Kita Ikki: General Outline of Measures for the Reorganization of Japan

Kita Ikki’s most important work was General Outline of Measures for the Reorganization of Japan, written in 1919 as a call to purge corrupt Japanese officials and business interests and as a call for direct rule by the Japanese emperor. Ikki (1883–1937) was a Japanese revolutionary sometimes called the “father of Japanese Fascism,” although, in what appears to be a contradiction, he was also a Socialist. (Normally, Fascism is considered a far-right-wing ideology and Socialism a far-left-wing ideology.) Kita believed that it was the destiny of Japan under its emperor to unite Asia, drive Western imperialism out of Asia, and ignite a world Socialist revolution—all of which he addressed in his General Outline of Measures for the Reorganization of Japan.

Kita was a student of China. He lived in China for a time and supported the nationalist revolution that ended millennia of imperial rule in that country in 1911–1912. He was disillusioned, however, by what he perceived to be China's failure to follow through and create a Socialist state opposed to encroachment by Western nations. While he was still living in China, he began to publish works critical of Japan's alignment with Western interests, among them General Outline of Measures for the Reorganization of Japan, which he wrote in 1919 but which was first published in the form of a mimeographed document in 1923; a later version was published in 1926. In this short document, he expresses his views that all industry be nationalized and all private property restricted. Japan then would be able to fulfill its destiny in conquering Asia.

Kita's ideas fell on fertile soil. Many Japanese military officers found his ideas appealing, for they envisioned a strong Japanese empire that would dominate the Pacific region. Ultimately, about 1,400 of them took part in a coup d'état in 1936. The leaders of the coup, along with Kita, were executed for their part in the insurrection—somewhat ironically, for ordering their execution was the very emperor (Hirohito) they wished to empower. While this insurrection (and other smaller ones) ultimately failed, in a larger sense they pushed Japan farther to the right and into the arms of the militarists who would create the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere and lead the nation into World War II, a war of empire from the Japanese perspective.