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Kan'ichi Kuroda | |
|---|---|
| 黒田寛一 | |
| Born | (1927-10-20)October 20, 1927 |
| Died | June 26, 2006(2006-06-26) (aged 78) Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan |
| Occupation | Political philosopher |
| Philosophical work | |
| School | Marxism Trotskyism |
Kan'ichi Kuroda (黒田 寛一,Kuroda Kan'ichi; October 20, 1927 – June 26, 2006) was a self-taughtJapanesepolitical philosopher andsocial theorist, associated withTrotskyism, who was deeply involved infar-left political movements.[1] Nearly blind,[1] Kuroda was affectionately nicknamed "The Blind Prophet" and "KuroKan" by his followers.
Born inFuchū, Tokyo as the son of a doctor, he began studyingMarxist philosophy at the age of twenty, in 1947, following the defeat of Japan and the subsequentU.S. occupation of Japan. Kuroda began studying closely works by prominent Japanese philosophers, among themKatsumi Umemoto,Akihide Kakehashi andKōzō Uno.
In 1956, following Soviet PremierNikita Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" and the brutal suppression of theHungarian Revolution, Kuroda developed a stronglyAnti-Stalinist position and turned against theJapan Communist Party (JCP). In 1957, he joinedTōichi Kurihara and others to form the firstTrotskyist organization in Japanese history, theJapan Revolutionary Communist League, abbreviated Kakukyōdō in Japanese.[1] Kakukyōdō, with Kuroda as its main theorist, argued that the Stalinist form of communism, which it viewed as predominant in Eastern Europe, China, the USSR, and North Korea, did not elevate the working class as true as Marxist communism intended. Kakukyōdō's stated goals were to overthrow the Japanese government, end U.S. occupation ofOkinawa, and abolish theU.S.-Japan Alliance.[2] In particular, Kuroda criticised the mechanical "materialism" that was prevalent in the orthodox Marxism, and instead developed a philosophical theory of "Materialist Subjectivity."
In 1959, Kuroda Kan'ichi was expelled from Kakukyōdō in the wake of a scandal in which he tried to sell compromising information about the JCP to theTokyo Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). Thereafter, Kuroda, along with his right-hand manNobuyoshi Honda, founded their own, splinter group of Kakukyōdō, with the appellation "National Committee" added to the name, and took many of their followers with them to create the "Japan Revolutionary Communist League National Committee."[3]
Kuroda's branch of Kakukyōdō rapidly gained influence in the nationwide student federationZengakuren, as many left-leaning students flocked to Kuroda's teachings.[1] At Kuroda's urging, Kakukyōdō-affiliated students participated vigorously in the massive1960 Anpo protests against theU.S.-Japan Security Treaty adopting a Trotskyist approach of taking "direct action" to "expose the inherent contradictions of Japanese monopoly capitalism."[4]
However in 1963, Kuroda's branch of Kakukyōdō itself splintered as the result of disagreements between Kuroda and Honda over whether to pursue socialist revolution in alliance with others, or to focus on strengthening and expanding a single revolutionary organization, with the resultant split of the organization into a "Central Core Faction" (Chūkaku-ha), which was led by Honda and favored allying with others, and the "Revolutionary Marxist Faction" (abbreviatedKakumaru-ha), which staunchly adhered to Kuroda’s insistence on going it alone.[5]
Under Kuroda's guidance, Kakumaru-ha participated in a number of protest movements in the later 1960s and 1970s, including the1968-69 Japanese university protests, the1970 Anpo protests, and theSanrizuka Struggle against the construction ofNarita Airport. It also engaged in violent conflict with Kuroda's erstwhile comrade and arch-rival Honda's Chūkaku-ha. By the mid-1970s, this conflict was resulting in several deaths per year—16 in 1975 alone,[6] including Kakumaru-ha's assassination of Honda himself.[7]
Kuroda continued to leadKakumaru-ha into the 1990s, when he retired due to ill-health. In 2006, he died of liver failure at the age of 78.
Kuroda penned over fifty books, published both in Japan and other countries, on such subjects asMarxist philosophy, analysis of Soviet society, Japanese cultural history, theory andpraxis of organization building, and contemporary politics. Some of his works include:
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