The tragedy of the far left
Hearings held in schoolroom
The testimonies were given in a crowded schoolroom in the small fishing town of Guinayangan. Many of the witnesses had walked 20 kilometers or more despite harassment and intimidation from the
Interview with a leader of the RCL in Japan military. As they spoke with the lawyers and other members of the fact-finding mission, several obvious stooges for the military tried to listen in to what they
We publish below an interview with Konno Motomu, a member of the were saying. Fresco's confident answer leadership of the Revolutionary Communist League (RCL), the Japanese was obviously direct at these spies. section of the Fourth International, in which he traces the evolution of
It was decided that the witnesses and the Japanese left and the workers' movement, as well as presenting the the fact-finding mission members should stay together that night for protection
The Revolutionary Communist League was born out of a split in the and sleep in the large hall behind the Communist Party at the end of the 1950s, in the context of a radicalconvento, the local priest's house. Watch isation of the student organisation, Zengakuren. was kept all night in case of provocation in fact gave rise to the emergence of several far left currents which were originally all in the same organisation.
Guinayangan was itself the scene of a isations referred to in the interview still have the same name, that of the
Revolutionary Communist League, and are usually differentiated through group of peasants had been on their way the initials of their particular faction. to join a rally against an increase in the Fourth International (Daiyon Inta), this applies to Chukaku (the central coconut tax when they were ambushed faction) and Kakumaru (the Marxist-revolutionary faction).
Two people were killed Supporters of the Fourth International in Japan (1) were unable to and 19 were wounded. The governor of develop a policy for involvement in the huge rise of political struggles in
Eladio Cadiwara, white- 1960 against the Japanese-American military treaty and the activity around economic issues. The group therefore split up into several regional
After evidence was taken from 23 of the victims and witnesses, local people In 1968, our movement was actively involved in the struggle on the brought a simple meal of rice and fish. This enabled it to reunite at a national level. The reunited orFollowing the meal, the lawyers gathered ganisation was heavily involved in the peasants' struggle against the conthe people together to explain to them struction of the new international airport on their lands in Narita, on their rights and what to do if they were the outskirts of Tokyo. Its influence was gradually strengthened because arrested or raided in the future. Its activity in the trade-union movement, based on a
The faces of the men and women were previous implantation in the Sohyo (2) and the Socialist Party, began to serious and attentive as they listened, while some children slept curled on grass However, a process of sectarian degeneration hit what were then the mats on the concrete floor. Many ques- main far-left organisations, starting with the Kakumaru and the Chukaku. tions were asked, especially by women. Along with Kaiho ('Liberation' from the Socialist Youth (3)), A woman lawyer, Leo Batat, concluded became involved in those terrible internecine wars which cost the lives of the meeting by saying, "If you permit so many militants. These conflicts were known as the 'Uchigeba' fear to get into your hearts, then they The Japanese section of the Fourth International has always refused on will trample on your rights." principle to resort to physical violence in the workers' movement. In con-
In fact, courage and determination are trast to this sort of thing, in 1978, they threw all their forces into the the only people have. struggle of the Sanrizuka Peasants' League, which was waging a particularAnother young lawyer, speaking to me ly important battle against the opening of the airport at Narita. There later, expressed great concern that these were several members of the section among those who managed to get people may suffer further reprisals from into the airport, which was guarded by thousands of police, and occupy the armed forces. "We can only really the control tower. They suffered severe repression as a result and sevhelp them by publicizing their cases, and that's all," he said. "Their backs are The Sanrizuka Peasants' League was thrown into crisis at the end of against the wall. They have to fight or 1983, hit by a split supported by the Chukaku. In January 1984, this they will be slaughtered." same Chukaku organisation launched the first wave of aggressive physical
The next morning we all rose early. action against supporters of the Japanese section of the Fourth InternaThe local people again provided a break- tional, using the criminal practices of the "Uchigeba' which had already fast of rolls, rice cakes and coffee. Some done so much damage to the Japanese far left. (5) of the young men had a guitar, and they A second wave of attacks took place last July, as a result of which one sat around singing nationalist songs in activist had to have a leg amputated. The Chukaku commandos operate sweet low voices — such words as "What at night, bursting into people's houses to grab them when they are still greater love is there than the love of the They break their bones (usually the legs) and, in the case refercountry that nurtured you?" red to above, they hit the kneecaps with an icepick.
