New Local Government
The Dismantling of the Old Municipal Administration
While citizens were scrambling to defend their own livelihoods and the municipal government was struggling with reconstruction measures, a great storm was beginning to blow at the central level that would overturn local politics from its foundations.
In pre-war Japan, the Ministry of Home Affairs was the overseer of local autonomy. The Ministry of Home Affairs made local autonomy a mere formality through its rigid supervisory power, but that very ministry was the stronghold of the bureaucrats, one of the three major forces—along with the military cliques and the zaibatsu—responsible for the war. (Omitted)
With the defeat, the military was dismantled and the military cliques were ousted from being a political force, but the bureaucrats continued to survive. However, in order to democratize Japan, it was necessary to purge the Ministry of Home Affairs, the stronghold of the bureaucrats. On October 4, 1945, the General Headquarters first ordered the mass dismissal of the Tokko. Tokko is an abbreviation for the Special Higher Police, the core organization that had controlled speech, thought, and behavior under the shield of the Peace Preservation Law to carry out national policy, but the General Headquarters saw the Tokko as the mastermind of the thought police that created the dark history of the Showa era. A corner of the Ministry of Home Affairs stronghold was broken. Moreover, the attack continued without easing. The following day, the dismissal of Home Minister Iwao Yamazaki and other home bureaucrats, the abolition of the Peace Preservation Law, and the immediate release of political prisoners were ordered together. The Ministry of Home Affairs effectively lost most of its functions.
However, what shook the Ministry of Home Affairs even more violently was the whirlwind of the purge of public officials. On January 4, 1946, the General Headquarters ordered the purge of militarists from public office, and as a result, 1,067 central bureaucrats were purged from public office. One-third of them, 340, were home bureaucrats. The second wave of purges raged from the center to the regions.
On November 7, 1946, a memorandum on the purge of local public officials was announced, and approximately 100,000 mayors and deputy mayors across the country were purged, but by March 20, 1949, another 7,920 people had disappeared from the surface of local politics. That storm also blew into Toyohashi City, and the purge of Rokuro Oguchi and Toshichiro Kondo, who were recommended candidates of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, was designated from the center, and a total of about 350 people were driven from public office. All of them were people involved with the reservists, right-wing organizations, and the Imperial Rule Assistance Association. The disappearance from local politics of people who had held great power in the municipal administration before the end of the war (omitted) brought about major changes in the Toyohashi municipal administration, precisely because their power had been so great.
The storm of the purge became a great force in breaking the old framework of local politics. Tamotsu Mizuno, a former Army Major General who became Mayor of Toyohashi on May 6, 1945, at the end of the war, was aware that he would naturally be purged as a career soldier. As his final task for the municipal administration, he devoted himself to applying for the temporary use of former military facilities in the city for the sake of citizens and children who had been burned out. After finishing the applications for temporary use of more than a dozen locations, ranging from the former Army Reserve Officer School, the former Division Commander's residence, the former 18th Infantry Regiment, and the former 3rd Engineer Regiment to the shooting range, he formally submitted his resignation on January 5, 1946. And on the 29th of that month, he left the municipal administration.
It could be said that the Ministry of Home Affairs, being a massive government agency, had the fate that if its top went in a strange direction, the whole had no choice but to head in a strange direction. As an impression, it could be said that until about the Meiji era, it had a certain pride as a leader driving local autonomy, but as the concept of democracy spread during the Taisho era, it seems that it became authoritarian because it could not find its own way of being within that.
I feel that 100,000 mayors and deputy mayors is a bit of an exaggeration or a printing error, but the fact that Toshichiro Kondo is included might mean that it includes those with experience as mayors and deputy mayors. If so, I don't know if he is included, but it is a little hard to accept that Tamotsu Mizuno is written as if he is not included. Even if it is said that he devoted his heart to applying for the temporary use of former military facilities, for example, the former Division Commander's residence should have naturally been returned to the city the moment the 15th Division was gone, and the fact that he had to go out of his way to apply for the right to temporarily use it suggests that Mizuno might have put on a show to keep the military's presence alive. And it could be said that this remains as a heavy weight on the current land issues in Toyohashi. In other words, it is thought that because Mizuno applied for the temporary use of a place that was not originally subject to temporary use, the subsequent land use was greatly restricted.
Movements for Municipal Reform
When Mayor Mizuno resigned, the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered Toyohashi City to recommend a successor mayor by March 1, 1946. The city council held a general meeting on February 5 to discuss this. However, on that day, the Toyohashi Municipal Reform League Preparatory Committee, formed by 180 Socialist Party members interested in municipal administration, held a citizens' rally to denounce the municipal administration at the public hall and adopted the following resolution, which was submitted to the chairman of the city council.
1. The current city council has no qualifications to recommend a successor mayor.
2. The mayor should be a young mayor with ability and competence.
3. The mayor should be elected by the general will of the citizens.
(Omitted) However, the movement did not bear fruit, and on March 29, 1946, Shinobu Yokota, a prefectural assembly member recommended by the city council's selection committee, took office as mayor. (Omitted)
On September 15, 1946, the Toyohashi branch of the Socialist Party held a citizens' rally demanding a three-go ration at the Shinkawa Elementary School, demanding the distribution of three go of staple food necessary for survival. (Omitted)
Such movements by citizens further strengthened the power of municipal reform. The Toyohashi Municipal Reform League Preparatory Committee held its formal inauguration ceremony at the city public hall on March 14, 1947 (omitted). The League (omitted) decided to face the local elections with the following slogans.
1. Wipe out the profiteers of municipal administration.
2. The current mayor and city council members must step down.
3. Kick the Progressive and Liberal parties out of the city council.
The conservative camp had to devise countermeasures. On March 30, 16 neutral city council members took the lead and held an inauguration ceremony for the Toyohashi City Construction Promotion League at the city public hall. (Omitted) Thus, the conservative camp also faced the local elections with a new structure, but this local election, called the April election, was held based on reform plans to create a new local government, and it was a trial.
It may be that reform was sought as a backlash against pre-war politics, but the problem was that, unfortunately, reformist forces were inherently unable to emphasize local context. Therefore, they tended to appeal to abstract reforms such as regime change or breaking up vested interests rather than realistic policies. Certainly, the familiar three go of staple food was a policy, but as it was just before the second autumn after the war, it could be said to be a small policy that could be seen as naturally realized rather than something that almost any political party could realize if they claimed it, and the very fact that they made such a thing a pillar could be said to have exposed their helplessness.
And it could be said that major policies were already woven into the reconstruction plan, and unless they gained some kind of foothold there, they could not discuss policies properly and had no choice but to appeal for regime change, which was a fatal flaw of the reformists that they had carried from the very beginning.
いいなと思ったら応援しよう！
誰かが読んで、評価をしてくれた、ということはとても大きな励みになります。サポート、本当にありがとうございます。