On the surface it has often seemed that the capitalists were the chief
opponents of the army extremists in the political struggle of the
past decade. This is only partly true. These two groups have been the
strongest political forces in Japan. They have both sought to win the
bureaucrats and public opinion to their side. On the other hand, they
are in agreement on many points.
For the capitalists, as well as the military, are interested in
territorial expansion, and have taken advantage of its results in
China. Many of them favored the Manchurian invasion, because they saw
that it would give the widespread social discontent in Japan a safe
outlet. But at the same time, the capitalists tend to be more cautious
than the army leaders in foreign policy. They do not want to take
risks, or to plunge recklessly into a big war if the chances of success
are slight.
Even on the home front, there is an area of agreement between the
army extremists and the business men. Both wish to maintain their
ruling position against the threat of social revolution. The Minseito
government took measures to stamp out revolutionary groups as early as
1929-30. There is full agreement on regimentation of this kind. But the
capitalists have bitterly opposed the army’s efforts to take over _all_
political power, or to seize control of their business enterprises.
Keeping these general tendencies in mind, we can now turn to a
consideration of the events of the past decade.