Since the world financial crisis in 2008, Japan has held seven general elections. According to the different characteristics of each election, the Japanese Communist Party has taken measures such as analyzing the weaknesses of opponents, formulating election goals, and strengthen

Editor's note: Japan's national political elections mainly include House of Representatives, Senate elections and unified local elections. The Communist Party of Japan attaches great importance to relevant Marxist discussions on capitalist elections as the "new weapon" of the proletarian revolution, and actively participates in Japan's national political elections. Since the world financial crisis in 2008, Japan has held seven general elections. According to the different characteristics of each election, the Japanese Communist Party has taken measures such as analyzing the weaknesses of opponents, formulating election goals, and strengthening campaign mobilization. However, due to the rise of global conservatism, Affected by factors such as the strong power of the Liberal Democratic Party, deep right-wing soil, and weak strength, the results of each election are not as expected. In the foreseeable future, the Japanese Communist Party is unlikely to make a qualitative breakthrough in the general elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Japan is a constitutional monarchy and implements a cabinet system. The prime minister and cabinet members are generally served by members of the National Assembly. At present, it has established a relatively mature capitalist democratic system including a parliamentary system and an electoral system. Its national political elections mainly include Including House of Representatives, Senate elections and local unified elections. The Japanese Constitution and other laws stipulate that only a political party that holds more than half of the seats in the House of Representatives election can form a government. If multiple political parties jointly form a government, the total number of seats must also reach more than half. Under normal circumstances, the leader of the party that forms the government can automatically become the head of government. Therefore, whenever there are general elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate, all political parties, political organizations and non-party candidates, including the Communist Party of Japan (hereinafter referred to as the "Japanese Communist Party"), attach great importance to the election and win the support of voters in order to win more votes and seats, enhance its status, role and influence in the country's political life, and eventually become the ruling party to achieve the purpose of governing the country. This article attempts to analyze the Japanese Communist Party’s understanding of elections, the current situation of the Japanese Communist Party’s elections, existing problems and influencing factors through the seats, votes and vote rates obtained by the Japanese Communist Party in the Japanese House of Representatives and Senate elections in the ten years from 2008 to 2017, and On this basis, the status, role and development trend of the Japanese Communist Party in Japanese political life are analyzed.

1. The Japanese Communist Party’s understanding of elections and its choices

Marxism believes that violence and peace are two forms of revolution. Violent revolution refers to the proletarian party seizing power through armed struggle, which is the "general law" of the proletarian revolution; Peaceful revolution refers to the proletarian party gaining power by winning a majority of parliamentary seats through elections. It is the "new weapon" of the proletarian revolution. At the same time, when discussing the form of proletarian revolutionary struggle in their later years, Marx and Engels particularly emphasized the important role of violent revolution in the proletariat's struggle to seize power. Elections are a common form of political activity for legal political parties, political organizations and individuals in modern countries, and are the unity of class and social nature. In a capitalist society, elections are not only an effective tool for bourgeois rule, but also a long-term mechanism for maintaining social stability, and a limited means for ordinary people to fight for their legitimate rights and interests. As for what methods Japan should take to realize socialism, the Japanese Communist Party has gone through practical choices in stages such as "peaceful revolution - violent revolution - fighting for peaceful revolution - peaceful revolution". It is currently positioned to win a majority of seats in the National Assembly by actively participating in Japan's national political elections. Become a ruling party or a participating party.

Since its establishment on July 15, 1922, the Japanese Communist Party has held high the banner of violent revolution and sought to overthrow the emperor's autocratic rule. Therefore, it has been bloody suppressed by the government six times. By 1935, except for a few leading members of the Central Committee of the Japanese Communist Party, all were arrested and imprisoned. All party organizations were destroyed by the government. The activities of the Central Committee of the Japanese Communist Party and all leading and organized struggles were paralyzed. After the end of World War II, the Japanese Communist Party became a legal political party. Its leader Nosaka Sanzo proposed the theory of "peaceful revolution under occupation" (Nosaka theory) at the Fifth Congress, believing that under the American occupation, the revolutionary goals of the Japanese Communist Party could be achieved. Go peacefully through parliament.However, with the advent of the Cold War, in 1950 the Intelligence Bureau of the Communist Party and the Workers' Party issued a document criticizing the "Nosaka Theory", believing that the theory had nothing in common with Marxism-Leninism and was an anti-democratic and anti-socialist theory. Therefore, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Japan He put forward the theory of "violent revolution under occupation" and believed that peaceful revolution had lost its meaning and that under the new situation, armed struggle should be used to seize power. However, under the joint suppression of the US occupation forces and the Japanese government, the nationwide armed struggle of the Japanese Communist Party failed in 1952. During this period, the number of members of the Japanese Communist Party dropped sharply from more than 100,000 in 1950 to about 30,000 in 1952. The number of general election votes dropped sharply from 2.89 million in 1949 to 650,000 in 1952, and it lost all members of the Congress. seat, which brought far-reaching and serious consequences to the Japanese Communist Party. First, the Japanese government used this as an excuse to pass the Anti-Sabotage Law in 1952, which monitored left-wing organizations and groups such as the Japanese Communist Party as "terrorist organizations." Although the Japanese Communist Party has long deleted the term "violent revolution" in its party platform, the Japanese government believes that there is still a shadow of violent revolution in the program line of the Japanese Communist Party, and that the Japanese Communist Party is related to the violent activities in Japan after August 15, 1945. , until 2018, the Japanese Communist Party was still regarded by the government as a "suspect" that endangers national and social security and was monitored by the police department. Second, because the Japanese Communist Party imposed the idea of ​​armed struggle on other mass groups, the number of mass groups led by the party dropped significantly. Some groups also severed relations with the Japanese Communist Party and still hate each other to this day.

The Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of Japan in 1958 put forward the theory of "striving for peaceful revolution", that is, preparing for both violence and peace in the way of revolution, but striving to use peaceful means to solve political problems. After the Eighth National Congress in 1961, the Japanese Communist Party adjusted its revolutionary method from mainly violent means to mainly peaceful means, and the focus of the party's work began to actively shift to peaceful parliamentary election struggles. At the Eleventh National Congress held in 1970, the Japanese Communist Party clearly proposed the theory of "people's parliamentarianism", that is, winning a majority of seats in Congress through elections to become the ruling party. The party's program line no longer mentions the possibility of two paths, peace and non-peace. , but believes that under the current Japanese political system, it is inevitable to obtain a majority of seats in Congress through elections and establish a democratic government through legal means. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1994 put forward the theory of "democratic reform within the framework of capitalism", which means to obtain political power through the parliamentary route, reform the negative aspects of Japanese capitalism within the scope of the capitalist constitution and laws, and then realize a "common society for mankind."

Although democratic systems such as capitalist elections are extremely deceptive, "the bourgeoisie claims to be a democratic class in words, but in fact it is not. It recognizes the correctness of its principles, but never realizes this principle in practice." , Marx also pointedly pointed out that elections in capitalist countries are "only a tool for the people to exercise once every few years to elect class rule under the parliamentary system"; although the content, form and method of bourgeois elections have changed many times, they are still democratic. The essence of realizing bourgeois rule in name has never changed. The famous American scholar Schumpeter also believed that capitalist elections “do not mean and cannot mean that the people are actually ruling.” It can only mean that “the people accept or reject the people who will rule them.” opportunities for people”. However, capitalist elections have historical progress. The democratic principles established in the legal form such as equality for all have eliminated personal privileges in feudal society, and the rotation system of political power has broken the hereditary system of blood in feudal society. These They are all great progress in human history. Modern elections are determined by votes. The elected will more or less implement some measures that reflect the demands of the voters, improve their living conditions to a certain extent, ease labor conflicts, improve the labor environment, increase wages and benefits, etc. Otherwise, Its governance is unsustainable. Elections also provide the public with possible ways and means to participate in and discuss politics to a certain extent, which is conducive to public political participation and political supervision, allowing them to reflect their own wishes and demands through legal procedures, improve their ability to participate in and discuss politics, and exercise their parliamentary struggles. level, giving "an educational lesson to most people."

The Communist Party of Japan believes that in a highly developed capitalist country like Japan, it is of great practical significance for revolutionary parties to use the existing capitalist democratic system to carry out electoral struggles and parliamentary struggles. Although Marx and Engels attached great importance to the role of violent revolution in the proletarian revolutionary struggle, when they discovered the positive role of the bourgeois parliamentary system and the electoral system in the proletarian revolutionary struggle, they did not hide their views at all and proposed that universal suffrage should be "replaced from the past" It is a tool of deception that becomes a tool of liberation.” They also believe that when universal suffrage and parliamentary systems have developed and the working class accounts for the majority of the population, such as in the United States and Britain in the 19th century, it is possible to obtain a majority in Congress through elections to implement changes, "We are 'revolutionaries' ', 'subversive', but we have achieved much more using legal means than using illegal means and subversive methods." To this end, the Japanese Communist Party believes that in the new period of development, the working class and its political parties can and must use democratic principles and mechanisms such as bourgeois universal suffrage to educate, organize and mobilize the working class to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of this class and achieve their own goals. the goal of.

The report of the 22nd National Congress of the Communist Party of Japan also talked about the "progressive significance" of capitalism for the first time, arguing that "capitalism is not a wrong system imposed on human society from the outside, but a social system that was born out of necessity and was transcended out of necessity. ” On the one hand, capitalism exploits workers, and on the other hand, it implements social regulation and intervention in production and distribution, creating huge productivity and thus promoting great progress in human history. As early as the 11th National Congress report in 1970, the Japanese Communist Party pointed out in response to attacks and doubts from hostile forces and some people that the Japanese Communist Party would "shatter the bourgeois state apparatus" after taking power, that the democratic achievements of capitalism will be inherited and Development, because these democratic forms and contents are not only the invention of the bourgeoisie, but also the creation of the broad masses of working people. "It is of course the task of the party and the working class to safeguard the democracy and rights of the bourgeoisie."

2. Analysis of the participation of Japanese Communist Party members in elections and the reasons for the lack of seats

In the ten years from the 2008 world financial crisis to 2017, Japan held a total of seven general elections, including three for the Senate and four for the House of Representatives. Below we mainly analyze the current situation of the Japanese Communist Party from the four dimensions of the four major Japanese political parties: the Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Party, the Komeito Party and the Communist Party. position in Japanese politics.

We can see from Table 1 that from 2008 to 2017, except for the Democratic Party (the party’s name before 2016 was the Democratic Party, it was briefly renamed the Democratic Progressive Party after 2016, the Cadet Party was separated from the Democratic Progressive Party in 2017, and in 2018 The Democratic Party of Japan merged with the Party of Hope to form the National Democratic Party), which was in power from 2009 to 2012. The Liberal Democratic Party was in power in the rest of the time. The Komeito Party has participated in the joint governance of the Liberal Democratic Party government since 2012. The Japanese Communist Party is the only political party that has no experience of being in power. Therefore, in every election, the Liberal Democratic Party always attacks the Japanese Communist Party for its lack of experience in governing. It is unclear where such a party will take Japan when it comes to power. For conservative Japanese people, it is better to choose the Liberal Democratic Party, which is not good but predictable, rather than choosing a Japanese Communist Party that is uncertain. This understanding also puts the Japanese Communist Party at an extremely disadvantageous position when participating in elections.

