THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUTHORITARIANISM: A COMPARISON OF THE JAPANESE-AMERICAN RELOCATION CENTERS AND GERMANY

282 Pages·015.213 MB·English

by  WAX, ROSALIE H

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUTHORITARIANISM
A Comparison of the Japanese-American
Relocation Centers and Germany
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO
THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
BY
ROSALIE KANKEY WAX
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
DECEMBER, 1951
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The data on the Japanese Americans were collected while
I was a member of the Evacuation and Resettlement Study of the
University of California. The advice and criticism of Professors
Robert Redfield, Fred Eggan, and Sol Tax, provided great assist
ance during the writing of this dissertation. Specifically,
I wish to thank Mr. Redfield not only for encouragement in at
tempting what at first appeared to be a somewhat bizarre and
overly ambitious task, but also for suggestions which helped me
make an originally over-complicated and confused theoretical
framework somewhat more comprehensible. Needless to say, the
ambiguities which still remain in the theory are my responsibility.
That on several occasions I did not abandon the task completely
I owe to my husband, whose unflagging kindness and understanding
supported me through those periods of the investigation when the
undertaking almost seemed beyond accomplishment.
Most of all, however, I am under obligation to those
Japanese Americans, who, with honesty and courage, and often at
risk of their own well being, gave me the data on which this work
is based and, in addition, furnished me with some of the more
valuable interpretations of these data.
Dorothy Swaine Thomas and Richard Nlshimoto In their work,
The Spoilage, have presented a more detailed history of the events
which I employ in this analysis. To avoid confusion, I have used
their pseudonyms for individuals who are named in the narrative.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 11
PART ONE: THE THESIS 1
Introductory 2
The Process ^
The Initial Situation
Reactions to Deterioration of
the Life Situation
Conservative Libertarian Group Action
Transition from Conservative Libertarian
to Radical Authoritarian Group Action
PART TWO: THE PROCESS AMONG THE JAPANESE AMERICANS . . 16
I. The Evacuation 17
The Initial Situation
Reactions to Deterioration of
the Life Situation
II. The Genesis of Revolt 37
Conservative Libertarian Group Action
Period A: Development of Factors
Favorable to Group Action
Period B: Developments which
Inhibited Group Action
Period C: The Registration and the
Segregation: Reintensiflcatlon of
factors favorable to group action
III. The Conservative Libertarian Revolt 10k
and its Suppression
Conservative Libertarian Group Action
The Conservative Libertarian Revolt
The Suppression of the Revolt
IV. The Radical Authoritarian Revolt . . 156
The Transition from Conservative
Libertarian to Radical Authoritarian
Group Action
ill
PART THREE: THE PROCESS IN GERMANY 217
Introductory
The Initial Situation
Reactions to the Deterioration of
the Life Situation
Conservative Libertarian Group Action
The Transition from Conservative Liberta
rian to Radical Authoritarian Group Action
PART FOUR: CONCLUSIONS 2^7
The Initial Situation
The Deterioration of the Life Situation
Conservative Libertarian Group Action
Transition from Conservative Liberta
rian to Radical Authoritarian Group Action
APPENDIX 269
BIBLIOGRAPHY 276
iv
V
PART ONE
THE THESIS
Introductory
This undertaking began with the observation that the
sociological and political developments In Germany between 1912>
and 1923 and In Tule Lake, a Japanese segregation Center, were
remarkably similar. In both cases people suffered from a marked
deterioration of their life situation, the Germans during the
progress of World War I, and the Japanese Americans as a result
of action on the part of the American government. Following
this similar experience many Germans and many Japanese Americans
became anxious and insecure, and developed varying degrees of
hostility toward their respective governments. Eventually, both
groups of people participated in revolts against their governments.
These revolts were remarkably democratic 0* libertarian in nature.
The popular uprisings failed: the Japanese American revolt was
crushed within three months of its beginning; the German revolt,
though initially successful, degenerated over a period of years.
Thereupon, many people in both groups became disillusioned with
democratic action as a means of Improving their unsatisfactory
condition.
With the continuation of the deteriorated life situation
and the disillusionment with democratic action as a means of
Improving the situation, authoritarian or "fascist" phenomena
became increasingly vigorous. The rise of the Nazis in Germany
need not be recapitulated here. In Tule lake, a small clique,
employing techniques virtually identical to those of the Nazis,
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eventually achieved a position of dominance over the inhabitants
of the center.
A careful examination of the similarities outlined above
may throw some light on the Important problem of the development
of authoritarianism. This dissertation, therefore, will contend:
(1) that these and other significant similarities exist; (2) that
these similarities may be organized by means of contemporary
social theory, so that the entire development may be conceived
of as a specific historical process, which may be and perhaps
has been undergone by other groups or peoples.
The bulk of this dissertation will consist of the evidence
for these assertions, presented in the form of two narratives,
one of the Japanese Americans and the other of the Germans. These
narratives will, of course, be temporarily organized, but they
will be structured to expose and highlight the important similar
ities in the txvo developments.
Unfortunately, the style of presentation employed in the
two narratives is similar only In that both contain the fundamental
