Masanosuke Watanabe Explained

was a member of the Japanese Communist Party. He was born in 1899 in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. He was the son of a tatami mat maker. After graduating primary school in 1912, he went to Tokyo to work in a wine shop. In 1917, he worked in a celluloid factory in Kamedo section of Tokyo. He organized the National Celluloid Workers Union in Tokyo in 1919. He joined the Japanese Communist Party soon after its establishment in 1922. In March 1927, he went to Moscow to represent the JCP at the Comintern, and the eighth enlarged plenum of the ECCI. That same year, Watanabe returned to Japan and took over the leadership of the party. In March 1928, he was elected chairman of the JCP central committee.^{[1] [2]} During Watanabe's lifetime, he married Tanno Setsu, a labour activist, and member of the Communist Party.^{[3] [4]}

Watanabe escaped Japan during mass arrests on March 15, 1928. He traveled to Formosa (modern-day Taiwan) disguised as a dry goods merchant. He killed himself in Keelung while being pursued by the police.^{[5] [6] [7] [8]}

He used the alias "Asano" during his years in the Communist Party.^[9]

Further reading

• Revolutionary Worker Watanabe Masanosuke and the Japanese Communist Party," Asian Profile 3.4 (1975)

Notes and References

1. Book: The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. registration. Stanford University Press . George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo . 1969 .
2. Book: Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern: Revised Edition. Hoover Press. Branko Lazitch, Milorad M. Drachkovitch . 1986. 507–508.
3. Book: Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan. University of California Press. Mikiso Hane . Aug 5, 1988.
4. Book: Mackie. Feminism in Modern Japan: Citizenship, Embodiment and Sexuality. Cambridge University Press. Feb 26, 2003. Vera Mackie.
5. Book: The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. registration. Stanford University Press . George M. Beckmann, Genji Okubo . 1969 .
6. Book: Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern: Revised Edition. Hoover Press. Branko Lazitch, Milorad M. Drachkovitch . 1986. 507–508.
7. Book: Organized Workers and Socialist Politics in Interwar Japan. Cambridge University Press. Stephen S. Large . Aug 13, 1981.
8. Book: THE JAPAN MISSION YEAR BOOK formerly The Christian Movement IN JAPAN AND FORMOSA A YEAR BOOK OF CHRISTIAN WORK TWENTY-EIGHT ISSUE . Kyo Bun Kwan . 1930. 30–32.
9. Book: Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern: Revised Edition. Hoover Press. Branko Lazitch, Milorad M. Drachkovitch . 1986. 507–508.