SITUATION IN THE COMMUNIST AND SOCIALIST PARTIES
At the end of September 1957, the Japanese CP announced that it would hold its VIlth Congress beginning 2 February 1958 -ten years after its VIth Congress. At the same time, presented its new draft programme. This programme provoked big internal discussions; and by the end of last year it had become clear that a majority or at least a very strong minority opposed to it. In particular, the two largest local organi. zations, ie Tokyo and Kansai (which includes Osaka and Kyoto), were decidedly against it. The JCP's Central Committee not dare hold the Congress at the appointed date. So it postponed it until two months after the coming general elections, which will be held this autumn.
There are two main problems in dispute by the fractions within the CP. The first is the possibility of peaceful constitu. tional revolution. The second is the theory of revolution in two stages : a) a "people's democratic revolution"; b) the socialist revolution.
A large number of Communist militants are against both
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FOURTH INTERNATIONAL ideas. Some disapprove of one or of the other. The majority of Communist militants, however, still approve the bureaucracy's perspective of peaceful coexistence between the two world social systems.
Last autumn the Tokyo Local Committee presented a document in which it criticized the draft programme. ment expressed a centrist viewpoint. On the one hand, it asserted that the socialist revolution should be a strategic aim ; but on the other it stressed the perspective of a constitutional revolution and the tactic of a "People's Front." Generally the Tokyo Local Committee reflects the force the new generation in the Communist Party. Within the framework of Stalinism this new generation demands that the present Central Committee should be replaced because it has shown for the past 12 years that it is not able to lead the party and the labor movement.
Among the youngest generation, especially among Communist students, there is a current clearly moving now from this centrist viewpoint, as represented by the Tokyo Local Committee, toward a real left-oppositional viewpoint. These student Communists are beginning to assert the fundamental importance of world proletarian revolution. Some university cells are moving toward Trotskyist positions.
An attempt to organize a broad anti-Central-Committee faction has already been begun. One member of the Central Committee, Syojiro Kasuga, has expressed in the party organ his opinion that the party should adopt the strategy of socialist revolution. It is likely that he will become a leader of the opposition. And it is possible that the opposition will win a majority in the coming congress. But within the opposition, stability will not be easily reached.
There is a threat that the Central Committee will open an offensive against the Left. It is certain that they have begun hunting after a Trotskyist movement inside the JCP.
The JCP held a small conference near the end of February. Criticism of the Central Committee from local activists was so
69 severe that it was very much isolated. It is probable that in the near future the JCP will have a new regime characterized by a younger and leftish centrist leadership.
The annual congress of the Japanese Socialist Party was held near the end of February. The left fraction maintained majority and elected 24 members of the Central Executive Committee compared to 16 for the right fraction. The Congress announced that the party has only 56.000 members, whereas it had aimed to reach a figure of 100,000 members during the previous year.
During the congress discussion, there was a fight between the representatives of both labor organizations, the SOHYO (left-wing) and ZENRO (right-wing). year some right-wing Socialists had tried to split the National Railway Trade Union. Their attempt did not have much success: only 4,000 out of 370,000 followed them. representative attacked the fact that the party had not expelled the rightists who had attempted to split the NRTU, while the ZENRO representative defended these elements.
The left-wing leadership, however, considers that unification with the rightists is most important in order to come to power. Hence both the left-wing and right-wing leaders defended each other : the left-wing leaders defended the right wing from the attacks of SOHYO, while the right-wing leaders defended the left wing from those of ZENRO.
This combination was the principal characteristic of the last congress. The left- and right-wing tops are combined in one and the same leadership. Among them there is a relative stability. In the trade-union field, however, there are many conflicts between the left and right wings. These conflicts have not yet expressed themselves in the political field. As a result, there was no serious political clash at the congress.
Among the young Socialists, there is a widespread feeling that the unification with the rightists is no good for the revolutionary course of the party. They have begun to form their own fraction-an interesting event for future developments.
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