The movement to ban atomic and hydrogen bombs in Japan plays a part in the worldwide anti-U.S. and anti-imperialist struggle

Communist Party of Japan (Left)

Contribution to the International Communist Seminar

"The World Socialist Revolution in the Conditions of Imperialist Globalization"

Brussels, 2-4 May 2001

The peace movement against atomic and hydrogen bombs is now growing in Japan after decades of stagnancy. This anti-U.S. patriotic struggle which keeps and follows the line of the August 6th Hiroshima peace struggle in 1950 is developing as a united-front-type movement with a huge mass base, opposing U.S. imperialism and the Japanese anti-national monopoly bourgeoisie. The peace movement against atomic and hydrogen bombs plays an important part in the global struggle against U.S. imperialism, the main pillar of the world reaction.

1. Historical significance of August 6th Hiroshima peace struggle in 1950

Japanese imperialism waged wars of aggression during World War II. It invaded China and other countries in Asia, made a counterrevolutionary war on the socialist Soviet Union and scrambled for repartition of colonies and spheres of influence with other imperialist powers like U.S., Britain, France and Holland. The war ended on August 15, 1945 as Japanese imperialism was defeated. With its ambition to conquer the world, U.S. imperialism exclusively occupied and dominated Japan after the war, by suppressing the revolutionary struggle of the Japanese people. It took the course of reorganizing and reviving Japanese capitalism as imperialist power under its own control and turned Japan into a stronghold for aggression in Asia. It was for this purpose that the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the first time in the history of mankind, respectively on August 6, 1945 and August 9, 1945 just before the end of the war. There have been no weapons that are more atrocious than nuclear bombs. Hundreds of thousands of unarmed young and old, men and women were murdered in an instant. The bombs left incurable scars on another hundreds of thousands of people and took years off their lives. The postwar reconstruction started also in Hiroshima which had been laid to ashes by the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb sufferers (Hibakusha) were burning with anger at the bombing and were filled with deep grief. However, they could not express their feelings freely. They were under oppression because of the propaganda justifying the atomic bombing as "an unavoidable means to put an end to the wild war which the Japanese military wanted to continue, and to save tens of millions of Japanese citizens from losing their lives in the Allied Forces' operations of burning the whole country to ashes." The Communist Party of Japan which was reestablished after the war recognized U.S. imperialism as "force of peace and democracy'" and considered its military to be a liberation army. Nevertheless, even this kind of propaganda could not erase the fact that the atomic bomb made a hell on earth, by murdering a huge number of innocent people in such a brutal way as the mankind had never experienced. Any justification could not appease the anger of the citizens of Hiroshima, who could not differentiate the U.S. soldiers stationed in the city as occupation forces from the droppers of the atomic bomb. In these circumstances, the Chugoku Regional Committee of the Communist Party revealed that there was absolutely no reason for the U.S. to drop atomic bombs except to have the initiative in occupying Japan after the war and asserted that imperialism should be strongly condemned in the name of mankind for its brutality of not hesitating to murder hundreds of thousands of Japanese people for its own ambition. The communists launched a campaign to condemn U.S. imperialism for its atomic bombing and ambition to occupy Japan as well as Japanese imperialism for its war crimes. They called on the people in the region to join the campaign by setting up organizations for the advocacy of peace everywhere like in factories, other establishments, schools, hospitals, farming villages and local communities. They put on view some pictures of the atomic bomb damage for the first time to the Japanese public. This way they began preparations for organizing a peace rally on August 6. The question of peace and war became a very acute issue of struggle in June, 1950 when U.S. imperialism started its aggressive war in Korea, by using Japan as base. The movement to ban atomic bombs and advocate peace against war was launched in the whole Chugoku region mainly by the workers. In this movement, trade unions overcame the errors of economism. The advanced trade unions prepared themselves for strikes to join the peace movement. The first August 6th Peace Rally was organized in 1950 under the conditions of state of emergency. The rally was prepared in defiance of a very strict police cordon laid by thousands of armed policemen. It was held in two places in Hiroshima city with the attendance of 500 and 600 people respectively. These peace rallies which were pushed through with no fear of any suppression revealed to the Japanese people the crime of atomic bombing committed by U.S. imperialism, unmasked this bogus "peace force" and broke through the prohibition on the publication of the atomic bomb damage. They gave a great impetus to the peace movement which spread over the country like wildfire. The August 6th Peace Rally in 1951 was joined by 1,500 people representing 140 organizations mainly from the Chugoku region but also from other regions of the country. In 1953, 7,000 people participated in the rally and marched through the streets of Hiroshima city. The enemy of peace was forced to make a step back. The August 6th Peace Rally came to be held openly on a larger scale. The First World Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs was organized in Hiroshima in 1955. The August 6th Peace Rally in 1950 served as the clue that led to the development of the peace movement in Japan. The communists and advanced elements learned the real situation of the people, shared in their anger, concentrated their demands, worked out policies and strove to realize those demands in the van of the people although there was no already established mass base or organization. This way they could mobilize the broad masses of the people even when Japan was still under the U.S. occupation and the anti-U.S. struggle was suppressed severely. The August 6th Peace Rally in 1950 showed clearly that the most important factors for developing the revolutionary movement are: to hold on to the strategic viewpoint of revolution; to establish the thought of serving the people; and to follow the mass line.

