Struggle and Purpose in Postwar Japanese Unionism: Volume 14

Status, purpose, and lineage are the themes of this study of the postwar Japanese labor movement. Between 1943 and 1984, Japan went from being a vast empire to a defeated, occupied, and outcast nation. Social transformation lowered the barriers of status and class, and economic restructuring reoriented industry from wartime to peaceful production. Unionists ensured their eligibility for participation in the national political discourse of the 1950s and 1960s by demonstrating their sense of high purpose in the debates of the late 1940s. Men and women from a much broader segment of society than ever before participated in the postwar struggle to define a new purpose for Japanese politics. This study looks at individual behavior motivated by this search for high purpose and examines a variety of cases, differing by status, age, and experience.