農民運動の発展と自作農創設 : 千葉県印旛郡八街町を事例として

抄録

The land-tenure system, which did not cease until the era of the Land Reform, did not necessarily contribute to the development of agricultural production. The Civil Code established in 1896 did not define tenant rights as a real right. Though tenancy disputes which had been supported by democratic movements and spread widely became at times violent, tenant unions were organized throughout the country. At Yachimata-cho in Chiba prefecture, the Yachimata branch of the Japan Peasants' Union, which had been established in 1924, made a demand for permanent reduction in rent upon landlords. Through such tenant disputes, most landlords were obliged to reduce tenant rent. But a middle-class landlord, Ogane, attempted to oppose tenant cultivators by taking back the leased land from them. The disputes went on until the era of Land Reform because the rent enforced was too high for them to pay. In addition, under the influence of the economic depression in the former half of 1930's, the tenant union tried to democratize the Yachimata town assembly which was mostly made up of landlords and merchants. Then in 1932, the union founded Intou Iryo Kumiai to help and offer convenience to the sick, the members of which epoch-makingly consisted of not only tenant cultivators but owner cultivators and laborers, around Yachimata. Consequently they began cooperate and stood together. Thus the land-tenure system became unstable and the landlords were made to give up their land to other landlords by tenancy disputes and these activities of tenant organizations. On the other hand, tenant cultivators demanded of them ownership of land in the case of low rent. This was also the case with the tenants in Hokkaido prefecture, where non-cultivating landlords had accumulated a considerable quantity of land. Disputes for reduction in rent, once declined during the economic depression era, increased in number again all through the country from 1937 on. These disputes brought tenant rent down, and enabled tenants to obtain land later to their advantage. The Land Reform after World War II caused owner cultivators to appear all over the country. Needless to say, it signifies that peasantry movements made the land-tenure system collapse.