Chapter 65 Imperial power over golden power

"From the very beginning, Hirohito was an active and powerful emperor, but paradoxically, he came across as a defensive and passive monarch. The world believed that he played no role in the decision-making process. Personal role in determining meaning, insisting on seeing him as an incompetent figurehead, devoid of intelligence, without intelligence. The truth is that he is shrewder, more cunning, and more energetic than most evaluations. From Hirohito's words In doing so, one can read more than he actually said and did. In his first 22 years in office, he was highly influential and rarely appeared incapable of doing what he wanted to do." 【15】The background of Japanese aggression and expansion led by Emperor Hirohito was very similar to that of Germany.They are all completely monopolized economically; cultural traditions love force, respect authority, worship order, and work hard, which deeply embodies the conceit of their own unique values ​​and resentment for not being respected; politically, the model of Japan’s 1889 Constitution is Bismarck's German constitution, although both countries are constitutional systems, the real power behind the parliament is the alliance of the army, landowners and capitalists.The only major difference between the two countries is industrial strength, Japan is a truly resource-poor country, lacking coal, iron ore, oil, alloy materials, water resources, and even food.And Germany is just using it for propaganda. 【16】The inherent lack of resources and Japan's rapid population growth after the Meiji Restoration formed a strong contradiction.Japan's national population grew from about 30 million in 1873 to 70 million in 1939.They want to follow the example of European immigration to solve the population problem, but most of the colonies in the world have been divided up by European and American countries.At the same time, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, Russia and other countries were very vigilant and uneasy about Japan's expansion. In 1921, Britain refused to restore the Anglo-Japanese alliance; in 1922, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that Japanese were not eligible to be naturalized as American citizens. The self-esteem and pride of the Japanese people increased, and Japan's hostility to Britain and the United States increased, and it turned to the expansion of force to resolve domestic conflicts.

Under the impact of the world economic recession and financial crisis in the 1930s, both Japan and Germany pursued a policy of internal repression and external aggression and expansion, and established fascist rule to overcome the crisis by increasing defense expenditures and realizing the militarization of the national economy. . In Germany, due to the collapse of imperial power, regime change was achieved from the bottom up through general elections. The economic crisis that swept the world broke out in 1929, and the German economy took a sharp turn for the worse. In 1930, the number of unemployed people in Germany reached 2 million, and in 1932 it rose to 6 million.The Nazi Party immediately seized this historic opportunity, accused the Treaty of Versailles and war reparations for causing Germany's economic crisis, criticized the government's weakness and incompetence, and plunged the people into dire straits.The economic depression and social turmoil caused the German people to completely lose confidence in the Weimar Republic, and they turned to support the Nazis as the largest party in Congress, and Hitler's government came to power.

Many people mistakenly believe that the Nazi regime was a dictatorship that had all the power to operate the society and could control all social resources at will, and that Hitler could decide the fate of everyone.In fact, as a politician, Hitler had to rely on the cooperation of the four major power platforms in German society in order to operate the government. At that time, the social power platform in Germany included industrial capitalists, the army, the bureaucratic class and the Junker landlord class.Hitler protected the interests of the Junker landlord class and won their support through a series of measures such as guaranteeing the profits of agricultural products, controlling farmers' wages, reducing loan interest and taxes, and exempting unemployment insurance.

Historically, the military power with the Prussian officer corps as the core had a deep connection with the Junker landlord class, and the elites of the Prussian officer corps were all from the Junker landlord class. Protecting the Junker landlord class enabled Hitler to win the support of the army. By requiring Jews and anti-Nazis in the bureaucracy to retire early, a large number of Nazi party members became civil servants, strengthening the Nazi power. The power of the capitalists increased greatly after the Nazis came to power.People in this class are not organized on a large scale, nor are they controlled and restricted according to the principle of loyalty to a certain leader.The Nazi government basically did not interfere with the free operation of industry and commerce, and the Nazi Party did not have much control over industrial capitalists in general, except in the emergency state of war.

The traditional view is that Nazi Germany implemented a political system of state capitalism and complete dictatorship. In fact, this understanding is not accurate, because Germany did not really establish such an organizational model at that time.It should be said that the system of Nazi Germany is a kind of autocratic capitalism, but it is not autocratic capitalism. Its main feature is the effective organization of the whole society. Under such conditions, the mobilization of various social behaviors and resources is mainly It is to satisfy the purpose of capitalism's pursuit of profit. 【17】The biggest difference between Japan and Germany is the imperial power. Japan does not rely on political parties and general elections to control the government, but a top-down approach led by the emperor and the powerful military, relying on internally planning a series of assassinations, coups, etc. Terrorist incidents, launching aggressive wars abroad to expand power and influence, and establishing a military-fascist dictatorship.

