Japan Press Weekly

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2017 November 8 - 14 [JCP]

Shii to press: Significance of 1917 Russian Revolution remains alive

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on November 9 at a press conference in the Diet building commented on the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of October 1917, saying, “I regard the revolution as a major significant event in world history which still exerts its influence on the world to this day.”

Explaining his view, Shii first pointed out that the revolution advocated that the right to national self-determination should be recognized as a common fundamental principle. Shii referred to the fact that after the revolution, the Lenin-led Soviet government issued the Decree on Peace and the Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia which proclaim that the right to self-determination should be unconditionally guaranteed to all nations and attempted to put them into action. Shii said, “The Soviet government’s position brought about the world’s structural change in which after WWII, many nations won their independence and established sovereignty.”

Next, Shii pointed out that the 1917 Revolution extended the scope of human rights to cover social rights in addition to civil liberties. Citing that by issuing the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, the Soviet Union became the first nation confirming social rights, Shii said that this move led to the establishment of the Weimar Constitution and the International Labour Organization. “Article 25 of Japan’s post-war Constitution which guarantees people’s right to live is also derived from this precedent,” Shii added.

Shii then said, “After Stalin took power, he turned the Soviet Union into a nation imposing autocratic policies on the people and exercising hegemony on other countries, which damaged the revolution’s reputation and resulted eventually in the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, even after such a tragic turn of events, I think the October Revolution’s positive impact on the world and its historical meaning remain alive.”