| Suzuki Bunji(1885-1946)is recognised as the ’father of the labour movement’ in Japan,and the Yuuai-kai which he founded in 1912 is also considered to be the origin of labor union organization in Japan today.However,studies of the Japanese workers’ movement in Japan have tended to focus on the post-Second World War period,and few of these studies have examined the origins of the Japanese workers’ movement before World War II.This thesis attempts to provide a more detailed account of Suzuki Bunji’s labor union ideology and the development of his Yuuai-kai during the Taisho period.The introductory section provides an overview of Chinese and Japanese research on Suzuki Bunji and the labor union movement in pre-World War II Japan,and sets out the research questions for this thesis.The first chapter focuses on the time period around the founding of the Yuuai-kai,analysing the background of Suzuki’s ideology and the activities carried out by the Yuuai-kai he led under the guidance of his ideology.It was Suzuki’s Christianity and social policy philosopher that enabled him to found the Yuuai-kai during social movements’ hardest time after the "Great Revolt".The second chapter analyses the development Yuuai-kai achieved in the progressively liberalised Taisho soci from 1914 to 1918,and the changes in thinking that occurred as a result of Suzuki’s exposure to the Western labor union movement as an ambassador to the United States.It is pointed out that both Suzuki Fumuji and the Yuuai-kai were gradually radicalised in their guiding ideology and movements by both internal and external factors.The third chapter centers on the aftermath of the Paris Peace Conference and analyses the clear confrontation between Suzuki and the Japanese government in the years followed.Sparked by Japan’s refusal to sign several articles of the Paris Peace Conference relating to workers and the government’s manipulation of the election of delegates to the Washington Labour Conference in 1919,the Yuuai-kai morphed into a general alliance and took a clear stand against the government,actively participating in the strike movement and clashing on several occasions with the government-sponsored labour coordination body,the Coordinating Committee.Chapter 4 discusses the changes in the actions of Suzuki and the General League in 1920 and afterwards,under the influence of anarcho-labourist and communist ideas.It examines how the guiding ideology of Suzuki and the General Union changed from labour co-ordinationism to socialism,while rejecting the influence of far-left ideas such as anarcho-labourism within the organization.This article will focus on Suzuki Bunji and the Yuuai-kai he founded,and try to clarify the causes,processes and results of his actions and ideological changes in the process,taking into account the political and economic circumstances of the time.It points out how Suzuki’s ideas and the workers’ movement were radicalized step by step and slowly returned to conservatism during the so-called Taisho democracy.This may be useful in sorting out the origins of the Japanese workers’ movement and in understanding the social climate of the Taisho period. |
