Organisational Confrontation: Pure Anarchists Versus Syndicalists 1926–31

Abstract

On 1 December 1925 an event took place which had no direct connection with anarchism but which provided the stimulus for the first ever national federation of anarchist groups. Several months earlier, in March 1925, the Diet had passed a law widening the electorate to all males aged 25 or over. In response to this, a broad range of leftists entered into negotiations in order to form a party which could attract the votes of the newly enfranchised farmers and workers. This was the Nōmin Rōdōtō (Farmer-Labour Party) but, when it held its founding conference in Tōkyō on 1 December 1925, the anarchists turned out in force to confront what they saw as yet another bunch of political opportunists who were out to dupe the farmers and workers. Activists from many different anarchist groups gate-crashed the conference and disrupted it by distributing leaflets to the cry of ‘Down with the political movement!’¹ The Nōmin Rōdōtō was merely a transient organisation, since the state issued a banning order within thirty minutes of the announcement of its inauguration, but the anarchists were sufficiently encouraged by the effectiveness of their joint intervention on 1 December 1925 to initiate discussions aimed at forming a broadly based federation of their own. The federation which emerged from these discussions some two months later was the Kokushoku Seinen Renmei (Black Youth League, or Kokuren for short).