Peasants movement - Nouminundo (English spelling)

Japanese: 農民運動 - のうみんうんどう（英語表記）peasants movement

In a broad sense, it would include the rural rehabilitation movement, the rural women's and youth movement, and the peasant recreation movement, but normally, like the labor movement, it is an organized struggle in which peasants as a class band together to maintain, improve, and expand their own working and business conditions, or to maintain and improve their social and political living conditions. Therefore, in a broad sense, it is often referred to interchangeably with the peasant union movement, but in a narrow sense, it can be called the peasant class struggle.

[Nitagai Kamon]

The peasant movement under capitalism

Prehistory of the Peasant Movement in Advanced Capitalist Countries

The typical form of the peasant movement is the movement of peasants as small producers in capitalist society. The development of capitalist production brings agriculture under its own laws of motion. As a result, the traditional peasant as a small producer is broken down (decomposition of the peasant class). The decomposition of the peasant class gave rise to capitalist agricultural managers and agricultural workers. The most typical example of the decomposition of the peasant class and the capitalistization of agriculture was in England. There, agriculture was reorganized into three classes: agricultural capitalists, agricultural workers, and landlords, through the thorough decomposition of small producers. Therefore, since there are few peasants as small producers in England, it can be said that the agricultural labor movement as part of the labor movement comes to the forefront, rather than the peasant movement of the working masses in agriculture.

[Nitagai Kamon]

Prehistory of the Peasant Movement in Underdeveloped Capitalist Countries

In countries where the development of industrial capitalism was slow, such as Germany, Russia, and Japan, the disintegration of the peasantry did not proceed as thoroughly as in the UK, and as a result many small producer peasants remained. To varying degrees, France, Italy, and even the United States also have many small producer peasants. These peasants often do not own any land, the basic means of production in agriculture, but instead rent the land on a tenant basis and pay high rent. This rent varies from country to country, region to region, and type of management, but generally they pay in cash, in kind (a fixed amount or a share of the harvest), or labor rent.

Peasants under such conditions are often exploited by landlords, and their cultivation rights are unstable. Furthermore, poor peasants often barely survive by selling their labor, and are in effect wage laborers. In this respect too, they are exploited by capitalists or wealthy peasants. This becomes clear in the so-called imperialist stage. At this stage, the agricultural raw materials for industry (cotton, cocoons, milk, fruit) that peasants produce and sell are sold at low prices by the capitalists who buy them, and conversely, the capitalists also impose higher prices on the means of production (fertilizer, farm equipment, etc.) and means of livelihood that the peasants purchase, so that the peasant movement becomes a movement against landlords and monopoly capital in areas where there are many peasants who are exploited in this way.

[Nitagai Kamon]

Contemporary peasant movements in the world

The peasant movements in Western Europe, such as those in Italy, France, and Germany, had the following characteristics, although there were some differences depending on the conditions the peasants found themselves in.

(1) Anti-monopoly struggle that united a wide range of farmers. Farmers are united in their opposition to policies that force farmers to sell the agricultural products they produce and sell at favorable prices to monopoly capital, or to have the state purchase a set amount of agricultural products at the price the farmers want, and to import surplus agricultural products from the United States.

(2) Movements demanding national policies related to farmers' production and lives. Specifically, these include tax struggles calling for tax exemptions for low-income earners, demands for financial assistance to increase agricultural production, and struggles calling for social security for farmers' lives.

(3) Land struggles In northern France and northern Italy, agriculture has not yet been capitalized, and there is a huge peasant class. Many of these peasants do not own land, and are still under the control and exploitation of landlords. There are demands for reductions in rent, guarantees of peasant cultivation rights, and guarantees of a minimum payment to peasants in the event of agricultural disasters.

Peasant movements in developing countries such as Asia and South America are waging struggles for land liberation, as well as for higher wages, improved working conditions and workers' rights for workers on foreign colonial plantations.

[Nitagai Kamon]

The prehistoric form of the Japanese peasant movement

The peasant movement has a prehistoric form, such as slave uprisings, peasant revolts, and peasant unrest, which were spontaneous and explosive struggles caused by peasants as the dominated class in each society, such as slave societies, feudal societies, or the period when feudal societies were disintegrating and capitalist societies were forming. In Japan, peasant struggles occurred in the form of flight, petitions, and uprisings when the manor system began to disintegrate and individual villages were established as villages (late Muromachi period). They gradually became larger in scale, with the Tsuchi Ikki and Tokusei Ikki that occurred in Omi in 1428 (Shocho 1), the Doikki that occurred in Harima in 1429 (Eikyo 1), and the long-lasting Ikko Ikki. At this stage, peasant uprisings were often led by lower-ranking samurai such as local samurai, but with Toyotomi Hideyoshi's sword hunt, land surveys, and reforms to the chigyo system, peasant uprisings came to an end.

