The Japanese Communist Party: Organization and Resilience in the Midst of Adversity

During the past several years, a number of West European countries have expenenced a serious challenge from right-wing populist parties. The French National Front, the Vlaams Blok in Belgium, the Swiss Vigilants, Action National, and the Autopartei, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), and the various progressive parties in Scandinavia are among the most prominent examples of a rising tide of often radical right-wing populism which has raised concern among politicians and political commentators alike.' Referring to themselves as national-conservative or right-conservative parties they pursue a range of similar objectives: a tightening of strict law and order to combat rising crime rates associated with drugs; a return to traditional moral values in the face of a growing number of abortions and the AIDS threat; and, most important of all, the protection of national and cultural identity allegedly threatened by third world immigrants, foreign workers, and refugees. The latest addition to the list of right-wing parties has been the West German Republikaner. Founded in 1983 by Franz Sch6nhuber and disgruntled former members of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), the Republikaner became the focus of attention in the wake of the 1989 elections in West Berlin, where they came literally out of nowhere to gain more than 90,000 votes (7.5 percent of the vote) and eleven seats in the city parliament. Despite attempts by political observers to play down the extent of support for the radical right, the Republikaner repeated their earlier local success on the federal level in the European elections in June 1989: capturing 7.1 percent of the popular vote, they were the main cause for the painful losses of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and particularly their Bavarian sister party, the CSU. In addition, the German People's Party (DVU), an extremist neo-Nazi party, received 1.6 percent of the vote, increasing the total vote for the far right to 9 percent. Successes in subsequent local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Wiirttemberg in the fall and a respectable 3.3 percent in the state elections in the Saarland in the spring of 1990 against a highly popular minister president, Oskar Lafontaine (Social Democratic Party, SPD), who embarked on a populist course of his own, were indications that the Republikaner might stand a chance to overcome the five percent hurdle in the federal elections at the end of the year. The fact that a right-wing party could rise almost over night to command national and international attention points to serious deficits in West German democracy. After the establishment of the left-libertarian Greens in the early 1980s the gains of radical parties on both sides of the political spectrum largely at the expense of the established catch-all parties expose above all the declining ability of the large parties to bind their respective electorates. As in other West European countries, the number of floating voters has increased considerably during the last decade, from 24 percent in 1980 to more than a third in 1989.2

This chapter illustrates the constabulary character of the force, the battles over its direction, and the influence of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) on the National Police Reserve (NPR). It provides a survey of the living conditions and legal position of the NPR's members, and an examination of the JCP's 'military campaign' of the period. This analysis of the JCP contributes to reveal Japanese perspectives and influences on the force and the examination of the 'bottom up' attempts by the JCP to seize control of the force and turn it into a tool of the Left. The key question as to why the NPR was never used in its original internal security role is also examined, with the use of 'Bloody May Day' as a case study. Furthermore, the relations between the JCP and the NPR and the development of the NPR's role in disaster relief operations are also examined.Keywords: Bloody May Day; constabulary character; disaster relief operations; Japanese Communist Party (JCP); military campaign; National Police Reserve (NPR)

In 1950, Cominform (the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers’ Parties) criticised the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) for promoting ‘peaceful revolution’ under the Allied Occupation. The critique led to the so-called ‘1950 issue’, a period beset by ideological divisions, in which the JCP split, with one faction continuing to support ‘peaceful revolution’ and the other siding with Cominform’s views. Nuyama Hiroshi founded the magazine Gurafu wakamono (Graph Youth) in 1958 after a temporary respite to the 1950 issue. The magazine was aimed at the young people of Japan, and ran until 1971. Nuyama was regarded as an authority on cultural issues within the JCP and, in addition to being the first editor-in-chief of Gurafu wakamono, he led the ‘Dance for Dance’s Sake’ movement, sometimes referred to as the ‘Singing and Dancing Communist Party’. In 1966, during the lifetime of the magazine, Nuyama’s ideological differences regarding the Cultural Revolution in China led to his excommunication from the Communist Party. Drawing on material from the magazine itself, this article examines the democratic ideology promulgated by Gurafu wakamono and its successor magazine, also edited by Nuyama, with particular emphasis on editions published in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

This chapter examines the electoral performance of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) in the 2017 general election. The JCP lost about 30% of proportional representation (PR) votes relative to the previous election, and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) appears to be the main recipient of the voters who left the JCP. The JCP reduced its number of single-seat district (SSD) candidates in this election, but still ran candidates in 71% of SSDs. The presence or absence of a JCP candidate in SSDs, however, does not seem to have substantially influenced the overall results.

