page_title: Anarchism in Japan
section_title: Early socialist movement
hierarchical_section_title: Anarchism in Japan / Origins / Early socialist movement
caption_attribution_description: English: Commoners' Society 日本語: 平民社
context_page_description: Anarchism in Japan began to emerge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as Western anarchist literature began to be translated into Japanese. It existed throughout the 20th century in various forms, despite repression by the state that became particularly harsh during the two world wars, and it reached its height in the 1920s with organisations such as Kokuren and Zenkoku Jiren.
  Japanese anarchism had a number of notable leading figures who dominated the movement at different times. The first of these leaders was Kōtoku Shūsui, who led the development of an anarchist faction within existing left-wing movements, which then split into its own independent movement in the first decade of the 1900s. Kōtoku was executed for treason in 1911, and the movement was subject to severe repression for a decade. The next leading figure was Ōsugi Sakae, who involved himself heavily in support for anarcho-syndicalism and helped to bring the movement out of its 'winter period', until he was murdered by military police in 1923.
context_section_description: In 1898, Kōtoku joined the staff of the Yorozu Chūhō newspaper, wherein he published an article in 1900 condemning war in Manchuria. He published his first book in 1901, titled Imperialism, Monster of the Twentieth Century, which was a monumental work in the history of Japanese leftism, criticising both Japanese and Western imperialism from the point of view of a revolutionary socialist. In May 1901, Kōtoku was involved in the founding of the first Social Democratic Party in Japan. It was immediately outlawed under the 1900 Peace Preservation Law, despite its commitment to parliamentary tactics. In 1903, he also wrote the book Quintessence of Socialism, acknowledging influence from Karl Marx.
  As Japan drew closer to war with Russia, Kōtoku collaborated with fellow socialist Sakai Toshihiko and the Christian pacifist Uchimura Kanzō to oppose the war. After the editor of Yorozu Chūhō endorsed the idea of a war with Russia in 1903, they withdrew from the newspaper. Together with another socialist, Ishikawa Sanshirō, Kōtoku and Sakai started the anti-war Heimin-sha group and its associated newspaper Heimin Shinbun (literally "Commoners' Newspaper") in November 1903.
  When the Russo-Japanese War broke out anyway in February 1904, it had a significant impact upon Japanese radicals. Iwasa Sakutarō, living in the United States at this point, was particularly radicalised towards anarcho-communism as a result of the war. Heimin Shinbun made a point of announcing their lack of ill will towards Russian socialists, and Kōtoku translated Marx's The Communist Manifesto into Japanese for the first time, published in the newspaper in its anniversary issue, for which he was fined.
  The newspaper was closed down by the government, and it ceased publication in January 1905. Its last edition was printed entirely in red ink. Its fairly brief run earned Kōtoku a short prison sentence, which he served from February to July 1905. After the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War, the Heimin-sha group dissolved itself as well in November 1905.
caption: A photograph of the Heimin-sha (Commoners' Society), who published the Heimin Shinbun.
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