606 THE CLASS STRUGGLE 607 Economic and Menshevik Determinism By MAURICE BLUMLEIN known socialists were kept in confinement in their own homes during the progress of the riots by their supporters, as it was well known that the government was prepared to arrest them on the slightest pretext.
In Osaka the Governor published an edict forbidding more than five persons from walking together on the streets. In Yokohama street assemblies were limited to nine persons.
The riots have not been without the profoundest impression upon all classes of the population. The poor found that in mass action they possessed a powerful weapon, while the bourgeoisie of Japan has learned a lesson it will not soon forget. Since the food riots have ceased there have been labor troubles in the mines and factories all over the country.
The Oriental Economist gives a detailed report of large strikes that occurred between the 1st and the 19th of August, while the daily newspapers enumerate at least 40 others. It is to be assumed that there were many others not mentioned in the daily press. Some of these strikes involved as many as 8, 500 workers in a single factory, and they are demanding recognition and rights according to the most advanced standards, with a clearness of purpose that will develop in time into a conscious struggle for the social revolution. On the whole we may well be proud of what the Japanese proletariat has accomplished in the face of one of the most powerful military bureaucracies of the world. They have brought about the overthrow of the Terauchi ministry and have placed the pro Bolshevik diplomat Uchida into the office of the foreign minister, while Premier Hara has reversed the policy of the old ministry in Russian affairs and openly declares that Japan desires only a responsible government in Russia, whether it be Bolshevik or not. The intelligent classes of Japan are unanimous in their condemnation of the sending of troops to Siberia. But most significant to the great world wide proletarian movement is the awakening of the Japanese poor and working classes to the coming of the social revolution. Among the recognized students and exponents of Marxian philosophy and economics, there is a group that has come to the conclusion that the Russian Revolution is built upon a fatal violation of basic economic principles, that Lenin extremism amounts to impossibilism, and that the resulting danger is not alone an inevitable collapse but an equally certain reaction that may mean the worst possible kind of dictatorship.
They arrive at this conclusion by an historical analysis involving economic determinism. According to Marx all progress recorded in history is rooted in production and productivity. Thus the system of exploitation in ancient times based on slavery was overthrown by the superior feudal system, which similarly gave way to production for sale.
Capitalism then developed production to a stage where operation and ownership were concentrated on an enormous scale, thus preparing the organization of production for ownership and operation by society; the creation, development and organization of the institutions of production the historical development of centuries, the task of changing the ownership from private monopoly and its inherent evils, to operation by and for society and its attendant blessings is the function of Socialism.
It is to be borne in mind further that where the production of a country is mainly or almost wholly agricultural, the stage of concentration has not been reached. Big scale production with its high degree of specialization and the division of labor occurs in industry. This means greater productivity and greater variety of production.