The subsequent peasant struggles under the Edo shogunate and feudal domain system were known as peasant uprisings, and there are over 570 recorded peasant uprisings that can be divided into three periods in terms of their form. In the early period, village headmen and village headmen took the lead in making demands on the shogunate and feudal lords, but in the middle period, wealthy farmers who had grown in line with the commercialization of economic activity became the targets of the struggle. Here, mass actions proved more effective than the heroic actions of a few village headmen and village headmen. Furthermore, in the final period, peasant uprisings again took the form of local lords and landlords uniting with poor farmers to fight against the feudal lords, and combined with riots in the cities, they took the form of a large-scale mass struggle that shook the feudal system to its foundations.

[Nitagai Kamon]

Peasant movements after the Meiji period

After the Meiji Restoration, the feudal shogunate system collapsed, and various feudal systems were abolished, including the acceptance of stone tax payments, the freedom to sell rice, the freedom to freely cultivate fields and farm land, the freedom to buy and sell fields on a permanent basis, the abolition of checkpoints, permission for commoners to use surnames, the issuance of land certificates and the promulgation of rules for land tax collection, the abolition of the peasant class system, the promulgation of rules for pawning land, the land division system, the freedom to reside and move, and the freedom to travel. The peasant movement after the Meiji period continued to take on the forms of previous peasant uprisings, peasant uprisings, petitions, riots, flight, petitions, and petitions to move beyond the borders.

[1] Peasant movements in the early days of the Meiji government Between 1868 (Meiji 1) and 1873, there were a total of 160 peasant disturbances, all of which were of the type described above. The tax reduction movements that the government was preparing for included the tax reduction petition uprising in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, a peasant uprising that involved smashing and burning in Kiku County, Fukuoka Prefecture, the peasant movement in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture which launched a movement to petition for a tax 40 times higher than in other domains, petition uprisings in Hita and Kusu counties, Oita Prefecture, large uprisings in Oita, Amabe, Ono, and Naoiri counties in the same prefecture, a peasant uprising in Iga, Mie Prefecture, the Daishogiri riots in Yamanashi Prefecture, a peasant uprising involving 300,000 people in Fukushima Prefecture, and the Wappa riots in Shonai, Yamagata Prefecture.

Well-known peasant uprisings in protest against poor harvests, famine, and bad government include the Niikawa peasant uprising in Toyama Prefecture, the Sanroku uprising in Gifu Prefecture, the Fuwa peasant uprising in the same prefecture, the Uwa district of Ehime Prefecture, the Shichinohe peasant uprising in Aomori Prefecture, the peasant uprising on the border between Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures, the Shitara peasant uprising in Aichi Prefecture, and the All-Shinshu Uprising (Nishimaki Uprising, Ueda Uprising, Komoro Uprising, Aida Uprising, Matsushiro Uprising, Suzaka Uprising, Nakano Uprising) which engulfed virtually the entire Shinshu region in a state of civil war due to inflation and opposition to bad government.

As soon as the Meiji government promulgated the conscription law, anti-conscription riots broke out nationwide, as farmers saw it as a way to lose their agricultural labor force. To farmers, it was a form of forced labor. Some of the more famous riots include the sectarian riots in Iga-Nishiyama, Mie Prefecture, the opposition movement in Kusu-gun, Oita Prefecture, the mass uprisings in Okayama and Hojo prefectures that developed into an uprising that spread across the Mimasaka region, the peasant uprisings in seven counties in Kagawa Prefecture, the unbroken uprising in Sufu-gun, Ehime Prefecture, the peasant uprising in Aimi-gun, Tottori Prefecture, the opposition uprisings in Shimane and Hiroshima prefectures, the peasant uprisings in Ikaruga and Amata, Kyoto Prefecture, the opposition uprisings in Nagasaki and Kumamoto prefectures, the conscription uprisings in Akita and Kochi prefectures, and the Shinano River reclamation uprising against forced labor. These riots were also protests against the Meiji government's plans to strengthen the expropriation of land (such as the revision of the rice sacking system, land surveys, and land title investigations). The government began to oppress the farmers by establishing an army and increasing police power, suppressing the uprising of the farmers.

Furthermore, in order to establish primitive accumulation and the landlord system, the government implemented a system of dividing land into public and private ownership and reformed the land tax. The excessive land tax burden led to the downfall of small and medium-sized landowners. Farmers' unrest in opposition to these measures spread nationwide. There were opposition riots in Kokawa, Wakayama Prefecture, anti-tax uprisings in Makabe, Ibaraki Prefecture, riots in Naka county, Ibaraki Prefecture, large uprisings in Mie, Aichi, and Gifu Prefectures, peasant resistance around Komaki, Aichi Prefecture, peasant uprisings in Asodani, Kumamoto Prefecture, peasant uprisings in Tonami county, Toyama Prefecture, peasant uprisings in Usa, Oita Prefecture, peasant uprisings in Kaminoyama, Tokushima Prefecture, a petition for a reduction in the land tax in Kagawa Prefecture, and anti-land tax reform movements in seven counties in Fukui Prefecture.As a result of these movements and riots, the land tax was reduced from 3% to 2.5%.

