794.001/6–1550

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Officer in Charge of Japanese Affairs (Green)

secret

Subject: Suppression of the Japanese Communist Party

Participants: Mr. Nicholas Cottrell, Government Section, GHQ, [SCAP] Tokyo
Mr. Green, NA1

The question of the possible outlawing of the Japanese Communist Party was raised in the course of a long conversation I had with Mr. Cottrell, formerly of the State Department and now a specialist on local government in the Government Section of SCAP Headquarters.

Mr. Cottrell said that General Willoughby (SCAP’s G–2) recently recommended the outlawing of the JCP on the basis of a well-documented bill of particulars he had built up over the last year against that Party’s illegal activities. His recommendation was opposed by the Government Section and, in ensuing Headquarters discussion, General MacArthur came out firmly against any outlawing of the Party, at least for the present. General MacArthur nevertheless recognized that counter measures were necessary to deal with a Party which was fast becoming openly defiant of the Occupation. The compromise solution finally adopted was, of course, to purge the members of the [Page 1222] Central Executive of the JCP as well as the editors of the Communist daily, Akahata.2

In Mr. Cottrell’s opinion this solution avoided many of the pitfalls of outright suppression of the Party and held forth the following advantages: (a) the purging of the JCP leaders is a temporary emergency measure, not a continuing legislative action. (b) It is a measure taken by the Occupation thereby relieving the Japanese Government of a responsibility which it was hesitant to assume as a disarmed occupied nation, (c) It will serve to split the JCP into two conflicting groups, the one operating behind the scenes and underground, and the other consisting of those who would have reason to observe the law lest they be likewise purged.

Mr. Cottrell asserted that, contrary to press interpretations, the purging of the JCP leaders represents a final, not a transitory, stage in Headquarter’s present plans for dealing with the Communists.

  1. Marshall Green, Officer in Charge of Japanese Affairs.
  2. General MacArthur directed the purge in a letter of June 6 to Prime Minister Yoshida. The text of the letter is contained in telegram 553 sent that day from Tokyo, not printed. (794.001/6–50) File 794.001 contains a number of reports which describe the effect of the purge on the Japanese Communist Party and on Japanese political life in general.