The Factory Ship (Kanikosen) by Takiji Kobayashi (translated by Frank Motofuji)
Reviewed by Shomi YHard economic times have produced one unexpected boom in Japan: a revival of a lost classic of socialist literature. The recent bestseller amongst youth in Japan is none other than The Factory Ship - a novel written by a Marxist almost 80 years ago. Even in my local library all three copies of the novel have a waiting list of 30 - 40 people!
The Factory Ship was written in 1929 by Marxist writer Takiji Koyabashi. Koyabashi, who died tragically young after being tortured by the police, was part of the great radicalism of Japan’s 1920s. His vivid description of the destitute work conditions on the crab cannery ship and the violence those workers faced is striking a chord with Japan’s young workers today - many who roll from one temporary job to another with no hope of stability.
Kobayashi (1903-1933) was deeply committed to the struggle to liberate peasants and workers. In the notes he submitted to his publishers for The Factory Ship, he states that:
Capitalism, intending that labour remain unorganized, has ironically created a situation where it has caused it to (almost spontaneously) to organize. I have attempted in this work to show how inexorably capitalism infiltrates the new territories and colonies to carry out a primitive exploitation and, with the backing of the powers that be and the armed forces as guards, watchmen, and bullies, carries out a never-ending series of brutalities.
His focus on unorganised labour is precisely the appeal for so many young workers today. The worker’s lot of daily humiliation and drudgery is captured in detail - from the finger-numbing work of canning the crabs, to the lice, diseases and watery gruel they have to eat while the superintendent and the foreman feast on luxuries.
Kobayashi, in pointing out the potential power of the workers, is also careful to point out the degradation and alienation which exists amongst the crew. In one scene he portrays a fisherman looking through the mist of the Kamchatka Sea at two figures on the deck. Once the fisherman’s eyes adjust, you’re made to realize that a young factory hand is getting raped by another fisherman. No effort is made to stop the violence by the onlooker, and instead, “[i]nstinctively, he turned away”.
If two-thirds of the book covers the fishermen passively accepting the beatings and dangerous conditions of the factory ship, the last third details the growing anger and resentment from the fishermen against the Superintendent. One student quietly attempts to persuade others to fight back: “One man alone can do nothing. It’s too risky. But they have less than ten men on their side … If four hundred men unite, there is nothing we can’t do. Ten against four hundred! … Join us, those of you who don’t want to be murdered!”
It’s clear that Kobayashi wants the reader to draw lessons from this novel: organised workers can win! But at the same time, he painstakingly details the ideological barriers and pitfalls that can prevent unity. One such pitfall is the workers’ hopes in Japanese imperialism. In the final, tragic, scenes the workers realise too late that the presence of the navy was not for their “protection” as they entered Russian waters, but for the Superintendants.
For his clear critique of Japanese imperialism and his commitment to working class liberation, Kobayashi was murdered by police on 20 February 2008 - he was declared dead less than six hours after his arrest.
In 1929 he wrote of the need to struggle: “The proletariat cries out that they are utterly opposed to imperialist wars, but I wonder how many workers in Japan really understand why they must protest. Nevertheless, they must be made to understand. This is a matter of utmost urgency”.
In today’s world as the markets come crashing down, the gap in inequality widens and the ravaging of Iraq continues his call to struggle is just as urgent as it was then as is today. That this classic of our movement is finding a new audience in a new generation is an inspiring sign. |
