Japanese elites sold deflation as unavoidable sacrifice through mass propaganda

Evidence

Having prepared the austere ground in this way, the final push to get Japan back on gold came from Junnosuke Inoue, the finance minister of the new Hamaguchi cabinet that was formed in 1929. Inoue was tasked with conducting a propaganda campaign that would clinch the case for gold. Thirteen million pamphlets, dozens of radio broadcasts, and many more newspaper editorials were unleashed on the public. And it worked. As Koichi Hamada and Ashai Noguchi report, “The motto ‘repeal the gold embargo’ became fashionable.” Inoue himself authored several short books on the subject, each of which was a triumph of austerity thinking. As Inoue put it, “We cannot avoid fiscal tightening and liquidation at least once in the process,” and so “the surest way is to go straight towards the repeal of the gold embargo … since we cannot avoid some pain … and sacrifice anyway.” Inoue traveled the length and breadth of the country arguing his case, asking the people to be prepared for the tightening of the already austere economic environment. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 538

Categorization

• SEED: The gold-standard return as a mass-propaganda campaign — thirteen million pamphlets — is a concrete case study for why societies assent to deliberate economic pain.
• ADDENDUM: Directly parallels ‘On Sacrifice’ article: Inoue deliberately frames fiscal tightening as unavoidable sacrificial pain, a political legitimation mechanism for austerity.
• XREF: connects to: Japanese financial elites deployed nationalist shame rhetoric to sell austerity to the public. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 537; Japanese austerity produced depression, assassination, and militarism. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 544; Mass propaganda transforms ideology into a principle of self-definition for atomized individuals (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Japanese austerity produced depression, assassination, and militarism. #expands (0.85) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 544
• Japan’s austerity decade radicalized the military and led to assassinations. #expands (0.85) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 543
• Mass propaganda transforms ideology into a principle of self-definition for atomized individuals #expands (0.75)