What Kind of People Read "Capital"? : History of Media from the Viewpoint of Countryside Japan (Special Issue In Memory of Professor Katsumi NAMASE)

In studying the history of media, it is most important to identify the type of people who read a certain book. However, it is very difficult to do so when only limited reference materials are available. This paper analyzes which type of people read Karl Marx's "Capital " in Yanagawa Town, Fukushima Prefecture (present Date City) in 1928, using materials offered by Abe Kaishundo, a newspaper distributor in the town. The analysis reveal that as many as 16 residents of this small town in the Tohoku region read "Capital ," a rather difficult book for the general public. Those 16 residents were either members of the upper level in the town, or agricultural engineers engaged in silkworm-related business. None of them had ever been involved in any leftist movements. It seems that such people struggled to obtain pointers to overcoming the difficulties Yanagawa-Town residents were facing at that time.2KJ00004981006論文Articledepartmental bulletin pape