In the past ten years, Japan has held four House of Representatives elections. Except for the Liberal Democratic Party's defeat in 2009, the other three general elections were all big victories. The largest opposition party, the Democratic Party, was all big defeats except for its big victory in 2009. The Japanese Communist Party won the most seats in 2014, with 21 seats, which was completely inferior to the Liberal Democratic Party's nearly 300 seats. Compared with the Democratic Party, which won the fewest seats in 2017, with 54 seats, it was also 33 seats behind. It can be seen that in the House of Representatives, even if the total number of seats obtained by the Japanese Communist Party in the past ten years is 50, it is still less than the number of seats obtained by the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party in any election year in these ten years.

As can be seen from Table 3, there have been three Senate elections in Japan in the past ten years. Except for the Liberal Democratic Party in 2010, the number of seats in the Senate exceeded half of the total number of seats in the Senate. The number of seats exceeds 2/3, and the combined number of seats of all opposition parties is less than that of the ruling coalition. The current power of the Japanese Communist Party in the Senate is the same as that of the House of Representatives. Although it ranks behind the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, Cadets, National Democratic Party and other parties, it is the fifth largest party in the Diet. However, in absolute terms, the Japanese Communist Party cannot compete with the ruling party in terms of seats. Compared with the Liberal Democratic Party, it cannot compete with the main opposition parties.

It is worth noting that on April 24, 2018, the Democratic Progressive Party of Japan and the Party of Hope of Japan decided to reorganize the new party "National Democratic Party". The National Democratic Party currently has 39 seats in the House of Representatives and 23 seats in the Senate. It is the second largest opposition party in the House of Representatives and the Senate after the Cadets and the Komeito Party. At present, the Japanese Senate and House of Representatives have formed a triangular structure, namely the "Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito", the "National Democratic Party", the "Constitutional Democratic Party, the Communist Party of Japan and the Social Democratic Party". From an ideological point of view, the former is conservative and right-leaning, the latter is left-leaning, and the middle is center-left. It is not difficult to see that the political structure of Japanese parties is "one super and many weak" or "one party dominates". From a value perspective, the Japanese political arena is in a situation of "strong conservatism and weak innovation", rather than a situation of "self-communist duel" as identified by the Japanese Communist Party.

In Table 4, since we were unable to collect data related to the 45th House of Representatives election in Japan in 2009, we can only analyze the number of votes and vote rates of each major political party in the three years of 2012, 2014, and 2017. Undoubtedly, the Liberal Democratic Party received the highest number of votes and vote share. The highest number of votes and vote rate obtained by the Japanese Communist Party was in 2014. Even so, the number of votes and vote rate obtained by the Japanese Communist Party was far lower than the lowest number and vote rate of the Liberal Democratic Party. Similarly, the number and vote rate of the Japanese Communist Party was also comparable to that of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party. The gap shows that the Japanese Communist Party has not yet been recognized by the majority of Japanese people.

As can be seen from Table 5, the number of votes cast by the Liberal Democratic Party in the three Senate elections was 20 million, while the vote count of the Japanese Communist Party was only one million. The vote rate of the Liberal Democratic Party was 25% higher than that of the Japanese Communist Party. This shows that the Liberal Democratic Party has a high support rate among the Japanese people, while the Japanese Communist Party is not highly recognized among the people, which directly leads to the restriction of its development. It shows that the relationship between the Japanese Communist Party and the majority of the people still has great room for improvement.

To sum up, the performance of each political party in the elections determines its position in Japanese politics. The number of seats, votes and vote rate of the Liberal Democratic Party in the past ten years are much higher than those of other political parties. Therefore, it has been from 2012 to the present. It is the ruling party, but the number of seats, votes and vote rates of other opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, are far less than those of the Liberal Democratic Party. This shows that the opposition parties are still unable to shake the ruling status of the Liberal Democratic Party in the short term, and the Japanese Communist Party must become the ruling party or participate in politics. The party is still only a vision.

Generally speaking, the Japanese Communist Party mobilizes the entire party in every election and invests a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, but the election results are far less than expected. In addition to the extremely strong strength of the ruling coalition, there are also the following main internal and external reasons that trouble the Japanese Communist Party’s participation in national political elections.

1. Global conservatism is rampant, and left-wing forces are still at a low ebb

Conservatism is not only an ideology, but also refers to political, economic, social, psychological and other aspects of thought. Generally speaking, it advocates adhering to traditional and established traditions in all fields of social life. values ​​that oppose radical, large-scale change. Today, as economic globalization develops in depth, the proliferation of conservatism with trade protectionism as its main content has triggered a trend of anti-globalization, the main symbols of which are Brexit and Trump's election as US president. The UK believes that the cost of joining the EU exceeds the rewards, while Trump believes that the process of economic globalization has harmed US interests and advocates "America First". This has not only contributed to the anti-globalization phenomena that have emerged in some countries, but has also led to the rise of far-right political forces in major European countries and promoted religious extremism, nationalism and other movements in some countries.Economic trade protectionism is often closely linked to political right-leaning conservatism, and puts great pressure on left-wing movements and left-wing forces. Since the end of the Cold War, the world communist movement has fallen into a low ebb and has struggled to truly recover. illustration.

