Suzuki Bunji
Suzuki Bunji
Born Sept. 4, 1885, in Miyagi Prefecture; died Mar. 12, 1946. Right-wing reformist of the Japanese workers’ movement.
After graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1909, Suzuki worked as a journalist and preached in a Unitarian church in Tokyo. In 1912, with the aid of the banker Shibusawa Eiichi, he established the organization Yuaikai, through which he tried to subordinate the workers’ movement to the interests of capital. In 1915, Suzuki attended a convention of the American Federation of Labor and established contact with the leader of the federation, S. Gompers. From 1921 to 1940 he was one of the leaders of Nihon Rodo Sodomei (Japanese Federation of Labor). In 1945 and 1946 he served as a counselor of the Socialist Party of Japan.