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105-399: Zengakuren emerged in the early postwar period as students at Japanese universities established self-governing associations ( jichikai ) in order to protest against perceived fascist remnants in the university system and to organize against proposed tuition hikes. All university students were automatically enrolled in these associations, and dues were automatically deducted from their tuition. In

210-499: A New Left student movement. However, the movement proved unpopular with the broader public, and the JCP was able to use its image as a "peaceful" and "positive" force during the protests as a recruitment tool. Membership in the party soared during the course of the protests, doubling from 40,000 to 80,000, and most of the new recruits wound up supporting the Kōza Ha line. Over the remainder of

315-513: A Christian socialist for much of his political life. The three former anarchists were reluctant to found the JCP, with Yamakawa shortly after arguing that Japan was not ready for a communist party and calling for work to be done solely within labor unions. Katayama's theoretical understanding of Marxism also remained low. In the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake , there was a campaign of rumors instigated by Japanese state authorities that incited widespread massacres of suspected enemies of

420-689: A communist in the late 1910s and was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain . Sen Katayama left Japan for the United States in 1914, after serving a prison sentence for supporting a strike. He became a communist during his time in the country and was a founding member of the Communist Party USA . Katayama founded the Association of Japanese Socialists in America and served as chair of

525-662: A few cases where the original sections of the Communist International have retained those names. But throughout the twentieth century, many parties changed their names. For example, following their ascension to power, the Bolshevik Party changed their name to the All-Russian Communist Party. Causes for these shifts in naming were either moves to avoid state repression or as measures to generate greater acceptance by local populations. An important example of

630-567: 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." In 2008, foreign media recorded an increase in support for

735-601: A line from its platform which described China as a country "that is beginning a new quest for socialism". JCP members have stated that this was due to human rights conditions in China . The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China denounced the accusations of the JCP as "groundless and biased". The party officially upholds democratic centralism . The party constitutions states decisions "shall be based on democratic discussion and finally decided by majority vote" and that "there shall be no factions or splinter groups". Along with Komeito ,

840-524: A meeting of members of the Japanese Communist Party in Atami . According to a March 1933 article on the raid, the accused were not the "rag-tag-and-bobtail" of the people. Only a very small minority of the accused were laborers. Almost all the accused were of the "better classes". Among the accused were two judges, two professors of universities, lawyers, teachers, and students. Professor S.H Roberts of

945-635: A prominent member on 18 March 1929. This resulted in mass arrests that left Yamamoto, who was sick in Moscow, as one of the few leaders not in prison. 81 high-ranking members of Zenkyō were arrested in April. The party was reconstituted by Seigen Tanaka, Zenshirō Zennō, and Hiroshi Sano in July. Many members wanted to dissolve the party as the Peace Preservation Law was amended to inflict the death penalty. Jōkichi Kazama

1050-460: A rival organization called "Zenjiren," and the remainder of Zengakuren split up into a large number of warring "sects" ( sekuto ), who would battle against each other at least as much as they battled against the police. Arming themselves with construction helmets painted in the colors of their various factions and large wooden staves they called "violence sticks" ( gebabō, from the German Gewalt ),

1155-434: A top-down hierarchical structure, ideological rigidity , and strict party discipline . In contrast, other studies have emphasized the differences among communist parties. Multi-party studies, such as those by Robert C. Tucker and A. James McAdams, have emphasized the differences in both these parties' organizational structure and their use of Marxist and Leninist ideas to justify their policies. Another important question

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1260-457: A training school for Korean revolutionaries was operated jointly by the JCP and several Korean organizations, including the Communist Party of Korea . In South Korea, the JCP is known as the only "pro-South Korea" political party in Japan. Although it is illegal to form a communist party in South Korea, Mindan maintains friendly relations with the JCP. In 2003, due to the consideration of

1365-436: A union affiliated with the JCP, had around 1.5 million members as overall Japanese union membership rose to 6 million in the post-war period. The JCP benefited from Japan's Korean population that was more favorable to communism due to discrimination and high unemployment rates. The JCP made dramatic gains in the 1949 general election , tripling its popular vote support and increasing its seat total from 4 to 35. Beginning in

1470-476: The 1928 election , but a crackdown on 15 March resulted in 1,200 people, including Communist leaders, being arrested and the Japanese government dissolved Hyōgikai and Labour-Farmer Party. Sano, Watanabe, Shoichi Ichikawa , Kenzō Yamamoto, and Hideo Namba avoided arrest as they were serving as representatives to the 6th World Congress of the Communist International and reorganized the party. The Labour-Farmer Party