[2] Peasant struggles during the process of establishing capitalism The Matsukata deflationary policy impoverished rural areas, and farmers who were hit hard lost their land, forests, and possessions and fled to the cities. At the same time, this prompted landlords to consolidate land, stop producing it themselves, and transform into parasitic landlords who squeezed rent from their tenant farmers. This is the establishment of the so-called parasitic landlord system. In this environment, two types of peasant struggles developed: the peasant struggle of small and medium-sized landowners and poor farmers who had fallen into ruin, and tenant disputes as a peasant demand due to the poverty of peasant life during the recession.

The former peasant struggle arose out of the misery of unemployment, bankruptcy, loss of land (homes), family separation, fleeing in the middle of the night, suicide, theft, begging, and refugeeism, as recorded in Hirano Yoshitaro's The Structure of Japanese Capitalist Society, 1934, which states that in the decade or so after the land tax reform, "367,744 small landowners had their land forcibly disposed of (public auction, government confiscation, etc.) for non-payment of land tax, local taxes, and municipal fees between 1941 and 1948." Famous examples include the Kuwasaki riots in the Ariake Sea reclamation area in Fukuoka Prefecture, the rice stalk uprising in the same prefecture, the fake measuring box riots in Tsuno District, Yamaguchi Prefecture, the peasant struggle in Inba District, Chiba Prefecture, the tenant farmer disputes in Yatsuka District, Shimane Prefecture, and the tenant farmer disputes in Kitakanbara District, Niigata Prefecture. In the midst of all this, the Fukushima incident, the Kabasan incident, the Nagoya incident, the Iida incident, the Chichibu incident, and other incidents linked to the so-called Freedom and People's Rights Movement occurred, and these developed into struggles against the Meiji government and the landlord system, but ended in failure due to internal divisions and the dissolution of the Liberal Party.

The latter tenant disputes, after the Land Tax Reform and the rural depression following the Sino-Japanese War, further divided the peasants into classes as small landowners, and farmers and tenant farmers became impoverished. In addition, the number of part-time farmers and migrant workers and those emigrating to Hokkaido increased, and this situation led to rice riots in Toyama, Niigata, Yamagata, and Akita prefectures. Furthermore, tenant farmers fought to confirm their tenant rights, the Tetsukosha was formed by tenant farmers in Kawaguchi Village, Mie Prefecture, the Tenant Alliance was formed in Kani County, Gifu Prefecture, and tenant riots in Aichi Prefecture developed. Tenant farmers met and held meetings in each region, demanding reductions in rent. In 1897 (Meiji 30), so many tenant disputes broke out that it was even called the "epidemic of peasant uprisings." At the same time, tenant farmers began to form organizations to protect their own livelihoods and tenant rights. For example, there are the Poor People's Party Association, which was formed by tenant farmers in Asuke-cho, Aichi Prefecture (now Toyota City), and the Humanitarian Association, which was organized by tenant farmers in Kamo Village, Kagawa Prefecture. With the organizational development of these tenant farmers as a backdrop, the Tenant Ordinance Promotion Association was organized by Ooi Kentaro and others, and the Tenant Farmers' Agricultural Association was organized by 3,000 tenant farmers in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and both launched campaigns to reduce rent. On the other hand, in order to counter the organizationalization of these tenant farmers' movements and to protect the landlords, the government formed the National Agricultural Association, and also established the Japan Industrial Bank and the Agriculture and Industry Bank as financial institutions for landlords, in an attempt to strengthen the landlord system.

[3] The nationwide spread of tenant disputes and the formation and dissolution of the Japan Farmers Union Due to the recession after World War I, landlords demanded an increase in rent, but tenant farmers demanded a reduction in rent in return for the joint return of the land, leading to an increase in the number of tenant disputes. Following the Siberian Intervention in 1918 (Taisho 7), the military and government-affiliated merchants teamed up to buy up rice, causing chaos in rice prices, and rice riots broke out, starting in Nishimizuhashi Town, Nakaniikawa County, Toyama Prefecture, which spread throughout the country.

Tenant disputes continued to intensify, and against this backdrop, the Japan Farmers' Union (Nihon Noh) was founded in 1922, led by Kagawa Toyohiko, Sugiyama Motojiro and others. The organization was an anti-landlord struggle organization, with the aim of protecting tenant farmers' interests and improving their status, such as by reducing or reducing rent and protecting the right to cultivate. This organization grew rapidly in line with the momentum of the sharp increase in tenant farmers' disputes from 1921 onwards, and launched bold struggles against landlords, often winning in battles. For example, the form of the struggle shifted from passive tactics such as the return of land and non-cultivation alliances, which caused trouble for landlords, to more proactive demands for rent reductions, and in Okayama and Hyogo prefectures they fought under the slogan "permanent 30% reduction in rent."

