Press translations [Japan]. Political Series 0026, 1945-11-24.

Extracts:

A Phase of the History of JAPAN'S Collapse - ZAIBATSU - by SUZUKI, Shigesaburo.

"Cartel Concerns"

Before the air raids, on an autum morning, the owner of a fair sized waste box near the street car shed in [illegible]YAMA, TOKYO, found in it a book entitled "Cartel Concerns". He was half inclined to take the book to the nearest police station, but after some thought, gave up the idea. A few days later the mystery was explained by a special detective. Some days previous a plain clothes policeman found a student reading the book on a street car. The policeman mercilessly dragged the student from the car and took him by car to the AOYAMA[illegible]Police station for interrogation. When the car came near the car shed the student attempted an escape and while so doing threw the book into the waste box.

The student later confessed his "guilt" when unable to endure the tortures inflicted by the police. I heard the story from the policeman concerned while I was in the Police Hospital in KOJIMACHI. The policeman boasted about the adventure if had done something meritorious. If I remember correctly, it was in the fall of 1938, that is, about a year after the outbreak of the CHINA Incident, that JAPAN'S ZAIBATSU were so protected by the judiciary and special police that mere possession of "Cartel Concerns" was heinous enough a crime to warrant detention and torture.

It was about July 1934 that I wrote a serialized article in the YOMIURI on "Analysis of JAPAN's ZAIBATSU in transition" and I also published, extending over the periods of the Manchurian and China incidents, several books analysing ZAIBATSU and Trusts. In the meantime the CHINA Incident became serious, and the situation developed so that a war against BRITAIN and AMERICA became imminent. Those of us who were consistently opposed to war were arrested and at the same time all my publications on the ZAIBATSU were no longer legally publishable.

War and the ZAIBATSU, in the same way as war and the GUMBATSU, are inseparably connected. From the time they served at the revolutionary Emperor's side at the MEIJI Restoration, such big ZAIBATSU as MITSUI, MITSUBISHI, SUMITOMO or Y[illegible]SUDA, became richer with each war. SEIMAN (T.N. SAIGO's Rebellion), Chinese and Russian Wars and finally World War I, served to establish them firmly as extensive, monopolistic outfits.

After the Manchurian Incident, however, new ZAIBATSU, following in the footsteps of the established ones began to grow: The new ZAIBATSU, such as NISSAN, KORI HOGUCHI, NAKAJIMA, HOMURA, SUZUKI, RIKEN, KAWASAKI, ISHIWARA, etc., while trying to oust the big ones, swarmed on the

POLITICAL SERIES: 26 (Continued)

ITEM 1 (Continued)

honey of the enormous military budgets after the Manchuria Incident. KUHARA, the political representative of NISSAN, shouting "One Nation, One Party", stood at the the front of a Fascist win[illegible], for no other purpose than to provoke and incite wars against CHINA.

On the other hand, AYUKAWA, Gisuke, in league with YOSHINO, Shinji and KISHI, Shinsuke, suggested monopolistic management of MANCHURIA. He is said to have financially backed KISHI and IHO, Sekiya. ISHIWARA, Koichiyo, the political spokesman of ISHIWARI Produce, belonged to South Expansion Party because the concern has interests in mines and sea-transportation in the Southern regions. That had led MEIRIH KAI and pulled wires to make a rightist group and to spread war in the Pacific was only too evident. The expense of the Manchurian Incident was 1,512,000,000 yen, while the CHINA Incident cost us 22,335,000,000 yen, and the profits out of these stupendous figures were shared by both old and new ZAIBATSU.

After the Manchurian Incident the big ZAIBATSU were for some time the target of censure and attack by the rightist parties and of course this was due to intrigue on the part of the ZAIBATSU. Anyway, the two kinds of ZAIBATSU, having accumulated war profits during the period between the Manchurian and CHINA Incidents, put on more flesh than they deserved.

On my "Analysis of JAPAN'S ZAIBATSU in Transition", I pointed out "The factories receiving orders for munitions and owned by the ZAIBATSU are twenty in number for the Army and twenty-five for the Navy. The amount of orders given to private concerns during 1935 was 800,000,000 yen of which 60 to 70 per cent went into the big factories of the ZAIBATSU"

On one hand the ZAIBATSU are inseparably related to war through wartime profits, but they also played a prominent part in manipulating war finances through their bank, insurance and trust companies.