1575-540: The Allied military occupation of Japan . The first issue of Shimbun Akahata after the end of the war thanked the Allied occupation for the "democratic revolution" that was occurring and called for the recreation of a communist political party. A national conference was held on 8 November 1945, and the 4th Party Congress was held from 1 to 2 December. Nosaka returned to Japan after fourteen years in exile on 10 January 1946. Under

1680-788: The Lucky Dragon Incident of 1954, the " Sunagawa Struggle " against the expansion of the United States' Tachikawa Air Base in 1955–1957, the 1958 movement against the Police Duties Bill, and the massive Anpo protests against the US-Japan Security Treaty in 1959–1960. In the late 1950s, an " anti-Stalinist " (i.e. anti-JCP) faction within Zengakuren nicknamed " The Bund " ( Bunto in Japanese) managed to secure control of Zengakuren, in part by rigging elections. Their control of

1785-717: The National Diet . By the mid-1960s, the United States Department of State estimated party membership to be approximately 120,000 (0.2% of the working-age population), Miyamoto reported a membership above 100,000 in 1964, and the party had acquired around 300,000 members by 1970. The JCP's vote totals in the prefectural assemblies doubled between the 1959 and 1963 elections and their seats rose from 12 to 22 despite running 200 fewer candidates. The JCP's vote totals and seats in city council elections rose from 509,069 to 880,991 votes and 218 to 369 seats. Their vote totals in

1890-537: The Social Democratic Party (SDP), and Reiwa Shinsengumi . The JCP has maintained a friendly relationship with the Japanese feminist camp since its inception, and is still the most active in women's rights issues among Japan's major political parties. The JCP was the first party to call for universal suffrage for women . The party supports eliminating the wage gap between men and women and has called for

1995-563: The United Nations Charter . The JCP took a neutral stance during the Sino-Soviet split and Miyamoto believed that it was unnecessary for the JCP to take a side. A pro-Chinese faction under the leadership of Hakamada Satomi and pro-Soviet faction under the leadership of Yoshio Shiga and Shigeo Kamiyama existed within the JCP. However, both groups were in the minority compared to the neutral faction. Another pro-Soviet faction of

2100-563: The University of Sydney reported in a 1934 newspaper that "all Japan was stirred when it was realized that only a minority of prisoners were laborers." In addition, the arrested were also accused of being connected to the Omori Bank Robbery . Kazama and other leaders were arrested in fall 1932. The party was reformed by Masami Yamamoto, who was also sent from Moscow, in January 1933, but he

2205-514: The dissolution of the Soviet Union , the JCP released a press statement titled "We welcome the end of a party which embodied the historical evil of great power chauvinism and hegemonism ". The party also criticized the Eastern Bloc countries which abandoned socialism, describing their decisions as a "reversal of history". Consequently, the party did not suffer an internal crisis as a result of

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2310-413: The left–right political spectrum . The JCP strives to change the nation's economic policy of what it views as serving the interests of large corporations and banks to one of "defending the interests of the people". It advocates establishing "democratic rules" that will check the activities of large corporations and "protect the lives and basic rights of the people". Regarding the international economy ,

2415-505: The national anthem , both of which the party views as relics of Japan's militarist past. The JCP has been one of the political parties to vocally back LGBTQ+ rights in the country ; communist lawmakers have been working to win the passage of same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination laws in parliament. The JCP jointly supports the passing of an LGBT equality law with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP),

2520-482: The 107 parties with significant memberships, there were approximately 82 million communist party members worldwide. Given its worldwide representation, the communist party may be counted as the principal challenger to the influence of liberal-democratic , catch-all parties in the twentieth century. Following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc between 1989–1992, most of these parties either disappeared or were renamed and adopted different goals than their predecessors. In

2625-482: The 1930s, while the JCP was still illegal, it was the only political party to vocally oppose Japan's war with China . The JCP supports Japanese territorial claims over the Kuril and Senkaku Islands and Liancourt Rocks . Furthermore, the JCP has condemned North Korea's nuclear-weapons testing, calling for effective sanctions, but opposing the prospect of a military response. The JCP's leading politicians are known to be

2730-471: The 1960s, the Kōza Ha was able to purge many members from the Rōnō Ha faction, and others, dissatisfied with JCP policies, quit the party of their own accord. Miyamoto was able to cement his control over the party and reigned as party chairman all the way until 1982. Meanwhile, the party's membership continued to grow rapidly, and the party began to make steady gains at the ballot box, winning more and more seats in

2835-549: The 2014 elections, receiving 7,040,130 votes (13.3%) in the constituency section and 6,062,962 (11.37%) in the party lists. During the nomination period of the July 2016 House of Councillors election , the party signed an agreement with the Democratic , Social Democratic and People's Life parties to field a jointly endorsed candidate in each of the 32 districts in which only one seat was contested, uniting in an attempt to take control of

