53 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
53 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
**Workers' Control in Japan** is unfortunately largely unknown among the
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Anglophone left, however, we do have access to some information on it.
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Unlike [workers' control in most other
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countries](Workers'_Control_by_Country "wikilink"), Japan's peaked
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following the end of World War II, a trend only [matched in
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Indonesia](Workers'_Control_in_Indonesia "wikilink").
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## During the Allied Occupation of Japan
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*Main Article: [Allied Occupation of
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Japan](Allied_Occupation_of_Japan "wikilink")*
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Beginning in 1945 under [US occupation](US_Hegemony "wikilink"), a mass
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strike wave hit Japan after [trade unions](Trade_Union "wikilink") were
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legalised. Around 10% of these involved (or 133 strikes, involving over
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100,000 workers) led to work-ins. Many workers were angered at the war
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profiteering by Japanese capitalists and argued that the democratisation
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of Japan should extend to the workplace.
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Workers who took control of their place of work took over all aspects of
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production, the buying and selling of their resources and negotiating
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with employers. The strikes were extremely peaceful and would cease if
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wages were increased (proving the seizing the means doesn't need to kill
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anyone, to the anger of capitalists and Leninists a like). The main
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industries affected were newspapers, shoe factories, hospitals,coal
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mines, municipal government offices and steel works. Wages and
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productivity massively rose in the early stages of workers' control, but
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often fell after a week or two, this is for two reasons:
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1. Inexperienced workers often increased production at the expense of
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damaging equipment
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2. Workers became increasingly anxious about losing their jobs
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One boss who refused to surrender the keys to his plant was locked up in
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his office for four days. Such acts as forcing employers to hold
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interviews, trespassing or seizing residences, and making unau- thorized
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searches for commodity hoards have been regarded as "minor offenses"
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which the police condoned. One of the few cases regarded as extreme
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involved striking coal miners in Hokkaido who not only took over the
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Mitsubishi mines but constituted themselves a "People's Court" to try
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their employers and top company officials as war criminals. Trade unions
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at various points refused to accept demands and threatened taking over
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the entire coal industry if certain demands were not met. Although
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initially accepted as profit-sharing and wage increases were given to
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the working class, the police began to repress episodes of workers'
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control, thus being a perfect example of
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[co-optation](co-optation "wikilink").
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## References
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[Production control in
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Japan](https://libcom.org/history/production-control-japan) at
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[libcom.org](libcom.org "wikilink") |