Then we set off in a convoy of a bus The Chukaku are attacking an organisation that itself has always reand a jeep carrying the witnesses along fused to use violence against other groups, and has never physically attackthe rough, unpaved road to the highway, the blackening clouds of an approaching damage to the whole of the Japanese far left in a situation where it has typhoon behind us. At the highway the been weakened by the evolution of the political situation in fact-finding mission members parted from the peasants, who then faced their long walk home and an uncertain future.
Intercontinental Press October 15, 1984 18 situation of his own organisation. formations. ed any of the Chukaku's members.
Question. How do you see the political developments within the Japanese workers' movement? And, first and foremost, what is happening to the Socialist and Communist Parties? (6)
The Socialist Party is the
This rupture in the CP
That is why several of the organ-
Apart from the section of the
Such cowardly practices do great largest workers' party in Japan. Since the Second World War it has been a particularly left-wing social-democratie party. In this, it was probably unique. But at the moment the Socialist Party is clearly beginning to lose this specific character.
International Viewpoint 28 January 1984
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JAPAN-
And this development reflects the politi- there are no more than four.
cal drift to the right, which is working its way through the trade-union movement in the framework of the unity of-
Let's take some examples. Reagan came to Japan at the end of 1983 and gave a speech to the Diet (parlia-
In the past the SP would have organised action against the visit of the chief representative of American imperial-
But this time it did nothing. times during which the SP was opposed to American imperialism are almost over. The same problem will arise with the visit of the South Korean dictator, Chun Doo Hwan. Before, the SP was violently opposed to the South Korean regime. Nowadays, they are trying to new relations with South Korea.
In the 1950s and 1960s on the international level, the SP used to put forward an anti-imperialist position. or less maintained the position throughout the 1970s. Now that is over. fronted with popular movements in struggle in East Asia, the SP has modified its policies and has adopted in reality more classic social-democratic positions.
On the national level, the SP established official relations with the trade-union federation, Zenmin Rokyo, which came out of a right-wing fusion within the trade-union movement. jective is to enter into a centre coalition government, and their main problem is to work out how to pull it off. cal trajectory of the new SP president, Ishibashi Mashashi, who was August 1983, illustrates very well that of the party itself. He used to belong to the left of the SP, but now he symbol ises the new realism and did not hesiUnited States.
On its side, the Communist Party now finds itself isolated in the framework of the right-wing fusion of the trade unions. It has reached a political impasse. They lost out more than any other party in sectarian orientation has been reinforced. They are, for example, consolidating their hold over Gensuikyo, the peace movement linked to them. In order to do this, they changed the secretary of the organ-
What is happening What is the context in which they are carrying out their criminal attacks on your members?
The Chukaku organisation is on a course of sectarian isolation and physical attacks on our members are part of this general direction. eral examples of this development that are very revealing. In the 1970s, the Chukaku had some influence in radical democratic circles. These links are now almost completely broken. The group of used to defend Chukaku members arrested under the anti-subversion laws at one time numbered about 25, including law professers who were sometimes quite well known. International Viewpoint 28 January 1984
Another example was the intervention of the Chukaku in the Women's Demo-
This feminist organisation was set up after the Second World War, and during the 1950s it was dominated by the Communist Party.
In the early 1960s, the bulk of the group broke with the CP founded its own organisation. The Women's Democratic Club thereafter became a component part of the independent, democratic left. Within it there were radical democrats, socialists and sections of the 'new left', independent of the SP and
Some members of the leadership were ex-members of the CP.
Chukaku's activities within this organisation began in the 1970s. Last June at the national congress of the Women's Democratic Club, Chukaku members physically halted the progress of the conference from the outset, and were ultimately from the organisation. action by the Chukaku is explained solely in terms of the fact that the Women's Democratic Club is supported by the Sanrizuka Peasants' League (majority).
Chukaku's orientation in the trade-union movement is a further illustration of their political evolution. The Chukaku believe that it is vital to defend the Sohyo against the rightward Zenmin Rokyo. But this is only a verbal commitment, and in practice their members do not actively participate in building an independent left current in the trade-union movement. The main stay of their local trade-union support is in the Chiba section of the train drivers' union - Doro. [This section eventually split from the national union.] Chiba is the region that covers Narita airport and the organises more than a however, been involved in any trade-union opposition at a national level or in the framework of the regional unions.
