Press translations [Japan]. Political Series 0288, 1946-02-06.
Date6 February, 1946
translation numberpolitical-1168
call numberDS801 .S85
Persistent Identifier
POLITICAL SERIES: 288
ITEM 1 Concrete Aspects of a Democratic United Front - Mainichi Shimbun - 5 Feb 46. Translator: J. Weiller.
Full Translation:
by SANO, Gaku
A member of the Communist Party and sometime Professor at Waseda University.
A Japanese Revolution
A revolution is not a thing to be afraid of but rather is a sovereignty remedy. A
corrupted and degenerated society is
rejuvenated through a revolution, making it possible for that race to make a new contribution
to world history. The
revolutions of historical significance in this century are first the Russian and second
the Chinese Revolutions, and, by a
whim of fate, the third one is on the program of world history in the shape of a Japanese
Revolution ca[illegible]ed by bar defeat in the war. The defeat has so far wrecked JAPAN'S history, but our
nation, far from
perishing in the catastrophe is striving for a new raciall revival. The basic movement
of our revolution lic in the
development to socialism in substance through consistent democracy. The historic significance
of this revolution is to create,
anticipating the world, a model peaceful country, devoid of [illegible]but endowed with a noble spirit. The
Japanese themselves must be strongly conscious of the profound meaning and honor of
the Japanese Revolution.
Three Practical and Fundamental Rules
An immediate task confronting the Japanese Revolution is the thoro[illegible]prosecution of democracy, the
guiding power of which should be who masses, including workmen who are engaged in
both material and yon spirtual production,
with the workers as their core. The bourgeoists even their progressive element, being
no more than reformists, its gentlemen
of the Diet are not fit for the accomplishment of the revolution. An all front fight
to oust the feudalistic influence must
necessarily accompany a combat against the great bourgeoisie, and for the conduct
of this combat there are three practical
cast-iron rules.
The first of the rules is a democratic fight from the bottom stratu The purge directive
on 4 January dealt a crushing blow to
the old leaders, but look at the village which is the basic social unit, where you
still find cases of a chief being a member
of the Progressive Party or an executive of an agricultural society stealing rice
destined for public distribution. Also, the
Neighborhood Block Associations of the towns are still functioning on the feudalastic
framework. Unless a democratic gale
blows up from below, caused by
POLITICAL SERIES: 288 (Continued)
ITEM 1 (Continued)
a committee composed of the people, the democratization of the whole country can
never he realized.
The second is the establishment of a nation-wide revolutionary party. The Social
Democratic and the Communist Parties may be
aiming at it, but it is regrettable that they have not arrived at that stage yet.
The third is the formation of a united democratic front which I am now going to advocate.
National and Constructive
The fact that even in progressive camps there soon emerge feudalistic faction and
feudalistic bosses, amply tells us that
feudalism still strongly survives in our society. The masses never require such antiquities.
It is all very well that each
party, retaining the freedom of criticism argues to its heart's content regarding
the other's [illegible]program, but as far as the thorough realization of democracy is concerned they should
be broad minded enough to form a
unified front as soon as possible. The unified front should not stop at merely confronting
the feudalistic influence The
popular front led by BLUM in pre-war FRANCE, assumed outwardly a wall organized aspect
aiming at anti-fascism but owing to the
leftist workmen's sabotage, it collapsed with the country without showing a shadow
of resistance when invaded by HITLER. On
the other hand the unified front after the war under the leadership of THOREZ, because
of its stress on the restoration of the
national life, and working on that line, has made a great success with the support
of the French people. The reason that the
present-day European unified fronts are showing signs of continuing is due to their
firmly getting hold of the national
motive. Our nation, now gasping in the pit of defeat, cannot look forward to re-construction
without the revival of
production. In order that our nation may not degenerate into the state of quasi colonial
slaves, I fervently prefer the
earliest revival of our national independence.
The unification of our front must contain in its program national and constructive
objectives, such as the revival of
production starting from the bottom and the return to rational independence, together
with the complete destruction of
feudalistic influences. Such being the case it is not the time for indulging in class
egoistic and ped[illegible]ideological fighting.
Uniform Front from the Bottom
It is of course desilable that the central executives of both Social Democratic and
Communist Parties form a unified front,
but it is spectacular that such fronts are rapidly being formed one after another
by the bottom structures in the country, The
working masses who are hard pressed by destitute living are acting by the correct
political instinct. Among the resolutions
passed by the KANTO Industrial Workers' Representatives Conference on the 20th, are
the items rejecting Capitalistic sabotage,
increased production by the workers and increased production of agricultural necessities
by the labor unions, which indicate a
class alliance between the workers and farmers based on a unified front and a national
motive, freed from party restrictions.
A people's revolution is a revolution from the bottom, Combination of power from a
broad basis is most precious, therefore the
present trend of forming a unified front from the bottom must be consciously propelled.
Create the Kernel
My hearty respect and agreement are due to Mr. YAMAKAWA, Hitoshi, my
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POLITICAL SERIES: 288 (Continued)
ITEM 1 (Continued)
esteemed socialist friend, who proposed a unified front. The question is its concrete
contents and it is desired that a
conference, which will be the kernel, as proposed by him, comes into being. The successful
formation of the unified front
depends on the scope and nature of the bodies and persons invited to the conference
and I hope as many classes as possible be
included in the invitation, such as comprising the Social Democratic, the Communist,
the JAPAN Popular Party, the Cooperative
Party, the Independent Social Party, parties o[illegible]assured democratic tendencies out of many mushroom
parties in towns and in the country, artists, thinkers, technicians, educators, lawyer
of democratic inclination, etc.
Basic Slogans
- 1.Firm establishment of people's rights.
- 2.Overcoming the food and other living arises and reconstruction of production.
