April 12, 2016

The Japanese Communist Party on April 10 and 11 held its 5th Central Committee Plenum at the JCP head office in Tokyo with only three months left before the House of Councilors election scheduled for July. The plenum set up a target of bringing down the Abe government, achieving a success in cooperation among opposition parties, and making a major JCP advance in the elections. The plenum unanimously adopted the Executive Committee report and concluding remarks by JCP Chair Shii Kazuo. In the two-day assembly, 54 JCP members participated in discussions on the Executive Committee report. Shii’s presentation of the report on the first day was broadcast live on the Internet.

Shii gave a report on behalf of the Executive Committee in regard to the current political situation and the significance of the upcoming Upper House election, major issues in the election, and the party’s election strategy to attract voters’ support.

Starting with the report about the current situation, Shii pointed to the emergence of a new phenomenon in which the mainstream of the history of post-war Japan’s constitutional pacifism is clashing with a back-streaming move.

Shii pointed out that Japanese society is facing a crisis of a path opening for the emergence of a dictatorship. At the same time, he went on to say, a revolutionary popular movement has begun for the first time in recent Japanese history. Japan is at a major historical turning point, Shii added.

Shii moved on to a landmark meeting which leaders of five opposition parties held on February 19. Explaining the significance of the meeting, Shii said that since the end of the war, this is the first time for opposition parties to work together nationwide in elections with the aim of defeating the ruling party and wage a joint struggle with broader public movements. Furthermore, Shii stressed that the JCP proposal for a “national coalition government to repeal the war legislation” heavily influenced the current political landscape, which is the first time in JCP history to do so.

Shii went on to describe the present situation of cooperation among the five opposition parties and the challenges confronting them. He stressed that it is a “pressing need” for the opposition parties to build partnerships in single-seat constituencies in the next general election as well, saying, “If such election partnerships are formed, it will increase the possibility of a reversal of power between the ruling and opposition parties and create a great change in Japan’s political situation.”

Shii called for working to achieve the opposition forces’ cooperation as well as a significant JCP advance in the coming Upper House election. He called on all party members to work hard to obtain more than 8.5 million votes (about 15% of the total) in the proportional representation districts and to increase the number of the JCP seats which currently stand at eight.

He appealed for fighting together with other opposition parties and many citizens’ groups in the election campaign in order to abolish the national security legislation and restore constitutionalism. Pointing to various problems pertaining to the war legislation, he emphasized that if Japan exercises the unconstitutional right to collective self-defense at Washington’s request, Japan will be a major member of a bellicose aggressor group and the lives of Japanese people will be exposed to danger because Japan will be designated as an enemy state.

The JCP chair also noted that the Abe government policies are coming to a deadlock in every field, citing the failed “Abenomics” economic policy, the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, the restart of offline nuclear power plants, the construction of a U.S. base in Okinawa, and a string of foreign affairs blunders. He called for putting an end to the Abe administration’s runaway policies by achieving the JCP’s major advance in the upcoming national elections. Referring to the governing coalition’s strategy to divide the opposition parties, he called on JCP members to work to foil their plot by fighting together with other opposition parties and the general public.

“The Upper House election is only three months away. Each day from now will have an influence on the outcome of the race. Let’s work together to win the election, overthrow the Abe government, and open the way for a new direction in politics and a new government,” he said.