|N VERSIT OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEG 3 1822 019644442 LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN BY SENKATAYAMA ^1822019644442 Social Sciences & Humanities Library University of California, San Diego Please Note: This item is subject to recall. Date Due UCSDLt. THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN FOR THE CAUSE OF SOCIALISM SEN KATAYAMA LABOR MO YEMEN' IN JAPAN BY SEN KATAYAMA CHICAGO CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY CO-OPERATIVE Copyright 1918 BY CHARLES H. KERB & COMPANY JOHN F. HIGGINS, FRINTBB <^S^*,.c 370-3SO WEST won HOE *T PREFACE. This little book is the first attempt to give to the English speaking public a his- tory of the labor and socialist movement in Japan. It was originally intended for the Internationalist Socialist Review dur- ing the year 1917 ; so that it is necessarily brief and incomplete in the details of event? however interesting ; but I tried to present the events and their developments. Bear- ing this in mind the reader will understand the limits of this book. Since I wrote this, many things have happened. Our working classes in Japan have lately awakened. This fact is shown by numerous strikes during the last year. These were mainly due to the influence of the Russian revolution by which our peo- ple, especially the working classes, were so greatly impressed and interested. They were also due to the rapid growth of Capitalism and its enormous profits on ac- O PREFACE count of war industry. Almost needless to say that the working classes did not get any reasonable increase in their wages, while the prices of their necessaries were rising by leaps and bounds. Fearing the effect of these changes the ever stronger autocratic, capitalistic gov- ernment became more and more sensitive and terror stricken, as they viewed the peo- ple becoming enthused by the Russian revo- lution. The government has become late- ly still more oppressive and autocratic in dealing with the working class movement and socialism, the leaders being effectively bound and gagged. Even the Yu-Ai-Kai, the yellowest labor movement in Japan, supported by philanthropic capitalists like Baron Shibusawa, is controlled by the despots; so that its so-called members, or more accurately subscribers to its organ, are falling away. Nevertheless, this dark- est condition strengthens our faith in the coming social revolution in Japan. Never in my time have we so often heard the cry PREFACE 7 for another revolution to put down the present bureaucratic government for a bet- ter and democratic form of government. The living fact that the Eussian revolution was accomplished by the joint action of the workers and the soldiers is the great reve- lation to the Japanese who are oppressed under militarism and conscription. Above all it has strengthened tacitly a hope for the brighter dawn of the coming social revolution. To counteract and crush this hope and its increase the terrified militar- istic government has entered upon its death struggle and is making prodigious efforts, scrupulous and unscrupulous, to root out the socialist propaganda. But there is lit- tle doubt that within a few years our faith in the social revolution will be amply re- warded. I here acknowledge the kindness, help and encouragement given me in writing this document by comrades Mr. and Mrs. S. J. Eutgers, under whose generosity and unbounded hospitality I was able to find 8 PREFACE time and opportunities for gathering and preparing for my material. I also acknowl- edge the kindness of Mrs. Mary E. Marcy who read the manuscript and, corrected errors in English. SEN KATAYAMA. New York City, July 9, 1918. CONTENTS Introduction 11 I. Its Background 29 II. A Period of Success 47 III. Socialism a Popular Topic 69 IV. The Socialist Movement and the Russo-Japanese War 85 V. The Socialist Party and Its Ac- tivities 100 VI. Suppression and Revolt of So- cialism in Japan 124 VII. The Marxian Socialist Group. . .142 INTRODUCTION. At the moment when reaction is ascend- ant in Japan, when its Imperialism is aggressively triumphant and its proletariat apparently crushed and silent, at this mo- ment, more than any other, is a book on the Japanese Labor Movement of great value. It is of value in picturing a militant proletariat in action and by emphasizing our international spirit without which Socialism cannot conquer. This book, appearing at this particular time, is, moreover, a symbol to the world of Socialism and Revolution. It is a sym- bol of the great role that the Japanese proletariat is destined to play in the days to come; it is even more a symbol of the momentous fact washed upon the shores of Time by the Great War that Labor, and Labor alone, in spite of momentary col- lapse and a swerving from its historic mission, is the force that must preserve 11 12 INTRODUCTION civilization from total ruin by creating the new civilization of Socialism. Japan is to-day dominantly reactionary. It is preparing itself to extend the power and influence of its ruling class. As a capitalist nation, Japan is part and parcel of the general imperialistic interests and ambitions that plunged the world into dis- aster. And in Japan, as in other imperial- istic nations, all classes are reactionary, all classes are eager for the spoils of exploita- tion, all classes are willing to sell humanity and civilization for the mess of pottage of imperialistic aggrandizement. All classes, that is to say, except the proletariat, which is silent under the oppression of a male- volent tyranny, but which has within itself the latent power and inspiration for great deeds, as is amply proven by Comrade Katayama 's sketch of the rise of the Labor and Socialist movement in Japan under the most discouraging conditions. The Japanese government is increasing its repressive measures against the prole- INTRODUCTION 13 tariat. Recently, Comrade T. Sakai was imprisoned for propaganda in favor "of an extension of the suffrage." And in its reactionary sweep, the Japanese gov- ernment is destroying a peculiar instru- ment it forged for the deception of the workers the Yu-Ai-Kai. The Yu-Ai-Kai was a "union" organized under govern- ment auspices, including in its membership capitalists, professors and officials of the government, its chief activity being the publication of a paper to deceive the work- ers. Employers often brutally coerced their workers to join this "union," and it became a means of destroying the legiti- mate organizations of the proletariat. But now the Imperial government itself is persecuting the Yu-Ai-Kai, against the protests of Baron Shibusawa and other magnates of capital, while the workers are rapidly deserting it entirely. This is significant equally of the stupidity of the government and the awakening of the workers. 14 INTRODUCTION I have said that Japan is part and parcel of the general imperialistic forces and am- bitions that plunged the world into dis- aster; and this Imperialism is determinant in the recent history and development of Japan. The Japanese people emerged definitely into the world of modern production and exchange at a time when Capitalism had developed into a new stage of its existence, the stage of Imperialism. Normally, the development of Capitalism would have produced a bourgeois, democratic revo- lution in Japan; but the existence of Im- perialism altered the course of events. Imperialism is the negation of democracy; It means, historically, the end of bourgeois democracy and the re-introduction of autocracy under a variety of political forms. In nations which completed their bourgeois democratic revolution, as Eng- land and France, imperialism develops a reaction against democracy and establishes the autocracy of imperialistic State Cap- INTRODUCTION 15 italism; in nations which had not com- pleted their bourgeois revolution, as Ger- many, or which never had the beginnings of one, as Japan, Imperialism prevents the appearance of the institutions of bourgeois democracy. The feudal class is not destroyed; it becomes capitalistic and is put into the service of Imperialism; autocracy is not abolished, but bent to the uses of Imperialism. This was precisely the development in Japan, as in Germany. Imperialistic Capitalism was developed on the basis of still prevailing feudal