J n—page a

Our second most famous alum: Katayama Sen

by Charles Cleaver

“Yes, life at college was so loot
loose and iaiicy tree. We were
content as long as we passed. even
if only barely. The rest or the time
we enjoyed ourselves. There were
many times when we spent so
much time on social lile that we
neglected our studies, and the
prolessors would have to scold us."

The tone of this reminiscence of
life at Grinnell College doesn’t
suggest that its author would,
forty~one years after graduation,
have as a pall bearer Josef Stalin,
and have as a burial place the
Kremlin Red Wall. From an inn
ternational perspective, Sen
Katayama, class of 1892, is surely
Grinnell‘s second most famous
graduateil‘larry Hopkins, of
course, being better known.
Katayama's nostalgic piece,
written in 1889, appeared in last
spring‘s Japan Interpreter.

Invited by the distinguished
Professor Leonard Parker,
Katayama arrived at Grinnell in
1389. He had a total of live dollars
to his name, but found farm work,
then, stereotypically, house boy
jobs. Japan, at thistime, was about
the only Asian nation not badly
beset by European imperialists,
and it was sending its most
promising young men and women
abroad to learn survival
techniques from the very peoples
by whom it feared engulfment.

KATAYAMA explained his
purposes here in the college
newspaper: he came, he said, not
to “make money, as do all Chinese
and Hungarians," nor to sightsee
and “enjoy pleasure." Rather, he
wanted to gain “true knowledge ol
higher Civilization.”

Three majors were available at
Grinnell, philosophy. natural
sciences, or literature. He chose
literature, being particularly tond
of Latin and Greek. Those were the
great days of the social gospel
movement here. Already a
Christian, he was hospitable to
'Christian socialism: he also read
Richard T. Ely, The Social Aspects
of Christia y, then, more im-
portantly. Ferdinand Lassalle.

AFTER some graduate work at
Andover Theological Seminary
and at Yale. Katayama went home
to his work, First he tried sets
tlement house work. That was too
slow in ameliorating Japan's social
problems, so he began organizing
the wretched railroad and factory
workers of the time. That met
strong governmental resistance. so
he helped organize Japan‘s Social
Democratic Party, which had a
Fabian ﬂavor.

At the turn of the century the
Meiji Government was becoming
increasingly nationalistic; the
Russo-Japanese War was im-
minent in 1903. Katayama was a
pacifist, and that was risky, so he

Removal effort fails

(continued from page 1)
policy. He argued that on these
issues the CSL had taken an at-
titude that the SGA knew little or
nothing, and that there existed a
large body of knowledge which the
CSL possessed but was beyond the
grasp of the students. He con-
cluded, “We gave the president
(Turner) a sword of a conservative

: committee. We should,,take,away
that sword and put more moderate
students on the committee."

After the motion tor the students
dismissal was moved, a separate
vote was taken on the status of
each of the four members. The
representatives were almost
evenly divided on each vote,
tailing short of the twothirds
majorityi needed for removal,

7 DEAN 0!“ Student Affairs Jim
Tederman admitted that he
lavored the CSL boycott proposal
because it provided for an in
dividual rather than a college
sponsored boycott. The CSL policy,

he said, protects the rights of those
students who desire not to par
ticipate in a political action and it
does not call for the college to take
a political stand. He fears that
faculty who opposed a campus-
wide boycott might find it un-
comfortable and consider leaving.
He feels it is important that the
college avoid such political
positions which could eventually

jeopardize its academic freedom:

Neiderbach, on the other hand, is
surprised that a boycott is con
sidered such a radical measure
since the college has used it for the
last three years. _

In other SGA news, the Housing
Committee’s proposal for Black
Cluster was accepted after one
minor amendment; earlier the
Concerned Black Students'
alternate plan had been rejected.
The Housing Committee‘s plan will
integrate the Black Cluster draw
into the regular room draw

 

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took a trip to Europe and the
United States. During his travels,
he converted to Bolshevism, and
returned to Japan to help round the
CommunistParty there. It was and
is rather like the French Com-
munist Party, parliamentary in
nature.

BY ltllit lie was well known the
ternationally, and was made an
important olIIClal til the Com-
munist International, He wrote, he
agitated, he organized, in the
United States. Mexico, and China.
Hyman Kublin, his biographer,
believes that he preferred the
ideology of Trotsky, but tor the
sake of international unity, he
adjusted to Comintern policy. That
explains the big name mentioned
above as a pallbearer, when

Katavama died in I933 and was
awarded a very gaudy funeral
.indeed.

In his last year, Katayama gave
up Western garb, and wore
l kimono. Legend has it that he said,
i in his last year, “0h! If i could only
die on the straw mats of my native
country."

HE IS still loved and respected
by many Japanese. A few years
ago, I was invited to the liftieth
anniversary oi the Communist
Party in Japan by Tokue snibata.
who taught at Grinnell for a
semester ten years ago. Mr.
Shibaia introduced me around, at
the swanky garden restaurant
where the party was, as a
professor at Katayama's college.
Were they ever deferential, these

tough old birds who had spent the
Pacific War in jail, as paciiists, or
who worked with Mao in China,
They bowed and congratulated
me. Not that i had all that much to
do with his career,

In tact, I’ve never mentioned my
Katayama connection to a
Japanese who didn't somehow,
subtly, revise the tone of our
relationship a bit upward on my
side. I may even have used him,
rest his brave and noble spirit. A
low budget teacher doesn‘t meet
many robber barons in Japan, so
most of my friends there admire
his career.

