The Japanese Anarchists Part 2

that is that is a win. And the cosmists come, The Russian cosmists come, and they resurrect at least Knikofumico um the rest, give or take whatever. Maybe the children could be resurrected. That's how I would prioritize it in that order. That makes sense. Yeah. Um. And that voice you're hearing is Margaret Killjoy, host of Cool, host of CPW d C. Yes, Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, Cool medio podcast that is launching its first episode on

May second, and episodes are every Monday and Wednesday. I did it? Okay? Who that's true? All the things are true except the cosmist part. Yeah, the cosmists, I don't know. Maybe maybe maybe they'll still pull it off all right, as as if yet, So we're gonna go back a little bit. Um. We ended last episode with everyone sort

of dead. Um. But the reason that also didn't wipe out the the anarchist movement was that there's that does another sort of wing of it, and the other wing of it is in in nineteen eighteen, labor movement in Japan re emerges, and it re emerges because there's the war, like Japan fights to over one, and there's just like mass inflation and deprivation, and so even though striking is like unbelievably illegal, people do it anyways because the underdative

is just starving to death. And so there's this reformist trade union that eventually becomes Japanese Confederation of Labor that swells and numbers to about thirty thousand people, and actually mentioned like thirty thousand people is like, it doesn't sound like that big for a union. I think this is the biggest any union is going to get in this period.

I think this union might get slightly bigger than that, but like, yeah, most of the unions don't crack twenty k because the size of the Japanese industrial working class isn't that big and also the amount of oppression is unbelievable. But you know, having having thirty thousand people in your union means that your union is now the site of Japanese intra left conflict, which is wonderful. People there is

actually like people up. Yeah, it's great. There's like, you know, there's a period where everyone kind of gets along, like like all of there was like everyone of the Japanese Left knows each other, like all they're all dating each other, Like this is true, Like you know, we've been talking

about all the interest stating each other. The anarchist, the communists all dating each other, like the reformists are also dating each other, Like they're all sort of like everyone knows each other, and for like a bit they're sort of able to get along. Ah. But with with with the the Japanese Confederation of Labor. This last for like one year, and the anarchists and the Bolsheviks have split

over the question of the USSR. After the anarchists published like Emma Goldman writing about how it's bad actually, and suddenly these two factions are like yeah, these factions are like fighting tooth and nail for control of like the entire left because like these these these groups are like the anarchists and the communists are in every social movement, like they're they're in there in labor, they're in the feminist movements, there in this movement they're like we haven't

really talked about, but it's going on the background of all of this, which is the burak Kuman liberation movement on the burk Kuman or this like this like hereditary class. I'm pronouncing that extremely badly and I apologize, um, but the hereditary class and like the old fuel system, which is like technically abolished in the ladies and hundreds, but like discrimination against them continues. It's it's very similar to

like like the untouchable like touchables in India. And so they have this sort of movements and the anarchists back it, and the communists like waffle on it because the Bolsheviks, it takes to like a while before they're like no, no, no,

We're we're fully backing this now. And so yeah, I mean that gets wrapped up in this this giant battle for the control of the left, and the battle for the control of the left leads to like one of history's most common alliances which is Bolsheviks allying with reformists who like also favor like centralized control to fight the anarchists. You don't want centralized control. Yeah, there there are new things, yea.

And in labor movement, this this plays out in this battle over like where power is supposed to be in a union confederation. So you know, the question basically is it supposed to be in the federation bureaucracy like the people are like the sort of high level of the bureaucracy it sself, or is it supposed to be in

the unions who are like the part of federation. And and this has real consequences, you know, like in a lot of sort of centralized union federations, like the central union bureaucracy of the people who decide if you can strike or not m hm. And you know, this is extremely useful to both reformers bureaucrats who want to make sure nobody goes on strike because they have their deal with the capitalists and they don't want to refolution happen.