Japan's "constitutional monarchy" is a constitution with the monarch as the main body. The constitution is only a means for the monarch to manage the country, not a constraint on the monarch.On the contrary, the constitution should not only protect the emperor, but also define a set of mechanisms so that the emperor's power will not be subject to any restrictions.The emperor is the "head of the empire", and the cabinet ministers are appointed by the emperor, and officials at all levels must be loyal to the emperor; the emperor is the "generalissimo" of the army, who directly commands and directs the army, and the government and parliament must not interfere; Edicts superseded laws; parliament played an assisting and advisory role only to the Emperor.It can be seen that the Emperor of Japan has much more power than Hitler, and it is clearly stipulated by law.Of course, the law belongs to the law, and the actual power of the emperor still depends on the game between the emperor himself and the chaebols, political parties, and the army. The power of the Taisho Emperor is not the same as that of the Meiji Emperor.

On the basis of the political foundation after the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese military faction became the power center of the government after the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the Japanese-Russian War, occupying a special political position.The military has two pillars. One is to refer to Germany and implement the principle of separation of powers from the military, government and military orders, and the independence of command, which greatly strengthens the political status of the military.The second is that Japanese law expressly stipulates that the ministers of the army and navy in the cabinet must be served by active soldiers, and it also establishes the legal basis for the military to intervene in politics. If the military resists, the cabinet will inevitably collapse. The "Military Order" enacted in 1907 clarified that matters related to the power of command only required the approval of the Minister of the Military Department, and bypassed the Prime Minister.This system prevents political parties and the government from gaining any control over the military, but the military can assign personnel to serve as cabinet ministers according to the will of the military, directly manipulating state affairs and controlling the survival of the cabinet.Just like in the "Taisho coup", the resignation of the Minister of War easily brought down the Xiyuanji Gongwang cabinet that the military was not satisfied with.

During the Meiji Restoration era, the country's goal was to build Japan into an industrialized country within a generation.However, Japan has a weak foundation and a late start. The only way is to be guided by the government and devote all efforts to develop the economy.In this way, Japan has formed several huge monopoly enterprises that are closely connected with the government. The interests of monopoly capitalists are often combined with national interests, and capitalists often use a cooperative attitude to implement national policies. Japan's party political activities relied on the elder nomination system in the early days.In order for a political party to successfully form a cabinet, it needs to cross two thresholds. The first is the recommendation of the elders, and the second is winning the election.Instead of trying to win the support of voters through their own programs and propaganda, each political party figured out how to win the favor of the elders.When the elders left one by one, the party cabinet lacking popular foundation and program was helpless in the face of the actions of the tough military.

The imperial power under the protection of the constitution, a strong military, cooperative capitalists and weak political parties all made the emperor's path of militaristic autocracy smoother than Hitler's. Hirohito also proved to the world that he was superior to Hitler - the emperor's ability to control and agitate the grassroots subjects.These people include low-level military officers, ronin and peasants.Once the cabinet ministers, bureaucrats or senior officers in the army did not obey the command, he would directly mobilize the grassroots and lower-level officers to fulfill the emperor's will in the way of "down to overcome the top".

Hirohito, with the help of his imperial clan, began training young officers and bureaucrats early on.As early as 1921, when he was traveling in Europe, he met young Japanese military officers such as Nagata Tieshan, Obata Toshiro, and Okamura Ningji, and gained their loyalty. They later formed an organization that Hirohito challenged the veterans of the army—— ——"Baden-Baden Eleven Confidants", among them Neiji Okamura, Hideki Tojo, Kenji Doihara, etc. are all core figures in Japan's military expansion. Hirohito established a teaching center in the palace to control and train young military officers and bureaucrats, and took a relatively obscure name called "University Office".For junior military officers and fledgling bureaucrats, it is a great honor to be able to listen to discussions in the sacred palace. Few people who have stayed here will betray the emperor. The friendship formed between classmates will last throughout life. Their alliance After World War II, it has exerted a significant influence on Japanese politics.

