Program of the Japanese Communist Party
Adopted on January 17, 2004 at the JCP 23rd Congress
Revised on January 18, 2020 at the JCP 28th Congress
- Prewar Japanese Society and the JCP
- Characteristics of Postwar Japanese Society
- The World in the 21st Century
- Democratic Revolution and Democratic Coalition Government
- For a Socialist/Communist Society
I. Prewar Japanese Society and the JCP
(1) The Japanese Communist Party was founded on July 15, 1922, in the midst of the popular liberation struggle surging in Japan and the world, as a party with scientific socialism as its theoretical basis following the Japanese history of the struggle for social progress and change.
Japan at the time was one of the world's major monopoly capitalist countries, but the country was under the rule of the emperor's despotism (absolute emperor system). Under the regime, the people were deprived of civil rights and liberties; the semi-feudal landlord system which squeezed tenant peasants into paying heavy rents prevailed in rural areas; and under monopoly capitalism, workers without basic rights were harshly exploited. This was the regime that drove Japan as Asia's only imperialist country to embark on the path of a war of aggression against the region's countries.
The JCP's activities were directed to fulfilling the immediate task of putting an end to these conditions and achieving a democratic revolution aimed at building a peaceful and democratic Japan, to be followed by a socialist revolution.
(2) The JCP fought to end the autocratic rule of the emperor system which deprived the Japanese people of civil rights, and achieve the people's sovereign power, freedom, and human rights.
The JCP fought to abolish the semi-feudal landlord system and free the land for the peasants.
The JCP fought for fundamental improvement of living conditions of the working class who were suffering from harsh exploitation, and for the betterment of the rights and living standards of all working people, intellectuals, women and youth.
The JCP fought for the creation and dissemination of progressive, democratic, and revolutionary culture.
The JCP opposed Japanese imperialism's interventionist wars aimed at crushing the Russian revolution and the Chinese revolution, fought against its war of aggression against China, and called for peace throughout the world as well as in Asia.
The JCP supported the liberation of Korea and Taiwan, which were at the time colonies of Japanese imperialism, and fought for the complete independence of Asia's colonial and semi-colonial nations.
(3) Japanese imperialism in 1931 began a war of aggression in the Northeast of China and in 1937 started a total war of aggression against China, thus becoming the first aggressor nation to pave the way for World War II. In 1940, Japanese imperialism entered into a military alliance with the European fascist states, Italy and Germany, and in 1941 expanded its war of aggression beyond China into the whole of Asia and the Pacific, thus becoming a driving force for World War II.
The imperialist war and the tyranny by the power of the emperor system forced the people to endure hardships. JCP activities faced major difficulties and failures, but many JCP members, undaunted by persecution and imprisonment, fought against various kinds of betrayal and held fast to the banner of the JCP. A number of JCP members were killed in the repression.
At a time when all the other political parties together supported the war of aggression and political reaction, the JCP's dauntless struggle for peace and democracy was of great significance, which is imperishable in the cause of peace and democracy in Japan.
The war of aggression killed more than 20,000,000 people in other Asian countries as well as more than 3,000,000 Japanese people. In this war, Okinawa underwent a ground battle, and air raids throughout the country reduced many regions into ashes. In August 1945, U.S. forces dropped the world's first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing more than 200,000 people (by the end of that year). The Japanese people became a people with tragic history of the nuclear attack engraved in their memory.
With the alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan, which represented fascism and militarism, suffering setbacks throughout the world, Japanese imperialism in August 1945 was defeated and accepted the Potsdam Declaration. This was a declaration by the anti-fascist Allied Powers calling for militarism to be eliminated and for democracy to be established. It showed that the only way out for the Japanese people was to establish a peaceful and democratic Japan. This proved that the course followed undauntedly by the JCP had been basically appropriate.
II. Characteristics of Postwar Japanese Society
(4) After the end of World War II, Japan underwent several major changes.
First, Japan lost its independence and became a de facto dependency of the United States.
Defeated in the war, Japan was occupied by the U.S. forces ostensibly on behalf of the anti-fascist Allied Powers. The United States later replaced this occupation with its one-country rule. In 1951, it concluded with Japan the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the Security Treaty to continue to occupy Okinawa and maintain the main part of U.S. military bases built in many parts of mainland Japan during the occupation period. With this, the United States forced Japan to play the role of a semipermanent forward deployment base serving U.S. global strategy. The Japan-U.S. Security Treaty was revised in 1960. But the revision did not decrease Japan's subordination to the United States; it not only changed the treaty to one of land-leasing for U.S. military bases but incorporated provisions for joint Japan-U.S. operations in the event of emergencies and bilateral economic cooperation as the treaty's new pillars. Thus, the treaty was adversely revised and strengthened into a military alliance treaty that binds Japan as a subordinate ally that would be forced to participate in U.S. wars.
