Japanese Socialists Turn To Moderation

Press, Volume C, Issue 29473, 27 March 1961, Page 17

Japanese Socialists Turn To Moderation

(From B. B. BLAZEY. Tokyo cormpotMtent of TM Pren-j

TOKYO, March 18. A Christian advocate of moderation. Mr Jotaro Kawakami, will be leading the Japanese Socialists this year with a new policy of social reform and opposition to "monopoly capital." A Japan Socialist Party iShakaito) convention last week elected the 72-year-old Protestant churchman and university professor its new chairman for 1961. A victim of a fanatic's knife during the June demonstrations against the Japan-United States Security Treaty last year. Mr Kawakami succeeds the assassinated Mr Inejiro Asanuma. Mr Kawakami has pledged himself to carry out a "structural reform" of the Japanese economy and to lead a mass movement against what the Socialists call "domestic monopoly capital backed by American imperialism” He has also promised to strengthen party unity, increase party strength in the Diet by one third, and "wage a determined fight against Right-wing violence.” Slogan Dropped The Asanuma slogan that United States imperialism was "the common enemy” (of Japan and China) has been quietly dropped. Some Leftwing voices, notably that of Mr Haruo Okada, recently returned from a visit to Communist China, called for inclusion of the “common enemy" slogan in the party platform. The newly-appointed sec-retary-general, Mr Saburo Eda. also a moderate, replied that "the propriety of speaking openly on such a matter before the public is open to question." Mr Eda was reminding Mr Okada that the issue had proven fatal to Mr Asanuma and was now regarded as taboo within the party. Effect of Assassination The change in the Socialist Party’s policy in this respect may indeed be taken as evidence of the efficacy of the . traditional assassination tactics in Japan's politics. Unlike Western assassins, Japan's political murderers seldom have any personal grudge and are not usually mentally deranged. They are members of recognised extremist parties who under- i take the killing as a patriotic assignment. On completing their mission of murder, they observe the code by com- , mitting suicide and are subsequently enshrined by their admirers. The instigators justify the act. as in the case of Mr Asanuma, by saying it was "only natural” that an enemy of the country should be killed, and blame the victim for his alleged provocation. Strangely enough this queer logic of political barbarism is accepted to some extent by the authorities and even by the followers of the victim. It is significant that the Socialist Party, by modifying its policy of opposition to American imperialism as the “common enemy,” has proved itself no exception to this traditional Japanese reaction to assassination. "Realistic Reform” Some other changes noted in the party's new look were the absence of red flags and bunting at the convention and the toning down of the Communists and their ideology. Last year, under the leadership of the gruff-voiced and

burly Mr Asanuma, the Japan Socialist Party was all for “class struggles" and the war against “American imperialism." This year its propogandicts contend the election of the Christian and moderate Mr Kawakami and the adoption of the "structural reform” policy has made the party into a realistic movement for reform. In the “structural reform” of the Japanese economy the Socialists envisage a plan for: (1) A minimum wage system for the nation's workers. (i) An over-all increase in wages. <3) Full employment. (4) Stabilisation of commodity prices. (5) A national social security system covering medical treatment, old-age pensions, and unemployment benefits. (6) Low-interest loans for homes and small businesses, the economic base for which is to be strengthened by: Collectivisation of farm and small industries. Maintenance of import restrictions and high tariffs. Economic rationalisation, and Refusal to co-operate in international moves to maintain the value of the United States dollar. Welfare State Few could quarrel with the first six points, which are in fact widely accomplished objectives in Western welfare States such as New Zealand and Australia. Japan needs and can well afford some measures of reform in this direction to alleviate poverty, low wages and the insecurity following the breakdown of the family system. There is also no doubt that the present conservative Liberal-Democratic (Jiminto) Government has done too little to improve the lot of the common man and distribute the increasing wealth of the nation more fairly. However, the final four points. representing the means whereby the good of the welfare State is supposed to be accomplished, can hardly be called realistic or even sensible under the present circumstances. For example, a Japanese administration could hardly do much to affect the value of the United States dollar, except spite its own face, while “economic rationalisation" does not mean much in the context of the present highly “rationalised” (i.e, organ-

ised) Government controlled Japanese economy. Collectivisation of the presently highly-productive and efficient family farm units would be disruptive and disastrous economically (as in China and Russia) while it is difficult to see how collectivisation of cottage and small industry could be accomplished, let alone managed efficiently.

The maintenance of the present excessive import controls would seriously hamper the development of Japan’s export trade, now that many of the nation’s trading partners are hinting at retaliation if Japan does not buy more freely. In any case there is nothing to be gained by fostering inefficient domestic industries in this way, thereby raising the prices of domestically produced articles as well as of imported goods. Bld far Middle Class So far as the campaign against “domestic monopoly capital" (presumably meaning the large Zaibatsu organisations) is concerned, the Socialist Party has decided to organise a "People’s League Against Monopoly” to campaign for wide popular support but has so far done little about defining the issue—what constitutes “monopoly" and what exactly the party proposes to do about it In view of the Socialist Party’s inability to produce a definite and practicable plan of action, the critics are decrying the new Socialist policy as being as unrealistic as the old and predicting that the Socialists’ chance of swaying the socalled "middle-class” vote is as remote as ever.