July
28, 1950
Japan’s
Red Scare
Japan's Red Scare saw the firing of 180 newspaper
employees suspected of being Japanese Communist Party members or
sympathizers, while NHK,
the (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) barred more than 100 of its employees from
entering its facilities, on instructions of Major Edgar L. Tidwell, the radio
officer of the United States Eighth Army
The party was legalized during the U.S. occupation of Japan in 1945, and
since then has been a legal political party able to contest elections. In 1949,
the party made unprecedented gains. It won 10 percent of the vote and sent 35
representatives to the Diet
(Deliberative Assembly).
But early in 1950, the Soviet Union sharply
criticized the JCP's parliamentary strategy. Stalin insisted that the JCP
pursue more militant, even violent, actions. SCAP seized this occasion to
engineer the Red Purge, which forced the party
leaders underground. Then, after the Korean War
broke out, the party staged some acts of terrorism or sabotage. This resulted
in a loss of popular confidence. Through the end of the decade, it never won
more than 3 percent of the votes or two seats in the Diet. Even so, its strong
support among many intellectuals gave it a relatively greater importance than
these numbers suggest.
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