Post-War Japan and Reformism
The United States sought to recreate Japan in its own image. SCAP (Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers), realized that in order to create a friendly, pacifist Japan, the seeds of authoritarianism would first have to be removed from society. This meant, amongst other things, equalizing (to some degree) the economic system of Japan, making it more conducive for a more just distribution of wealth.1 Some of the first economic reforms that greatly changed Japanese society were the land reforms of December 1945 that allowed tenant farmers to purchase their fields.2
SCAP was also concerned with taking away the economic monopolies held by the zaibatsu. This was a landmark reform that greatly decentralized the economy that resulted in a greater distribution of wealth amongst some of the lower stratum of the social ladder. Zaibatsu empires were no longer in possession of obscene amounts of property and power that made them the monoliths they once were, and the various land reforms resulted in an upsurge in rural life as more and more family farms were established.3 Amongst these vast reforms laid out by SCAP was the right to formally organize labor/farm unions-and organized strikes were welcomed (prima facie).4
These reforms attempted to work out the flaws of the pre-1945 regime and transform Japanese economic society into another capitalist economy modeled after the type of democracy and market system of the United States. Democratic ends were achieved however, albeit limited to one’s own definition of democracy. The underlying belief of SCAP in making these reforms was that of a society in which power and wealth would be more evenly distributed, and thus the pitfalls of authoritarian militarism could be deterred from taking over the national polity ever again.
While economic reform was necessary as the material conditions of the Japanese state changed, they also fell short of reaching true justice in respect to creating another market economy that was based on private ownership of capital and the means of production which only solidified class distinctions amongst the Japanese people. In short, a revolution (of the working class) was necessary to completely end the corrupt market economy and bourgeois liberal state, not reformism. However, in the late 1940’s, SCAP reversed some of these reforms in order to strategically maneuver against the Soviet Union. The drastic economic reforms that had emasculated the zaibatsu were alleviated and in 1948 SCAP actually encouraged rearmament.5 Ultimately, the land and economic reforms were seen as too drastic, and detrimental to the war on communism-particularly in East Asia.
The social aspect of the reforms had a much more lasting impression, as they didn’t pose as great a threat as economic distributive justice. Some of the most sweeping social reforms included the new role played by women in Japanese society. These new reforms were the second aspect of the SCAP plan to demilitarize and democratize Japan. Western social traditions were implanted in Japanese society and apparently thrived. By order of SCAP, the previous laws that had inhibited women’s joining political parties (Article 5 of the Police Law of 1900) were discarded in favor of liberal social inclusion of women in the political process. In 1945, a universal women’s suffrage law was passed by the Diet.6
The sweeping social reforms also saw (and to the later dismay of SCAP) resurgence in leftist thought, especially socialism and Marxism; leading to the Japan Socialist Party (a revisionist, non-revolutionary party) becoming the largest political party in post-war Japan.7 The Communist party however, although enjoying some success and offering boisterous opposition to internal conservative trends, never became a major party due to purges and repression in the post-war era.8
The social reforms intended to break away from the conservative bureaucracy also aimed at weakening state influence in people’s lives. New social attitudes were generated in regards to education and religion. State Shinto was deconstructed and in its place was an article that allowed religious freedom for all Japanese citizens.9 Schools were no longer vessels of socialization for the old themes of militarism and state worship, but responsible for feeding the new line of peace, liberalism, and democracy..
The social reforms, like the economic reforms, had their downfalls as well. The social atmosphere of post-war Japan showed serious signs of improvement towards a democracy; however, much that had been achieved was also reversed due to fears regarding social unrest and the Soviet Union. When SCAP realized the efforts to combat Marxism were futile, action was taken in order to shift power back in the hands of the pre-war elites.10 The American occupation forces turned their official position from making vast and sweeping reforms, to believing that the only course of action necessary in preventing a future militaristic, imperialist Japan was to simply disarm the military and implement bourgeois liberal democracy. SCAP even went as far as advocating a return to power by those pre-war elites whom they saw as valuable assets in the Cold War against the Soviet Union.
Further reactionary movements came in the form of advocating a crackdown on the Japan Communist Party. The “Red Purge” was launched which resulted in replacing and removing some 13,000 people in the public/private sectors. This took place at the same time as previously purged war criminals were brought back into the political mainstream.11 The injustices faced by the Communist Party mirrored the United States government’s fears of internal communism posing a threat to the safety and security of global capitalism.
The reforms that were put in place by SCAP had both positive and negative aspects. Many improvements were made in Japanese society due to these reforms, although they implemented the same democratic style of government that profited off the exploitation of workers, silenced the radical left, and reversed key economic reforms that decentralized the economy from the hands of a few private entities. These reforms can only be seen as a temporary alleviation of a global problem that continues on today. Democracy cannot truly be achieved until economic equality is sustained. Until these problems are addressed, Japan (like the United States) remains a bastion of bourgeois democracy and capitalist exploitation.
Notes
1.Gordon, Andrew, A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 230.
2.Ibid.
3.Gordon, p. 232.
4.Gordon, p. 231.
5.Gordon, p. 239.
6.Garon, Sheldon, Molding Japanese Minds: The State in Everyday Life (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), p. 181.
7.Garon, p. 151.
8.Ibid.
9.Ibid.
10.Gordon, p. 239.
11.Ibid.
