Speaker: HLT Quan

Abstract

In the shadow of the Boshevik’s Revolution, Tale of Poverty, a collection of essays by the selfdeclared uncertain Marxist, Hajime Kawakami circulated in Japan’s most respected national
dailies and went on for thirty additional reprints until Kawakami himself stop its circulation.
According to Kawakami’s biography Gail Lee Bernstein, “what had begun as [his] search for the
secret of the West’s strength, had turned into a probing analysis of the reasons for its weakness,”
as he would later conclude that “even though England, the United States, Germany, and France
are exceedingly rich, their people are exceedingly poor.”1 Kawakami, who went through multiple
conversations, staunchly refused to renounce his belief in communism in an era of forced
ideological conversation (tenkō), especially away from leftist ideologies and toward militarist,
imperialist nationalism. Among other things, the question I want to explore in this talk is how do
we become ungovernable in these times of fascist convergences and ideological conversions?
Japan in the time of conversion and Kawakami’s refusal in a time not unlike our own, despite his
own contradictions and frequent change of heart, hold important lessons for learning about
democratic livability in an unequal world.

Short bio