Communist Party of Japan

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Communist Party of Japan
Nihon Kyōsantō
Japanese Communist Party
Parteivorsitz (kambukai iinchō) Kazuo Shii
Deputy Chair Yoshiki Yamashita , Tadayoshi Ichida , Yasuo Ogata , Akiko Kurabayashi , Tomoko Tamura , Tadao Hamano
Secretary General Akira Koike
PARC Chair Tomoko Tamura
Parliamentary affairs Keiji Kokuta
Group chairmanship in the Shūgiin Chizuko Takahashi
Group chairmanship in the Sangiin Tomoko Kami
founding July 15, 1922, legalized in 1945
Headquarters 4-26-7 Sendagaya , Shibuya , Tokyo Prefecture
Members by 300,000
233,172 paying
Colours) red
MPs in the Shūgiin
12/465
(May 2018)
MPs in the Sangiin
13/245
(February 2020)
Government grants - (no assumption)
Number of members by 300,000
233,172 paying
Minimum age 18 years
International connections International meeting of communist and workers' parties
Website www.jcp.or.jp

The Communist Party of Japan (short KPJ ; Japanese 日本 共産党 Nihon Kyōsantō ; eng. Japanese Communist Party , short JCP ) is a political party in Japan .

Party chairman ( chūō-iinkai kambukai-iinchō , chairman of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee) is Kazuo Shii , general secretary Akira Koike . The position of the Central Committee President ( chūō-iinkai gichō ) has been vacant since the 24th Congress in 2006, when Tetsuzō Fuwa retired.

The CPY stands for the abolition of capitalism and against militarism and is for the creation of a society based on socialism , democracy and peace.

However, it strives to achieve these goals within the framework of current capitalist society. The party, on the other hand, speaks out against what it calls " imperialism and its ally, monopoly capitalism ".

Although a Leninist party , the JCP does not advocate the socialist revolution . She speaks of pursuing the idea of ​​a “democratic revolution” in order to “bring about democratic change in politics and the economy”. Another programmatic point is the “complete restoration of the national sovereignty of Japan”, which the CPY sees as being affected by Japan's alliance with the USA .

The CPY has about 300,000 members in 20,000 local chapters. Unlike many communist parties in Europe and elsewhere, it has not experienced an internal crisis as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union , nor has it considered abandoning its name or any of its fundamental principles. However, their number of votes in the elections initially fell: after 12.1% of the direct votes and 11.2% of the proportional votes in the lower house elections in 2000 , they only achieved 8.1 / 7.8% in 2003 and 7.3 / 7 in 2005 , 3% (but even that is still almost 5 million votes in absolute terms) by 2014 to 13.3 / 11.4%. In the 2013 upper house election , the CPY also gained 10.6% of the direct vote and 9.7% of the proportional representation.

history

Event for the 33rd anniversary of the founding of the party in July 1955
Direct voting share at nat. General Elections
15%
10%
5%
0%
'46
'47
'49
'52
'53
'55
'58
'60
'63
'67
'69
'72
'76
'79
'80
'83
'86
'90
'93
'96
'00
'03
'05
'09
'12
'14
'17
Relative Under
15%
10%
5%
0%
'96
'00
'03
'05
'09
'12
'14
'17

The CPJ was founded on July 15, 1922 as a political organization. It was immediately banned due to the Ordinance and Police Act ( 治安 警察 法 , chian-keisatsu-hō ) and subjected to reprisals and persecution by the police and the military of imperial Japan .

It was the only Japanese party to oppose Japan's involvement in World War II . After the capitulation of Japan in 1945, the ban was lifted by the Allied occupation authorities ( SCAP / GHQ ). It has been a legal political party since then and has taken part in elections. In 1950, however, the GHQ had members and sympathizers of the CPY removed from public office in the Red Purge . In 1952 the parliament passed the law against subversive activities , which - without explicitly naming the JCP - was supposed to enable monitoring and control of its activities.

During the rift between the Soviet Union and China in the 1960s, the party briefly followed the Beijing line, then turned away from that side and was then neutral on this issue. It peaked in votes in 1970.

