Top 15 Kyuichi Tokuda Quotes

Our task is, persistently to conduct the class-political training of the membership, to master the art of combining legal work with underground work, to eliminate the shortcomings that we still meet in our work, to base our entire activity on maintaining the confidence of the masses and not to lag behind the revolutionary struggle which is developing at a rapid rate.

The International Economic Conference in Moscow showed that a certain part of the capitalists in many countries, including the U.S.A., faced with the threat of bankruptcy as a result of switching the economy of these countries onto a war footing, seeks peace with the Soviet Union, the New China, the People's Democracies and the German Democratic Republic and the development of trade with these countries. This is also true of many capitalists on Japan. Many delegates are anticipated for the Peace Conference for Asia and Pacific Region, scheduled for September in Peking. Three representatives of Japanese capitalist circles who recently participated in the International Economic Conference, represent Japan on the Preparatory Committee of this Conference.

The demand for a revolutionary land reform and for handing over the forests, waste land, the irrigation systems, etc. became particularly widespread in the countryside after the publication of the New Programme of the Communist Party.

In reply, the working class, the peasantry, students and other sections of the intelligentsia as well as the medium and small businessmen rose in resolute struggle, acting in the spirit of the New Programme of the Communist Party.

After the signing in San Francisco of the separate "peace treaty" with Japan and the U.S.-Japanese "security pact", which later were followed by the signing of the so-called "administrative agreement", it became clear that these treaties mean prolonged occupation of Japan by the U.S. armed forces. The enslavement of the Japanese people and the turning of Japan into a base for aggression against the Soviet Union, China, Korea, Viet Nam and other countries of the Far East.

As a result of the adoption of the New Programme which clearly outlined the aims of the Party, the entire Party engaged in still more active work.

The main question on which the leadership of our Party lacked clarity was whether postwar Japan was an imperialist country or whether it had become a colonial, dependent country. The Party leadership held that Japan was, as before the war, a military imperialist state although its normal development had been disrupted. True, the leadership of the Party pointed out that, as a result of the American occupation, Japan found itself in a dependent position and that its liberation from the occupation regime was an important question. However, the leadership of the Party failed to give a clear definition to the character of the revolution as a revolution in a colonial, dependent country, a revolution the principles of which were explicitly elaborated by Comrade Stalin. The leadership of the Communist Party advanced the task of national liberation and felt that in these conditions the national bourgeoisie could become one of the active elements in the liberation struggle. We worked pretty hard on this question, but failed all the same to achieve complete clarity.

The present rise of the revolutionary movement in Japan has become possible as a result of the 30-years' stubborn struggle, waged by the Communist Party of Japan.

All this shows that the revolutionary movement in Japan has become a serious obstacle to the aggressive policy of the U.S. imperialists in the Far East and that in this respect it plays an important role. This is precisely why it meets with a wide international response.

The Communist Party of Japan calls, first of all, on the workers, peasants and intelligentsia and also on the small and medium manufacturers and other capitalists to take a most active part in the united national-liberation front and to fight resolutely under the banner of peace and democracy.

The situation in People's China shows that in the new conditions even capitalists can participate in the national-liberation movement. Consequently, the capitalists in our country must also change their way of thinking.

Now, for the first time, we have been able to clear up this basic question which, hitherto, was not properly understood by us. This enabled us to publish our New Programme with the greatest confidence.

It is now absolutely indisputable that Japan has been turned into a country completely dependent on America.

Our New Programme is, in practice, becoming the programme of the whole people.

Despite the repressions, women, youth, intelligentsia and clergy are actively participating in this struggle. As a result, six million signatures have been collected to date for a Peace Pact of the five Great Powers. These sentiments even affect certain sections of the big capitalists for whom trade with the U.S.S.R. and the Chinese People's Republic is at present a matter of the greatest significance. As a result, representatives of these circles, too, express a desire to take part in the international economic conference to be held in Moscow.