The Logic behind Detachment of Japanese Youth Pioneering Brigades to Manchuria and the Collapse of the Farming Training due to its Hybrid Squadrons
2010 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 20-32
Details
2010 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 20-32
The objective of this article is to show how easily and quickly the 3-year-long farming training for Japanense youth pioneering brigades in Manchuria failed and how foolhardly the project was.
The training institutions were essential for smoothly establishing large-scale agriculture. In those days, Japanese peasants in Japan never desired large-scale agricultural management.
Japanese youth pioneering brigades entered the agricultural training institutions in Manchuria. The groups were organized by people from various prefectures （the hybrid squadrons）. The hybrid squadrons were sent to Manchuria yearly from 1938 to 1940.
This was one way to deal with the agricultural failures of experimental groups of adult emigrant groups, who went to Manchuria from 1932 to 1935. The colonization was carried out to make the colonists carry part of the burden of controlling Manchuria and defending against the Soviet Union, and to establish a self-supporting buffer state.
In order to establish agricultural management as demanded by agricultural policy, it was essential to establish a system of cooperation. Especially in case of emigration of youth pioneering brigades, the cooperation of the peasants and their families was essential. But, in the hybrid squadrons, the following items 1-4 failed: （1） establishment of strong leadership, （2） formation of a group consciousness that could work in agriculture, （3） learning agricultural skills in Manchuria, and （4） establishing a lifestyle suitable for the Manchurian climate.
At last, the training failed, and the agricultural settlements didn’t come into existence. On the contrary, in the emigration of youth pioneering brigades in the hybrid squadrons, because they were underage and immature in body and mind, the establishment of the above-mentioned items （1） through （4） was much more difficult than for the adult immigrant groups. As a result, their ability in agriculture already declined before their movement to settlements, and it was far inferior to the adult emigrants who formed settlements as soon as they settled in Manchuria.
