UNREST IN JAPAN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17945, 24 November 1932, Page 2

UNREST IN JAPAN

MENACE OF REVOLUTION DANGEROUS MOVEMENTS LONDON, Nov. 16. Japan is threatened with a revolution, disguised as “Restoration,” which is comparable both to Fascism and Communism. The real ideal, however, is a Socialist State, in which Japan will again be clothed in her ancient dress and the sacred person of the Emperor be restored to absolute power. So cables Sir Percival Phillips, the well-known special correspondent, from Kyoto, to the Daily Mail. The Manchurian adventure, he says, •,vas only one feature of a situation which is full of dangerous possibilities, as fostered by the militarists. They are determined not to relinquish their hold on Manchuria, though it is costing £2,500,000 a month and probably will necessitate a capital levy, thinly disguised as compulsory loans A more dangerous movement is tho /ounger generation’s plans to “rescue” Japan from Western influence and the clutches of capitalism, and to revive the authority of the military caste. This movement aims at eliminating industrialists, capitalists, and professional politicians, the confiscation of fortunes, and the relegation of commerce to tho humble position which it occupied before Japan emerged from feudalism. The roots of the movement lie in the peasants’ intolerable distress, due to over-population. Young agitators, including Kosaburo I’achibana, who is awaiting trial for the murder of the ex-Premier, Mr. Inukai, have exploited these conditions, preaching confiscation and redistribution as tho only means whereby to improve the position of the peasants. In this campaign they have found many recruits also among the farmer-fed ranks of the army. This has resulted in the wealthy fearing both the loss of their fortunes and assassination, owing to tho development of a murder cult, in which perpetrators of murder are regarded as examples of courage and self-sacrifice. It is certain that the population is bursting its bonds, and that there must be a radical change to relieve the depressed peasants.