<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published April 20, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Communism becoming more popular in Japan
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(TOKYO) Under a big red flag, the headquarters of the Communist Party of Japan are the centre of the most vibrant grass-roots movement in the country. The party's ranks are swelling, it has 24,000 branch offices and more than a million people read its newspaper. Only one party - the one that runs the country - beats it at fund-raising.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>Mr Shii: Thinks capitalism is doomed </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>As Japan's economy withers, communism is coming to life. Dormant in the boom years and marginalised even as Japan more recently clawed its way out of recession, the party's litany of capitalist evils is now resonating deeply with many Japanese - especially the young - who are feeling the pain of an economic downturn that some say has reached depression dimensions.
While the Communist Party - which is the fourth-largest party in Parliament, but has only 16 of the total 722 seats - is not likely to take over anytime soon, it is making itself felt.
On college campuses, in particular, Karl Marx is popular again. 'I have never voted before, but I intend to vote communist in the next elections,' said Suguru Yagi, a Tokyo college student. Mr Yagi, 22, said he had considered joining the party because he agrees with many of its policies and sees it as the defender of the working class. As a student about to graduate, he is concerned about the shrinking workforce, and the difficulties he may find in getting a good job.
Leading Japan's communist renaissance is Kazuo Shii, the round-faced party chief, who has become one of Japan's most recognisable politicians and something of a media star, grilling the country's conservative leaders from his perch in Parliament and unfailingly appearing before the cameras with what boils down to: 'I told you so.' Financial meltdowns worldwide. Banks and manufacturers going belly up, or begging for bailouts. Unemployment and unrest on the rise.
Capitalism, Mr Shii concludes, is doomed. 'It is inevitable,' he said in a recent interview with AP. 'When the persimmon is ripe, it will fall from the tree.' Mr Shii, and the party, believe that time is fast approaching. And, in Asia's most dedicated bastion of capitalism, more people are beginning to agree.
According to the party, about 1,000 new members are joining its ranks every month - a sharp contrast to the massive exodus that has plagued the ruling Liberal Democrats, who have dropped from about five million members in their heyday to about one million members now.
The Japan Communist Party was founded as an illegal movement in 1922, but legalised after Japan's World War II defeat in 1945. It then struggled through polarising splits with the Soviets and Communist Chinese in an effort to maintain its independence. It also has distanced itself from the radical left, which gained popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, but has since died down.
Mr Shii attributed the renewed interest in the party to voter disillusionment with future prospects in an increasingly difficult job market. People who have lost their jobs or their pensions are turning to the party. There is increasing distrust of the centrist Liberal Democrats and their main rivals, the Democratic Party of Japan, who are also conservative .
The communist revival has also been spurred on by the pop media. Marx's Das Kapital is now available in cartoon form, and a surprise best-seller of the year has been a revival version of Kanikosen, a 1929 novel about exploited workers on a crab boat. That novel, too, is out in manga form, and is being made into a movie.
In Japan, the Communist Party has swelled to about 415,000 members at latest count and boasts a newspaper, Red Flag, with a readership of 1.6 million.
Mr Shii said his party is willing to work within Japan's system - he said it does not advocate immediate or violent revolution. -- AP
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Communism becoming more popular in Japan
<TABLE class=storyLinks cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20>
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</TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>(TOKYO) Under a big red flag, the headquarters of the Communist Party of Japan are the centre of the most vibrant grass-roots movement in the country. The party's ranks are swelling, it has 24,000 branch offices and more than a million people read its newspaper. Only one party - the one that runs the country - beats it at fund-raising.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>Mr Shii: Thinks capitalism is doomed </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>As Japan's economy withers, communism is coming to life. Dormant in the boom years and marginalised even as Japan more recently clawed its way out of recession, the party's litany of capitalist evils is now resonating deeply with many Japanese - especially the young - who are feeling the pain of an economic downturn that some say has reached depression dimensions. While the Communist Party - which is the fourth-largest party in Parliament, but has only 16 of the total 722 seats - is not likely to take over anytime soon, it is making itself felt.
On college campuses, in particular, Karl Marx is popular again. 'I have never voted before, but I intend to vote communist in the next elections,' said Suguru Yagi, a Tokyo college student. Mr Yagi, 22, said he had considered joining the party because he agrees with many of its policies and sees it as the defender of the working class. As a student about to graduate, he is concerned about the shrinking workforce, and the difficulties he may find in getting a good job.
Leading Japan's communist renaissance is Kazuo Shii, the round-faced party chief, who has become one of Japan's most recognisable politicians and something of a media star, grilling the country's conservative leaders from his perch in Parliament and unfailingly appearing before the cameras with what boils down to: 'I told you so.' Financial meltdowns worldwide. Banks and manufacturers going belly up, or begging for bailouts. Unemployment and unrest on the rise.
Capitalism, Mr Shii concludes, is doomed. 'It is inevitable,' he said in a recent interview with AP. 'When the persimmon is ripe, it will fall from the tree.' Mr Shii, and the party, believe that time is fast approaching. And, in Asia's most dedicated bastion of capitalism, more people are beginning to agree.
According to the party, about 1,000 new members are joining its ranks every month - a sharp contrast to the massive exodus that has plagued the ruling Liberal Democrats, who have dropped from about five million members in their heyday to about one million members now.
The Japan Communist Party was founded as an illegal movement in 1922, but legalised after Japan's World War II defeat in 1945. It then struggled through polarising splits with the Soviets and Communist Chinese in an effort to maintain its independence. It also has distanced itself from the radical left, which gained popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, but has since died down.
Mr Shii attributed the renewed interest in the party to voter disillusionment with future prospects in an increasingly difficult job market. People who have lost their jobs or their pensions are turning to the party. There is increasing distrust of the centrist Liberal Democrats and their main rivals, the Democratic Party of Japan, who are also conservative .
The communist revival has also been spurred on by the pop media. Marx's Das Kapital is now available in cartoon form, and a surprise best-seller of the year has been a revival version of Kanikosen, a 1929 novel about exploited workers on a crab boat. That novel, too, is out in manga form, and is being made into a movie.
In Japan, the Communist Party has swelled to about 415,000 members at latest count and boasts a newspaper, Red Flag, with a readership of 1.6 million.
Mr Shii said his party is willing to work within Japan's system - he said it does not advocate immediate or violent revolution. -- AP
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