2004年4月14日 HPI研究フォーラム
講師 ジョン・プライス（ヴィクトリア大学歴史学部准教授）
1. テーマ
「忘れられたヒロシマ――原爆開発に果たしたカナダの役割」
2. 日時
2004年4月14日（水） 18:30～20:30
3. 場所
広島平和研究所 会議室
4. 講演の概要
カナダの原爆開発･原爆投下決定への役割、その開発過程でカナダ先住民の間に被曝者を出してきた事実、さらにはカナダの歴史学者の中での原爆投下をめぐる見解については、これまで十分な研究分析がなされてこなかった。この「忘却」されかけているカナダと原爆との関わりについて、ジョン・プライス氏に講演していただいた。
米国では、1995年のスミソニアン論争で顕著になったように原爆投下正当化論が強いが、学識経験者の間では、戦争の早期終結のために原爆投下は必要なかったという認識が一般的に持たれている。ところがカナダでは、それ以前から外交官経験者の中に原爆使用の道義性に対して疑問を出す声があったものの、歴史学者は米国で起こった論争も無視しており、大方は「原爆投下によって戦争が終結した」といった記述にとどめ、また「原爆開発と投下決定においてカナダの果たした役割を解明しようとする論文もほとんど見当たらない」と、プライス氏はカナダ歴史学会の状況を説明した。
プライス氏は、カナダ国立公文書館での調査や『カナダ外交文書資料集』に依拠してカナダが1942年に英国との核実験のための共同プロジェクトとしてモントリオール研究所を設立し、科学研究の分野でかなり関与したこと、ウラン鉱山会社を1944年に国有化し、大量のウラン供給を担ったこと、そのウラン鉱での採掘の際にカナダ先住民が動員され多くの被曝者を生み出した事実、1945年7月4日に原爆使用について検討した合同政策委員会にカナダの軍需大臣C.D.ハウが公式に参加したことなどを紹介し、原爆開発におけるカナダの役割、関与を具体的に提示した。首相のマッケンジー・キングは、事前に原爆が罪のない一般市民に対して使用されることを知っていた。しかし彼は、原爆投下を「すばらしい成果」とし、「この爆弾がヨーロッパの白人ではなく、日本人に対して使われたのは幸いである」と後に回想している。
このように原爆開発計画は、米国主導で行われたとはいえ、イギリス、カナダも参加した「多国籍の有志連合」を反映していた。プライス氏は、「全面戦争を遂行して都市や民間人を抹消しようとする積極的意志は、権力の座にある者の多くに共通している」とし、米国の単独主義的側面を否定することは、その責任を希薄化するのではなく、むしろ「帝国の持つ政治文化的側面をよりよく理解する」こととなり、「覇権の元となっているイデオロギーを探求し、最終的にそれを克服する手助けになるのではないか」と結んだ。
原爆開発、原爆投下、そして一般市民が戦争の犠牲になることをいとわない権力の行使に何が働いたのかを明らかにし、それに対抗するような「積極的な意志」を築くためにも、また、カナダの歴史学者間の原爆をめぐる見解に対して一石を投じる内容である点でも、プライス氏の講演は大変示唆に富んでいた。
（高橋博子 広島平和研究所助手）
5. ジョン・プライス氏の略歴
カナダ、ヴィクトリア大学歴史学部准教授（日本史、アジア史担当）。日本の戦後の労使関係史に関する論文で1994年、ブリティッシュコロンビア大学にて博士号取得。日本在住の経験もある。現在、東アジアにおける戦争について研究を進めており、その成果として、Allied Imaginings: Canada, the American Empire and the East Asian Wars,1935-1955と題する本を UBC Pressから2005年に出版予定。2003年7月、バンクーバー市議会よりPeace and Justice Committeeの委員に選ばれ、“Vancouver, A City for Peace and Justice: Towards a World Peace Forum in 2006”の審議資料作成に携わる。
HPI Research Forum on April 14, 2004
Forgetting a Past: Hiroshima and Canadian Memory
By John Price, Associate Professor in History at the University of Vitoria
1. Topic
"Forgetting a Past: Hiroshima and Canadian Memory"
2. Date and Time
April 14, 2004, 18:30-20:30
3. Venue
HPI Conference Room
4. Abstract of the forum
Canada's roles in atomic bomb development and decision-making in regard to the atomic bombing of Japan have been little studied. Likewise, analyses of Canadian historians' views of the atomic bombing in 1945 and the fact that many indigenous Canadians were exposed to uranium radiation during the development process are rare. On April 14, 2004, Dr. John Price, Associate Professor of the University of Victoria, Canada, gave a presentation titled "Forgetting a Past: Hiroshima and Canadian Memory," spotlighting the "forgotten" involvement of Canada in the atomic bomb project.
