A Message to Mrs. Roosevelt from Hiroshima Students Association of the United Nations

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt:

We are very glad to welcome you here in Hiroshima.

It is our great pleasure to tell you what we think about peace.

We are afraid we could not express our opinion sufficiently as we had to summarize the effect of the discussions and researches held at past for want of time and space.

But we should be much obliged if you would understand our thoughts.

Hiroshima Student Association of the United Nations


[TL AERP, FDRL]

 

ON THE COEXISING BETWEEN CAPITALISTIC SOCIETY AND SOCIALISTIC SOCIETY
 

We have been discussing this problem, sincerely desiring our existing and security of life.
 

Now, when we are discussing this problem, one society coexists with the other actually, and no one can assure that either of both societies will cease to exist within a measurable future. If so, the rasion d’etre of this problem lies in the question of whether or not we can be delivered from the feeling of war crisis which covers all over the world, and that of how we can be freed from the feeling of war crisis, that is, such incendiary of war as the expansion of armaments, local conflicts, war propaganda, etc. And it is obvious that we are going to discuss it, reminded of the coexistence and cooperation of both societies in World War II.
 

This feeling of war crisis, we believe, can be removed by trust, fevour, hope, and endeavor, and history proves it.

We believe that, not only from the view point of humanism, but from the limitation and possibility of human endeavor, the knowledge of which we have acquired through our own experiences and intellects.

We have many doubts about the American policy, when we think of the economic structure of U.S. and her social and political policy which comes from the structure as an inevitable consequence according to that possibility.

Unfortunately American policy twords Japan and Korea made many Japanese feel this policy is full of falsehood― if it is too much to say, day after day it has become apart from what we expected and understood.

We have not such trust and understanding to the Soviet Union that we can justify her policy. It is natural, however that we have a stronger doubt about American policy than about Russian one, as we are standing within the sphere of American influence and so we are influenced by her policy in every respect.

Now, we have come to say frankly that American peace policy of the present is not based upon the ground of peace which we mentioned above and moreover the international policy of America makes many peace-loving people disappointed.

We do not here stated the historical limitation and possibility of the problem of the coexistence of both societies, though the comprehension of this limitation is most essential. But here in Japan, the words “History flow flows from capitalism to socialism”,” is no longer a desk theory or an academic discussion.

However, we do not mean war by those words of necessity.

ON ECONOMIC SELF-SUPPORT OF JAPAN

By the new peace offensive of the communist countries, the political and economic condition of the world were flung into a vacuum, and Japan’s economy has come to a turning point. That means Japan’s economy has to become independent by getting away from the existing dependence on special procurement and by securing the ordinary balance of international revenue and expenditure.

Then, this special procurement is over 70 percent of normal export, therefore we must increase about twice the normal export in order to cover the same amount as that of the present import with the normal export alone.

It is easy doing so?

At first, though we limit the import, it may at the most remain 200 million dollars―the luxuries and so on―within 2 billion dollars.

And if we wish to limit a great deal of the import effectively, there will be no help without reduction and depression of standard of life.

Secondly, can we promote the export positively?

To our regret, there is no way but bringing down price, because the export to the sphere of communist countries is restricted now and the trade of the world become smaller a and smaller. And we must go with deflation policy for it, which must introduce the important effect on production and nation’s lives.

Thus, our national economy is sent away to unequilibrium and unstability more and more.

What is it, then, that helps Japan’s economy out of this condition?

As a conclusion, we would like to say that Japanese or English effort for balance of trade is only temporal and at best it means the struggle for existence between Britain and Japan. So, there will be at last dumping after dumping or else, the increase customs duty against it. If so, who is sure that Japan will never run to the Ultra-nationalist

We wish cordially that America takes such policy from world view point, as the promotion of increasing home-investment, productive investment to other countries, decrease the customs duty and the increasing of import by changing structure of the production for other countries to export to America.

And we wish that America reform the Battle Act in order that Japan can reopen the trade to Communist China, which the most of the Japanese people desire.

THE ATOMIC BOMB

One of the most important problems that the Second World War has left to us, human beings, is the problem of the atomic bomb. It is the 6th of August, 1945, on that day the most cruel bombing that the world has ever seen was inflicted against mankind.

