cultural labourers. This class is at the very bottom of the social scale. There are other poor peasants as well as you, however. There are peasants renting a tiny plot of land, and almost starving on it. These two classes compose eighty per cent. of the agricultural population of our land. And so the poor peasantry and agricultural workers cultivate rice”—here Hamamato suddenly raised his voice—“and the landowners, who don’t do a stroke of work, get half the crop for nothing. The landowners don’t work themselves. Until we drive them out of the countryside, because they’re absolutely useless people, there will be no way of improving our own conditions. You, the agricultural proletariat, without even rented land, must be the first to seize the landlords’ lands.
“Next, those peasants cultivating tiny plots of land must see that they get more from the proprietors’ land. And then they must demand lower rent. If you work beyond your strength and give up half your crops gratis, you are condemning yourself to starvation. There can be no victory without a struggle. You must join an organization that will struggle for you, you must join the Peasants’ Union. The very poorest peasantry and agricultural labourers in the country, by setting up the Japanese Peasants’ Union and drawing up a joint programme, have spread the united front throughout Japan. If these demands are not fulfilled, the members of the Union must put up a fight against the counter measures of the landlords, such as ‘taking away the land,’ ‘forbidding work on rented land,’ and the