condi- tions and ideology, a situation excellent for the profitmad ruling class, but simply murderous to the workers and peasants, and disastrous to the rise of democratic ideas and institutions. Instead of com- prehensively developing the internal mar- ket and its corresponding normal -condi- tions of production, the Japanese ruling class embarked upon a policy of export trade and Imperialism, because it was more profitable, and because the develop- 16 INTEODUCTION ment of the internal market would have meant the end of low wages and the ap- pearance of a homogeneous, aggressive proletariat. The role to which Japan aspires, and conspires for, is that of arbiter of the Far East. Its imperialistic interests dictate the establishment of Japanese hegemony on the Asiatic continent, and particularly in succulently-rich and helpless China. Japan has already promulgated a sort of "Monroe Doctrine," which insists upon priority of interest and consideration for Japan in the Far West, just as the Ameri- can Monroe Doctrine has been perverted into a similar claim for the United States in Central and South America. The war has definitely converted Japan into a dominant imperialistic nation. From a debtor nation, Japan has become a cred- itor nation, with large masses of capital that must be exported for investment. In January, 1918, Finance Minister Shoda in his budget speech said that imports since INTRODUCTION 17 the beginning of the war had aggregated 2,623,000,000 yen (a yen is equivalent to almost half a dollar), and exports, 3,799,- 000,000 yen, the resulting favorable balance of 1,175,000,000 yen being increased by 700,000,000 yen "from other sources." The accumulation of capital from this favorable balance of trade is increasing rapidly as the months go by. Moreover, industry has expanded to gigantic propor- tions, including the shipping industry. In- dustry and trade are increasing, not in mathematical, but in geometrical progres- sion. Japanese Capitalism is entrenching itself firmly in all sections of Asia, and particularly in China, where economic and political "penetration" proceed simultane- ously. Japan's great need until recently was the import of raw materials, including iron and cotton; the enormous expansion of industry has made this need still more imperative, and it has been supplemented by the urgent need for investment markets to which Japanese Capitalism can export 18 INTRODUCTION its surplus capital. All this means a fever- ish impetus to Imperialism; and the field for Japanese Imperialism is Asia. It is just at this point that antagonism develops between Japan and the other im- perialistic powers in general, between Japan and the United States in particular, an antagonism latent with the threat of war, a war that would ultimately involve all the other great powers to protect their own Imperialism. Economically and financially, the United States is being affected by the war in precisely the same way as Japan, only more so. The Far East, and particularly China, is a great, capitalistically-untapped reservoir; it can do two things indispensable to an imperial- istic nation, provide practically unlimited sources of raw materials and absorb vast amounts of investment capital. This im- port of raw material and the export of capital are the nerve-centers of Capitalism to-day, and the source of the great an- tagonisms which may again produce a INTRODUCTION 19 catastrophe, unless the proletariat acts decisively in the performance of its historic mission. In this situation latent with catastrophe, the workers of the two nations must under- stand each other, must assist each other, must unite to avert the impending menace. For the workers of the two nations alone and decisively, in co-operation with the workers of the world, can prevent a con- flict. No dependence can be placed upon the words of the representatives of the ruling classes; understandings and agree- ments are converted into scraps of paper when they clash with dominant imperial- istic interests. The proletariat alone can act ; and it is the function of the New Inter- national now in process of becoming to prepare the revolutionary proletariat to act when the crisis comes, aye, to prevent the coming of the crisis. The fomenting of race prejudice and hatred is exactly what the ruling classes desire. Hatreds of race against race con- 20 INTRODUCTION stitute the ideologic dynamo of Imperial- ism. It is the task of the Socialist to break down these hatreds. And when the Ameri- can Federation of Labor foments racial hatred against the Japanese, it is betray- ing the interests of the workers. The Jap- anese workers in this country are part and parcel of our proletariat ; they have proven that they are organizable, that they can fight the industrial oppressors, that they are excellent material for the militant proletarian movement. It is sheer suicide for the American proletariat to indulge in race hatred against the Japanese, or against any other racial element of our people. The American proletariat, moreover, must understand precisely what are the real forces of labor and progress in Japan. It must not play into the hands of the Im- perial government. Some years ago, the Yu-Ai-Kai sent a fraternal delegate to a convention of the American Federation of Labor, a Mr. Susuki, secretary of Baron INTRODUCTION 21 Shibusawa. Mr. Susuki was accepted as a bona-fide representative of the Japanese workers, Messrs. Gompers and Scharren- berg solemnly accepting the invitation to go to Japan to " teach" the workers there how to organize. Operabouffe ! Many Socialists also made this gross error, in spite of Comrade Katayama's expose in the New York Call of the real character of Susuki and his "labor" organization. In the coming great work of reconstruc- tion, the Socialist Party should recognize and emphasize the vital importance of the Japanese-American issue, and make it a central feature of its agitational and edu- cational propaganda. Indeed, this is all the more necessary considering the tem- porary weakness of the Japanese move- ment, a weakness due to definite historical circumstances. Why could not the Party make an appropriation to assist our Com- rades in Japan? Why not more intimate contact between the two movements ? And, surely, the Party could make use of an ap- 22 INTRODUCTION propriation for special propaganda among the Japanese in this country, could avail itself of the services of a Sen Katayama. * # * Comrade Sen Katayama is an interest- ing personality. At sixty years of age, he retains the enthusiasm and idealism of youth; forced to make a living for him- self and his daughter, as an ordinary worker, he devotes all his spare time to the Cause to which he has dedicated his life. Katayama is unpretentious and democratic; the fan-fare of heroics makes no appeal to him. He is a worker in the workers ' movement, accepting the worker's lot that is all; but that is all a man can do. It was at the Amsterdam Socialist Con- gress in 1904 that Katayama participated in a symbolic act. Japan and Russia, the Russian and Japanese autocracy, were at war. The chairman of the Congress was speaking, when Katayama and Plekhanov arose, and in full view of the audience, INTRODUCTION 23 shook hands, symbol of that international proletarian solidarity which will yet prove mightier than cannon and chauvinism. Sen Katayama was born December 7, 1858, of peasant parentage, and the story of his life is the story of the Japanese labor and Socialist movement. He worked on a farm, studying at home, with only short intervals of school education. In 1882 Katayama went to Tokyo, working in a printing plant ten hours a day at 7 1-2 cents a day ; by working overtime, he could earn $2.50 a month. The ordeal of these days made Katayama a permanent prole- tarian with the aspirations of the militant proletariat. For a time, Katayama worked as a jani- tor in a Chinese university, and studied the Chinese classics in his spare time ; then he came to the United States to study no-t subsidized by the Imperial government, as so many Japanese students are, but en- tirely upon his own resources, which con- sisted of exactly one dollar upon his ar- 24 INTRODUCTION rival in California in 1884. Katayama studied English in a Chinese Mission in Alameda, entered John Hopkins Academy