On the 3rd Central Committee Plenum

The following is a communique of the Japanese Communist Party Central Committee Secretariat on the 3rd Plenum of the JCP Central Committee:

The Japanese Communist Party Central Committee held its 3rd Plenum of the Central Committee (25th Congress) on July 3-4 at the JCP head office.

JCP Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo gave the Executive Committee report, which, first of all, clarified that the natural disaster and the subsequent nuclear accident have brought into question the basis of Japan’s politics, and explained in detail how the JCP has tackled the issues, compared to the responses made by the two major parties.

Secondly, the report mentioned that nationwide struggles in various fields are breaking new ground and pointed out the significance of struggles to give relief to disaster victims and to reconstruct disaster-stricken regions. Calling for a major movement to be launched to create a national consensus on a swift withdrawal from nuclear power generation, it analyzed the basic points and significance of the JCP proposal for a full-scale shift to renewable energy. In line with the party’s Program, the report also made clear the importance of campaigns to protect people’s livelihoods, such as opposing a consumption tax hike and cuts in social security programs, as well as to defend peace and oppose militarism and war.

Based on lessons from the simultaneous local elections, the report stressed the following two points as especially-important lessons: the party’s strength is still insufficient and efforts to utilize and increase ties with the public as proposed by the 2nd Plenum help to determine the election outcome. It also emphasized the need to prepare for local elections in the three prefectures in the Tohoku region, which have been postponed due to the natural disaster, as well as to work for a victory in a general election.

As the fourth pillar, the report called on JCP members to conduct a “major drive to develop party strength, mainly to achieve an increase in JCP membership” by July 15, 2012, the party’s 90th founding anniversary. The report emphasized the importance of the drive from four angles: The first is that Japan’s politics is about to undergo a big change as many people have come to realize an impasse of the “two-party” system. The second is that the party needs to eliminate the element of weakness which brought to the JCP setbacks in national elections for the past 12 years, and to create a “virtuous cycle” of a stronger JCP with JCP advances in elections. The third is that the JCP must build up a party appropriate to its Program which maintains the party’s independence unaffected by foreign intervention. The fourth is that all party organizations will be able to make progress in their activities in various fields only by putting a membership-increase at the center of the party buildup effort. The report also explained the importance of making the party buildup drive a success in relation to party activities led by the branches, progress in people’s various movements, efforts to increase Akahata readers, a “series of lectures of the JCP Party Program and scientific socialism,” and the “campaign to explain to the public how the JCP Party Program envisages Japan’s future.”

At the beginning of the second day of the Plenum, Organ Paper Activity Bureau Director Iwai Tetsuya (Standing Executive Committee member) made a proposal, “Appeal to all JCP members to overcome the crisis the daily Akahata faces.” In the question-and-answer session, nine participants offered comments regarding the proposal.

In the two-day meeting, 22 attendees expressed their opinions about the Executive Committee report on the first day and 29 on the second day. The discussion on the second day included the theme of how to keep the publication of the daily Akahata going.

After the discussion, Shii made the concluding remarks. He stated that the meeting highlighted the JCP’s significant role during the critical situation caused by the Great East Japan Disaster and the nuclear accident. The JCP chair added that the increasing number of movements against nuclear power plants is having a great influence on public opinion.

To begin a major campaign to increase party membership and Akahata readership, Shii explained that the following five points are important: we must learn lessons from the nationwide local elections that were held in April; it is important to continue making efforts to boost party membership and to solve the issue of longtime name-only members, as proposed by the CC 2nd Plenum; we must make pioneering efforts to bring in young people and students to the party; achieving an increase in party members at workplaces is significant; and, we must maintain the publication of the daily Akahata.

Reaffirming the appeal to keep the daily Akahata publication going, the Plenum ended with the unanimous adoption of the Executive Committee report and the concluding remarks.