Japan’s Stalinists seek to head off anti-war movement ahead of election
By
Ben McGrath
21 October 2017
Heading into tomorrow’s general election in Japan, the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) has been striving to contain and divert popular opposition to the Abe government’s drive to remilitarize the country. Thoroughly integrated into the political establishment in Tokyo, the JCP is calling for the removal of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in favor of another faction of the capitalist class.
The JCP is a Stalinist party that has long since abandoned any commitment to socialism. While posturing as pacifist to head off widespread anti-war sentiment and political alienation, it effectively has lined up behind Japan’s ruling elite and Washington in their confrontation with North Korea and China.
In an interview with the Japan Times last Monday, JCP chairman Kazuo Shii backed the measures being taken to cripple the North Korean economy, while calling for dialogue between the United States and North Korea. “Economic sanctions against the [North Korean] regime are necessary, but they alone wouldn’t resolve the problem,” he said.
Earlier, Shii condemned North Korea in a September 3 statement following Pyongyang’s sixth nuclear test, saying it posed “a grave threat to global and regional peace and stability” and a rejection of “the international community’s efforts for resolution through dialogue.”
In other words, the danger of war was not caused by Washington’s aggression and imperialist designs in the region, above all directed against China, but by impoverished North Korea. Moreover, the futile appeal for dialogue flies in the face of repeated declarations by President Trump that talks are futile and there is “only one way” to deal with North Korea,…