To What Extent Was Taisho Japan Democratic - Essay Example

In what ways and to what extent was Taisho Japan democratic Historians are ambivalent as to put the exact borders of the Taisho period. Some of them mention 1905 - 1932 as the Taisho period, the others make this period narrower - from 1912 up to 1926. However, the majority agree to extend the period, regarding the Hibiya Riots in 1905 as the beginning, and the year 1932 as the end of Taisho democracy with the assassination of Prime Minister Inukai Tsuoshi. (Minichiello S. (1998)) The beginning of the Taisho period was marked by a political crisis that put an end to the earlier politics of compromise, represented during Meiji period. The main question to be solved was how to combine individual rights with existing social order. (Minichiello S. (1998) Japan's Competing Modernities: Issues In Culture and Democracy, 1900-1930, p.3) It is also marked by serious pollution problems, resulting from Meiji industrial policy. Except for these tendencies, the health of a new emperor was weak and this fact led to the shift in political power from oligarchic clique to the parliament and democratic parties. It is customary to call this shift and the related events the Taisho democracy. (Minichiello S. (1998)) Large, Stephen S. (1983) states that at the beginning of the century a growing mass consciousness represented a main tendency in social life. Due to increasing taxation, people wished to play more significant role in social life, thus increasing a number of voting people. One of the most remarkable demonstrations of popular unrest was Hibiya Riot that occurred because oligarchs didn't inform people about the events of war. In the period between 1905 and 1918 economy of Japan changed from agricultural to industrial, while Japan was looking for export market for the new commodities. One of the most remarkable facts of social life during Taisho period was the growth of the population. The agricultural pattern remained the same, but industrial cities grew. This growth may be either a result of the migration from countryside to the cities or a natural growth of the urban population.( Minichiello S. (1998) Japan's Competing Modernities: Issues In Culture and Democracy, 1900-1930, p.7) The researches distinguish between agricultural and non-agricultural economy in prewar Japan. They point out the following reasons for this differentiation: the agriculture reached the top of its output, for greater income it should have changed to larger-scale agriculture but this process could conflict with the social structure; the economic consequences of imperialism, when colonies produced food, depressing agricultural prices in Japan; the power of landlords remained the same so the tenancy problem wasn't resolved. (Minichiello S. (1998) Japan's Competing Modernities: Issues In Culture and Democracy, 1900-1930, p.7) Large, Stephen S. (1983) writes that after the 1st World War the exports failed, and inflation grew. These circumstances aroused economic opposition to governing classes; a number of mass demonstrations grew, as well as the popular demand for participating in social life. In December 1912 collapse in the Cabinet of Saionji Kimmochi seemed to become a factor promoting the ideas of democracy, bringing broad political rights through universal suffrage and true parliamentarism. Yoshino Sakuzo was one of the representative thinkers (1878-1933), who invented the notion of minponshugi (people-centrism). Yoshino's idea of minponshugi enjoyed great publicity from 1916, and still is regarded as the ultimate liberal idea of prewar Japan. Yoshino's notion of minponshugi called for the redistribution of power and wealth in Japanese society by institutionalizing the political system of popular representation; and, by employing various social programs to protect the weak and poor. A new society - Shinjinkai appeared in December 1918. It based upon the dual platform - liberation of mankind and rationalistic reform of present day Japan. This organization was influenced firstly by English social democracy, and then it experienced the influence of Marxists, that grew stronger in 20s.( Minichiello S. (1998), Japan's Competing Modernities: Issues In Culture and Democracy, 1900-1930, p.9) Titus D. (1983) writes that the year 1920 was marked by mass demonstrations, formation of the National Universal Suffrage League, strikes, celebration of the first May Day. Russian Revolution of 1917 and Communist hope for a world revolution led to the establishment of the Comintern. This organization realized the importance of Japan in achieving success in future revolution in East Asia and actively took part in the foundation of Japanese Communist Party (Nihon Kysant). In 1923 the Japan Communist Party announced its program where the main purposes were putting the end to a feudal system, abolishing of existing monarchy, settling down the relations with the Soviet Union, and taking out Japanese military forces from Sakhalin, China, Taiwan, Siberia and Korea. Students, teachers, professors, and journalists, inspired by labor organizations and numerous democratic schools, socialist ideas, communist parties, anarchist, and other advanced Western schools, aroused large public demonstrations calling for universal male suffrage in 1919 and 1920. Despite the changes in political situation of the country and the intentions of the ruling party, and hope for more orderly government, economic crises in Japan continued. Fiscal austerity programs and efforts to find a public support of the Peace Preservation Law as the example of conservative state policy, were delivered as solutions to solve the situation. Although the world depression of the late 20s and early 30s didn't significantly influence Japan's economy, there was a sense of rising discontent that grew stronger with the assassination of Rikken Minseit Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi in 1931. This attempt was delivered as the response of radical organizations to the policies of the government. (Titus D. 1983) The liberalization of laws concerning election, also