2940-661: The 21st century, only five ruling parties on the national level still described themselves as Marxist–Leninist parties: the Chinese Communist Party , the Communist Party of Cuba , the Communist Party of Vietnam , the Workers' Party of Korea and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party . As of 2023, the Chinese Communist Party was the world's second largest political party , having over 99 million members. Although

3045-573: The CPSU, the interpretations of orthodox Marxism were applied to Russia and led to the emergence of Leninist and Marxist–Leninist political parties throughout the world. After the death of Lenin, the Comintern's official interpretation of Leninism was the book Foundations of Leninism (1924) by Joseph Stalin . As the membership of a communist party was to be limited to active cadres in Lenin's theory, there

3150-552: The Communist Party (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels . As a vanguard party , the communist party guides the political education and development of the working class (proletariat). As a ruling party, the communist party exercises power through the dictatorship of the proletariat . Vladimir Lenin developed the idea of the communist party as the revolutionary vanguard, when the socialist movement in Imperial Russia

3255-836: The Far Eastern People's Congress. In 1921, Katayama was informed by the Communist International (Comintern) that the First Congress of the Toiler of the Far East would be held on 21 January 1922 in Irkutsk. Three men from his organization (Watanabe Haruo, Taguchi Unzo, and Maniwa Suekichi) served as delegates. The Japanese Communist Party was founded in Tokyo on 15 July 1922, at a meeting where Kyuichi Tokuda discussed sessions held between

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3360-587: The House from the LDP–Komeito coalition. JCP leaders expressed willingness to enter into a coalition with the Democratic Party, a notion which was rejected by then-Democratic Party President Katsuya Okada as being "impossible" in the near future due to what he viewed as some of the "extreme leftist policies" promoted by the JCP. The party had three Councillors up for re-election and fielded a total of 56 candidates in

3465-456: The JCP argued that the main enemy was American imperialism, and along with affiliated groups, focused its protests around the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. Accordingly, JCP-linked groups were the driving force behind the " Hagerty Incident " in which the car carrying U.S. President Eisenhower 's press secretary James Hagerty was mobbed outside of Tokyo's Haneda Airport on 10 June 1960, provoking a major international incident and helping to precipitate

3570-422: The JCP became a more traditional democratic socialist party after modifying its policies in the 1990s. This analysis is supported by the Japanese political scientist Kōji Nakakita  [ ja ] , who is often cited as a specialist on the JCP. The JCP follows a Marxist ideology, stating that the theory of Marx and Engels is the foundation of their program. The party sits on the left to far-left of

3675-454: The JCP from the Eastern Bloc in the 1960s. The party maintained a neutral stance during the Sino-Soviet split , declared its support for multi-party democracy in opposition to the one-party politics of China and the Soviet Union, and purged pro-Soviet or Chinese members. His efforts to regain electoral support were particularly successful in urban areas such as Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo, and

3780-420: The JCP gradually began to pull back from its militant line, a process facilitated by the death of Stalin in 1953. At the 6th Party Congress in 1955, the JCP renounced the militant line completely, returning to its old "peaceful line" of gradually pursuing socialist revolution through peaceful, democratic means. Shigeo Shida  [ ja ] and Ritsu Itō  [ ko ] were informally controlling

3885-417: The JCP has advocated establishing a new international democratic economic order on the basis of respect for each country's economic sovereignty . The party strongly opposed Japan's consideration of the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership . The JCP views the United States, transnational corporations, and international financial capital as the main pushers of globalization , which it asserts is negatively affecting

3990-476: The JCP in the early 1950s. Tokuda's death in 1953 created a power vacuum in the party. Shida won and Itō was expelled from the party, having been accused of being a spy. Shida's influence waned in the late 1950s as Miyamoto, who became General Secretary in 1958, gained power. Members of Shida's faction later broke away to from a new JCP in September 1965. This group performed poorly in elections despite support from

4095-425: The JCP is unique amongst major Japanese political parties for the continuity of its leaders, with Shii having served as JCP chairman from 2000 to 2024. Communist party Former parties Former parties Former parties A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism . The term " communist party" was popularized by the title of The Manifesto of

4200-495: The JCP to respond with a violent revolution; the consequent internal debate fractured the party into several factions. The dominant faction, backed by the Soviets, waged an unsuccessful guerrilla campaign in Japan's rural areas, which undercut the party's public support. In 1958, Kenji Miyamoto became the JCP's leader and moderated the party's policies, abandoning the previous line of violent revolution. Miyamoto also began distancing