In response, the government and landlords organized cooperative associations, formed a landlords' association (the Greater Japan Landlords' Association) (1925), and established a land association to collect rent. The government suppressed movements and struggles through the Public Order Police Law, Prefectural Police Offender Punishment Ordinances (Agricultural Laws), and the Maintenance of Public Order Law. Furthermore, for the landlords, the government came up with the Tenant Conciliation Law and the Policy for the Creation and Maintenance of Owner-Owned Farmers, providing a means for the public authorities to directly intervene in tenant disputes, and preparing measures to suppress and appease the peasant movement.

As its sub-organizations expanded, the JFMA also rapidly became more radical, and in 1925 it called on labor unions to form the Farmer-Labor Party (which was banned the same day). In the following year, it attempted to rehabilitate itself further, moving towards the formation of the Labor-Farmer Party. As the JFMA grew, the number of local farmer unions and independent unions also increased. The National Levelers' Association, which was formed in 1922, also played a major role in turning farmer unions into militants. In the Showa era, government oppression intensified further, and the landlords' counter-struggle strategies became more skillful, so the demands of the tenant farmers did not progress as expected. As a result, the movement gradually found itself on the defensive.

Moreover, internal conflict within the JFN intensified over support for political parties, and after 1926 it split into the All-Japan Farmers Union Alliance, the All-Japan Farmers Union, and the General Federation of Japan Farmers Unions, while the Labor-Farmer Party also split into four factions, including the Japan Labor-Farmer Party and the Social Democratic Party. Taking advantage of this, the landlords seized movable property, confiscated land, banned trespass, and seized standing hair, but the tenant farmers and farmers fought under the slogan of unifying the farmers' front and establishing tenant rights, and took advantage of a tenant dispute in Kizaki Village, Kitakanbara County, Niigata Prefecture, to rise up nationwide with the central slogan "establishment of cultivation rights." However, repression, which was further intensified after the Manchurian Incident (1931), took away or blocked the movement's activists, and subordinate organizations were forced to disband and disappear one after another. The final blow was dealt by the People's Front incident in 1937.

[Nitagai Kamon]

Peasant Movement after World War II

After the Second World War, the peasant movement was rapidly revived. In 1946, the Japan Farmers Union was formed, and it had one million members. Until 1947, issues such as tenant farming and contributions were important issues. However, as early as 1947, the peasant movement was divided over the issue of party support. With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, the US military used farmland, forests, and fishing grounds for military bases. Farmers opposed and resisted the establishment and expansion of military bases, and through opposition movements in Uchinada Town, Kahoku District, Ishikawa Prefecture, Sunagawa Town, Kitatama District, Tokyo (now Tachikawa City), the training grounds at the foot of Mt. Asama, and the training grounds at the foot of Mt. Fuji, they forced the expansion and establishment of military bases to be abandoned. The Korean War ended in 1953, and in the late 1950s, the peasant movement, which had lost its main goal of struggle after the land reform, was in a period of decline.

In December 1956, seven farmers' organizations jointly organized a convention to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the postwar farmers' movement, and vowed to unify the farmers' movement. In response to this, the National Federation of Japanese Farmers' Unions was formed in September 1957 with the goal of farmers uniting voluntarily to realize the socio-economic demands of farmers through mass collective activities, and to promote agricultural development and the improvement of farmers' lives. In March 1958, the Federation, the Japan Agricultural Cooperative Association for New Rural Construction, and the National Farmers' Union joined together to form the All Japan Farmers' Union Federation (Zennihonnoh), and participated in the struggle against the revision of the Security Treaty. In addition, the Federation took a stance on guaranteeing the prices of agricultural products such as rice prices, and opposing the agricultural policy of the Basic Agricultural Law through trade liberalization. The rapid economic growth widened the gap between the growth of industry and agriculture, and the disintegration of the farming class became intense. It also disintegrated the "mura" villages that supported rural areas after the war, giving rise to a large number of part-time farmers. From this point on, attempts were made to launch a unified struggle with rural workers, but they failed to take any sufficient initiative, and the peasant movement thereafter fell into confusion.

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"Farmers Unions and Land Reform," edited by Furushima Toshio et al. (1956, University of Tokyo Press)" ▽ "Aoki Keiichiro, History of the Japanese Peasant Movement, 6 volumes (1958-62, Nippon Hyoronsha)" ▽ "Aoki Keiichiro, edited and annotated, Collection of Historical Materials on the Japanese Peasant Movement, 3 volumes (1976-77, Sanichi Shobo)" ▽ "Farmers Union History Publication Committee, edited, History of the Peasant Union Movement (1960, Nikkan Nogyo Shimbunsha)" ▽ "Rural Society Research Group, edited, Land Reform and the Peasant Movement (1977, Ochanomizu Shobo)" ▽ "Inaoka Susumu, History of the Japanese Peasant Movement: From the Origins of Japanese Agriculture to the End of the Pacific War" (1978, Aoki Shoten)" ▽ "Shioda Shobei, History of Social Movements in Japan (1982, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "The History of the Japanese Peasant Movement, compiled by the Peasant Movement History Study Group (1989, Ochanomizu Shobo)" ▽ "Agricultural Productivity and the Peasant Movement, by Sato Tadashi (1992, Rural Culture Association)" ▽ "Study on the History of the Peasant Movement in Modern Japan, by Nishida Yoshiaki (1997, University of Tokyo Press)" ▽ "Draft Bibliography Related to the Peasant Movement" (1998, Japan Library Center)" ▽ "A Study on the History of the Peasant Movement in Modern Japan, by Hayashi Yuichi (2000, Nihon Keizai Hyoronsha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

