Japanese Communist Party?

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For more background on this topic, see List of political parties in Japan.

The Japanese Communist Party or Japan Communist Party (JCP) (in Japanese 日本共産党, Nihon Kyōsan-tō) is a political party in Japan.

The JCP advocates the abolition of capitalism and the establishment of a society based on socialism, democracy and peace, and opposed to what it calls "militarism." It proposes to achieve these objectives by working within the framework of capitalism in order to achieve its goals, while still struggling against what it describes as "imperialism and its subordinate ally, monopoly capital." Although it is a Leninist party, the JCP does not advocate socialist revolution: it claims to adhere to the idea of a "democratic revolution" to achieve "democratic change in politics and the economy," and also "the complete restoration of Japan's national sovereignty", which it sees as infringed by Japan's security alliance with the United States.

The JCP is the second largest non-ruling Communist party in the world, with about 400,000 members belonging to 25,000 branches. Unlike Communist parties in Europe and elsewhere, it has not suffered an internal crisis as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, nor has it considered disbanding or changing its name or fundamental objectives, as many other Communist parties have done. Its electoral strength, however, is declining. It polled 11.3 percent of the vote in 2000, 8.2 percent in 2003 and 7.3 percent at the September 2005 election. This still means that the JCP polled nearly 5 million votes.

History

The JCP was founded on July 15, 1922, as an underground political association. Outlawed at once under the Peace Preservation Law, the JCP was subjected to repression and persecution by the military and police of Imperial Japan. It was the only political party in Japan that opposed Japan's involvement in World War II. The party was legalised during the U.S. occupation of Japan in 1945, and since then has been a legal political party able to contest elections. The party did not take sides during the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s. It reached the peak of its electoral strength in the 1970s.

The JCP has maintained its position partly because of the collapse of the old Japan Socialist Party, once the country's main opposition party but now (2005) reduced to 5.5 percent of the vote. The new major opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, differs in its policies only slightly from the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party, leaving left-wing voters with no other choice than the JCP. The JCP has also been helped by recent reforms to the Japanese electoral system. It is unable to win any single-member constituencies, but retains its representation by winning some of the proportional representation seats.

Lam Peng Er argued in Pacific Affairs in 1996 that "the JCP's viability is crucial to the health of Japanese democracy." This, he says, is because: "It is the only established party in parliament that has not been coopted by the conservative parties. It performs the watchdog role against the ruling parties without fear or favor. More importantly, the JCP often offers the only opposition candidate in prefectural governorship, city mayoral and other local elections. Despite the ostensible differences between the non-Communist parties at the national level, they often support a joint candidate for governor or mayor so that all parties are assured of being part of the ruling coalition. If the JCP did not offer a candidate, there would be a walkover and Japanese voters would be offered a fait accompli without an electoral avenue of protest. Promoting women candidates in elections to win women's votes is another characteristic of the party. More women are elected under the Communist label than other political parties in Japan."

Policies

One of the JCP's main objectives is terminating the Japan-U.S. military alliance and the dismantling of all U.S. military bases in Japan. It wants to make Japan a non-aligned and neutral, in accordance with its principles of self-determination and national sovereignty. (In Japan there are about 130 U.S. military bases and other related facilities, Okinawa having the largest U.S. military base in Asia).

The JCP also strives to change the nation's economic policy of what it sees as serving the interests of large corporations and banks to one of "defending the interests of the people," and to establish "democratic rules" that will check the activities of large corporations and "protect the lives and basic rights of the people."

The JCP also opposes nuclear weapons and military blocs, and opposes any attempt to revise Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan, which says that "never again …w/. Japan be visited with the horrors of war through the action of government" and declares that "sovereign power resides with the people."

Regarding the issue of the international economy, the JCP has advocated establishing a new international democratic economic order on the basis of respect for the economic sovereignty of each country. The JCP sees the United States, transnational corporations and international financial capital as pushing globalization, which, it says, is seriously affecting the global economy, including the monetary and financial problems, as well as North-South and environmental problems. The JCP advocates "democratic regulation of activities by transnational corporations and international financial capital on an international scale."

The JCP is often criticized by nationalist groups: this truck, operated by the Dai-Nippon Patriot Party, carries the message "Knock Out the Communist Party!"