JCP is indispensable -- Akahata editorial, July 14, 2002

"Had it not been for the Japanese Communist Party in the past tumultuous 80 years, Japan would have been different from what we see today." This is what Kinoshita Junji, dramatist, wrote in a message to the JCP speech assembly held at the Tokyo International Forum on July 8 to mark its 80th founding anniversary.

As the JCP observes its 80th founding anniversary on July 15 we are renewing the resolve to fulfill our task in response to public expectations that the JCP will continue to play an irreplaceable role.

JCP's role is even greater in the struggle against war and the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty

In the July 8 speech, JCP Central Committee Chair Fuwa Tetsuzo expounded on the role the JCP played in the 20th century and what it will do in the 21st century.

Before and during Japan's war of aggression, JCP members risked being killed when they opposed the despotic rule that made Tenno (the emperor) as the absolute power in the war of aggression against Asian countries. All the other Japanese political parties joined together to form a mainstream force assisting in the war of aggression, but the JCP firmly stood in opposition to the war of aggression. The JCP takes pride in this principled stance.

The fact that a party that never stopped opposing the war of aggression existed is not only an historical event, but a basis for friendship between the peoples of Japan and other Asian countries.

After the war's end, the JCP's role has been outstanding in the struggle against the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

The JCP has been consistent in opposing Japan's submission to the United States ever since the days when any criticism of the U.S. occupation was banned. In the past, opposition parties used to oppose the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, but today, the JCP is the only party to oppose it.

It is extraordinary that huge U.S. military bases have been located in Tokyo, the capital of Japan as well as in neighboring prefectures for more than 50 years. By uncritically supporting all U.S. policies and actions, the Koizumi Cabinet is seen as a "U.S. dependent" playing a "yes-man in a tragi-comedy." That's why the JCP is called upon to fulfill its mission.

After the war, the JCP established its sovereign independence in the course of various trials and hardships caused by foreign parties. This has helped the JCP firmly reject outside forces' interference in the Japanese movements and oppose acts of violation of other nation's sovereignty. Especially in the 30-year struggle against Soviet hegemony, the JCP never tolerated any manifestations of hegemony.

The JCP is the largest communist party in the developed capitalist countries, unlike many other communist parties which failed to fight Soviet hegemony and lost their strength. What the JCP has achieved is also valuable in this sense.

The JCP's efforts in the 20th Century have produced results and it is playing a role as a driving force for the cause of social progress in the 21st century.

The JCP pursues the cause of social progress by a step-by-step approach that respects the people's will as the sovereign and their consent. As an immediate task for achieving change within the framework of capitalism, the JCP has proposed that Japan's sovereignty and independence be achieved, and political and economic democracy completely established.

It is our conviction that the 21st Century will be the era in which the question whether a capitalist society should continue or not will be an issue.

For a new era of development

Fuwa in his speech on the JCP's 80th founding anniversary called on JCP members to take advantage of new conditions in the 21st Century to open up a path in high spirits, and exert all our efforts and wisdom toward a new era in which the JCP will make a new development and the principle of people's sovereignty is fully put into practice. Let's join together and make efforts to realize such an era. (end)