The reforms of the Japanese electoral system in the 1990s, after which there were only single constituencies in elections to the Shūgiin , the lower house of the national parliament, did not cause any major damage to the JCP. She was able to maintain her position partly because of the collapse of the Socialist Party of Japan (SPJ; most recently the Social Democratic Party of Japan) during the initially "grand" coalition in the Murayama and Hashimoto cabinets. The SPJ was the country's largest opposition party before the 1990s government participation. The SPJ hull Party SDP achieved in the general election in 1996 only 6.4% of the votes in the newly introduced proportional representation for smaller portion of the lower house, the SDP crashed to 2.2% with the majority vote. The new main opposition parties, the New Progressive Party and the Democratic Party (DPJ), differed only marginally in their policies from the ruling LDP and, in economic policy areas, demanded reforms from the LDP-SPJ / SDP government to some extent on deregulation, market opening and budget consolidation, which the CPJ is still doing rejected more than government policy. Apart from the New Socialist Party, which soon became insignificant, the left wing of the SPJ had no alternative but to turn to the CPJ. In the 1990s, the CPY once again won double-digit votes in national elections. However, during the consolidation of the opposition in the Democratic Party in the 2000s, popularity fell again.

In the 2010s, after the electoral of the DPJ-led governments and the return of an LDP-led coalition under Shinzō Abe , the CPJ recorded considerable gains in popularity and was able to win direct seats in both chambers of the national parliament again. After she had implicitly cooperated with the bourgeois opposition in the lower house elections in 2005 and 2009 by renouncing majority election nominations in considerable parts of the country, then after the democrats came to power in the lower house elections in 2012 and 2014 again almost nationwide candidates, she went for the nomination Upper House election 2016 an explicit, publicly mutually agreed nationwide cooperation with Democrats, Social Democrats and Seikatsu no Tō . From 2015 she formed the cross-party organization Minkyōkyōtō ( 民 共 共 闘 , for example "Democratic-Communist Joint Struggle") with the DPJ and its successor party, the Democratic Progressive Party , which emerged in May 2016 , the aim of which is to strengthen cooperation between the opposition parties and to act against the Abe government and in particular against the law of the " right to collective self-defense ". In the 2017 general election , the CPJ formed a “left-wing electoral alliance” with the Constitutional Democratic Party (KDP) and the SDP, so that communists or social democrats ran against KDP candidates in fewer than 20 constituencies. The CPY lost a few seats to the KDP, especially in the proportional representation, but with a total of 12 seats, compared to its election results in the 2000s, it was relatively successful. In the upper house election in 2019 , she suffered slight losses. Thus, the CPY currently (as of February 2020) has 12 seats in the lower house and 13 in the upper house.

politics

One of the main goals of the CPY is to end the military alliance with the US and to close all US military bases in Japan. She wants to make Japan a neutral and non-aligned country in accordance with the principles of self-determination and national sovereignty . There are currently about 130 US bases and related facilities in Japan, with Okinawa having the largest US base in Asia (IV, 12).

The CPY also seeks to change national economic policy, which it sees as representing the interests of large corporations and banks, to one that “defends the interests of the people”. It wants to establish democratic rules that restrict the activities of large companies and protect “the life and basic rights of the people”. ( Economic democracy )

The party also opposes nuclear weapons and opposes any attempts to revise Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution , which includes strict military neutrality and people's sovereignty. ("National independence, 4")

In the field of the world economy, the CPY advocates a new democratic order based on the economic sovereignty of each country. The USA, international corporations and international finance capital are seen as drivers of globalization . The CPY advocates "democratic regulation of the activities of transnational societies and international finance capital on an international level." ("Economic democracy")

The CPY is often attacked by nationalist groups : the sign on the vehicle of the "Greater Japan Patriotic Party" reads: "Beat down the Communist Party!"

The CPJ seeks immediate changes in Japanese foreign policy. Priority must be given to peaceful solutions through negotiations, not military solutions. Japan must adhere to the UN Charter .