広義に定義すれば、農村更生運動、農村の婦人や青年運動、あるいは農民のレクリエーション運動などを含むであろうが、普通は、労働運動と同様、階級としての農民が自らの労働条件や経営条件の維持・改善・拡張を、あるいは社会的・政治的生活条件の維持・向上を図り、団結して行う組織的闘争のこと。したがって広義に解した場合、しばしば農民組合運動と相互互換的によばれることが多いが、狭義に解した場合、農民の階級闘争ということができる。

［似田貝香門］

資本主義体制下の農民運動

先進資本主義諸国の農民運動の前史

農民運動の典型的形態は資本主義社会における小生産者としての農民の運動である。資本主義的生産の発展は農業をも自らの運動法則のもとにとらえていく。その結果、旧来の小生産者としての農民を分解させていく（農民層分解）。農民層の分解は農業の資本主義経営者と農業労働者を生み出した。農民層の分解と農業の資本主義化がもっとも典型的に形成されたのはイギリスである。そこでは農業は小生産者の徹底的分解によって、基本的には農業資本家、農業労働者、地主の三つの階級に編成替えされていった。したがってイギリスにおいては、小生産者としての農民の存在は少ないので、農業面における勤労大衆の農民運動としてよりも、労働運動の一環としての農業労働運動的性格が前面に出てくるといえよう。

［似田貝香門］

後進資本主義諸国の農民運動の前史

ドイツ、ロシア、日本などのように工業における資本主義の発展が遅れた諸国では、農民層分解がイギリスのように徹底的に進まず、その結果として小生産者としての農民の存在を多く残すことになった。程度の差はあるが、フランス、イタリア、さらにはアメリカなどの諸国でも小生産者農民を多く残している。このような農民層はしばしば農業における基本的生産手段である土地はまったく所有しておらず、土地を小作して高い地代を支払う。この地代は国によって、地方によって、あるいは経営形態によっていろいろ異なるが、おおむね金納、物納（定額ないし刈り分け）あるいは労働地代を支払う。

　このような条件に置かれている農民は、地主の搾取を受け、あるいは耕作権も不安定な場合が多い。さらに貧農の場合には自己の労働力を売ることによってかろうじて生活していることが多く、事実上、賃労働者化している。この面でも資本家あるいは富農に搾取されることになる。この点がはっきり現れるのはいわゆる帝国主義の段階である。この段階になると、農民が生産し売却する工業用原料農産物（綿花、繭、牛乳、果実）は、それを購入する資本家の買いたたきにあい、さらに逆に農民が購入する生産諸手段（肥料、農機具など）や生活諸手段も資本家により高い価格を押し付けられることによって、農民はいっそう独占資本の搾取を受けることになる。このような搾取される農民の多いところでの農民運動は、地主や独占資本に対する運動となっている。

［似田貝香門］

現代の世界の農民運動

イタリア、フランス、ドイツなどの西ヨーロッパの農民運動は、それぞれ農民の置かれている条件によって若干の差はあるが、以下のような農民運動の性格をもっている。

(1)広範な農民層を結集した反独占闘争　独占資本に対して農民が自ら生産し販売する農産物を有利に販売したり、あるいは農産物の定まった量を農民の希望する価格で国家に買い上げさせたり、アメリカの余剰農産物を輸入する政策に対して団結して反対している。

(2)農民の生産や生活にかかわる国家政策の要求運動　これは具体的には、低所得者への免税を求める税金闘争や、農業の生産を高めるための財政的援助の要求、農民の生活のための社会保障を求める闘争が行われている。

(3)土地闘争　北部フランスや北部イタリアではいまだに農業が資本主義化しておらず、膨大な農民層が存在している。これらの農民の多くは土地を所有しておらず、依然として地主の支配下にあり搾取されている。ここでは小作料の減免と農民の耕作権の保障、農業災害のときの農民が受け取る最低額の保証などの要求が行われている。

　アジアや南アメリカのような開発途上国の農民運動は、外国植民者のプランテーションにおける労働者の賃金引上げ、労働条件の改善、労働者の権利獲得闘争とともに、土地解放の闘争を展開している。

