Japan Press Weekly

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2013 May 8 - 14 [YOUTH]

DYLJ holds rally to mark 90th anniversary of its founding

The Democratic Youth League of Japan (DYLJ) on May 12 held an assembly in Tokyo to commemorate the 90th anniversary of its foundation, with about 600 young people attending. At the rally, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo gave a speech.

The DYLJ, which was established on April 5, 1923, (called “the Communist Youth League of Japan” at the time) is aiming at changing the Japanese society to improve people’s lives, through learning scientific socialism and the Program of the JCP.

DYLJ Chair Tanaka Yu in his opening speech referred to the prewar struggle of Kawai Yoshitora, the first chair of the youth league. Kawai was arrested in the midst of his efforts to rescue sufferers of the 1923 Great Tokyo Earthquake and shot to death.

Tanaka noted that the prewar struggles have led to their current activities, saying that the league set up a national youth volunteer center to help victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Disaster, and submitted last year to the International Labor Organization a report about the actual living conditions of Japanese youth.

Shii stressed the importance that the youth organization had stood up against the despotic rule of the Tenno (Emperor) system and Japan’s war of aggression, and struggled for popular sovereignty and peace. “Their fight shows the political awareness and intelligence of the youth in Japan’s prewar period. History has shown that their claims and efforts were right,” he stated.

Shii told the participants that even under the brutal suppression, young activists organized a variety of enjoyable events together with workers and readers of the organ paper, such as picnics or baseball tournaments in factories. “I hope you will learn a lot for your own growth, respond to every demand of the young, and develop your activities cheerfully and freely,” he said.

Suzuki Shiori, a 29-year-old woman living in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward, said, “Learning about the 90-year history of the league, I felt that its tradition of working to open the way to the future has been kept alive.”