Rope Ladder and Iron Helmet: Collection of Photographs from the 318 Days of Struggle by Shufu to Seikatsu Trade Union

Shigeru Tamura
Rope Ladder and Iron Helmet: Collection of Photographs from the 318 Days of Struggle by Shufu to Seikatsu Trade Union

Photographs: Shigeru Tamura

Publisher: Pen Poporo

96 pages

Year: 1960

Price: 250 €

Comments: Stapled softcover, 26 x 18,2 cm. Pages are aged, a bit of ripping around one staple (see photos). Otherwise in good condition.

This protest book shows the lengthy occupation of a publishing house by its workforce after the dismissal of a worker and the dismissal of fifteen others. The book is an electrifying record of the dispute, but also a work of politicization: it shows the mechanisms of the occupation itself (the process of entering into and barricading the building); physical confontation with bosses and police; the work of education and propoganda; the struggle to unionize the workforce; and the efforts to link to other similar disputes, including the Anpo protests. Rope Ladder and Iron Helmet functions as a primer for future occupations, relvealing the operative nature of Japanese protest. Produced by workers of a company publishing women's magazines, it also imparts a reflective understanding of the power of visual media, including the building of a campaign to boycott the publications of Shufu to Seikatsu itself.