My Book Pick: Testimonies on the Peace Preservation Law: The Truth Revealed by The Records of 100,000 Arrests
Aichi Insurance Physicians’ Newspaper
December 15, 2019
the NHK “ETV Special” Reporting Team
NHK Publishing
November 11, 2019
Last spring, I wrote about the Peace Preservation Law and Japan’s proposed Conspiracy Law. This autumn, a new book was published that sheds light on the crimes of repression committed by state power against ordinary people.
Enacted in 1925, the Peace Preservation Law targeted organizations—such as the Communist Party—that advocated “altering the national polity” or “denying the system of private property.” In practice, however, those arrested under the law were often ordinary people.
Drawing on testimony from survivors and the families of those affected, as well as data on arrests recorded in official documents, the book traces twenty years of abuse of the Peace Preservation Law. The introductory chapter begins with the testimonies of people who were arrested under the law and who continue to speak out today, using their experiences to revisit the purposes for which the law was originally created.
Chapters 1 through 5 examine data on arrests throughout the twenty years during which the law was in force, bringing the events of the period to life through the personal stories of those who experienced them. The authors also investigate why these individuals were arrested, examining the historical circumstances of the time and how the law was actually applied.
Chapter 6 explores the continuities between the prewar and wartime system of state security—including the Peace Preservation Law—and the postwar system of public security. The final chapter follows the lives of the people whose testimonies appear in the book and looks at what happened to them after the war.
The book does not offer the kind of insights into freedom found in Simone Weil, nor does it provide the depth of understanding of the state associated with Leon Trotsky. Nevertheless, it is a book well worth reading.