By only one atomic bomb about 250,000 people were killed. Some of them were killed in a moment, the other was wounded and before they escaped the deadcity of Hiroshima, they were killed by fire. It must be noted that the people killed were almost old people, woman, junior high school boys and girls, and primary school pupils. They were non-combatants. I do believe that if the U.S. had not dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she would have had to fight at the sacrifice of many U.S. soldiers to gain the victory at that time. Japan had very little potential of war at that time.

And the horrors of Hiroshima none can know in the true sense if he has no experience with his own body or do not see with his own eyes, I believe.

For this reason we are striving to let the people of the world know how cruel the atomic bomb is, for example we collected the photographs of Hiroshima in burning, we made the movie of  “Genbaku no ko” in Japanese (children of atomic bombed Hiroshima), and also now there is another movie of the workers union, especially of the Japan’s teachers’ union.

There is a monument in the center of Hiroshima above which the atomic bomb exploded and on that monument the words “Sleep in peace, for this error shall not be committed again,”― this is an appeal to the people who are alive now.

The only wish of the people who died on that sad day is perhaps that there must not be any other people killed by the A-bomb in the world.

Here is another problem we can never neglect. There are many patients suffering from diseases caused by the A-bomb explosion and people who has scars from the burns of the A-bomb. Especially imagine the young girls who looks very strange because they have scars from the burns of the A-bomb on their faces.

In several parts of Japan there came a movement to help the people in U.S. understand the very unhappy people in Hiroshima, we hope that they take a part of the movement.

Now we, all the nations of the world, must think about the A-bomb problem in a round table.

The most important thing that we must remember is that the A-bomb is dropped by the hand of the man himself.

If U.S. government had known the miserable result of the A-bomb that were dropped in two cities of Japan and  if U.S. government had had a small amount of humanism, the A-bomb would have never been dropped on the heads of the man Because the spirit of the public international laws never permits to use the A-bomb. Do you think it is a crime to kill people without any strategic necessity? We want to know who is responsible for the crime of A-bombing. Now all the countries of the world must have a meeting about the problem of the A-bomb, and decide to use the atomic energy for the welfare of all the nations through their serious discussions.

God gives us our powers only for the purpose of making ourselves happy.

STUDENTS’ MOVEMENT

The greatest problem that is overshadowing the Japanese students today is that of rearmament and the threat of war. Although peace has revived since the end of World War II, cold war is going on between the two great powers of the world, and it threatens Japan of being pulled into it. And the present signs of rearmament increases that fear all the more.

We students, who were once compelled to walk the dark road of war without any resistance, have a strong positive hatred toward war and we believe the advancement of a peace movement to be our responsibility.

The students’ movement we are now doing can be summarized as the advancement of peace movement and the defence of the living standard of students.

Many students believe that defending Peace Constitution which has been derived from the bitter experiences of the Pacific War to be the Japanese only means of maintaining Japan’s independence and security in a world where great armed power seems to try and control everything. We fear that rearmament overlooking the experiences of the Japanese will increase the tension between American and Russia and the possibility of the World War.

Above that national economics will be transferred from peace industry to military industry and destruct the living standard of the nation, and in spite of the increase of military funds educational funds have been cut and it has geately depressed the student’s lives.

In this situation we students have been earnestly studying the problem of peace and searching for the causes of war and how to evade it, and many students have joined the International Peace Problem Researching Group mainly consisting of students of Hiroshima University. The achievements of the study are discussed until they are fully understood and are reflected is a wide students’ movement.

But there are many great difficulties and obstacles to overcome in our movement.

Imperialistic pressure is becoming severe upon us, trying to frustrate the peace movements by giving birth to apprehension and shoch among us, and is moreover even invading the freedom of speech, thought and organisation guaranteed by our constitutions.

Despite all these difficulties, we are making remarkable progress in our activities far beyond our past record. As we reflect on our movements of last year, we notice first that they have grown larger in scale, such as the Asian Pacific Peace Conference and the Japan Students Peace Conference opened in correspondence with the national peace conferences in many other countries: we notice next that our demands concerning our lives have become more penetrating and expansive: so large a quantity of problems of students’ health and by work as had not been seen were taken up, the contents of which were fresher and more complicated than even before.

We are promoting our movements steadily believing that our activities within our circles are not powerful enough to realize peace, and that it cannot be defended until all the Japanese people including students, nay, all the nations of the world make their best efforts for it arm in arm.
 

TStmt AERP, FDRL