[citation needed] Although originally interested in anarchism, in 1931 he joined the Japanese Communist Party, becoming its Agriculture Director the following year, whereupon he was promptly arrested and imprisoned.

[citation needed] In 1933, Haniya underwent a coerced "ideological conversion" (tenkо̄), after which he was allowed to leave prison and return to society.

[3] During the war years, Haniya began a lengthy novel called Departed Souls (死靈, Shirei), which he considered his life's work.

[5] Because of its strong anti-communism, Departed Souls was praised and upheld as an exemplar of successful tenkо̄ conversion by the wartime police state.

[5] Shortly after the war, Haniya founded an influential literary magazine entitled Kindai Bungaku ("Modern Literature").