Fascists & Boom

Japan was presented last week with its first official Fascist Party, complete with uniform, flag, parliamentary representation and would-be Mussolini.

The present came a trifle late. Kenzo Adachi is a shrewd politician and former Home Minister (in the Minseito Cabinet of sake-drinking Reijiro Wakatsuki) who years ago won the nickname of Senkyo no Kamisama or "God of Elections" by his skill in managing the outcome of local elections. Thirteen months ago the God of Elections resigned from the Minseito to avoid expulsion after dickering with the Seiyukai Party to form a Coalition Cabinet. Japanese Fascism, the Kokumin Domei or National League, is his latest idea. Its flag: a golden eagle on a light brown background. Its uniform: black belted jacket, striped trousers, military cap. Its program: replacement of the Cabinet by a dictatorial council, government control of public utilities and shipping, increase in income tax, death duties, dividend tax; lowering of land taxes and local rates (bait for the farmers and petit bourgeois that are the mainstay of Fascism in every country).

Year ago when Japanese militarists came into power there was a great deal of unorganized Fascism in Japan. Ninety or more secret organizations preached bloodthirsty Nationalism. Fascist ideals of state capitalism were popular with Japanese businessmen. Since then has come a gradual reaction. Although the God of Elections had 33 members of the Imperial Diet in his new party last week (reputedly purchased for bribes of 5,000 to 10.000 yen each) the Japanese Press was quick to minimize the bloc's importance. Wrote the Tokyo Asahi:

"Fascism is now fast fading away and it is not to the credit of the new party that it has shown such an imprudent inclination toward this vanishing fashion."

Meanwhile the 64th session of the Diet, opened by Emperor Hirohito in Tokyo this week, faced the most colossal public debt ever incurred by Japan: nearly seven billion yen ($3,500,000,000 at par, $1,400,000,000 at current exchange).

Paradoxically the fall of the yen since it went off gold (TIME, Dec. 21, 1931) has now produced a nationwide "inflation boom." Silk raisers who received about 1,500 yen per bale of raw silk in 1929 and were forced last July to sell at the "panic price" of 450 yen, now get 900 yen and exult that "silk prices have doubled in the last half year!"

Obviously this "doubling" is due almost entirely to the fall of the yen (foreign silk buyers who paid $150 per bale last July now pay $180) but the Japanese silk raiser reaps real benefit from the higher price in depreciated yen because he has not raised the yen-wages of his help. Thus far Japanese food prices have not risen much in yen because the Empire eats chiefly fish and rice produced by yen-paid Japanese. Net result of this situation has been to increase the competitive power of Japanese exporters in world markets, shoot the volume of Japanese exports up so much in the last few months that when 1932 statistics are in the Empire is expected to show a favorable trade balance, the first in years.

Undoubtedly Japan's "inflation boom" distracted her leaders last week from hard and ominous facts which they must sooner or later face. Government expenditures are running 70% ahead of current revenue, a catastrophic spread. Like all booms the current, superficial Japanese prosperity is basically unsound. With Manchuria still full of Chinese bandit-soldiers who are still full of fight, the Empire stands committed to further stupendous military expenditures, consequent further inflation of the yen and the most strenuous testing in 1933 of Japan's whole fabric, economic, fiscal, political.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.