Not withstanding the important role they played in the causes of the war, they remained quite self-complacent after the disastrous termination of the war thinking that they would be able to at away, unscathed by laying the whole blame on the militarists and bureaucrats, and passing their holding companies stocks on to the people thus keeping every yen of their profit. However, UNITED STATES Headquarters struck them out of existence by the 6 November announcement "Today the name of the Four Big ZAIBATSU have disappeared."

I believe, first, from the point of view of social justice, that the improportionately high war profit gained by the ZAIBATSU and Munition Capitalists at the expense of common and conscripted laborers and mobilized students, should be put before the nation.

Second, I demand the break-up of the existence and domination of the ZAIBATSU, who were the center of the finance and the principal power of munitions production. This will involve pointing out their war guilt to the nation, at the same time guaranteeing the extermination of the causes of future wars, and the domination of the ZAIBATSU monopoly capitalists. Their being built on highly organized exploitation and on the sacrifice of middle and smaller enterprises is fundamentally against the principles of industrial democracy which should be the very root of the New JAPAN'S economic organization.

To be continued.

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POLITICAL SERIES: 26 (Continued)

Election Law Revision Bill

The 89th Extraordinary Session of the Diet is to be convened on the 26th. In regard to the revision of the Election Law, the Government has, by cabinet meeting, decided on the important items of the bill. After final decision on the 13th, a draft will be sent to the Privy Council for the Emperor's ratification. The Privy Council on receipt of the draft, is to open daily committee meetings to study the measure. However, as regards the separate list of population figures by district which is to decide the number of representatives chosen from each district the necessary information will he obtained from the national census, which is rot expected to be completed before the 20th.

In the meantime the committee will discuss the main text of the Election Law and await the arrival from the Government of a draft of the revision of the law based on population figures of the recent census. The matter will then he taken up in its Entirety and a general meeting of the Privy Council will be called.

Extracts:

General TOJO, Hideki, who has been in custody as a war criminal, was alleged to have received a monetary donation of 10,000,000 yen from the MITSUBISHI interests, according to data concerning financial combines offered by the public Relations Office of General Headquarters.

Mr. GOKO, Kiyoshi, president of the board of directors of the MITSUBISHI Heavy Industry Company, denied the fact. However, the story has gained credence among the people and cannot be ignored. The authorities were determined to disclose the secret of "TOJO's property", but no prosecution or accusation seems to have been made as yet.

Members of the Public Prosecutor's Office appointed public prosecutor IMOTO of the Supreme Court as head, of a committee for solving the question. The heads of the Public Prosecutor's Office are Mr. IWAMOTO, chief public prosecutor, and Mr. YUDA, vice-prosecutor.

As a related affair, a person who had been in contact with General TOJO in Manchuria this spring was accused of fraud and other crimes. This affair may have ramification in the field of war expenditures.

Full Translation:

The policies of the UNITEID STATES of AMERICA and the SOVIET UNION are still not agreed upon. Secretary of State BYRNES revealed the following:

"The SOVIET UNION is insisting upon the establisment of a control council for JAPAN, and through this council, every problem must be settled unanimously by all member nations. In short, in that council, even the opposition of one nation can restrict General MacARTHUR's actions and impede his freedom. The UNITED STATES unwillingly agreed to a unanimous vote of approval in EURO[illegible], but, having failed in the decision of important problems in GERMANY, we must not make the same mistake in the Far East."

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POLITICAL SERIES: 26 (Continued)

ITEM 4 (Continued)

Last week Secretary of State BYRNES stated that the attitude of the SOVIET UNION towards AMERICA has become very friendly, but in the recent speech of MOLOTOV, Foreign Minister of the SOVIET UNION, the reason for the sudden shift of policy towards AMERICA is not explained.

Authorities in the UNITED STATES declared on the 14th that the SOVIET UNION had shifted her position and is again seeking to set up a control council for JAPAN in the same manner now operating in GERMANY.

It was further stated that they have not reached an agreement for setting up the control council for JAPAN nor for allowing SOVIET representatives to participate in the Far Eastern advisory Commission.

DISTRIBUTION "X"

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