gave up several hours of his own time to guide me through my (and I stuttering lessons in Japanese who later supervised me when became a postgraduate student). After graduating from Sheffield, I spent the next 2 years at the to Institute of Social Science, University of TUkyo and then returned further the Centre of Japanese Studies, University of Sheffield for a by 3 years. During these periods I lived on scholarships provided the Japanese Ministry of Education and the British Social Science Research Council. I should like to record my gratitude to the working from the class, which involuntarily provides the surplus value which various states finance such scholarships. While in Japan, many people were kind enough to give up hours of (or their time to talk to me about socialism 'socialism'). They included Andö Jimbei, Arahata Kanson, Fujita Shozö, Fukumoto Kazuo, Hagiwara Shintarö, Haniya Yutaka, Hara Homoyo, Higuchi Tokuzö, Matsumoto Reiji, Nabeyama Sadachika, Nakajima Masamichi, Nakamura Akira, Nosaka Sanzö, Ozeki Hiroshi, Sakisaka Itsuro, Shimodaira Hiromi, Shirai Shimpei, Taguchi Fukuji, Takahashi Kokichi, Takahashi Masao, Tsushima Tadayuki, Tsuzuki Chüshichi, Wada Eikichi, Yamakawa Kikue and others who wish me not to mention their names. ii. Outside Japan, my greatest debts are to those from whom I have gained insights into what socialism genuinely means. It may seem strange to acknowledge my indebtedness to men whom I have never met and who, indeed, were often dead long before I was born. Yet the fact remains that my intellectual debts to Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Peter Kropotkin and William Morris (to name but four) are enormous. I have also learned lessons and received inspiration from later generations of revolutionary socialists - in other words, from those who have battled to maintain the vision of a genuinely socialist society throughout the bitter years of social-democratic and Bolshevik ascendancy. The men and women I refer to here are those who have stood in the anarcho-communist, council-communist, Bordigist, situationist and Socialist Party of Great Britain traditions. In particular, I gained a great deal from the SPGB (and also gave back a little in return) during the 9 years I spent within its ranks. The fact that certain political differences now separate me from the men and women who have formed the SPGB over 75 years does not deter me from acknowledging what I owe to them. Various people kindly read part or all of my manuscript and commented on it. They are: Anthony Arbiaster, Gordon Daniels, Graham Healey, Matsuzawa Hiroaki, Jitendra Mohan, Stephen Stefan and Totsuka Hideo. I am grateful to all of them for their many helpful comments, including those comments which I was too obstinate to act upon! I particularly wish to record my thanks to Matsuzawa Hiroaki, whose detailed knowledge of socialist thought in Japan saved me from making a number of errors, and to Totsuka Hideo, who read the first half of my manuscript while sick in hospital. My friend Adam Buick read the entire manuscript and commented on it with his usual combination of intelligence and commitment to socialism. My own grasp of socialist theory has benefited greatly from years of iii. friendship with Adam, and I pay tribute to him for being that rarest of animals -a good friend and a dependable comrade. Last, and most of all, my thanks are due to Midorikawa Taeko. It was she who sustained me in the mind-numbing toil of learning Japanese. Untold hours of her time went into discussing almost every aspect of this study and correcting my translations from the convoluted Japanese of the Meiji era. Above all, it was thanks to her that the writing of this work became a labour of happiness. John Crump. York, 27 September 1979. iv. C0NTENTS Page List of Tables v List of Photographs vi Introduction 1 1 The Development of Capitalism in Japan and the Forming of a Working Class 13 2 Populism (Narodnism) and Other Russian Influences 42 3 Studying at the Feet of European Social Democracy 72 4 Influences from English-Speaking Countries - America, Britain, New Zealand 112 5 The Legacy from the Old Society 142 6 Japanese 'Socialism' to 1905 172 7 The Further Development of Capitalism and the First Flexing of the Working Class' Muscles 190 8 Kötoku Shüsui and the