2. Anti-U.S. patriotic struggle grows by breaking through longtime stagnancy

The people's movement in the 1950s which was opened up by the August 6th Peace Rally in 1950 and culminated in the struggle against revision of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in 1960 was the most vital movement in the postwar period. Millions of the people's masses rose up with no fear of sacrifice and shook the enemy. It was because the movement was conducted along the line of fighting squarely against the root cause of the hardships of tens of millions of the popular masses. That line was the anti-U.S. patriotic line of opposing the U.S. imperialist domination over the country and the anti-national ruinous politics of the Japanese ruling class. In other words, the line of the Japanese revolution, that is, of expelling U.S. imperialism from our country, overthrowing the Japanese anti-national monopoly bourgeoisie, establishing an independent, democratic, peaceful and prosperous Japan and realizing socialism brought out national and class indignation in the broad masses of workers and other people. In contrast to the 1950s, the people's movement lost its vitality and ebbed after the anti-treaty struggle in 1960. It was because the subjective forces became unclear about the enemy of the Japanese people and the line of their movement drifted from the reality of the society and the national and class feelings of the people as the U.S.-Japanese ruling classes fostered labor aristocrats, by bribing the upper strata of the workers and petty bourgeoisie, used labor bureaucrats to lean trade unions toward reactionary position and spread pro-U.S. ideology and cosmopolitanism over all aspects of the society like mass communication, education, manners and customs, etc. In the 1960s, a great number of trade union officers went to the U.S at the invitation of the Department of the State. In the 1970s, the New Left groups were used to spread confusion through their theory of "independent revival of Japanese imperialism" with the aim of diverting the spearhead from the U.S. Particularly after the collapse of the U.S.-Soviet bipolar structure, the line of "freedom, democracy and human rights" was advocated so much. And now, the Miyamoto revisionist clique which calls itself "Japanese Communist Party" has fallen in reality into a pro-U.S. bourgeois party, by following the social democracy. The ruling class uses U.S.-subjugated reactionaries like former prime minister Nakasone, Tokyo governor Ishihara and advocates of the liberal views on history, but also "advanced" pro-U.S. elements who preach "freedom, democracy and human rights" and act like progressive. They make the two groups complement each other in order to carry out the pro-U.S. anti-national politics against the people. The lessons learned by hard work from the revolutionary and people's movements in the postwar period teach us that we must follow firmly the mass line in the anti-U.S. patriotic position. The peace movement to ban atomic and hydrogen bombs has been spreading over the country like wildfire. A new set of panels for the atomic bomb exhibition in Shimonoseki city, Yamaguchi prefecture was produced this year. It was published also in book form. The supporters of the movement are disseminating these panels and book and holding atomic bomb mini-exhibits in various places. Hundreds of panel sets and tens of thousands of copies of the book have been sold in more than 20 prefectures on the occasion of atomic bomb mini-exhibits, peace education at schools, performances of the theatrical troupe Haguruma-za and through the movement to donate 55 sets of atomic bomb panels and 5,500 copies of the book to all the elementary schools and junior high schools in Shimonoseki. In parallel with these activities, preparations are being made to hold atomic bomb exhibitions. The panels in book form are brought to all walks of life for selling – Hibakusha, aged people with wartime experience, teachers, small-sized retailers and manufacturers, workers, youth, women, men of culture, religious people and so on. The peace movement to ban atomic and hydrogen bombs in Japan is now developing into a historic social movement to convey to young generations the humiliating experience and unforgettable grief and anger of the Japanese people in the only atomic-bombed country in the world and wipe out Japan's subordination to the U.S. which started with the atomic bombing, the ruination of the Japanese society under the U.S. domination and the path to another war. The large-scale dissemination of the panels in