Second was the change in Japan's political system, marking an end of the despotism that had given the emperor absolute power and the beginning of democracy based on the principle that sovereign power resides in the people. This change had its expression in the present Constitution of Japan which came into effect in 1947. The Constitution established people's sovereignty, renunciation of war, fundamental human rights, the Diet as the supreme state organ, local autonomy, and a series of other democratic and peaceful provisions that serve as pillars of democracy. Although the constitutional provisions that allowed the emperor system to continue under the new definition had weaknesses going against the consolidation of democracy, they included a restrictive provision that the emperor "shall not have powers related to government".
This change made it possible to set out for institutional preparations for Japan to carry out social progress and transformation through parliament based on the wishes of the majority of the people, the first in Japan's political history.
Third, an agrarian reform basically dissolved the semi-feudal landlord system, which, along with the despotism of the emperor system, had been the root cause of the semi-feudal character of Japanese society. This gave Japanese monopoly capitalism modern conditions for its development and served as one of the factors in promoting fast economic growth in the post-war period.
These are circumstances in which Japan, as one of the world's monopoly capitalist countries, achieved major economic development. However, despite its high-rate economic growth, the basic structure of Japan's relationship with the United States remained an alliance in which Japan was bound as a subordinate U.S. ally.
(5) Although Japan is a highly developed capitalist country, it is virtually a dependent country, with an important part of its land, military matters and other affairs of state being controlled by the United States.
The greater part of U.S. military bases constructed during the total occupation period following the end of WWII continues to exist throughout Japan even after half a century. In particular, Okinawa, which was put under U.S. military occupation separate from mainland Japan following Japan's defeat in WWII and was bound by the San Francisco Peace Treaty providing for its continued occupation, is used as its largest military base in Asia. A nationwide popular struggle with the Okinawans at the forefront won in 1972 the reversion to Japan of the administrative rights over Okinawa, but the state of U.S. military bases basically unchanged and Okinawans are still forced to live in the middle of U.S. bases. U.S. forces are flagrantly violating Japan's territorial air space and territorial waters, and even imposing on Japan "secret agreements" on the possible bringing in of nuclear weapons to Japan which three times fell victim to the use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and again at Bikini Atoll.
The Japanese Self-Defense Forces, which are virtually under U.S. control and command, are forced to assist in U.S. world strategy.
The United States still retains significant power over Japan's military and diplomatic affairs, and constantly uses its enormous power to interfere with Japan's economic affairs. In the United Nations and in other international forums, Japanese government representatives often play the role of spokespersons for the U.S. government.
Japan-U.S. relationship is not one of an equal rights alliance. The present state of Japan is marked by its state subordination to the United States, which is extraordinary not only among the developed capitalist countries but in international relations of the present-day world, in which colonization is history. The U.S. domination of Japan clearly has an imperialistic character because it tramples on Japan's sovereignty and independence in the interests of U.S. world strategy and U.S. monopoly capitalism.
(6) In the conditions that emerged after the end of WWII, Japanese monopoly capitalism took the path of development as state monopoly capitalism subordinate to the United States. Already in the early part of the post-war period, it overtook all European countries to occupy the position second only to the United States in gross national product. A tiny number of large corporations, which are at the center of Japanese monopoly capital, has taken possession of the greater part of wealth and pursued a path to become gigantic and multinational. They have also kept the Japanese government under their strong influence and used the state structure as much as they can to secure its class interests. Domestically, large corporations and business circles, connected with the U.S. policy of domination of Japan, constitute the main forces that dominate Japan and its people.
Under the tyrannical rule of large corporations and business circles, in most fields related to the people's living conditions and basic rights, rules that are common sense in Europe are not established in Japan. This is a major weakness of Japanese society. Workers are afflicted by long hours of work and excessively heavy workloads that could result in karoshi (death from overwork) as well as by unstable jobs that are discriminatory, and "forced overtime work", an illegal method of exploitation, is prevalent at many enterprises. In the area of job security, there are no laws to regulate dismissals as there are in Europe.
