Sekirankai


The Sekirankai was a Japanese socialist women's organization active in 1921. Members of an anarchist group established the organization in April 1921. Prominent feminists Yamakawa Kikue and Noe Itō were advisers for the group, which participated in that year's May Day activities, published the magazine Omedetashi, held seminars and lectures, and distributed anti-war leaflets to the army. Their manifesto condemned capitalism, arguing that it turned women into slaves and prostitutes. The Sekirankai was the first women's socialist association and clashed with Shin Fujin Kyōkai. The organization dissolved eight months after its creation.

History

Founding

The Sekirankai was formed at time in Imperial Japan when socialist thought gained enough momentum to be expressed publicly.
The Sekirankai was founded in April 1921 from an anarchist group established by Sakai Magara, Kutsumi Fusako, Hashiura Haruno, and Akizuki Shizue. It was the first women's socialist association. Advisers for the organization were Yamakawa Kikue and Noe Itō. The society had about 42 members, 17 of whom were active. As members of the Sekirankai had personal ties with Nihon Shakai Shugi Dōmei, the organization has been referred to as the "women's office" of the league.
The Sekirankai sought to overthrow the capitalist system. Their platform stated "We will fight any form of oppression that keeps us and our brothers and sisters in ignorance, poverty, and positions of subordination."

May Day Protest

One of the first activities of the organization was to plan for that year's May Day, a day adopted by socialist and communist groups to represent International Worker's Day. The previous year's May Day activities, held in Tokyo's Ueno Park, were Japan's first public celebration of May Day and were estimated to include 5000 people. For the event, Yamakawa Kikue drafted a manifesto titled Fujin ni Gekisu that decried capitalism for engendering imperialism and framed the problems of capitalism from a feminist standpoint, and it the manifesto made into leaflets to be distributed at the event. The manifesto read:
About 20 women members of the Sekirankai marched during the May Day activities. They carried red and black flags that were made by Hashiura Haruko and smaller flags painted with "R. W." for Red Wave. They paraded through the political meeting. All of the women were arrested. Sensational accounts of the event from journalists resulted in government restrictions on the organization's movements but the women's activities were placed into the national spotlight. During the Mayday demonstration of the following year, women's participants would be seen all over the country.

Other Activities

In June 1921, members of the Sekirankai held a lecture on women's issues at Kanda Seinen Kaikan. Yamakawa Kikue, Itō Noe, Kutsumi Fusako, Fujimori Seikichi, Sakai Magara, Eguchi Kan, and Ishikawa Sanshirō were lecturers at the meeting. In July, the Sekirankai held a five-day seminar and published the magazine Omedetashi. In October 1921, they participated in the Guntai Sekka Jiken and distributed anti-war leaflets to the army through the mail.

Conflicts with the New Women's Association

The Sekirankai were also critical of their fellow Japanese women's organization, Shin Fujin Kyōkai, formed in 1920. The Sekirankai found the bourgeois nature of the New Women's Association to be antithetical to the cause of women's rights, and Yamakawa offered harsh criticisms in an article for the July 1921 issue of Taiyō, "The New Women's Association and the Red Wave Society." She wrote there that "Revolution is essential for women. Only the Sekirankai can provide the answer." The article alone would have been a blow to the New Women's Association, but the timing of it made the impact even more profound, as the article appeared right on the tail of prominent New Women's Association leader Ichikawa Fusae's resignation from the organization. In the article, Yamakawa focused her criticism on New Women's Association leader Hiratsuka Raichō, believing that the group focused solely on the problems of upper-class women while ignoring the harsh realities that working class women faced.

Dissolution

By the end of 1921, the activities of the Sekirankai had come to a halt. At the time, the restrictive Public Order and Police Law of 1900 prohibited worker strikes and labor organizations in a crack down on speech and assembly. Due to Article 5, women in particular were prohibited from attending political meetings or joining political organizations. In addition to this governmental oppression, pressure from the public eye was a powerful detractor. Throughout newspapers, feminist and socialist societies were vilified as degenerates and were the object of derision for numerous cartoonists such as Okamoto Ippei and Kitazawa Rakute. This created a distrust of these kinds of organizations within the public consciousness, and those who may have otherwise been swayed to join found themselves averse to the idea. This public criticism combined with the governmental oppression and the animosity of other women's organization to contribute to the dissolution of the organization in December, only eight months after it was founded. Many members of the organization went on to form spin-off groups such as the discussion group Suiyōkai and the organization Yōkakai, which would continue to carry Sekirankai ideals.

Ideology

The group approached feminism through a Marxist lens, exploring the problems that women faced as issues of class and commodification. Much of the group's ideological tenets found root in the writings of Yamakawa Kikue, a Japanese feminist and socialist writer who was also a prominent member of the Sekirankai. Under these Marxist lines of thought, the Sekirankai believed that economic independence was a crucial step in achieving gender parity; however, according to their manifesto, they believed that the abolition of capitalism in favor of socialism was a prerequisite for this.

Members