Under the influence of the rightward shift of the political arena in mainstream Western countries, the rightward shift of the Japanese political arena is even more irreversible. Economically, after Trump announced his withdrawal from the "TPP", Japanese Prime Minister Abe quickly took over the leadership and signed the "CPTPP" with strong trade protectionism on March 8, 2018 with 11 countries. Politically, Abe vowed to amend the constitution during his term and claimed that this was his lifelong wish. The Liberal Democratic Party itself is a conservative party, and has long been at odds with Japan's left-wing forces. Today, when conservatism is rampant around the world, it has taken the opportunity to intensify its attacks on Japan's left-wing forces.

Currently, the Japanese left is divided into the traditional left and the new left. The traditional left wing refers to the Socialist Party of Japan (Social Democratic Party) and the Japanese Communist Party, which have existed since the pre-war period. The former was once the only left-wing force in Japanese politics that could compete with the Liberal Democratic Party. However, it split and declined after being renamed the Social Democratic Party of Japan in 1996. The New Left refers to the organizations that emerged after the war and do not follow the traditional left-wing line. However, these organizations are either very small in number or loosely organized, and are extremely prone to establishment-splitting-dissolution (disappearance)-reorganization. Generally speaking, at this stage, the entire left-wing forces in Japan are weak, fighting among themselves, without unity, and fighting independently. Similarly, the Japanese labor movement, peasant movement and student movement are also in a state of shrinkage. For this reason, the author believes that unless there are particularly significant changes in Japan's domestic or international situation, it is difficult for Japan's left-wing forces to have hope of revival in the short term. Under such circumstances, the Japanese Communist Party faced great difficulties in its survival and development.

2. The Japanese Communist Party cannot make ends meet, and the electoral front is extremely shrinking

Capitalist elections are controlled by capital, which is mainly manifested in the impact on the candidates’ chances of being elected and the elected policies. This is the internal logic of capitalism, “the bourgeoisie "The power of all depends on money." Elections have evolved into a competition of money and financial resources. Only candidates with sufficient campaign funds can be elected. Candidates with insufficient funds only increase the electoral denominator of candidates with sufficient funds, which only increases invisibly. The so-called "broadness" of capitalist democracy is nothing more than the so-called "broadness" of capitalism, which in turn "becomes the systemic reason for the occurrence of political corruption." Some Western countries have also enacted laws specifically for this purpose to ensure the legality of corporate political donations to candidates. In fact, this is to establish the privileges of capital in the form and name of the law and achieve the purpose of "money and power transactions."

The fiscal revenue of the Japanese Communist Party mainly consists of party dues, business income, personal donations, etc., and business income consists of sales revenue from newspapers, magazines, etc. Business income accounts for the largest proportion of all fiscal income, accounting for 21.265 billion yen in 2017. In addition, according to relevant legal provisions such as the Political Funds Regulation Act and the Political Party Promotion Act, the Japanese government allocates a certain amount of political party promotion funds to each political party every year. Enterprises and other groups can provide a certain amount of political donations to political parties and individuals, but The Japanese Communist Party has always refused to receive it, believing that political funds are unconstitutional, and whoever receives them will seek benefits for corporate groups, etc., which is the source of political corruption in Japan. It also claims that the Japanese Communist Party is the cleanest financial party in Japanese politics and the only political party in Japan that has no political funds. Donations Scandal to Political Parties. The fiscal expenditures of the Communist Party of Japan mainly include the salaries of full-time party staff from the central to local parties, House and Senate elections and local elections, propaganda activities, printing and publishing, salaries and rents of foreign correspondents, etc. The expenditure in 2017 was 21.466 billion yen.

In recent years, the fiscal revenue of the Japanese Communist Party has continued to decline, and it has reached a point where it cannot make ends meet. The reason is that the Japanese Communist Party has always refused to receive political party promotion funds provided by the government and accept political donations from companies and other groups, resulting in a loss of billions of yen in income every year. At the same time, party dues income and business income decreased.In 2013, the number of party members paying party dues decreased by 6.7%, the number of subscribers to the daily "Red Flag" dropped by 10.5%, and the number of subscribers to the Sunday magazine dropped by 13.3%; in 2014, the number of party members paying dues decreased by 2.7%, and the number of subscribers to the "Red Flag" dropped by 10.5%. Subscribers of the daily magazine "Red Flag" dropped by 7.3%, and subscribers of the Sunday magazine dropped by 7.5%; in 2016, the number of party members paying party dues decreased by 5.2%, subscribers of the daily magazine "Red Flag" dropped by 7.4%, and subscribers of the Sunday magazine dropped by 7.4%. In 2017, the number of party members paying party dues decreased by 5.9%, the number of daily subscribers of "Red Flag" dropped by 7.2%, and the number of subscribers of the Sunday magazine dropped by 9.5%. It can be seen from the above data that the Japanese Communist Party’s finances have indeed encountered unprecedented difficulties.

