Sakisaka Itsurō

Sakisaka Itsurō ( Japanese 向 坂 逸 郎 ; born February 6, 1897 in Ōmuta ( Fukuoka Prefecture ); died January 22, 1985 ) was a Japanese Marxist economist.

life and work

Sakisaka Itsurō graduated from Tokyo University in 1921 with a degree in economics . From November 1922 to May 1925 Sakisaka continued his education at Berlin University. During his studies in Berlin he read Marxist writings and at that time came to an almost Marxist worldview. Due to the high inflation after the First World War, Sakisaka was able to buy a large amount of valuable Marxist books in foreign currency and thus create a basis for his collection of Marxist literature. After his return from Germany, he joined the faculty of the Kyūshū University . However, he lost his job as part of the March 15, 1928 purge.

In the same year Sakisaka began to work for the Marxist magazine "Rōnō" (労 農) - "Workers and Peasants" - published by Yamakawa Hitoshi . He became the leading spokesman for the Rōnō direction within Marxist theorists as opposed to the Kōza faction. Both groups disbanded when members were arrested as a result of the "Popular Front Incident" (人民 戦 線 事件, Jimmin sensen jiken) in 1937/1938. Sakisaka was imprisoned from 1937 to 1939.

After the end of the Pacific War , Sakisaka was able to return to Kyushu University. After his retirement in 1969 he began to exert a strong influence on the ideological orientation of the Communist Party of Japan and on the association of the Japanese trade unions "Zenkoku Rōdōkumiai Hyōgikai" (日本 労 働 組合 評議 会), in short "Hyōgikai" (評議 会).

During his life Sakisaka occupied himself with Marx and his writings. So he published the first Japanese complete edition of Marx and Engels writings. His own work includes the “Methodology of Economics” (経 済 学 方法論, Keizaigaku Hōhō-ron) from 1949 and “Formation of Marx's Economics” (マ ル ク ス 経 済 学 の 方法, Marx Keizaigaku no Hōhō), 1959.

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.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Sakisaka Itsurō . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 1301.

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