Masterpiece of proletarian literature, “Kanikosen” (also known as “The fisherman” o “The crabber”), should be required reading in all self-respecting primary schools.
And why am I saying this? For many reasons, the first of which is the validity of the drama that conveys the plot: based on true events, this denunciation novel ended up costing its author his life. Doesn’t this kind of indecency resonate in today’s times when a dictator like Putin eliminates his opponents in the most uncouth way? Or when workers from an underdeveloped country complain about the mistreatment they receive and are immediately fired or evicted?
The Hakuko Maru was a fishing boat that sailed the icy waters of the Kamchatka peninsula in the late 1920s. On board were those in charge of catching and canning crabs, desperate workers and exploited to unimaginable limits by a cruel boss. The story narrates the fateful journey of that expedition and its inevitable end, emphasizing the revolt undertaken by the workers, their awareness and their meridian understanding of the master/slave capitalist system: you work for me, so you obey, and I command; There’s nothing more to speak of.
The adaptation of the mangaka Gô Fujio –which Gallo Nero is now reissuing with a new cover– is round because it is expressive and because it collects the passages of the novel without hot cloths, just as Kobayashi himself would have liked to read it, who shortly after publishing “Kanikosen” (He had already been investigated for belonging to the Communist Party and having written several stories in which he always positioned himself on the side of the oppressed) he was finally arrested, tortured and imprisoned numerous times until he was assassinated by the secret police.
I would say much more about the repressive policies of Japan at that time, but the history books are there. I insist: necessary reading, hard and dangerously valid. How long will this indecent system that we all, in one way or another, suffer from continue?