［似田貝香門］

日本の農民運動の前史的形態

農民運動は、奴隷の蜂起(ほうき)、百姓一揆(いっき)、農民騒動などのように、奴隷制社会、封建社会、あるいは封建社会の解体期＝資本主義社会の形成期などのそれぞれの社会における被支配階級としての農民が自然発生的、爆発的に引き起こした闘争という前史的形態をもっている。日本では、荘園(しょうえん)制が解体し始め個々の村落が郷村(ごうそん)として成立するころ（室町末期）から逃散(ちょうさん)、強訴(ごうそ)、一揆の形で農民闘争が発生した。1428年（正長1）近江(おうみ)から起こった土(つち)一揆、徳政(とくせい)一揆、1429年（永享1）播磨(はりま)に起こった土一揆、さらには長期にわたった一向(いっこう)一揆などに至ってしだいに大規模化した。この段階では、地侍(じざむらい)らの下級武士の指導による形が多かったが、豊臣(とよとみ)秀吉の刀狩、検地、知行(ちぎょう)制の変革に伴って土一揆的農民闘争は終わりを告げた。

　続く近世幕藩体制下での農民闘争は、いわゆる百姓一揆であるが、記録上だけでも570回余りにも上る百姓一揆も、形態的には3期に分けて考えられる。初期のものは名主(みょうしゅ)・庄屋(しょうや)が先頭にたって幕府や領主に要求を突きつける形をとっていたが、中期になると経済活動の商品化に応じて成長してきた豪農が闘争の対象となった。ここでは、2、3の名主・庄屋の英雄的動きというよりは、大衆的な行動が力を発揮した。さらにまた末期の百姓一揆は、ふたたび土豪・地主と貧農とが一体となって領主に対して抗争する形態をとり、都市での打毀(うちこわし)と相まって、封建体制を根底から揺り動かす大規模な大衆闘争の形をとった。

［似田貝香門］

明治時代以降の農民運動

明治維新後、封建的幕藩体制が崩壊し、石代納の容認、米販売の自由、田畑勝手づくりの自由、田畑永代売買の自由、関所の廃止、平民に苗字(みょうじ)の許可、地券の発行と地租収納規則の公布、百姓身分制の廃止、地所質入れ規則公布、地所区分制、居住・移転の自由、旅行の自由などが認められ、封建的諸体制が撤廃された。明治以降の農民運動にも、それ以前の土一揆、百姓一揆、強訴、暴動、逃散、愁訴(しゅうそ)、越訴(おっそ)などの形態が引き継がれた。

〔1〕明治新政府草創期における農民運動　1868年（明治1）から73年までの農民騒動は実に160件に及んでいるが、いずれも前述したような形態での騒動であった。政府が準備しつつあった徴税に対する減税運動は、群馬県高崎における減税陳情蜂起、福岡県企救(きく)郡の打毀と焼打ちを伴った百姓一揆、他領に比べて40倍の税への訴願運動を展開した栃木県那須(なす)の農民運動、大分県日田郡・玖珠(くす)郡の請願一揆、同県大分郡・海部(あまべ)郡・大野郡・直入(なおいり)郡の大一揆、三重県伊賀の農民一揆、山梨県の大小切(だいしょうぎり)騒動、福島県下30万人の大衆を巻き込んだ農民蜂起、山形県庄内(しょうない)のわっぱ騒動などをあげることができる。

　凶作飢餓、悪政に抵抗する百姓一揆は、富山県新川(にいかわ)の農民騒動、岐阜県養老山麓(さんろく)の一揆、同県不破(ふわ)の細民騒動、愛媛県宇和郡の農民一揆、青森県七戸(しちのへ)郷の百姓騒動、宮城・岩手県境の農民一揆、愛知県設楽(したら)の百姓騒動、インフレと悪政反対によって事実上全信州を巻き込み、内乱状態となった全信州一揆（西牧(さいもく)騒動、上田騒動、小諸(こもろ)騒動、会田(あいだ)騒動、松代(まつしろ)騒動、須坂(すざか)騒動、中野騒動）などが知られている。

　明治政府が徴兵令を公布するやいなや、農業労働力を失うものとして徴兵反対の騒動が全国的に展開された。それは農民にとってまさに夫役(ぶやく)的徴兵と思われたのである。三重県伊賀西山の宗派騒動、大分県玖珠郡の反対運動、美作(みまさか)一帯にわたる蜂起にまで発展していった岡山・北条(ほうじょう)両県の大挙騒動、香川県7郡の農民蜂起、愛媛県周布(すふ)郡の未発一揆、鳥取県会見(あいみ)郡の農民騒動、島根・広島両県の反対蜂起、京都府何鹿(いかるが)・天田(あまた)の農民騒動、長崎・熊本両県の反対一揆、秋田・高知両県の徴兵制反対騒動、夫役反対の信濃(しなの)川開墾騒動などが有名である。これらの騒動は、明治政府が準備していた収奪強化策（俵装改正、検地、地券取調べ）などに対する反対運動でもあった。政府は軍隊の創設、警察力の増強によって弾圧を開始し、農民の決起を抑圧した。

