Kotoku Shusui
Encyclopedia
, better known by the nom de plume , was a Japanese
socialist
and anarchist
who played a leading role in introducing anarchism to Japan
in the early 20th century, particularly by translating the works of contemporary Europe
an and Russia
n anarchists, such as Peter Kropotkin
, into Japanese
. He was a radical journalist
and is often considered an anarchist martyr
, as he was executed for treason
by the Japanese government.
in the Kōchi prefecture
, to Tokyo
in his mid-teens and became a journalist there in 1893. From 1898 onwards he was a columnist for the Yorozu Chōhō (Everything Morning News), one of the more radical daily papers of the time; however, he resigned that position when the paper switched to a pro-war stance in October 1903 in the build up to the Russo-Japanese War
.
The following month he co-founded the Heimin Shimbun
(Common Peoples' Newspaper) with another Yorozu Chōhō journalist, Toshihiko Sakai. This paper's outspoken anti-war stance and disregard of the state's press laws landed its editors in trouble with the government on numerous occasions, and Kōtoku himself served a five month jail sentence from February to July 1905.
, he was not an Anarchist, but a Socialist — indeed, Sakai and Kōtoku were the first to translate The Communist Manifesto
into Japanese, which appeared in an issue of the Heimin Shimbun and which got them heavily fined.
His political thoughts first began to turn to a more libertarian
philosophy when he read Kropotkin's Fields, Factories and Workshops
in prison. In his own words, he "had gone [to jail] as a Marxian Socialist and returned as a radical Anarchist."
In November 1905 Kōtoku travelled to the United States
in order to freely criticise the Emperor of Japan
, whom he now saw as the linchpin of capitalism
in Japan. During his time in the United States, Kōtoku was further exposed to the philosophies of anarchist communism
and Europe
an syndicalism
.
He had taken Kropotkin's Memoirs of a Revolutionist as reading material for the Pacific voyage; after he arrived in California
, he began to correspond with Kropotkin and by 1909 had translated The Conquest of Bread
from English
to Japanese.
One thousand copies of his translation were published in Japan in March of that year and distributed to students and workers.
as "the means for the future revolution."
This was an anarcho-syndicalist
view, and one which, because anarcho-syndicalism was growing in the US at the time, with the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World
, showed the American influence clearly.
He followed this speech with a number of articles, the most well-known of which was "The Change in My Thought (On Universal Suffrage)".
In these articles, Kōtoku was now advocating direct action
rather than political aims such as universal suffrage
, which was a shock to many of his comrades and brought the schism between Anarchist Communists and Social Democrats to the Japanese working class movement.
This split was made clear when the relaunched Heimin Shimbun
folded in April 1907 and was replaced two months later by two journals: the Social Democrat Social News
and the Osaka Common People's Newspaper, which argued from an Anarchist position, in favour of direct action
.
, many Anarchists in this period turned to terrorism
as means of achieving revolution and Anarchist Communism, or at least hitting out against the state and authority. Repression of publications and organizations, such as the Socialist Party of Japan, and "public peace police law", which effectively prevented trade union
organizations and strikes, were both factors in this emerging trend in Japan.
In the episode which became known as The High Treason Incident
(Taigyaku Jiken), police arrested five Anarchists for possessing bomb making equipment, which was allegedly intended for a plot to assassinate
the Emperor.
This was followed by a big wave of arrests of political dissidents, of whom Kōtoku was probably the most well-known and prestigious. Though there was conclusive evidence only against five, on January 18, 1911 twenty-six Anarchists were convicted - mostly on circumstantial evidence
. Twenty-four of them were sentenced to death, twelve of whom were actually executed - Kōtoku among them. While he may have known of the plot to kill the Emperor in its initial stages, he had certainly distanced himself from it.
Kōtoku was hanged along with ten others on January 24, 1911 (the one woman, Suga Kanno, was executed the following day because it was already turning dark, not for reasons of delicacy).