The party also pursues the idea that Japan, as an Asian country, should stop focusing diplomatic relations on relations with the USA and the G8 states and that intra-Asian politics should be at the center of external relations. It supports Japan in establishing an “independent foreign policy in the interests of the Japanese people” and rejects “uncritical allegiance to any foreign power”.

She takes the position that Japan should show repentance and apologize for its crimes during World War II , as it is seen as a prerequisite for better relations with the rest of Asia. (II)

The CPY's position on international terrorism is that only through "strong international solidarity with the United Nations at the center" can terrorism be suppressed. A "war on terrorism", on the other hand, causes "a rupture and contradictions in international solidarity, which instead paves the way for terrorism". ("National independence, 4")

While the CPJ was directed strictly against the Japanese imperial family before the war and also in the post-war period , it has recently been noted that one is not against the Tennō as head of state of Japan as long as he only has a representative function and no power.

Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster , the CPY has been pursuing an exit from nuclear energy. Fuwa Tetsuzo, director of the Social Science Institute of the Communist Party of Japan, said on May 10, 2011 that the nuclear accident in Fukushima clearly illustrated the fundamental problems of capitalism. The catastrophe was caused by the profit principle. This would also be expressed in the fact that the cooling with salt water was delayed because the management of the operating company TEPCO had hoped to be able to continue operating the reactors, but this would not have been possible after the use of salt water. The consequence is the priority for security, superseding the profit principle. The aim is to phase out nuclear energy and create a sustainable energy supply in the future. A period of 20 years is estimated for the changeover.

Management structure

Party flag of the CPJ

Party congress

The " Congress of the Communist Party of Japan" ( 日本 共産党 大会 Nihon Kyōsantō-taikai ) elects the Central Committee (ZK) and is thus the highest authority of the CPJ. It determines the basic political lines of the party and confirms or discusses proposals by the Central Committee and is convened by the Central Committee every 2 to 3 years, but can also be postponed by the Central Committee if necessary. It is held with a duration of 4 to 5 days in the "CPJ auditorium attached to the Izu learning center" ( 日本 共産党 伊豆 学習 会館 付 属 大 講堂 Nihon Kyōsantō Izu-gakushū-kaikan Fuzoku-daikōdō ) in Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture . The topics of the respective party congress are proposed about 2 months in advance by a general assembly of the Central Committee, discussed based on this within the local branches and then published in the party newspaper Akahata , whereby it is also possible to submit proposals to the Central Committee. The delegates are elected at prefecture assemblies, the members of which must have been previously determined in the local chapters, regardless of their position; at the 27th party congress in January 2017 there were 825 delegates. It is unusual here that sometimes even national parliamentarians or members of the (previous) Central Committee are not elected as delegates, although they can still hold speeches as "council members" ( 評議 員 Hyogiin ). The party congress does not have the right to elect the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee or the General Secretary, but the Central Committee must present the candidates for it at this meeting.

List of party conventions

# date Remarks
01 July 15, 1922 held in secret, partly contradicting sources on the date
02 February 4, 1924
03 4th December 1924 secretly in a Onsen in Yonezawa held
04th 1st - 3rd December 1945 held legally and publicly for the first time
05 24.-26. February 1946
06th 21.-24. December 1947 most extensive adjustment of the activities of the Central Committee under pressure from the GHQ out
07th July 21–1. August 1958 Resumption of party operations and resolution of the party constitution
08th 25.-31. July 1961 Decision of the party program
09 24.-30. November 1964
10 24.-30. October 1966
11 1-7 July 1970 Change of party program, election of Miyamoto Kenji as party chairman
12 14.-21. November 1973
13 28-30 July 1976 partial change of party program
14th 17.-22. October 1977
15th February 26–11. March 1980
16 27.-31. July 1982 Election of Tetsuzō Fuwa as party chairman and Miyamoto Kenji as central committee chairman
17th 19.-24. November 1985
18th 25-29 November 1987 Election of Hiroshi Murakami as party chairman
19th 9-13 July 1990
20th 19.-23. July 1994 Change of party program and constitution
21st 22-26 September 1997 Miyamoto Kenji resigns as chairman and member of the Central Committee
22nd 20th - 24th November 2000 Election of Kazuo Shiis as party chairman and Tetsuzō Fuwas as central committee chairman
23 13-17 January 2004 Change of party program
24 11-14 January 2006 Tetsuzō Fuwa's retirement as chairman of the Central Committee
25th 13-16 January 2010
26th 15-18 January 2014
27 15-18 January 2017
28 14.-18. January 2020 Change of party program

