Evening star., 1934-10-07

asked some very entertaining ques-
tions and generally released with a
warning. And a good time has beer
had by all.
That is not Communism-it is only
mischief. But mischief has a way OF
leading on by easy stages to burning
pillage and assassination. The sport
loving student finds himself gradually
involved in deep plots, probably OF
foreign invention. Prison doors close
on him. In the quiet Of his cell he
sees his communism" in its true
perspective as only a game that has
now been played out-and he sincerely
renounces 1t.
Sometimes real grievances stimu-
late Communism. In Nagano Pre-
lecture last year poor crops, low
prices for rice and high taxes caused
acute suffering among the peasants
The sons and daughters of these peas
ants, and their school teachers also
seized upon Communism as a possible
remedy for their ills. Groups for the
study OF philosophy" were formed
Government efforts to make teachers
OOIld pdLL VI ILlC4I odldIlCo W 1CAACfe
local finances stirred the resentment
of teachers and intensified the move
ment. Teachers taught CommunistiC
ideas, thinly veiled. Students were
told to write essays on their own poor
living conditions, fixing the blame
upon the social system. Communistic
plays were written by teachers anc
acted by students. The movement
spread to Sc schools.
600 Recant at One Time.
The police, aware of what was goine
on, quietly spread their net. Sud.
denly 600 persons were arrested, in
cluding 208 primary school teachers
Remember that Communism in this
prefecture had been fertilized by rea,
grievances. And yet these 900 re-
canted en- masse. Only 27 were SEN
fenced, and they, on promise of good
behavior, we're given only short prison
terms with stays Of execution in II
cases.
Thus the red weed comes up with
one good jerk on the Japanese con-
science. It has never been able To
take firm root because the soil is
already full of the black, stanch, all
absorbing roots of Japanese national
ism. Particularly as friction grows
between Japan and Russia, Soviet
ideas become less acceptable to the
Japanese who is loyal-and what son
Of Nippon is not2
So the radical who must eat fire is
changing his diet from Communism
to an intense patriotism which would
if necessary, assassinate corrupt poll
ticians. abolish political parties and
unite the nation under control of the
one force that still represents the old
samurai spirit of Rushido-the jap
anese Army.
Proletariats Turn Reactionary.
Numerous proletarian societies have
abandoned their anti-war slogans and
turned reactionary. The movement
TO restore Japan to ancient and
better ways" is sweeping through the
schools. In the universities groups
have been formed under the military
instructors to read old novels, prac-
tice the manly art of judo Gujutsu)
and study ways TO make the Island q
Japan truly insular, secure against
the world that she has too much
initiated.
And reactionaries do not recant. Oi
all the patriotic aSsaSsins brought tC
trial during recent months for the
murder of Japanese statesmen in 1885,
and 1888, not one has been penitent
Whereas two years ago there were
scarcely 20 Fascist organizations OF
importance in Japan. there are now
according to Investigations by the
economist. Ryotaro Iwai. more than
a hundred large. active organizations
and several hundred minor societies.
And the chief rite in all these
groups is the prayer meeting. Be-
ware of a movement that centers
around the prayer meeting!
Communism has no prayer meeting
1t lacks the religious fervor of the
new nstionalism which has all the
fire of a Methodist camp meeting. Il
it continues to blaze-and there is
no indication that it will not-Japar
will come to the parleys of 1885 ir
a white heat of conviction. Inter-
national adjustments will be exceed
ingly difficult, for to the consecrateo
there is only one right way, and it is
impossible to recant.