At the same time, the retreat of the militant union movement was sealed last autumn by a the formation of a new united union confederation, Rengo no Kal.
Apart from the women's movement, which is on the rise, the
Japanese far left finds Its perspectives in crisis. IV asked
Osamu Hino, member of the political committee of the Japan
Revolutionary Communist League (RCL - Japanese section of the Fourth International) for his view of the political situation. The Interview was conducted on April 3 by Erdal Tan and Colin Meade.
W
HAT is the general political situation after the elections?
For a time It looked as
If the ruling Liberal Democratic Party was losing support, as a result of the scandals, but they came back to win.
The LDP lost their majority in the
Upper House, which they have controlled since the 1950s. After this the focal point of Japanese politics was whether the LDP would lose control of the Lower House in this year's general election. During the election campaign the LDP fought around the idea that the choice was between capitalism and socialism.
On the other side the Socialist Party formed a sort of coalition with the Komei
(Clean) Party — a Buddhist petty bourgeois party and the right-wing social democrats of the Democratic Socialist
Party. The Socialist Party fought its campaign around the idea that this coalition would form the next government.
There were three reasons behind the
LDP's crisis. The first was the Recruit corruption? and sex scandals, the second was the introduction of a new tax system which taxed all commodities. Their less well-off supporters are totally against this tax. The third question was the freeing of rice prices, after a sharp conflict between the US and Japan on this question. Most
Japanese farmers are against the liberalization of rice prices. Officially the LDP have announced that they too are against
14 this, but most of the peasants know that
International Viewpoint #183 • April 23, 1990 this is only a pose. They know that the LDP government will be obliged to make concessions to the US. As a result a significant number of peasants, who have been a pillar of the LDP regime, no longer trust it. This November there will be a GATT meeting which will finally decide the issue of rice prices.
These were the immediate reasons behind the LDP's problems, but there is also a longer term trend. There is a new development of the women's movement in Japan. As you know, the Japan Socialist Party elected Mrs. Doi as its chairperson and a lot of women's groups are attracted to the SP because of this.
In the six months between the elections the LDP revised the new tax system to replaced their chairperson to get away from the scandals. They also spent a lot of money three billion yen - on their campaign. As for the opposition, Komei and DSP tried to attract forces further and further to the right, and there was no real consensus between these two parties and the SP. Furthermore Chairperson Doi announced that, although the party programme contained a phrase about launching a socialist revolution, the next party congress was going to revise this phrase. For the Japanese masses there was no real alternative in the opposition camp, given the splits and the unclear line of the SP, and they could not have confidence in the opposition. The LDP was therefore able to recover somewhat after the Upper House election and avoid economic conflict with the US, there has to be a national consensus. The SP cannot resist this kind of logic and there is no real confrontation between the LDP and the opposition. There are secret negotiations between them. • What is the state of the workers movement ?
In 1989 there was a new unification in the Japanese labour movement. A big national trade union centre called Rengo no Kai was set up last autumn. It is the product of a fusion between the Sohyo union confederation, close to the SP, the Domei confederation, connected with the DSP and the independent Churitsu Roren union. Rengo has some eight million members and organizes the overwhelming majority of the working class. This is a historic event. It marks the end of the left reformist trade union movement that has
Apart from Rengo there are two other union confederations. Firstly there is the pro-Communist Party Zenroren which claims a million and a half members, and Zenrokyo with about half a million. This third group is not an official national confederation — it includes a number of independent groups. There are pro-CP and in it. For example the Tokyo municipal workers union couldn't decide whether to join Rengo or Zenroren because half are pro-SP and half pro-CP. So they decided to participate in the third current. It is not a very militant trade union. The real class struggle current is small, with maybe 50,000 union members in the third group.
The background to this situation lies in the 1960s, when most of the trade unions in the key private companies split to the right from the left reformist Sohyo. The latter was then largely restricted to the public sector. Then during the "oil shock" of 1974-75 which posed serious problems for the Japanese economy, Japanese capital carried through a major rationalization involving layoffs and so on. There was a general ruling class offensive which the trade union was unable to resist and con1. In these elections, despite losing 25 seats, the DP got 46% of the votes and retained an absolute majority with 275 of the 512 seats. The SP got 24.3% of the vote and gained 51 seats; the CP got 8% and lost 10 seats; the (Buddhist) Komei party got 8% and lost 11 seats while the SDP got 4.8% and lost 12 seats. 2. A political and financial corruption scandal in which
- and opposition - ministers and personalities were implicated. These included the then Prime Minister, Takeshita. He resigned in April 1989.
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JAPAN landscape
stantly retreated before. Sohyo lost whatever had remained in the private sector. But the offensive was also extended to the public sector. In autumn 1981 a new unification took place in the private sector that was a prelude to the formation of Rengo.