　さらに政府は原始的蓄積と地主制の確立のため、土地の官・民有区分制と地租改正を断行した。過重な地租負担は中小土地所有者を没落させていった。これらに反対する農民の騒動は全国的に展開された。和歌山県粉河(こかわ)の反対騒動、茨城県真壁(まかべ)の反税一揆、同県那珂(なか)郡の騒動、三重・愛知・岐阜各県の大一揆、愛知県小牧周辺の農民の抵抗、熊本県阿蘇谷(あそだに)の百姓騒動、富山県礪波(となみ)郡の農民騒動、大分県宇佐の百姓一揆、徳島県上山郷(かみやまごう)の百姓騒動、香川県の地租軽減嘆願運動、福井県7郡の地租改正反対運動などが起き、これらの運動、暴動の結果、3％の地租は2.5％に引き下げられた。

〔2〕資本主義確立過程期における農民闘争　松方デフレ政策によって農村は困窮化し、深刻な打撃を受けた農民は土地、山林、家財を失って都市へ流出し、同時にこれをきっかけに地主は土地を集中し、自ら手作りすることをやめて、小作料を小作人から絞り取る寄生的地主に転化していった。いわゆる寄生地主制の確立である。こうしたなかで、没落していった中小土地所有者・貧農らの農民闘争と、不況期における農民生活の困窮からの農民要求としての小作争議の二つの農民闘争が展開されることになる。

　前者の農民闘争は、地租改正後十数年の間に「零細土地所有者で、地租および地方税・区村費不納のための土地強制処分（公売・官没など）を受けたものが、16年から23年までの間に36万7744人ある」（平野義太郎(よしたろう)著『日本資本主義社会の機構』1934）と記されているごとく、失業、倒産、土地（家屋敷）喪失、一家離散、夜逃げ、自殺、泥棒、乞食(こじき)、流民という惨状のなかから発してきたのである。福岡県有明(ありあけ)海干拓地の鍬先(くわさき)騒動、同県の稲株一揆、山口県都濃(つの)郡の偽枡(にせます)騒動、千葉県印旛(いんば)郡の農民闘争、島根県八束(やつか)郡の小作争議、新潟県北蒲原(きたかんばら)郡の小作争議が有名である。このようななかで、いわゆる自由民権運動に連なる福島事件、加波山(かばさん)事件、名古屋事件、飯田(いいだ)事件、秩父(ちちぶ)事件などが引き起こされ、明治政府と地主制に対する闘争となって展開されたが、自由党の内部分裂、解党によって失敗に終わった。

　後者の小作争議は、地租改正後、さらに日清(にっしん)戦争後の農村の不況によって小土地所有者としての農民をいっそう階級分化させ、農民、小作人は貧窮化し、兼業農家の増加、出稼ぎ・北海道移民の増加などの状況下で、富山、新潟、山形、秋田各県の米騒動が引き起こされた。さらに小作人の小作権確認闘争や、三重県川口村の小作人たちによって結成された徹交社、岐阜県可児(かに)郡の小作同盟の結成、愛知県の小作騒擾(そうじょう)などを展開していった。小作人は各地域で寄合(よりあい)、会合を開き、小作料の減免を要求した。1897年（明治30）は「百姓一揆の大流行」とまでいわれるほど多くの小作争議が勃発(ぼっぱつ)した。あわせて小作人は自己の生活と小作権を守るため組織を結成するようになった。たとえば、愛知県足助(あすけ)町（現豊田(とよた)市）の小作人によって結成された貧民共党組合、香川県加茂村の小作人によって組織化された人道会などがあげられる。こうした小作人の組織的発展をバックに、大井憲太郎らによって小作条例期成同盟会が、山口県では3000人の小作人によって小作人農事会が組織され、それぞれ小作料の軽減運動が展開された。他方、こうした小作人の運動の組織化に対抗して、地主を擁護するため、政府は全国農事会を結成し、また、地主のための金融機関としての日本勧業銀行、農工銀行を創設し、地主制を強化せんとした。

〔3〕小作争議の全国的拡大と日本農民組合の結成と解体　第一次世界大戦後の不況によって地主は小作料の引上げを迫ったが、小作人は土地の共同返還をもって逆に小作料の減免を迫り、小作争議の件数が増加した。1918年（大正7）のシベリア出兵をきっかけに、軍部と政商は提携して米の買占めを行って米価を大混乱に陥れ、富山県中新川郡西水橋(にしみずはし)町を皮切りに米騒動が起き、これは全国に波及した。

　小作争議は激化の一途をたどり、こうした動きを背景に1922年、賀川豊彦(かがわとよひこ)、杉山元治郎(もとじろう)らが中心になって日本農民組合（日農）が結成された。小作料減免・引下げ、耕作権の擁護など小作人の利益の擁護と地位改善を目的とする対地主闘争の組織であった。この組織は1921年以降の小作争議激増の勢いと結び付いて急速に発展し、地主に対する果敢な闘争を展開してしばしば闘争に勝利した。たとえば闘争形態は、地主を困らせる土地の返還、不耕作同盟などの消極的戦術から、より積極的に小作料の減免要求となり、岡山・兵庫両県などでは「小作料の永久三割減」というスローガンをもって闘われた。