4305-521: The JCP worked with the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) in the 1970s to elect a number of progressive mayors and governors. By 1979, the JCP held about 10% of the seats in the National Diet . The party saw a brief electoral resurgence after the collapse of the JSP in 1996; however, the party has generally been in decline since in terms of electoral results and party membership. The party at present advocates

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4410-634: The Japanese delegation and Comintern officials. Two delegates were sent to the 4th World Congress of the Communist International and a general meeting of the party was held in Ichikawa, Chiba , on 4 February 1923. The party's early leadership was drawn from the anarcho-syndicalist and Christian socialist movements that developed around the turn of the century. From the former came Yamakawa Hitoshi , Sakai Toshihiko , and Kanson Arahata , who had all been supporters of Kōtoku Shūsui , an anarchist executed in 1911. Katayama, another early party leader, had been

4515-430: The Kōza Ha (Lecture Faction), which dated back to the prewar era. Among other disagreements, the two factions disagreed over which stage of Marxist development Japan was currently in; the Rōnō Ha believed that Japan had already achieved full capitalism, which meant that an immediate socialist revolution was possible, whereas the Kōza Ha argued that Japan's transition to capitalism was not yet complete and that therefore what

4620-590: The Soviet Union and China. A purge of pro-Chinese elements in the JCP, including Tokuda's son Nishizawa Ryūji from the Central Committee, was conducted in 1966. In 1976, mentions of "Marxism–Leninism" in the party program were changed to " scientific socialism ". In 2020, the JCP revised its platform for the first time since 2004. The new platform criticized the Chinese Communist Party , denouncing China's "great-power chauvinism and hegemonism" as "an adverse current to world peace and progress". The JCP also removed

4725-456: The Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, nor did it consider disbanding or changing its name. However, owing to a significant loss in electoral support, the party revised its policies in the 1990s and became a more traditional democratic socialist party. Lam Peng Er argued in the Pacific Affairs in 1996 that "the JCP's viability is crucial to the health of Japanese democracy" because "[i]t is

4830-403: The Soviet Union. In 1960, the JCP played a central role in organizing the massive Anpo protests against the U.S.–Japan Security Treaty , which were the largest protests in Japanese history. The JCP took a different line than the Japan Socialist Party , Sohyo labor federation, and other groups who argued that the main target of the protest movement was Japanese monopoly capitalism. Instead,

4935-522: The Soviet-led Cominform , at the behest of Soviet premier Joseph Stalin , issued a blistering criticism of the JCP's peaceful line as "opportunism" and "glorifying American imperialism". It also demanded that the JCP carry out an immediate violent revolution along Maoist lines. This devastating "Cominform Criticism" led rival JCP factions to compete for the Cominform's approval, and ultimately led to

5040-660: The aegis of a new organization, the Cominform . Historically, in countries where communist parties were struggling to attain state power, the formation of wartime alliances with non-communist parties and wartime groups was enacted (such as the National Liberation Front of Albania ). Upon attaining state power these Fronts were often transformed into nominal (and usually electoral) "National" or "Fatherland" Fronts in which non-communist parties and organizations were given token representation (a practice known as Blockpartei ),

5145-629: The agreed-upon policy. In contrast, the Menshevik faction, which initially included Leon Trotsky , emphasized that the party should not neglect the importance of mass populations in realizing a communist revolution . In the course of the revolution, the Bolshevik party which became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) assumed government power in Russia after the October Revolution in 1917. With

5250-552: The appearance of charismatic revolutionary leaders and their ultimate demise during the decline and fall of communist parties worldwide have all been the subject of investigation. A uniform naming scheme for communist parties was adopted by the Communist International. All parties were required to use the name 'Communist Party of ( name of the country )', resulting in separate communist parties in some countries operating using (largely) homonymous party names (e.g. in India ). Today, there are

5355-531: The bills. It was the first time the party had called for such cooperation with other parties. The JCP is generally regarded as the most progressive party in Japanese politics. The JCP has traditionally been opposed to the existence of the Imperial House since its inception. However, the party changed its stance in 2004 by acknowledging the Emperor as Japan's head of state. The JCP has stated that it supports

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5460-406: The creation of the Communist International (Comintern) in 1919, the concept of communist party leadership was adopted by many revolutionary parties, worldwide. In an effort to standardize the international communist movement ideologically and maintain central control of the member parties, the Comintern required that its members use the term "communist party" in their names. Under the leadership of

5565-476: The delegates. The Anpo protests greatly strengthened the hand of the Kōza Ha faction. During the protest, the JCP, still scarred by the backlash to its violent line in the 1950s, consistently advocated peaceful, orderly, and restrained protests. This stance was highly unpopular with the radical student activists of the Zengakuren student federation, who broke decisively with the JCP as a result and began to build