The decrease in fiscal revenue directly affected the election of the Japanese Communist Party. An important reason why the Japanese Communist Party formed an electoral united front with the Democratic Party, the Restoration Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Life Party in 2016 is not so much that the Japanese Communist Party took the initiative to withdraw its own candidates in many constituencies and gave way to Democratic Party candidates. The Japanese Communist Party cannot provide enough financial resources to support all candidates, and can only give priority to the most promising candidates. At that time, relevant people in the election countermeasures department of the Democratic Party of Japan pointed out that the withdrawal of candidates by the Japanese Communist Party was not an initiative of the Japanese Communist Party, but due to the declining business income of the party newspaper "Red Flag" and other party newspapers, which accounted for 80% of the party's financial revenue. Therefore, it was concluded that The conclusion that “the Communist Party is unable to elect candidates in all small constituencies.” Cadres of the Democratic Party's election agency suggested to party leader Katsuya Okada that in this case, "the Japanese Communist Party should be prompted to remove its candidates" and not easily agree to the request for electoral cooperation consultations with the Japanese Communist Party.

3. Japan’s right wing has deep roots, and the Japanese Communist Party was suppressed in its candidacy

Japan’s right wing has a long history, and it was in sharp opposition to the young Japanese Communist Party before the war. The Japanese Communist Party was denounced as a “national traitor” by the right wing due to its strong anti-system program and actions. , in the government’s bloody suppression of the Japanese Communist Party, the right wing played a vanguard role. In the early days of the end of World War II, the right wing went dormant for a brief period. With the advent of the Cold War, it revived and resurrected under the protection of the US occupation forces. It continued to grow and develop, and was incompatible with Japan's left wing, leading to a long-term confrontation. At an election meeting in Tokyo, Japan, in 1960, Inajiro Asanuma, the former leader of Japan's left-wing Socialist Party, was assassinated by Japanese right-winger Yaji Yamaguchi. In fact, most of the people who held the highest political power in Japan after the war were representatives of the old and new conservative forces. Their views on war and history were highly consistent with the Japanese right wing, and they had a tacit understanding of suppressing the Japanese left wing. After one, the inside should be in harmony with the outside, borrowing from each other. Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone clearly stated that "the Communist Party's power in politics must be limited to the point of insignificance."

In every election, the conservative Liberal Democratic Party always raises tried and tested ideological issues to attack the Japanese Communist Party, saying that the Japanese Communist Party is as violent as other communist parties. When such a party comes to power, it will bring tyranny and misfortune to the country and the people. and unfreedom. During the 2016 general election, the right-leaning Abe attacked the united front advocated by the Japanese Communist Party, saying that the Japanese Communist Party could "merge" with political parties with different values ​​​​for the sake of political power. Such a party has no principles and positions. In terms of electoral strategies, conservative forces often incite Japanese people's emotions towards the political landscape of East Asia and inspire Japanese people's nationalist sentiments to attack the Japanese Communist Party. In 2016, Abe seized the opportunity of North Korea's missile launch and declared that the Japanese Communist Party and North Korea had the same values. It is difficult to imagine whether the Japanese Communist Party would side with Japan or North Korea during Japan's "national crisis".

The right wing, like the Liberal Democratic Party, not only launched an all-round attack on the guiding ideology, programmatic lines, organizational principles, economic and social policies of the Japanese Communist Party, but also personally threatened the leaders of the Japanese Communist Party; it not only used the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe issues to discredit the Japanese Communist Party, but also They also use the problems of existing socialist countries to scare the people. Over time, some citizens have developed extreme views on the Japanese Communist Party. They believe that although the Japanese Communist Party is indeed good, with advanced theories, "clean" finances, and active work, it will be uncertain once it takes power.Whenever an election is held, right-wing organizations mobilize in full force to disrupt the election propaganda activities of the Japanese Communist Party, tear down campaign posters of the Japanese Communist Party, attack propaganda vehicles of the Japanese Communist Party, and even have physical conflicts with Japanese Communist Party candidates, etc., with the purpose of causing the Japanese Communist Party candidates to lose their confidence. You cannot throw yourself into an election and lose the election.

3. Analysis of Countermeasures and Trends of the Japanese Communist Party's Participation in Elections

Even so, the Japanese Communist Party still actively participates in every election and strives for the best results. They mainly adopt the following countermeasures.

1. Analyze the opponent's weaknesses and establish an election strategy

Congressional seats are statutory, and qualified party candidates and independents can run for election. In this way, the Japanese Communist Party not only has to compete with the ruling party but also with the opposition parties for limited seats. , of course the main competitor is the ruling party. Generally speaking, elections for the Japanese House of Representatives are held every four years, and half of the House of Representatives are re-elected every three years. Every time there is an election, the Communist Party of Japan must convene "plenary sessions of several major congresses and central committees" in advance, mainly to make comprehensive arrangements for the election work, analyze the election situation, focus on the opponents' weaknesses, and propose election strategies, tasks and goals. The electoral situation, election focus, election issues, election strategies, alliance partners, etc. will be different in different periods, but overall, it is basically the opposition parties that deal with the ruling party's political, economic, foreign, national defense and other governance issues. Criticize and expose issues such as its ability to govern and morality; while the ruling party defends itself on these issues, attacking the opposition party for its lack of experience in governing and its inability to come up with a complete and feasible plan for governing the country.

