DYLJ holds 33rd congress

   The Democratic Youth League of Japan (DYLJ) on November 23-25 held its 33rd National Congress in Tokyo. The Congress adopted a resolution calling on its members to build a stronger DYLJ in which young people study and develop themselves to become able to influence politics. Tanaka Yu was elected to the DYLJ chair, replacing Himei Jiro.

   More than 200 delegates and observers from throughout Japan took part in the Congress and reported on their efforts to increase their memberships by putting forward a vision to change society and engaging in activities to meet members’ demands.

   Horiguchi Kana, a delegate of the DYLJ Kanagawa prefectural organization who is also a Yamato City Assembly member, reported that she took up the employment issue facing young people in the city assembly. In reply to her questioning, the mayor admitted the need to expand regular employment and pointed out that this is an issue for the entire society to tackle. The city assembly unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the national government to conduct a survey on the actual conditions of young people, she said.

   The Nara Prefectural Committee chair reported that they are conducting a survey on school tuitions. When they made representations to the Nara Prefectural Government based on survey results, a government official expressed appreciation for the survey as a useful resource. “Now we have a prospect of the establishment of a system to exempt or reduce tuitions of prefectural colleges,” he said.

   A delegate of a university students’ branch in the Kanto district reported how in the past year they have been recruiting more new members than the past several years. They are carrying out activities that help students in their studies and reduce their anxieties about campus life while attaching importance to constantly studying the Japanese Communist Party Program.

   “I studied the theory of scientific socialism for the first time and came to understand that the issue of poverty I have been interested in cannot be fully resolved in a capitalist society. However, I am convinced that the society may be changed and that we can help change it. With such a conviction, we have received new members,” said a delegate.

   On the second day of the Congress, JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi delivered a speech. Emphasizing that building a stronger DYLJ is important not only for many young people but also for the undertakings of the democratic transformation of Japan, Ichida expressed his strong hope for the advance of the DYLJ.

   DYLJ Chair Himei Jiro in his closing remarks pointed out that many delegates reported on the progress of their movements rooted in demands of young people and stressed that now is the time for the DYLJ to further expose its unique role.

   Himei called for the real value of the DYLJ, which is working for changing society, to be made known to young people across the country and called for the building of a DYLJ that is accessible to distressed young people anywhere in the country.
- Akahata, November 24-26, 2007