The Chukaku are preparing in fact for a fundamental compromise in the tradetack the independent left currents, and why they label as provocateurs'
In 1960 there was no Japanese section of the Fourth International but two oups supported the FI unification in 196 and they united in 1965 to form the Japanese union confederation in the public the CP is the minority current. two other national trade-union
Chiritsu-Roren. Democratic Socialist Chiritsu-Roren is the federation of unions in
Socialist Youth is the SP's youth organiSocialist Youth in the 1960s. styled Luxemburgist stance. from Socialist Youth at the end of the 1960s.
See IV, No 49, March 26, 1984. ed Peking against Moscow at the time of the Sino-Soviet split at the beginning of the 1960s those unions set up by our members who were expelled from Sohyo in the telegraph and telephones industry and on the railways and other small unions.
Finally in the Movement for the Liberation of the Buraku (8), which is led by neo-reformists and social democrats, the Chukaku attack the left current that is emerging within this movement rather than any other.
The Chukaku's political direction is therefore extremely sectarian. At the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, we had formed a bloc with Chuk-
We broke off relations with them publicly in 1972 when they had already begun an internecine war with Kakumaru. We were opposed in principle to any use of physical aggression within the far left and we could not therefore maintain relations with the Chukaku. to 1976 Chukaku was a prisoner of its 'war' with Kakumaru, and they had no other systematic political activity.
In 1977, when the number of physical confrontations declined, Chukaku took up their intervention in the mass movement again. The key axis of this was the mobilisation in Sanrizuka, and started to politically oppose our organisation in this field. Meanwhile, although in a less intense fashion, they continued to pursue their violent internecine wars in this period. Last year they found themselves in a political minority in San-
They therefore provoked a minority split from League, denouncing the League majority
'capitulators' and us as revolutionary'.
In January 1984, we suffered the first wave of nocturnal attacks, with the Chukaku breaking people's legs while they
In July, came the second wave. It hit us very badly. One of our members had to have his leg amputated, whilst the other will probably be permanently paralysed. It was at this time that the majority of the legal group that had defended the Chukaku left them, and also the time when they were expelled from the Women's Democratic Club.
with Peking at the time of the cultural revolution in the second half of the
When these splits took place, pro-Soviet The SP traditionally organKyokai faction (sometimes called Kautskyist) ian communists in the 1960s.
See IV, No 62, October 29, 1984. from the majority population. they specialised in the preparation of butcher's meat, in the slaughtering of ani-
The Bukrakumin are still today subdiscrimination in several areas like employment, marriage, access to education.
See IV, No 49, March 26, 1984. 19
The Chukaku's - guerrilla struggle' against our supporters is under the command of the Revolutionary Army', their secret command structure. We believe, but we are not certain, that there were some internal disagreements about this last turn. But it appears that their *Revolutionary Army' has seized control of the national leadership of the organisation.
A political struggle must have taken place within the national leadership of Chukaku between the open wing involved in mass work and the underground wing. But the latter group seems to have carried the day, judging by the very serious attacks carried out last July. fortunately, we will have to prepare ourselves for further physical attacks on our
What has become of the other far-left organisations in Japan?
Chukaku, most important of the organisations is
Since the beginning of the 1970s, the Kakumaru have become the left wing of Japanese social democracy and of the reformist apparatus of the trade-union movement. the 40,000-strong national union of train drivers, Doro. The Doro leadership decided to cooperate with measures for rationalisation in this sector, supposedly 'in order to defend jobs'. are ready to surrender certain rights gained in previous struggles by railway
In following this path, the Kakumaru is in the 'Mindo' (10) tradition of the Sohyo bureaucracy. Members of Kakumaru in Doro have joined the Socialist
In Sendai, an important urban centre in the northeast of the country, members of that union who were fighting against government plans for rationalisation were expelled by the leadership and forced to set up their own union.
Another motive for expulsion is the support given by worker militants of our organisation to the Sanrizuka struggle, which the Kakumaru and the leadership of Doro did not support. toward Sanrizuka was the main source of conflict, especially in 1979, within the train-drivers' union, between the Kakumaru, who controlled the national leadership and the Chukaku, who form a majority in Chiba, where Narita airport is.
The Kakumaru decided to stick with the Sohyo leadership as a means of surviving the difficult period that the trade-union movement was going through.
The situation of the Japanese far left is not brilliant. Our organisation is smaller than the Chukaku and the Kakumaru. There are other far-left organisations, but they are smaller than us.
