Evening star., 1945-05-29

OIllIuOuu. II "e" "Ae''Sss'
article spoke of Marshal Stain.
powerful leadership, based or
Sovietism," and declared that Japan
could find in this the inspiration
and ingenuity" necessary to defeat
the "Anglo-American capitalist ag-
gression"
This all rings strangely in the
ears of Americans who conceive o1
Japan as country completely COM
mitted to capitalism, on the one
hand, and to the acceptance Of
national suicide on the other
Nevertheless there is growing
number of people in this country
who are convinced that the Japa-
nese are prepared to get out o1
their war as quickly as they car
find way to do so, even though it
means giving up all the territory
they have taken. There is no reason
to believe that Russia is willing to
have Japan retain any part Of the
Asiatic mainland, nor any reason tc
believe that Japan has any illusions
on that point.
Anxious to Renew Pact.
Without doubt Japan is very
anxious to obtain a renewal of the
nonaggression pact with Russia
which Russia has served notice OF
her intention to renounce. And it
is possible that Japan entertains
the hope, once held by Germany, of
bringing Russia into actual conflict
with America and Great Britain.
Since we can hear the Japanese
broadcasts, it may be assumed that
the Japanese hear ours and have
heard some unpleasant things said
about Stain and the Soviet Union
on our free rail- radio. They may
not think it Is too late to rescue
their unhappy relationship with
Russia.
Nothing less, however, than an
active fighting alliance with Russia
could give the japanese any hope
of staving off utter defeat. Such
an alliance being out of the ques-
tion-since it would offer Russia
less than she can obtain without
it-a better guess is that the jap
anese are simply seeking the serv-
ices of Russia as go-between.
AS for the possibility of Japan
in her desperation, adopting the
Soviet system, including Commu-
nism, that cannot be dismissed
lightly. A few months spent in that
country 10 years ago makes one
much less than an authority on
the subject, but I did receive Ger
tain impressions that are contrary
to some commonly held, impress
sions that caused me to report at
that time that Japan was moving
definitely in the direction of state
socialism. More than one japanese
politician told me that the govern
ment set up by the japanese in
Manchuria was pure state social
ism, or, as some of them called it,
military socialism. They predicted
freely that if it seemed to be sue
cessful, the military men would in
due course attempt to impose the
same system on Japan proper.
The editor of a conservative Tokyo
newspaper told me he had dis
cussed this, possibility with one of
Japan's most important bankers. He
quoted the banker as saying, IF
1t seems to be best for Japan, I
would not be opposed"
Not So Fantastic.
If you could believe what many
japanese told you, the military men
had little or no interest in business.
They looked upon business and in
dustry merely as something useful
to their own purposes. What they
thought of socialism, as a system
OF society, don't know, but some
Japanese journalists gave the army
group credit for many of Japan's
social reforms-wage increases, i'm
proved working conditions and the
like. These journalists, however
didn't attribute this to any social
enlightenment on the part of the
military leaders, but merely to a