JCP political funding is supported by grassroots donations

Upon the release of the 2010 political funds reports, Japanese Communist Party Finance and Management Committee Director Ueda Hitoshi on November 30 published the following statement:

In 2010, the JCP Central Committee had a total income of 23.75 billion yen (down 3.5% from 2009) and a total expenditure of 24.37 billion yen (down 3.6% from 2009), with an 1.06 billion yen balance carried forward.

The JCP balance sheet clearly shows that it neither accepts any fund donations from business corporations and other organizations aimed at influencing policies, nor the unconstitutional state subsidy paid from tax revenues. The report shows that the JCP funds itself with party membership dues, income from newspaper and other publishing activities, and personal donations from supporting individuals.

That the publishing activities account for 87.9% of income and 63.7% of expenditure reflects that its newspaper “Akahata” is a major link that connects the JCP with the people at the grassroots level.

This also proves that the JCP is what a political party should essentially be on the financial side, clean and working hand in hand with the people.

The report also points to tasks in the future. In 2010, the expenditure was restrained to 96% of the 2009 figure as a result of economizing efforts. But the total expenditure exceeded the total income, resulting in a deficit as in 2009.

The reduced income reflects the deteriorating standards of living of the general public. JCP’s financial difficulty was mainly caused by the deficit arising from the publication of daily “Akahata.”

In order to break up the financial difficulty in publishing “Akahata,” the JCP CC last July raised the newspaper’s monthly subscription fee.

The JCP intends to increase the number of subscribers of both the daily “Akahata” and the “Akahata” Sunday edition, as well as increase JCP members. To make the JCP bigger and stronger will lead to a financially solid JCP capable of meeting the people’s expectations. With this in mind, the JCP is going to do its utmost to carry out a campaign to achieve a greater party strength by the coming 90th anniversary of the JCP’s founding in 2012.