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From The Militant, Vol. 12 No. 52, 27 December 1948, p. 4.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
The farce about democratizing Japan didn’t last long. For two years General MacArthur pretended he was introducing reforms, that the reforms were taking hold and that genuine democracy was being born in the land of the Mikado.
This Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera, in which the totalitarian-minded American generals and the totalitarian-minded Japanese puppets wore the masks and garments of democracy, was designed to create the illusion that Wall Street’s proclamations in World War II about fighting for, democratic ideals were being carried into effect in Japan.
If you thought that Wall Street fought for imperialist reasons, the liberal apologists for the U.S. State Department pointed to Japan and asked, “Then how do you explain our bringing democracy to the Japanese people?”
It was a good show while it lasted. But now the curtain has been rung down and the marquee lights turned out.
On orders from Washington, Mikado MacArthur on Dec. 19 announced that he will resume personal rule of Japan. This means, according to a Tokyo dispatch, that “the Japanese must surrender temporarily some of the privileges and immunities inherent in a free society.” In brief, Japan will return to decree rule.
Against whom is this shift in occupation policy directed? MacArthur made that clear in no uncertain terms. Heads of the striking coal miners, textile workers, seamen and electrical workers unions were called into headquarters and “advised” to call off their strike – and without delay.
All but the electrical workers obeyed the same day. The electrical workers were expected to take an additional 24 hours before complying with the “advice.”
It appears, reports the press, “that all strikes and other forms of labor struggle are forbidden.”
The Japanese Diet, which has been playing the part of the democratic chorus in MacArthur’s comedy of self-rule, was ordered at once to stop discussing legislation demanded by the American occupation authorities and pass it without further delay. The Diet scrambled to obey.
The grand objective of the resumption of decree rule is to convert Japan into a “bulwark against Communism.” This is Truman Doctrine phraseology meaning the revival of Japanese militarism in preparation for the projected war on the Soviet Union. It means the reconstitution of the Japanese armed forces, the conversion of industry to armaments production, the increase of profits for Japanese Big Business, the lowering of the standard of living of the Japanese working people and the tightening of the straitjacket of Taft-Hartleyism on Japanese labor.
The response of Japanese Big Business to this development was of course most cordial. Acting as democrats was a role they did not find congenial. They can now relax as junior partners in Wall Street’s scheme of world conquest. The rising sun of Japanese imperialism is again in the ascendant.
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