I WONDER if this would work in
Moscow, should I ever land there.
Probably better than my Cooper
connection, at least.

 

younger ones know it , . .

time that night.

 

Yes, lile at college was so footloose and fancy
free. We were content as long as we passed, even if
only barely. The rest of the time we enjoyed our-

The relationship between the students and the
faculty was quite close, and the professors had open
house for their students at least once a year. On top
of that there were always invitations to visit the
home of people living in Grinnell and connected
with the university, or who had a son or daughter
going there or who were graduates themselves. For
that one night I could shed my tramp~like existence
and bask in the warmth of American family life,
There were also times when someone in our class
would hold a party. One year, on Halloween, we
organized a party. The usual thing was to play silly
games and enjoy oneself. One such game involved
peeling an apple in one long continuous string,
holding the peel up and moving it in a circle three
times around your head, and then throwing it
behind you. The letter of the alphabet it most
resembled when it landed was the initial ol the
person you were going to marry. We had a great

F—
Katayama remembers Grinnell

I can remember when being a student at an
American college was one of the most carefree,
enjoyable existences one could imagine. Of course
eighty or ninety percent of the students were from
wealthy families and totally dependent on their
parents, but they were young and full of vigor.
Naive, inexperienced, still too young to know the
hardships of life, they came together in search of
knowledge. They shared their daily lives like one
big happy family. The freshmen were the youngest
of the lot, the babies of the family, just starting out
in school. The seniors were the big brothers or
sisters about to finish up and go out on their own;
young ladies and gentlemen trying to act so
grownup. The professors were a little more lenient
withthem, and they in turn lostnotimein letting the

t, a
Katayama Sen as a student,

selves. There were many times when we spent so
much time on social life that we neglected our
studies, and the professors would have to scold us.
At that time the United States was a free Country,
and the mood of imperialism was not as strong as it
is today. It was only later, after the Spanish-
American War, that the US. started on its im-
perialistic trend. Therefore, since the school
campus was privileged territory and not subject to

1892

 

 

Turner: impeachment “bizarre”

teontinued lrom Page 1)

quite dilierent in parliamentary
terms, an amendment hostile to
the main motion,

Q: ls this latest decision to be
taken as an indication of the future
relationship between the CSL and
SGA regarding the question oi
governance?

A: My assumption would be that
you wouldn't want to give a flat-out
answer to that lquestiont, What is
likely to happen a number of times
in the luture is that the CSL may
make a recommendation to me,
SGA will take (the) recomr
mendation and say “Hey, there are
things we don’t like about this."
There will be conferring and there
will be, finally, a third version
which will be the one that will be
accepted. I think that's typically
what would happen,

Q: So this is, in your o
atypical situation?

Well, what I'm sensing here
, s the feeling) that SGA ef-
fectively ought to have veto power
over these committees. And part of

the argument that was put forward ,

is that these are elected
representatives who speak tor the
student body, In other words, this
point of view would take the
position that students cannot

 

delegate to a committee structure,
albeit (a committee) appointed by
the student government. . . I think
that's the nub oi the issue. Whereas
there are probably a lotvof other
people who would say, . . ,ei-
Iectively, delegation to committees
is the only Way to get business done
because the ultimate extension of
the other approach is linally that
you need a referendum on
everything.

o; How important is the opinion
at SGA in determining college
policy on matters, such as the
boycott question. that directly
affect the student body?

A: I do not think that the clause
in the hand book (allowing SGA 18
days to comment on and suggest
amendments to CSL proposals)
should be takenlightly. It should be
taken very seriously. First of all it
should be taken seriously by the
CSL itseli. In a way, it is a courtesy
consultationhbut it better be more
than that or else it’s a phony deal
. , . But, the shoot-out comes when
the SGA disagrees with the Student
Life Committee . . , does it then
have veto power?

If it does, then the SGA should
presumably have control of these
committees. I don’t think that’s
terribly workable. What is

 

workable is a good relationship and
an interchange.

lsuppnse what may shake out of
this is the tquestion) of the way
students get on that committee.
For instance, maybe the up-shot of
something like this is that one has
an independent election of such
students, making sure that they
are not anybody’s party link
tthatl they run at large, in-
dependent ol SGA. . , I think what
has happened is that the SGA has
put students on this committee and
the students are now perceived as
living somewhere politically other
than where the SGA leadership is .
Who’s to be blamed for that?

Q: So you don't subscribe to the
notion, then, that because SGA
selected the student members to sit
on the (‘SL they thus have the
power to recall them?

A: I have only heard rumors of
this, but 1 just lind it totally
bizarre. I mean, what did those
people do? The committee sat, as
it's supposed to: it made a
recommendation, as it's supposed
to; dealt with SGA, as it's supposed
to. I accepted the recom-
mendationithey should be im-
peaching me, not the members of
their committee.

 

