Fukumoto Kazuo

Fukumoto Kazuo (Japanese福 本 和 夫, born July 4, 1894 in Shimo- Hōjō, Kume -gun (now Hokuei, Tohaku -gun ), Tottori Prefecture, † 16 November 1983) was a Marxist theoretician of Japanese Communism. His pseudonym was Hōjō Kazuo (北 条 一 雄).

He holds a degree in law and political science at the Tokyo Imperial University. In the years 1922 to 1924, he undertook a study trip to the USA and to Europe. So he spent the end of 1922 until the spring of 1923 some time in Jena, where he became friends with the Communist Karl Korsch. Fukumoto at this time was also one of the participants of Marxist work week. In 1924 he went back to Japan and taught economics. In 1926 he founded his own magazine called Under the Banner of Marxism. Two years later, he was sentenced taking place during the communist witch hunts in Japan to ten years imprisonment. After the war he was arrested in 1951 by U.S. authorities and subject to a prohibition. In 1958 he was expelled from the Communist Party of Japan. Content, Fukumoto dealt with the development of Japanese capitalism and the problems of socialism.