http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20011126wo01.htm
Yomiuri Shimbun
A major challenge facing Kazuo Shii, who marked his first year as chairman of the Japanese Communist Party on Saturday, is halting the party's unchecked decline in popular support.
The fate of the JCP may hinge on what strategies the party's 47-year-old leader will adopt in his efforts to reverse the current tide against the party, with the help of party Secretary General Tadayoshi Ichida.
Shii has a reputation as a pragmatic and flexible leader. Since his appointment as JCP chief, he has sought to shake up the party, with the backing of Ichida, 58. However, the JCP suffered major setbacks in the House of Representatives election in 2000 and the House of Councillors election in July.
Since Nov. 11, Shii has stumped the country, hoping to increase the readership of the JCP's organ, Akahata, as well as the number of the party's rank-and-file members.
On Saturday, he visited a square near a housing complex in Yokohama to advertise Akahata. "Joining the JCP doesn't always guarantee you a good time. Being a party member will cost you money. You may be harassed by your fellow workers. But you have only one life to live. Why don't we join hands in reforming our society?" he told the crowd.
According to the JCP, Shii is the first party chairman to take to the streets to try to drum up subscriptions to Akahata since then Chairman Kenji Miyamoto did so in September 1977.
Currently, JCP rank-and-file members total about 390,000, down from close to 500,000 in 1990. Meanwhile, Akahata's circulation stands at the 2 million level, down from about 3.5 million in 1980. The plunge in the JCP's membership and Akahata's readership has been attributed to the critical attitude taken by the public toward the party since the collapse of the Soviet Union and other socialist nations.
In addition, the JCP membership is growing old. Rank-and-file members in their 20s account for only a few percent of the party's total membership.
During the late 1990s, the JCP sought to win over floating voters, increasing its gains in lower and upper house elections. However, the party suffered severe losses in the last lower and upper house house elections. The JCP also has had a hard time gaining seats in local assembly elections in recent months.
The JCP's top cadre is increasingly concerned that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may choose to dissolve the lower house for a general election while he still enjoys astonishingly high popular support.
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Facing the music
For years, the JCP tended to defend its position if it suffered a loss in an election by attributing its setback to "anticommunist campaigns" conducted by other parties. But in a lecture held to mark the JCP's 79th anniversary in August, Shii said the party's Central Committee was responsible for the party's setback in July's upper house race.
At the plenum of the Central Committee in October, Shii said he regretted the committee's decision to broadcast a television commercial featuring him during party's election campaign. "It didn't work. We did it without much thought," he said. "The Central Committee is not free from shortcomings. It will be able to gain party members' trust by bringing its own problems to light."
Shii's remarks indicated his determination to reform the JCP's administration in his own way, according to analysts. For years, the party's leadership has been criticized for not acknowledging errors it has committed in its decision-making process.
However, it remains to be seen whether Shii will be able to demonstrate strong leadership in running the JCP. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the United States, Central Committee Chairman Tetsuzo Fuwa has played a leading role in making decisions on the party's response to the incident. Shii may exercise his authority as JCP chairman only in certain affairs, including the line the party takes in Diet debates.
In addition, there has been little progress in reviewing the JCP's platform, a task confronting the party's top echelon, led by Shii, who is seeking to apply the finishing touches to his efforts to transform the JCP into a party with its feet firmly on the ground.
"I am still unsure what kinds of steps will be taken (to revise the party platform)," Shii said. His comment apparently reflected his concern that an abrupt change in the JCP's basic policy line would antagonize party leaders cautious about such a reform.
===== Kevin Dean Buffalo, NY ICQ: 8616001 http://www.yaysoft.com
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