Q. How do you see the situation in the trade-union movement developing?
A. The Communist Party has never formally recognised Sohyo as the only central union federation of the workers' movement. More than ten years ago, the CP, whilst remaining in Sohyo, founded 20
Confrontation at Narita airport, March, 1978 a United Trade-Union Coordinating Con-
(Toitso Roso Kon). tional unions in the health, transport (lorry drivers), building workers' state employees' sectors were members of this one federation. Local branches of other Sohyo unions or of the area structures also participated in Toitsu Roso Con, which according to its supporters had over one million members.
Within the framework of the rightwing fusion of the unions, there is a dual process going on. It combines a rejection by Zenmin Rokyo of the unions supporting the Communist Party in response to a more and more sectarian stance by the
It must be noted that those unions that support the CP, support it actively on the political terrain — during elections for example - but as far as trade-union action is concerned, the unions led by the CP are usually passive, and in many cases even more passive than other unions in relation to strikes, etc.
The CP is also strong in the teachers union, among municipal workers and on the railways. These three national unions are key to ensuring the Socialist Party's majority in Sohyo, and they were traditionally led by the social democratic left (the Kyokai faction). found themselves on the defensive when confronted with measures for increased productivity and reorganisation adopted by the government.
Q. And what do you think of the position of the trade-union left, and especially Rodo Joho, the class-struggle current?
A. The position of Rodo Joho today is confused (11) This current, which our trade-union militants participate in, fought hard in 1981 and 1982 against the right-wing fusion of the trade-union movement. But they could not prevent the fusion that put the workers' movement under the control of an extremely right-wing bureaucracy. This threatened the unity and effective operation of Rodo Joho.
The confused nature of the situation came out in several different ways. For example, over the Sanrizuka peasants' struggle and the split in the Peasants' League, Rodo Joho did not find it easy to adopt a clear position. Regarding the attacks on our members by Chukaku, Rodo Joho obviously condemned such criminal activity but not, in our view, with sufficient force.
Political debates have also had a destabilising effect on Rodo Joho. The main issue was whether to construct a workers' party jointly betweeen this current and other far-left organisations. In 1982 and 1983, a discussion also took place on the possibilities of differences developing within the Sohyo bureaucracy and within the Socialist Party. opinion, some members of Rodo Joho overestimated the possibility of such a
The debate is continuing now around the possibility of differentiations occurring within the CP and the organisations that they lead, such as the peace movement, Gensuikyo. jective factors which help to encourage
A split did develop between the CP and a radical current in the lorry drivers' union, which is traditionally led by the Communist Party. But we are afraid that such examples are not grounds for great optimism.
On the perspectives for radicalisation within the reformist organisations: Since its creation in 1977 and up until 1982, Rodo Joho, which organises several very good trade-union cadres, has played very positive role in uniting a class-struggle current. But the overall situation has changed a lot in the last few years and Rodo Joho has not yet found a place for
Of course, we have some respon10. Mindo is the dominant force in the Sohyo trade-union apparatus, consisting of SP mem11. positions of a current trade-union left.
International Viewpoint 28 January 1984
sibility in this situation. But our forces are limited, and we are mainly implanted in the Sendai region, in the northeast. We have some problems in working out a concrete orientation for our interven-
It will not be easy to overcome the differences which have emerged within Rodo Joho, or to resolve the problems we are confronted with and to consolidate a united leadership. It will require a united
It will require time. situation of Rodo Joho is a reflection, in its own way, of the weakness of the trade-union left as a whole in confronting the right-wing bureaucracy's offen-
What are the perspectives for intervention today for the Revolutionary Communist League?
We are fighting against the stream. This struggle, in the context of the drift to the right on the political terrain, began with the 1977-1978 campaign in Sanrizuka against the opening of the Narita air-
The struggle of the Sanrizuka peasants constituted a radical, left and unitary pole of opposition. We were wholeheartedly involved in this, along with other cur-
It culminated in the of the control tower on
As a result, we became the targets of severe repression. One hundred and fifty of our members were jailed, in many cases for two to three years. still in prison today, having been given sentences of six to ten years imprisonment. A sort of national bloc against the formed involving the Kakumaru, the SP, the CP and right through to the government's party. At this time a number of our members were expelled from the Sohyo unions, for example, in telegraphs and telephones, where the trade-union apparatus is the most right-wing of all the public sector unions.
