Book Review: Aspects of Japan's Labor Problems
| Published date | 01 September 1951 |
| Date | 01 September 1951 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205100600316 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
249
this
administration,
the
three
most
important
groups
being
the
State
Department under the
leadership
of
Mr.
Acheson;
the
Department
of
the Army,
and
finally
General
MacArthur
and
the
military
government
he headed.
In
fact
the
whole
thing
is
like
a
huge
set
piece
which
becomes visible in
parts,
each
part
fitting
into
the
whole
in
a
logical
and
reasonable way.
The
normalcy
is
the
surprising
thing about
the
whole
pattern. Nothing
is
out
of
place.
The
Japanese
people
have
been
led-and
pushed
sometimes-towards
a
basic
quietness and
peaceable-
ness
of
living
that
looks
as
if
it
might work.
Democracy
is
being
taught
and
learned.
The
teachers
have
very
evidently
been well
prepared
for
trouble
which
in
most
cases
has
not
come
about.
General
MacArthur
will
probably
go
down
in
history
as
the
general
who
was
fired
by
his
President.
This
will
be
nothing
short
of
a
shame,
because
his-
greatest
work
was
the enforcement
of
occupation
policy
in
Japan.
There
is
a
pattern
of
operation
that
becomes
evident
on
reading this
book.
It
is
a
pattern
of
patience
and
singleness
of
purpose.
Ex-Ambas-
sador
Grew
in his
foreword
to
this
work
states
that
it
is
one
of
the
most
engrossing
books
he has read.
To
the average
man
it
is
not
this,
but
it
affords an
intimate
glimpse
of
the problems
of
the
occupation,
and
allows
the
interested
person
some
privileged
thinking
on
his
own
regarding
the
way
of
Japan
in
the
next
few
years.
Toronto, June
1951.
H.
D.
Johns
ASPECTS
OF
JAPAN'S
LABoR
PROBLEMS.
By
Miriam
S.
Farley.
1950.
(New
York:
John
Day,
under
the
auspices
of
the
Institute
of
Pacific
Relations.
x,
283
pp.
$3.50
U.S.)
The
author
treats
the
subject
of
Japan's
labour
movement
as
one
of
the
most
important
developments
of
the
occupation,
if
not
the
most
important.
In
1936
membership
in
organized
labour
groups
amounted
to
only 420,000,
and the
latest count
suggests
a
figure in excess
of five
millions.
Occupation
policy
with
regard
to labour
has
been
geared
to
to
the broad
objectives
set
forth
in
the
Potsdam
Declaration
and certain
basic
directives
from
the
United
States government. Principally
they
set
out
to
eliminate
militaristic
influences
and
sow
the
seeds
of
demo-
cratic
institutions.
Great
stress
was laid
by
SCAP
experts
on
the
need
for
developing
comprehensive,
efficient
and
modern
machinery for
labour
administration,
which
Japan
never
possessed.
The
book
provides
interesting
detail
on
the
newspaper,
electrical,
seamen's and
government
workers'
strikes.
None
of
these
was
as
serious
and vicious
as
some
strikes
in
this
country
and
the
United
States,
but
none
the
less
they
presented
problems
of
adjustment
to
the
military government.
With
the
population
of
Japan
still
increasing
rapidly Japan
must-as
in
pre-war
days-still
look
to
her
export
market
for
revenues
to purchase
the
food
and
clothing
her
people
need.
Exploi-
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