JCP sends message to Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia congress

The Japanese Communist Party Central Committee sent a message to the 6th Congress of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (May 15-16, Ceske Buudejovice, Czech Republic). Nishiguchi Hikaru, JCP International Bureau director, attended the congress.

The JCP message is as follows:

The Japanese Communist Party Central Committee brings you its warmest greetings of solidarity on the occasion of the 6th Congress of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. We wish you great success in the Congress in advancing the struggle to defend the Czech people's living standards and rights, and in developing democracy as well as the movement for peace.

In the complicated situation that emerged in the aftermath of the collapse of the former regime in 1989, the CPBM has been persistent in trying to win popular support and understanding, while clarifying the problem of Soviet interference and your party's responses to it. The CPBM, while making clear that its long-term goal is to achieve socialism, has proposed policies aimed at achieving economic development in the interests of the people and building a peaceful country. These activities have drawn our attention in faraway Japan. Your success in the 2002 election for the Chamber of Deputies has greatly inspired us. We wish you even greater success in your future work.

You have been criticizing the U.S. war of aggression against Iraq and the ensuing unjustifiable military occupation which is increasingly antagonizing the Iraqi people's wish for independence and democracy. We oppose an international order that the United States manipulates with its preemptive attack strategy; we are making every effort to establish an international order for peace based on the U.N. Charter.

At the JCP 23rd Congress in January, which was attended by CPBM representatives, we adopted the revised JCP Program. The new Program shows Japan's path of development toward a future society of socialism/communism and makes clear that the immediate task in capitalist Japan is to carry out a democratic revolution. The main task of this democratic revolution is to end the national policy of supporting large corporations and business circles, establish a national policy that gives priority to the defense of the people's livelihoods, and achieve true national independence by ending its subordination to the United States. In foreign relations, we are calling for the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty to be abrogated and for Japan to follow the path of peace, neutrality and non-alignment. The JCP at present is devoting all its energy to carrying out party building activities and dialogue with voters to win more support for a JCP advance in the House of Councilors election in July.

We are glad that friendly relations are steadily developing between the CPBM and the JCP. We hope that mutual understanding will be further deepened between our two parties on many issues including outlooks on socialism and world peace. We also hope that our cooperation will be strengthened on common tasks, including criticism of the U.S. policy of hegemony, opposition to the dispatch of troops to Iraq, dissolution of military alliances, and respect for the U.N. Charter. (end)