Central Committee

Seat of the Central Committee in Sendagaya

The main administrative body is the " Central Committee of the Communist Party of Japan" ( 日本 共産党 中央 委員会 Nihon Kyōsantō Chūō Iiinkai ; eng. The Central Committee of the Japanese Communist Party ), which is held anew for 2 to 3 years at each (from the Central Committee) party congress is elected and the activities of the party between the party congresses on a “central” (national) level coordinated and carried out. It is located in the main building of the KPJ in the Sendagaya district of the Shibuya district in Tokyo and is hierarchically divided into the " Plenum " ( 総 会 Sōkai ), the "Executive Committee" ( 幹部 会 Kambukai ) and the "Standing Executive Committee" ( 常任 幹部 会 Jōnin Kambukai ) divided. According to Article 21 of the party constitution, the Central Committee has the following functions and powers:

  1. Representation and leadership of the party
  2. Publication of the party newspaper
  3. Implementation and further development of the party program
  4. Handle foreign and domestic affairs
  5. Continuation of the theoretical discussion of Scientific Socialism
  6. Systematic promotion of the party leadership, formation of a leadership structure and appropriate distribution of tasks, taking into account all party members
  7. Advice to the local chapters on municipal matters
  8. Management and organization of financial activities

Bureau

The Presidium of the Central Committee consists of the President ( 中央委員 会議 長 Chūō Iiinkai Gichō ), the Chairman of the Executive Council, the Secretary General and his deputies. The post of Central Committee President was occupied by Nosaka Sanzo until the 16th party congress in July 1982 and was comparable to the honorary chairmanship of other parties, but since then it has officially been the highest office of the CPY and requires membership in the Central Committee. This position has been vacant since the 24th Congress in January 2006, when Tetsuzō Fuwa retired.

List of Presidents of the Central Committee

# Surname Inauguration adoption image
1 Nosaka Sanzo August 1, 1958 July 31, 1982 Nosaka Sanzo
2 Miyamoto Kenji July 31, 1982 September 26, 1997 Miyamoto Kenji
3 Tetsuzo Fuwa November 24, 2000 January 14, 2006

plenum

The plenum, which consists of all ZK members, is its highest decision-making body and must be convened at least twice a year, but can also be held if more than a third of the members request it. The party constitution always refers to the term “central committee” to the plenary, which means that every proposal must have approved before it is adopted. At party conventions, the plenum elects the President of the Central Committee, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee ( 中央 委員会 幹部 会 委員長 Chūō Iinkai Kambukai Iinchō ), his deputy and the General Secretary of the Central Committee ( 中央 委員会 書記 局長 Chūō Iinkai Shoki Kyokuchō ). In addition, it can nominate candidates as members of the individual commissions, which are then elected at the party congress.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is subordinate to the plenary and carries out the work of the Central Committee between the plenary sessions; the members are also elected by the latter; at the 27th party congress there were 59. The executive committee nominates its chairman, the members of the “standing executive committee” and the “ secretariat ” ( 書記 局 Shokikyoku ), the general secretary and the editors of the party newspaper, who are then elected at the party congress. The post of executive committee chairman is comparable to that of party chairman of other parties. Until 1970, the General Secretary (until 1923 総 務 主席 幹事Sōmu Shuseki Kanji ; from 1945 to 1970 書記 長Shokichō ) held this position based on the Soviet model . Since there is also the "permanent executive committee" in addition to the executive committee, the former only meets irregularly.

