Press translations [Japan]. Economic Series 0221, 1946-01-27.

Extract:

Bureaucratic Egotism Still Exists

I. Members of the Mediation Committee and their Characters.

Because of the economic dislocations which have arisen as a result of the defeat and because of the investigations concerning war responsibility, more and more strikes are being reported from various parts of the Country, To meet this condition, the Ministry of welfare decided to establish a permanent Mediation Committee in every ken in order to settle the disputes rationally and speedily, and notified each prefectual governor of its intention to do so. This announcement was released by the press on 21 November.

Members of the Committee for TOKYO are as follows: KAWARADA, Kaiichi, Chairman; three members representing labor - HARA, Toraichi, an exmember of the central committee of the JAPAN Labor General Alliance (NIPPON RODO SODOMEI), WATANABE, Toshinosuke, ex-secretary of the JAPANESE Government Enterprise Labor General Alliance (NIPPON KANGYO RODO SODOMEI), and YASUDAIRA, Rokuichi, a former executive of the National Labor Union Council (SENKOKU RODO KUMIAI HYO GI KAI), who comes from the leftwing faction; three members representing employers, ASANO, Ryozo, president of the JAPAN Steel Pipe Company, OWADA, Teizo, president of JAPAN Soda Company, and ZEN, Keinosuke, former director of the General Industrial Association (ZENSAN KEN); two members representing intellectuals, WATANABE, Sinzo, ex-secretary of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SHOKOGYO KAIGISHO), SUEHIRO, Gentaro, Professor of TOKYO Imperial University.

The members representing labor and capital and the methods by which they were selected are indicative of the basically undemocratic character of the committee. Setting aside the labor representatives, the employees and intellectuals are at present under suspicion as individuals responsible for the war. Especially tainted is KAWARADA, Kakichi, chairman of the committee, who comes from the Home Ministry and who played a prominent role in wartime bureaucracy. He also was active as Home Minister in General HAYASHI's Cabinet. Furthermore, he was appointed chairman of the KINKI District Administrative Council and was permanent director of the Industrial Patriotio Association (SANGYO HOKOKU KAI). Both of these organizations were established by the TOJO Cabinet, and both of them played important roles in implementing wartime policies. It is known that he has the support of the Home Ministry and that he enjoyed the patronage of Prince KONOE and Marquis KIDO. The reasons given for his appointment as chairman of the committee are that he was chief of the Home Ministry and that he was director of the Capital and Labor Cooperation Association (ROSHI KYOCHO KAI).

ECONOMIC SERIES: 221 (Continued)

ITEM 1 (Continued)

ZEN, Keinosuke, recommended by ISAKA, Takashi is the president of the JAPAN Associated Life Insurance Company (NIPPON DANTAI SEIMEI HOKEN KAISHA). However, he spent a large part of his career as chief director of the General Industries Association (ZEN SAN KEN), which has been the staff headquarters for Japanese capitalism. In this position he has been consistently anti-labor and has been in the vanguard of the capitalists. Led by the late DAN, Takuma, and FUJIWARA, Ginjiro, he took an important part in suppressing various strikes and progressive labor movements. It is well to remember that in 1930 he contributed substantially towards the defeat of the HAMAGUCHI Cabinet's progressive labor union bill.

OWADA, Teiji, president of JAPAN Soda Company, has successfully co-operated with both the capitalists and the bureaucrats. He played an important role in carrying out wartime policies of the so-called "revolutionary" bureaucrats, and at the same time co-operated with the financial cliques, It is well known that, as the faithful servant of OKUMURA, Kiwao, a typical fascist, who was chief of the Electric Bureau of the Ministry of Communications, he contributed his part in passing a Government Electric Power Bill. Consequently, the public considers him one of the bureaucratic fascists and has made him the target of violent criticism. Thereafter, as president of the JAPAN Soda Company, he advanced considerably with the assistance of the Army and with the capital power of the MITSUI financial clique; it cannot be denied that he played a leading role in the fascist drama written by the military, bureaucratic, and financial cliques.

The members of the committee representing labor are, as above-mentioned, HARA, Toraichi, WATANABE, Toshinosuke, and YASUDAIRA, Rokuichi - all of whom are members of the General Alliance (KYOSODOMEIKAI), HARA, Toraichi is presently operator of a "town-factory", and WATANABE, Toshinosuke is secretary of the Association of Technicians(GIJUTSUKA KYOKAI) thus their fitness as representatives of labor is questionable. In the selection of these labor representatives, MATSUOKA was given a free hand. The fact that a labor union leader was allowed to make this important choice, not by consulting the will of the majority, but by his own decision, is clearly contrary to the spirit of the movement. The dogmatism which MATSUOKA displayed in the undemocratic selection of labor representatives is revealed clearly in the instance of YASUDAIRA, Rokuichi.