at Oakland, from there went to Maryville College, Tennessee, and in 1889 entered Grinnell College, graduating in 1892. Two years at Andover and one year at Yale were spent in the study of social problems. And during all these years Katayama had to work for his living and his tuition, the ordeal of it all preparing him for the activ- ity of a militant rebel. About this time, Katayama began to study Socialism, starting with Ferdinand Lassalle, who inspired him with a love for the practical work of organization. After a short stay in England studying social problems, Katayama returned to the United States on his way to Japan, where he immediately became active in the de- veloping labor movement, and soon became its central figure. In 1904 he went as a delegate to the Amsterdam Congress, and after a tour of the United States returned INTRODUCTION 25 to Japan, to find the movement dominated by petit bourgeois intellectuals and perse- cuted bitterly by the authorities. His ac- tivity in a big strike in Tokyo caused his arrest and nine months' imprisonment, which greatly impaired his health; and upon his release, his every move was in- terfered with, detectives were always with him wherever he went, and he was com- pelled to leave Japan, again coming to the United States. This persecution was largely due to the intrepid attitude against the war with Kussia adopted by the Japan- ese Socialists. But in America the Japanese Consuls and detectives, upon instructions from the Imperial government, persecuted Kataya- ma, making his life unpleasant and his or- ganizing work impossible. His friends were intimidated by the Consuls, who possess great power. The Japanese Day Laborers' Union, of which Katayama was an officer, was compelled to denounce him ; one of his friends was actually kidnapped, 26 INTKOBUCTION sent to Japan, and imprisoned for eighteen months. Katayama was compelled to leave California and come to* New York, where he has since been publishing a paper in Japanese and English, The Heimin. * * * The central characteristics of Kataya- ma 's activity and personality are an un- compromising class consciousness and internationalism. He greeted with joy the proletarian revolution in Russia, as did his comrades in Japan; and he is firmly con- vinced that the revolutionary Socialism o.f the Bolsheviki must become the basis of the New International. At sixty years of age, Sen Katayama looks to the future, and not to< the past to the immediate future of the Third International, the In- ternational of revolutionary Socialism, of the final, unconquerable struggle against Capitalism, initiated by the proletarian revolution in Russia. History, says Trotzky, is a mighty engine promoting our ideals. And con- INTRODUCTION 27 temporary history is preparing the way feverishly and swiftly for our final struggle. In this struggle the inter- national solidarity of the proletariat is an indispensable requirement. May Sen Katayama's book on the Japanese Labor Movement prove a factor in promoting this solidarity! May Sen Katayma's revolutionary conception of Socialism prove a factor in the revolutionary recon- struction of Socialism ! LOUIS C. FBAINA. New York, July 4, 1918. THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN. I. ITS BACKGROUND. Foreigners who visit Japan often claim that Japan's recent progress, however re- markable, is a superficial one, is skindeep, a mere adoption of western civilization. They say there is no real development and progress, but merely an imitation of the West. Thus saying, they tried to discredit the present achievements of the Japanese and reached the conclusion that the Japanese are inferior to the western peoples, stimu- lating in this way the anti-Japanese move- ment among the white peoples. To understand the real character and feelings of a present-day Japanese worker, however, it is necessary to know something about his past, the background leading in- to feudal times. Feudalism in Japan 29 30 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN would be a most interesting study in itself, because Japanese feudalism has a unique history of many centuries ending after the time of the American Civil war. It en- joyed a peaceful life of activities and de- velopments for three centuries. During these years Japan shut herself off from all outside influences and civilizations. Hers was an independent life and she created a unique and a genuine Japanese civilization. Class lines were drawn quite sharply and distinctly. Farmers, artisans and merchants, each enjoyed life in peace- ful development. The study of these classes is illuminating, but our aim is to show that some of the good qualities pos- sessed by the Japanese workers were de- veloped during feudal times. Here we will speak only of the artisan class of that period in order to illustrate that the pres- ent working classes have their roots and history in the past however much they may appear to differ from the Japanese work- ing class of to-day. THE BACKGROUND 31 During the days of Japanese feudalism the artisan class made very good progress. Their products are of great value to the present generations and beautify not only the civilization and life of Japan, but mu- seums and art galleries in the West. In some of the old crafts, organized into guilds, our artisans have devised ingenious means to protect their interests against the masters and also* against outsiders. One of the most interesting guilds is that of the wood sawyers. The Woodsawyers' Guild of Tokyo includes master sawyers, jour- neymen and apprentices. All the journey- men must serve first as an apprentice, re- gardless of his skill. Wages were depend- ent upon and regulated by the prices of rice. Bice has been, and is still, the chief food of the Japanese. Its price regulated all the other necessities of life in the past.' Another requirement of the guild was that each member should pay to his employer a small percentage of his wages, for the 32 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN use of the lumber yard. This nominal pay- ment gave him an exclusive right to work in the lumber yard and the owner could not employ any outsider. Thus the sawyers' guild attained a perfect closed shop, in the modern sense; also a wage scale based on the price of rice. The miners' guild is far more extensive and thoroughgoing in its organization. It was communistic and it included miners of all Japan and of all kinds of mines. After a miner worked for three years the guild issued to him a membership card or scroll and this membership entitled him to seek a job in any mine in the country. And this institution still holds at the present day. Wherever the miner goes he is treated as a comrade and a guest by the working miners. He may work, if there is work, at any mine, or he may remain in the hope of securing work. If he prefers to try his luck at other places he receives a sufficient allowance from his fellow miners to reach the next mine. THE BACKGROUND 33 When an old miner quits his job on ac- count of his age, or when a miner is crip- pled in some accident, he is authorized by the guild to> collect from all the miners throughout the country. Each mine is an independent and self-governing unit of the one great guild. The miner thus authorized in one mine will be allowed by all other mines to collect benefits amounting today to from one to two thousand yen, according to his stand- ing. For this institution still holds at the present day. During the feudal period our miners had entire underground as their exclusive jur- isdiction and their own territories. None but miners might enter there. Besides the miners received the best wages, which is shown by a Japanese idiom Kanayama Shotai to describe their pay. This phrase means luxurious living or Epicureanism. The miners called each other " brother." Their mutual relations were most warm and cordial. All the bachelors, or single 34 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN men, lived a communistic life. They could travel all over Japan without any difficulty. Of course, they possessed defects and shortcomings, being the products of their own age, but theirs was a strong and well- regulated guild. Each and all miners benefited by it. But the miners of feudal times were con- sidered, in the eyes of