For example, in the 2013 Senate election, the Japanese Communist Party positioned itself as “the election where the reversal offensive really begins,” criticizing the Abe cabinet for trampling on public opinion and advocating the realization of a new type of politics in which “the people are the protagonists.” In this election, the Japanese Communist Party increased its number of seats compared with the last election, and regained the right to propose bills in the Senate after nine years. In this regard, the Japanese Communist Party believes that the victory in this Senate election means that the axis of the real showdown in the Senate is the showdown between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party - the "Self-Communist Showdown." In the 2014 House of Representatives election, the Japanese Communist Party advocated stopping the rampant Abe cabinet and realizing a new type of politics that responded to the voice of the people. On this election day, the total number of seats increased significantly, and it gained the right to propose bills in the House of Representatives. The Japanese Communist Party believes that the election victory broke through the "anti-communist line" of the conservative forces and attacked the conservative forces of the Liberal Democratic Party. In the 2016 Senate election, the Japanese Communist Party believed that the policies implemented by the Abe cabinet were contrary to constitutionalism, democracy and pacifism, and advocated "abolition of the security legal system and the restoration of constitutional democracy." The election results were in line with expectations. In the 2017 House of Representatives election, the Japanese Communist Party continued to pursue Abe’s Moritomo Gakuin scandal and Kake Gakuin scandal, advocating the overthrow of Abe’s cabinet and making concerted efforts to establish a new type of politics. However, there was a big “regression” in the number of seats.

In order to win more votes, win more seats, and become the ruling party or a participating party, the Japanese Communist Party emphasizes that the national political elections must mobilize the efforts of the entire party and establish election strategy committees, support groups, and "vote gathering" organizations at all levels from the central to local levels. , combining campaigning with expanding the power of the party. The main task of "Red Flag", the party's central organ, is to be responsible for election propaganda and reporting. The Communist Party of Japan emphasized that the interests and demands of the people must be reflected in the formulation of electoral policies, strategies, and electoral processes, and electoral activities must be diversified, concrete, and routine. While packaging and promoting themselves, candidates should also promote the program and line of the Japanese Communist Party, explain the ideas, history and role of the Japanese Communist Party to the majority of voters, and focus on conducting electoral activities in a form that is popular with voters.

2. Make friends and elect allies and establish a united front

Marx and Engels clearly pointed out in the "Communist Manifesto": "All movements in the past were movements of a minority or for the benefit of a minority. The movement of the proletariat is the majority. An independent movement for the benefit of the vast majority of people.” Therefore, the proletariat must unite all forces that can be united in the liberation movement. The Japanese Communist Party believes that to achieve the goal of establishing a democratic coalition government in the early 21st century, a united front must be established.Since 2008, the Japanese Communist Party has mainly negotiated with the Democratic Party to establish an "opposition united front", thereby breaking the siege of the Japanese Communist Party by conservative forces led by the Liberal Democratic Party, eliminating people's misunderstanding of the political views of the Japanese Communist Party, and changing the public's understanding of the Japanese Communist Party. The impression of mystification.

The Liberal Democratic Party won the general election of both houses of Congress, laying a solid political foundation for Abe to continue to be in power. The Liberal Democratic Party's control of the discourse power of the House of Representatives and the Senate will inevitably lead to the gradual loss of its functions by the opposition parties, and is more likely to face the risk of being marginalized by Japanese politics. For this reason, all major opposition parties have a strong sense of crisis, and win-win cooperation has become their consensus. Therefore, the Japanese Communist Party seized the opportunity to explore the possibility of political alliance with the major opposition parties.

In early 2016, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party reached an agreement to establish a united front with the goal of jointly protecting the constitution. This was the "first time since the 1980s" that the two left-wing parties had formed a united front. Facing the general election, the Japanese Communist Party proposed a duel policy between the two camps of "the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito + forces supporting the constitutional amendment" and "the four major opposition parties + citizens", and envisioned the establishment of an electoral strategy of "opposition parties' united front". In July 2016, the four major opposition parties, the Democratic Progressive Party, the Japanese Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Lifestyle Party, reached a consensus on establishing an electoral united front. Although the ruling coalition still won a big victory in the 24th Senate election, the Japanese Communist Party and other opposition parties also achieved a "win-win" and increased their seats. Chairman Kazuo Shiki of the Japanese Communist Party believes that if the opposition parties can achieve "mutual concessions" in the next House of Representatives election, the Japanese Communist Party still plans not to nominate its own party candidates, because the strengthening of "common struggle among the opposition parties" is close to the September 2015 election of the Japanese Communist Party. The concept of establishing a "national coalition government" proposed in March is conducive to expanding its own power. In order to express its sincerity in establishing a "united front of opposition parties", the Japanese Communist Party invited representatives of the Democratic Progressive Party, Liberal Party, Social Democratic Party, and Okinawa Style for the first time as distinguished guests to attend the 27th National Congress of the Communist Party of Japan in 2017.

In order to overcome the internal contradictions of the united front, the Japanese Communist Party also proposed the "one point of common struggle" strategy, that is, if the political parties and groups as a whole cannot reach an agreement for the time being, they can first cooperate on a specific issue and jointly fight against the Abe cabinet. . In this regard, the Japanese Communist Party has strengthened cooperation in various fields with opposition parties, non-party personages, the general public, and enlightened people in the conservative class, and called on intellectuals, cultural figures, and religious figures to participate in social activities and jointly overthrow The Abe cabinet established a democratic coalition regime.

In short, the Japanese Communist Party believes that the solution to the problem of the party having too few seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate is ultimately about strengthening party building. The Japanese Communist Party clearly pointed out that the "regression" in the 2017 House of Representatives election was caused by "the party's insufficient strength." The 27th National Congress of the Communist Party of Japan pointed out that the current party-building work of the Japanese Communist Party is facing four major problems: the number of party members and the subscribers of "Red Flag" have decreased; the aging of party members is serious; the institutional structure of the Japanese Communist Party is weak; and the role of the support association has not been fully utilized. These four issues are nothing more than "people" and "money". The former solves the problem of developing party members, and the latter solves the problem of increasing fiscal revenue by increasing the circulation of "Red Flag Newspaper". To this end, the Japanese Communist Party has put forward two major strategies: First, it requires all party members to fully understand and accurately grasp the program, history and ideas of the Japanese Communist Party, and firmly support the party’s actions; second, it takes the development of party members as the fundamental while expanding the Red Flag Newspaper "reader. At the Third Plenary Session of the 27th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Japan held in December 2017, Kazuo Shiki, Chairman of the Chairman of the Communist Party of Japan, proposed the establishment of a strong political party that can maintain both quality and quantity.

