Japan through Russian Eyes
By SIR FREDERICK WHYTE Tuts pertinent book* opens with an essay by Karl Radek on " Japanese and International Fascism " and closes with a Manifesto by General Araki on " Japan in the Era of Showa." Between its boards is to be found a wealth of material, never before gathered together in one compass, on the numerous organs of military Chauvinism and Fascism which have sprung into being in response to the demands of the present crisis. Before we examine the sources which its two authors have laid under tribute for their purpose, there is a word to be said upon the manner of their approach. The contrast between the Radek introduction and the Araki conclusion raises the vital question whether a Communist, steeped in Marxian economic ideology, is the best interpreter of so peculiar a phenomenon as Japan reveals herself to be in this crisis of her fate. Sir Walter Raleigh long ago warned the historian that " whosoever, in writing a modern history, shall follow truth too near the heels, it may haply strike out his teeth " ; and when the follower of truth narrows his vision with the blinkers of arbitrary doctrine,. he may easily mislead himself to false conclusions. Complete detachment is a feat which the living mind can rarely. accomplish, and we all too readily colour the object of search with the pigment of our own prejudice.
This is an apt warning in all contemporary controversy ; but it has a special pertinence for those who use a European mind to interpret the facts of Asia. " Militarism," Com- munism," " Fascism " ; these are European things, and, though they exist in tolerably recognizable form in the East, they are not the same thing in China or Japan as they are in the West. Is there such a thing as Japanese Social-Democracy ? Is there even a Japanese proletariat, in the true sense of the word ? And what but incredulous hilarity can be provoked in the mind of any Soviet citizen who reads in a recent Japanese manifesto the forecast of " a communist society in Japan headed by the family of the Emperor." Yet, even with scornful laughter on his lips, the Russian Communist would do well to pause and ask whether he, indeed, knows the last word upon social evolution, especially in lands beyond Europe. Mr. Crocker, in his interesting study of The Japanese Population Problem, thought that he foresaw the possibility that " a new economic order unknown to any contemporary society " might arise in Japan. And, assuredly, the interpreter whci ignores the self-discipline, the moral strength, the sense of artistic fitness and the horror of " jarring the rhythm," which are so strong in the Japanese character, will go far astray in his reading of the problem. ThiS is, indeed, the danger in which the writers of this book stand ; but its readers need not run the same risk if they carry with them, as they turn its cloic-packed pages, their knowledge of Japanese history and culture.
So with this caveat in mind, to stave off the hasty conclu- sion, we pass to the book before us. And, be it .said at once, it is a good piece of work, opening up ground which has often been surveyed in the casual form of newspaper writing but never before in so detailed and documented a monograph. Messrs. Tanin and Yohan introduce their enquiry into " the Military-fascist movement of modern Japan " by a brief review of the social history of the country from the Meiji Restoration of 1868 to the War of 1894. They emphasize the incompleteness of the events of 1868, judged as Revolution, and attribute to the survival:of feudalism those factors in Japanese life which at first restricted the free growth- of ",.bourgeois industrialism " and " constitutional democracy " .*Militarism and Fascism in Japan. • By 0. Tanin and E. Yohan, with-an Introduction by Karl- Radek. - (Martin Lawrence. 8i. 6d.)
alike. " The economic weakness of the industrial bourgeoisie and the compromise between the bourgeoisie and the feudal lords which was the basis of the Meiji Restoration, did not permit the ' liberal school' and the Constitutional movement . . . to become strong enough to make a decisive imprint on the destiny of the country." The subsequent growth of capital- ism sounded the death-knell of the Samurai as a caste, although in fact the feudal chiefs retained their hold on the fighting services long after feudalism itself was apparently dead. Mr. Radek, in his comment on this part of the book's historical argument, seems to think that the authors, in their attempt to remain faithful to history, have overstated the importance of those survivals from the past, feudal and other, which give Japanese life a significant continuity. Not being under the compulsion of fitting Japanese development to any precon- ceived interpretation of universal history, we are more likely to think that they have not fully appreciated the importance, or the survival value, of such factors. Hence their comment is not always objective and therefore not as illuminating as their diligent study of the facts deserves.
When we tum to the contemporary picture, however, we have nothing but praise for the vivid account which Messrs. Tanin and Yohan give of the numerous patriotic, military and quasi-socialist leagues and societies that have sprung up in recent years to act as the heralds and exponents of Japan's mission in Asia. The main purpose of their creators, as of their paymasters, whether the latter were the General Staff or the great monopolies, has been and now is to guide Japanese popular feeling into channels where its strength could' be used as the driving force behind an active foreign policy in con- tinental Asia. The authors explain this alliance between the Army and big business by pointing out that Japanese indus- trialism and capitalism found their early opportunities in " colonial expansion " because they enjoyed a comparatively limited scope at home, and thus acquired a vested interest in expansion overseas. We are not told of the many occasions on which the great monopolies sought to restrain the exuberance of the military party, nor do these two authors seem to appre- ciate the extent to which what they call " finance capital" is now seriously apprehensive of the strain imposed on Japanese resources by the ambitious programme embodied in the East Asia slogan of the militarists. And what is more remarkable is that, in describing the ferment of feeling which runs through Japanese life today, they say little or nothing of the pressure of population and the part which it plays in heightening the tension under which the people live. Since their purpose is to emphasize the social struggle and to predict its inevitable result, they are too much inclined to single out the dark features in the picture, and thus they seem to have missed the significance of that extraordinary sense of vitality which has impressed all recent observers. The bubbling effervescent life of Japan is a great fact. If it can find no other outlet but that which is being prepared for it by the chauvinist societies so well described in this book, Japan has indeed a stormy career before her.
In this career the leadership of the Army will be the key of power ; and therefore it is in the chapter on " The Army as the Centre of the Reactionary Chauvinist and Fascist Movement " that the reader will find the heart of the book's argument. Here the Army appears not only as an organ of well-nigh complete constitutional supremacy, but as the magnetic centre round which revolves a powerful and sinister group of reactionary and terrorist organizations of which the Black Dragon is perhaps the most notorious. Its spirit is clearly revealed in the Araki appendix, and its method Vividly described in this indispensable volume.
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