Prewar Japanese Marxism

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Prewar Marxism in Japan : An Intellectual Discourse or A Failed Political Action

Marxism was coined after its proponent , Karl Marx who believed that the abuses of capitalism would eventually lead to uprisings of the masses particularly of the working class . According to him , the aggrieved plight of the working class will become the key in unleashing the inevitable clashes between the classes . In his argument , Capitalism will be replaced by Communism , in which in his view , this set-up of free

economy opens a gate to many inequalities in the society , making the weak and poor more vulnerable to the flaws of the system . As Uno Kozo observed in his work , The Essence of Capital , The commodification of the labor force remains the crux of Capitalism (SJT , pp .243 . To Marx belief , Communism is the "common ownership of the means of production There would be public ownership of farms , factories , raw materials , and the like . To him , all means of production will be owned by the workers and all workers would eventually become workers

In Japan , Marxism was first introduced in the late 1890 's but it was in the 1920 's that it started to catch attention and support from the people especially from the intellectuals (SJT , pp 239 Beckmann , pp 139 . The early Marxists belonged to two different groups , the reformers and the revolutionary . The reformers followed Tolstoian humanitarianism advocated universal suffrage , and pursued reforms through parliamentary action . While the revolutionaries believed in the Materialist ideas from the German and French Marxist . They adhered to the idea of class struggle and direct revolutionary action by class-conscious workers . The revolutionaries were also attracted to the tactics of the anarcho-syndicalism (Beckmann pp . 140

The various differences of principles of the Early Marxists in Japan had initially signaled that a strong unified group would be quite a challenge to create a remarkable impact . In fact , at its onset Marxism was already noted with three general flaws such as its systematic character that degenerates into dogmatism putative universality that recalls its foreign origin and its critical modus operandi that provokes infighting and organizational fragmentation (SJT , pp241 . But all these are generalized observations sums up probable enlightenment on why it seemed to appear that prewar Marxism was never a political success . However , it is pertinent to note that these observations envelopes one or more historical accounts and empirical evidences of the progresses and demise of prewar Marxism in Japan

The idea of Marxism had its strong appeal in the university circle composed mainly of the professors and students . In fact , one of its early and notable supporters was Kawakami Hajime of the Kyoto Imperial University . He wrote may treatises on Marxism and provided valuable assistance to other advocates in the persons of Sakai Toshihiko , Arahata Kanson among others (Beckmann pp . 145 . At that time , the battleground was published material like news wherein people can be informed and get influenced at the same time . At some point...