Developing party members, especially young party members, is the most urgent issue facing the Japanese Communist Party. At present, not only the members of the Japanese Communist Party are aging, but also the cadres are aging. The fundamental reason is that there is not enough recruitment of young party members. The resulting problems are that many party branches have become activity centers for old party members, and activities cannot be carried out smoothly, and their survival is in crisis. Some local party branches exist in name only, which is related to the party’s organizational foundation. Second, it causes a decrease in party dues income, which is an important reason that cannot be ignored for the party’s financial revenue difficulties. Third, it causes the party’s peripheral organizations with 3.42 million members— The role of the support association was not fully utilized, which put the Japanese communists in danger of being separated from the broad masses.Although Japanese society is a middle-class society, the "middle-class consciousness" of seeking stability, fearing chaos, being conservative, and not caring about politics are the dominant values ​​of the society. The Japanese Communist Party is also a political party with a strong ideology and must attract more young people to join The Japanese Communist Party does have certain difficulties, but the current new changes in Japan's social structure and the resurgence of student movements have provided opportunities for the Japanese Communist Party to develop young members.

The number of Japan’s working class has been on the rise in recent years. In 2013, there were about 52.13 million employed workers in Japan, excluding cadres and employees, of which about 33.02 million were regular workers and about 19.1 million temporary workers. In 2014, there were about 52.56 million employed workers in Japan, excluding cadres and employees, of which about 32.88 were regular workers. Ten thousand people, about 19.67 million temporary workers; in 2015, there were about 53.03 million employed workers in Japan except cadres and employees, of which about 33.17 million were regular workers and about 19.86 million temporary workers; in 2016, there were about 53.03 million employed workers in Japan except cadres and employees There are about 53.91 million people, including about 33.67 million regular workers and about 20.23 million temporary workers. In 2017, there were about 54.6 million employed workers in Japan except cadres and employees, including about 34.23 million regular workers and about 20.36 million temporary workers. The growth of the Japanese working class has provided new opportunities for the Japanese Communist Party to expand its class base, laying the foundation for its continuous development of new party members and the establishment of new workplace branches.

In addition, in 2013, the rate of organized labor unions in Japan was 17.7%. In 2014, the rate of organized labor unions was 17.5%. In 2015, the rate of organized labor unions was 17.4%. In 2016, the rate of organized labor unions was 17.3%. In 2017, the rate of organized labor unions was 17.3%. The union organization rate of hired workers is 17.1%. It is not difficult to find that the unionization rate of employed workers shows a downward trend every year. At the same time, since the mainstream trade unions in Japan are enterprise unions and are composed of formally employed workers in enterprises (especially large enterprises), temporary workers cannot join, which provides a broad space for the Japanese Communist Party to carry out activities among temporary workers. : Carry out activities, develop party members, establish party branches, protect the rights and interests of temporary workers, and even form your own union among them. The 27th National Congress of the Communist Party of Japan decided to establish workplace branches among the broad masses of workers and move forward as a common cause of the party.

The Japanese Communist Party also timely recruited activists from youth student work and youth student movements into the party. In 2015, the Japanese Senate passed an amendment to the Public Office Election Act, lowering the voting age from 20 to 18 years old. The Japanese Communist Party believes that the revision of the law will help young people's wishes to be reflected in parliament, which is a manifestation of the development of the parliamentary system. In this way, there will be millions more young people with the right to vote. Winning their voting support should also be the strong desire of the Japanese Communist Party. In recent years, the youth student movement in Japan has risen again due to opposition to government policies, and the Japanese Communist Party has paid great attention to it. In 2011, 2013, and 2014, young college students held "anti-nuclear movement" demonstrations and opposed the Specified Secrets Protection Law. Demonstrations and marches against security laws, etc. In 2013, young college students also established the Association of Aspiring Students (SASPL) to oppose the "Specified Secrets Protection Act". In 2015, the "Students Emergency Action for Freedom and Democracy" (SEALDs), a support group for the aspiring students association, was established.

More importantly, the anti-nuclear, anti-security law, and anti-Abe government’s “rage politics” struggles held by these young college students are basically consistent with the views of the Japanese Communist Party in these aspects. Therefore, if the Japanese Communist Party can reflect the demands of young people in its program lines and struggle strategies based on the characteristics of college students, and find a point of integration with the youth student movement, it will be easier for them to gain recognition from young students. Practice has proved that during the struggle, the Japanese Communist Party proposed a series of new policies based on youth enrollment, employment, sports, etc., including reducing student tuition fees, allowing young people to receive equal education, and solving young people's employment problems. These policies and propositions have been recognized and supported by young people, attracting some aspiring young people to join. The 27th National Congress of the Communist Party of Japan decided to strengthen assistance to the Democratic Youth League, establish youth youth classes, develop student party members, and establish party branches on campus. From the Party Central Committee to counties and regions, systematic consultations between the party and the Democratic Youth League will be conducted to discuss specifically the expansion of the Democratic Youth League membership and the establishment of the Democratic Youth League.

