The Crab Cannery Ship and Other Novels of Struggle Quotes

“Each railroad tie in Hokkaido was nothing but the bluish corpse of a worker. Posts driven into the soil during harbor reclamations were laborers sick with beriberi buried alive like the ancient “human pillars.” The name for workers in Hokkaido was “octopus.” In order to stay alive, an octopus will even devour its own limbs. It was just like that! Here a primitive exploitation could be practiced against anyone, without any scruples. It yielded loads of profit. What’s more such doings were cleverly identified with “developing the national wealth,” and deftly rationalized away. It was very shrewdly done. Workers were starved and beaten to death for the sake of “the nation.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“the name for workers in hokkaido was "octopus." in order to stay alive, an octopus will even devour its own limbs”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship and Other Novels of Struggle

“Anyway, you do understand that a single class only has a single party, right?” “Right.” “But Ōyama says he wants to make it two.” “Right.” “And if you compare the two, Ōyama makes his own sound very similar but ultimately his will only pursue reforms within that permitted sphere. Therefore, this will weaken the sole, actually existing working-class party, and divert its strength in a reformist direction. . . . In other words, it will perform the reactionary role of a dissolutionist factional act.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“Roughly speaking, a political party is the head of a class. It takes the lead in representing the interests of that class. It’s a unit that fights for the class as a whole. So this means that—essentially, a single class can only have a single political party. Therefore there can only be one party that thoroughly represents the interests of the working class.” “Really?” said Yasuko looking clever and batting her lovely eyelashes. “But what about the Seiyūkai and the Minseitō?” “So, you’ve noticed that too, Yatchan?” said Yamada with a laugh. “Well, they look like two, but in fact they are one. What I mean is, their essence is the same. They’re just a bourgeois party. It’s divided in two merely to perform various sly bourgeois tricks, nothing more. They’re badgers out of the same hole.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“The so-called “lawful” way of seeking change was clearly a deception. Thinking about it in her own way based on what she was familiar with, Yasuko wondered if this was the reason why at some of the recent left-wing speech meetings the police outnumbered even the audience.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“However, the basic reason why workers all led such distressed lives within the current system was that the system was structured to benefit the bourgeoisie, and because the bourgeoisie controlled it. Therefore in order to construct a system where workers would not be exploited and where no one would be unemployed and hungry (in Soviet Russia there was a shortage of workers!) it was necessary to get rid of the bourgeois system and this could only be achieved by going beyond the bounds permitted by law. Working within those bounds ultimately meant leaving the bourgeoisie in power and attaining nothing but a limited degree of “reform.” The life of exploitation would continue as before but would merely be carried out even more ingeniously, concealed under the name of reform.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“After his relationship with Kiyo had turned to disappointment and he began coming to town to drink, he got to know a woman who worked in a cheap noodle restaurant. She was from Sango’s village and since she hardly had any land of her own to till, she worked as a day laborer, helping to till others’ fields, and did various other jobs. Hearing about Yoshimine and Kiyo, she’d said that love affairs demand the luxury of free time.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“Fishermen who till now had known only servile submission, quite unexpectedly felt a tremendous force thrusting them forward. At first they were bewildered. Gradually they realized that their own power, whose presence they had not suspected, was manifesting itself. “But are we capable of making use of that power?” they wondered. Of course they were.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“I don’t know the sutras. I can’t console Yamada’s spirit by chanting sutras. But I’ve been thinking a lot, and here’s what I think. I’ve thought about how much Yamada didn’t want to die. . . . No, to tell the truth, I’ve thought about how much he didn’t want to be killed. There’s no denying that Yamada was killed.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“It’s only the Russkies who quit working the moment the time’s up, even if there are frigging shoals of fish right under their noses. With that kind of attitude, no wonder Russia got to be such a fucked up country. Japanese men must never act like that!” Some of the men ignored his speech, thinking: “The asshole’s lying.” But the majority swallowed the manager’s suggestion that the Japanese were truly an outstanding people. And they felt somewhat consoled by the notion that their cruel daily sufferings seemed to have something heroic about it.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“Early that morning Asakawa had actually received a gale warning from a ship anchored some ten miles away. The warning added that if any boats had left the ship, they should be urgently called back. According to the radio operator, Asakawa’s reply had been: “If we pissed our pants every time over this kind of nonsense, we’d have no business coming all the way out to Kamchatka.” “What the hell does he think human lives are, anyhow?” roared the first fisherman who heard this, as though the radio operator were Asakawa. “Human lives?” “Yes, human lives.” “But Asakawa doesn’t think of you fellows as human beings.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“Brilliant executives wedded such work to “the interests of the Japanese Empire.” That way, fabulous sums of money rolled wholesale into executive pockets. Even so, while enjoying a drive in their automobiles these moneymen contemplated running for the Diet in order to make their bets doubly certain. And perhaps at the very same moment, in the dark northern seas thousands of miles away, the workers of the Chichibumaru were fighting their final struggle against the wind and the waves that were sharp as broken glass!”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“Nor was that all, for at the same time the great burden of making a living lay heavily once again on Okei’s shoulders. She felt as if she had been born merely to go on bearing such a weight, forbidden from stretching her hands in any direction or turning aside for even a moment.