His execution was widely regarded as a miscarriage of justice
, though in 1965 the Japanese Supreme Court refused a plea to reopen his case and that of the others executed with him and he is remembered as a martyr by Japanese Anarchists and Anarchists world-wide, sometimes being compared with Sacco and Vanzetti
.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
who played a leading role in introducing anarchism to Japan
Anarchism in Japan
Anarchism was an influential movement in Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries. The anarchist movement was influenced by World War I and World War II, in which Japan played a major role. The anarchist movement in Japan can be divided into three phases: from 1906–1911, from 1912–1936 and from...
in the early 20th century, particularly by translating the works of contemporary Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n anarchists, such as Peter Kropotkin
Peter Kropotkin
Prince Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin was a Russian zoologist, evolutionary theorist, philosopher, economist, geographer, author and one of the world's foremost anarcho-communists. Kropotkin advocated a communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations between...
, into Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
. He was a radical journalist
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
and is often considered an anarchist martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
, as he was executed for treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
by the Japanese government.
Socialist years and imprisonment
Kōtoku moved from his birthplace, the town of NakamuraNakamura, Kochi
Nakamura was a city located in Kōchi, Japan. The city was in the southwestern part of Kōchi and known for its shrine.On April 10, 2005 Nakamura was merged with the village of Nishitosa, from Hata District, to form the new city of Shimanto....
in the Kōchi prefecture
Kochi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the south coast of Shikoku. The capital is the city of Kōchi.- History :Prior to the Meiji Restoration, Kōchi was known as Tosa Province and was controlled by the Chosokabe clan in the Sengoku period and the Yamauchi family during the Edo period.- Geography...
, to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
in his mid-teens and became a journalist there in 1893. From 1898 onwards he was a columnist for the Yorozu Chōhō (Everything Morning News), one of the more radical daily papers of the time; however, he resigned that position when the paper switched to a pro-war stance in October 1903 in the build up to the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
.
The following month he co-founded the Heimin Shimbun
Heimin Shimbun
Heimin Shimbun was a socialist newspaper established in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century. Japanese anarchist Kōtoku Shūsui served as one of the paper's editors. By the beginning of 1904, it was Tokyo's leading publication advocating socialism. Eighty-two people eventually expressed their...
(Common Peoples' Newspaper) with another Yorozu Chōhō journalist, Toshihiko Sakai. This paper's outspoken anti-war stance and disregard of the state's press laws landed its editors in trouble with the government on numerous occasions, and Kōtoku himself served a five month jail sentence from February to July 1905.
America and the anarchist influence
In 1901, when Kōtoku together with Sakai took part in the first attempt to found the Japanese Social Democratic PartySocial Democratic Party (Japan)
The Social Democratic Party The Social Democratic Party The Social Democratic Party (社会民主党 Shakai Minshu-tō, often abbreviated to 社民党 Shamin-tō; also known as the Social Democratic Party of Japan (abbreviated to SDPJ or SDP in English) is a political party that advocates for the establishment of a...
, he was not an Anarchist, but a Socialist — indeed, Sakai and Kōtoku were the first to translate The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto, originally titled Manifesto of the Communist Party is a short 1848 publication written by the German Marxist political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It has since been recognized as one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. Commissioned by the...
into Japanese, which appeared in an issue of the Heimin Shimbun and which got them heavily fined.
His political thoughts first began to turn to a more libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
philosophy when he read Kropotkin's Fields, Factories and Workshops
Fields, Factories and Workshops
Fields, Factories and Workshops: or Industry Combined with Agriculture and Brain Work with Manual Work is a landmark anarchist text by Peter Kropotkin, and arguably one of the most influential and positive statements of the anarchist political philosophy. It is viewed by many as the central work of...
in prison. In his own words, he "had gone [to jail] as a Marxian Socialist and returned as a radical Anarchist."
In November 1905 Kōtoku travelled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in order to freely criticise the Emperor of Japan
Emperor of Japan
The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...
, whom he now saw as the linchpin of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
in Japan. During his time in the United States, Kōtoku was further exposed to the philosophies of anarchist communism
Anarchist communism
Anarchist communism is a theory of anarchism which advocates the abolition of the state, markets, money, private property, and capitalism in favor of common ownership of the means of production, direct democracy and a horizontal network of voluntary associations and workers' councils with...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an syndicalism
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
.
He had taken Kropotkin's Memoirs of a Revolutionist as reading material for the Pacific voyage; after he arrived in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, he began to correspond with Kropotkin and by 1909 had translated The Conquest of Bread
The Conquest of Bread
The Conquest of Bread is a book by the anarchist communist Peter Kropotkin. Originally written in French, it first appeared as a series of articles in the anarchist journals Le Révolté and La Revolté . It was first published as a book in Paris in 1892 with a preface by Élisée Reclus, who also...
from English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
to Japanese.