This chapter illustrates the threat the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) was perceived to represent to the internal security of Japan. This was a threat which was seen to require measures including the creation of the National Police Reserve (NPR). The examination of the central domestic influences on the NPR is split into two sections, the first dealing with the history of the JCP until the adoption of its 'military policy' in 1950, and the second examining the Japanese conceptions of internal security and the corresponding desire for an internal security constabulary. The chapter is largely contextual and elements of it do not explicitly or directly relate to the creation of the NPR but its inclusion is necessary to illustrate the growth of the perception of the JCP as a threat to the Japanese state; a threat which, to be successfully guarded against, required the creation of the NPR.Keywords: internal security constabulary; Japanese Communist Party (JCP); military policy; National Police Reserve (NPR)

OMMENTING ON THE RESULTS of the i969 General Election in which the Japan Communist (JCP) tripled its number of seats in the lower house, the late Liberal-Democratic (LDP) Vice-President, Shojiro Kawashima, predicted, seventies will be an era of confrontation between the LDP and the Japan Communist Party. The remark was quickly picked up by media and the JCP itself and has since gained wide currency. Although talk of LDP-JCP confrontation may appear premature, with the LDP at the beginning of I972 holding 299 seats in the 486 seat lower house compared to the JCP's I4 (or I5 if the Okinawan People's dietman is included), the JCP has been markedly increasing its influence among the Japanese as reflected in election results in recent years. It is one of two Japanese political parties that has been making constant and successful efforts to increase its electoral strength. The other is the Komeito (Clean Government Party), the polits-al arm of the militant Buddhist Soka Gakkai (Value Creation Society) and the JCP's arch-enemy. The initial policy of the JCP in the postwar period was laid down by Sanzo Nosaka and the party's Central Committee in i946 and remained the basic Communist policy until Cominform criticism in I950. The party sought to demonstrate its deep concern for the welfare of the masses and advanced the notion of a Communist Party engaged in peaceful revolution. In four years Nosaka's concept built an organization of ioo,ooo members and in the general election of i949 the Communists polled io percent of the total vote. The era of making the JCP lovable and attuned to Japanese nationalism ended abruptly, however, with the January i950 attack by Moscow, seconded by Peking, on Nosaka's tactics and the resultant line of ultra-leftist adventurism on which the party embarked. Membership and electoral support shriveled and the prewar image of a conspiratorial party controlled from abroad was revived. In the election which followed the violent I952 May Day demonstrations the party's strength in the lower house dropped from 35 seats to one. In I955 the party was allowed by Moscow and Peking to abandon this unrewarding strategy of militancy and outright violence that had been forced upon it be-

Part I The view from the centre: Zimmerwald and the origins of the Third International, David Kirby the history of the Comintern in the light of new documents, Kevin McDermott the structure of the Moscow apparatus of the Comintern and decision-making. Part II The parties and the Comintern - Europe: the Comintern International and the British Communist Party, Andrew Thorpe the Comintern and a trotskyist menace to British communism on the eve of World War II, Yevgeny Sergeev about a few things we know better concerning French communism and the Communist International, Guillaume Bourgeois the Comintern and the Italian Commuist Party in the light of some new documents, Aldo Agosti the testing-ground of world revolution - Germany in the 1920s, Aleksandr Vatlin from Lenin's comrades in arms to Dutch donkeys - the Communist party in the Netherlands and the Comintern of the 1920s, Gerrit Voerman the highpoint of Comintern influence? - the Comintern and the Civil War in Spain, Tim Rees nationalist or internationalist? The Portuguese Communist Party's autonomy and the Communist international, Carlos Cuhna the Communist Party of Greece of the Comintern - evaluations, instructions and subordination, Artiem Ulunian Tito and the twighlight of Comintern, Geoff Swain. The parties of Comintern - the Americas and Asia: the Communist International and the American Communist Party, Hugh Wilford from Caribbean backwater to revolutionary opportunity - Cuba's evolving relationship with Comintern, 1925-1934, Barry Carr the COmintern, the Chinese Communist Party and the three armed uprisings in Shanghai, 1926-1927, Steve Smith peasants and the peoples of the east - Indians and the rhetoric of Comintern, Wendy Singer the Comintern and Japanese Communist Party, Sandra Wilson.

The Political Consequences of the Financial and Economic Crisis in Europe: Electoral Punishment and Popular Protest

This chapter looks into how the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) tried to rebuild after years of forced inactivity. Even though the JCP certainly had the ear of popular opinion at the time, the JCP and the left wing in general soon fell into a long period of internecine warfare. The JCP was clear about removing the emperor and the Japanese imperial throne from power, but different sectors had other plans concerning the emperor's decision after the surrender. The chapter explains that postwar efforts continued for decades even after the war crimes trials finished. It elaborates on the long-term Japanese postwar military anxiety about its image.

