Prison Labor - shujinroudou

Japanese: 囚人労働 - しゅうじんろうどう

This refers to a form of forced labor (gaieki) for prisoners used in the primitive accumulation process of capitalism with the aim of securing a stable supply of low-wage labor. It is used to distinguish it from today's prison work, as it occupied a central position in the reproduction structure of the time. Prison labor can be found in all countries. According to German economist J. Kuczynski, prisons were built in Germany in the 17th century to force prisoners to work as spinners in manufacturing factories and to secure manufacturing workers.

In Japan, they were used in coal mines, mines, and Hokkaido development projects (described below). Shujikan (prisons for long-term prisoners) were set up near production and work sites. Coal mining was a key industry for establishing capitalism, but coal mining work was considered lowly work and securing labor was extremely difficult, so the Meiji government adopted prison labor. Prison labor was already being used at the Shiranuka Coal Mine (Hokkaido) and Yokosuka Ironworks (Kanagawa Prefecture) during the late Edo period (1850s), but after the Meiji period, it was first used at the Miike Coal Mine (Fukuoka and Kumamoto Prefectures) in 1873 (Meiji 6), and was later introduced at the Takashima Coal Mine (Nagasaki Prefecture), Kosaka Mine (Akita Prefecture), and Horonai Coal Mine (Hokkaido). During the government-run period of the Miike Coal Mine, after the establishment of the Miike Penal Colony in 1883, the mine became increasingly reliant on prisoner labor, and by 1888, the last year of government operation, the proportion of prisoner miners had reached 69% of all miners.

Convict miners were paid allowances for their work in mining, but they were only about half of what regular miners were paid, and because prison expenses were deducted, they were practically nonexistent. Prisoners died one after another from ill health (diseases such as silicosis and pneumoconiosis) and overwork, and the severe penalties and lack of human rights led some prisoners to attempt escapes and riot. The Miike coal mine continued to rely on prison labor even after it was sold to Mitsui Capital, but as employment management shifted to the hiring of direct-controlled husbands who could keep up with technological innovations, prison labor peaked in 1896 and then began to decline. Separately from this, during World War II, Koreans and prisoners of war were forced to work in the mines due to the shortage of male laborers caused by men going to war.

[Goga Kazumichi]

Prison Labor in Hokkaido

Hokkaido was the place where prison labor was most widely used and in the harshest form. The penal colonies established in the early 1880s, including Kabato, Sorachi, and Kushiro, were intended as island colonial prisons, and the purpose of these prisoners was to promote the "effect of penal servitude" and the development of the region by making them engage in forced labor. From 1889 (Meiji 22) to 1894, after the establishment of the Hokkaido Prefectural Government, the prisoners numbered between 6,500 and 7,000 at any one time. In response to the suggestion of Kaneko Kentaro and others, the prisoners were concentrated in mining and civil engineering projects as an important labor force for development, and were overworked to the max. For example, the Sorachi Penal Colony set up an outside office and sent many prisoners to the Horonai Coal Mine, which was developed by the Hokkaido Development Commission, and prisoners from the Kushiro Penal Colony were used to work at Ato-Sato Iou Mountain, run by Yasuda Zenjiro. Also, from 1887 onwards, the Kabato Penal Colony used prisoners to excavate roads such as the Tobetsu Road and Mashike Road. In this way, the convict labour that was deployed throughout Hokkaido resulted in many prisoners becoming human sacrifices for the development of the region, due to the harsh conditions of the work. This led to a humanitarian opposition movement, and the nature and limitations of convict labour as a form of forced labour, such as the need to keep a peace on escaped prisoners, gradually became apparent, and after 1895 outside labour was abolished.