One thousand copies of his translation were published in Japan in March of that year and distributed to students and workers.
Return to Japan
On Kōtoku's return to Japan, in June 1906, a public meeting was held to welcome him. At this meeting, on June 28, he spoke on "The Tide of the World Revolutionary Movement", which he said was flowing against parliamentary politics (i.e. Marxist party politics) and in favour of the general strikeGeneral strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
as "the means for the future revolution."
This was an anarcho-syndicalist
Anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. The word syndicalism comes from the French word syndicat which means trade union , from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος which means caretaker of an issue...
view, and one which, because anarcho-syndicalism was growing in the US at the time, with the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
, showed the American influence clearly.
He followed this speech with a number of articles, the most well-known of which was "The Change in My Thought (On Universal Suffrage)".
In these articles, Kōtoku was now advocating direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
rather than political aims such as universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
, which was a shock to many of his comrades and brought the schism between Anarchist Communists and Social Democrats to the Japanese working class movement.
This split was made clear when the relaunched Heimin Shimbun
Heimin Shimbun
Heimin Shimbun was a socialist newspaper established in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century. Japanese anarchist Kōtoku Shūsui served as one of the paper's editors. By the beginning of 1904, it was Tokyo's leading publication advocating socialism. Eighty-two people eventually expressed their...
folded in April 1907 and was replaced two months later by two journals: the Social Democrat Social News
Social news
A social news website is a type of website that features user-submitted stories that are ranked based on popularity.-Slashdot:Slashdot, started in 1997, was one of the first social news websites. It focuses mainly on science and technology related news. Users can submit stories, and the editors...
and the Osaka Common People's Newspaper, which argued from an Anarchist position, in favour of direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
.
Trial and execution
Although most Anarchists preferred peaceful means, such as the dissemination of propagandaPropaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, many Anarchists in this period turned to terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
as means of achieving revolution and Anarchist Communism, or at least hitting out against the state and authority. Repression of publications and organizations, such as the Socialist Party of Japan, and "public peace police law", which effectively prevented trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
organizations and strikes, were both factors in this emerging trend in Japan.
In the episode which became known as The High Treason Incident
High Treason Incident
The , also known as the , was a socialist-anarchist plot to assassinate the Japanese Emperor Meiji in 1910, leading to a mass arrest of leftists, and the execution of 12 alleged conspirators in 1911....
(Taigyaku Jiken), police arrested five Anarchists for possessing bomb making equipment, which was allegedly intended for a plot to assassinate
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
the Emperor.
This was followed by a big wave of arrests of political dissidents, of whom Kōtoku was probably the most well-known and prestigious. Though there was conclusive evidence only against five, on January 18, 1911 twenty-six Anarchists were convicted - mostly on circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime...
. Twenty-four of them were sentenced to death, twelve of whom were actually executed - Kōtoku among them. While he may have known of the plot to kill the Emperor in its initial stages, he had certainly distanced himself from it.
Kōtoku was hanged along with ten others on January 24, 1911 (the one woman, Suga Kanno, was executed the following day because it was already turning dark, not for reasons of delicacy).
His execution was widely regarded as a miscarriage of justice
Miscarriage of justice
A miscarriage of justice primarily is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. The term can also apply to errors in the other direction—"errors of impunity", and to civil cases. Most criminal justice systems have some means to overturn, or "quash", a wrongful...
, though in 1965 the Japanese Supreme Court refused a plea to reopen his case and that of the others executed with him and he is remembered as a martyr by Japanese Anarchists and Anarchists world-wide, sometimes being compared with Sacco and Vanzetti
Sacco and Vanzetti
Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were anarchists who were convicted of murdering two men during a 1920 armed robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts, United States...
.
Christ myth theory
His final work is Kirisuto Massatsuron(基督抹殺論, On the Obliteration of Christ). In this book, he claimed that Jesus was mythical and unreal figure.External links
- The Anarchist Movement in Japan, a pamphlet by John Crump and one source for this article.
- e-texts of Kōtoku's works at Aozora bunkoAozora BunkoAozora Bunko is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-of-copyright books or works that the authors wish to make freely available....