As evidenced in the historic controversy over the Enola Gay exhibition at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in 1995, many Americans tend to justify the use of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In contrast, Dr. Price suggested that "the preponderant view among (U.S.) scholars is a critical assessment of the use of the bomb." In Canada, however, according to Dr. Price, the majority of historians ignored the controversy triggered by the Smithsonian exhibition, though a few former Canadian diplomats had previously questioned the morality of the bombing. Dr. Price stated that many Canadian historians support the view that the atomic bomb was effective in ending the war. He also pointed out that few academic papers discuss Canadian involvement in atomic bomb development and decision-making in regard to the use of the bombs.
Based on his research in the National Archives of Canada and diplomatic papers published in the series Documents on Canadian External Relations, Dr. Price confirmed that in 1942 Canada's National Research Council established the Montreal Laboratory for nuclear testing as a joint project of Canada and Great Britain. This, according to Dr. Price, attests to the significant role played by Canada in developing atomic bombs. "One key aspect of Canadian involvement in the atomic bomb development was its role in providing uranium," Dr. Price said, explaining that in 1944, the Canadian government nationalized the uranium mining corporation to supply uranium ore. The first victims of the atomic program were people of the "First Nation" (indigenous Canadians), who were mobilized to carry the heavy sacks of ore. Many of these ore carriers died of cancer caused by exposure to uranium.
To demonstrate Canadian involvement in the decision to drop atomic bombs, Dr. Price stated that on July 4, 1945, C.D. Howe, Canadian Minister of Munitions and Supply, officially participated in the Combined Policy Committee meeting at which use of the atomic bomb was discussed. Dr. Price also noted that prior to the bombing, Canada's Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King was well aware that the bomb would kill many innocent civilians. Yet, in his recollections, referring to the bombing as "the greatest achievement in science," Mackenzie King wrote, "It is fortunate that the use of the bomb should have been upon the Japanese rather than upon the white races of Europe."
Dr. Price emphasized that such evidence demonstrates that, though atomic bomb development was led by the United States, both Great Britain and Canada played active roles. In other words, "The atomic project was from its beginning a transnational project, one of the first of what today is often called a coalition of the willing." Dr. Price explained, "This was, to be sure, a U.S.-led coalition, but the values expressed in it, that is, the willingness to use total war, to obliterate cities and civilian populations, was shared by many in positions of power." According to Dr. Price, to thus show that U.S. decision-making was not unilateral does not dilute U.S. responsibility, but rather helps us to "understand the politico-cultural dimension of Empire." Dr. Price concluded his presentation with the following statement: "Such an emphasis (on a coalition of the willing) helps us to explore the seams along the border of the Empire, and in particular, to explore and ultimately to defeat the ideological underpinnings of hegemony."
Dr. Price's presentation did indeed raise significant questions about Canadian views of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He led the audience to explore the factors that drove atomic development, the bombing, and the use of a weapon capable of slaughtering countless civilians. Thus, he encouraged the audience to build and maintain a "coalition of the unwilling" to stand in opposition to those factors. (By Hiroko Takahashi, research associate at HPI)
5. Profile of John Price
John Price is Associate Professor of History at the University of Victoria where he teaches Japanese and Asian history. His current research focuses on wars in East Asia and the results will be published in a book, to be published by UBC Press in 2005, entitled Allied Imaginings: Canada, the American Empire and the East Asian Wars (1935-1955). He is a Member of the Editorial Board of the academic journal Critical Asian Studies, and is a Research Associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He travels frequently to Asia. He is also an advisor to the Centre for Transnational Labour Studies, Tokyo. Although he teaches at the University of Victoria, he and his family reside in Vancouver. Vancouver City Council appointed Dr. Price to its Peace and Justice Committee in July 2003 and he helped work on a discussion paper, "Vancouver, A City for Peace and Justice: Towards a World Peace Forum in 2006." Dr. Price lived in Japan a number of years; his early research focused on Japanese industrial relations in comparative perspective, the findings published in Japan Works: Power and Paradox in Postwar Industrial Relations (Cornell University Press, 1997).