Progressive capitalism, crisis, and class struggle: Lessons from Japan's production control and democracy movements, 1945-47

Abstract

Despite the recent upsurge of global economic instability and anti-capitalist protest, many left economists and progressive policy programs continue to draw their main inspiration from the purported equity and efficiency of particular varieties of capitalism. This tendency derives its legitimacy in large part from ‘progressive competitiveness' interpretations of the postwar Japanese experience. Unfortunately, these interpretations and the politics they encourage are based on a faulty understanding of Japanese history. To help correct this bias, we revisit the struggle to reshape the Japanese political-economy immediately after World War II. During this period, Japanese workers —under highly repressive and economically difficult conditions—responded to a severe capital strike by taking direct control over important sectors of production and posing a new vision of worker-community based democracy. We examine the development of this popular effort to remake Japanese society and the causes and consequences of its eventual defeat. We conclude by highlighting lessons from this period for contemporary anti-capitalist struggles.