book form and the spreading movement for holding atomic bomb exhibitions encourage a greater number of Hibakusha and aged people who have wartime experience to open their closed mouth. They have become aware of their social duty of conveying their experience of atomic bomb and war to the generations of their children and grandchildren. Young boys and girls receive straight the appeal of Hibakusha, determine to shoulder the cause of peace for a society without war and nuclear bombs, bear respect toward their grandparents, and have begun to demonstrate their ability to change their school and family life and resist the social ruination. Teachers and parents are moved when they see their children change that way with their own eyes. Particularly young mothers have become very active because they want their children to grow up as honest persons in opposition to atomic bombs, war and ruination. Aside from the response among these generations, it is another important characteristic of the ongoing movement that those people who were considered to be conservative have come out and worked at the center of the movement. The officers of associations for neighborhood, the aged people, women and the bereaved families of the war dead and religious groups have contributed to the local movement for sound formation of the young generation. Many of the school principals who have experienced the difficult life just after World War II have an educational conscience. These people fret about the present situation of the children when the moral degeneration of the young generation becomes very serious as seen in the atrocious crimes committed by teenagers. They find the original starting point of education in the peace education. They are selling many copies of the book of atomic bomb panels and working enthusiastically to hold atomic bomb exhibitions. Those who belong to the generation with wartime experience think that the education of the young generation determines the future of the nation. The U.S. nuclear submarine Greeneville collided with the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru on February 10 which sank in an instant leaving 9 missing people. This accident provoked strong anger among the Japanese people against U.S imperialism and Mori anti-national government as it occurred particularly when the anti-U.S. patriotic sentiment was growing in Japan. On the Okinawa island where most of the U.S. military forces stationed in Japan are concentrated, their insulting and criminal acts against the residents have produced an outpouring of outrage. Lt. General Hailston, commander of the U.S. forces in Okinawa, wrote an e-mail to his colleagues this January that referred to prefectural officials, including Governor Inamine, as "nuts and wimps." Molestation of Japanese girls, arson and other crimes have been repeatedly committed by U.S. Marines and Navy soldiers in the island. The anger of the residents is so strong that almost half of the municipal assemblies as well as the prefectural assembly have adopted resolutions demanding reduction or withdrawal of the U.S. forces in Okinawa and review of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement. Such a resolute response has flustered the U.S. and Japanese governments. In addition, there are mounting struggles of fishermen for protecting the Japanese fishery in confrontation with the "national policies," including the construction of nuclear power plants in Kaminoseki town, Yamaguchi prefecture and the reclamation project in Isahaya Bay, Nagasaki prefecture. This reclamation project has incurred the opposition of the laver cultivators on the coast of the Ariake Sea, Kyushu region who put the blame for this year's bad harvest on that project and determine to stop it by force. The fishermen's protests enjoy a strong sympathy and support of the broad masses of the people. The Japanese people's struggle is rising more vigorously than ever as anti-U.S patriotic struggle seeking the development of the production work and the prosperity in Japan. The fight against nuclear war is a main national issue. The people are outraged by the collision of the U.S. nuclear submarine with Ehime Maru and the repeated crimes in Okinawa which show that the U.S. regards them as mere worms. The anti-nuclear-power-plant struggle in Kaminoseki continues and now the fishermen on the coast of the Ariake Sea have risen in protest at the risk of their lives. There is a growing movement to oppose the American decadent culture and individualism and reestablish our national and popular culture and education.

