Everything about Militarism-socialism In Showa Japan totally explained
Japanese Militarism-Socialism, sometimes also referred to as
"Japanese right socialism", "Shōwa Nationalism" or
Japanese fascism, refers to a
political syncretism of
Japanese right-wing political
ideologies, developed over a period of time from the
Meiji Restoration, and dominating Japanese politics during the first part of the
Shōwa period (reign of the Emperor
Hirohito). These ideas mixed
Japanese nationalism and
Japanese militarism ideas with "
state socialism", and were proposed by a number of contemporary political philosophers and thinkers in Japan.
Origins and initial failure
Meiji ultranationalist movements
The
right wing movement in Japan can trace its origins to the disaffected
samurai class, who lost their social status and privileges in the
Meiji Restoration. Disgruntled
samurai rose in a number of unsuccessful rebellions (including the
Saga Rebellion,
Satsuma Rebellion, etc) against the new order. When violent protest proved ineffective, many turned to political movements, both in terms of political parties and in militant secret societies. Politically, under the aegis of the
Freedom and People's Rights Movement, the rightists campaigned for a
Constitution, which would allow them to get elected into positions of power. Within the secret societies, such as the
Genyosha and the
Black Dragon Society, they formed
paramilitary organizations which assisted the
Imperial Japanese Army in the
First Sino-Japanese War and the
Russo-Japanese War, while politically striving towards greater Japanese expansionism under the aegis of Pan-Asianism, which would give the military more of a role in Japanese politics and society.
After the
First World War, the focus of many of these groups shifted to combating the perceived threat of
communism, and groups such as the
Kokusuikai arose to take direct and violent action against
socialism and the
labor movement.
Japanese militarism
»
The military had a strong influence on Japanese society from the
Meiji Restoration. Almost all leaders in Japanese society during the
Meiji period (whether in the military, politics or business) were ex-
samurai or descendants of
samurai, and shared a common set of values and outlooks. The early
Meiji government viewed Japan as threatened by western
imperialism, and one of the prime motivations for the
Fukoku Kyohei policy was to strengthen Japan's economic and industrial foundations, so that a strong military could be built to defend Japan against outside powers.
The rise of universal
military conscription, introduced by
Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo in 1873, along with the proclamation of the
Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors in 1882 enabled the military to indoctrinate thousands of men from various social backgrounds with military-patriotic values and the concept the unquestioning loyalty to the Emperor was the basis of the Japanese state
(kokutai).
With a more aggressive foreign policy, and victory over
China in the
First Sino-Japanese War and over
Russia in the
Russo-Japanese War, Japan joined the imperialist powers. The need for a strong military to secure Japan's new overseas empire was strengthened by a sense that only through a strong military would Japan earn the respect of western nations, and thus revision of the
unequal treaties.
The Japanese military viewed itself as “political clean” in terms of
corruption and criticized
political parties under
liberal democracy as self-serving and a threat to national security by their failure to provide adequate military spending or to address pressing social and economic issues. The complicity of the politicians with the
zaibatsu corporate monopolies also came under criticism. The military tended to favor state control over industry over
capitalism, and military also favored state-sponsored social welfare to reduce the attraction of
socialism and
Bolshevism in Japan.
State religion
State Shinto was an important part of the militarist ideology. Based on
emperor worship, it gave religious justification to
totalitarism and promoted
nationalism.
According to this cult, the
emperor of Japan was an
arahitogami, an incarnate divinity and the offspring of goddess
Amaterasu. As the emperor was, according to the constitution, "head of the empire" and "supreme commander of the Army and the Navy", every Japanese citizen had to obey his will and show absolute loyalty.
State Shintō placed emphasis on the idea that the "center of the Phenomenal World is the Tenno". In
Shōwa era, religious and political doctrines joined to dictate that subjects should spread the
hakko ichiu (the eight corners under one roof) and thus extend the great divine spirit around the world. All proclamations of the emperor took on religious significance.