In selecting YASUDAIRA as one of the representatives, MATSUOKA decided this simply with a letter to YASUDAIRA, stating, "Since I had not the opportunity to talk over this matter intimately with you, I recommended you as a representative, on my over responsibility; I, therefore, would appreciate if you would accept." This letter was delivered to his home on 20 November, while YASUDAIRA was on a trip through the KANSAI District.

As a result of these arbitrary methods of selection, the mediation committee falls far short of the expectations of the people and is thus bound to become the target of widespread criticism. Although MATSUOKA says that he had not the opportunity to talk over this matter, he had taken five days to decide after he was given authority to make the selection by the metropolitan governor. From these facts it may be inferred that the choice was made in accordance with MATSUOKA personal interests.

Because more and more labor unions are being organized and because of the economic situation which characterizes an age of transition, it is probable that labor disputes will become increasingly frequent in the near future. Under such circumstances the Mediation Commission for labor desputes will have an increasingly important function to perform.

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ECONOMIC SERIES: 221 (Continued)

ITEM 1 (Continued)

The success with which the Commission carries out its functions depends in large measure upon the members who comprise it and upon whether or not they are properly and fairly chosen for their position. When we consider the members recently appointed to the commission, however, we cannot help thinking that a certain portion of the representatives are tinged with characteristics which are far removed from the new trend of things. KAWARADA, Kakichi president of the commission, OWADA, Teiji, and ZEN, Keinosuke, for instance may be considered war suspects in that they collaborated with militarists and bureaucrats in carrying out the latter's warlike policies, and thus played the part of an advanced guard supporting the interests of the capitalists.

The TOKYO-To authorities failed in their very first step when they naively selected members of the Commission from among those who had had some experience in Labor Affairs just as one might assign a man with a record of conviction for theft to the task of catching another thief.

The general public is primarily interested in the members of the mediation Commission who represent the laborers' side and the neutral third party because the function of the present Commission, presumably, is to broken labors' right to speak and to reject the old methods of settling disputes, which consisted simply of resorting to force in favor of the capitalists. Accordingly, the members representing labor should be those in whom the masses can put their trust and who compare favorably in ability and knowledge with the representative of capital. Moreover, they should be selected with the full approval of the general public. If they are selected in this way, they will be truly representative of labor.

If we fail to choose persons well-fitted for the Mediation Commission, the consequences will prove disastrous. After all the primary consideration at present is to remove bureaucracy and to insure the democratization of all sections of our society.

The Mediation Commission was finally formed in the face of the criticism which we have just described. To start with, the Commission took up the task of mediating the YOMIURI strike. The YOMIURI strikers, however, refused the intervention of this particular Commission. After much discussion, the strikers succeeded in selecting the following three persons as representatives of the employees: CHOTO, Kokki, chief of the ASAHI employees' union; SUZUKI, Mosaburo, a member of the second Democratic Party; and TOKUDA, Kyuichi, a member of the JAPAN Communist Party. These representatives were selected in the following manner. The committee of the YOMIURI strikers in view of the social significance of their strike, avoided the selection of representative from among themselves, and decided to go by the joint recommendation of the various labor unions, whose interests were indirectly involved in the dispute. Accordingly, on 26 November, representatives from the ASAHI, the MAINICHI, the SANGYOKEIZAI, the TOKYO, the CHUBUNIPPON, the KOBESHIMBUN, the MINSHUSHIMBUN, the KYODO TSUSHIN and the JIJI TSUTSU papers, together with those from the JAPAN Social Democratic Party, the JAPAN Communist Party, the Labor Union Preparatory Society (RODO KUMIAK JUMBI KAI), the Free Judicial Society (JIYU HOSO DAN) and the Popular Liberation Society (JIMMIN KAIHO KYOGIKAI) held a meeting to discuss the matter, and formally selected as the YOMIURI union's representatives CHOTO, Kokki, head of the ASAHI Labor Union; SUZUKI, Mosaburo, a member of the Social-Democratic Party; and HAKAMADA, Satomi, a member of the Communist Party (who because of illness was replaced by TOKUDA, Kyuichi). It is interesting to note that the JAPAN Communist Party has participated in the Mediation Commission.

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