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Title: Kōtoku Shūsui Author: Grace Young Date: Jan 21, 2020 Language: en Topics: biography, history, Japan, Japanese Anarchists Source: Retrieved on 2020-08-19 from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kotoku-Shusui
Kōtoku Shūsui, (born Nov. 4, 1871, Nakamura, Kōchi Prefecture,
Japan—died Jan. 24, 1911, Tokyo), Socialist leader, one of the first
proponents of radical political action in Japan. His execution resulted
in the temporary abatement of the growing Socialist movement in Japan.
Of relatively humble origin, Kōtoku started work as a houseboy in the
Tokyo home of Hayashi Yūzō, one of the most famous liberal politicians
of his day. He obtained an education and in 1893 became a newspaper
writer. One of the earliest advocates of Socialism in Japan, Kōtoku
helped organize the Social Democratic Party in 1901. The party was
immediately banned by the government, however, and Kōtoku, together with
Sakai Toshihiko, then began his own newspaper, the Heimin shimbun
(“Commoner’s Newspaper”). After it opposed the Russo-Japanese War
(1904–05), the paper was closed and Kōtoku was imprisoned. Released
after five months, he toured the United States, where he was impressed
by the direct action policies of a radical U.S. labour group, the
“Wobblies” (Industrial Workers of the World).
Returning to Japan, he denounced parliamentary politics and began to
organize workers for radical activities. This movement was crushed,
however, when in 1910 hundreds were arrested on charges of being
involved in a plot to assassinate the Emperor. Although Kōtoku had
withdrawn from the conspiracy, and at the end only four men were shown
to be actually involved, Kōtoku was included among the 11 who were
imprisoned and subsequently executed. The backlash resulting from the
plot ended the Socialist movement as a major force in Japan for almost a
decade. Kōtoku spent the last months of his life writing articles
denouncing Christianity.