The executive committee that organized the May Day observance presented itself—naively, as it turned out—as acting within the spirit of the Potsdam Proclamation and subsequent Allied policies toward Japan. In a message prepared explicitly for SCAP and the Allied Powers, the organizers began with these words: We express our sincerest appreciation for the measures taken by the Allied Powers to liberate the people, grant freedom, and extend the rights to labor and agricultural groups. Inspired by this, we hope to uproot feudalistic and despotic oppression; establish a popular government, based
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