Discrimination against women persists in various sections of social life as a backward reality that contravenes the international convention and is under international criticism. Suppression of basic human rights, including their violations by public authority, remains a serious problem in many sections.
Small- and medium-sized enterprises carry significant weight in Japan's industries and trades, and are the essential players in the Japanese economy. But their business performance is constantly worsening as a result of their being forced to endure inequity, and discriminatory and oppressive treatment in their transactions with large corporations as well as in loans, taxation, and administrative measures. Agriculture, without the guarantee necessary for its independent development, is exposed to a storm of "free trade", and Japan's self-sufficiency in food is lower than any other developed capitalist country but the country is unable to find a way to rebuild its agriculture.
Concerning the issue of the environment, which has critical bearings on the life and health of the people, the production and development policy primarily serving large corporations' quest for profits is responsible for the nationwide destruction of nature and living conditions.
The Japanese government, on behalf of large corporations and business circles, has maintained its economic and fiscal policy that gives priority to securing the interests of large corporations. The larger part of Japan's expenditure has been directed at large-scale public works projects and other items mainly in the interests of large corporations as well as military buildup. Public spending on social security and other social services remains the smallest among the developed capitalist countries. This "upside-down" approach is a typical manifestation of the Japanese government's economic and fiscal policy.
What underlies this upside-down policy is the corrupt triangle of reactionary politicians, privileged bureaucrats, and some large corporations. Endless grafts, bribery, and corruption scandals represent the unfathomable depths of Japanese monopoly capitalism and political reaction.
U.S. interference in the Japanese economy has often led the Japanese government's economic policy in wrong directions and has been a major cause of the crises and contradictions in the Japanese economy. The U.S. attempts to impose its business models or economic models on Japan in the name of "globalization" turn out to be increasingly harmful and dangerous to the future of Japan's economy.
Due to all these factors, Japan's economic bases are particularly left vulnerable, and Japanese monopoly capitalism will have to face particularly sharpening contradictions and crises in the tumultuous situation relating to world capitalism in the 21st century.
Japan's monopoly capitalism and government are playing the active role of a subordinate ally of the United States in military, diplomatic, and economic aspects in order to broaden the scope of their activities abroad using Japan's closer attachment to U.S. global strategy.
Militarily, the Japanese government, taking part in U.S. war plans, is broadening the scope and raising the level of the overseas dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces, thus making the dispatch a fait accompli and using it as leverage to accelerate the moves toward reviving militarism, including the war-contingency legislation, the exercising of the right of collective self-defense, and an adverse revision to the Constitution. These policies and actions toward the revival of militarism, which are being developed in conjunction with the U.S. preemptive attack strategy, are causing rifts with other Asian peoples and making Japan one of Asia's seismic centers of military tension along with its role as a U.S. forward deployment base.
This system, which is characterized by Japan's subordination to the United States and the tyrannical rule by large corporations and business circles, has many unsolvable contradictions with the fundamental interests of the Japanese people. These contradictions are growing deeper and more serious in the 21st century.
III. The World in the 21st Century
(7) The 20th century began with monopoly capitalism and imperialism dominating the world. During the 20th century, humanity underwent worldwide ravages of two world wars, fascism and militarism, and a series of wars of aggression. But these calamities were overcome through efforts and bitter struggles by peoples, paving the way for enormous historic changes to take place.
The colonial system, which chained many nations under oppression, collapsed completely, and the right of nations to self-determination became a universally accepted principle, and more than 100 countries achieved political independence to become sovereign countries. These countries are the main components of the conference of the non-aligned countries as an important driving force in international politics for a world that is peaceful and based on self-determination of nations.
Democracy with popular sovereignty now forms a current accepted as a political principle by the majority of the world's countries, thus becoming the main trend of world politics. Regarding the issue of human rights, the standard of international human rights has been established based on the rich development of social rights in addition to civil liberties. Defending and developing human rights has become an international task.
With the founding of the United Nations, the illegalization of war was set as the historical course of development, and the building of an international order for peace that will prevent war was set forth as the world's objective. In the light of what the world experienced in the 20th century, in particular the wars of aggression and opposition to attempts to carry out such wars, the increasingly pressing task is for the peoples of the world to establish an international order for peace.
Among these enormous changes, the collapse of the colonial system was the greatest one that profoundly transformed the structure of the world and promoted the development of democracy, human rights, and the international order for peace.
