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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 000026 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM JA
SUBJECT: A LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA ASKING FOR AN APOLOGY 
FOR COLD WAR FIRINGS 
 
TOKYO 00000026  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Poloff met with members of the "The National Liaison 
Center against the Red Purge" to accept a letter for 
President Obama.  The men, in their late 70's and early 80's, 
described being fired from their jobs as communists or 
communist sympathizers almost 60 years ago.  They were, they 
said, summarily fired without any recourse to appeal.  The 
loss of a job they explained, carries a great social stigma 
in Japan, and as a result, many of those purged committed 
suicide.  The rest survived as best they could, but few of 
them, teachers, administrators, workers, were ever able to 
obtain positions of equal pay or status, they stated.  "Now," 
says Keiji Kaneko, Secretary General of the Red Purge Center, 
still tall and clear-eyed at 80, "all we want to do is to be 
able to die with some dignity, by having the United States 
and the Japanese government admit that what was done to us 
was wrong.  There aren't many of us left now, and every year 
our numbers decrease." 
 
¶2. (U)  Comment: Japanese courts have found that the actions 
that took place during the Red Purge were unconstitutional. 
Redress though has not been possible for a variety of 
reasons, including the fact that the companies involved have 
changed their legal identities.   Scholars debate the extent 
to which the Red Purge was solely a United States-initiated 
effort, with some pointing to evidence showing that domestic 
anti-Communist forces also appear to have played an important 
role. End Comment. 
 
FULL TEXT OF LETTER 
------------------- 
¶3. (U) "The United States of America that Ordered the 
Enforcement of the Red Purge Sixty years ago, should 
Acknowledge its Error and Apologize to the Victims 
 
December 24, 2009 
 
The Honorable Mr. Barak H. Obama 
President of the United States of America 
The White House 
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW 
Washington, D.C. 20500 
 
Dear President Obama, 
 
During the postwar period from 1949 to 1950, of the 
occupation of the U.S armed forces, the Red Purge enforced on 
all over Japan was large-scale, atrocious and sly oppression. 
 It has never been seen even in the world history.  Estimated 
40,000 workers were branded as "subversive elements" by 
reason of the members of the Japanese Communist Party or its 
supporters and suffered serious mental, material and social 
damages because of being purged from their jobs.  It shows 
obviously that there were a lot of people who killed 
themselves since they could not bear difficulties.  And the 
Japanese people's social movement which declared sensible 
demands such as protecting the life of the people from 
damages of the war, reconstructing the exhausted industry and 
economy, and planning to eliminate militarism and to 
establish democracy, suffered immeasurable damages. 
 
The Red Purge was implemented nationwide in the name of 
General D. MacArthur, Special Commander of the Allied Powers, 
who was dispatched by the U.S Government.  This purge started 
with the curtailment of administrative personnel and the 
industrial readjustment in 1949, and the main reason of this 
unfair dismissal which aimed at the members of the Japanese 
Communist party and its supporters, was based on "The nine 
principals of economic stabilization" -the Dodge Line- of 
your Government's policy. 
Furthermore, the then Japanese Prime Minister, Shigeru 
Yoshida, said plainly, "We framed a plan to discharge red 
elements....in accordance with the suggestion of the General 
Headquarters."  At the time of the following Red Purge for 
teachers, the lists of teachers concerned were handed down to 
local authorities by C.I.C (Counter Intelligence Corps).  In 
1950, the full-scale Red Purge was implemented on the basis 
of the anti-Communist statements and letters submitted 
several times by General MacArthur.  Even the Japanese 
Government and industrial leaders who carried it out have no 
 
TOKYO 00000026  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
intention of hiding this fact. 
The consent of the Cabinet meeting of the Japanese Government 
-"A matter on the expulsion of Communists and its supporters 
from public offices" - expresses the expulsion of activists 
by quoting from the MacArthur documents, and the note 
addressed to the local governors -"Regarding the expulsion of 
Communist subversive elements within enterprises" - states 
that the Red Purge has to be implemented in accordance with 
the process of General MacArthur's statements and letters. 
Judging from above circumstances, there is little room for 
doubt that your Government particularly had responsibilities 
for the Red Purge. 
The Red Purge was openly contrary to the Constitution of 
Japan that had already been established.  Naturally enough, 
even the Occupying forces should have respected the 
Constitution that guarantees the enjoyment of fundamental 
human rights, freedom of thought, and conscience, and freedom 
of assembly and association as well as speech, press and all 
forms of expression.  Furthermore, it completely offended 
against the United Nations Charter, the Potsdam Declaration, 
and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that all 
clearly state the prohibition of discrimination because of 
thought and creed, and the establishment of fundamental human 
rights.  Therefor, had your Government, which did the 
signature of such the Declaration and the Charter, followed 
these principles faithfully, it would have given no 
instructions of the Red Purge. 
The United States of America is a country where the 
significance of human rights is highly respected and you, Mr. 
President, always voice the importance of human rights.  That 
is why your Government has to acknowledge its critical error 
of the implementation of the Red Purge ordered 60 years ago, 
apologizing for the victims whose human rights were violated, 
and showing your sincerely toward the resolution of this 
matter. 
We call on your Government to take effective measures for the 
relief of human rights of the victims, while consulting with 
the Japanese Government that implemented the Red Purge in 
accordance with the instructions of your Government.  By 
doing so, we are convinced that the word "Change", which was 
emphasized during your presidential campaign, will be surely 
animated. 
Sincerely yours, 
Keiji Kaneko (Secretary General) 
The 5th General Meeting of 
The National Liaison Center against the Red Purge 
6-17-13, Tomioka Higashi, Kanazawa-ku 
Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, Japan" 
ROOS