Akio Okawa, Ph.D., Department of Philosophy, University of Tokyo, was appointed as the supervisor of the university dormitory. He has worked with Hirohito's cronies for many years, is a loyal assistant to the leader of the largest gang in Japan, the "Black Dragon Association", and has been a spy in China for 10 years.Around him gathered supporters of Greater Asiaticism, spies and nationalists representing all walks of life.Known as the "spiritual godfather of militarism" and "Goebbels of Japan", he is a practical man who takes both black and white. Under the guidance of Dr. Okawa, various "isms" that he thinks are useful have been added to the courses of the university dormitory.Confucianism, weapons development, contingency planning, Army reorganization, geopolitical theory, etc.The emperor's chief adviser gave a course on the emperor's status, explaining the various duties of the imperial family, explaining the role of these duties in mediating differences between the emperor and his loyal cronies, and addressing the need not to allow the public and public opinion to taint the emperor.Lectures were even given by personnel from the paramilitary system, such as the secret police, commercial spies, drug dealers, brothel owners, terrorists and interrogation experts who were experts in the front line of the "fascist construction". 【18】In addition to cultivating talents, the emperor also supported the wooing of gangs and fascist organizations, such as the Black Dragon Society and the Blood League, allowing them to use assassinations and coups to induce public opinion and eliminate the opposition. Founded in 1901, the Black Dragon Society is the center of the Japanese nationalist movement and the base camp of Japanese ronin. It is more powerful than any other group.At that time, the establishment of the Japanese cabinet, without the consent of the leader of the Black Dragon Association Touyama Mitsuru, no one could do it.The Black Dragon Society also showed its talents in the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War.Since then, the cooperation with the Japanese military has become increasingly close, cooperating with the army to invade China and launch the Pacific War. The Blood League is a right-wing terrorist organization in Japan, initiated by the fascist monk Inoue, and its main members are students and rural youths.Niko Inoue once engaged in espionage activities in China, and returned to Japan with his old friend Dr. Okawa in the 1920s.He and his disciples attempted to overthrow political parties, chaebols, and privileged classes by means of assassination, and realize the fascist system of "co-government by the monarch and the people" in Japan. Finance Minister Junnosuke Inoue and President Mitsui Takuma involved in the "dollar arbitrage trap" all died under the guns of the blood alliance group. With the secret cooperation of these organizations, the emperor used the "Great Shift of the Universe" to manipulate the Japanese political situation behind the scenes in just one year, and repeatedly resorted to conspiracy, assassination and war methods, which wiped out the power of the political party and the chaebol capitalists. The international community was speechless, holding the imperial power tightly in its hands.His achievements have far surpassed Taizheng and caught up with Meiji. "Thus ended Japan's experiment in democratically elected government. Takeshi Inukai's murder effectively wiped out the Seiyukai. For 13 years thereafter, while Japanese continued to vote regularly, their votes counted for nothing—at most The issues that were made public at that time were just expressing some unrealistic views. In the following years, since the chaebols were willing to become the cogs on the country's military-oriented machine, the military system that Hirohito inherited from his ancestors The only possible resistance to the plan is the 'militarists' from the Army. When the last grenade exploded and the smoke cleared; the last taxi pulled up in front of the secret police building; after Hirohito put down Xiyuanji Gongwang's last bluffing tactics, the total number of dead was only four.A year later, when Hitler seized power, he had to assassinate 51 political opponents and set fire to the Reichstag.Hitler's name immediately became synonymous with the devil all over the world; Hirohito, after his "triple conspiracy" coup, has not yet been discovered - he is still a mysterious figure under the cover of religious precepts, On the surface, it still looks like a perfect example of a gentleman.He took advantage of being the emperor, he can rely on thousands of years of experience in conspiracy. [19] On February 26, 1936, when more than 1,000 Japanese junior officers and soldiers shouted to push back the plutocratic rule and overthrow the corrupt bureaucrats and politicians and bloodbathed Tokyo, the "226" mutiny that shocked the world would dare to resist The emperor's power was completely defeated. Gong Wang of Xiyuan Temple was originally among those assassinated, but in the end the soldiers of the coup "suddenly showed kindness" and let him go.At this time, Xiyuan Temple Gongwang fully understood that this was the most severe warning from the highest level. He was not the opponent of Emperor Hirohito at all. Since then, Japan has opened the Pandora's box of the world war.