(8) Russia’s October Socialist Revolution broke out in 1917, and after World War II, a number of countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America embarked on the path of breaking away from capitalism.
In its early stages under the leadership of Lenin, the Soviet Union, the first country to begin taking a road to socialism, registered a series of positive efforts to aim for socialism in spite of the social and economic backwardness it faced at the start as well as trial and error it had to go through. In particular, its recognition of the right to national self-determination as the basis of its foreign policy prompted the collapse of the world's colonial system.
However, after Lenin's death, Stalin and other successive Soviet leaders discarded the principles of socialism. Internationally, it took the path of hegemonism through invasion and oppression of other nations and domestically imposed bureaucratism and despotism that deprived the people of freedom and democratic rights and repressed the working people. All the more because these were committed under the name of "socialism", these errors had particularly adverse effects on the movement for world peace and social progress.
A party of sovereign independence in defense of scientific socialism, the JCP firmly opposed the interference by Soviet hegemonism in the Japanese movement for peace and social progress, as well as the armed Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan.
The breakdown of the ruling system that occurred between 1989 and 1991 in the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries which were subordinate to the former was not due to a failure of socialism; it was a failure of hegemonism, bureaucratism, and despotism that departed from the cause of socialism. At the outset, revolutions in these countries called for socialism as their objective, but due to the errors committed by their leaderships, these societies grew so repressive that they had nothing in common with socialism and as such came to an end.
The downfall of the historical and colossal evil of Soviet hegemonism, in the long run, formed a new element for strengthening the move toward peace and social progress in the world. It paved the way for new possibilities leading to the sound development of the world's revolutionary movement.
(9) The structural change in the world which took place in the 20th century, i.e., the collapse of the colonial system and the creation of more than one hundred of new sovereign nations, has begun to demonstrate its vital power promoting peace and social progress in the 21st century.
The era when a handful of major powers were dictating world politics as they saw fit is over, and a new era in which all the countries in the world become the main protagonists in world politics on an equal footing is now beginning. It is a new feature that civil society, together with various governments, has been playing a major role as an active participant in international politics.
The call of the atomic bomb survivors for "No More Hiroshimas, No More Nagasakis" and the voices of Japan and the world demanding the abolition of nuclear weapons have made such a great difference in international politics that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, a first-ever treaty to illegalize nuclear weapons, has been created. Though the forces that refuse to give up nuclear weapons are persistent in continuing to buttress their monopoly over nuclear weapons as a pillar of their military strategy, this reactionary trend is being cornered and isolated by the governments and global civil society aspiring to create "a world without nuclear weapons."
In Southeast Asia and Latin America, the trend of regional cooperation for peace was generated and has been growing despite difficulties and complexity involved. It is noteworthy that these regions have taken efforts to resolve conflicts peacefully, uphold their independence against interference by outside major powers, and have become the source of worldwide efforts working for the abolition of nuclear weapons by concluding the nuclear-weapon-free zone treaties. In particular, a significant contribution to the peaceful order of the world was achieved when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) built a regional community for peace based on their treaty that advocates a peaceful resolution of conflicts and has been strengthening this resolution throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Based on the standards of global human rights created in the middle of the 20th century, the international norms that eliminate discrimination against women, children, people with disabilities, minorities, migrant workers, indigenous peoples, and others and that guarantee their dignity have been accepted. The global trend that demands gender equality has had significant influence and the move to eliminate economic and social discrimination and all forms of violence against women is now a task being addressed by the international community.
(10) Capitalism's contradiction arising from its inability to control the enormously developed productive power has its expression in the largest scale and sharpest form ever in the worsening living conditions of the broad strata of the people, the widening gap between rich and poor, repeated economic recession and massive unemployment, rampant speculative financial investment beyond national borders, the global destruction of environmental conditions, the serious effect of the negative legacy of colonialism, as well as the poverty in countries of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
In particular, the unprecedented worldwide expansion of the gap between rich and poor and climate change, which is causing various disasters on a global scale, has questioned the sustainability of the capitalist system itself in the 21st century, and the struggle to properly deal with these issues is of vital significance for the future of humankind.
Attempts in many regions of the world to strengthen military alliances and adopt military-first approaches toward settling international disputes, the increase in international terrorism, and the rise of ethnic exclusionism have been the cause of increasing tensions which threaten the peace.