Prince Kanin,
Heisuke Yanagawa,
Kuniaki Koiso and
Kiichiro Hiranuma developed in depth the state-religion link, in relation to nationalism.
Works of Kita Ikki
»
Kita Ikki was an early 20th century political theorist, who advocated a hybrid of
state socialism with “Asian nationalism”, which thus blended the early ultranationalist movement with Japanese militarism. His political philosophy was outlined in his thesis of 1908 and of 1928. Kita proposed a military
coup d'état to replace the existing political structure of Japan with a
military dictatorship. The new military leadership would rescind the
Meiji Constitution, ban
political parties, replace the
Diet of Japan with an assembly free of corruption, and would
nationalize major industries. Kita also envisioned strict limits to private ownership of property, and
land reform to improve the lot of
tenant farmers. Thus strengthened internally, Japan could then embark on a crusade to free all of Asia from Western
imperialism.
Although his works were banned by the government almost immediately after publication, circulation was widespread, and his thesis proved popular not only with the younger officer class excited at the prospects of military rule and Japanese expansionism, but with the
populist movement for its appeal to the
agrarian classes and to the left wing of the
socialist movement.
Works of Okawa Shumei
Okawa Shumei was a right-wing political philosopher, active in numerous Japanese nationalist societies in the 1920s. In 1926, he published, among other works, which helped popularize the concept of the inevitability of a
clash of civilizations between Japan and the west. Politically, his theories built on the works of Ikki Kita, but further emphasized that Japan needed to return to its traditional
kokutai traditions in order to survive the increasing social tensions created by
industrialization and foreign cultural influences.
Development in the 1920s and 1930s
The Shōwa Restoration Movement
Kita Ikki and Okawa Shumei joined forces in 1919 to organize the short-lived, a political study group intended to become an umbrella organization for the various right-socialist movements. Although the group soon collapsed due to irreconcilable ideological differences between Kita and Okawa, it served its purpose in that it managed to join the right-wing anti-socialist, Pan-Asian militarist societies with centrist and left-wing supporters of state socialism.
In the 1920s and 1930s, these supporters of Japanese statism used the slogan, which implied that a new resolution was needed to replace the existing political order dominated by corrupt politicians and capitalists, with one which (in their eyes), would fulfill the original goals of the Meiji Restoration of direct Imperial rule via military proxies.
However, the Shōwa Restoration had different meanings for different groups. For the radicals of the
Sakurakai, it meant violent overthrow of the government to create a
syndicalist state with more equitable distribution of wealth and the removal of corrupt politicians and
zaibatsu leaders. For the young officers it meant a return to some form of “military-shogunate in which the emperor would re-assume direct political power with dictatorial attributes, as well as divine symbolism, without the intervention of the Diet or liberal democracy, but who would effectively be a figurehead with day-to-day decisions left to the military leadership.
Another point of view was supported by
Prince Chichibu, a brother of
Emperor Shōwa, who repeatedly counseled him to implement a
direct imperial rule, even if that meant suspending the constitution.
The failure of various attempted coups, including the
League of Blood Incident,
Imperial Colors Incident and the
February 26 Incident discredited supporters of the Showa Restoration movement, but the concepts of Japanese statism migrated to mainstream Japanese politics, where it joined with some elements of European
fascism.
Works of Sadao Araki
Sadao Araki was a noted political philosopher in the Imperial Japanese Army during the 1920s, who had a wide following within the junior officer corps. Although implicated the in February 26 Incident, he went on to serve in numerous influential government posts, and was a cabinet minister under
Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe.
The Japanese Army, already trained along
Prussian lines since the early Meiji period, often mentioned the affinity between
yamato-damashii and the "Prussian Military Spirit" in pushing for a military alliance with Italy and
Germany along with the need to combat Soviet
communism. Araki's writing are imbued with nostalgia towards the traditions of the
samurai Bushido code, and the military administrative system of former
Shogunate, in a similar manner to which the
Fascist Party of
Italy looked back to the ancient ideals of the
Roman Empire or the
Nazi Party in Germany recalled an idealized version of
First Reich and the
Teutonic Order.