The Chinese and Japanese communist parties: three decades of discord and reconciliation, 1966–1998

E VEN before the outbreak of the Korean war, the program and .activities of the Japanese Communist Party were of interest to observers of Asian affairs. As the largest and most effective Communist organization in non-Communist East Asia, the Party represented a significant element in the struggle for power which has accompanied the cold war. In view of recent events, the proximity of Japan to Korea, as well as the increasing likelihood that a peace treaty of some kind will shortly be offered Japan, focuses attention on the relations of the Party with the Soviet Union and Korea. Unique circumstances permit fuller knowledge of the past workings of the Communist movement in Japan than of similar movements elsewhere in Asia. After a precarious illegal existence of more than twentyfive years, the Japanese Communist Party made its initial appearance in 1945 as a legal political party. For nearly five years thereafter, a continuous stream of Communist literature-political tracts, translations from foreign languages, reminiscences of Party leaders, and official and unofficial Party histories-circulated in Japan without interference from the government or the Occupation. In addition, the destruction of the police-state apparatus brought to light a substantial number of Japanese government records pertaining to the Communist Party, records once marked confidential or secret.' Moreover, the men who formerly led the revolutionary movement in Japan or represented it abroad have for the most part survived the war and government repression.2 Analy-

Whether in Europe or Asia, Soviet foreign policy amounted to more than diplomacy. There was also the Comintern which, although an international organisation of Communist Parties, was under the ultimate control of the Soviet Communist Party and therefore could not afford to ignore the interests of the Soviet state. In the conflict with Japan, Soviet needs were pressing; but those needs were extremely hard to meet. The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) had been suppressed almost to the point of extinction and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was of little use. From the Manchurian incident in 1931 until 1934 the CCP, concentrated in Kiangsi, a province to the south-west of Shanghai, was too far from the Japanese front to offer any resistance. And Kuomintang (KMT) encirclement of these soviets made any enlargement of Communist power most unlikely. Indeed Chiang Kaishek’s campaign very nearly succeeded in wiping them out. On 16 October 1934 the Communists escaped by forced march — the Long March — to the north and west. Under the direction of Mao Tse-tung, who secured his supremacy en route at Tsunyi in January 1935, battered remnants of the Red forces reached the poverty-stricken province of northern Shensi that October.KeywordsCommunist PartyChinese Communist PartyUnite FrontSoviet LeadershipRadio ContactThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

International cooperation of left parties has been developed in the 1860s due to the international agenda of the parties. In the 20th century the conflict between Communist and Social Democratic parties became more and more important. In 1951, in opposition to the Soviet dominated Communist Information Bureau (Cominforn), the Socialist International was reestablished by 34 predominantly European member parties. Links to non-European parties, mainly incurred in joint efforts to decolonization. Since 1976, under the chairmanship of Willy Brandt, the SI expanded purposefully in all regions of the world. The SI was a key player in the cold war – both due to the conflict with communist parties, as well as by the opposition to right-wing authoritarian systems and through contacts with the KPDSU. After the implosion of the communist parties in Eastern Europe, the SI supported the formation of social-democratic parties and fostered their integration into the social democratic party family, but failed to establish strong non-European member parties in the US, in India Abstracts 155 and in Brazil. Ideologically, the SI is focused on the post-1989 democratic and social globalization, on conflict mediation and on disarmament. Institutionally, the SI primarily becomes active in its bi-annual meetings of the Council which were attended by over 100 parties. The Council meetings are nodes in a network that can be used continuously for mutual assistance in case of elections, in national or international conflicts or even in preparing negotiations for the UN Security Council. The article examines in how far the international features of transnational party cooperation are shaped by peculiarities and specifics – also in comparison to the European wide party cooperation.

Despite an 88-year history, the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) [Nihon Kyōsantō] remains largely unknown beyond Japan. Domestically, Japan's fifth largest party is saddled with an image that, for many, continues to provoke feelings of unease and doubt. During the past 13 years, following the 21st party congress of 1997, the party leadership of Kazuo Shii and Tetsuzo Fuwa, utilizing the phrase ‘Unity of principle and flexibility’, has sought to temper this unease by means of a series of organizational and ideational reforms that are intended to present a softer and more pragmatic image to the outside world while reassuring the party core that the JCP brand remains intact. The sustainability of this Janus-like approach, in the face of the contextual realities of Japanese party politics, is coming under severe pressure.

ABSTRACT: Three decades after the African National Congress (ANC) won 62.7 percent of the vote that propelled Nelson Mandela into the presidency in 1994, the ANC's vote share plummeted to 40.2 percent of the national vote in South Africa's 2024 general election (down from 57.5 percent five years previously,= and well below the 50 percent predicted by preelection polls). Against thirty years of pessimistic academic literature predicting the opposite, the ANC accepted electoral defeat. But this left the ANC in a strategic quandary. Had it reached the upper 40 percent range, easy coalitions with small parties would have passed the 50 percent threshold. But with only 40 percent, the party reached back into the early years of democracy and formed a government of national unity—a multiparty coalition that left the ANC's most significant political opponents out in the cold. ANC (and national) president Cyril Ramaphosa has sidelined Africanist parties and created a coalition with decidedly centrist parties. The "broad church" which has bedeviled the ANC is at an end. Multiparty coalition government has arrived in South Africa, but questions remain: Can ANC electoral decline be arrested by this sharp move towards the center? And what, if any, substantive role is there for the ANC in the future if not?