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Title: Letter from Prison Author: Shūsui Kōtoku Date: 1910 Language: en Topics: Japan, japanese anarchists, letter, revolution Source: From Robert Graham (Ed.), Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas; Volume One: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300 CE to 1939). https://libcom.org/library/anarchism-documentary-history-libertarian-ideas-volume-1-2
Editor’s Note: Kōtoku [Denjiroj Shūsui (1871–1911) was one of the first
Japanese socialists and, later, one of the founders of the Japanese
anarchist movement. He began as an orthodox Marxist Social Democrat but
moved away from parliamentary socialism, declaring himself an anarchist
in 1905 Upon his release from jail for publishing subversive literature.
He went to the United States and established contacts there with various
anarchists and members of the Industrial Workers of the World. Upon his
return to japan he became a prominent advocate of direct action. He was
involved in the publication of several anarchist papers and translated
the writings of European anarchists into Japanese, including Kropotkin’s
The Conquest of Bread (Selection 33). He was subjected to constant
harassment by the Japanese authorities and was charged with high treason
in 1910, along with many other Japanese anarchists, including his
companion, Kanno Sugako. Kōtoku, Kanno and 9 otller anarchists were
executed in January 1911. Several others were sentenced to death but had
their sentences commuted to life in prison. The following excerpts are
from his “Letter from Prison,” written to his attorneys in December
1910. The translation by Yoshiharu Hashimoto, originally published in A
Short History of the Anarchist Movement in Japan (Tokyo: Idea
Publishing, 1979). has been modified by the editor for stylistic
reasons.
---
WHENEVER THE ANARCHIST MOVEMENT is mentioned, there are many people who
understand it as assassination of a sovereign by pistol or bomb, which
shows their ignorance of anarchism. You, the attorneys, know already
that anarchism is a kind of philosophy similar to that of Lao Tzu and
Chuang Tzu, which taught us we must progress in accordance with the
general tendency to fulfill our freedom and happiness, because that
tendency is natural in human society, to be realized with mutual aid and
communal life, united by morality and charity, without government
compulsion as it is now.
Therefore, it is needless to say that the anarchist hates oppression,
disdains bondage as well as violence, and no one else loves freedom and
justice like him ..
In truth, assassins did emerge from among the anarchists, but that does
not mean all anarchists without fail are assassins. Furthermore, many
assassins came not only from the anarchists, but also from the state
socialists, the republicans, the Minkenka, patriots and loyalists ...
the number of assassinations by anarchists is few in comparison to the
other parties ... If an idea is declared terrorist due to the appearance
of an assassin, there is no more violent idea than the loyal or
patriotic one ... violence is usually initiated by government officials,
the rich and the aristocrats, while the militant and the worker are
provoked, so exploited that they are compelled to revolt with violence
as a last resort...
The problem is how to make an anarchist revolution when you do not
attack the sovereign with a bomb ... [our] REVOLUTION ... means a
fundamental transformation of political and social institutions, not a
change of rulers ... the revolution occurs spontaneously, neither
individual nor party can induce it ... Therefore, we cannot plan in
advance how to initiate a revolution and how to proceed with it ...
Based on the presupposition ... that the institutions and hierarchy of
today will not keep up with the advance and development of society and
humanity ... their overthrow and the creation of new institutions will
become inevitable ...
Considering this evolutionary process, we believe that after the decay
of individual competition and the institution of private property, a
communistic society will follow, with anarchistic libertarian
institutions driving away modern state despotism; thus, we want to have
such a revolution ...
Although we cannot predict under what conditions a revolution shall be
realized and how it will be achieved, in any case the participants in
the revolution for freedom and peace for the masses must try to limit
the use of violence ... such [violent] collisions have in fact been
provoked usually by the obstinate conservative elements fighting against
the general tendency [of evolutionary progress] ...
The revolutionary anarchist movement, properly so-called, does not seek
to induce a revolution immediately, nor is it a mutinous assault. Far
from it, it includes all efforts such as the cultivation of one’s
understanding and knowledge, and the discipline to contribute one’s
service to the coming revolution. Publishing newspapers and journals,
writing and distributing books and leaflets, speeches and meetings, all
of these means are used to explain the reasons for and the vicissitudes
of the tendency of social evolution, thereby cultivating the knowledge
related to them.
In addition, organizing trade unions with various cooperatives is an
advantageous vocation for us to develop the capacity of living in a
commune either at the time of or in the aftermath of a revolution ...
Some may say that a movement is useless if the revolution can only come
spontaneously, but that is not true. Whenever an old regime and the old
institutions have reached their apogee, society has begun to decline on
its own accord. Where there is no idea and knowledge of the general
tendency [of social evolution], of the new institutions and organization
that will replace the old, and no ability to participate, society
withers away along with the old regime, without sprouting the new bud of
revolution. In contrast, if we are prepared with knowledge and ability,
a new bud will spring forth even though the original stock shall have
died ...
There are no institutions or organizations that do not ceaselessly
fluctuate and evolve, for the human being is dynamic as well as society.
It is necessary to advance and to renew in accordance with the times. A
small period of such advancement and renewal is called a reformation or
an innovation; a big one, a revolution. In order to prevent the decay
and downfall of society, I believe it is necessary to propagate new
ideas and new thinking; in other words, a revolutionary movement is
indispensable ...
I was surprised to hear that direct action was understood as synonymous
with violent revolution and bomb throwing ... What it means is that the
workers, in order to promote their own advantage, as a group, for the
sake of the trade union, must act for themselves without relying on slow
moving parliaments; not indirect action through the intermediary of the
parliamentarian, but direct action by the workers themselves, without
representatives ...Instead of asking parliament to make factory laws to
improve or regulate the work place, the workers negotiate directly with
the owners; if the latter refuse to negotiate, the former push on to the
general strike ... Another example: a protester advocating the
expropriation of food from the rich when the hungry workers lie on the
street ... Then expropriation is another method of direct action ...
Just because someone is in favour of direct action does not mean that he
supports everything not subjected to parliamentary procedure; nor should
direct action be confused with riot, murder, robbery or even fraud
because they do not go through parliament either ...
I believe it does not serve as a revolution to raise a disturbance
without any cause in a peaceful country, causing vain sacrifice with
destruction of property and human lives. But when the tyranny of the
rich and the government reaches its zenith, and the people are driven to
the verge of ruin, it is worthwhile for a future revolution to help
them.