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Paper short abstract:

This paper will argue that segments of the Japanese middle class were concerned with the problem of poverty and experimented with different notions of class and the idea of seeking a standard solution to the problem of poverty during the 1920s.

Paper long abstract:

Within the rush to modernize and urbanize, 1920s Japan was a time in which various ideas and movements emerged, including the rise of Marxist ideas and the appearance of labor unions and movements. In contrast to research that suggests the middle class were becoming well-off and content with consumption for its own sake, this paper will argue that segments of the middle class were concerned with the problem of poverty and experimented with different notions of class and the idea of seeking a common solution to the problem of poverty. Middle-class culture during this period was developing rapidly, as witnessed in the little-known Salayman Union (SMU), founded in 1919. The SMU sought to create a united front with burgeoning working-class labor unions, and it reached its peak during the mid-1920s in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake. Supported by Socialist Abe Isoo and economist Kawazu Susumu, the SMU sought to unionize the Japanese middle class in Taisho Japan to cope with the problem of alienated labor and the widespread problem of poverty, seeing it as a moral issue that was not the monopoly of any class or group in Taisho era Japanese society. I will investigate the rise of the SMU and why blue-collar workers rejected the overtures of the SMU so that it was not possible for it to gain popular support or extend its influence. By interrogating how the SMU sought to deal with the problem of poverty, my paper will shed light on the factors that kept the Taisho era Japanese labor movement emotionally divided and will examine the distinctive aspects of middle-class consciousness and modernization during the Taisho period in Japan, including the reasons why it was at times difficult to propose and implement new conceptions of social cooperation based on the loosening of class differences.