List of chairpersons of the Executive Committee or General Secretaries

# Surname Inauguration adoption image
Pre-war CPY (General Secretaries)
1 Arahata Kanson July 15, 1922 1923 Arahata Kanson
2 Sakai Toshihiko 1923 September 9, 1923 Toshihiko Sakai
Postwar CPY (General Secretaries)
1 Tokuda Kyūichi December 3, 1945 October 14, 1953 Tokuda Kyūichi
2 Nosaka Sanzo 1955  August 1, 1958 Nosaka Sanzo
3 Miyamoto Kenji  August 1, 1958  July 7, 1970 Miyamoto Kenji
Postwar CPY (Executive Council Chair)
1 Miyamoto Kenji  July 7, 1970 July 31, 1982 Miyamoto Kenji
2  Tetsuzo Fuwa  July 31, 1982  November 29, 1987
3 Hiroshi Murakami  November 29, 1987  May 29, 1989  Hiroshi Murakami
4th Tetsuzo Fuwa  May 29, 1989  November 24, 2000
5  Kazuo Shii November 24, 2000 Kazuo Shii

Standing Executive Committee

The "Standing Executive Committee" is subordinate to the Executive Committee and carries out its tasks when it is not in session; the members are also determined by the Executive Committee. The permanent executive committee does not have a chairman or a hierarchical structure and has consisted of 25 members since the 27th party congress.

Commissions

Various technical commissions ( 委員会 Iinkai , for example “committee” and 部 局 Bukyoku , for example “department”; comparable to think tanks ) are subordinate to the secretariat of the CPY , which specialize in certain areas (e.g. political science , communication policy , finance, foreign policy or election campaign strategies) and consist of ZK members. Sometimes the resulting works are published in the party’s own publishing house and sold in normal bookshops ; the editorial board also publishes the daily Shimbun Akahata party newspaper .

Election results in national parliamentary elections

year Lower House election results Upper house election results House of Lords Composition
Candidates Direct dial Proportional representation
Total mandates
Candidates Prefectural constituencies National constituency
(from 1983: proportional representation)

Total mandates
Share of votes Mandates Share of votes Mandates Share of votes Mandates Share of votes Mandates
Illegal until 1945 if a party was founded - -
(Upper House of the Reichstag: mansion )
1946 143 3.9% 5/468 - 5 + 1/468
1947 42 3.7% 1/150 2.9% 3/100 4/250
1947 120 3.7% 4/466 - 4/466
1949 115 9.8% 35/466 - 35/466
1950 50 5.7% 0/76 4.8% 2/56 2/132 4/250
1952 107 2.5% 0/466 - 0/466
1953 85 1.9% 1/466 - 1/466
1953 16 0.9% 0/75 1.1% 0/53 0/128 1/250
1955 60 2.0% 2/467 - 2/467
1956 34 3.9% 1/75 2.1% 1/52 2/127 2/250
1958 114 2.6% 1/467 - 1/467
1959 36 3.3% 0/75 1.9% 1/52 1/127 3/250
1960 118 2.9% 3/467 - 3/467
1962 47 4.9% 1/76 3.1% 2/50 2/127 4/250
1963 118 4.0% 5/467 - 5/467
1965 48 6.9% 1/75 4.4% 2/52 3/127 4/250
1967 123 4.8% 5/486 - 5/486
1968 49 8.3% 1/75 5.0% 3/51 4/126 7/250
1969 123 6.8% 14/486 - 14/486
1971 49 12.1% 1/75 8.1% 5/50 6/125 10/252
1972 122 10.5% 38/491 - 38 + 2/491
1974 54 12.0% 5/76 9.4% 8/54 13/130 18/252
1976 128 10.4% 17/511 - 17 + 2/511
1977 52 10.0% 3/76 8.4% 2/50 5/126 16/252
1979 128 10.4% 39/511 - 39 + 2/511
1980
Shū - San -
double choice
129 9.8% 29/511 - 29/511 52 11.7% 4/76 7.3% 3/50 7/126 12/252
1983 71 10.5% 2/76 9.0% 5/50 7/126 14/252
1983 129 9.3% 26/511 - 26 + 1/511
1986
Shū - San -
double choice
129 8.8% 26/512 - 26 + 1/512 71 11.4% 4/76 9.5% 5/50 9/126 16/252
1989 71 8.8% 1/76 7.0% 4/50 5/126 14/252
1990 131 8.0% 16/512 - 16/512
1992 71 10.6% 2/77 7.9% 4/50 6/127 11/252
1993 129 7.7% 15/511 - 15/511
1995 72 10.4% 3/76 9.5% 5/50 8/126 14/252
1996 321 12.6% 2/300 12.0% 24/200 26/500
1998 70 15.7% 7/76 14.6% 8/50 15/126 23/252
2000 332 12.1% 0/300 11.1% 20/180 20/480
2001 72 9.9% 1/73 7.9% 4/48 5/121 20/247
2003 316 8.1% 0/300 7.8% 9/180 9/480
2004 72 9.8% 0/73 7.8% 4/48 4/121 9/242
2005 292 7.3% 0/300 7.3% 9/180 9/480
2007 63 8.7% 0/73 7.5% 3/48 3/121 7/242
2009 171 4.2% 0/300 7.0% 9/180 9/480
2010 64 7.3% 0/73 6.1% 3/48 3/121 6/242
2012 322 7.8% 0/300 6.1% 8/180 8/480
2013 63 10.6% 3/73 9.7% 5/48 8/121 11/242
2014 315 13.0% 1/295 11.4% 20/180 21/475
2016 56 7.3% 1/73 10.7% 5/48 6/121 14/242
2017 243 9.0% 1/289 7.9% 11/176 12/465
2019 40 7.4% 3/74 9.0% 4/50 7/124 13/245
  1. a b c d e Subsequent nomination (s)
  2. 1 subsequent nomination, 1 accession of the Okinawa Jinmintō

