Chapter 6 The Kanto Tragedy (6)

"By the middle of the Meiji Restoration, the state still used state-owned enterprises as a guide, serving as a model for all industries in Japan. In the later period, the zaibatsu grew powerful and simply carved up the state-owned enterprises."

"At that time, Japanese state-owned enterprises were inefficient, and the workers had terrible attitudes. The state-owned enterprises could not continue either!"

"You are speaking for the zaibatsu!"

"You are the one disregarding the facts!"

Young people have drive and strong subjective initiative. Conversely, they also lack the mindset to view problems objectively and comprehensively. After Kita Ikki led a group of university students to conduct a social investigation, the students, after a brief period of surprise and excitement, immediately began to interpret history according to their own ideas.

It didn't take long for historical discussion to turn into personal attacks. Almost all the young people related to the zaibatsu that carved up Japan's state-owned enterprises back then tended to criticize the drawbacks of state-owned enterprises without exception, while university students from ordinary backgrounds tended to negate the act of carving up state-owned enterprises in Japan back then. Even though both factions were extremely dissatisfied with the current status of Japan, the temporary team led by Kita Ikki still split due to issues of stance.

After a few days of quarreling, the status quo faction found Kita Ikki. "Mr. Kita, we want to quit the team!" Asakura Keita, who was related to the Mitsui Zaibatsu, said very seriously, "We have learned a lot from Mr. Kita these past days. Thank you very much."

"Asakura-kun, why must you leave?" Even though he had long guessed this possibility, Kita Ikki still felt quite regretful.

"The social investigation was supposed to be about the future, yet some people insist on holding onto the past. My classmates and I cannot accept this point, so we can only choose to withdraw." Asakura Keita's words were quite blunt. "Academic discussion has turned into personal attacks; this has completely violated the original intention. Therefore, we earnestly request Mr. Kita to allow us to leave."

Personal attacks were almost inevitable; Kita Ikki could completely understand this. Based on different classes, interests also had completely different scopes. Kita Ikki did not answer immediately. He first lit a cigarette for himself, using this to organize his thoughts. Class struggle with class consciousness is unusually sharp. Everyone wants change. Those with a certain understanding of society will demand that this change, while protecting their current interests, also increase their interests. Those with a profound understanding of society might be able to accept current losses more calmly, but what they pursue is future interests.

The rise of the People's Party completely conformed to such a law. Facing huge external pressure, under the leadership of a strong leader, the People's Party made up its mind to completely crush old China and build a new China. And they really turned this determination and ideal into reality.

If China had not been so humiliated, with foreigners running rampant in China and forcibly carving up China, the People's Party could absolutely not have risen so strongly. Kita Ikki had originally only learned this from class, but now he truly understood it. The split of the social investigation group proved this point in an extremely straightforward manner.

Unless driven to a dead end, who could make up the mind to destroy everything old? Even if Chen Ke had such determination and insight, and the ability to turn his hand into clouds and turn his hand into rain, if there were no followers, Chen Ke would be nothing more than a lone ordinary person. It was precisely the fierce blows of foreign invaders against China, and the incompetence and greed of the Manchu Qing government, that gave Chen Ke the space to fully display his abilities.

The Japanese branch of the People's Party also tried to establish a People's Party Japan Branch in Japan, but the effect was not significant. Because Japanese people who held hope for China mostly chose to run to China to participate in the revolution, or chose to come to China to make a living. Kita Ikki once looked down on these people very much; he thought this bunch was addicted to the superior environment of the present. When one could eat meat by putting in effort in China, who would want to return to Japan to eat chaff and swallow vegetables?

Reality forced Kita Ikki to consider that the reasoning of the Japanese People's Party members might be correct: borrowing the surging tide of the Chinese revolution to fight back to Japan might be more efficient. Just a social investigation could lead to the split of the team because the external pressure was not large enough, and Japan's internal thoughts about the future were still quite chaotic.

"By choosing to leave now, are you admitting defeat?" Kita Ikki asked Asakura Keita.

"Uh?" Asakura Keita was stunned. Not only was he stunned, but the people behind Asakura Keita were also all stunned.

"Is the reason for your departure simply because those people said words you don't like to hear? I think not entirely. The reason for your departure is probably more because you are unable to convince the other side." Kita Ikki used the work techniques he learned from the People's Party.

"They are completely unreasonable!" Asakura Keita was a young person after all. Being criticized by Kita Ikki very skillfully as running away, his competitive spirit was aroused.

"Everyone has their own reasoning; it's just that everyone doesn't want to admit others' reasoning, that's all," Kita Ikki replied. After speaking, he wrote four characters on paper. For Japan in 1923, Chinese was a required course for cultured people.

The four characters Kita Ikki wrote were actually just two characters, only the order was different. They were the two words "Struggle" (斗争 - Dòuzhēng) and "Fight" (争斗 - Zhēngdòu).

