The national socialist movement in Japan during the early 1930s : The debate over the Nazi Party and "Fascism"

Abstract

This article examines the Japanese national socialist movement during the early 1930s (launched by Takabatake Motoyuki during the 1910s and led by Tsukui Tatsuo, Ishikawa Junjuro and Beppu Shunsuke following his death) and in what way it tried to influence social movements and the realignment of proletarian political parties, in order to expand its own agenda. The author reaches the following three conclusions. First, while taking the initiative early on in showing solidarity with the Nazi Party and introducing its propaganda in an attempt to discredit the communist movement, the national socialist movement gradually went on to criticize "blind nationalism" from the Nazi Party position that the state is merely a "means" that should be abolished when it has outlasted its usefulness. Secondly, while criticizing the ideas about "fascism" held by their "communist comrades" in Japan, the national socialists attempted to unfold a fascist ideology linked to a pragmatic program of action. The concept of "fascism" played an important role in the reorganization of Japan's proletarian parties during the early 1930s. By placing anti-fascism alongside anti-capitalism and anti-communism in its ideological agenda, the Socialist People's Party showed its intent to eliminate national socialism from the proletarian movement altogether. Under such conditions, the national socialists agreed that "anti-fascism" also necessitated "anti-capitalism," in an attempt to take the initiative in the realignment of the proletarian parties. Although eventually failing to do so, the national socialists were again faced with the challenge of incorporating their ideas into a political movement. Finally, the author makes clear for the first time that the Japanese national socialist movement refuted "fascism." Not only did Beppu criticize fascism as state capitalism, he raised the problem of dependency on the "nation" and the "state," arguing in favor of the realization of socialism based on class (namely, the working class). Beppu also warned about the expansion of the state's "integrative, regulatory" function from the economic sphere into the social sphere and the concomitant expansion of "state authority."