Against the Grain

Kōtoku Shūsui and Anti-Imperialism in Japan

He was a trailblazing critic of imperialism, but chances are you’ve never heard his name.  The radical Japanese journalist Kotoku Shusui, who moved from socialism to anarchism, wrote a seminal critique of imperialism — before Hobson and Lenin — and led the movement against empire in Japan.  Robert Tierney discusses Kotoku, his classic work Imperialism, and his times.

Resources:

Robert Thomas Tierney, Monster of the Twentieth Century: Kotoku Shusui and Japan’s First Anti-Imperialist Movement UC Press, 2015

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