(also spelled ''Heimin Shimbun'') was a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and

anti-war An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to pa ...

daily newspaper established in Japan in November 1903, as the newspaper of the Heimin-sha group. It was founded by

Kōtoku Shūsui , better known by the pen name , was a Japanese socialist and anarchist who played a leading role in introducing anarchism to Japan in the early 20th century. Historian John Crump described him as "the most famous socialist in Japan". He wa ...

and

Sakai Toshihiko was a Japanese socialist, writer, and historian. He is also known by the pen name . He is also known for his translation with Shūsui Kōtoku. Biography Sakai was born as the third son to a samurai class family in what is now Miyako, Fukuoka. ...

, as a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

response to the approaching

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

. When the newspaper that Kōtoku and fellow socialist Sanshirō Ishikawa had worked for, ''Yorozu Chūhō'', endorsed the war, they resigned in protest to form the group. Kōtoku Shūsui also served as one of the paper's editors. By the beginning of 1904, it was

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

's leading publication advocating socialism. Eighty-two people eventually expressed their allegiance to socialism in this publication. Multiple issues of the newspaper were banned by the Meiji government because they were deemed politically offensive, and editors were arrested, fined, and jailed. The paper ceased publication in 1905. The last issue, published in red, was printed on 18 January 1905. Kōtoku was imprisoned for five months starting in February 1905 due to his participation in the newspaper. In January 1907, five socialists, including Kōtoku, Sakai, and Sanshirō, renewed the publication, but it was to fold again in April 1907, after a split between advocates of parliamentary reform and advocates of

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

. It was replaced by two newspapers, one for each faction, including the direct-actionist ''Ōsaka Heimin Shinbun'' which was published bi-monthly from June 1907 until May 1908 (renamed in November 1907 to ''Nihon Heimin Shinbun''). Two

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

contributors to the initial newspaper,

Uchiyama Gudō was a Sōtō Zen Buddhist priest and anarcho-socialist activist executed in the High Treason Incident. He was one of few Buddhist leaders who spoke out against the Meiji government in its imperialist projects. Gudō was an outspoken advocate f ...

and Kōtoku Shusui, were later convicted and executed in the 1911

High Treason Incident The , also known as the , was a socialist- anarchist plot to assassinate the Japanese Emperor Meiji in 1910, leading to a mass arrest of leftists, and the execution of 12 alleged conspirators in 1911. Investigation On 20 May 1910, the police se ...

. In October 1914, the anarchists Ōsugi Sakae and Arahata Kanson attempted to revive ''Heimin Shinbun''. Most issues of this version of the paper were banned by the government, and it was discontinued in March 1915. After the Second World War, the Japanese Anarchist Federation revived the newspaper in June 1946, but the group collapsed in 1950.

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