American Connection 222 9 Inspiration from Russia 257 10 Social Democracy and Syndicalism in Contention - European Battles Refought in Japan 288 11 Christians and Terrorists 347 12 Japanese 'Socialism' to 1918 383 Appendix 1 'Abolish Money: ' 422 Appendix 2 'A Socialist Appeal' 425 Appendix 3 'An Outline of Socialism' 426 Appendix 4 'The Change in My Thought' 428 Appendix 5 Biographical Sketches 441 . Glossary 448 Bibliography 450 V. TABLES Pages 1 Economic Indicators, 1880-1905 19-22 2 Male and Female Factory Workers, 1880-1905 33 3 Labour Disputes, 1897-1905 38 4 Economic Indicators, 1906-1918 191 5 Male and Female Factory Workers, 1906-1918 193 6 Women's Death Rates 197 7 Labour Disputes, 1906-1918 200 8 Average Daily Wage Rates, 1906-1918 213 9 Price Fluctuations, 1906-1918 214 10 Comparison of Wages and Prices, 1914-1918 215 11 Outcome of Labour Disputes, 1914-1918 217 vi. PHOTOGRAPHS Pages 1 Founders of the Shakai Minshutö (Social-Democratic Party) in 1901 86/87 2 Kotoku Shnsui 142/143 3 Members of the Shakai Kakumeitö (Social Revolutionary Party) in 1906 249/250 4 Bronislas Pilsudski and Members of the Shin Kigen (New Era) group 265/266 5 Members of the Nip-pon Shakaitö (Socialist Party of Japan) in 1906 302/303 6 The Socialist Summer School in 1907 316/317 7 Keir Hardie with Japanese Socialists in 1907 319/320 8 Ishikawa Sanshirö 358/359 9 Kanno Suga 377/378 10 Morichika Umpei 377/378 1. INTRODUCTION Few of those who might read this work will easily recognise the theoretical position from which it is written. Fewer still are likely to share that position. It is nonetheless hoped that many readers will still be able to get something out of this study. A lot of the information collected here is not otherwise readily available in Western languages and even those who find socialist theory indigestible may still be able to glean many facts and figures which are new to them. All the same, it has to be said that my intention in writing this study was not simply to mechanically assemble data on the socialist movement in Japan. There is an argument which runs through this account of the development of socialist thought in Japan and I shall try to state this briefly here. Paradoxically, the basic thesis of this history of socialist thought thought in Japan is that socialism - either as a body of or as an active political movement - has barely existed in that country at any period. In my opinion, the vast majority of ideas in Japan which at different times over the years have been labelled 'socialist' have been nothing of the sort. The same goes for the groups and the parties (and, indeed, the individuals) which have embodied those ideas. What these various ideas have been concerned with, if not with socialism, I have tried to explain with some precision in the text. Here it is sufficient to generalise and say that, despite fervent protestations of 'socialism', those who have held these ideas have nearly all envisaged (even the continuation of capitalism if they have often recognised the need to make some modifications). The last thing to have crossed most of their minds is the perspective of constructing a genuinely new society which would be worthy of the title socialism. 2. Already I have revealed an important difference between myself and most of those who write on the subject of 'socialism'. It is remarkable that many supposedly authoritative tomes on 'socialism' dispense with definitions of such key concepts as 'socialism' itself and 'capitalism'. All too often, the assumption is made that every- one knows what 'socialism' means. Yet a moment's thought will show that not only is there no unanimity in the world today about what constitutes 'socialism' but that many popularly held notions about 'socialism' must be entirely mistaken. One only has to think of the variety of responses which a question such as "Is the British Labour Party socialist? " would evoke in different parts of the world and from different generations to realise that unanimity as to 'socialism's meaning clearly does not exist. Similarly, it is evident that many widely accepted ideas about 'socialism' must be wrong as soon as one (shall realises that the claims of we say) western European social- democrats, Russian Leninists and Chinese Maoists to be 'socialist' all run counter to one another.