The Reckoning

1
The Reckoning

• by
• David Halberstam

2
Major Players

• Katsuji KAWAMATA, the Banker
• Tetsuo MASUDA, union leader, the Emperor
• Masaru MIYAKE, leader of 2nd union
• Ichiro SHIOJI, the Strikebreaker
• Sanosuke TANAKA, joined Nissan 1937
• Typical of worker from countryside

3
Ch. 7 The Banker

• Nissan--Nippon Sangyo--founded by Yoshisuke
  AYUKAWA
• --from good family
• Mother was Inoue Kaorus niece
• Graduated Todai w/ Engineering degree
• Rose with militarists, Manchuria in 1930s
• Challenged Sumitomo, Mitsui and Mitsubishi, old
  line Zaibatsu

4
The Banker

• Katsuji KAWAMATA--came from IBJ, the Hiroshima
  Branch, where he had been sent
• He was rough, crude, knew nothing of automobiles
  or unions. But was ambitious.
• Sent to Nissan, Tokyo, in 1947. He found there
  that management feared Union.
• W/Dodge Line, he fired 2000-plus workers

5
The Union Leader

• Tetsuo MASUDA b. 1914 Tokunoshima off Kagoshima.
  
• Father ran a small co. that went banrupt. They
  moved to Kagoshima, father died young.
• Masuda went to Todai joined Nissan 1938.

6

• Masuda was smart, eloquent, charismatic
• Played baseball so was hero-figure, leader
• Returned from war politicized
• Old guard had ruined Japan
• Independent--Leftwing but not JCP type
• His vision was for industry-wide union that would
  serve the workers.

7
Ch. 8 The Turning Point

• 1951 Asahara selected president, Kawamata runs
  things.
• Nicknamed the banker because he did not know
  cars or the company.
• Masuda had always won battles until Dodge
  Line--now losing.
• Korean war was gift from gods but when growth
  slowed, times were tough.

8
Kawamata v. Masuda

• The 2nd Union Strategy
• Masaru MIYAKE emerges as leader.
• Zero-pilot during war, he flirted with radical
  left after the war but after Dodge Line began to
  question strikes and disruptions.
• Felt Masuda needed to be stopped. Kawamata seen
  as hope of company.

9
Cahnge of Kacho Status

• Kachos--section heads--had been floor workers,
  part of unions v. management
• New policy pulled kachos up into management
• Result suribachi or grinding kachos down
  tactic by unions

10
Miyake v. Masuda

• War taught Miyake to speak his mind
• Saw Masuda as a bully or tyrant
• Started secret meetings
• Kawamata agreed to fund 2nd union w/ IBJ funds

11
Ichiro Shioji

• B. Kanda 1927, attended Naval Academy
• Father died, took care of family
• Hopped the buying trains, bought/sold produce
• Openly egocentric , Coveted power
• Cocky natural politician and street-fighter
• Loved confrontation

12

• Masuda was on a high
• Saw men of management as old men from past
• Men of death--they had killed Japan
• Didnt fear Kawamata because hes never been in a
  union

13

• Kawamata followed hard line--exhaust the union,
  hire thugs to protect 2nd union
• Secured Nikkeiren support
• By freezing out Masuda they provoked him to
  violence
• Appealed to workers that Masuda was alien,
  un-Japanese in his conduct

14
Ch. 9 Crushing Masuda

• Appeal was made to workers on basis that work is
  sacred, a ceremony, not a means to an end as in
  the west.
• Masuda was jailed emerged to big rallies
• But, he had
• Underestimated his opponents
• Overestimated loyalty of own men

15

• Old order had been democratized and modernized
• But the old order was still there
• Masudas dream of industry-wide union died.
  Nissan was stabilized.
• Workers no longer challenged superiors

16

• Kawamata was the big winner
• Unions became an extension of management
• Masuda drifted, broken man
• 1960s lived alone, unemployed
• 1964 died of heart attack aged 50