the public, to be the most rough and dangerous members of society. No doubt they were outcasts in the public mind, for the mines were con- sidered a refuge for criminals and outlaws. It is said in Japan that if a man is de- graded enough to enter a mine, he is ab- solutely free from the grip of the law. It is true that in the feudal days there ex- isted neither social intercourse nor sym- pathy between the miners and the people of Japan. But the miners of the old days were an orderly group. The stone masons' guild is one of the most highly developed and best regulated of the Japanese labor organizations. They THE BACKGROUND 35 possessed a technical monopoly and were considered the most trustworthy artisans in the country. They always received the highest wages. These are only a few examples. Each trade has had its own guild and a history of struggles common to> all the working classes of the world. Each protected its own interest to the best of its own ability, but most of them were broken up by the coming industrial system under modern capitalism. Yet we can trace many good features existing today to the old organ- izations, particularly in the metal indus- tries, in shipbuilding and in factories using the modern machine processes. The best Japanese workers today are the old black- smiths who forged and wrought swords and plows, or those trained by them. The very first Japanese factory was started by the feudal government and man- aged by the English. Those who went to work in the factory were the blacksmiths 36 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN of that time. It was so with other indus- tries. Such is the background of our modern Japanese industry in which over one mil- lion factory workers are now employed. Fifty years ago there was no cotton mill in Japan; now there are one hundred and sixty-two cotton spinning factories, with nearly three million spindles and several hundred thousand young girls are working in the mills day and night. BEGINNING OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT. The modern labor movement in Japan may be said to have begun in the summer of 1897 after the war with China. For the first time in the history of Japan the in- dustries had been prosperous on account of the war indemnity taken from China. The working class seemed to awaken. The workers were demanding an increase in wages owing to the increased cost of living. Many strikes were reported with varied successes and failures. The modern indus- THE BACKGROUND 37 trial system was a new experience in Japan so there was no legal restriction upon the labor movement or upon strikes. This was shown by the fact that in six months we gained over two thousand mem- bers for the B/odo-Kumiai Kiseikai, a labor association organized for the purpose of forming trade unions. A majority of them were iron workers employed in the government's arsenal and the railway workshop at Shimbashi, Tokyo, and at the Yokohama dock and the Tokosuka navy yard. Labor meetings were well attended and the topics discussed were the power of the unions, the strike and boycott, and above all we urged the necessity of organizing the working class. Our work was most pleasant during this period. The men from different factories talked to their fel- low workers on the labor movement dur- ing meal time. Each week our member- ship increased. Each successive meeting was held with a larger attendance than be- 38 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN fore. Soon the labor meetings were ar- ranged by the workers themselves. Three of us, Takano, a journalist, Sawada, a tailor and I often went to speak at these meetings and we found new speakers among the workers who were able to ad- dress these gatherings of their fellow workers. IRON WORKERS' UNION AND THE LABOR WORLD. On the 1st of December, 1897, the Iron Workers' Union was organized in Tokyo, with over one thousand members. This was the first trades union in Japan. Its constitution and by-laws were copied from those of the American trades unions. On the same day the first number of the Labor World was published, this being the sole organ of the labor movement. I was one of the secretaries of the Iron "Workers' Union and editor of the Labor World. This little journal had played a very im- portant part in the Japanese labor move- THE BACKGROUND 39 ment. It contained one full page of labor news in English for the benefit of the for- eign exchanges. The last number ap- peared December 21, in 1901, making just one hundred issues that had been pub- lished. It was enlarged to a daily on Jan- uary 1, 1902. The tone and spirit of the labor movement at that time can be illus- trated by a quotation from the Labor World: ' ' The people are silent. I will be the ad- vocate of this silence. I will speak for the dumb; I will speak for the despairing sil- ent ones; I will interpret their stammer- ings ; I will interpret the grumblings, mur- murings, the tumults of the crowds, the complaints, the cries of men who have been so degraded by suffering and ignorance that they have no strength to voice their wrongs. I will be the word of the people. I will be the bleeding mouth from which the gag has been snatched. I will say everything. ' ' The time for beginning the labor move- 40 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN ment was auspicious, as is shown by the government report on strikes from June 20 to November 19, 1897. Number of strikes. 29 Number of strikers 3,768 Of men .. .. 3,584 Of women 184 Largest strike 500 Smallest strike 7 Suppressed by police 12 Wages partially increased 1 Strikes successful 12 Partially successful 6 Failures 11 Uncertain 2 Strike leaders dismissed 28 Longest strike 25 days Shortest strike 5 hours BIG RAILWAY STRIKE. The year 1898 began with a great strike in the Nippon Railway Company, at that time the largest railway company in Japan. Its lines extend from Tokyo to THE BACKGROUND 41 Amori, a distance of over five hundred miles, forming two large circles. The com- pany employed over ten thousand persons. Engineers and firemen numbered about 1,000. They were harshly dealt with by the company so they were dissatisfied with conditions. The company was ever watch- ful to prevent any one from organizing for better conditions. It promptly picked out the rebels and sent them to distant sta- tions, often to a poorer climate and an isolated point. This was called "exile." Between Morioka and Amori on the line there are two locomotive ' stations which are considered the worst points. At this time there were two or three dozen "exil- ers" at these stations. Every day they met and discussed the situation. On Jan- uary, 1898, one of them addressed a letter to firemen and engineers of the entire lines. This letter stated their common grievances and demanded remedies. The exiled firemen and engineers started to organize secretly, but some one be- 42 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN trayed the cause. At this the company immediately dismissed them. But already the letter had accomplished its intended aim and the dismissal of these ringleaders was the signal for a strike, which began on the 24th of February, 1898. It lasted only a few days. The company complied with all the demands and the strike was a complete success to the work- ers, who had conducted the strike very skillfully, using a telegraphic code previ- ously arranged. They accomplished the end sought without a leak. Encouraged by the success of this strike the railroad men formed a union and compelled the com- pany to recognize it, establishing the closed shop. The Labor World gives a record of fifteen strikes beside the one occurring on the Nippon Railroad during the year of 1898. In thirteen of these strikes 6,762 persons, including 150 girls, were involved. Besides the railroad workers 1,000 print- ers, 70 dyers and 65 furniture makers were THE BACKGROUND 43 organized and sixteen workingmens' co- operative distributive unions were organ- ized, each with its own store. These were mostly managed by iron workers and railroad workers who were members of the union. One productive, co-operative union was started by iron workers at Tokyo. In a few years the organization grew into a strong union of over a thousand members with about ten thousand yen in funds. An indirect