And it's also very useful for the Bolsheviks who want to make sure they can purge anyone who they don't like, and also want to make sure the Union movement just like an extension of their politics. And so there's this huge battle and it ends with basically like both the Bolsheviks and the reformists pull out of the Union. Whoa, so the anarchists win, Oh yes, sort of, Well they do appear in victory. There's like nothing les Yeah, well

it's not there's nothing. So like twenty tho members go with the reformists, like twelve thou go with the Bolsheviks, about eight thousand go with the anarchists. So it's not the best, but they rebuild and and into this phrase steps arguably Japan's greatest anarchist theorists of this period, Hottes Shoeso. And this guy is a character like he's he's he's

barely known in Japan. I mean, there was a sort of like renaissance in how does shoes a scholarship when this one guy named John Krupp wrote this book called how to Shoeso? How does Shuzo? And Pure Anarchism and Interwar Japan, which is a mouthful of a title. But I'm just gonna keep plugging this because like this is the book that made me an anarchist. Like this is like I checked this book out from my library and I read it and I was like, oh my god, I'm an anarchist now. So yeah, he has he has

like A because she has a wild story. Um. He's born in He's born in Japan in December six and he sort of like bounces around like different manual labor jobs in Tokyo, and like at one point he he he wants to be like A. He tries to be like I don't know if it's a long shot. He wants to be like a sailor. So he gets on a boat and he's gonna be a sailor, and then he after like one sale ride to Taiwan, he immediately

decides he doesn't want to be a sailor anymore. So he just gets off the boat and Eason doesn't come back. I feel like that's what I would do if I decided, Oh yeah, like that job, especially like the nineteen like twenties, that jobs, he's awful. Yeah, You're like, I want adventure, and then you're like, oh, adventure means bad things happen. It's like, I mean, I I guess I understand why all these people are anarchists, because like that is a terrible job. But yeah, so she so winds up sort

of just like wandering around Taiwan. And one of the things that happens when he's wanting around Taiwan, by the way, is a Japanese colony at this point, um okay. And while he's wandering around Taiwan, he becomes a Christian and he like goes to school, it's like a theologian, but he drops out, but then he somehow still becomes a pastor because I don't know, this guy's career is wild. No,

she's always not like a normal pastor. He rapidly starts pissing off like everyone around him because he's like every all of his sermons are just him and taggetizing rich people and preaching this like very very left wedged in

the Gospel to be like the read the Bible. Yeah yeah, yeah, it's incredible that there's a great quote from Haweshizu and Pierre anarchist of it Into War Japan about his time as a pastor, from like someone who was there, it was Pastor Hottes sermons were superbs, so much so that I thought it was a shame that more people were not there to hear them. It was like the Bible talking in the spirit of pure socialism. And one of my friends admired Pastor Hottes so much that the asid

to celebrate his marriage. Yeah, and you know this like this does not make around. Yeah yeah, he say, Well, it's funny because he starts like as a Christian, right, but like he just like progressively keeps getting more and more left wing and keeps realizing that like, okay, so there's the Kingdom of God in heaven, right, but like what if we did that here? And like as he's getting like as he's pissing off more of the church, um and as like they're they're they're in fighting, gets bigger,

he's becoming just more and more of an anarchist. And by the end he just like gets up. He gets booted out by his church and he's just like, okay, I'm anarchist propagandist now, and sow four he just like leaves and he's like, well, I'm anarchists now. Um, and Shizo becomes what's known as a pure anarchist. And this is something that is like entirely unique to Japan that

like there there's nothing there's this doesn't exist anywhere else. Um, and this is different than like basically every other anarchist theorist and movement in Japan until this point has been like something you can find parallels with other anarchist movements around the globe, Like there are nihilists and lots of countries as egoists everywhere like their cynicalists literally in every country has ever existed, and they mostly sort of believe

the same things. Um, you know, and you get some like like oh yessaki is like combination of egoism and syndicalism is like it's cool, but like I like that idea. Yeah, yeah, it's a good idea, but it's also not like it's like he's he's not he's not like he's not the first person to ever do this right. And like the japaneseynicalist movement is is built in the molde of like the French syndicalists in the CGT, which is this big union. H actually they're still around today there so in like

the very early eighteen hundreds they were there. They were sort of a narcost Nicolas union and like nighte to know six they have this famous charter about like anarchists, but then they go reformist and they like they vote for World War We're one and now they're famous for there's been like twelve things that probably could have been a revolution in France if the c GT had ever

a single time went to the barricades. And they never do Whi's never ever, that's like their whole thing, Like like they sat out by sixty eight, Like that's yeah, this union. Yeah, and they sat out by sixty eight. It's like it's incredible, but you know it's the But you know, in like nineteen know six, right, the Japanese are looking at like cyniccals looking at this like oh my god, this just this union has like millions of people in it, like it's enormous. It's a cynicals union.

