Imperial Rule Assistance Association
Template:Short description Template:Multiple issues
Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Script error: No such module "infobox". Template:Shōwa Statism The Script error: No such module "Nihongo"., or Imperial Aid Association, was the Empire of Japan's ruling political organization during much of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. It was created by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe on 12 October 1940, to promote the goals of his Template:Transliteration ("New Order") movement. It evolved into a statist, para-fascist[1] ruling political party which aimed at removing sectionalism and factionalism from politics and economics in the Empire of Japan, creating a totalitarian one-party state in order to maximize the efficiency of Japan's total war effort against China and later the Allies.[2] When the organization was launched officially, Konoe was hailed as a "political savior" of a nation in chaos; however, internal divisions soon appeared.
Origins
Based on recommendations by the Template:Nihongo3, Konoe originally conceived of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association as a reformist political party to overcome the deep-rooted differences and political cliques between bureaucrats, politicians and the military. During the summer of 1937, Konoe appointed 37 members chosen from a broad political spectrum to a preparatory committee which met in Karuizawa, Nagano. The committee included Konoe's political colleagues Fumio Gotō, Count Yoriyasu Arima and entrepreneur and right-wing spokesman Fusanosuke Kuhara. A radical wing of the military was represented by Kingoro Hashimoto, while the traditionalist military wings were represented by Senjūrō Hayashi, Heisuke Yanagawa and Nobuyuki Abe.
Konoe proposed originally that the Imperial Rule Assistance Association be organized along national syndicalist lines, with new members assigned to branches based on occupation, which would then develop channels for mass participation of the common population to "assist with the Imperial Rule".[3]
However, from the start, there was no consensus in a common cause, as the leadership council represented all ends of the political spectrum, and in the end, the party was organized along geographic lines, following the existing political sub-divisions. Therefore, all local government leaders at each level of village, town, city and prefectural government automatically received the equivalent position within their local Imperial Rule Assistance Association branch.[4]
Ideals
Prior to creation of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, Konoe had already passed the National Mobilization Law, which effectively nationalized strategic industries, the news media, and labor unions, in preparation for total war with China.
Labor unions were replaced by the Nation Service Draft Ordinance, which empowered the government to draft civilian workers into critical war industries. Society was mobilized and indoctrinated through the National Spiritual Mobilization Movement, which organized patriotic events and mass rallies, and promoted slogans such as Template:Nihongo3 and Template:Nihongo3 to support Japanese militarism. This was urged to "restore the spirit and virtues of old Japan".[5]
Some objections to it came on the grounds that Template:Transliteration, imperial polity, already required all imperial subjects to support imperial rule.[6]
In addition to drumming up support for the ongoing wars in China and in the Pacific, the Imperial Rule Assistance Association helped maintain public order and provided certain public services via the Template:Transliteration neighborhood association program.[7] It also played a role in increasing productivity, monitoring rationing, and organizing civil defense.
The Imperial Rule Assistance Association was also militarized, with its members donning khaki-colored uniforms. In the last period of the conflict, the membership received military training and was projected to integrate with the Volunteer Fighting Corps in case of the anticipated Allied invasion.
Development
As soon as October 1940, the Imperial Rule Assistance Association systemized and formalized the Template:Transliteration, a nationwide system of neighborhood associations. The 6 November 1940 issue of Template:Nihongo3 explained the purpose of this infrastructure:
The Template:Transliteration movement has already turned on the switch for rebuilding a new Japan and completing a new Great East Asian order which, writ large, is the construction of a new world order. The Template:Transliteration is, broadly speaking, the New Order movement which will, in a word, place One Hundred Million into one body under this new organisation that will conduct all of our energies and abilities for the sake of the nation. Aren't we all mentally prepared to be members of this new organization and, as one adult to another, without holding our superiors in awe or being preoccupied with the past, cast aside all private concerns in order to perform public service? Under the Template:Transliteration are regional town, village, and Template:Transliteration; let's convene council meetings and advance the activities of this organization.[8]
The Imperial Rule Assistance Association was formed in October 1940. It was modelled on the mass party model found in Germany with the Nazi Party and Italy's National Fascist Party but was not as successful in mobilizing the public as Germany and Italy were. Compared to Germany and Italy got its support from the top and not the bottom as it was created by the government along with Japanese elites.[9][10]
In February 1942, all women's associations were merged into the Greater Japan Women's Association which joined the Imperial Rule Assistance Association in May. Every adult woman in Japan, excepting the under twenty and unmarried, was forced to join the Association.[11]
Likewise, in June, all youth organizations were merged into the Script error: No such module "Nihongo"., based on the model of the German Script error: No such module "Lang". (stormtroopers).[12]
In March 1942, Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō attempted to eliminate the influence of elected politicians by establishing an officially sponsored election nomination commission, which restricted non-government-sanctioned candidates from the ballot.[13] After the 1942 Japanese General Election, all members of Diet were required to join the Template:Nihongo3, which effectively made Japan a one-party state.
The Imperial Rule Assistance Association was formally dissolved on 13 June 1945, around three months before the end of World War II in the Pacific Theater. During the Allied occupation of Japan, the American authorities purged thousands of government leaders from public life for having been members of the Association. Later, many of them returned to prominent roles in Japanese politics after the end of the occupation on 28 April 1952 by the Treaty of San Francisco.
Leaders
| No. | Leader (birth–death)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
Portrait | Constituency or title | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fumimaro Konoe Template:Smalldiv | File:Fumimaro Konoe(cropped).jpg | House of Peers | 12 October 1940 | 18 October 1941 |
| 2 | Hideki Tojo Template:Smalldiv | File:Hideki Tojo 2 (cropped).jpg | Military (Army) | 18 October 1941 | 22 July 1944 |
| 3 | Kuniaki Koiso Template:Smalldiv | File:Kuniaki Koiso.jpg | Military (Army) | 22 July 1944 | 7 April 1945 |
| 4 | Kantarō Suzuki Template:Smalldiv | File:Kantaro Suzuki suit.jpg | Military (Navy) | 7 April 1945 | 13 June 1945 |
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Election results
House of Representatives
| Election | Leader | Seats won | Position | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Hideki Tojo | Template:Composition bar | 1st | Government |
Notes
References
References
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External links
Template:Japanese Empire political parties Template:JapanEmpireNavbox Template:Shōwa nationalism Template:Authority control
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Wolferen, The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation, page 351
- ↑ Sims, Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868–2000, p. 220
- ↑ Duus, The Cambridge History of Japan, page 146
- ↑ Edwin P. Hoyt, Japan's War, p 189 Template:ISBN
- ↑ James L. McClain, Japan: A Modern History p 454 Template:ISBN
- ↑ Aldus, The Police in Occupation Japan: Control, Corruption and Resistance to Reform, page 36
- ↑ David C. Earhart, Certain Victory, M.E. Sharpe, 2008, p.142, citing Shashin Shūhō
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Modern Japan in archives, the Yokusan System, http://www.ndl.go.jp/modern/e/cha4/description15.html
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Stockwin, Governing Japan: Divided Politics in a Major Economy, page 22
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