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[edit] The Japanese Communist Movement
This is all from Scalapino, Robert A. The Japanese Communist Movement: 1920-1966, Berkeley, California, University of California Press, 1967.
"The bitter cleavage between the social democrats and the anarchists continued, with the left gaining increasing influence and further isolating the tiny band of socialists from the mainstream of Japanese life. The culmination of this trend came with the Great Treason Case of 1910. The anarchists had finally moved from words to action, with a plot to assassinate the Emperor Meiji. Twelve Japanese radicals paid with their lives, including Kōtoku himself, although he had taken no active role in the plans. In a great pendulum-like swing, the Japanese socialist movement had veered to the left and, for the moment, ended. Its remnants consisted of a small group of isolated , persecuted men who had been forced into silence by an outraged community.
During World War I, only a few individuals, such as Arahata Kanson, Ōsugi Sakae, Sakai Toshihiko, and Yamakawa Hitoshi, sought to keep the socialist movement alive in Japan, through pathetic little journals and clandestine meetings. The tone was still stronly anarcho-syndicalist, reflective of earlier currents." Page 3
"The radical movement of this era, it must be emphasized, was still in the hands of a tiny band of men who had little or no connection with the main intellectual stream in Japan. The mainstream was dominated by theories of nationalism, democracy, and social reform. Within the radical movement itself, anarcho-syndicalism continued to be the foremost radical expression for some time after the Bolshevik Revolution. Tolstoi, Kropotkin, Bakunin, and Malatesta were all read more widely than Marx by the young radical intellectuals, and up to 1923 the anarcho-syndicalist currents were significant in the Japanese labor and socialist movements." Page 6
"Before the "First Congress of the Toilers of the Far East" finally opened in Moscow on January 21, 1922, these men were joined by seven other delegates who had come from Japan via Siberia. In the fall of 1921, a Comintern representative from Shanghai, Chang T'ailei, had visited Yamakawa and Sakai in Japan, requesting that delegates be selected. He assured them that the representatives could anarcho-syndicalists, because, after visiting Russia, they would shift to Bolshevism. Thus, of the men selected, only two, Takase Kiyoshi, Sakai's son-in-law, and Tokuda Kyūchi, could be considered promising Communists. The rest were in the anarchist camp... Nor were Chang T'ailei's optimistic boasts borne out. The Bolsheviks did not win over all of the Japanese anarchists. Anarchist-Communist quarreling marred the return journey of at least one Japanese group." Page 9
Talk about anarchists collaborating with commies, including Osugi having commies collaborate with him on his paper The Labor Movement) blah blah, then "Moreover, Ōsugi and the pure anarchists began to attack the Lenin government. By the fall of 1922, the attacks were increasing in vigor. Reports of the mistreatment of anarchists in the Soviet Union were now numerous, and the authoritarian nature of the Communist regime was denounced in stinging terms. Bolshevik theories of elitism and proletarian dictatorship came under heavy assault. 'Workers will never be liberarted' asserted one writer, 'by relying on police power and a secret service force.'
"The Japanese anarchist-Communist struggle reached a climax in 1923, but already anarchists were slipping badly in strength and influence. The fundamental reasons for this can only be summarized. Anarcho-syndicalism had failed as a revolutionary tactic, both in Japan and elsewhere, whereas Bolshevism had succeeded, at least in Russia. The failure of anarchism in Japan was particularly striking. In a depression period, when Japanese unions were conspicuously lacking in the capacity to struggle, caution and moderation would seem to have been the only guidelines that offered hope of success to the labor movement. But the anarcho-syndicalists ignored objective conditions. Theirs was the counsel of the full-fledged assault, whenever and wherever a conflagration could be ignited. In the midst of weakness, they urged-and, in some cases, conducted-a campaign of violence. Sabotage, personal assaults, and quasi-revolts against governmental authority were launched, taking advantage of the legitimate grievances of the workers. Almost invariably, the result was defeat for the workers and destruction of the unions involved. Constant turmoil existed in anarchist-dominated unions, membership faded away, and the labor movement went into decline.
...Finally, governmental severity against the anarchists played a considerable role in their demise. It was almost impossible for them to maintain any continuity of leadership or organization. Leaders were kept under constant surveillance and frequently arrested. Anarchist publications were rigorously censored and suppressed. Anarchist-dominated organizations were smashed by police almost as quickly as they developed. Only a small handful of true believers was likely to remain in so hazardous a movement." Page 12-13
"Japanese anarchism did not go down without an intense struggle, however, as the events between 1921 and 1923 reveal. By the spring of 1922, there were indications that Japanese intellectuals and labor groups were beginning to substitute militant political action for the policy of direct economic action advocated by the anarchists...
The internal struggle between anarchists and Communists, however, was long and hard. In some areas, the anarchists even made temporary gains. The Sōdōmei (Japanese Federation of Labor) convention of October 1922, however signaled the end of anarchist power in the Japanese labor movement. Less than a year later, in September 1923, Japanese anarchism suffered a terrible blow with the murder of Ōsugi and his wife by the Secret Police in the aftermath of the Tokyo earthquake. The anarchists, led by Ōsugi's followers, Misunuma Kūma and Iwasa Sakutarō, continued to hold some labor strength and isolated intellectual support. After 1922, however, the anarchists never again threatened to ride the main current of the Japanese radical movement. Page 14
"...in his famous article, "A Change of Direction for the Proletarian Movement," published in the July-August 1922 issue of Zenei, Yamakawa stuck hard at the vulnerability of Japanese anarcho-syndicalism and asserted the need for political action, both inside and outside of the Diet." Page 20
[edit] Anarchism in New Zealand
Hey, I don't know if you saw this, but a book recently came out called Rabble Rousers and Merry Pranksters: A History of Anarchism in Aotearoa/New Zealand by Toby Boraman. It's not available for preview on Google Books yet, but I imagine the local infoshop has it, if you're real excited about doing that article. Murderbike (talk) 00:33, 4 February 2008 (UTC)