It is particularly grave that the United States pursues military hegemonism, in which it puts its national interests above the interests of world peace and orderly international relations, prepares and carries out its preemptive attack strategy against other countries in disregard of the United Nations. The United States has set up its network of military bases throughout the world and holds itself in readiness to intervene and attack anywhere in the world. This is nothing less than a blatant expression of the aggressive inclination of imperialism, which is peculiar to monopoly capitalism. These are blatant policies and actions of hegemonism and imperialism, which are incompatible with the principle of national independence and freedom or with the principles established in the U.N. Charter.
U.S. imperialism is now the greatest threat to world peace and security as well as to the sovereign rights and independence of nations.
The U.S. quest for hegemony and its imperialist policies and actions are even causing contradictions and rifts with other monopoly capitalist countries. The pursuit of economic hegemony aimed at forcing the rest of the world into a U.S.-led economic order in the name of economic "globalization" is also bringing disorder to the world economy.
It should be noted that despite the nature of U.S. militaristic hegemonism, under the transformation of the world structure, an attempt to solve international disputes through diplomatic negotiations has shown itself in U.S. reaction to international issues.
The great-power chauvinism and hegemonism that have increased among some of major powers has become an adverse current to world peace and progress. It is grave that the struggle for hegemony between the U.S. and other emerging powers has intensified and created new tensions in the world.
(11) The above-stated situation makes it more important than ever to develop the struggle against any form of hegemonism and the struggle in defense of an international order for peace, the struggle for the abolition of nuclear weapons, the struggle against military alliances, the struggle to have the right to national self-determination respected and defended from violation, the struggle to defend and strengthen democracy and human rights, the struggle to establish a democratic international economic order based on respect for national economic sovereignty, and the struggle to curb climate change and protect the global environment.
It is important for the forces working for peace and social progress to make efforts to achieve their advances and solidarity in appropriate forms both nationally and internationally.
The Japanese Communist Party supports the struggle for the progress of humanity in solidarity with the world's working class and all people who are fighting for the cause of national independence, peace, democracy, and social progress.
In particular, we are faced with the fundamental choice between two international orders: one of peace based on the U.N. Charter and the other of a hegemonistic international order which violates the independence and sovereignty of nations. The JCP will do all it can to build up international solidarity to help stop hegemonistic interventions, war, oppression and domination by any nation, establish an international order for peace, and achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world and a world without military alliances.
Although there may be numerous ups and downs, twists and turns as well as temporary or long-term retrogressive movements in the course of history, it will be inevitable in the long run for social development to be achieved through overcoming imperialism and capitalism and advancing toward socialism.
IV. Democratic Revolution and Democratic Coalition Government
(12) A change Japanese society needs at present is a democratic revolution instead of a socialist revolution. It is a revolution that puts an end to Japan's extraordinary subordination to the United States and the tyrannical rule of large corporations and business circles, a revolution that secures Japan's genuine independence and carries out democratic reforms in politics, the economy, and society. Although these are democratic reforms realizable within the framework of capitalism, their full-fledged achievement can be made possible through a transfer of state power to the forces that represent the fundamental interests of the Japanese people from those representing Japan's monopoly capitalism and subordinate to the United States. Success in achieving this democratic change will help solve problems that cause the people to suffer and pave the way for building an independent, democratic, and peaceful Japan that safeguards the fundamental interests of the majority of the people.
(13) The following is a list of democratic reforms Japanese society needs at present:
[National independence, security, and foreign relations]
1. The Japan-U.S. Security Treaty will be abrogated in accordance with Article 10 providing that Japan can notify the U.S. government of its intention to terminate the treaty, and the U.S. forces and military bases will be withdrawn from Japan. Japan will conclude a friendship treaty with the United States on an equal footing.
Unjustifiable U.S. intervention will be rejected also in economic affairs, so as to establish independence in all fields, including finance, foreign exchange, and trade.
2. Japan after recovering sovereignty will follow the path of peace, neutrality, and non-alignment to establish friendship with all countries, instead of entering into any military alliances, and participate in the conference of the non-aligned countries.
3. With regard to the Self-Defense Forces, the law allowing the SDF dispatch abroad will be repealed, and disarmament steps will be taken. In view of new developments that will follow the abrogation of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, steps should be taken toward the complete implementation of Article 9 of the Constitution (dissolution of the SDF) based on national consensus.