So yeah, yeah, and like you know, they they the Jamans anarchists do is sort of their standard cynicalist things like that they're building up democratic unions. They're like working cords in general, strike the season mused their production. They're like fighting for a society or production is run by workers themselves. Blah blah blah bla I should blah blah blah blah. That's actually it's it's cool. It's fine, but pure anarchism is not that I'm dying to know what

pure anarchism is. This new anarchism just dropped. I'm excited. It's it's kind of a it's it's a version of her communism. But like what if you like really really rigorously applied in arcole communism and and this is this

is the thing. It doesn't exist anywhere else because everywhere, like in the West and in Latin America, like syndicalism and anarchist and anarcho communism just like fuse to the point where like they're not really They're like, but there's not really they're not really separate tendency like nobody's written in archo communist theory, and like a hundred years like like they start, you know, they've basically ceased to be

separate tendencies. But in Japan, the cyndicicaliss of the and comps like fighting it out to the death, and this this produces pure anarchism and it rules can talk about what it is because it's both wonderful and incredibly silly at the same time. So okay, So so to understand what they're arguing about, because this is this is this

this causes like a huge fracture in the annext movements. Um, I think we need to sort of like go into like the vulgar barkist conception of class structure that's kind of shared by the cyndicalists. So okay, okay, so you're you're,

you're okay. The important thing about this is that, like this doesn't work at your pan like the vulgar theory of like marcutis class structure, right, is that like, okay, so you're supposed to have the great industrial proletariat, Like it's that's supposed to become a majority of the population.

It's supposed to be unified and organized by like the discipline of the factory system, and the entire world is supposed to reduce to two classes, like the borgewisi and the proletariat, like one class of people who have nothing to sell but their labor. One class of people who exist purely too like extract wealth from people because like

you who you entirely supportless of my owning things. And you know, eventually these are supposed to, like if you if you read your communist manifesto, Eventually these two classes are supposed to like meet themselves in like a final conflict or the proletariat defeats it's called yeah yeah, yeah, and you know, the proporteria defeats them, and then they abolish the conditions of their own existence as a class and you get stateless class lists. But in this society,

it's like a free association of workers. And this is what communism is. And famously this never happened. Yeah, what about the immortal science. Yeah, you know they well they

want the wortal science. Yeah, this, this is the This is the problem the immortal science is that one, instead of unifying the industrial proletariat, capitalism like divides it and just sort of like like literally spatially like kicks them into suburbs, and you can get this sort of like the system where instead of like unifying everyone into one class, everyone is now this like completely alienated like boomer living in a suburb, even if it's still work in a factory.

And the other problem is that there's never just two classes. And this is a problem that like, yeah, all the

other ones are our enemies. Yeah, this worried too, you know, but this is a real problem, right because like the like the marxis run into this in Russia where it's like okay, so we we did our thing, we did our urban poultry and revolution, but like there's all these peasants and they don't like us because we keep taking their granted gunpoint and but but you know that you have you have this one problem and and popular, yeah, it goes great, right if not nothing bad ever happens,

they don't famously have to kill enormal members of these people. But then like you know, there's something weird happens, which is in China, Stalin managed to get like the entire or like the entire urban Chinese working class like builitic working class killed, and so Mao has to like make a revolution with peasants, and so you know, peasants become the sort of like you know, this this sort of like this, this is what the actual refolution strtuct of

communism wants up being. Like from the China Columbia, it's these peasants. But like you know, okay, so you're your three of the industrial politariats already down the toilet. And this is what Shuzo is reacting to. Like he looks at Japanese society and there's like five people who you wage labor. Mostly there's this inor was like fourteen million people who are tenant farmers who are like trying to support their families and these like tiny plots of rented land.

But you know, and like in center Marxist theories like well, okay, these people will inevitably be absorbed into capitalism, right, but they will be driven by competition or whatever to the market. But like they're not, it's not happening. They're just they're sitting there and they're still just really poor in paying their landlords. And yeah, yeah, well you just gotta wait for all of Japan to be like annihilated. Yeah yeah, yeah,

it's it's it's it's going great. But and it's also like there's all these other like classes to you, like there's there's these classes of like there's just like petty traders for example, or like like low level like really low level government officials like like you know, you're like like a clerk for example, who just don't fit into this sort of class schem at all, Like if if marks some things about like like small like I don't know, people who like cut wood and then go into a

town and sell it. Like they're like, well, there's can these people are prete Bogwa like their reactionaries, and there's this whole history of like anarchists organizing people like this who marks just sort of like steer out, Like Bolivia has this where like anarchists organized these like these indigenous like they're not really these indigenous artisans whose things like they go to market and they saw their craft. And the Marxists were just like, how do we care about

