Page:Sanzō Nosaka - A Brief Review of the Labour Movement in Japan (1921).pdf/41

This page needs to be proofread.

— 39 —

are under the extreme watch of the authority, and this not because o any moderation of Trade Union leaders but because it is backed by the powerful mass forces. Consequently, it is obvious that there is no other way to influence, to capture the mass of the workers for Communism than through existing (more or less legal) Trade Union organisations, whether they are not revolutionary enough or are so.

In short, the Japanese Trade Union is not merely in a position exceedingly sensible to revolutionary ideas, but also constitutes the sole school of the masses for Communism. Nothing is more absurd, more harmful, more criminal than to neglect, to desert the proletarian mass organisations: particularly so in Japan.


The Japanese government pays a great deal of attention to the national education. The official record tells us that more than 98 per cent of the children of school age go to school; (the elementry school is compulsory—6 to 12 years of age—and, as a rule, free). Since 1920, the regular lectures on the social, economic, and political subjects for the workers were started by the Yuai-kai in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kobe.