Editing UG08MKK-T (section)

== Statement on the Purpose of Publication ==

This pamphlet has been published to commemorate the imprisonment of the following comrades. On 22 June 1908, in the capital of the Japanese Empire, more than ten of our comrades raised the red flag of anarchist communism and proclaimed a declaration of war against the sovereign power of the Japanese Empire. On 29 August of the same year, they were found guilty:<ref>This refers to the Red Flag Incident (''Akahata jiken'' 赤旗事件) of 22 June 1908, when police clashed with socialist and anarchist demonstrators in Tokyo. The subsequent convictions and imprisonment of leading activists provided the immediate occasion for Gudō's designation of the pamphlet as “Commemorating the Imprisoned” (''nyūgoku kinen'' 入獄紀念).</ref>

 Ōsugi Sakae
 Arahata Katsuzō
 Satō Satoru

 Momose Susumu
 Utsunomiya Takuji
 Morioka Eiji

 Sakai Toshihiko
 Kimura Genjirō
 Ōsuga Sato

 Yamakawa Hitoshi
 Kogure Rei
 Tokunaga Yasunosuke

This pamphlet has been published in commemoration of the imprisonment of these comrades.<ref>Gudō gives Arahata Katsuzō 荒畑勝三, better known by his pen name Arahata Kanson 荒畑寒村.</ref>

During the absence of these comrades, who will be released two or four years from now, this pamphlet represents the modest missionary work of the small number of comrades remaining in Tokyo.<ref>Gudō uses “missionary work” (''dendō'' 傳道), a term commonly used for religious proselytization. The same vocabulary recurs below, where readers are asked to spread anarchist communism to others. Together with his description of correspondence to imprisoned activists as a “gospel” (''fukuin'' 福音), the terminology gives revolutionary propaganda a distinctly religious register.</ref>

Those of you who, after reading this pamphlet, have come to understand that the coming revolution lies in the realization of anarchist communism—

(continued on reverse)

—please send either a postcard or a letter to our comrades who are now in prison. This is the one consolation we can offer the imprisoned comrades, a gospel that will strengthen the courage of those fighters.<ref>Gudō's use of “gospel” (''fukuin'' 福音) draws on Christian-derived vocabulary. He also employs terms such as “faith” (''shinkō'' 信仰) and the “Kingdom of Heaven” (''tengoku'' 天國) in his January 1908 essay “Lieutenant General Itō and the Question of Adultery,” illustrating the eclectic religious vocabulary that coexists with his criticism of “superstition” (''meishin'' 迷信).</ref>

Letters sent to the imprisoned comrades should be addressed:

 Tokyo Prison, Ichigaya, Ushigome Ward, Tokyo City
 Prisoner [name]

Please clearly write the sender's address and name before mailing it.

This pamphlet must be propagated widely and deeply, so that it may awaken you from the long, long dream of superstition and prevent you from misunderstanding the revolutionary movement that we must undertake in the near future. Therefore, those who understand what anarchist communism means and would not shrink even from throwing dynamite should each spread the teaching to as many people as possible.<ref>This is the pamphlet's most explicit reference to revolutionary violence: “not shrink even from throwing dynamite” (''dainamaito o tōzuru koto o mo jisenu'' ダイナマイトを投ずる事をも辭せぬ). Significantly, it occurs in the concluding statement on the purpose of publication rather than in the main argument addressed to tenant farmers. The body of the pamphlet proposes collective refusal to pay rent and taxes or supply soldiers, beginning with groups of ten or twenty and spreading from village to district, prefecture, Japan, and ultimately the world. The distinction does not make Gudō's willingness to contemplate violence less real, but it clarifies the relationship between revolutionary violence and the collective strategy actually developed in the text.</ref>

But those who still cannot understand after reading this should investigate deeply whether the society that presently exists is truly a just society, and whether our ideal is really to be satisfied with society as it now exists.