July 26, 2023

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on July 25 held a press conference at the JCP head office in Tokyo, and announced the publication of the party history book, “Hundred Years of the Japanese Communist Party”. Shii said, “I hope this book will reach a wider audience so that many people will know the true nature of the JCP, which will help open a progressive future for Japan and the rest of the world.”

The JCP published its updated history for the first time since the publication of the previous book, “Eighty Years of the Japanese Communist Party”, 20 years ago.

Shii said that the latest history describes in detail the JCP’s 100 years of dedication to hard work in various fields, such as peace, democracy, human rights, and people’s livelihoods, aimed at reducing people’s hardships, in addition to the JCP’s role contributing to social progress in Japan and to world development.

Furthermore, Shii stressed that in the “Hundred Years of the JCP”, the party admitted that it made errors in the past and that historical constraints exist. He said, “I believe the book will help the wider audience understand that anti-communist slander like one that the JCP is a political party which never admits to its mistakes have no grounds.”

According to Shii, the book “Hundred Years of the JCP” is arranged in five chapters. Chapter One depicts JCP struggles during the prewar period. Chapter Two focuses on the period (1945-1961) in which the JCP experienced a party split linked to Soviet and Chinese interference, restored its organizational unity, and established the current program line and its sovereign independence. Chapter Three to Five deal with the period from 1961 to the present.

Shii said that as shown in the latest history of the party, the JCP for 100 years has been responding to unfair attacks from conservative and reactionary forces sticking to old-style politics, and added that such attacks underscore the fact that the JCP is a revolutionary party and thus feared.

Regarding a future Japan, Shii pointed out that since the 1980s, successive Liberal Democratic Party governments have caused socioeconomic stagnation with the implementation of neoliberal policies, undermined the pacifist Article 9 of the Constitution by strengthening the bilateral alliance with the U.S., and disregarded people’s human rights and dignity. He stressed that now is the time to change Japan’s politics. He expressed his determination to achieve the success in a project to build a stronger JCP in order to realize a change in government.

In a question-and-answer session, in response to questions from the press corps, Shii explained the significance of female JCP activists’ struggles during the prewar era and JCP struggles in solidarity with Okinawans fighting for an Okinawa without bases.

Regarding past mistakes the party cited in the document “Hundred Years of the JCP”, Shii cited the party’s support for the 1952 revision of the Eugenic Protection Act as an example.