result of our labor move- ment so far, we had at least revived and reorganized two old guilds into a modern union, i. e., the ship carpenters' and wood sawyers' union. One had 1,500 members and the other 2,200. Both had conducted a successful strike during the year. The president of the ship carpenters' union, Mr. F. Saito, has joined the labor associa- tion and later became a good Socialist. I have often addressed the meetings of the Ship Carpenters' Union. In the course of a few years all the 44 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN unions gained more members than ever before. For instance, the Nippon Rail- road Workers' Union accumulated 50,000 yen for a strike fund and 20,000 yen for benefit funds. It published its own month- ly organ. The Iron Workers' Union had enrolled 5,400 members at the end of four years and spent 8,000 yen for the sick and death benefits of members. The I. W. U. bought a house for their headquarters and the Labor World was used as the official organ of the union. If we include the unions re- vived and reorganized from the old guilds, we had at one time nearly twenty thousand union members. This was before there were legal ob- structions to labor organizations and we had a free hand in the labor movement. We were not, however, left much longer free to grow and to build up our move- ment. We soon felt the pressure of the government, although there were as yet no laws to directly suppress the labor move- THE BACKGROUND 45 ment. The first movement against us oc- curred in the spring of 1898 upon the oc- casion of the Iron Workers ' Union Cherry Blossom picnic, when the police author- ities prohibited us from marching through the streets of Tokyo* and enjoying our- selves at the Uyeno park like other people. There was another event which we may look upon as an indirect result of the labor movement. The government prepared a factory bill with the intention of introduc- ing it at the coming session of the Imperial Diet. The bill was sent to all the cham- bers of commerce of the land to get opin- ions on it. Then the bill was discussed at the meeting of the higher commercial and industrial commissions appointed by the government from a group of prominent persons in the country. They discussed the bill and finally passed it in almost worthless amended skeleton form. But even in this form of so little use to labor, the bill was not in- troduced at the next Diet, because of the 46 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN opposition of the big capitalists, including Baron Shibusswa, the present patron of the Yu-Ai-Kai Friendly Society; and it was laid on the table many years to, come. At the time of the discussion of the bill the Iron Workers ' Union appointed a com- mittee to draw up a note stating its desire for amendments to the bill and the com- mittee was sent to call on the commission- ers to urge the passage of the bill in the form suggested in the note. But this too came to nothing on account of capitalist opposition. It shows, however, that the Iron Workers' Union and the labor lead- ers had an active interest in factory regu- lations. These checks, however, did not cause us to lose faith in the labor movement, but we vigorously continued our work for the cause of labor. n. A PERIOD OF SUCCESS. Eighteen months after we had begun the labor movement in Japan our experiences assured us that our prospects were very good. The Iron Workers' Union organ- ized on December 1, 1897, and R. B. Engi- neers ' and Firemens' Union, organized in March, 1898, were in a flourishing condi- tion, both with a growing membership. The year just closed was the most fruitful one for the labor movement in Japan. Every one connected with the movement had a firm faith in the great future of the working class and all worked with cour- age and enthusiasm. Two of our leaders settled in Kobe and started a similar move- ment in that city. One of these was a shoemaker by trade who had been in America for some time. He was a good labor agitator and now worked at Kobe for the movement. 47 48 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN At Tokyo labor meetings were held regularly in various parts of the city and its vicinity. To all came increasing audi- ences. Subscribers to the Labor World were increasing steadily, this being the only organ of the working class that gave any information about the new labor movement abroad. It was, in fact, the sole organ of labor propaganda. It attempted to educate the working class in general. Our working class was then very eager for any new knowledge and they were not slow to act on an idea when they got hold of it. Propaganda on the subject of co-opera- tives for half a year or more in public meetings and in the columns of the Labor World, resulted in many co-operative dis- tributive stores, organized and conducted by members of different unions. In July (1898) the Labor World pub- lished a report on eleven co-operative stores. The total paid up shares of these unions amounted to 7,620 yen, an aggre- gate monthly business of 7,497 yen and a A PERIOD OF SUCCESS 49 total membership of 1,346. One of the eleven stores still exists today at Omiya where a great railway workshop is located. Five years ago this co-operative union built a large club house with an auditorium which has a seating capacity of over one thousand persons and which is used for theatrical performances. This store has been of great benefit to the people of Omiya as well as to the workers. Although the labor union was crushed a few years later, this co-operative store survived and has been flourishing ever since. On ac- count of the co-operative store, retail prices of foodstuffs and other necessaries have always been cheaper here than in adjoining towns. But to return to the labor unions. Thus far we had been comparatively free from any government interference in our work except that we could not parade in the streets or hold open air meetings. Oc- casionally the police attempted to stop a labor meeting, but this did not interfere 50 with our agitation to any great extent. On the contrary, slight police interference at our meetings gave them an impetus and public sympathy was on our side. But a strong and utterly unjust discrim- ination was made against us in January, 1899, when the Iron Workers' Union gave their first anniversary celebration at Uyeno Park. The government suddenly dissolved the meeting, although we pos- sessed a permit issued to us from the park authority, which means from the Imperial household, the park belonging to this ad- ministration. This high-handed suppression was car- ried out by applying an old law copied from Prussia. The authorities were attempting to ob- struct the growth of the labor movement, but so far there was no actual law to apply to them, so that we carried on a lively work of education and propaganda for several years. Even police interference was utilized to> our advantage by the agitators. A PERIOD OF SUCCESS 51 To the Japanese workers then a strike means an effective weapon with which to secure their due demands. In fact, in most instances they got what they wanted by striking for it. Our history of feudalism shows in abun- dant cases that tenant farmers secured an adjustment of their grievances against their lords or their officers by means of riots. Riots in Japan during feudalism played a very important part for reform and for the progress of the working class. In the same way our workers use strikes today as a direct weapon to better their conditions. In March of 1899 the plasterers reor- ganized their old guild into a new union under the leadership of Mr. Sukenobu Ota, who had been an able labor leader in his trade guild for more than half a century. The Plasterers' Union had then 2,600 members. Beside the Japanese unions already mentioned, such as the ship carpenters, 52 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN stone masons, etc., there were others who followed the example of the former unions. The Labor World, in an issue of August 1, 1900, printed the following union items : "The Cargo Boats' Union has 2,000 sailors as members who work on 500 boats. The owners of boats supply medical and some benefit funds. "Sangiyo Kumiai is the name of the dockers' union in the Bay of Tokyo and has a membership of 