　これに対し政府と地主側は、対抗手段として協調組合を組織、地主組合（大日本地主協会）を結成（1925）、小作料取り立てのための土地組合を設立した。政府は治安警察法、府県別警察犯処罰令（農業法令）、治安維持法などによって運動・闘争を抑圧した。さらに、地主のために小作調停法、自作農創設維持政策を打ち出し、小作争議に公権力が直接介入する手だてをつけ、農民運動の弾圧と懐柔策を準備した。

　下部組織の拡大につれて日農も急速に急進化し、1925年、労働組合に呼びかけて農民労働党を結成した（即日禁止）。翌26年にはさらに更生を図り、労働農民党の結成へと進んだ。日農の発展と並んで地方の農民組合や単独の組合も増加した。1922年に結成された全国水平社も農民組合の戦闘化に大きな役割を果たした。昭和に入ると政府の弾圧はいっそう強化され、かつ、地主側の対闘争戦略も巧みとなり、小作人側の要求も思うようには進展しなかった。そのため運動はしだいに守勢にたたされることになった。

　しかも日農内部では政党支持をめぐり内部抗争が激化し、1926年以降、全日本農民組合同盟、全日本農民組合、日本農民組合総同盟と分裂し、労働農民党も、日本労農党、社会民衆党など四分五裂の状態となった。これを機に地主側は動産差押え、土地取り上げ、立入禁止、立ち毛差押えなどを行ったが、小作人・農民側は、農民戦線の統一、小作権の確立をスローガンに闘い、新潟県北蒲原郡木崎村の小作争議などを機会に、「耕作権の確立」を中心スローガンとして全国的に決起した。しかし、満州事変（1931）後一段と強化された弾圧は、運動の活動家を奪い、あるいは閉塞(へいそく)させ、下部組織は次々と解体・消滅に追い込まれた。とくに37年の人民戦線事件で最終的に打撃を受けた。

［似田貝香門］

第二次世界大戦後の農民運動

第二次世界大戦後、農民運動は急速に復活した。1946年（昭和21）には日本農民組合が結成され、100万人の組合員を擁するに至った。47年までは小作問題、供出問題などが重要な課題であった。しかし47年早くも政党支持問題で日農は分裂した。50年に始まる朝鮮戦争をきっかけに、アメリカ軍は軍事基地として農地、山林、漁場を利用した。農民は軍事基地設置・拡張に反対・抵抗し、石川県河北(かほく)郡内灘(うちなだ)町、東京都北多摩郡砂川町（現立川市）、浅間山麓(さんろく)の演習場、富士山麓の演習場などの反対運動によって軍事基地の拡張・設置を断念させた。53年に朝鮮戦争が終わり、50年代後半になると農地改革後の主要な闘争目標を失っていた農民運動は衰退期に当面していた。

　1956年12月、農民7団体の共同主催による戦後農民運動10周年記念大会で農民運動の統一が誓われた。これを受けて、57年9月に、農民自身が自発的に団結して大衆的な集団活動によって農民の社会経済的な要求を実現し、農業の発展と農民生活の向上を図ることを目標に日本農民組合全国連合会が結成された。58年3月、連合会、日農新農村建設派、全国農民組合の三者が合同・統一して全日本農民組合連合会（全日農）を結成し、安保改定反対闘争に参加した。さらに、米価などの農産物価格の保障、貿易自由化による農業基本法農政反対などの姿勢をとった。高度経済成長により、工業と農業の成長の格差が拡大し、農民層分解が激しくなり、かつ、戦後の農村を支えていた「むら」も解体し、実に多くの兼業農家を生み出した。ここから、農村労働者との統一した闘争が試みられたが、なんら十分なイニシアティブをもたずに経過し、その後の農民運動は混迷した。

［似田貝香門］

『古島敏雄他編『農民組合と農地改革』（1956・東京大学出版会）』▽『青木恵一郎著『日本農民運動史』全6巻（1958～62・日本評論社）』▽『青木恵一郎編・解題『日本農民運動史料集成』全3巻（1976～77・三一書房）』▽『農民組合史刊行会編『農民組合運動史』（1960・日刊農業新聞社）』▽『村落社会研究会編『農地改革と農民運動』（1977・御茶の水書房）』▽『稲岡進著『日本農民運動史――日本農業の起源から太平洋戦争終末まで』（1978・青木書店）』▽『塩田庄兵衛著『日本社会運動史』（1982・岩波書店）』▽『農民運動史研究会編『日本農民運動史』（1989・御茶の水書房）』▽『佐藤正著『農業生産力と農民運動』（1992・農山漁村文化協会）』▽『西田美昭著『近代日本農民運動史研究』（1997・東京大学出版会）』▽『『農民運動関係文献目録稿』（1998・日本図書センター）』▽『林宥一著『近代日本農民運動史論』（2000・日本経済評論社）』