Ichikawa Shōichi

Ichikawa Shōichi ( Japanese 市 川 正 一 ; born March 20, 1892 in Ube ( Yamaguchi Prefecture ); died March 15, 1945 ) was a leading Japanese communist before 1945.

life and work

Ichikawa Shōichi graduated from Waseda University and then worked as a journalist for various newspapers. He later published, together with Aono Suekichi (青 野 末 吉) and others, a Marxist magazine “The Proletarian Class” (無産階級, Musan kaikyū).

In 1923 Ichikawa became a member of the Communist Party of Japan and was co-editor of the party newspaper "Sekki". Ichikawa escaped the purge of March 15, 1928 and was able to attend the 6th Conference of the Communist International in Moscow. However, on April 16, 1929, he was arrested and interrogated for violating the " Law to Maintain Public Security ". Ichikawa was unwilling to renounce his political position and was sentenced to life. He died of exhaustion in prison in 1945. His statements were published posthumously under the title "A Brief History of the Struggle of the Communist Party of Japan" (日本 共産党 闘 争 小 史, Nihon kyōsantō tōso shōshi).

On March 15, 1972, the "Ichikawa Shōichi Memorial Monument" was built in Hikari . Even today, on the anniversary of his death, the "Festival in Front of the Monument" (碑前 祭, Hizen-matsuri) is held there by the Yamaguchi Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of Japan.

Remarks

1. ↑ "Sekki" was later read in Japanese: "Akahata" - "Red Flag". See " Shimbun Akahata "

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Ichikawa Shōichi . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 582.

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