the people? Like why yeah, workers, And it always seems like the better I don't know, whenever I was presented with the basic analysis of like, okay, we've got the proletariat who have terrible lives and factories, and then you have the lump and proletariat who refuse that kind of work and are like beggars and thieves and people doing work outside of the traditional system or whatever. And then you have the petty bourgeoisie who are like you know,

owned stores or artisans or whatever. And then you have the bourgeoisie over it. And it is always funny to me because I look at I'm like, well, clearly, the only ones that would be worth being would be lumping proletariat or pet like they're the only ones to get to have any fun like, yeah, you know, and I think, like, like, this is a problem that that chooso sees. And I'm gonna read part of um Krupt's book about his solution

to this because I think it's really interesting. Um. Given the failure of the available methods of class analysis to capture the subtleties of Japan's social structure, how To developed the notion of the propertyless masses as an alternative concept

of the proletariat. That the propertyless masses was a wide ranching term which encompassed tenant farmers, small traders, petty officials, artisans, and even wage laborers when they are prepared to forsake their preoccupation with narrowly defending advantages that accompanied their urban lifestyle and we're ready to throw in their lot with the other oppressed strata. Yeah, that makes sense. That's just the you know, it's the like or's just the haves

and have nots. It's like, okay, well it's it's kind of but but there's there's a crucial difference here, which is that like, okay, so the other like the really big thing about the pure anarchists that they don't believe in class struggle, okay, and the reason why they don't believe in class struggle is that they think that, Okay, so they look at the history of the union movement, right, and it's like, okay, so has the union movement ended capitalism?

It's like no, so like okay, what what does it actually do? And the answer is it gets people slightly more money under capitalism, which is nice too, yeah, which

which is nice. But it's also like shooes so like adopted tube that there's no other Japanese anarchists who who has this beta for It's like he he compares it to like people fighting inside of like a bandit gang, where it's like, okay, so if you have you have like fight, like the bosses of the bandit gang are obviously exploiting like the lower level people in the bandit gang.

But you know, I even even if even if the lower level people in this bandit gang like take over, they're not actually gonna stop being a bandit gang, right, It's just that the the distribution of where the bandit gang wealth is going changes. And this is a big thing for for for the purannicist because the puor anchists are you know, they're there looking at the industrial working classes like this is tiny and they're they're all exploiting

the countryside. Hm. And so because of that, like they they look at this, they look at the union movement, and they look at it at like class struggle, like classical TM like class struggle, and they're like, well, this

doesn't cause a revolution. All this does is just like sort of reorients like who's in power inside of Uh that's what the Bolsheviks did, right, Yeah, But but it's it's not just what the bulls they applies to the Bolsheviks, but like it's also like there's analysis of what a union is that you're like class struggles just defending your position uder capitalism, but you're also fighting very specifically narrowly for your class. Right, So if you're like a factory worker, right,

you're fighting for you and the other factory workers. You're not fighting for like I don't know, like a tenant farm. But you're not you know, even fighting from like for like the guy down the tree to BIG's bread. It's like you're you know, the these these things that are like that are but they look like instruments of class struggles, like your workers council, your unions or soviets like they don't actually get rid of class. It's just now another

class has power. And it doesn't matter if it's sort of like this is what they're argument is like, it doesn't matter if it's like democratic, It doesn't matter if it's like you know, like they're they're there's no difference in how the actual eventually the class and amics will

play out. It doesn't matter if it's like you know, like Lenin making like Stalin making himself dictator, or you have a bunch of democratic like Soviets, because they're both so intrimented class power and they're both sort of just going to reproduce this, this whole system. And yeah, and so they have this thing that they counterpose, which is like class struggle is just about what stuff is happening inside the system. But that's different revolution, which is like

destroying this the system entirely. And this is where you get into his stuff about the division of labor, which is I think it's really interesting because it I think this this sphere of pure anarchism got to a bunch of critiques of stuff that people have gotten to now, but they got to it in where Okay, so she's like one of his big things is that like the division of labor is inherently exploitative because it like it destroys sort of rural community living and it replaces it

with the centralization of expertise and centralization of power. And he also thinks that like science is like a capitalist engine that's used to like create the division of labor, and then it's used to create like mechanization, and it's used to create like labor exploitation. Yeah, this that sounds like modern A lot of like stuff that I read more modern. Yeah, yeah, yeah, except this is like they're

doing this in like like nineteen twenties seven. Else is a capitalist engine of exploitation products and surface the podcast Industrial Complex, It's true, and we're back with more things that are exploitative and the theoretically theoretically yes, yes, but we we we we have we have to get through. We have to get through the last exploitative thing, which is the thing. I talked a bit about this earlier.