After that the Japanese government, in collaboration with the labour bureaucrats, concentrated their fire on the public sector. Key to this was the privatization of the national railways, where there was a militant trade union. In the mid 1980s the rail
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union had 250,000 members, but now it has only 35,000. The "Women are raising their voices more and more, both in the factory and the home" overwhelming majority of the railway unions are participating in Rengo. The national railway union was the last stronghold of the reformist leftist movement.
The minority union is still resisting layoffs and has held strikes, but they are no longer able to have the paralyzing effect on the Japanese economy that they had in the past. The situation is very difficult for the independent leftist trade union movement. • Can you say more about Rengostyle unionism? Is it possible for militants to work in Rengo?
The leaders of Rengo are divided into two types. The first are from the big private enterprises, including the multinationals, for example in the car industry.
In these sectors the labour bureaucrats are totally behind the company. They are for the freeing of rice prices, not for internationalist reasons, but because what is involved is the ability of their firms to sell on the American market. They have organized a network of reactionary trade union leaders in Asian countries where their companies have penetrated. When the International Free Trade Union Federation passes a resolution against some dictatorship, these bureaucrats are against this, because they totally support the reactionary dictatorships in the Asian region.
The union structures are interwoven with the enterprise management and trade union bureaucrats often move on to managerial positions. In other words there is no real trade union movement at the factory level. The companies give some concessions on such things as leisure time and housing, but there is no real trade union activity in the factory. If militants begin to work in these factories they are immediately expelled from the trade unions and there are some cases in the car industry where union bureaucrats have made violent attacks on militants.
The reason why the Japanese industry were able to expand in the world markets since 1974-75 was because they had succeeded in their attacks on the labour movement. This gave them an advantage over the West European countries. They had a free hand for rationalization and layoffs. The other reason for their economic success has been the establish-
La hierarchically structured • What is the relationship between the workers and the SP?
Socialist Chairperson Doi is a very popular figure. She was a scholar of the Japanese constitution and had defended it against the new military build-up. Thus she is very famous in the pacifist movement. Also as a woman she has been able to attract support from women's groups. But in reality she is a figurehead and not the real power in the SP. Most of the real leaders of the SP have close connections with the Rengo bureaucracy, especially in the private sector. Five years ago within the party the reformist left had one third support. Now this leftist current has declined to one tenth. Now with Gorbachev and the economic reforms most of the leaders say that socialism is over and so on. The SP can win seats in the Diet but there is no real mass movement behind them. There is a current within the women's movement that wants to support Doi and the SP, while the other wants to remain independent. • What has been the Impact of
East European events on the Communist Party?
The CP is in a serious crisis. They lost a lot of seats in the last elections, in spite of the LDP's crisis. In the 1970s when the LDP retreated a little, the CP gained, but this is not happening now. One reason is the international situation. In the 1980s there were two summit meetings between Miyamoto of the CP and Romania's President Causescu. They proclaimed that they were the only two independent Communist Parties in the world. They have tried to defend their policy, but it is not
In the last election campaign all they said was that before the war they were the only party that defended freedom. They had nothing to say about the current situation. In the trade union movement they are not very militant. They say in the teacher's movement that teachers are not ordinary workers and shouldn't launch strikes. In local government they say that the first aim of local government is to provide services and they are against strikes and so on. They also support nuclear power programmes. After Chernobyl they have had to change a bit on this, but they do not have any real influence in the anti-
The party is monolithic and votes at national conventions are unanimous. They call this real democratic centralism. To the masses it looks like Causescu's system. They say that Gorbachev is against scientific Communism and things like this. • What are their relations with the Chinese Communist Party after the Tlananmen massacre? The JCP broke heir ties with the CCP 15 April 23, 1990 • #183 International Viewpoint
JAPAN during the Cultural Revolution.They were thus able to criticize the Tiananmen incident saying "we have been against this party since 1968 and have been proved correct." • What are the main activities of the
The main force in the independent trade unions are the 35,000 railway workers. The other groups are very small from middle and small sized enterprises. They are groups that are expelled from or not allowed to participate in Rengo. There are also public sector unions that were against the formation of Rengo. Even in the railway union there are right-wing currents. The left is in the majority in Tokyo.
The main activities of this union movement are firstly the struggle against the layoffs of railway workers. The second is an international solidarity campaign with Asian workers, especially in South Korea, where many workers have been laid off by Japanese companies. Representatives of the South Korean workers came to Japan to organize actions against these companies. We are now trying to set up an international network to support protest actions against Japanese firms. We are also trying to unionize workers especially working women who are part-time and so on.
We have also taken up the problem of immigrant workers. There are m nay workers from other Asian countries, from Bangladesh, the Philippines, Thailand and elsewhere. They don't have any rights — they are illegal. Often Japanese bosses don't pay them for the work they do but they can't go to the authorities. There is also the problem of women from prostitutes. Such workers often live in very cramped conditions — ten to a room and have very bad working conditions as well. Furthermore there is a strong reactionary nationalist feeling amongst the Japanese people against these workers. Rengo is officially against them coming, saying that by taking this position they are defending the interests of Japanese work-
Generally speaking the independent unions can launch strategic campaigns on such issues, but they do not have the strength to take up problems such as housing problems and the land crisis, which are central to the concerns of Japanese working people. We would like to take up such issues but it is very difficult. • What state is the far left in?