- 3.Immediate formation of a revolutionary democratic coalition cabinet.
With these three objectives in view we should roughly combine all the democratic
influences. When the Bolsheviks formed a
common front with the Mensheviks, LENIN always declared and maintained the "freedom
of criticism". It is absolutely necessary
that every party should dispute on the basic program, retaining the freedom of criticism,
otherwise there is no raison d'etre
for different parties. There is the controversy over republicanism or the Emperor
System regarding the form of the people's
right. This question itself should be the basic program of every party, but for the
formation of a unified front, the accord
on the people's right is quite sufficient. Asking them to form a unified front with
the abolition of the Emperor System for
the center is an impracticable request making impossible the formation of the front.
Also, in the democratic stage, I am
against a majority party cabinet and instead assert the necessity of the immediate
formation of a ecalition cabinet composed
of a proportional number of personnel from various democratic influences. The present
cabinet is like a dilapidated house with
no prop to lean on and I do not know where it got such a fantastic idea as to exercise
a "strong hand" in accelerating the
farmers' rice shipments. What ever "strong hand" the present Government may pretend
to resort to, the fixed [illegible]of rice KYUSHUTSU must be undertaken by a new popular formula.
ITEM 2 Rehabilitation of National Life Most Important for Next Government - Tokyo
Shimbun - 5 Feb 46.
Translator: T. Kitayame.
Summary:
Ever since its formation, the SHIDEHARA Cabinet has been showing [illegible]inefficiency in handling the
problems of monetary inflation and the food crisis. Among the poor measures which
it has been carrying out since it took
office, the following three are those by which it has most glaringly revealed its
conservative end bureaucratic character:
enactment of coercive authority on foodstuff control, control of labor union movements,
and the revision of the Constitution,
for the last of which it has been making every possible effort ever since its formation.
Concerning these three problems,
various political parties have already published their individual views, which vividly
show their characters. That is to say,
it has gradually come to be seen that each party, under camouflage of democracy, is
simply taking advantage of democracy.
Under these circumstances, it is quite noteworthy that the two big parties, Progressive
and Liberal, each of
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POLITICAL SERIES: 288 (Continued)
ITEM 2 (Continued)
which is seeking the government at the next election, have no measures essentially
different from those of the SHIDEHARA
Cabinet which they so severely attack. Let us here sound the views held by the Progressive
and Liberal Parties on these three
problems.
1. Problem of Coercive Food Central.
All political parties and factions have charged the Government with its enactment
of arbitrary control on food delivery. The
Social Democratic and Communist Parties supported a democratic way of delivery and
control instead of coercive control, while
the Progressive Party attacked the Government for its compulsory control without taking
measures for raising the price of
rice, making awaris [illegible]delivery. a distributing of fertilizers, agricultural implements, etc. The
Liberal Party insisted upon an increase in the price of rice. There is a vivid difference
between the democratic ways of
delivery and control which the Social Democratic and Communist Parties advocate. Both
of these are premature as a policy. In
order to put it into execution, not only is there ample room for further investigation,
but also it cannot be realized until a
change takes place in the present situation. The democratic way advocated by the two
parties points to method opposed to those
which the Government is taking. On the contrary, the contention of the Progressive
and Liberal Parties is by no means opposed
to that of the Government. What the two parties insist on, the Government is also
endeavouring to bring about. Only the
Government is not capable enough to cope with the problem.
2. Problem of Arbitrary Control on Labor Unions.
The problem of controlling foodstuffs concerns the agricultural villages, and in
consequence, exerts a great deal of influence
upon measures for the coming election. Concerning this problem, therefore, all parties
try to curb their utterances about it,
doing everything to gain the good-will of the farming districts. In spite of [illegible]fact that the
Progressive and Liberal Parties have nothing essentially different from the government,
they have artfully emphasized their
opposition to the Government's coercive control. But confronted with the problem of
the labor union movement, they have at
last disclosed their real intentions, supporting the Government most clearly
3. The problem of the Revision of the Constitution.
It goes without saying that the CHIDEHARA Cabinet makes it its creed as it were,
to support the Emperor System. The
Progressive and Leberal Parties, which also advocate the maintenance of the Emperor
System and the Emperor, have nothing to
oppose the contents and method for revision of the Constiturion that the Government
is adopting. This only too natural. State
Minister MATSUMOTO has reassured us that in the Government's revision draft no change
is made in Articles I to IV. Concerning
this the Liberal Party criticizes the Government from the viewpoint of joint rule
by the Emperor and the people and also from
the point of view of the theory of the State as the judicial body. But these are nothing
but explanations of the Constitution,
and have nothing to do with the essential elements of the Constitution.
Thus the essence of the two parties little differs from that of the SHIDEHARA Cabinet,
and indeed they are in some cases even
reactiona[illegible]How then should the nation take this attitude of the two parties? At the last
extraordinary session of the Diet a certain member of the Progressive Party emphasized
that the political power should
naturally be transferred to some party after the general election whatever the
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POLITICAL SERIES: 288 (Continued)
ITEM 2 (Continued)
result might be. It is true that the transference of political power from the bureaucratic
Cabinet to a party cabinet may be a
step of progress toward the democratization of JAPAN, and in this sense the Progressive
Party was once supported by the people
at large. Three months have elapsed since then, and the situation of this country
has changed very rapidly. The nation is
threatened with hunger and starvation owing to the shortage of foodstuffs. Perhaps
some party will shoulder the next political
power. But the party must be the one that can tide over this national crisis by means
of fundamental measures. The question
is, therefore, not merely one of the transference of political power from a bureaucratic
cabinet to a political cabinet, but
as to what party will hold that power. With the general election just ahead, the nation
must not be made a fool of by the
vision of "party politics".
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