literature

  • Margarete Donath: The Communist Party of Japan between Beijing and Moscow 1961–1973. Cologne 1975.
  • Hans Modrow , Manfred Sohn: Before the big jump? Overview of the politics of the Japanese Communist Party . GNN-Verlag, Schkeuditz 2000
  • Manfred Pohl : The Communist Party of Japan: a way without Beijing and Moscow . Institute for Asian Studies, Hamburg 1976
  • Masaru Kojima: The record of the talks between the Japanese Communist Party and the Communist Party of China: how Mao Zedong scrapped the joint communiqué . Central Committee, Japanese Communist Party, Tokyo 1980.

swell

  1. a b c d e f jcp.or.jp - 中央 委員会 の 機構 と 人事 , as of January 18, 2020
  2. a b c jcp.or.jp - 日本 共産党 国会 議員 団 の 体制 , as of November 8, 2017
  3. a b jcp.or.jp - 第 27 回 党 大会 に た い す る 中央 委員会 報告 , accessed on May 31, 2018
  4. In the report on political money - Central Committee of the Communist Party of Japan (PDF) of November 30, 2017 to the Ministry of the Interior , “gross 2,798,064” paying members are stated. The numbers for each month were added up, the given number corresponds to one twelfth.
  5. shugiin.go.jp - 会 派 名 及 び 会 派別 所属 議員 数 日本 共産党 , accessed May 31, 2018
  6. sangiin.go.jp - 会 派別 所属 議員 数 一 覧 日本 共産党 , accessed on February 10, 2020
  7. a b jcp.or.jp - 日本 共産党 規約 , accessed on May 31, 2018
  8. ^ A b c d e f g Program of the CPJ after the 23rd Party Congress, Section 4: Democratic Revolution and Democratic Coalition Government
  9. ^ A Profile of the Japanese Communist, P.
  10. The Japanese September election ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sopos.org
  11. History of Japan ( Memento of the original from June 15, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.primacom.net
  12. detailed in: Donath, Margarete; The Communist Party of Japan between Beijing and Moscow 1961–1973; Cologne 1975
  13. ^ Japan Press Weekly - Fukushima nuclear crisis and capitalism
  14. jcp.or.jp - 日本 共産党 27 回 大会 始 ま る 3 野 党 ・ 1 会 派 あ い さ つ , accessed May 31, 2018
  15. jcp.or.jp - 関 東 大 震災 直 後 の 亀 戸 事件 と は? , accessed May 31, 2018

Web links

Commons : Communist Party of Japan  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files