Expanding the circulation of journals such as "Red Flag" has always been one of the focuses of the Japanese Communist Party's party-building work. The periodicals sponsored by the Japanese Communist Party mainly include the party newspaper "Red Flag" and the party magazine "Avangard", as well as the monthly magazines "Economics", "Study" and "Women's Square", etc. Currently, "Red Flag" has the largest circulation, with 200,000 daily copies. The weekly newspaper has 1 million copies, and the circulation of other publications is not large. It can be seen that the media of the Japanese Communist Party is still in the stage of traditional paper media, and most of its readers are party members. The establishment of columns cannot well reflect the needs of young readers. At the same time, it does not have its own radio and television, which will inevitably be strongly impacted by new media. Fortunately, the Japanese Communist Party has realized the seriousness of this problem and has begun to embrace new media such as electronic media and the Internet: the electronic version of "Red Flag" was launched in July 2018, with 1,700 readers, and the Twitter Japanese Communist Party headquarters has 52,683 readers Fans, the leader and chairman of the Japanese Communist Party have 90,572 fans, and Secretary General Koike has 80,882 fans. I believe that as the Japanese Communist Party newspapers and periodicals are combined with the development characteristics of newspapers and periodicals in the new era, and combined with the characteristics of youth reading, it will be able to attract more young readers.

By observing the political elections of the Japanese Communist Party, we can draw the following conclusions.

Participating in national political elections and winning a majority in parliament to become the ruling party or a participating party is not only in line with the thoughts of classic writers such as Marx and Engels, but it is also an inevitable choice made by the Japanese Communist Party based on its own painful lessons. Marxists believe that the proletariat will inevitably defeat the bourgeoisie and socialism will inevitably defeat capitalism, but they do not believe that "in order to achieve this goal, the same means should be used everywhere." And Engels proposed: "It is conceivable that in a country where the people's representative organs concentrate all power in their own hands and can do whatever they want in accordance with the constitution as long as they obtain the support of the majority of the people, the old society may grow into the new society peacefully." Which means Japan will use to realize socialism can only be explored by the Japanese people in accordance with Japan's national conditions. "What was once a special situation in Britain and the United States in the era of Marx and Engels has become more or less a common condition in at least a considerable number of developed capitalist countries today. Therefore, the possibility of carrying out revolution by peaceful means has a certain A broad base unimaginable a century ago.”

For the Japanese Communist Party, achieving socialism through the parliamentary road without slipping into parliamentarism was a dilemma. Although the Japanese Communist Party has never won an election to become the ruling party or a participating party since its establishment, this does not prevent the Japanese Communist Party from choosing a path to win power through elections. Although it will take some time for the Japanese Communist Party to become a ruling party or a participating party, this does not restrict the Japanese Communist Party from playing a role in Japanese society and politics as an opposition party and becoming a representative of left-wing forces.

Strengthening party building is the key for the Japanese Communist Party to strengthen the party's power and win the election. However, global conservatism is on the rise. Japan is a country with a strong conservative consciousness and is conducive to the development of the right wing. The scale of its traditional industrial workers is shrinking, and new industrial workers have a revolutionary consciousness. It still needs to be cultivated, and it will take a long time to eliminate people's misunderstandings about the Japanese Communist Party. It is weak and has insufficient financial resources. It is not easy for the Japanese Communist Party to survive in such a harsh domestic and international environment and become the largest communist organization in developed countries. , it will be even more difficult to promote Marxism and develop party members. But this does not hinder the determination of the Communist Party of Japan to strengthen the party's ideological construction, organizational construction, style construction and the development of party members, especially the development of young party members among temporary workers and young students. Only by continuously developing high-quality and quantitative party members can voting have a scale effect and increase the number of seats possible.

Establishing a united front of opposition parties is an important strategy for the Japanese Communist Party to become the ruling party or a participating party. However, the foundation of the existing united front is extremely fragile: first, the values ​​of each opposition party are different; second, each opposition party quarrels over the issue of recommending candidates. Endlessly; finally, the largest opposition party often splits and reorganizes, and some opposition parties and mass groups have deep prejudices against the Japanese Communist Party. During the 2016 general election, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe believed that the opposition united front was a "rabble" composed of parties with different values ​​and would immediately break down during the election of the House of Representatives with political significance.Therefore, the Japanese Communist Party proposed the "opposition party + citizens" strategy in the 2017 Senate election, that is, the Japanese Communist Party does not place its hopes entirely on the opposition party's united front, but also hopes to gain the support of other mass groups and citizens. It is foreseeable that the future united front of the Japanese Communist Party will be the model of "opposition parties + mass organizations + citizens".

Reference:

[1] Gao Hong: "An Outline of the Japanese Party System", Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 2004.

[2] Zhang Boyu: "Analysis of the Political Ecology of Japan's Party System", Beijing: World Knowledge Press, 2006.

[3] Sun Lixiang: "Research on Right-wing Forces in Postwar Japan", Beijing: China Youth Press, 2013.

[4]〔日〕Hamano Tadao: "The History and Lessons of the Party Building of the Times", Tokyo: New Japan Publishing House, 2008.

[5]〔Japanese〕Yamaguchi Tomio: "New Century Japanese Communist Party Language", Tokyo: New Japan Publishing House, 2003.

(Author: Cao Tianlu, director and professor of the Party Building and World Political Party Research Center, Shenzhen Key Base of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shenzhen Vocational and Technical College; Source: "Marxism Research" Issue 1, 2020)