400. "There are two unions for men who work in the wharfs with a total member- ship of 1,800. "There are two dockers' unions besides Sangiyo Kumiai, one consisting of work- ers on ship-board and the other on the wharfs. The former has 3,000 members and the latter 1,000." This shows that the labor movement was then well advertised throughout the coun- try and that the workers in every trade felt the need of having their own union. A PERIOD OF SUCCESS 53 The Printers ' Union of Tokyo attempted to work out its own problems by different tactics than those employed by the iron and railway workers. From its very in- ception this union advocated the so-called identity of interests of capital and labor. To> clearly illustrate its attitude: The union elected Mr. Soburo Shimada, M. P., as its president, because they con- sidered him a friend of both capital and labor. The Printers' Union adopted this policy in order to accomplish its ends and in fact, they received the ardent support of the professors of the Imperial Univers- ity of Tokyo. They were even given a splendid feast on the celebration of the founding of the Printers' Union on No- vember 3, 1899, at the Tokyo Y. M. C. A. Hall. This union claimed to have a mem- bership of 2,000. At this time the university professors and their followers, encouraged by the friendly attitude toward them of the Print- ers ' Union, inaugurated a sort of social 54 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN reform movement under the name of Social Reformism. These university men were influenced largely by German ideas. They advocated pure and simple reforms, based on the present capitalist society. With them we held heated discussions at public meetings and also in the pages of the magazines. The majority of the workers sided with the attitude taken by the Iron Workers' Union and the editors of the Labor World. From the beginning of the year 1899, the Labor World had been giving a special column in every issue to the discussion of Socialism. Before that time it had, from time to time, reported events in the Social- ist movement abroad, but now we thought it time to educate the workers on the aims and principles of Socialism. In November of the same year there had appeared in Osaka a labor paper called The Osaka Weekly. It advocated Social- ism outright as the only solution of the labor problems. It was owned and edited A PERIOD OF SUCCESS 55 by Mr. Kentaro Oi, the veteran of a prom- inent liberal movement before 1890, when the liberals were demanding a national constitution and a parliament. But the Osaka Weekly failed soon on account of lack of means and support from the workers. Eighteen hundred and ninety-nine was very prosperous year for our movement. I made two trips to the northeast along the Nippon railway lines, first in the spring and again in the autumn, both in the ca- pacity of secretary of the Iron Workers' Union, with gratifying success. Every branch of the Iron Workers' Union was in the best condition and there was little or no trouble for the labor movement. In Tokyo a Cooks' Union and in Yokohama a Furniture Makers' Union were organized during that year under the direct auspices of the Labor World and its editor. SOCIALISM A POPULAR POLICY OF THE DAY. The vear nineteen hundred dawned with 56 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN even brighter prospects for the Socialist and labor movement of Japan. The pub- lic in general had become very much inter- ested in Socialism and especially in social reform. Count Itagaki, the founder of the liberal movement in Japan and one of the leaders in the revolution of 1866, founded a reform club called the Doki Club, based on Socialist principles. At the cities of Wakayama and Omiya, both industrial cities, a labor club was estab- lished for the education and amusement of the workers. Dr. Ukichi Taguchi, M. P., editor and proprietor of the Tokyo Economist, who is a recognized leader of the school of "laissez faire" economists, came out as an ardent advocate of the principles of the single tax and severely attacked the landlords. The rising interest in and the eager dis- cussion of social reforms came at this time as a reaction to capitalist injustices and the utter cruelty of the capitalist classes A PERIOD OF SUCCESS 57 toward workingmen and women. To give a few examples : In June, 1899, at the Hokoku Colliery, Kiushiu, 207 miners were buried alive and permitted to be burned to death in order to save the mining properties. A little later thirty-one young spinning girls were burned to death in a dormitory of the spinning company. After working sixteen hours a day these girls are locked up in the dormitories, to which doors and win- dows are fastened on the outside to pre- vent the girls from escaping from their jobs. When the fire broke out at one o 'clock in the dormitory where the tragedy occurred, the poor worn-out girls were un- able to escape. Those who jumped from the windows were maimed or killed and the others were all burned to death. Again forty workmen were killed on the Nippon E. E. line on account of the utter neglect in supervising the bridge at Howoki. These and many other disasters occur- ring in various industries throughout the 58 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN country awakened the public into a con- scious or unconscious indignation. These joined in protest against capitalist brutal- ities. Consequently the policy adopted by the Labor World were largely approved by the public. PUBLIC PEACE POLICE LAW. In the spring session of the Imperial Diet, 1900, a bill was passed and enacted immediately. The law is entitled the Public Peace Police Law. It proved to be the death knell to all phases of the labor movement, because it prevented the work- ing class from organizing themselves into unions. The law practically prohibits the industrial working classes as well as the tenant farmers from agitating in their own interests and against the employers and landlords. To attempt to enlist others in a move- ment to raise wages, shorten hours of labor or to lower land rents was declared a crime against the peace and order of A PERIOD OF SUCCESS 59 society. And later the law was inter- preted to mean that all labor movements were a crime! In the same session a co-operative law was voted upon. But on account of the Public Peace Police Law the workers were never able to utilize the co-operative law. The very oppressive features of the Police Law against the working classes caused these classes and their friends to feel an urgent need of obtaining universal suffrage in Japan. With this purpose we organized an Association for Universal Suffrage. Many prominent men came into the association. The Tokyo Barbers' Union and the Nippon R. E. Workers' Union joined. But all the suffrage move- ment ever achieved was the passage of a Universal Suffrage Bill in the lower house. The bill was killed in the House of Peers. Meanwhile, we preached Socialism at the workingmen's meetings, perhaps with more zeal and enthusiasm than we showed for trade unionism, and this was alto- 60 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN gether a new subject, although at the same time the 'Oppressive measures against the working class adopted by the government gave our cause a great and convincing impetus. These measures im- pelled us to agitate among these workers for Socialist politics. There was then more freedom of speech for labor and Socialist politics at public meetings than there was freedom on the subject of trade unions, strikes and the boycott, since the latter were directly concerned with the existing industries of the country. This being the situation we gradually educated the Japanese workers in Socialism for several years. The follow- ing was perhaps the first direct result of our propaganda. The Nippon E. E. Workers ' Union, at its annual meeting, held in the city Mito, in March, 1901, voted a resolution proclaim- ing that Socialism is the only ultimate so- lution of the labor problems, and in- A PEKIOD OF SUCCESS 61 stmcted its executive committee to join the Universal Suffrage movement. SOCIAL, DEMOCEATIC PARTY. The clear stand on Socialism taken by the Nippon E. R. Workers' Union in this resolution and many other signs of the times convinced us that our workers were