structure of the process. Our version of the history of the
Japanese Americans Is long and detailed; our history of Germany
is a skeleton, In which we delineate only the items which, accord
ing to our definition, comprise the process.
The Tule Lake Japanese Americans were a much smaller group
than the Germans and they passed through their development In a
briefer period of time. Hence, it was possible for a single
person to become much more Intimately familiar with them, to
become more thoroughly aware of their changing attitudes and
actions, and to understand better the motivations behind these
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changes, than it was possible for any observer of Germany to do.
Also, and correlatlvely, whereas most observers of Germany have
emphasized the gross political and sociological changes, we have
available rather complete data on the day to day behavior of
representative Tule Lake residents. It is therefore possible
for us to state certain supplementary hypotheses as to the nature
of the process for which we can find neither confirming nor dls-
oonfirming evidence in the reports available upon Germany.
The additional details and supplementary hypotheses on
Tule Lake are included In the narrative because they serve to
round out the description and because they may be of use to
students attempting to examine other authoritarian developments.
The Process,
The profess through which both the populations of Tule
Lake and Germany passed may conveniently be divided into four
parts: (l) the Initial situation; (2) reactions to deterioration
of life situation; (3) conservative libertarian group action;
(U-) transition from conservative libertarian to radical authori
tarian group action.
We have attempted to make this formal statement of the
process as precise as the subject matter permits. Throughout
the dissertation r.^ohness of meaning and precision were some
times difficult to reconcile and sometimes one was sacrificed for
the other. In general, the principle has been adopted of preclslor
for the formal statement of part one and richness for the sub
sequent narratives. In particular, It is often the case tha"'j
what appears as a single sharp event in the formal statement of
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process, will appear as a group of cumulative events in the
narrative.
We are aware that this rather long and involved series of
hypothetical generalities which purport to categories certain
elements of German and Japanese American evacuee history will be
difficult to assess unless the reader Is Intimately acquainted
with these histories or with the narratives to be presented. This
formal statement, therefore, may be viewed as a proposed tour
through difficult and partly unexplored terrain, a route whose
virtues or faults may be thoroughly appreciated only after the
journey is attempted.-"'-
1. The Initial Situation
This thesis will attempt to demonstrate that the initial
situation of the Japanese Americans and the Germans, that Is—
their situation before they began the process now being described
—was as follows.
It will be noted that the hypotheses to be presented
refer only to the behavior of the population in question, not to
the behavior of the government. Thus, the hypotheses are usually
of the form, nIf the material conditions are and if the
government does , then the people will ." To be complete
of course, the theory xvould have to encompass, rather than assume,
the actions of the government and would view the whole process as
an interaction between these two elements. This would be a task
many times more difficult than the present one, and in any case
not a feasible one for the comparison of Tule Lake and Germany;
the War Relocation Authority could not be overthrown, or more
than mildly influenced by the actions of the Japanese Americans
in Tule Lake.
The formal statement of process Is also Incomplete in an
other respect. There is no major over-all hypothesis or group of
hypotheses which explains why the sequence of events Is as it is.
What we term a "formal process" is not the logicians' "formal
system": a group of postulates from which all else follows by im
plication. The specific hypotheses which follow merely assert
similarities in popular action in particular situations which will
be substantiated by the data presented in the narrative.
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Both groups were populations of a modern democratic state
in fairly normal circumstances. Both libertarian and authoritarian
Ideologies were present among them; one might distinguish a large
section of the population which was conservative libertarian,
another large section which was conservative authoritarian.
Since we will employ each of these two sets of terms,
libertarlan/authorltarlan and conservative/radical as a continuum
for measurement throughout this thesis, they merit a precise
definition.
Libertarian/authoritarian.—The ideal libertarian ideology
Contends that every human being Is, by virtue of his very humanity,
worthy of the deepest respect; that he is intrinsically capable
of bearing the burden of freedom; capable of governing himself as
an individual; and capable of living with his fellow man on terms
of dignity and parity. It follows that no social transformation
gained by coercion of others Is desirable. The ideal libertarian
leader regards himself, and is regarded by his followers, as a
representative of the group or as a person whose special ability
It is to be able to express the desires of the group in clear and
refined form. He is not a person of charisma but of rational
ability. Both he and the members of the group expect that his
knowledge and experience will be shared with the group so that
all may become as able as he is.
The ideal authoritarian ideology contends that most men
do not possess and are utterly incapable of developing those qual
ities attributed to them by the libertarians. Men are by nature
Incapable of bearing the burden of freedom, of governing them
selves, and of living with each other on terms of dignity and