[Kuwabara Masato]

"History of the Miike Coal Mine" by Yukihide Uezuma (Kyouikusha Rekishi Shinsho)" ▽ "Labor Forms in Hokkaido during the Establishment of Capitalism by Osamu Tanaka (Collected in Economic Review No. 3, 1955, Hokkai-Gakuen University)"

[References] | Prison work | Korean forced labor issue | Hokkaido development | Miike coalfields

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

資本主義の原始的蓄積過程において、低賃金労働力の安定的確保を目的として利用された、囚人に対する強制的労役形態（外役(がいえき)）をいう。当時の再生産構造上、中心的位置を占めていた点で、今日の刑務作業とは区別して用いられる。囚人労働は各国でみられる。ドイツの経済学者J・クチンスキーによると、ドイツでは17世紀に囚人をマニュファクチュアの紡績工として働かせたり、マニュファクチュア労働者を確保するために刑務所が建設された。

　日本では炭鉱、鉱山、北海道の開拓事業（後述）などに用いられた。生産・作業現場近くに集治監(しゅうじかん)（長期刑囚の監獄）が設けられた。炭鉱は資本主義確立のための基幹産業であったが、炭鉱労働は賤業(せんぎょう)視され、労働力の確保は困難を極めたため、明治政府は囚人労働を採用した。囚人労働はすでに幕末期（1850年代）に白糠(しらぬか)炭鉱（北海道）や横須賀製鉄所（神奈川県）で利用されていたが、明治以降は1873年（明治6）に三池(みいけ)炭鉱（福岡・熊本県）で利用されたのが始まりで、これ以降、高島炭鉱（長崎県）、小坂鉱山（秋田県）、幌内(ほろない)炭鉱（北海道）で導入された。官営時代の三池炭鉱では、1883年三池集治監が設立されて以降、囚人労働に依存する度合いが増加し、官営最後の1888年には囚人坑夫の割合は全坑夫数の69％に達した。

　囚人坑夫の採炭作業には手当が支払われたが、一般坑夫の半分程度で、しかも監獄経費を差し引かれたため実際には皆無に等しかった。不健康（珪肺(けいはい)、塵肺(じんぱい)症などの病気）と過労で囚人の死者は相次ぎ、厳しい罰則のもとで人権無視の扱いを受けた囚人は、脱走を企てたり暴動を起こした。三池炭鉱では、三井資本への払下げ後も囚人労働に依存したが、やがて技術革新に対応しうる直轄夫の採用に雇用管理の重点が移行したため、囚人労働は1896年を頂点に減少に向かった。なお、これとは別に、第二次世界大戦中、出征による男子労働力不足のもとで、朝鮮人や捕虜囚人が炭鉱で強制労働に従事させられた。

［伍賀一道］

北海道における囚人労働

囚人労働がもっとも大規模かつ過酷な形で展開したのが北海道であった。すなわち、1880年代初頭に設置された樺戸(かばと)、空知(そらち)、釧路(くしろ)をはじめ道内の各集治監は、いわゆる島地植民監獄としての性格をもち、収容した囚人を強制労働に従事させることにより、「懲治遷善(ちょうじせんぜん)ノ効」と開拓事業の促進を目的とするものであった。北海道庁設置後の1889年（明治22）から94年にかけて常時6500人から7000人を数えた在監囚は、金子堅太郎(けんたろう)らの意見もあり、開拓の重要な労働力として鉱山と土木事業に集中的に投入され、徹底的に酷使された。たとえば開拓使の手で開発された幌内炭鉱には、空知集治監が外役所を設けて多数の囚人を送り込み、安田善次郎(ぜんじろう)経営の跡佐登硫黄(あとさぬぷりいおう)山では釧路集治監の囚人が使役された。また、樺戸集治監では1887年以降、当別(とうべつ)道路、増毛(ましけ)道路などの開削に囚人を利用している。このように、全道的に展開された囚人労働は、その過酷な労働のゆえに、囚人のなかから開拓の人柱ともいうべき多数の犠牲者を出す結果となった。このため人道的見地からの反対運動が起こり、また逃走囚の治安対策など、強制労働力としての囚人労働の本質と限界がしだいに顕在化し、1895年以後外役労働は廃止された。

［桑原真人］

『上妻幸英著『三池炭鉱史』（教育社歴史新書）』▽『田中修「資本主義確立期北海道における労働形態」（『経済論集』第3号所収・1955・北海学園大学）』

[参照項目] | 刑務作業 | 朝鮮人強制連行問題 | 北海道開拓 | 三池炭田

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