in1925, helped the candidates of communist parties gain power, even though the Japan Communist Party was disintegrated. A new example of Peace Preservation Law of 1928, however, further blocked communist efforts by forbidding the parties they had integrated. The police service of the time was quite cruel and thorough in attempting to control the socialist movement. By 1926 the members of Japan Communist Party were forced to hide, by the summer of 1929 the party leadership had been virtually destroyed, and by 1933 the party had largely disappeared. (Titus D. 1983) A right-winged politician unions and organizations, as well as the military establishments, were characterized by extreme ultrarationalism. From the inception of the Meiji Restoration, they made much effort to advance prewar policy of the state in the 1870s. There were a lot of patriotic societies and organizations - Gen'ysha (Black Ocean Society, established in 1881) and its later descendants, the Kokurykai (Black Dragon Society, or Amur River Society, founded in 1901). (Titus D. 1983) The increasing movement of middle-class women can also be referred to 20s. The problem of women in prewar society of Japan was closely studied by Margit Nagy in her "Middle-Class Working Women During the Interwar Years". Margit Nagy states the role of woman in Taisho period helps to understand the redefinition of women's gender role in prewar and postwar Japan. It was accompanied with an increase of the number of working middle-class women. The reasons for this increase are economic needs, job availability and consciousness the women began to perceive. Middle class women showed the tendency to independence and self-consciousness, and the society treated them liberally. On the other side, there was too much alert connected to the lowering role of the family in Japanese society, the contradictions between home duties and employment, and this made the major part of the society judge ambivalently the entry of women into labor force. According to Nagy's exploration, the tensions associated with the entry of married and single women into labor force reflect transitive tendencies of the whole society. Economic needs and new jobs provided the women of middle-class with the job, thus allowing them to earn money outside the home, which seemed impossible earlier. Generally, Nagy describes middle class women as the most active and changing sector of society. (Margit Nagy. (1991) 'Middle-Class Working Women During the Interwar Years,' in Recreating Japanese Women, 1600-1945, ed. Gail Bernstein, pp.215-216) This period is also can be characterized as the period with complex foreign policy. A significant point in military diplomacy was the Washington Conference of 1921-22, which resulted in a series of agreements that comprised a policy directed to establish a new order to be set within the Pacific region. Japan adopted a more tolerant attitude toward the civil war in China, put the end to its efforts to expand Japan's hegemony into China proper, and joined the United States, Britain, and France in encouraging Chinese self-development. Large, Stephen S. (1983) states that in 1921, Japan, the USA, Britain, and France agreed to recognize the status quo in the Pacific, and Japan and Britain agreed to cut formally their Treaty of Alliance. The Five Power Naval Disarmament Treaty in 1922 stated an international in capital ship ratio and distinguished the limits in size and armament of capital ships already built or being under construction. In a move that gave the Japanese Imperial Navy greater freedom in the Pacific, Washington and London agreed not to build any new military bases between Singapore and Hawaii. The goal of the Nine Power Treaty, 1922, signed by the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and China, along with the original five powers, was the prevention of war in the Pacific. The sides agreed to respect China's independence and integrity, not to interfere in Chinese attempts to establish a stable government, to avoid seeking special privileges in China or confront the positions of other countries there, to support a policy of equal opportunity for commerce and industry of all nations in China, and to reexamine extraterritoriality and tariff autonomy policies. Japan also agreed to withdraw its military forces from Shandong. (Large, Stephen S. 1983) As far as the events connected to popular unrest and growing number of demonstrations are concerned, many found these events harmfully influence the development of Japanese society. The "Law to control radical social movements" worked out in 20s, passed in the House of Peers but the lower house didn't accept it. After that the state control over proletarian organizations increased and the police used state laws to press the communist party. The whole Taisho period is also characterized by growing culture. New films on social criticism can be regarded as a perfect example of new consciousness, born in Japanese society. "Souls on the road", a movie in western style by Minoru Murata, is one of the most remarkable masterpieces of this period. The greater part of developing culture was less serious. Popular magazines, newspapers, radio stations spread the culture to the countryside. (Titus D. 1983). The activity of political parties in prewar Japan is described by David A. Titus in his researches. He analyzes the activity of the political parties and tries to investigate the problem of the democratic nature of the Taisho period. He speaks about the democracy of Taisho period as about the victim of "bureaucratic fascism": "Taisho democracy and the political parties which held the key to democratization did not fail because they were undemocratic, however". (Titus D. (1983) 'Political Parties and Nonissues in Taisho Democracy', in Wray, H. and Conroy, H. (ed.) Japan Examined: Perspectives on Modern Japanese History, p.189). He insisted that these parties didn't expand their power over numerous institutions of the government in prewar Japan, especially military establishments. As they couldn't unite plural forces, these parties couldn't serve as the tool for reforming society to a new improved type. Military establishments controlled all the appointments of the navy and army ministers. As the result, the political parties couldn't gain the control over the ministers' activity. Then this powerful military segment united with right wing of movement that had influence in society and found allies in various institutions, including House of Representatives. Thus, "bureaucratic fascism" overpowered democracy. (Titus D. 1983) Titus describes the power that the democratic parties had, but he supposes there was nothing inevitable in their failure, because "the intellectual, social and governmental pluralisms that constituted the "motley processions" of Taisho were not the stuff of which historical determinism is made."