The , often abbreviated to , was a left-leaning union confederation. Founded in 1950, it was the largest labor federation in Japan for several decades.

Origins

In the immediate aftermath of Japan's defeat in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the United States-led

Allied Occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the victorious Allies of World War II from the 1945 surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of the war until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect in 1952. The occupation, led by the United States w ...

issued directives legalizing labor unions, which were then protected by the new

Constitution of Japan The Constitution of Japan (Shinjitai: , Kyūjitai: , Hepburn: ) is the constitution of Japan and the supreme law in the state. Written primarily by American civilian officials working under the Allied occupation of Japan, the constitution r ...

promulgated in 1947. In the early postwar years, numerous labor unions formed in industries throughout Japan, many of which were under the influence of the

Japan Communist Party The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...

. However in 1950, following the advent of the global

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, and taking advantage of the sense of crisis precipitated by the sudden outbreak of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, conservative Japanese government and business leaders launched, with the tacit approval of US Occupation authorities, a "Red Purge" to remove communists and suspected communists from government and private-sector jobs. As part of the purge, Japanese conservatives fomented "democracy cells" within the established, Communist Party-dominated labor unions. As these unions collapsed amid the purge, the cells emerged and joined with some affiliates of the

Japanese Federation of Labour The Japanese Federation of Labour ( ja, 日本労働組合総同盟 ''Nippon Rōdō Kumiai Sōdōmei'') was a national trade union federation in Japan. The federation was established in 1946, principally through the efforts of trade unionists who ...

to form a new labor federation, the General Council of Trade Unions of Japan, or Sōhyō.

Early militancy

Conservatives hoped that the new federation would be more moderate than the federations controlled by the Communist Party, which had been extremely militant. However, Sōhyō rapidly fell under the sway of the

Japan Socialist Party The was a socialist and progressive political party in Japan that existed from 1945 to 1996. The party was founded as the Social Democratic Party of Japan by members of several proletarian parties that existed before World War II, including ...

and took the lead in organizing an escalating series of increasingly large and contentious labor actions over the course of the

1950s The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the " '50s") (among other variants) was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959. Throughout the decade, the world continued its re ...

, and increasingly became involved in political protests as well. On May 1, 1952, Sōhyō spearheaded a nationwide day of protest against the perceived one-sided nature of the

Peace Treaty A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring ...

ending the Occupation of Japan. Although most of these activities were peaceful, a violent clash between protesters and police outside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo led to several deaths and injuries and became remembered as "

Bloody May Day refers to a violent conflict that took place between protesters and police officers in the Kokyo Gaien National Garden in front of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan, on May 1, 1952. When a large crowd protesting the U.S.—Japan Security Tr ...

." Over the rest of the 1950s, Sōhyō became actively involved in a number of political and social movements, including movements to ban nuclear weapons and against US military bases in Japan. It also led a large number of strikes for higher wages across many different industries. Sōhyō's period of militancy culminated in 1960 when it took a leading role in the massive Anpo protests against revision of the US Japan Security Treaty, as well as the large-scale strike at the

Miike Coal Mine , also known as the , was the largest coal mine in Japan,Karan, P.P. & Stapleton, K.E. (1997) ''The Japanese city'p.181University Press of Kentucky Retrieved January 2012. located in the area of Ōmuta, Fukuoka and Arao, Kumamoto, Japan. In 19 ...

in northern

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

. As part of the anti-Security Treaty Struggle, Sōhyō organized a nationwide general strike that involved 6.4 million workers and remains the largest recorded strike in Japanese history. However, both these efforts ended in disastrous defeats, and thereafter Sōhyō increasingly retreated from contentious strikes in favor of more moderate workplace actions.

Merger to form Rengo

A large portion of Sōhyō merged with the more conservative Japanese Confederation of Labor (Domei) and other unions to form

Rengo The , commonly known as , is the largest national trade union center in Japan, with over six million members as of 2011.Rengo websitRengo brochure 2010-2011 Retrieved on July 6, 2012 It was founded in 1989 as a result of the merger of the Japan ...

in 1987. Rengo was formally launched in 1989.Rengo websit
Rengo 2010 website
Retrieved on August 2012 Some elements of Sōhyō instead joined one of two new federations: the

National Confederation of Trade Unions The , commonly known in Japanese as , is a national trade union center. Founding and history Zenroren was founded on November 21, 1989. Party affiliation Zenroren is not affiliated to any political party, but is generally aligned with the Japa ...

(Zenroren), and the National Trade Union Council (Zenrokyo).

Affiliates

The following unions were affiliated:

Leadership

Presidents

:1950: Takeo Muto :1953: Totaro Fujita :1956: Yukitaka Haraguchi :1958: Ōta Kaoru :1966: Toshikatsu Horii :1970: Makoto Ichikawa :1978:

Motofumi Makieda Motofumi Makieda ( ja, 槙枝元文, 4 March 1921 – 4 December 2010) was a Japanese people, Japanese trade union leader. Makieda qualified as a teacher during World War II, then taught at a junior high school. After the war, he was a foundin ...

:1983: Takeshi Kurokawa

General Secretaries

:1950: Zengoro Shimagami :1951: Minoru Takano :1955: Akira Iwai :1970: Shogo Oki :1976: Mitsuo Tomizuka :1983: Eikichi Makoto

References

External links

Kyoto Sohyo
National trade union centers of Japan Progressivism in Japan Trade unions established in 1950 Trade unions disestablished in 1989 {{Japan-org-stub