5670-597: The dissolution of the Communist International. After the Second World War new international coordination bodies were created, such as the World Federation of Democratic Youth , International Union of Students , World Federation of Trade Unions , Women's International Democratic Federation and the World Peace Council . The Soviet Union unified many of the Comintern's original goals in the Eastern Bloc under

5775-508: The downfall of the Nobusuke Kishi cabinet. The Anpo protests were a turning point in the JCP's ongoing attempts to revive its political fortunes after the disastrous turn toward violent revolution in the early 1950s. Although the Maoists had been purged from the party following the earlier disaster, the JCP was still riven by the age-old rivalry between the Rōnō Ha (Worker-Farmer Faction) and

5880-595: The economy". It accepts the current constitutional position of the emperor but opposes the involvement of the Imperial House in politics. A staunchly anti-militarist party, the JCP firmly supports Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and seeks to dissolve the Japan Self-Defense Forces . It opposes Japan's military alliance with the United States as an unequal relationship and infringement of Japan's national sovereignty . Sanzō Nosaka became

5985-449: The election, down from 63 candidates in the 2013 election, but still the second-highest number after the LDP. However, only 14 of those candidates contested single- and multi-member districts, while 42 contested the 48-seat national proportional representation block. Councillor Tomoko Tamura was appointed as the party's first chairwoman on 18 January 2024, replacing Kazuo Shii who had occupied

6090-568: The end of 1948, Zengakuren comprised almost 60% of Japan's total student population. Over the course of the 1950s, Zengakuren took part in a number of "struggles" ( tōsō ) and protest movements, including the " Bloody May Day " protests against the terms of the San Francisco Peace Treaty on May 1, 1952, the struggle against the Anti-Subversive Activities Law from 1952 to 1953, the movement against nuclear testing after

6195-406: The establishment of a democratic republic, but also that "[the monarchy's] continuation or discontinuation should be decided by the will of the majority of the people in future, when the time is ripe to do so". In 2000, the party opposed legislation which reintroduced two symbolic practices to secondary school graduation ceremonies in Japan, namely the raising of the national flag and the singing of

6300-413: The establishment of a democratic society based on pacificism . It believes that this objective can be achieved by working within an electoral framework while carrying out an extra-parliamentary struggle against " imperialism and its subordinate ally, monopoly capital ". As such, the JCP does not advocate violent revolution but rather a "democratic revolution" to achieve "democratic change in politics and

6405-412: The fall of 1949, in reaction to the JCP's electoral success and as part of the " Reverse Course " in Allied occupation policy amid rising Cold War tensions, the Allied occupation authorities and the Japanese government carried out a sweeping Red Purge , firing tens of thousands of communists and suspected communists from government posts, teaching positions at schools, and private corporations. The purge

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6510-523: The fall of communist party regimes in the 1990s, mass organizations sometimes outlived their communist party founders. At the international level, the Communist International organized various international front organizations (linking national mass organizations with each other), such as the Young Communist International , Profintern , Krestintern , International Red Aid , Sportintern , etc. Many of these organizations were disbanded after

6615-513: The global economy by further widening the North–South economic divide and creating irrevocable environmental problems. The JCP advocates the "democratic regulation of activities by transnational corporations and international financial capital on an international scale". In September 2015, after the passage of the 2015 Japanese military legislation , the JCP called for cooperation from other opposition parties to form an interim government to abolish

6720-432: The guidance of Nosaka, the party pursued a policy of portraying itself as "lovable". Nosaka's strategy involved avoiding open calls for violent revolution and taking advantage of the seemingly pro-labor stance of the Allied occupation to organize the urban working classes and win power at the ballot box and through propaganda. In particular, the party was successful in winning acceptance of the notion that communists had been

6825-437: The historical importance of communist parties is widely accepted, their activities and functions have been interpreted in different ways. One approach, sometimes known as the totalitarian school of communist studies, has implicitly treated all communist parties as the same types of organizations. Scholars such as Zbigniew Brzezinski and Francois Furet have relied upon conceptions of the party emphasizing centralized control,

6930-581: The idea that Japan, as an Asian country, must not allow its relationship with the United States and the G8 to define its foreign relations and should put its East Asian neighbors at the center of its diplomatic efforts. It supports establishing an "independent foreign policy in the interests of the Japanese people" and rejects "uncritically following any foreign power". The JCP advocates that Japan issue further apologies for its actions during World War II and has condemned prime ministerial visits to Yasukuni Shrine . In

