Zaibatsu and the Cotton Industry (PROBLEMS ON THE ECONOMIC HISTORY AFTER THE WORLD WAR 1)

Abstract

Japanese capitalism historically developed much later than in Western countries, and geographically the distances were great between Japan and West. Its backward nature inevitably influenced the peculiarities of Japanese imperialism. The purpose of this paper is to inquire into the peculiarities of Japanese imperialism, by considering the movement of the monopolistic structure of the cotton industry and Zaibatsu Konzern, considered as dominant capitals in the Japanese economy. On the one hand, Japanese imperialism is "cotton imperialism." When Japanese capitalism emphasized its advanced and leading character instead of its backwardness, compared to Asiatic standards, the cotton industry was able to successfully take root in Japan. The fact that a monoplistic enterprise was formed even in such a light industry is noteworthy. Moreover, some similarities exist between the reproduction structure of this monopolistic light industry and a monopoly of financial capital supported by heavy industry in Germany and America. On the other hand, Zaibatsu had no strong industrial basis, especially in heavy industry; it was characterized by a highdegree "monopoly of capital," i.e., the multiple dominant system based on Konzern organization. However, this type of Zaibatsu continued only until foreign currency obtained by exports supported the import of heavy chemical manufacturedgoods. Especially, exports such as silk and general merchandese, which symbolized the backward nature of Japanese capitalism, contributed to gaining foreign currency. In the 1930's, Japanese capitalism, rushing into war economy, had to encourage heavy chemical industrialization, sponsored by Zaibatsu, since the increase in military power was required. In 1929, the world panic caused the rapid decline in export of silk, and a fund for import of raw materials of the heavy chemical industry had to be supported by greater increase in cotton export. Consequently, when the imperialistic overseas expansion of cotton industry reached a limit by the strengthening of bloc economy on a world- wide basis, the growth of heavy chemical industry also reached a limit. As a result, military potentiality of Japanese imperialism, too, reached a limit.