Hirano Yoshitarō

Hirano Yoshitarō ( Japanese 平野 義 太郎 ; born March 3, 1897 in Tōkyō ; died February 8, 1980 ) was a Japanese Marxist .

life and work

Hirano Yoshitarō graduated from Tokyo University in 1921 and became assistant professor there in 1923. During his studies in Germany from 1927 to 1930 he deepened his knowledge of Marxism at the University of Frankfurt , where he also met Karl August Wittfogel . On his return he was arrested in 1930: he was accused of sympathy for communism . He was released from the teaching post.

From 1932 to 1933 he worked with Noro Eitarō, Yamada Moritarō and Ōtsuka Kinnosuke (大 塚 金 之 助; 1892–1977) together on the creation of the seven-volume textbook "Development History of Capitalism" (日本 資本主義 発 達 史 講座, Nihon shihonshugi hattatszau-shi kōō) . He also became one of the leading representatives of the Kōza group. among the Marxist theorists.

After the Pacific War , Hirano was active in improving relations with China, Southeast Asia and Africa. He was active in many committees, from 1956 was a total of 20 years chairman of the "Japan Pease Committee" (日本 平和 委員会, Nihon heiwa iinkai).

He published his contributions to the Kōza in 1934 under the title "The structure of capitalist society in Japan" (日本 資本主義 社会 の 機構, Nihon shihonshugi-shakai no kikō). In his writings, he compared the absolute nature of Japanese imperialism to modern political history in Europe.

Remarks

1. ↑ The Kōza direction (講座 派) envisaged a two-stage revolution: the abolition of rural semi-feudalism, the imperial system and then the proletarian revolution. In contrast, the Rōnō direction (労 農 派) sought a socialist revolution in one step. Both groups disbanded when members were arrested in 1937 and 1938.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Hirano Yoshitarō . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 1725.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Hirano is the family name, Yoshitarō the first name.