協調会の設立と経営者の労働観

-日本工業倶楽部信愛協会案をめぐって-

抄録

There have been few studies concerning the fact that the Industrial Club of Japan (ICJ) played a prominent role in the process of establishing the “Kyochokai”. A report by the ICJ formed the basic foundation of the “Kyochokai”. The business leaders in the ICJ assumed a vital role in collecting funds and making up its policies, and were elected as the main members in the “Kyochokai”. It is very important to analyze the role that the ICJ played in the establishment of the “Kyochokai” and to examine the business leaders' views of labor management relations which were founded upon the ethics of “Kyocho-shugi (the principle of harmony and conciliation)”.
In 1919, the Hara government consulted the ICJ about the “Shin-ai-Kyokai” plan which the government itself had drafted. This plan reflected the paternalistic relationship between labor and management. Business leaders in the ICJ felt that they should deal with the increasing labor disputes after World War I in a way different from the paternalistic one. So, they adopted a strategy based on the “kyocho-sugi” including arbitration of labor disputes and various social policy programs.
However, the social policy programs of the neutral foundation “The Kyochokai”, were not governmental programs. Actually they were industry-based voluntary programs which did facilitate labor management relations.
Seijiro Miyajima is one of the persons who most heatedly argued the necessity of “Kyocho-shugi”. He recognized the gap between the classes of labor and management and the opposing nature of their interests, and he contributed to moving the views of the ICJ members closer to the spirit of “Kyocho-shugi”.