But like the Puranicists argued that like cities inherently are this concentration of wealthy resources and power, and so like farmers and workers need to work together to destroy all forms of power, including cities. And this sounds a lot like primitive. Is yeah, it does, although you know, they wouldn't necessarily be like wrapping the farmers, and I think I think primitives might be the wrong term. But it's definitely a lot of like the anti tech stuff, and

well it's it's interesting, Okay. So they have they have like they threat this needle where so like there are people in this period who want to just go back to pure rural grarianism and don't want their to technology, and the pure anarchists are like, no, we still want technology, but we don't want the division of labor. So they're like, we like our raping machines so we don't have to work as much more more farming. We just don't want everyone to live in apartments. Yeah, I mean even the

reaping machine. I don't know, Like it's kind of unclear to me how this is exactly supposed to work, because like we'll get into this. I guess we can just get into this now, which is it, Like, okay, so they really don't like the division of labor because they think the division of labor like, well, okay, they have they have like there's like three critiques of but one is that like when you have a division of labor,

labor becomes like mechanized industrialized. And when that happens, um labor because like it gets reduced to just like a cog you put in a machine m hm. And they say this is like this is like an inherent like thing that happens with labor specializations. You just end up like being a person who makes you want repetitive moving a factory over and over again, like you're not free

because of this um. And they also argue that like specialization means that people only care about like labor that they do and so this gives you like an identity that that divides workers from one sector, like say if you're if you're you know, you're like a coal miner, right, your daily experience is so utterly different than a baker. And it's not just like your experience, it's like it's like your knowledge is different. The other person is not gonna,

like baker is not going to understand what you're doing. Um. And you keep wanting to argue against this political position that no, no, that misunderstands the nature of specialization at all, you know. But then I'm like, all right, I can't

go back and convince these people. Yeah, yeah, I think like I think, okay, this is I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna put on my my, my marks, my like weird left calm mars, noise and critique not a platform, which is not they actually wanted as a platform, but like I think it would have been a great critique and not a very good platform. Yeah, they're the platform. Yeah, I mean I think I think there's there's the interesting

elements of it. Like they have this argument that like, okay, so if if you have your like your your syndicalists, like society right where Okay, so you have a bunch of like you have a bunch of like coal miners, you have a bunch of people who like make pots and hands, but you need to coordinate your labor, okay because because you you have you have like specialization, you have branches of labor. And their argument is that, okay,

so well the city clues way you do this. You have coordinating committees, right you you like elect a person you like, send them to a coordinating council, and the coordinating council like coordinates stuff. And she was just like, well that's just gonna she those like things like that's just gonna turn into a state. Like you're just gonna create a permanent class, even even if you rotate people. You're you're you're creating an administrative body that's gonna like

rebuild the state again. And yeah, like okay, like I than this like shrugging gesture that the audience cans like yeah, you know, yeah, I I don't, okay. So, like I don't think he's right about like most of this, Like I think he's sort of wrong about like almost all of it. The thing the thing that's stuck with me, so when I read this is like his specific critique of syndicalism, which is that it maintains like the structure

of the old world. Because if you're a syndicalist and your your society is based on unions running their workplaces, then you've maintained the division of labor, but you've also maintained like the basic like geographic, physical, technological, and organizational structure of capitalism, like all of the like all of that stuff is still in the same place, and you're still sort of like going there to do your job.

And I think there is an interesting sort of like like I think there's a genuine interesting critique there of yeah, like how how do you make sure that you aren't just sort of reproducing that stuff? And like like I mean, I don't know, like the critique of why would you want to build a society likes structured along the lines of production, Like why why do you want to structure

your society around work? Like that's awful. I I like that about the pure anarchists, where they were kind of like, let's let's let's throw away the Marxist ship for a minute and like just actually like figure out what we want, and like, I I like that about it, But I I dislike the idea of like, well it's it's it would be my problem with syndicalism, and most of the syndicalists I met believe in syndicalism as a method and

not an end result. Right, um, it's a way of building workers power, not a way to create a society. But but if syndicalists were like everyone must wake up and go to their work job and then make eight widgets, but it's collectively determined which widgets that you make, right, like funk that. But also if it was like everyone goes and wakes up and goes to their collective farm and maybe we use raping machines and maybe we don't.