Araki modified the interpretation of the
bushido warrior code to
seishin kyoiku (spiritual training), which he introduced to the military as Army Minister, and to the general public as Education Minister, and in general brought the concepts of the Showa Restoration movement into mainstream Japanese politics.
Influences of European Fascism
During the 1920s and 1930s, Japan received the visits by members of European fascist parties, and there were small German and Italian communities in Tokyo,
Karafuto and other parts in Japanese empire.
Karl Haushofer stayed certain times in Japan and was a key developer of the "
Lebensraum" concept of
Geopolitik. His proposals for a future Germany that was a Eurasian superpower called for an alliance with Japan, which would further augment German strategic control of Eurasia, with the naval power of Japan protecting Germany's insular position. The Japanese theorists concerned with mainland Asia also knew of the geopolitical theory of
Halford Mackinder, as expressed in the book
Democratic Ideas and Reality. He discussed why the "World Island" (the
Eurasian-African landmass) was dominant, and why the key to this was the "Central Land" in Asia.
The influence of German ideology in terms of
Lebensraum can be seen in the works of
Shumei Okawa,
Kingoro Hashimoto and
Ishiwara Kanji. Some ideologists, such as Kingoro Hashimoto, borrowed concepts of
social justice mixed in with militarism, in proposing a single party dictatorship, based on
egalitarian populism, patterned after the European fascist movements.
These geopolitical ideals developed into the
Amau Doctrine (an Asian
Monroe Doctrine), stating that Japan assumed total responsibility for peace in Asia, and can be seen later when Prime Minister
Koki Hirota proclaimed justified Japanese expansion into northern China as the creation of "a special zone, anti-communist, pro-Japanese and pro-Manchukuo" that was a "fundamental part" of Japanese national existence.
Kokuhonsha
The
Kokuhonsha was founded in 1924 by
conservative Minister of Justice and President of the
House of Peers,
Kiichirō Hiranuma. . It called on Japanese patriots to reject the various foreign political “-isms” (such as
socialism,
communism,
Marxism,
anarchism, etc.) in favor of a rather vaguely defined “Japanese national spirit” (
kokutai). The name “
kokuhon” was selected as an antithesis to the word “
minpon”, from
minpon shugi, the commonly-used translation for the word “
democracy”, and the society was openly supportive of
totalitarian ideology.
The New Order Movement
During 1940, Prime Minister
Fumimaro Konoe proclaimed the
Shintaisen (New National Structure), making Japan into a "National Defense State". Under the
National Mobilization Law, the government was given absolute power over the nation's assets. All
political parties were ordered to dissolve into the
Imperial Rule Assistance Association, forming a
single party state based on
totalitarian values. Such measures as measures as the
National Service Draft Ordinance and the
National Spiritual Mobilization Movement were intended to mobilize Japanese society for a
total war against the west.
Associated with government efforts to create a
statist society included creation of the
Tonarigumi (residents' committees), and emphasis on the
Kokutai no Hongi ("Japan's Fundamentals of National Policy"), presenting a view of Japan's history, and its mission to unite the East and West by under the
Hakko ichiu theory in schools as official texts. The official academic text was Another book,
Shinmin no Michi (The Subject's Way), the "moral national Bible", presented an effective catechism on nation, religion, cultural, social and ideological topics.
The end of Japanese statism
Japanese statism was completely discredited and destroyed by the utter failure of Japan's military in
World War II. After the
surrender of Japan, Japan was put under
allied occupation. Some of its former military leaders tried for
war crimes before the
Tokyo tribunal and government, educational system revised and the tenets of
liberal democracy written into the post-war
Constitution of Japan as one of its key themes.
In August
1945, State Shintō was abolished. On
1 January 1946, Emperor Shōwa issued an imperial rescript, sometimes referred as the
Ningen-sengen, in which he quoted the
Five Charter Oath of his grandfather,
Emperor Meiji and announced he wasn't an
akitsumikami.
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