Studying the Enemy by Christiane Reinhold

Author:Christiane Reinhold [Reinhold, Christiane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Political Science, Comparative Politics
ISBN: 9781317795018
Google: bnt0DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-10-24T01:33:14+00:00

Jiang reported that discontent began to grow in the ranks of young cadets in Japan's military academies. Acceptance into a military academy meant for many young men from the countryside the only way out of poverty. Exposed for the first time in their lives to the bustle and pluralism of modern cities, they experienced much ridicule from cosmopolitan urbanites who considered them little more than country bumpkins. Worse yet, some of the city folk saw in them living anachronisms when officers negotiated busy city streets on horseback instead of "riding the electric trolley car" like everyone else.141

On the one hand, aware of the stark contrast between rural destitution and urban prosperity and impatient with the existing political system, which seemed unresponsive to the needs of the country, on the other hand, inexperienced and uneducated, the young officers at the War College (Rikugun Daigakkô) were quick to absorb what little rudimentary knowledge was offered in the social sciences. Jiang found that Karl Marx' Das Kapital was common reading material among young Japanese officers, who began to blame the plutocratic business organizations, zaibatsu, and political parties for the sorry state of affairs.142

The zaibatsu had profited from massive government subsidies to promote the development of Japanese industry and commerce. The heavy taxation of the Japanese people (while sparing the wealthy households) paid for these subsidies. Party cabinets had been instrumental in limiting the power of the military by pursuing a policy of retrenchment while at the same time lacking real concern to improve the welfare of the society.143

Jiang Baili apparently regarded with sympathy some of the criticism the young Japanese officers directed at the corruption and self-serving interests of the Japan's political and economic leadership. What he found troublesome was the military's self-identity as an assertive, aggressive imperialist agent, which chafed at the conciliatory approach the bureaucracy, parties, and the business community employed to secure trade and business opportunities in Asia (especially China). This was in agreement with the international climate, which in the wake of the World War called on all nations to scale back imperialist aspirations in exchange for international cooperation. Within the military establishment, the fear grew that the Japanese government was ready to compromise national security interests. Against this background, Jiang Baili concluded it appeared not too surprising that the medium-and lower-grade officers were especially susceptible to all kinds of revolutionary schemes, believing that not only radical political change but especially foreign expansion offered the only possible road to salvation.144

Jiang Baili concluded that Japanese military discipline was destroyed from the inside out when right-wing radicals and their supporters in the military staged several coup attempts in fast succession in the early 1930s. By presenting Japan's civil government with one fait accompli after another, the military established the precedent for independent and unauthorized action.145

Jiang Baili and Wang Jiyuan emphasized the powerlessness and surprise on the part of the Japanese civil government, the business community, and even high-ranking military—convincing evidence that the Japanese military had returned to power.146 The reassertion of

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