4. A new Japan will develop peace diplomacy in line with the following basic points:
-- Attach importance to promoting friendship and exchanges with Asian countries on the premise that Japan expresses remorse for its war of aggression and colonization in the past; establish a framework for regional cooperation for peace in Northeast Asia based on the principle of peaceful resolution of conflicts.
-- Champion the international order for peace as defined by the U.N. Charter and oppose any hegemonic attempts to violate or destroy it.
-- Strive to prevent nuclear war and abolish nuclear weapons as a vital task for the survival of humankind, defend the right of nations to self-determination, achieve general disarmament, dissolve all military alliances, and get all foreign military bases dismantled.
-- Oppose both indiscriminate terrorist attacks that victimize the general public and retaliatory war, and work to heighten international calls and increase common action for eradicating terrorism.
-- Seek to achieve the return to Japan of the Chishima (Kurile) Islands as well as the Habomai Islands and Shikotan Island, which are historically part of Japan.
-- Control irresponsible activities of multinational corporations, protect the global environment, check economic hegemony by great powers, and seek to establish a democratic international economic order based on respect for economic sovereignty for every nation with fair and equitable relations.
-- Take active part in international activities by non-military means to help peacefully resolve international disputes and deal with humanitarian problems, including disasters, refugees, poverty, and hunger.
-- Exert efforts to establish peaceful coexistence among countries with different social systems and establish dialogue as well as relations of coexistence among various civilizations with different values.
[Constitution and democracy]
1. Defend all the provisions of the Constitution, including the preamble, and in particular strive to have provisions of peace and democracy fully implemented.
2. Maintain the system of parliamentary democracy in which the Diet is the supreme state organ in both name and deed, the multi-party system that guarantees the existence of opposition parties, and the system of political power change that allows a political party or a group of political parties in the parliamentary majority to be in charge of government.
3. Carry out reforms of the election systems, administrative organizations, and the judiciary system to realize the constitutional principle of people's sovereignty and peace.
4. Put the "residents-first" principle into practice in local government and establish local autonomy that gives top priority to serving the residents' interests.
5. Preclude every attempt to restrict or suppress fundamental human rights and work to improve human rights protection in accordance with the changing social and economic conditions; protect basic labor rights fully; eliminate discrimination based on ideology and belief in all fields of social life, including within companies.
6. Create a gender equal society; Defend and guarantee equality of rights between men and women in all fields; respect women's independent personality; raise women's social and legal status; remove obstacles to women's social participation and contribution; and eliminate discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
7. Carry out reforms of the education system as well as educational administration, using the constitutional ideas of peace and democracy as the guide, and make efforts to improve educational conditions and contents of education at all educational levels.
8. Follow useful traditions of culture in various fields and seek to achieve the diverse development of science, technology, culture, arts, and sports; and defend the freedom of academic, research, and cultural activities.
9. Defend the freedom of religious belief and put into practice fully the principle of separation of religion and politics.
10. Prohibit political donations by companies and other organizations in order to root out graft, corruption, and concession hunting.
11. Call for the constitutional provisions restricting the role of the emperor (Tenno) to be strictly implemented, including the one that the emperor "shall not have powers related to government", and correct deviations from constitutional provisions and spirit, including the political use of the emperor.
The JCP maintains that the present hereditary system allowing an individual to be the symbol of "the unity of the people" contradicts democracy and the principle that all people are equal, and that the consistent implementation of the principle of popular sovereignty calls for a political system to be established under a democratic republic. The emperor system is a system provided for by the Constitution, and its 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.
[Economic democracy]
1. Overcome the present state of "capitalism without rules" and, taking into account what has been achieved in major capitalist countries in Europe and through international conventions, build an "economy governed by rules" that defends the people's living standards and rights, including regulations regarding long working hours and arbitrary dismissals of workers.
2. Control large corporation's economic tyranny with democratic regulation as the main means; through the democratic regulation, require large corporations to fulfill their social responsibility for workers, consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses, regional economies, and the environment, with a view to promoting the establishment of rules for defending the people's living standards and rights and promoting balanced economic development; and oppose environmental destruction, including pollution, caused by economic activities and military bases, and strengthen regulatory measures for the conservation of nature and the protection of the environment.
3. Fundamentally change Japan's policy for agriculture, forestry, and fisheries with the focus on the multifunctionality such as increasing the self-sufficiency of food, securing safe and reliable food, and preserving land; and promote agriculture as a key productive sector in the government's industrial policy.