3. Grounds for arising anti-U.S. patriotic opinion and tasks of working class

The Japanese postwar society is run through by two basic contradictions, one between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie and the other between the Japanese nation and U.S. imperialism. On the basis of these contradictions, the main contradiction of our society is formed between U.S. imperialism and the Japanese anti-national monopoly bourgeoisie on one hand and the people with the working class at the head on the other hand. The recently growing anti-U.S. patriotic opinion and struggle come from the aggravation of this main contradiction. The U.S. control over Japan has continued unchanged for more than 50 years since the end of World War II. However, it has been strengthened so much since the middle of the 1990s along the new guidelines for Japan-U.S. military cooperation as if Japan had been occupied again by the U.S. This has unprecedentedly aggravated the basic contradiction between the Japanese nation and U.S. imperialism. The Japanese government has driven the national finance into a failure because it has issued a huge amount of deficit-covering national bonds in order to support and prevent the U.S. economy from going bankrupt. On one hand, it has surrendered its own domestic market including the finance and information network to the U.S. and, on the other hand, it has transferred the manufacturing industry to the Southeast Asian countries and China to destroy the domestic manufacturing industry and carried out forcibly restructuring "rationalization" drives by the sacrifice of the workers. It also has imported rice from the U.S. and put spurs to the implementation of the policy of producing and importing at low prices vegetables, fish, shellfish, clothes, etc. from other Asian countries. As a result of this, the agriculture, fishery and small-sized industry have been ruined at home. Moreover, the Japanese government has reduced the national expenditure in the medical care, education and welfare to make the people's life more difficult and brought about an unprecedented educational decadence by introducing the American-type education based on individualism. The strengthening U.S. control over Japan and the shameless country-selling policies of the Japanese anti-national monopoly capital and its government have led important sectors of our national economy to ruin one after another and will soon eradicate by the roots the base for Japan's independent production work. In addition to this, U.S. imperialism schemes to wage another nuclear war with Japan as base which would lay our whole country to ashes, and forces the Japanese government to recognize the right of collective self-defense with the aim of dispatching Japan's Self-Defense Forces to the front line of the war for the U.S. The rise of the anti-U.S. patriotic opinion among the Japanese people is not accidental nor transient. It is based on the aggravating national and class contradictions in the Japanese society which accelerate the drastic development of the consciousness of various classes and strata and the fluctuation and realignment of the political forces. The alleged progressive forces accept the U.S. atomic bombing, regard the American democracy as progressive, side with the U.S. rulers and seek only the interests of their own small groups. They are hated and forsaken by the people and are put to rout. In contrast to this, those people with wartime experience including Hibakusha who have been under pressure because they have been regarded as if they "had collaborated with militarism" during World War II and those who have been considered to be conservative stand for the anti-U.S. patriotic cause. The farmers and fishermen have been seen as bases of conservatism, but these people who have a share in the production rise in the struggle against the national policies. These facts teach us that we must overcome empiricism and deal with matters by drawing a clear line of demarcation between the progress and the reaction from the anti-U.S. patriotic viewpoint. The anti-U.S. patriotic struggle is a struggle based on internationalism. U.S. imperialism has increased its brutality in face of a new economic crisis after the burst of the economic bubbles which continued for many years. Under the Bush administration, it has come out with more flagrant policies of keeping Japan under its control and dominating the rest of the world and a more open scheme for waging nuclear wars. These factors are aggravating further the contradictions on a world scale and will inevitably drive U.S. imperialism into a deeper isolation and lead the anti-U.S. struggle to a higher level. The anti-U.S. patriotic struggle in Japan plays an important part in the worldwide anti-U.S. struggle. The anti-U.S. patriotic struggle with the anti-nuke peace movement as axis aims to smash the oppression and domination by U.S. imperialism and the Japanese anti-national monopoly bourgeoisie who are the roots of all hardships of the people and their enemies and to establish an independent, democratic, peaceful and prosperous Japan. It is a fight for a just cause which can unite all the Japanese people except for a mere handful of enemy. It is a decisive battle in completely renewing the workers' and people's movements which have declined and come to a total standstill under the leadership of the existing political forces and in opening up the prospects for the Japanese revolution. The developing situation requires us to take a very urgent task of elaborating and striving to carry out policies for completely renovating the workers' movement which is separated from the people's masses, indifferent to the future of the nation and eroded by the pro-U.S. line of "freedom, democracy and human rights." #

Contribution to the International Communist Seminar

"The World Socialist Revolution in the Conditions of Imperialist Globalization"

Brussels, 2-4 May 2001