Big vote for Japanese Communists lisations against US bases in the south- mood. *
* Japan The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) suffered a stunning electoral defeat on July 12th. The Communist Party doubled its vote, and is now the largest left opposition party. But as Jun'ichi Hirai explains, the Communist Party will now be tempted to moderate its policies to win over lower middle-class voters who have been hit hard by the recession and neoliberal policies. The Liberal Democrats' disastrous result in the July 12 elections for the upper house of parliament mean that the party, which has dominated Japanese politics for the past 40 years, is now 22 seats short of a parliamentary majority. The LDP's total strength in the upper house is now 103, compared with 118 before the election.
Half of the 252 seats in the upper house are elected every three years. The LDP won 45 of the seats being contested; it had previously held 60 of them. The voting system is complicated, with geoconstituencies in each prefecture, and an element of nation-wide proportional representation.
This was the LDP's second worst upper house election results since the party was formed in 1955 (through the merger of two conservative parties). Since that date, the capitalist class has enjoyed 40 years' absolute majority rule in the Diet, Japan's parliament.
The party won only 14 of the 50 seats elected under the proportional representation system. And in the prefecture-based electoral districts, the LDP failed to win any seats in the densely populated constituencies of Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa, Aichi, Kyoto, Osaka, and Hyogo.
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto announced his resignation on July 13 to take responsibility for the massive defeat of his party. On July 24 the LDP elected Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi as party leader. Soon after, the LDP-controlled lower house of parliament nominated Obuchi as prime minister. However the upper house rejected him in favour of Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ leader Naoto Kan.
Kan's nomination was only symbolic, because the Japanese Constitution gives voting supremacy to the lower house during selection of the prime minister. But the Diet's split decision underscored the unstable position of the Obuchi government and many expect it will soon face a deadlock.
The parliamentary system is in an increasingly deeper crisis, and none of the parties in the Diet seems to have a solution. Gains for the opposition
The main beneficiaries from the LDP's defeat are the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ and the Japanese Communist Party (JCP). The DJ is the largest opposition force in the Diet. It was established in April this year through the merger of various splits from the LDP, from the Democratic Socialist Party ( the pro-capi-
Okinawa rekindles peace movement In the name of Japan's "contribution to international security and peace", the country's armed forces have expanded their ability to engage in military operations abroad. Military spending has increased, with the strong encouragement of Washington.
The last LDP government introduced legislation that authorises joint military operations overseas with US forces. (Under Japan's post-war constitution, the "Self Defence Force" was forbidden to operate outside Japan). Obviously, any joint Japan-US manoeuvres may cause tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, where Japanese imperialism invaded and massacred tens of millions of people in the Second World War.
western islands of Okinawa. Occupied by Washington for many years after the war, Okinawa still houses 75% of US bases in Japan.
Okinawa's Governor Masayoshi Ota strongly supports the local demand to withdraw US Marines. He calls on the
Japanese and US governments to support the prefecture's goal of a totally
"base-free" Okinawa by the year 2015.
The Okinawa movement against US bases has become the centre of the broad Japanese movement against militarisation. But at the same time, the devastating effects of Japan's economic crisis are encouraging nationalist sentiments among the population.
Any credible political alternative from talist wing of social democracy) and the right wing of the former Socialist Party.
The DPJ also has the support of the country's major trade union federation, Rengo. The DPJ obtained 27 seats, compared to the 18 seats held by its various components before the election. The party won 12 of the 50 seats elected through proportional representation.
The JCP increased its parliamentary representation from six to 15 seats. Almost 8.2 million voters cast ballots for the party in the proportional representation lists. This 14.6% score is the party's best ever electoral result..
The Buddhist party Komei showed its stable electoral base. It won nine seats, and attracted 13.8% of proportional representation votes. The Japanese Socialist Party (now called the Social Democratic
Fortunately, the Japanese peace the socialist left must include solidarity movement has been revitalised recently.
This is largely because of massive mobi-
24 International Viewpoint #304 opposition to the re-emerging nationalist
Party), won only 7.8% of proportional representation votes, and retained only 13 of its 20 outgoing seats.
The JCP now has almost twice as many Diet seats as the SPD.
Critical economic crisis
The main reason for the defeat of the LDP is the critical economic situation in Japan. Since the burst of the bubble economy in the early 1990's, the country has been in a long recession.
In the late 1980s, Japanese capitalists (and many foreign observers) strongly expected that Japan would become the leading world power in the coming decades. But now that confidence is completely extinguished.
The economy shrunk by 0.8% in 1997, the worst annual "growth" since World War II. The official unemployment rate increased to 4.3% (which is probably only half of the real unemployment level).
