Democracy in Danger

To the shrewd observer, however, the real danger all these riots point to, is not the Socialist threat, but the Right wing one, for amidst this mass activities of the Left-wing, the Right-wing members saw a long-awaited-for opportunity to make their reemergence by resorting to their notorious tactics of terrorism.

On June 17 Socialist leader Kawakami was stabbed and wounded within the Diet compound. Prime Minister Kishi was assaulted on July 14, and on October 12 Inejiro Asanuma was stabbed to death by a fanatical Right-wing youth.

The events described in these three articles all seem to bear out one important fact: that democracy is still quite immature in Japan. Following the defeat in the last war, Japan was initiated in the practice of democracy under the tutelage of the Allied Occupation Forces, and the new democratic constitution was enforced. Notwithstanding, what the Japanese have learned, so far, are but the basic principles of democracy, and not the rules and conditions by which this newly-acquired ideology can be fostered and made to function. The Japanese community today has not yet learned such vital prerequisites for fostering democracy as you find in Lippmann's "Public Philosophy" or Barker's "Traditions of Civility."