And it's just like I get so unexcited by It's like one of the reasons that like a lot of the like nitpicky branches of anarchism don't they interest me, but I don't like subscribe to any of them, is because I'm like, well, what if some people like this ship some people like this ship like and you know, maybe they're could be fucking different. Imagine that we could

have a plurality of economic models stems. But you know whatever, Um, I'm now arguing with that people who I probably this is interesting, Like, well, I don't know, because these guys like they they have like the maoist thing going on, where like they will like attack other leftist groups who

like don't like follow their line. And so this is where this whole thing is wild, because it was one of the other things, like the the pure anarchists are like completely convinced that syndicalism is like a sort of like well they think it's it's just like it's not an anarchist thing. It's just like a tendency to labor movement. And they also think that like it's basically like a bastardized form of Marxism because they're not like entirely wrong

about either of those things. But yeah, except in a different places and times. Yeah, but it's like the thing, the thing that they have. But it like because they're they're completely convinced that syndicalism will inevitably just like turn

into like Soviet communism. It's like it's incredibly silly. Um, But like like this, you know, I like, on the one hand, like they are kind of inventing a lot of the sort of like like they're they're inventing a lot of the sort of like some okay, some bad arguments about like specialization and stuff, like like some anti work stuff too, that like is going to be around later. They're also inventing a lot of stuff that's like and you know, initially this kind of like new theory doesn't

have this doesn't have an enormous effect. Um. In six, the Federation of Black Youth or COCODA and has its first public meeting, and they have a bunch of cool slogans. The the slogans rolled they have the emancipation of workers must be carried out by the workers themselves. We insist on libertarian federation, destroy the political movement, get rid of reject the Poltarian party, get rid of professional activists with

all oppressive laws and ordinances. That is an entirely based platform. Yeah, sweet, it's it's good. Yeah. And you know there were things despite the fact that it's called the Federation of Black Youth, this is like not a youth. I mean, I mean there's like youth in it, but like it's it's this thing's backed by like remember those those printers unions that I was talking about last episode that I was like, Hi,

you have like set up. So they're all heavily involved in this um and they do a bunch of cool labor stuff, like they get involved in, like, uh, there's a bunch of tram worker strikes to get involved in.

The they're in this, uh the Japanese Musical Instrument Company strike, which is like there's like over a thousand people on strike for like over a hundred days, and there's there's this great split where like so the leadership of the union is Bolshevik, but like a bunch of the like a bunch of the ordinary people in the union are anarchists and so you have that there's there's like there's this fun tension going around there. They're they're they're they're

doing the stuff. Um and then the anarchists form um Zengoku Dieterrand, which is the All Japanese Libertarian Federation of Labor Unions, which is a it's a federation of twenty five unions. These are the Pierre anarchists that you're talking about that are doing all this. So sorry at this point they haven't split yet, okay, because it was like this sounds like all the stuff that they said that

they don't want to do. Yeah, well, this is like the other the other wild thing about this is that like, okay, so the entirety of like of like Piannicis theory, right, is about how like unions don't do revolutions and that class struggle, but like they still do strikes, like they still do all the normal stuff. It's kind of wild, Okay, I kind of like that, yeah, you know, and like and and this that that's sort of how they're able

to get along in this early period. And these unions like, okay, so there's like a lot of Printers unions in this because the Prints unions are just really anarchists. But there's

there's like there's a tenant farmers union. There's a lotch of like rubber unions, and it grows to like fifteen workers almost immediately, and yeah, they' they're doing to a lot of cool stuff, like they they have they have these huge demonstrations in supporter of SACO and fnzetti uh to the US is killing for being narchists and also Italians just like yeah, the one time anti Italian racism was real and a hundred years ago, ship was real different than it is now and it doesn't yeah yeah,

yeah yeah. And for for for one year, this like this works great, you know, like the yeah that the union's up to, like I think they get up to like thirty thousand members, like it gets pretty big. But then intense conflict between the syndicalists and the anarchac and

the pure anarchists breakout. And this gets so bad so fast that like the International working Man's Association, which is the like like the giant international like Federation of Cynicalist Movements like sends them a letter that are like, hey, cynicalist anarcro communists get along every literally everywhere else on earth. Their Chilk. You guys like Chill and the anarcha communists

in Cocadoran. Uh. Their response is you are fighting quote the Betrayer's opportunists and union imperialists in Zengoku Juran's ranks. I can't have nice things. Ye know, it's great, it