4. Abolish existing nuclear power plants, abandon research and development of the nuclear fuel cycle, and create a ‘Japan free from nuclear power plants’; achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions at an early stage to protect the future of humankind from climate change; give importance to protect the environment and improve the country’s energy self-sufficiency rate; and promote a radical shift to renewable energy.
5. Improve and establish a comprehensive social security system as the basic system that supports the living conditions of people of all strata; attach importance to establishing social facilities and programs to help maintain children's health and well-being and bring up children; and have Japanese society make efforts to reverse the falling birth rate.
6. End the spending practice that gives budget priorities to wasteful large-scale public works projects, assistance to large corporations and major banks, and arms buildup, with the aim of establishing a fiscal and economic policy that puts emphasis on safeguarding the people's living conditions and providing social services; end the present tax system favoring large corporations and the wealthy and establish a taxation and social security systems based on the principle of shouldering burdens according to ability to pay.
7. Promote mutually beneficial economic relations on an equal footing with all countries and work to make contributions to solving world problems, including the North-South gap and global environmental destruction.
(14) Democratic transformation will be achieved by the force of a united front comprising all people who aspire to achieve national independence, democracy, peace, and better living conditions, including workers, working citizens, farmers, fishers, small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs, intellectuals, women, youth, and students. The united front will come into being, grow, and develop as a result of strengthened cooperation and unity of democratic parties, public organizations from various fields, and democratic individuals through fighting against parties of political reaction. Common efforts and unity in action for the immediate tasks should be promoted regardless of outlook on the world, historical view, and religious belief.
The JCP must take on the role as the foremost promoter of the movement toward the national common effort and unity. The JCP's growth, backed by high-level political and theoretical capabilities as well as great organizational strength with close ties with workers and other strata of the people, is indispensable for the development of the united front.
To achieve the demands of the people and to make progress in the cause of transformation, it is important for the JCP and the united front forces to actively increase their seats in the Diet to fight in cooperation with extra-parliamentary movements.
If the JCP and the united front forces, supported by a majority of the people, win the stable majority in the Diet, a united front government, which is a democratic coalition government, will be established. A political party that has worked on the consistent principle that "people are sovereign", the JCP fights to establish a democratic coalition government supported by a parliamentary majority.
In the course of the development of the united front, there can be a case in which conditions emerge for building a united front based on several goals agreed upon, although the agreement may not cover all the main tasks needed for democratic reform. If such a common effort is an alternative that is useful to meet the interests of the people and defeat the present reactionary rule, the JCP will do its best to help form a united front and establish a united front government within the scope of immediate goals that are agreed upon.
Establishing progressive and democratic local self-governments throughout the country will provide the main vehicle that carries the demands of residents of regions and communities; they will also serve as important power propelling the democratic and progressive currents.
The establishment of a democratic coalition government will be made possible through struggles backed by a majority of the people to defeat obstructions and resistance from the present ruling forces that represent the rule of monopoly capitalism and Japan's subordination to the United States. We cannot belittle possible obstacles by the ruling forces of the United States, which clings to its continued domination of Japan.
This struggle does not end when a government is established. In advances that follow, it is important that the united front government bring under control the whole of state organizations both in name and in deed based on the unity of the democratic forces and the people's struggle and that it makes sure that the administrative organizations will be in charge of new national policies.
A democratic coalition government will be based on a democratic alliance of all strata of the people including workers, working citizens, farmers, fishers, small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs, intellectuals, women, youth, and students, as well as their organizations. It will have political power to develop a new path that will implement the tasks of recovering Japan's genuine independence and carrying out its democratic transformation.
(15) Democratic transformation to build an independent, democratic, and peaceful Japan will mark a milestone in Japanese people's history. Japan will no more be in subordination to the United States, and the Japanese people will regain their true sovereignty and become the protagonists in the country. Democratic reforms will help Japan cease to be a source of war or military tension and become a firm foundation for peace in Asia and the world, and will pave the way for new political, economic, and cultural development using the vitality of the Japanese people. A democratic and peaceful change in Japan's course will play a significant role in forming an order for peace in Asia and mark an important turning point in the evolution of the situation in Asia and the world in the 21st century.
V. For a Socialist/Communist Society
(16) In the next stage of Japan's social development, the task is to overcome capitalism and carry out socialist transformation and advance to a socialist/communist society.