7035-461: The imperial regime's expansionist policy in Asia . Following the outbreak of the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria , the Japanese Communist Party had infiltrated the military, including in Tokyo, and Osaka. They would distribute leaflets, and newspapers opposing the war. On 4 October 1945, all political prisoners, including communists that had been imprisoned for decades, were ordered to be released by

7140-620: The international communist movement was fragmented due to the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s. Those who sided with China and Albania in their criticism of the Soviet leadership, often added words like 'Revolutionary' or ' Marxist–Leninist ' to distinguish themselves from the pro-Soviet parties. In 1985, approximately 38 percent of the world's population lived under "communist" governments (1.67   billion out of 4.4   billion). The CPSU's International Department officially recognized 95 ruling and nonruling communist parties. Overall, if one includes

7245-453: The late 2010s, Zengakuren ( Japanese Communist Party faction) was inactive. Japan Communist Party The Japanese Communist Party ( 日本共産党 , Nihon Kyōsan-tō , abbr. JCP ) is a communist party in Japan . Founded in 1922, it is the oldest political party in the country . It has 250,000 members as of January 2024, making it one of the largest non-governing communist parties in

7350-491: The latter was the renaming of many East European communist parties after the Second World War, sometimes as a result of mergers with the local social democratic and democratic socialist parties. New names in the post-war era included " Socialist Party ", " Socialist Unity Party ", " People's (or Popular) Party ", " Workers' Party " and " Party of Labour ". The naming conventions of communist parties became more diverse as

7455-505: The long term, international situation permitting. The JCP opposes the possession of nuclear weapons by any country, military blocs, and attempts to revise Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution , which says that "never again   ... [will Japan] be visited with the horrors of war through the action of government". Regarding the resolution of disputes, it argues that priority must be given to peaceful means through negotiations, not to military solutions. The JCP says that Japan must adhere to

7560-457: The mid-1980s. Although dozens of rival sects emerged over the course of the 1960s, three major groupings occurred: By the end of the 1960s, there were several different factions claiming the mantle of the name "Zengakuren." Several different groups still claim this title today, and remain active, although their numbers have dwindled greatly since their heyday in the 1950s and 1960s. As of 1999, there were said to be five Zengakuren factions: In

7665-426: The militant "1951 Platform" ( 51年綱領 ) which declared that "it would be a serious mistake to think that Japan's liberation can be achieved through peaceful, democratic means" and called for an immediate violent revolution. This thesis was a combination of late Stalinist and Maoist thought. The result was a campaign of violence in which JCP activists threw Molotov cocktails at police boxes and cadres were sent up into

7770-455: The most active opponents of anti-Korean racism and xenophobia in Japan. Contemporary JCP politicians criticize mainstream Japanese politicians for instigating contempt towards Korea, and oppose historical revisionism in regard to Korean history and Japanese war crimes. The JCP was one of the few Japanese parties which supported the Korean independence movement . In the latter half of the 1940s,

7875-592: The most popular examples of these being the National Front of East Germany (as a historical example) and the North Korean Reunification Front (as a modern-day example). Other times the formation of such Fronts was undertaken without the participation of other parties, such as the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia and the National Front of Afghanistan , though the purpose was

7980-459: The mountains with instructions to organize ostensibly oppressed farmers into " mountain guerrilla squads ". The backlash to the JCP's new militant line was swift and severe. Militants were rounded up, tried, and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, and in the 1952 general election, Japanese voters vented their ire at the JCP by stripping the party of every single one of its 35 Diet seats, a blow from which it would take two decades to recover. Stunned,

8085-405: The name ' Young Communist League '. Later the youth league concept was broadened in many countries, and names like 'Democratic Youth League' were adopted. Some trade unions and students', women's, peasants', and cultural organizations have been connected to communist parties. Traditionally, these mass organizations were often politically subordinated to the political leadership of the party. After

8190-424: 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

8295-456: The only ones to resist Japanese wartime militarism . This propaganda effort won the party thousands of new members and an even larger number of sympathizers, especially among artists and intellectuals. Party membership, which never exceeded 1,000 in the pre-war period, rose from 1,180 in December 1945, to 7,500 by February 1946, 70,000 by December 1947, and over 100,000 by April 1950. Sanbetsu ,

8400-506: The organization was strenuously opposed by the "anti-mainstream" pro-JCP faction. This began the process of numerous internal schisms within Zengakuren that would continue throughout the 1960s. Nevertheless, for the time being Zengakuren held together in order mobilize its full power to try to stop the 1960 revision of the US-Japan Security Treaty. At the apex of its organizing power during the anti-Treaty protests in 1960, Zengakuren

