Tetsuji Tazoe

A socialist of the Meiji period. Born on July 24, 1875 in Nakamidori Village, Akita County, Kumamoto Prefecture (present-day Minami Ward, Kumamoto City). After graduating from the Kumamoto English School and Chinzei Gakuin in Nagasaki, he studied religious studies and sociology at the University of Chicago, and returned to Japan at the end of 1900 (Meiji 33). He later served as editor-in-chief of the Nagasaki Eiri Shimbun and Chinzei Nippo in Nagasaki, and moved to Tokyo in March 1904 after the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. In October of the same year, with the help of Sakai Toshihiko, he published his debut work, Keizai Evolutionary Theory, through Heimin Bunko, and joined the socialist movement, publishing multifaceted editorials in various socialist newspapers and magazines such as Shinkigen, Hikari, Heimin Shimbun (Nikkan), and Shakai Shimbun. His most famous work is "The Evolution of World Peace," serialized in the Shinkigen magazine, but his theory on parliamentary policy, which he presented at the second convention of the Japan Socialist Party in February 1907 in opposition to Kotoku Shusui's theory of direct action, is noted as one of the peaks of the debate on socialism in the Meiji era. However, living in abject poverty, he died of tuberculosis on March 19, 1908. His early death was mourned by many.

[Hiroshi Okamoto]

"Tetsuji Tazoe, by Hiroshi Okamoto (Iwanami Shinsho)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

明治時代の社会主義者。明治8年7月24日、熊本県飽田(あきた)郡中緑(なかみどり)村（現熊本市南区）に生まれる。熊本英学校、長崎の鎮西(ちんぜい)学院を経て、シカゴ大学で宗教学と社会学を勉学し、1900年（明治33）末帰国。のち長崎で『長崎絵入新聞』『鎮西日報』の主筆を務め、日露戦争勃発(ぼっぱつ)後の1904年3月上京。同年10月堺利彦(さかいとしひこ)の斡旋(あっせん)で平民文庫から処女作『経済進化論』を出版して社会主義運動に参加し、『新紀元』『光』『平民新聞（日刊）』『社会新聞』などの各社会主義紙誌に多面的な論説を展開。代表作は『新紀元』に連載された「世界平和の進化」であるが、1907年2月の日本社会党第2回大会で幸徳秋水(こうとくしゅうすい)の直接行動論に対抗して展開した議会政策論は、明治社会主義論争の一方の峰として注目される。しかし、赤貧洗うがごとき生活のため翌明治41年3月19日結核で死去。その夭逝(ようせい)は多くの人に惜しまれた。

［岡本　宏］

『岡本宏著『田添鉄二』（岩波新書）』

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