Voices wavering between silence and arrest: The depths of the Kobunsha Dispute, 1970-1975

Voices wavering between silence and arrest: The depths of the Kobunsha Dispute, 1970-1975

In the mid-1970s, the end of Japan's rapid economic growth cast a shadow over the country, and society itself was in the midst of major upheaval. Post-oil crisis stagnation, a wave of recession, lingering effects of the student movement, an increase in extremist incidents, and a nationwide expansion of pollution lawsuits and labor disputes. Social tensions seeped into daily life, and anxiety clung to individual ways of living and working. The publishing industry was no exception, with sluggish performance and workplace exhaustion, and editors and sales staff were exhausted from working long hours. Against this backdrop, the Kobunsha dispute ignited in the early 1970s and intensified in a complex and intertwined manner through 1975.

At Kobunsha, the first union was concerned about the company's personnel policies and working conditions and waged a struggle for improvements. In response, the company supported the second union, creating a dual union structure in the workplace. In addition, the company stationed guards to monitor and eliminate union activities, and invisible boundaries were drawn inside the company building, creating tension in all areas, from the editorial department to production and sales. Everyone in the workplace had to swim between the normal routine and the politicized atmosphere, and even the relationships among colleagues became frayed.

The most intense period of conflict occurred between 1974 and 1975. There were incidents of assaults on union members by guards, while members of the first union and supporting workers were arrested one after another. The case in which a guard cut a union member with a razor was not prosecuted, but on the contrary, nineteen members of the union side were treated as criminal cases, exposing the overly biased dynamics of the situation. This was a symbolic event in which the company brought the power of the police into the dispute and attempted to suppress the First Union by force. The shadow of violence and power, unbecoming of the cultural industry of publishing, fell clearly within the company.

In this atmosphere, the words uttered by the employees reflected their respective positions and fatigue. A general affairs employee dismissed the assault by the guard as a "personal vendetta" and tried to separate it from the overall dispute. An employee attached to a board member expressed frustration at the obstruction of business by the growing number of supporters, and complained why they should be involved. Novel jewelry officials feel anomalous about the mass arrests of their fellow employees, but bitter about not having the power to push back, and say in a shaken voice, "I can't believe that people who worked at the same place are being arrested like this. In contrast, some employees say, "It's a reasonable arrest," bringing to light the desperate reality that protecting one's job and livelihood takes precedence over the right and wrong of the dispute.

The Kobunsha dispute of this era is told as a symbol of labor problems, but it is also a story of how ordinary people survive in times of turmoil. The human tremors of anger, fear, resignation, prudence, and indifference greatly shook the small community of the workplace. The voices of the individual employees are the very breath of people living in the rift year of 1975, and the tension and pain of these people's lives are still fresh in our minds even after reading the book today.