Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2017 July 12 - 18 [JCP]

I will live my life as JCP member: newly-joined female student

Akahata ‘current’ column

The Japanese Communist Party on July 15 marked the 95-year anniversary of its founding (July 15, 1922).

“I will live actively together with the JCP” said an 18-year-old student. Recently, an opportunity to listen to two college students who joined the JCP arose. One of them, who came to Tokyo in April 2017 to attend university, became a JCP member because she wants to defend peace.

She was born and grew up in Nagasaki so war was something close to her heart. She listened to A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha) speaking about their experiences following the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, read the collection of notes written by kamikaze pilots, and visited former battle sites. Through those experiences, she thought, “How terrible war is!” Her childhood determination to oppose war became even stronger under the Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’ regime with its aim to revise the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.

She felt a sense of crisis that the foundation of peace was being shaken. Meanwhile, the adoption of the UN nuclear weapons ban treaty brought hope and courage to her. In the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election campaign, she talked with many passersby on the street, and was inspired by various ideas through conversations she had with people she encountered.

Another student, a 19-year-old woman studying at university in Aomori, knowing about the harsh working conditions her parents endured, came to believe that the Japanese government must establish decent work rules. She wants to further her knowledge about what is happening in Japan and the world right now and what issues and perspectives major media do not cover and report. She joined the JCP in order to broaden her own perspective on the world.

Although the motivation for joining the JCP is different for every party member, the desire to improve the life of people even a little is a common motive. In order to strengthen the JCP, which listens to the people and voices their concerns in the political arena, party members work hard to encourage people to develop a better understanding of the JCP and try to increase the number of JCP party members and supporters.

The JCP experienced countless hardships after its foundation in the pre-war days. The party members spoke out and took action in wartime society at the risk of their lives, struggled against the interference committed by the Soviet Union and China in the post-war era, and finally brought down the anti-communist “wall” that had excluded the JCP from the mainstream political arena. And now the JCP has helped to build a bridge joining opposition parties with concerned citizens. Following in the footsteps of forerunners, JCP members have tirelessly put forth every effort at the grass-root level for 95 years. Along with young comrades living in the present who just joined the JCP, we share the joy of the vibrant existence of the JCP.