"Fighting is a part of struggle, but struggle does not equal fighting. Everyone is indeed struggling; right now, it is a struggle of ideas. Both sides think they are correct. Ordinary people all think this way, thinking they are absolutely correct. But everyone is not an ordinary person. As university students, everyone will inevitably be the ruling class of the nation in the future. There is even a chance to become rulers. The first priority of a ruler is to seek truth from facts." Kita Ikki spoke with earnest words and good intentions.

Hearing Kita Ikki give them such a high evaluation, even addressing them as "future rulers of Japan," the young people immediately felt their anger subside considerably.

"Mr. Kita, those people are simply unreasonable. They push all the fault onto the point of the government abandoning state-owned enterprises. I think this is incorrect." Asakura Keita spoke loudly. Because he had already noticed that the students of the other faction outside had also arrived outside the room where Kita Ikki was, his voice was exceptionally loud.

"You guys come in too." Kita Ikki called out to the people outside.

Soon, all the university students participating in the social investigation gathered together. Inside the room, they were divided into two clearly distinct factions. They each stood together in groups, looking as if they were irreconcilable.

Kita Ikki scanned the students standing on his left and right respectively. Everyone's gaze was filled with the firmness of "I am right," and no one felt guilty.

"Gentlemen, the Manchu Qing, which has already perished, always thought it was absolutely correct because it was stuck in its old ways. So when facing Japan, which opened its eyes to see the world, it was beaten to a pulp. And Japan, which beat the Manchu Qing to a pulp, suffered repeated defeats when meeting the People's Party that overthrew the Manchu Qing. The Japanese Navy can still maintain an advantage over the People's Party merely because it started building a navy a few decades earlier than the People's Party. Last year, the People's Party's crude steel output was more than ten times that of Japan. If Japan remains in its current state, in less than twenty years, the Japanese Navy will inevitably have no power to fight back when facing the People's Party's Navy. Everyone, no need to get excited; what I am saying are facts supported by data." Kita Ikki looked at the indignant students and finally had to suppress them temporarily.

"Mr. Kita, how could the People's Party's steel output be ten times that of Japan?" Asakura Keita said.

"I said crude steel, not steel." Kita Ikki corrected. These people were university students after all; they could still understand the difference between steel and iron.

"When I was in China, I met quite a few high-level members of the People's Party and talked with them about the Manchu Qing. How do you gentlemen think the high-level members of the People's Party evaluated the Manchu Qing?" Kita Ikki asked.

The students looked at each other in blank dismay; this question was truly beyond their imagination.

Kita Ikki didn't want to keep them in suspense either. He gave the answer very crisply, "The high-level members of the People's Party don't use 'good' or 'bad' to evaluate the Manchu Qing at all. When they talk about the Manchu Qing, they only mention what specifically the Manchu Qing did and what results these actions led to. The Manchu Qing was a government that humiliated the nation and forfeited its sovereignty for China, yet humiliating the nation and forfeiting sovereignty is merely a result. The causes and processes that led to this result—the high-level members of the People's Party absolutely do not use 'good' or 'bad' to evaluate them. They analyze and explain seeking truth from facts. It is exactly a China led by such a group of people that beat our Japan to a pulp!"

Japan's disastrous defeat in the war with the People's Party eventually led to Japan having to withdraw from China. This matter was no longer a secret. It was just that the war did not lead to Japan ceding territory and paying indemnities, plus the Japanese government and the military tried hard to manipulate public opinion, so domestic Japan considered this merely a "setback," not a "defeat."

Immediately, a student spoke impassioned words: "Mr. Kita, we will definitely have a chance to defeat China. To reoccupy Manchuria!"

Kita Ikki immediately criticized, "Your words are not seeking truth from facts. In the war that has already occurred, we failed. As to whether a future war can be won, none of us can guarantee it. If the army thought they could launch a war they would definitely win, they would have made their move long ago."

The student who spoke flushed red, his breathing became very heavy, and his expression was also extremely unhappy. The reason he didn't refute Kita Ikki was because he obviously hadn't found a way to refute yet. But it didn't equal him admitting defeat.

Kita Ikki had absolutely no thought of comforting this student. He opposed acting on impulse, but that didn't mean Kita Ikki could accept an attitude of not seeking truth from facts. If this student chose to leave in anger, Kita Ikki would absolutely not stop him.

Scanning the students for another round, Kita Ikki spoke in a stern tone: "Since you gentlemen are the future ruling class of Japan, I require you gentlemen to have the thinking and methods of rulers. If you gentlemen are still the same as the current rulers of Japan, then Japan's future will continue to be one failure after another. On this point, I hope you gentlemen can have some awakening!"

People will certainly stick to their own reasoning, but when facing a more scientific attitude, except for those blinded by personal interests, almost everyone can feel the persuasive power possessed by correct things.

Asakura Keita bowed his head slightly to Kita Ikki and said seriously, "Hai!"

One after another, all the students expressed their agreement to Kita Ikki.

"Next, let us discuss the current status of the Japanese economy." Kita Ikki pulled the work back onto the originally scheduled track.