明治社会主義の思想

Abstract

Most of the socialists in the Meiji era were born in the 1860s, at the dawn of a new era, and grew up along with the new regime. Thus they were devoted to and were proud of the Meiji regime. When they later began to perceive social evils, they sought to reform but not to reject the regime.The early 1890s saw the modern beaureaucracy and higher education system prematurely established, which were followed by the rapid industrialization after the Sino-Japanese war. What resulted was a rigid social differentiation and opportunities to climb the ladders narrowed, at least this seemed so to ambitious young people. Moral sentiments declined. “Social problems” began to be conceptualized and given great weight. Many idealistic young intellectuals, inspired by democratic sentiments but prevented from climbing the ladder to success, approached “social problems” from the viewpoint of Wstern social and socialist theories which were learned mostly from American socialist literature. By introducing socialist reform they tried to dissipate the threat to the Meiji regime, particularly its constitutional aspect. They followed the German social democratic party which was the object of their deep admiration and almost the same with “International Socialism” itself to them. Nevertheless, the Japanese socialists were too deeply rooted in the native soil for them to be swallowed up by Western social and socialist theories. They interpreted and, though unconsciously, modified them, in terms of their own ways of thinking.Moreover we must remember that each socialist had a different social and cultural background from those of others. This resulted in different interpretations and modifications of western theories. On the one hand there was a “middle class” socialism of political journalists, “middle class” members themselves, who had been immersed in the ethos of the Restoration loyalist warrior (“shishi”) and of the literati (“bunjin”), and they laid much stress on the parliamentary side of an “elite socialism”. On the other hand there was a socialism of a trade union organizer, who tried to rely on the ethos of the “independent peasant” (“tokuno”) and of the skilled craftsman (“shokunin”), working by the sweat of their brows. He sought in his reform activities to improve people's way of life, not only their standard of living but their civic spirit and organizational efforts through their own participation.The Russo-Japanese war spelled the end of their efforts. Standing firm in their belief in international peace and justice they rejected the war aim of the Meiji government. The result was severe oppression by the government and castigation by public opinion. Faced with these difficulties, the dissension already creeping in became serious. In addition the socialists as a whole began to be isolated from the people. The plot of the “High-Treason Incident” finally put an end to the short life of the “Meiji socialists”.