Chapter 41 Section VII
As a final question, I would like to talk about the significance of the arrest of Chiwen.As mentioned above, the reason for arresting Chima was that he had predicted to two friends that a train would overturn soon.However, whether Akama made such a prophecy is only based on the words heard by two friends as evidence.This is called hearsay testimony.Then, based on Akama's confession, other defendants were arrested one after another.However, when the Tamagawa Police Department was investigating at the beginning, it said something to Chi Wen to the effect of: "I have investigated other people clearly, and Honda said that you did it." the name of Honda.
However, at this time Honda had not been arrested.How could Honda, who was not arrested, say "Akama did it"?The defense argued that this was unreasonable.In short, judging from the trial situation, the Tamagawa police arrested Akama, then got Honda's name out of his mouth, and arrested other defendants one after another.
It should also be noted that, with the exception of Chima, almost all of these defendants were members of the Communist Party, and almost all of those arrested were prosecuted.It gives people the impression that the police knew the situation of the prisoners too accurately in advance in the form of "according to Akama's confession".In other words, it is not inconceivable that the police knew who to arrest from the very beginning, but took the "red confession" as a formal clue to arrest these people one after another.
If this is the case, the police must have carried out a fairly in-depth investigation secretly to be able to clearly understand this level in advance.More on that later.
Then, was the "Matsukawa incident" the only one in the whole country that occurred in the train obstruction accident?Not at all.Before this accident, similar accidents occurred many times in various places, or attempted incidents occurred one after another.Since then, the newspapers have published this kind of news every day.
According to the records of the state-owned railway, on June 28 of that year, one and a half months before the "Songchuan incident", the national railway authority issued an emergency telephone call to the whole country, "At present, all train obstruction accidents, regardless of size, must be reported. ", the purpose of which was not stated in the order.However, reports of incidents obstructing trains began to become prominent, in fact in response to the order.Regarding this point, Tetsuo Furuya's article "Mobilization of Anti-Communist Consciousness up to the "Matsukawa Incident"" published in the October 1958 issue of "Historical Studies" published by Iwanami Shoten gave many specific examples.This article made the following annotations: The report of the incident of obstructing the train was accompanied by an explanation from the authorities, implying that the state-run railway union and the Communist Party gradually took violent actions, and that there were political intentions behind the accident.
In order to understand this situation, it is necessary to look back at the situation at that time (1949).
In terms of domestic politics, the Communist Party won thirty-five seats in the election on January 23 of this year, almost occupying the first place in the big cities.After the third Yoshida Cabinet was established on February 16, it couldn't wait to decide on the "reorganization of administrative agencies and layoffs" on the 26th-it is estimated that the resulting unemployment amounted to 1.7 million .The "Number of Staff Law" was implemented in May, and in July it was announced that 99,000 people were dismissed for the first and second times by the state-owned railways. Toshiba Corporation announced that the number of dismissals for the first time was 4,580.Just one month before the January elections, Chinese troops have entered Beijing, looking to unify China.This situation will inevitably lead to the intensification of the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.Under the instigation of the United States, the Yoshida Cabinet, of course, blatantly strengthened its policy of persecuting the Communist Party.
In January of the first year, U.S. Secretary of the Army Roja changed the policy of "extensive demilitarization of Japan" that he had been pursuing.He delivered a speech, declaring: "It is necessary to foster a strong Japanese government, not only to make Japan self-supporting, but also to build a sufficiently strong and stable democracy in order to defend against the threat of new totalitarianism that may arise in the Far East in the future. Luo Ya's speech was the first time that a senior US official officially stated that he would "turn Japan into an arsenal of the Far East".It goes without saying that "the new totalitarianism that may emerge in the Far East" refers to the success of the CCP revolution and the progress of the Soviet Union.This should be associated with the Korean War that broke out a year later.
In the first year, the U.S. General Command forced the Japanese government to implement the so-calledDodge once made a metaphor and said: "cut off the feet of bamboo horses", which is specifically manifested in the way of "corporate rationalization" to fire the personnel of large enterprises.State-owned railways and national post and telecommunications laid off employees according to the so-called "capacity law"; private enterprises also laid off 4,000 to hundreds of people, mainly in the electric motor industry.The government sent armed police to crack down on workers protesting the dismissals, while amending and labor laws.
During this commotion, the "Shimoyama Incident" occurred, followed by the "Mitaka Incident" and the "Matsukawa Incident".Especially the "downhill incident", it was like pouring cold water on the fierce struggle of the state-run railway union, and it played a suppressive role.In short, the authorities at the time publicized that President Xiashan was assassinated by communists or labor union radicals, so although the labor unions protested that this was slander, the struggle had to be moderated.This is exactly the same as Chief Cabinet Secretary Masuda's claim in Tokyo immediately after the "Matsukawa incident" that the Matsukawa train overturned was done by the Communist Party.
Then, what is the situation of the labor movement in Fukushima Prefecture where the "Matsukawa Incident" occurred?Mr. Qingliuchen’s article explained this as follows:
"First, let's draw a picture of the labor movement situation in Fukushima Prefecture. Lake Inawashiro in the mountains has the closest large power station to Tokyo. The electrical union is known as the most elite among Japanese unions. The branch is also a trade union organization with a particularly strong Communist Party. There is a coal mine union in the Joban Coalfield in the coastal area, and the Fukushima branch of the state-owned railway union in the center of the county. They are all trade unions with a relatively high proportion of Communist Party members. The above three trade unions are lagging behind in the county In the state of mind, it constitutes a sharp movement stronghold.
"The county committee of the Communist Party centered on these trade unions, organized a movement to defend local industries involving peasant associations and ordinary citizens, and enthusiastically launched a united front against the Dodge plan and the downfall of the Yoshida government. On the other hand, the county authorities organized six counties in the northeast The police force of the whole city is concentrated in this county. The police mobilized from all counties are gathered together. To put it a bit exaggerated, the whole city has shown a trend of being impenetrable. Needless to say, due to the sharp confrontation between the two sides, the whole county is shrouded in an atmosphere of terror.
"In such a state of emergency, the 'Ping Incident' and the 'Fukushima County Assembly Red Flag Incident' broke out on June 30 of this year. The 'Ping Incident' was originally a request by the authorities to dismantle the Communist Party in front of the Ping Station. However, four hundred people marched to the Pingping police station and occupied it. They raised two red flags at the gate and rescued the detainees from the detention center. On the contrary, the demonstrators put the police in the detention center and gave out cheers of victory. The so-called "prefectural assembly red flag incident" was the demonstration team that flocked to the Fukushima prefectural assembly on the same day and raised the red flag in the auditorium, terrified The congressmen fled from the venue. These two incidents happened on the same day, and because the nearby Yumoto and Uchigo police stations were forced to make a pledge not to support the Ping police station, this series of events was added to the 'day Prosecuted for the crime of harassment." (See "Central Koron", September 1934 "Matsukawa Incident" special issue)
The social situation at the time of the "Matsukawa Incident" was simply like this.
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