fairly well prepared for political action, so on May 20th, 1901, after deliberation and consultation at the headquarters of the Iron Workers' Union for a few weeks, we formed a Socialist party which we called the Social Democratic Party. At the same time we published a Socialist Manifesto and a Party Platform. The original mem- bers of the party were : D. Kotoku, I. Abe, N. Kinoshita, K. Kawakami, K. Nishikawa and myself. Our Manifesto was printed in four daily papers and in the Labor World at Tokyo and in one country daily. The party was suppressed by the government. But for the first time Socialism was widely advertised, 62 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN making a very strong impression on the people because of the widespread publicity given our Manifesto in the four big Tokyo dailies. The trials of the editors who pub- lished the Manifesto in their respective papers gave the subject still further pub- licity thruout the country. With this splendid advertising of Social- ism to encourage them, the six members of the suppressed Social Democratic Party turned their energies into a Socialist edu- cational and propaganda campaign with increased vigor and enthusiasm. We formed a non-political organization, called Shakai Shugi Kyokai (Socialist As- sociation). Under this name we held So- cialist meetings, of course, charging ad- mission. Slowly but steadily our members increased and soon these began to take part in the meetings. At the time that propaganda for a pure and simple trade union movement was more and more severely dealt with by the authorities, our labor politics and Socialist A PERIOD OF SUCCESS 63 agitation had comparative freedom and was rather popular among the people. The Niroku, a penny daily, published a series of articles on Socialism which lasted for two weeks. The articles were written by Comrade Isowa Abe, one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party. Even the big bourgeois dailies like the Jiji, gave us notices for our Socialist meetings while others mentioned these in their news columns. This apparently friendly attitude of the press in general, tho it may have been based on business motives and a desire for greater circula- tion, nevertheless helped us much in our propaganda. To give one instance: With the co-operation of the Iron Workers' Union, whose secretary I was, the said Niroku, whose owner and man- ager was a personal friend of mine, an- nounced in its columns a working men's social meeting, to be held at Mukoshima Park on the 3rd of April, 1901, one of the four Japanese national holidays. To this 64 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN meeting some fifty thousand workingmen applied for admission, paying a fee of 20 sen. Six thousand members of the Iron Workers were enlisted. The gathering was announced prohibited by the govern- ment, but the Niroku insisted on holding the meeting and, after much discussion, the government consented to permit a meeting of not over five thousand persons. The government claimed that it could not muster over five thousand police and could not, for this reason, permit a larger attendance at the park. Niroku devised a scheme to meet the situation by announcing that the number admitted would be limited to> five thou- sand first come first served. Every one of the fifty thousand wanted to be one of the first-comers. This was an exciting day in the history of the labor movement. Many came to the park the previous evening and remained there all night. When morning came there were alreadv more than the allotted num- A PERIOD OF SUCCESS 65 ber present and when the meeting opened there were from thirty to forty thousand people present. The police force was powerless before the peaceful mass demonstration. The assemblage voted a resolution demanding a factory law, universal suffrage, and made other demands. The meeting was a great success in every way. It seemed that for that day at least the working classes of Japan realized their own power. This meeting was followed by other meet- ings thruout Japan in the course of a month or so. But the government deemed these dangerous to the country, for never again to this very day has it permitted the holding of vast meetings. It must indeed have felt itself powerless before the mass action of the working class! Immediately after the suppression of the Social Democratic Party, the Yorozu, a popular daily paper in Tokyo, started to organize a party. It was called the Ideal Association (Bisodan), a sort of lib- 66 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN eral reform club containing a great part of the Socialist program. In the Yorozu Comrades Kotoku and Sakai were the principal writers. The public was under the impression that the Yorozu would take up the work of the suppressed Social Democratic Party, but after a few years this expectation died out. When the war with Russia became im- minent in the autumn of 1903, the Yorozu assumed an extreme jingoistic stand, which caused Comrades Kotoku and Sakai to leave the daily. The growing interest in the Socialist movement shown by the success of meet- ings and the increased circulation of the Labor World, made us feel the necessity of enlarging the paper and in the summer of 1901, we announced that it would be changed into a daily with the issue of the coming December number, which would be the last of the first one hundred issues which had appeared. The paper had been a bimonthly. A PERIOD OF SUCCESS 67 With this end in view we asked the workers to pay one year subscription in advance, Y 2.40. Our request met with ready response and we received a large number of subscriptions in advance. After about eight months of preparation, on January 1st, 1902, we sent out the first number of the first Socialist daily paper appearing in Japan. The free use of the Iron Workers' Headquarters was given us, the second floor being given over to editorial and composing rooms. Our office occupied the first floor front and in the back rooms the paper was printed. The daily was chiefly supported by the working class. Com- rades Abe, Kotoku, Kawakami, Kinoshita and many others helped by contributing articles. Financially I was wholly re- sponsible for the paper. It cost just one thousand dollars to get types, machines and other necessary equipment. The paper came out for just two months. At that time the city newsdeal- 68 ers (twenty-one) monopolized the entire business of selling and distributing papers and they wanted to charge outrageously high prices for our paper, so that it was utterly impossible for us to place the pa- per at the door of each subscriber every morning. Moreover, the lack of business experience more than anything else caused us many difficulties in spite of the hearty sympathy and support of the working class, particularly of the Iron Workers' Union. Besides my own health was broken down on account of overwork and I had to seek a warmer climate than chilly Tokyo to regain it. These circumstances compelled us to give up the daily with great loss to me and to the cause of labor and of Socialism. We thought it best to cease publication at once and to continue the propaganda work in some form in or- der to renew publication in the near fu- ture. in. SOCIALISM A POPULAR TOPIC. The years 1902 and 1903 were the most prosperous period for the combined ac- tivities of the labor and socialist move- ment in Japan. Socialism was then a very popular topic of study and discus- sion in public. Industrial depressions that followed for many years, after the wild boom that ruled the industrial and commercial world during the sudden in- flux of a vast amount of war indemnity taken from China, were almost overcome. The long expected prosperity had not yet returned because for some time threaten- ing clouds were hanging over the Hermit Kingdom (Corea), the domination of which had been a constant issue between Russia and Japan for many years since China had been defeated by Japan. But financial conditions were better than for many years and the industrial 69 70 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN situation was on a firm basis. These and other circumstances favored our labor and socialist agitation among the work- ers ; and the general public was then very eager to listen to and discuss socialism. During