gets better, it gets better. So they lose, yeah, because okay, look in the conference, so uh Senoka Juran which is the Union federation, like they have they have a conference, they have the yearly conference, and there's just like giant battle over like what the organizations platform is going to be a thing that doesn't matter at all, except it's a proxy ideological fight, and uh, both sides should start screaming at each other. And I'm gonna read this description

from Ardashizo and Pyrannicas and Mento War Japan. Cocona and members barricaded the barrack to the anarchy the anarchist syndicolist jeering and cat calling them, and the proceedings degenerated to the level where it was almost impossible to hear the speeches. Eventually,

the anarcho syn Nicholas decided they had had enough. Unflirling their black flags, they walked out of the hall to a chorus of taunts such as believers, blind, believers in Central authority, Bolsheviks, and betrayers, Oh my god, go over yourself. Oh my no, okay, to be fair to the pure anarchists, one of so, okay, a bunch of the cynicals, you can start leaving, and all one of them does actually join the Bolsheviks, but like all the other ones don't

because they're not. And you get this period there's like they have like the Cynical List and that the puirenarchists

of dueling magazines. Uh, there's won't call black flag. There's won't called black battle, and like so cocon Ran, which is like the youth mid thing, like the cynicalist and the anarchists are still in it together, and they like they start just like fighting each other in the street when they run into each other, because the the this is more oppressive than everyone getting murdered after the earthquake,

not the jet side anarchist killing part. Yeah well, I mean yeah, yeah, it's it's like it's like well, you know, and like yeah, they What's interesting about this though, is that like the inucle communists, like when the union splits, like almost all of the people stay with the communists, even though the other communists like explicitly saying we're not fighting for like wage increases, we're just fighting revolution, and fine,

I'm all right with that. Yeah. Well, but there's interesting stuff too where it's like like they're also so be because they have this thing that's like, okay, so that the urban workers are like exploiting the well, okay, the line about it's complicated because it's like they think the urban workers are exploiting the countryside, but they also don't think that the solution to it is to just like

turn it the other way around. They think that like the workers and the tenant farmers just work together to like make the oppression go away, which is like a reasonable stance on it. Yeah, but it means that you know that they're interested in, like they're interested in the real movement in a way that like the other Japanese

lefe stupents aren't. But unfortunately, you know, Okay, there's a big debate as to whether this split like actually like like how big a role this split had in the collapse of anarchism, because like bye bye by, like by like nineteen thirty one, like the fascists have just straight up taken over Manchuria. Like I think things have gotten so fascist that it's like it's unclear whether the split

mattered at all. Yeah, um yeah, but you know, they run into this problem where like like cocul and like the state really hates them, and they all a bunch of them get arrested, and that they you know, they respond to being arrested by like getting more militant. But then that just you know, that fuels the cycle of them getting arrested for and people just leave because they're like, well, okay, if I'm in this organization, like we're all just gonna

like get shot. I mean that's the spiral. Yeah yeah, and you know, it's just real problem. And like how does Chiso himself becomes just like incredibly depressed by the depression of the movement, but acteally thirty two, he just leaves like he's just out. He like his anarchism. He abuses his wife because this is the story of a bunch of guys who sucked. And then he drinks. Yeah, well I guess okay, he he did it to him.

He yeah, he drinks. He got it done on his arm. Yeah, and you know, so he he dies and he like kills himself. Well I don't think he was doing a purpose, but he just dies from drinking too much. And that year, actually the anarcho communists, Narcos Niklaus like get back together. But it doesn't matter because by this point the fascists

are just started different power. And yeah, the anarchists they do, they do one last world uprising and they fight a lot of cops and then all of them get arrested and anarchism just sort of dies until the end of World War Two. And yeah, it's you know, okay, anarchism does re emerge after the war, but that's like that,

that's a whole another story and entirely. Uh what I will say about is if you see those those construction hats from the protests, and you see one that's just all black, it doesn't have like a name written on it, like those are the anarchists. It's still around um and you know, an anarchist of Japan like survives to this day. There there there's a book called the Manual for a Worldwide for a worldwide manuk revolts that like, one day, I swear to God, I'm actually gonna read but he

is really big in China. Well, okay, I said really big in China. It's very influential in a very small subcultural anarchist scene in China. But I'm talking about them because it heavily influenced Like the people who wrote the Lying Flat manifesto, Um, we're like, we're very heavily influenced