In 1981, those who had been expelled with those who supported them formed a small independent union. The same thing was done on the railways in March 1984 by expelled militants and
The construction of these small independent unions is an expression, in some ways, of the state of the Sohyo bureaucracy and the degree of demoralisation of the mass of workers. Several small independent unions also exist in the private sector and we are working towards coordination.
Our orientation at the base is to aid in the construction of a current pledged to fight against Japanese and international imperialism — a current that solidarises with the struggle of the peasants and workers in East Asia and which is involved in the fight against the process of capitalist rationalisation of the Jap-
At the moment, the forces committed to such goals are very
We hope to be able to fight for this perspective within the structures of the International Viewpoint 28 January 1984
Sohyo and the Zenmin Rokyo unions. But owing to the repression introduced by the union bureaucracy we are forced to work in very difficult conditions. All unions face the threat of expulsion, as in the case of groups of militants in telegraphs and telephones and on the rail-
Our general orientation is to try to take up two central tasks in a combined
To create a class-struggle tendency within the large unions and to collaborate with the small radical independent unions. But we have to work out a medium-term
The general political situation in Japan is very difficult. The role of the revolutionary organisation is, therefore, all the more important when there is so little to expect in terms of the spontaneous movement of workers in the near future. In order to resist the presthere has to be a solid political
The trade-union left used to be accustomed to working within the left reformist trade unions. It was a framework for action within which the left currents and the combativity of the masses tures were sensitised to pressure from the dialectic between mass activity and the left reformist union structures.
The far left found here a milieu inclined toward action. But today this has
We were a component part of this left within this youth and working-class movement. We were able work of the rise in the struggles of the youth, students and workers at the end of
1960s and the beginning of the But this radicalisation, this new combativity, remained within a reformist framework, imprisoned within a reperspective in relation to the government question, in relation to parliment and to economic development.
When the economic recession accompanied with the betrayal of the reformist leaderships, the workers did not evitable decline in spontaneous activity, and the reformist dynamic of the mobilisation ended. In this situation we tried to maintain our activity within Sohyo, but we have been threatened for several years now with expulsion.
The general political therefore changed a great deal, as compared to how it was in the 1960s and
All the forces on the left of the workers' movement have to reevaluate their perspectives as a result. How should resist, and what new can we draw up? That is what we are discussing in the organisation at the
We must go through a period of political reorganisation.
In a new context the struggle which is unfolding at Sanrizuka against the construction of a second runway at Narita Airport is, in our opinion, taking on a central importance on the national level.
the workers' The forces of the left in movement should rally behind this strug
It is effectively the only struggle that actually directly challenges the government and also has a national signfi-
Q. At what stage is the antinuclear movement against US missiles in Japan?
Party is the most influential group in the antinucAmerican Tomahawk missiles.
the struggle for a neutral and pacifist is very Eurocommunist, but Japanese-style of course. The CP campaign does not have a real anti-imperialist aspect to it. This fits in with their parliamentarist orientation and their refusal to confront the government and the state directly. It is strictly a legalist campaign.
The 1981 mobilisations, which were led by Sohyo were huge. There were hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, including about 300,000 in Tokyo, but without a clearly defined class charac ter.
The SP's drift to the right this yea meant that Sohyo did nothing to con front the issue of the Tomahawk siles. There were, certainly, som dependent mobilisations against Tom hawk, but with very little participa of organised sections of the worken movement. It was the intellectuals an the radical peace activists who got thes actions going. The dominant charact of these demonstrations was rathe like that of the 'Greens' ecology more ment, with support from civil rights groups, community organisations and peace activists. But the antinuclear movement has shown a lack of unity im the face of'important challenges like the visit in September of the South Korean president, Chun Doo Hwan. This is to mark the culmination of a process of normalisation between Japan (an old colonial power) and the South Korean regime, a process which formally began in 1965.
We are participating in the antinuclear and anti-Tomahawk movement with cer tain key objectives. Firstly, to develop an anti-imperialist dimension, and then •to rebuild an anti-imperialist current within the workers' movement itself. Only such a current will be able to rally to the support of the struggles of the workers and peasants in the Philippines, the struggles unfolding in South Korea or to the Thai workers. who are going through a very difficult time.
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transition and chaos. It was rather between the perspective of a controlled transfer of powers with truncated liberties, on the one hand, and a real democratic break from the dictatorship, based on mobilization of the masses, on the other.