those two years of activity we had made several extensive propaganda tours all over the country. We made trips to the country in groups of two to five comrades and I always was one of them. Expenses were met by admissions and selling of the Labor World and so- cialist books. After the failure of the socialist daily, the Labor World was again published, starting April 3, 1902, in a much im- proved magazine form and came out fortnightly. Our socialist movement naturally centered around the Labor World in the editorial work of which I was assisted by two or three comrades, including Comrade Nishikawa. Besides, Comrades Abe, Kotoku, Kinoshita, Sakai and others contributed articles to the pa- SOCIALISM A POPULAR TOPIC 71 per on socialism and social questions. Not only that, Comrade Kotoku also wrote a life history of Ferdinand Las- salle for the Labor World; Comrade Sakai translated the main part of ''La- bor" by Emile Zola; Comrade Kotsuka translated "Merrie England", and all of these appeared in the Labor World in the course of two years. Moreover, we pub- lished a complete review of a book on Mil- lerand's work and Emile Vandervelde 's In- dustrial Revolution. Socialism and the labor movement be- come popular. This is shown by the very fact that the editors of the Labor World interviewed many prominent persons, statesmen, scholars and business men on the labor questions and on socialism. It is now amusing to look into the col- umns of the old Labor World and to no- tice how those men, who today are the deadly opponents of socialism, who are condemning socialist activities, at that time approved socialism and gave their 72 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN own reasons for it. Some even expressed themselves as being already socialists. We will quote here a few of the inter- views that appeared in the Labor World in 1902 and 1903. When I called on him for his opinion on socialism, Marquis Okuma, late Pre- mier, told me that "from olden times the ideals of our statesmen appear to have been a national socialism," and the old Marquis went on to give historical facts. During the Tokugawa rule Japan's own socialism was realized, when lyeyasu, the first ruler of the Tokugawa Dynasty, pro- hibited the capitalization of land, fixed the wages of labor by law. Some of the feudal lords, in particular those of Kaga, ordered the landlords within his own province to release land rents for three consecutive periods of ten years each, and finally the tenants acquired their own land when the revolution of 1868 was suc- cessful. At one time the feudal government SOCIALISM A POPULAR TOPIC 73 abolished the creditors' lawsuits against debtors. We know that occasionally the government ordered the people to cancel all the debts contracted. Mr. Genichiro Fukuchi, a noted his- torian and savant, said to the editor of the Labor World, " Japan's Kokutai (Na- tional Constitution) is really socialism. A person who lives from another's labor is looked upon as a criminal, according to the fundamental national ideas. One who lives from the labor of others is con- demned and punished just like a gambler and thief. Labor is the ideal of Japan. Isn't this socialism?" Prof. Kenzo "Wadagaki of the Imperial University said ''Japan as a nation is so- cialistic. The Japanese are of socialistic character." Mr. Rokwa Tokutomi, one of the greatest novelists of modern Japan, wrote a socialistic political novel, Kuro- shio (Monsoon) that shocked the very foundation of the bureaucratic regime. The book appeared in 1899 and the writer 74 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN says to the editor of the Labor World: "I believe in socialism and preach it. Today one who says that he does not believe in socialism or is afraid of preaching it is one who cares for his position, seeks his own property, and longs after his own promotion. One who says he can't un- derstand socialism or can't believe it is not a man but is either a fool or insane." Prof. Inazo Nitobe of the Imperial University, when he was interviewed by the writer in the summer of 1902, said that he was a good socialist and pro- ceeded to declare that after the trusts, the so-called social democracy of Marx will be established in the sphere of econ- omy. ' ' Socialists shall then rule the world so that the greatest number of human beings will enjoy a happy life. I be- came a socialist while I was in America three years and ever since my belief in socialism has been growing stronger. The ideal of humanity is in socialism." This firm believer in socialism and a SOCIALISM A POPULAR TOPIC 75 socialist future in 1902 was Prof, Inazo Nitobe, the noted author of "Bushido." The same professor lately has been faith- fully serving the bureaucracy and is at- tacking socialism and socialists as being detrimental to the interests of the coun- try. Some of his old pupils were influ- enced by Prof. Nitobe to give up social- ism. One of these is Mr. K. Nishikawa, who was one of the founders of the social democratic party. It might look as if these men had expressed mere phrases to the editors of the Labor World, but the printed pages of the Labor World will attest the fact that socialists were not outcast then and socialism was not prohibited in Japan at that period as it is now. For the time the progress of the so- cialist movement went on very smoothly and we had not only the sympathy of prominent persons, who approved social- ism and its movement, but also we gained a very strong and prominent socialist in 76 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN Mr. Fumio Yano. In the summer of 1902 Mr. Fumio Yano declared himself a socialist and gave us many lectures on socialism. He went with us several times during this period for socialist propa- ganda. Mr. Yano was an old liberal statesman and an influential agitator for the constitutional government in the eighties. But he left the liberal party because the party became too corrupt. In 1882 Mr. Yano wrote a book about a group of youths who brought about the Theban Hegemony. This book served the cause of the liberal movement in Japan. Half a million copies were sold and he became a well known writer and thinker. Now this author came out as a socialist and went with us in the common cause for socialism. Mr. Yano was not only in the active propaganda work, but he wrote a book called "New Society". It is largely original and is well written, working out the problems of modern so- cialism thoroughly. He took the best SOCIALISM A POPULAR TOPIC 77 there was of Utopian socialism and elab- orated on the way to convert Japan into a socialist state. He showed the most skill in picturing the transition stage from the present capitalist state to a so- cialist state, adjusted admirably every phase of society and international rela- tions under socialism. These two prob- lems the author considered his own con- tribution to the literature of Utopian so- cialism as represented by More and Bel- lamy, t The New Society at once became very popular in the country. Several hundred thousands of copies were sold in a few months. The Labor World records our socialist activities in 1902, beginning with April 3rd. We held sixty-seven public meet- ings in 1903, one hundred and eighty-two altogether, in nineteen months 182 meet- ings. Besides those meetings there must have been many meetings held by other comrades in the country. 78 THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN JAPAN During this period we made several propaganda tours into' the country. In the summer of 1902 three of us went to the northeast along the Nippon railroad for fifteen days to hold thirteen meetings in twelve cities scattered in over a dis- tance of 500 miles. In January, 1903, two of us made a trip to western cities, trav- eling over 400 miles and held meetings at Kiyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima and Kure. In the summer of the same year from July 4th to> September 5th, three and part of the time four of us made an ex- tensive trip to Shikoku, Kushiu Islands, covering eleven provinces and twenty-one cities in which we held twenty-six meet- ings. Many short trips were made from time to time. The propaganda was self- supporting and the Labor World got a very good advertisement from them. As to the organized work of o