Masanosuke Watanabe - Masanosuke Watanabe

He was one of the leading workers in the prewar Japanese Communist Party. He was born on September 7, 1899 to a family of tatami mat makers in Nemoto, Ichikawa-cho, Chiba Prefecture. He became a worker at the Nagamine Celluloid Factory in Kameido-cho, Tokyo, and entered the labor movement. He joined the Shinjinkai on February 11, 1919 (Taisho 8), established a Kameido branch, organized the Shinjin Celluloid Workers' Union on May 6, joined the Yuaikai Joto Rengokai, and participated in the first May Day in 1945. He joined the Japanese Communist Party when it was founded in July 1949, organized the Nankatsu Labor Association in October of the same year, and participated in the party's extraordinary convention in March 1950. In June, he founded the Left (Profintern, a left-wing labor movement organization aiming to join the International Red Trade Union) newspaper, "Labor Union," and became a signatory to it. He was arrested and indicted for his complicity in the First Communist Party Incident on June 5. He was released on bail in December 1948, organized the Tokyo Eastern Joint Labor Union in February 1949, joined the Japanese General Confederation of Labor in April, and took the lead in turning the General Confederation into a militant force. After the General Confederation split in May 1950, he became a leader of the Japanese Trade Union Council. He also became a member of the Communist Bureau, and at the 3rd Congress in December 1951, he became a central committee member. He participated in the creation of the 1952 Theses and worked to popularize them, became a central standing committee member and head of the organization department, worked hard to launch the Akahata, and became chairman after the general election in February 1953. He avoided arrest during the March 15 crackdown, but on October 6 of the same year, on his way back from an international liaison meeting, he engaged in combat with authorities in Keelung, Taiwan, and took his own life.

[Inumaru Yoshikazu]

"The Collected Works of Masanosuke Watanabe" (1962, Publishing Bureau of the Central Committee of the Japanese Communist Party)" ▽ "The Japanese Communist Party and Masanosuke Watanabe" by Tsuneo Oikawa (1971, Sanichi Shobo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

戦前の日本共産党における労働者出身の指導的幹部の1人。明治32年9月7日、千葉県市川町根本の畳職の家に生まれる。東京・亀戸(かめいど)町永峯(ながみね)セルロイド工場の職工となり労働運動に入る。1919年（大正8）2月11日新人会に入会、同亀戸分会をつくり、5月6日新人セルロイド工組合を組織、友愛会城東連合会に参加、20年最初のメーデーに参加した。22年7月創立の日本共産党に参加、同年10月南葛(なんかつ)労働協会を組織し、23年3月の党臨時大会に参加した。6月レフト（プロフィンテルン＝国際赤色労働組合加盟を目ざす左派の労働運動組織）機関紙『労働組合』を創刊、署名人となった。6月5日の第一次共産党事件の検挙に連座し逮捕、起訴された。23年12月保釈出獄し、24年2月東京東部合同労組を組織し、4月日本労働総同盟に加盟し、総同盟戦闘化の先頭に立った。25年5月の総同盟分裂後、日本労働組合評議会の指導者となった。また共産主義ビューローの一員となり、26年12月第3回大会で中央委員となった。二七年テーゼ作成に参加し、その普及に努め、中央常任委員・組織部長となり、『赤旗』発刊に努力、28年（昭和3）2月の総選挙以後委員長となった。三・一五の弾圧では検挙を免れたが、同年10月6日、国際連絡の帰途、台湾の基隆(キールン)で官憲と交戦、自らの命を断った。

［犬丸義一］

『『渡辺政之輔著作集』（1962・日本共産党中央委員会出版局）』▽『及川恒夫著『日本共産党と渡辺政之輔』（1971・三一書房）』

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