8505-479: The participated in a number of struggles throughout the 1960s and beyond, including the struggle against normalization of diplomatic relations with Korea in 1965, protests against the docking in Japan of US Navy nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers, anti- Vietnam War protests, the university struggles of 1968–69 , and the Sanrizuka Struggle against the construction of Narita Airport from 1968 into

8610-637: The participation of more women in Japanese politics and political life. One of the JCP's main objectives is terminating the Japan–United States military alliance and the dismantling of all American military bases in Japan , with a goal to make Japan a non-aligned and neutral country , in accordance with its principles of self-determination and national sovereignty . There are about 130 American military bases and related facilities in Japan, with Okinawa Prefecture alone hosting more than half of United States Forces Japan personnel. The JCP adheres to

8715-482: The party due to the effect of the global financial crisis on Japanese workers. However, the party failed to increase its number of seats in the 2009 general election . Subsequently, the projected decline of the party was halted, with the JCP becoming the third-largest party in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly and making gains in the House of Councillors, going from six to 11 seats. The party surged in

8820-552: The party for voting in favor of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963. Shiga and Suzuki were praised in Soviet publications, including Pravda . The publication of Shimbun Akahata faced restrictions in the Soviet Union while Shiga's Voice of Japan did not. The JCP supported China during the Sino-Indian War . Miyamoto announced the JCP's opposition to the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia . At

8925-546: The party was under the leadership of Shōjirō Kasuga . Kasuga's faction formed the Preparatory Commission for a Socialist Reform Movement on 9 October 1961. This group broke away on 3 May 1962, and formed the Unified Socialist League with 600 members. Relations between the Soviet Union and JCP soured as the Soviets attempted to court the JSP. Shiga and Ichizo Suzuki  [ jp ] were expelled from

9030-695: The party, except those in rural areas or outside the country, were arrested. A group of Japanese communists, including Arahata, assembled in Vladivostok in August, and decided to create a proletarian party . Those members arrested in 1923, and released in 1924 believed that the conditions for a communist party were not present and decided to dissolve the party at the Morigasaki Conference in March. However, Grigori Voitinsky rejected this and ordered them to reestablish

9135-457: The party. In August, a committee with Tokuda as chair was formed to reestablish the party. Masanosuke Watanabe and Sano held positions in this committee and Arahata was an organizer in the Kansai region . The JCP was formally reestablished on 4 December 1926. Fukumoto Kazuo , a rising figure in Japanese communism, was a member and his ideology, Fukumotoism, was a main part of the platform. The JCP

9240-489: The role for over 23 years. The JCP is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world; it is, however, politically moderate and advocates a peaceful transition to communism. Marxism–Leninism , which former party chairman Tetsuzo Fuwa had worked for years to make acceptable to the electorate, was abandoned in favor of scientific socialism in 1976. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica ,

9345-416: The same time, the party had distanced itself from Mao and Maoism, which allowed it to avoid being associated with China's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution once they started coming more fully to light in the 1970s. In July 1969, the JCP declared that if it ever came to power, it would permit the free functioning of opposition parties, in an effort to distinguish itself from the one-party states in

9450-468: The same: to promote the communist party line to generally non-communist audiences and to mobilize them to carry out tasks within the country under the aegis of the Front. Recent scholarship has developed the comparative political study of global communist parties by examining similarities and differences across historical geographies. In particular, the rise of revolutionary parties, their spread internationally,

9555-404: The state by military, police, and vigilante forces. Military and police officials assassinated key leftist leaders under the cover of martial law, including Ōsugi Sakae . In May 1923, a roster of the JCP's membership was found by police at Manabu Sano's quarters at Waseda University . A series of protests were occurring at the university about military training. On 5 June, almost every member of

9660-515: The then liberal South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun , formal exchanges between the JCP and the South Korean government began. The JCP has traditionally championed pacifism . With regards to the Japan Self-Defense Forces (Japan's armed forces), the JCP's current policy is that it is not principally opposed to its existence (in 2000 the party stated that it would agree to its use should Japan ever be attacked), but that it will seek to abolish it in

9765-478: The town council elections doubled and their seats rose from 168 to 314. In the 1972 general election , the JCP won an astonishing 38 seats in the Diet, surpassing its 1949 high of 35 and signaling the party's full recovery from the disastrous militant line of the early 1950s. Party membership continued to grow in the 1970s, albeit at a slower rate than in the 1960s, reaching approximately 500,000 members by 1980. After

9870-499: The wake of a failed general strike in 1947, the Japan Communist Party (JCP) stepped into organize the separate university associations into a single nationwide organization. As a result of this extensive organizing effort, the formation of Zengakuren was officially announced on September 18, 1948. Teruo Takei , a Tokyo University student and member of the Japanese Communist Party, was the organization's first chairman. Towards