There are three main currents. The first group is the so-called revolutionary Marxist faction, Kakumaru. They are very sectarian. They support and participate in the Rengo unions. The second is the Chukaku - the so-called core faction. Along with other small groups the Chukaku launched 16 the first and second grunion stacked each • the independent trade unions. As a result International Viewpoint #183 • April 23, 1990 other as enemies of the working class and agents of the state. 3
They went so far as to kill each other. The third group, us and other independent groups, split from the CP and the SP at the end of the 1960s and formed a spontaneist current in the 1970s. This group works mainly in the trade unions and publishes a journal month. It has a circulation of
Another activity has been the campaign against the new international airport 4. A third campaign and the Imperial system. And then there is anti-imperialist solidarity for example, South Korea, work with immigrant workers and so on. Solidarity campaigns with South Africa or the Nicaraguan FSLN are very weak in Japan. The final activity is to spread some ideas about what is socialism, what is perestroika and so on; we hold nationwide discussion meetings three times a year. • What has happened to the struggle against the international airport
Because of the resistance, the international airport has still not been completed, although after 25 years it is now 50% finished. But the government has now bought 98% of the necessary land so that the peasants only retain 1 or 2% of the whole area. Only one of the three runways has been completed. Last year the airport authority built a fence around the whole area, which makes it very difficult
In May 1978 a special law was passed for the new international airport. According to this law the government can remove any building in this area. As a result some small houses of supporters of the anti-airport struggle were smashed up. The government was able to divide the peasants from the outside supporting groups. They offered a dialogue with the peasants, but there was confrontation with the supporting groups. Obviously the whole struggle depends on the resistance of the peasants, and the nationwide balance of forces is not in their favour. At one time the SP supported the struggle at least on paper, but now their present position is very vague, and this has undermined the peasants' confidence.
The Chukaku group conceives of this struggle in terms of guerilla-war type tactics. They set fire to installations of construction companies, and tactics they cannot mobilize mass support. Furthermore the Peasant League split into two groups in 1985. One group are with the Chukaku and the other, majority group work with other far left groups. The pro-Chukaku group has also split. The perspective is not favourable, but we cannot abandon this alongside the peasants. To abandon the struggle now would lose us the sympathy of those who have come to join the struggle. We do not want the reputation of people who give up easily and betray their allies! • There is also a rising tide of
Yes. In Japan the anti-nuclear movement became very strong and popular after Chernobyl, especially as a community struggle. There was fallout from Chernobyl in Japan and food was polluted. Some housewives began to organize and in Spring 1988 there was a big nationwide mobilization mainly organized by these women's groups. Another big mobilization took place last autumn. Half of the public are now against nuclear power plants. Previously only leftist groups were against nuclear power, but that has changed again. The electricity companies are very worried by this.
In the past the anti-nuclear movement was based on the experience in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but this movement had become rather hollow. between a pro-CP and pro-SP wing and a few years ago was on the decline. But it has revived now. There is a debate within this movement on its perspectives. The movement is widespread but they have not won concrete gains. Some say that we should organize direct action to stop the 3. The Japanese section of the Fourth International (LCR), arose from a split in the Communist Party in the 1950s against a background of student radicalization. Chukaku, Kukamaru and the LCR were all at one time in the same organization. Later, Chukaku and Kukamaru underwent a sectarian degeneration. Chukaku in fact went so far as to launch a "war" against the LCR at the start of the 1980s. 4. In 1978, the Sanrizuka Peasants League opposed the construction of a new airport at Narita, near Tokyo — which would have required the removal of many peasants from their lands. The struggle against Narita became the main focus for the activity of the Japanese far left for more than a decade, including a spectacular occupation of the Narita control tower in 1982.
construction of power plants, others that there should be a nationwide campaign to introd e an anti-power plant law. • You mentioned earlier the new importance of the women's movement in Japanese politics.
The feminist movement is an important element in the situation. Last year problems of sexual harassment were widely taken up in the mass media. The present policy of the Japanese ruling class is to introduce more women into jobs - especially part-time jobs. At the same time they are training a small elite of working women. All this has led to a new rising been really independent from the leftist reformist movement. When this movement collapsed we did not have our own independent basis. A typical example was in the 1974-75 economic crisis. We thought that the Japanese ruling class offensive would arouse the working class - we had spontaneist illusions and an economistic approach. We did not take up things like the imperial system or understand the feminist movement.
Now, with Gorbachev and the whole
JAPAN / URUGUAY East European situation, the international context has drastically changed. There is this campaign that socialism is over, and most people think that the far left is to do with terrorism. We have to re-organize and promote a real socialist ideology. We have been activists and have not taken theoretical problems seriously enough. From an international point of view, solidarity with the Asian peoples is very important for us as well as work towards women workers and immigrant workers. *