Gyōmin Kyōsantō

Gyōmin Kyōsantō
暁 民 共産党
Enlightened People's Communist Party
Party presidency ( sōsai)	Kondō Eizō
founding	August 20, 1921
resolution	November 1921
Headquarters	Tokyo

The Gyōmin Kyōsantō ( Japanese 暁 民 共産党 English Enlightened People's Communist Party ) was a political party in Japan in the period before the Second World War . The party that called for an immediate revolution in Japan is not recognized as its predecessor by today 's Japanese Communist Party . However, several former members of the party participated in the founding of the Communist Party in 1922.

founding

The party was founded on August 20, 1921 by Kondo Eizo (Kondo was released from prison in July of the same year). The party's founding members were radical intellectuals, many of them former Waseda University students and members of the Society of Enlightened People . The inaugural meeting, which was held in secret, passed a party program and a constitution. An executive committee (chaired by Kondo) and four other committees were elected: the finance committee headed by Nakasone Genwa, the investigative committee headed by Hirata Shinsaku, the publications committee headed by Takase Kiyoshi, and the propaganda committee headed by Takatsu Seido.

According to Smith, the party's actual identity is unclear. Kondo's testimony indicates that the organization called itself the "Communist Party," but Takase's testimony suggests a slightly different view. According to Takase, the organization was called "Gyōmin Communist Group" and was more of an informal association than a structured party. However, the leaflets distributed by the organization were signed "Communist Party Headquarters".

propaganda

Less than a month after the founding meeting, the party began distributing propaganda in Tokyo , Osaka , Kobe, and Kyoto . In early October 1921 the party distributed propaganda posters. In November, the party distributed two sets of anti-military / anti-war leaflets to soldiers who had gathered in the Tokyo area for a major military exercise.

International connections

The party tried to establish links with the Communist International . Before founding the party, Kondo had the ambition to attend the Comintern's third congress (which took place in the summer of 1921). Soon after the party's inception, a Waseda University student Shigeta Yoshi was sent to Shanghai with a number of party's documents . On November 25, 1921, Shigeta returned to Japan accompanied by a representative of the European Comintern.

In addition, the party was contacted by a Comintern representative visiting Japan with a request to send a delegate to the Congress of the Peoples of the Far East. The party decided to send Takase, the chairman of the publications committee. Takase was one of four people who represented Japan at the Congress.

repression

The party's propaganda caught the attention of the police force early on. On October 12, 1921, the first wave of arrests of party activists took place. After the anti-militarist action in Tokyo in November, the state hit the party. On November 25, 1921, Kondo, Shigeta and Comintern representative B. Gray were arrested. Forty party activists were arrested within a week. These arrests marked the end of the party's existence. B. Gray was expelled from Japan and the funds he took with him were confiscated.

Individual evidence

1. ^ George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo: The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945 . Stanford University Press , 1969, pp. 34, 49 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo: The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945 . Stanford University Press , Stanford 1969, pp. 32-35 .
3. ^ ^{A b} Henry DeWitt Smith: The Japan's First Student Radicals . Harvard University Press , Cambridge 1972, pp. 97 .
4. ^ George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo: The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945 . Stanford University Press , 1969, pp. 39-40 .