(Titus D. (1983) 'Political Parties and Nonissues in Taisho Democracy', in Wray, H. and Conroy, H. (ed.) Japan Examined: Perspectives on Modern Japanese History, p.190). Titus supposes the democratic potentials to be so weak because the proletarian forces couldn't reach the balance between action and ideology in democracy as they understood it. The anarchists and communists were preoccupied with the notion of radical revolution; they didn't pay much attention to increasing their influence among working class. Compared to them, liberals reached a greater success in building up the organizations that were supported by a middle class and working class. Liberal organizations had no truly liberal ideas; socialist organizations had no progressive socialist ideas. (Titus D. (1983) 'Political Parties and Nonissues in Taisho Democracy', in Wray, H. and Conroy, H. (ed.) Japan Examined: Perspectives on Modern Japanese History, p.189.) Another one author investigating Japanese history of Taisho period is Stephen Larges. He observes two levels of Taisho democracy - liberal democracy, tied to capitalism, representing the interests of middle class, and proletarian democracy, representing the interests of propertyless classes. (Large, Stephen S. (1983) The Patterns of Taisho Democracy. Japan Examined: Perspectives of Modern Japanese History, p.175) The factors that caused the division of two levels appeared during the 1st World War. Victory of democratic ideas in the war, popularity of western ideas, and strength of democratic parties allowed liberalists to think that these events abroad and in Japan would have a good influence towards political atmosphere in the country. The supporters of proletarians were inspired by an example of Russian revolution and hoped to get liberation by means of radical class struggle. (Large, Stephen S. 1983) These liberal and proletarian ideas reflected and stimulated the process of class differentiation and political changes in industrialization and growth of the country power in Asia. But the idea of democracy was cut due to numerous contradictions within the democracy itself. Within the proletarian level different segments fought for the attention of the working class. At the same time the liberal parties and their supporters tried to gain control over proletarian democracy. Liberal governments of 1918-1921 and 1924-1932 were liberal only by name, as they were influenced by oligarchs, peers, military establishments. Persistent control over proletarian democracy took many forms - the spread of organized social protest movements was forbidden by the law, anarchist and communist organizations were crushed by the police. (Large, Stephen S. 1983) Growing disagreement among socialists and state control over social organizations led to disarray and didn't allow the proletarian forces unite. As the author supposes, the eclipse in Taisho democracy occurred in late 20s. Among the factors, pressing the dawn of the democracy, he gives: "the constraints posed by the Meiji constitutional framework, opposition form antidemocratic elites, the corrosive impact of uneven economic growth, crisis in Japan's international relations." (Large, Stephen S. (1983) The Patterns of Taisho Democracy. Japan Examined: Perspectives of Modern Japanese History, p.179). The greater part of historians refers the end of the Taisho Democracy period to 1031-1932 when the Japanese Kwantung Army used the Mukden incident as a reason to invade Manchuria. This act made a world-wide community impose sanctions on Japan as the punishment for this invasion. Then the country faced a number of plots against the party government system, and in 1932 a military junta replaced old cabinet with a new one, that led to a beginning of a fascist regime.( (Large, Stephen S. 1983) The historians usually regard Taisho Democracy as an illusion, rather than as a fact. They point out that the upper house of the Japanese Diet blocked the legislation and increased the power of oligarchs, suppressing the left wing, that the police controlled free speech etc. Of course, Taisho Democracy cannot be presented as a perfect example of democracy, compared to democratic regimes of Europe and USA. However, Taisho democracy gave the average citizens of Japan a possibility to participate in their government, especially in the period of Minseito ascendancy. (Minichiello S. 1998) Speaking about the most outstanding accomplishments of Taisho democracy, it is also necessary to mention the promulgation of the universal Manhood Suffrage Law, which increased the number of voting people. Thus, this period seems to be much more democratic than any other periods in the history of Japan. References (1) Margit Nagy. (1991) 'Middle-Class Working Women During the Interwar Years,' in Recreating Japanese Women, 1600-1945, ed. Gail Bernstein, pp.215-216) (2) Large, Stephen S. (1983) The Patterns of Taisho Democracy. Japan Examined: Perspectives of Modern Japanese History, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. (3) Titus D. (1983) 'Political Parties and Nonissues in Taisho Democracy', in Wray, H. and Conroy, H. (ed.) Japan Examined: Perspectives on Modern Japanese History, University of Hawaii, Honolulu. (4) Minichiello S. (1998) Japan's Competing Modernities: Issues in Culture and Democracy, 1900-1930, p.3 Read More