Big financial businesses such as Takugin Bank and Yamaichi Securities went bankrupt last year, and other major banks also have been on the brink of going under because of their large non-performing loan portfolios.
The "Japanese system," characterised by an intense fiscal policy, stable labourmanagement relations based on "a job for and seniority-based pay rises has come to an end. Politicians from the LDP and the DPJ all say that "shock therapy" is needed. They claim that a series of bankruptcies and massive unemployment are unavoidable, because these are the only medicines that can cure the "sickness" of the Japanese economy.
They explained to the people that we could not refuse "the global standard" of the world market, ruled by free competition of businesses. The US in particular has been putting pressure on Japan's leaders to "stop shutting the door to foreign capital".
In the previous parliament, the LDP, the Liberal Party (a neoliberal split from the LDP), and the DPJ accepted US demands for deregulation of the Japanese economy. In fact, the economic policy of the Japanese government was subject to constant intervention and control by US officials.
Despite this neoliberal orientation, the government was not strong or confident enough to make a significant attack on the Labour Standard Law. But new legislation, opposed only by the JCP, threatens to abolish the regulation of the working day, and create a legal framework for the already widespread phenomenon of unpaid overtime.
Despite the authoritarian control of the leadership of the Rengo labour federation, some trade unions are organising actions against this planned anti-labour "reform." These dissidents inside Rengo are collaboration with smaller union federations like the one-million member Zenro-ren (led by the JCP and the 300,000 member Zenrokyo (National Council of Trade Unions), which is led by the left wing of the Social Democrats and the independent left.
This campaign against capitalist attack marks an important step forward for the Japanese trade union movement, in which for a long time there was no collective action. A step forward was taken earlier this year, when leftist activists organised a nation-wide "chain rally" against unemployment and the new Labour Standard Bill. Nearly 10,000 workers participated. The organisers were inspired by last year's EuroMarch initiatives in Western Europe
Compared with the other imperialist countries, workers' reaction against the capitalists' offensive is still at a very low level. The collective class consciousness of the Japanese working class mostly disappeared during the wave of technical innovation and economical expansion that continued until the 1980s. The collapse of "really existing socialism" after 1989 only accelerated this process.
But under the severe effects of the current economic crisis, the political and social consciousness of working people has begun to change. Rank and file trade unionists are studying the struggles of dockers in Britain and Australia, and UPS workers in the United States.
Japan is also seeing the emergence of new types of trade unions, regrouping migrant workers, women workers, and managerial staff who have been fired in the name of "restructuring." There are also new unions that seek to organise all workers in a particular community, rather than on an industrial basis. These are good signs for the vigorous future of rebuilding the workers' movement in Japan. Success and contradiction of the JCP
The JP's electoral success has had a complex effect on the social movements. On the one hand, with the retirement of the traditional Stalinist leadership of the JCP, symbolised by former chairperson Kenji Miyamoto, the party has begun to change its sectarian attitude to various civic movements that are outside the control of the party.
Today the JCP is trying to attract these movements, including those led by the independent left, in order to broaden the party's electoral base.
On the other hand, the increase in electoral support for the JCP comes mainly from conservative sectors, like small shop owners and farmers, who have been hurt by neoliberal "reforms," which reduced protectionist measures benefiting these groups. Disappointed at the LDP, the lower layer of the middle class is increasingly interested in the JP's moderate left
Without strong pressure from the workers' movement and other social movements, the JCP will continue to shift to the right in an attempt to reassure those conservative voters who have abandoned
The JCP leadership has eagerly exp lained that the aim of the party is to establish a "better capitalism" • The party now believes that "the struggle for socialism should not be carried out under the contemporary relation of forces." On August 25, JCP president Tetsuzo Fuwa told the party's daily newspaper Akahata (Red Flag) that the JCP is ready to withdraw its demand to abolish the Japan-U.S. security pact in order to form a "better government" together with the conservative opposition parties
Fuwa also said that this "better coalition government", , including the JCP, would maintain Tokyo's current military alliance with Washington. The task of the independent left
Several small far left organisations, including the supporters of the Fourth International, presented a common electoral list in the 1995 upper house election. It was a failure, attracting only 0.9% of the nation-wide proportional representation vote.
Since this defeat, a series of unsuccessful attempts have been made to negotiate a common electoral list. Some of the participating groups are now considering standing their own candidates in future elections.
Whatever the outcome of these talks, the main task for the socialist left in Japan is still to take the initiative for organising mobilisations against unemployment, against deregulation of working conditions, and against the growing shadow of Japanese military force over other Asian countries. *
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«Boycott settlers", says Peace Bloc