The key element of socialist transformation is socialization of the means of production, which transfers possession, control and management of the main means of production to society. Socialization only concerns the means of production; as far as the means of living is concerned, the right to private property will be protected throughout all stages of social development.
Socialization of the means of production will pave the way for the abolition of exploitation of man by man, improvement of living conditions for all people, eradication of poverty from society, and realization of shorter working hours, thus securing the human development of all members of society.
Socialization of the means of production will take the driving force for production and the economy away from capitalists' quest for profits and redirect it into the development of society and of the material and spiritual life of members of society, thus making it possible to use planned management of the economy to stave off the repeated economic recession and effectively regulate further environmental destruction, the widening social gap, and other problems.
Socialization of the means of production will release the economy from the narrow framework of profit-first approaches and create conditions for a new rapid development of material productive power that supports human society.
A socialist/communist Japan will inherit and further develop all valuable gains of the capitalist era, including those of democracy and freedom. The "freedom of exploitation" will be restricted, and its abolition will be sought in the course of reforms to be carried out. Abolition of exploitation will pave the way for a society in which humankind becomes the key players of society in the true sense of the word. The idea that "the people are sovereign" will become a social reality in all fields, politics, the economy, culture, and society.
The freedom of various ideologies and beliefs as well as political activities, including those by opposition parties, will be rigorously protected. Giving privileges to a particular political party as the "leadership" party in the name of "socialism" or defining a particular outlook on the world as "state-designated philosophy" is an act that has nothing in common with socialism and therefore must be categorically rejected.
When a socialist/communist society achieves a higher degree of development and when the majority of its population is made up of generations who are alien to exploitation and oppression, real prospects will be developed for advancing to a society in principle free of all forms of coercion in which state power is unnecessary and an association of equal and free human relationships without exploitation of man by man and free of oppression and war.
This is how humanity will achieve conditions for humane existence and living conditions in the true sense of the word, and take steps toward a new stage of development of human history.
(17) Socialist transformation will not be carried out in a short period of time; it will be a long process that needs a stage-by-stage progress based on national consensus.
Such a transformation begins with forming a consensus among a majority of the people in support of an advance toward socialism/communism; power aiming for socialism will be established with a backing of a stable parliamentary majority. Building a national consensus is prerequisite for taking action throughout these stages.
The JCP will stick with its united front policy of cooperating with all parties and individuals that are in favor of an advance to socialism. The JCP will respect the interests of working citizens, farmers, fishers, and small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs in an effort to follow the road of socialist reform accepted and supported by a majority of the population.
The road to socialism in Japan will be a process of new challenges and exploration along which many emerging problems will be solved by the wisdom and creativeness of the Japanese people. The JCP will pay particular attention to and defend the following points:
(i) Socialization of the means of production can take on a variety of forms of ownership, control, and management according to the situation and conditions. Although it is important to explore forms that fit in with Japanese society, we must not depart from the socialist principle that producers are the key players. The error committed by the former Soviet Union in imposing bureaucratism that oppressed producers under false pretenses of "nationalization" and "collectivization" must not be repeated.
(ii) Advancing toward socialism through a market economy accords the law of development of socialism conforming to the Japanese conditions. In carrying out socialist reforms, it is important to run the economy effectively with flexibility by combining the elements of the planned economy and the market economy, and to continue efforts and exploration that respect private initiatives by farmers, fishers, and small- and medium-sized producers and traders. A "controlled economy" in which the people's spending practices are controlled oruniformed will totally be rejected in Japanese economic life under socialism/communism.
(18) The world so far has not undergone a full socialistic transformation from advanced capitalism with high socio-economic achievements. The effort to advance to socialism and communism in a developed capitalist nation is a new historic challenge for the world in the 21st century.
Socialist transformation emanating from a developed capitalist country is a task faced with special difficulties but rich and great potential as well. Based on the socialization of the means of production, this transformation will be realized by further developing the gains made in the capitalist era, such as high productivity fostered under capitalism, a system to socially regulate and manage economy, rules to protect people’s lives and rights, institutions of freedom and democracy as well as historical experiences of people’s struggles, and the rich individuality of human beings. Social changes in a developed capitalist country are the high road to socialism or communism. The role that the JCP should play is extremely important worldwide.
The JCP will make every effort to make the 21st century a century in which humanity records a historic advance toward constructing an association free of exploitation or oppression, while making efforts to fulfill those tasks of transformation to meet the needs of Japanese society at each stage of social development.