by this stuff. Oh okay, okay, So we did the episode about this a while back, but Lying Flat was this thing in China, I guess still going on, but like people were just like it's kind of it was kind of the version of anti work or a most people like discovered diogenes and or like what if I just didn't work? What if I just like lived on, like I worked like one day a month then lived on like nothing so I didn't have to work? Or

if I just quit. What if I just like stop doing all of this capitalist stuff, and what if I like stop having to deal with this patriarchy. What if I just like, you know, yeah, and it takes kind

of like yeah, yeah, they're they're great. They lots of on diogenies quotes, lots of like the manifesto they released is like very it's like very anarchist and yeah, like that whole thing, and that was like like this, this is a big enough social movement that like like she jumping like mentioned it in a speech, Okay, and so yeah, like Jenny's anarchism still influence to this day, a big

deal for them. They were kind of kind of concerned a that like this the same way a whole bunch of like oligarchs got concerned about the anti work stuff and you saw like anti work hit pieces in the past like six months. It was, yeah, it's like similar things being like, well, this better not catch on more

because that could really suck for us. That's as optimistic of a note as you could possibly get out of the story, which is that they're still around and they still influence things that matter, and hopefully they don't fight each other more than the state. Yeah, don't don't do that, Like I like, yes, I guess I will make my controversial Sometimes it's okay to stab an abuser under the

throat stance. But also, don't purge all your syndicalists because on the accusation of Bullshevism hot take, don't purge all your synthey classes. Yeah, don't systematize violence like that. You know, you're like, this individual guy just did this thing, and I'm real upset that he just did it to me, And there's like a throat. I'm not actually making an actual advocacy. I'm talking about how sometimes when that has

happened in history that seemed kind of cool. But yeah, not the not the systemic kick out all the people who have this minor I mean, it's really funny to me because I'm like, I'm like huge anti infighting. Then people are like, don't you spend all your time fighting tankies on the internet, And I'm like, they want to make a state that's different. Yeah, they believe that they

everyone should be thrown in jail. That is a different thing. Um. Also, I don't like you've got to manage to polycuele drama. Like you gotta manage. It's got to be kept under control. You cannot allow your retire your steam to be factionalized over rival polyuels and anarchists control your polycuel drama quotations and parties impossible. See, that's why you just need more. Maybe it's true, it's like you need more multigenerational anarchists because I think people in their forties give less of

a ship about a lot of the trauma. But then I'm like, maybe that's not true. Maybe people on their bodies keep just as much of a ship about all the trauma. Anarchism wonderful idea. Yep, yeah, that's good. And speaking of wonderful ideas, it is time for us to do the plugs. Um. First, I just want to plug Jamie Loftus is new cool Zone Media podcast Goes Church by Jamie Loftus. Uh. By the time this drops, episode one will be out in episode two will be dropping

the next Monday, I believe, yes exactly. And we also have another podcast on Coolson Media with one Margaret Killjoy it called Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff? Margaret, you wanted to tell us about that? Oh sho? Should I start working on that. I'll get it done by monday, okay, cool Um, I have a new podcast called cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, which is as about cool people who did did cool stuff, and you might like it

if you like stories about people who. Um, I can't say cool stuff again, I'll have to use come up with more synonyms. Really, it's just all a competition to see how many synonyms for cool I can come up with without using the word based, because I feel like I'm too old to use the word based without really,

this is what you are here for. So I'm much more eloquent on my podcast, which you can catch every Monday and Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts, probably wherever you got this podcast is where you can find it.

And the trailer is out now, so you can go and you can listen to the trailer where I talk about some anarchist bank robbers who broke out of prison, because why would you be in prison when you could be outside of prison, which is generally the preferable position to be in, with the exception of like every now and then, like people break up out of jail by like someone goes to jail on purpose, but they have like hacks all blades in their shoes and ship. That

would be cool too. Um So more breaking your friends out of jail and less chasing them out of the room jeering at them is my general rule. I hate to make rules, but if I were to make one, it would be that. And you can hear me talk

about those kinds of stories on the podcast. Well, thank thank thank you so much for joining joining us today, for for Chris to talk about the wonderful, wonderful history of Japanese centricism and the many, the many deaths that are associated in those poor people and yeah, the like so basically like a like a mini Korean genocide. Yeah, yeah, intense. Well that's it for us today. You can find this suit on Instagram. It happen to your pot in cool sound Media. Uh see you next week and go listen

to podcasts. We have many of them. It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. But more podcasts from cool Zone Media. Visit our website cool zone media dot com, or check us out on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It could Happen here, updated monthly at cool zone media dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.