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“In fact, although she had no idea where to go or what kind of work to do, she felt compelled even before considering such matters to throw herself into action. Telling the union man Yamada (or Sasaki) that she wanted to work and had to do it came from an idea that surprised even Yasuko.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“Even if she could not attend school, she was determined not to be outdone in reading books.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“Around the time when her school-bound classmates left for the boardinghouses of Sapporo and Otaru, Yasuko came to Otaru to work at the restaurant. She and her former classmates, however, were headed in completely different directions. Yasuko”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“One incident from Yasuko’s days in the village elementary school was indelibly etched in her memory. She was the head of her class for two or three years in a row, including the time when it happened. Just before graduation the principal asked the pupils how many would go on to attend middle school. Of the twenty pupils from Sunada and Tsukigata only three were able to do so. Those three raised their hands. The other pupils—children of poor tenant farmers, small-time candy store owners, and barkeepers—turned around to look at them, their faces vivid with envy. With everyone’s eyes focused on them the three blushed a little but, as might be expected, they looked proud. Not only was each of the three inferior to Yasuko in grades, they—except for the assistant class leader—were from the bottom half of the class. At that moment Yasuko was assailed by a strange and incomprehensible feeling. She felt she could not bear to explain it away convincingly even within her own heart. Pupils who were much, much worse than she were going on to a higher school! She understood of course that it was because their families had “money,” but understanding alone was not enough to make Yasuko accept it. Similar things had happened a number of times. For instance, when a Hokkaido government director came to inspect their school it was really Yasuko who as head of the class should have delivered the congratulatory address. However, since she did not even have a different kimono to change into, a rich child took her place. The lack of clothes and money also led to her being absent from athletic meets and excursions. But at such times Yasuko, unlike Okei, assumed a scornful expression. She smiled faintly while listening to the rich child read the congratulatory address; and said that only those with nothing better to do wanted to take part in excursions and athletic meets. Unlike Yasuko, Okei often cried at such times, saying it was a terribly cruel and unfair way to treat fellow schoolmates.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“Do you understand?” asked Yasuko, showing rows of even white teeth. “From spring to autumn the whole family works together plowing the fields, sowing the seeds, and pulling up weeds. And then, once we’ve finally harvested the crop, a full half of it gets taken away and we get nothing for it. Unless you’re a tenant farmer yourself, you really can’t understand how it feels when that happens.” Diffidently yet mischievously as always, she flicked her thumb toward the owner at his counter. “It’s the same thing here with the boss! I know just how much he makes with me working like this. And all I get is ten yen a month! He’s exploiting me! No wonder he gets fat!” Yasuko had recently learned the word “exploit,” and liked to use it often.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“But if her brother were now to be imprisoned for years, she herself, being the eldest, would have to find a way of providing for the family. Living was hard even with her brother working so diligently. Though they ate only the bare minimum, they could not even keep up with rent payments, and debts kept piling up. In autumn when various grains ripened, prices fell, and just when tenant farmers absolutely had to sell, they hit rock bottom. Then it would be winter, and by the time spring came, prices always began to rise. That was the time when landowners and urban wholesale merchants who had taken and stored the tenant farmers’ grain would begin to sell. People like Okei stood no chance at all. To make up for the “gap,” they took up day labor, piled up gravel, cut timber, and dug irrigation ditches. Now her brother would be gone. Okei felt she could see what kind of life lay ahead of her. The Yamagami girl’s cries now pierced Okei’s body like shards of broken glass, one by one. “You got your money, you had your fun—what in the world are you still bawling about?!” Okei heard the words but could not bear to listen to them. Agitated, she stood up and then promptly sat down. In a short while, her mother returned.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“You could say they got punished for what they did, but when you know the circumstances you can’t help feeling sorry.” “Mm . . . that’s right.” “Afterwards Yamagami couldn’t make any kind of a living. This is a small place, and the dispute haunted him: wherever he went asking for work, no one would hire him. Up to now he seemed to be managing somehow with the money Yoshi brought in now and then.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“The second . . . when a tenant farmer raises his hand against his landlord and master, regardless of the reasons . . . it leads to unpleasant social repercussions.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“To tell the truth, Okei had known what was happening to her brother. Being close to him she was fully aware of each incident that gradually drove her brother’s feelings into an inescapable corner. With a woman’s acute insight, she understood it better than he himself. She felt as keenly as if she were the one directly involved what ultimately happens to the love of people in their circumstances. What befell her brother engraved indelible traces in the deepest recesses of Okei’s heart.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“Hm. But don’t you think that Yoshimine was able to take your woman away because you’re poor?” Sango remained silent for a while. But he finally said, “Yoshimine’s not the kind of guy who throws his privileges around or steals women just because he’s rich.” “Hm, that’s true too. He’s a good young man. But if you look at the outcome, that’s how it looks, doesn’t it?” Startled once again, he looked at the officer.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle

“Rather than erupting in fury, he had experienced a moment of weakness, as though he were about to burst into tears. Without hating Yoshimine (whom he considered a reliable friend even now), he had felt his own arms and legs shrinking before a reality that he could do absolutely nothing about. This feeling, he understood in retrospect, arose from the fact that Yoshimine was a landlord while he himself was an insignificant pauper.”
― Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship: and Other Novels of Struggle