false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174020748m/354140.jpg 354140 1 <i>Labor and Imperial Democracy in Prewar Japan</i> examines the political role played by working men and women in prewar Tokyo and offers a reinterpretation of the broader dynamics of Japan's prewar political history. Gordon argues that such phenomena as riots, labor disputes, and union organizing can best be understood as part of an early twentieth-century movement for "imperial democracy" shaped by the nineteenth-century drive to promote capitalism and build a modern nation and empire. When the propertied, educated leaders of this movement gained a share of power in the 1920s, they disagreed on how far to go toward incorporating working men and women into an expanded body politic. For their part, workers became ambivalent toward working within the imperial democratic system. In this context, the intense polarization of laborers and owners during the Depression helped ultimately to destroy the legitimacy of imperial democracy.<br>Gordon suggests that the thought and behavior of Japanese workers both reflected and furthered the intense concern with popular participation and national power that has marked Japan's modern history. He points to a post-World War II legacy for imperial democracy in both the organization of the working class movement and the popular willingness to see GNP growth as an index of national glory. Importantly, Gordon shows how historians might reconsider the roles of tenant farmers, students, and female activists, for example, in the rise and transformation of imperial democracy. 344336 4 11 1992 Labor and Imperial Democracy in Prewar Japan (Twentieth Century Japan : the Emergence of a World Power, No 1) total:7|5:1|4:5|3:0|2:1|1:0| 7 27 9 1 4 0 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Nov 05 11:40:57 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 05 11:41:52 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Oct 24 10:02:52 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 10:02:52 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Oct 04 19:01:03 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 19:01:03 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Jun 24 20:42:06 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 20:42:06 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Thu Apr 09 15:13:55 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 09 15:13:55 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Jan 31 03:56:30 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 03:56:35 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Dec 02 21:37:29 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 02 21:37:29 -0800 2007 4 0 false false Fri Jul 06 09:00:59 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 06 09:00:59 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Thu Mar 15 21:52:44 -0700 2007 Thu Mar 15 21:52:44 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=354140