Long Reads: Japan's Socialist Tradition w/ Kenji Hasegawa

Jacobin Radio

Jacobin

Socialism, History, News, Left, Jacobin, Alternative, Socialist, Politics

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2023

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Japan may be a powerhouse of global capitalism. But it also developed a powerful socialist movement in the twentieth century. During the Cold War, the Socialist Party led the opposition to the ruling Liberal Democrats. Japan today still has a Communist Party with a mass membership and a serious electoral base.

Kenji Hasegawa joins Long Reads for a conversation about the Japanese left. He’s a professor of modern Japanese history at Yokohama National University and the author of Student Radicalism and the Formation of Modern Japan.

Read Kenji's article for Jacobin, "Japanese Socialism Was a Powerful Force Until It Lost Its Political Bearings," here: https://jacobin.com/2022/12/japan-socialist-party-social-democrats-ldp

Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.

An announcement for listeners in the New York area: Join us Friday the 14th (tomorrow) at 7pm at the Mayday Space in Brooklyn for our Bastille Day Party! There will be drinks and a live conversation with Tom O'Neill, author of CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties. Admission is free, but $10 solidarity tickets will get you a yearlong print subscription or a Jacobin tote bag, and $20 supporter tickets will get a subscription plus a Jacobin tote. More info: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bastille-day-party-with-jacobin-tickets-665721048577

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	There's a quick announcement for our listeners who are based in New York.
0:03.7	This Friday, July 14th, Jacobin is hosting a Bastille Day party at the Mayday Space in Brooklyn.
0:11.1	It kicks off at 7pm with drinks and a live conversation with Tom O'Neill, author of Chaos,
0:18.4	Charles Manson, the CIA, and the secret history of the 60s. You can find out more by following the
0:25.2	link on the episode page.
0:27.1	Hello and you're very welcome to Longreads, a Jacobin podcast where we look in depth at political
0:33.6	topics and thinkers. My name's Daniel Finn, and the features editor here at Jacobin,
0:39.6	and I'll be presenting the show. Japan may be a powerhouse of global capitalism,
0:45.6	but it also developed a powerful socialist movement in the 20th century.
0:50.2	During the Cold War, the socialist party led the opposition to the ruling liberal Democrats.
0:56.3	Japan today still has a communist party with a mass membership and a serious electoral base.
1:03.1	Our guest today for a conversation about the Japanese left is Kenji Hasegawa.
1:08.1	He's a professor of modern Japanese history at Yokohama National University,
1:13.1	and the author of Student Radicalism and the Formation of Modern Japan.
1:20.0	How did a socialist movement first emerge in Japan at the end of the 19th
1:25.1	century?
1:26.4	Okay, so what happened toward the end of the 19th century was that Japan was infected with capitalism,
1:32.7	and socialism emerged in the context of a surge in interest in social problems,
1:37.6	stemming from this infection.
1:40.4	Japan experienced its first modern recession in 1890, with a second and third
1:45.7	cyclical downturns occurring in roughly 10-year intervals. People were coming to realize that
1:52.3	the highly unstable and unequal nature of capitalist development.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jacobin, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jacobin and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.