9975-526: The world. The party is chaired by Tomoko Tamura , who replaced longtime leader Kazuo Shii in January 2024. The JCP was repressed by the Japanese government in the three decades immediately following its founding. The Allied occupation of Japan legalized the JCP after World War II , but the party's unexpected success in the 1949 general election led to the " Red Purge ", in which the Japanese government removed tens of thousands of actual and suspected communists from their jobs. The Soviet Union encouraged

10080-432: Was a need for networks of separate organizations to mobilize mass support for the party. Typically, communist parties built up various front organizations whose membership was often open to non-communists. In many countries, the single most important front organization of the communist parties was its youth wing . During the time of the Communist International , the youth leagues were explicit communist organizations, using

10185-456: Was able to count on around 250 jichikai at 110 schools, representing a total strength of around 290,000 students. The first open splits within Zengakuren occurred in the immediate aftermath, as despondency at the failure of the anti-Treaty protests to stop the Treaty from being ratified led to numerous rounds of recriminations. Thereafter, the pro-JCP group split off from Zengakuren entirely to form

10290-445: Was arrested in May. Manabu Sano, Kazama, Tanaka, and other imprisoned Communist leaders denounced communism starting in May. The leadership of the party's central committee passed from Eitaro Noro to Kenji Miyamoto to Hakamada Satomi as a result of each person's arrests. The party lost its organization after Satomi's arrested in 1935. The JCP campaigned against the invasion of China and

10395-549: Was divided into ideologically opposed factions, the Bolshevik faction ("of the majority") and the Menshevik faction ("of the minority"). To be politically effective, Lenin proposed a small vanguard party managed with democratic centralism which allowed the centralized command of a disciplined cadre of professional revolutionaries . Once a policy was agreed upon, realizing political goals required every Bolshevik's total commitment to

10500-587: Was further intensified in response to the outbreak of the Korean War . Douglas MacArthur considered banning the JCP on 3 May 1950. Twenty-four members of the party's central committee were removed from office on 6 June and its newspaper, Shimbun Akahata , was suspended on 27 June. A total of 11,000 workers and 1,200 government workers were fired from 1949 to 1950. Union divisions and attacks on communist influence in labor led to Sanbetsu's membership falling to 400,000 by 1949. Against this backdrop in January 1950,

10605-446: Was needed was a "two-stage" revolution—first a "democratic revolution" that would overthrow American imperialism and establish true democracy, and then a "socialist revolution" that would establish communism. Although the "mainstream" of the JCP, led by Kenji Miyamoto , favored the Kōza Ha interpretation, as late as the 7th Party Congress in 1958 the "anti-mainstream" Rōnō Ha faction, led by Shōjirō Kasuga , still controlled around 40% of

10710-651: Was outlawed in 1925 with the passage of the Peace Preservation Law , the JCP was subjected to repression and persecution by the Special Higher Police ( Tokkō ), nicknamed the "Thought Police". JCP members and sympathizers were imprisoned and pressured to " convert " ( tenkō suru ) to anti-communist nationalism. Many of those who refused to convert remained imprisoned for the duration of the Pacific War . The Japanese Communist Party member Hotsumi Ozaki , who

10815-716: Was part of the Richard Sorge spy ring for the Kremlin , was the only Japanese person hanged for treason under the Peace Preservation Law. Police also widely used methods of torture against arrested communists. One of the JCP members killed by police torture in this period was the writer Kobayashi Takiji . Hyōgikai was formed on 25 May 1925, and this union served as a vehicle for the communist party. Other proletariat parties ( Japan Farmers Party , Japan Labour-Farmer Party , Social Democratic Party , and Labour-Farmer Party ) were formed during this period. These parties won seven seats in

10920-633: Was reconstituted, with opposition from the Comintern-affiliated communists, into the Proletarian Masses Party with Mosaburō Suzuki as Secretary General. An attempt to reform Hyōgikai resulted in arrests so a new organization, the National Council of Japanese Labor Unions (Zenkyō), was formed as an underground group with 5,500 members on 25 December 1928. Police found a chart of the JCP's district organization in Tokyo after arresting

11025-466: Was sent from Moscow to rebuild the party in December 1930. He and Noboru Matsumura wrote the 1931 Draft Thesis, but the Comintern was displeased with it. A new document supported by the Comintern, the 1932 Draft Thesis, was written by Nosaka and served as the JCP's main document until 1946. This document stated that a bourgeois revolution to eliminate feudalism and the emperor must occur before the proletariat revolution. In 1932, Japanese authorities raided

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