The 26th Party Congress will be held soon to celebrate 25 years of the foundation. It is 23 years since the party lost membership in the national assembly. Party members have kept fighting locally across the country. It is very time to get united with all opposition forces to win in the state-level elections, for which we, the New Socialist Party, work, too. The coming congress will consolidate determination and convey aspirations to new generations.
LET’S OWE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MOVEMENTS AND TO CONVEY ASPIRATIONS TO YOUNGER GENERATIONS!
Poverty prevails all around us. That makes people discouraged and overwhelmed with loss of hopes. Employment, which ensures dignity to working people, has been eroded severely: not only irregular workers, but also regularly-employed workers suffer from aggravating labor rights.
For whom does the society work?
Balance of power between the labor and the management vastly leans on the latter. Most of big trade unions neatly stay within this sort of framework. Majority of seats in the parliament are occupied by members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which enjoys solid patronage of the United States’ government and support from the coalition partner, the Komeito Party, a religious party of Japan.
The LDP-led governments have long worked to build a society in which each individual must owe responsibilities for his/her deeds: the labor-related laws have been revised for worse and medium-and-small-sized companies have fallen victims to big businesses. The administrations have surged the consumption tax rates repeatedly, explaining in a smart way, for the sake to improve public services. Nevertheless, the tax policy simply has favored the rich and the big businesses. Thus the social service system has been undermined, losing power to keep people safe.
The Peace Constitution has been spoiled: the country’s land has been breached by the US military bases and voices of people in Okinawa have been ignored who have kept saying, No! The current administration, however, not satisfied with today’s status, attempts to ally more closely with the US forces and to deploy the Self Defense Forces in their wars.
It is ten years since the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants have perished to scatter radiation. Over 40 thousand people have lost home to return, staying away from the contaminated native land. Germany, learning lessons from the disaster in Fukushima, works earnestly to abolish nuclear power generation. Meanwhile, Japan, even though it is a country of earthquakes, is unable to get awaken by the catastrophe. Is the Japanese society fine for people to live in?
Let’s create new relationships
What should we do to change the society? How can we take movements over to coming generations? All party members should make an important step forward, which is the key task for the 2021 congress.
The Japanese society prefers money to make more money to production and distribution of products. We should stand on the side of people whom this utterly deformed society has overlooked. Let’s create new relationships with them, sharing sufferings and agonies in common.
Let’s have a big dream once again!
We have common tasks to achieve, but each of us has our own. A call, ‘Let’s fight together!’ is not enough. Firstly, we must understand the public services and labor systems so that we can work to meet people’s needs and then to channel to the right office of the administration. Thus, we see it is indispensable to change the systems.
It is vital for us to engage in social movements together with people so as to make the society as better as possible. It is also imperative to rebuild labor movements. Dreams may be seen very far not only from the eyes of younger generations but also from ours, but we must keep dreams in mind. Without confidence we cannot persuade others. Let’s get responsible for our movements and take them over to younger generations.
私たちの目の前に広がるのは、あきらめを招くようなあらゆる面での貧困だ。人間らしく生きるための雇用はズタズタにされ、非正規雇用労働者は言うまでもなく、正規労働者も酷使され働く権利どころではない。
労資の力関係は経営側に大きく偏り、大労組の多くはその枠の中に留まる。国会議席は、米国政府の後ろ盾を持ち公明党の力を借りた自民党が圧倒している。
自己責任社会を推し進めてきた自民党は、働くものを大資本に差し出すために、労働法制の改悪を進め、中小企業を犠牲にしてきた。富裕層と大企業を優遇し、社会保障のためと世論を誘導して消費税増税を繰り返し、安心とは程遠い社会保障制度をさらに劣化させてきた。
平和憲法を空洞化し、国土を米軍に蹂躙させ、ノーを繰り返す沖縄の民意を踏みにじり続ける。それに飽き足らず、米軍と一体となって自衛隊を戦争に投入しようと企む。
福島第一原発が放射能をまき散らして１０年、故郷を奪われた４万人余が帰郷できずにいる。ドイツなどがこの事故を教訓に原発廃止を進めているのに、教訓を生かせない地震国日本は人の生きる社会と言えるだろうか。
私たちはこの社会を変えるために何をなすべきか。どうやって運動を次代につなげるか。全党でその一歩を踏み出すのが今大会の課題だ。
ものの生産や流通よりも、カネがカネを生むゆがみ切った社会に踏みにじられている身近な一人ひとりに寄り添おう。その苦しみや悩みに向き合い、新しい結びつきをつくろう。
共通点を持ちながらも、抱える課題はそれぞれ異なる。「闘おう」の一言では済まない。一人ひとりの課題を受け止める制度への理解、行政等の窓ロヘ働きかけつなぎ、制度を変えることが不可欠だ。
一緒になって社会を少しでも良くする運動を展開する、そうした素地が私たちに必要だ。労働運動の再建は言うまでもない。大きな夢が持てないのは若い世代だけではない。私たちもそうではないだろうか。そうであるならば、本気度は相手に伝わらない。現在の運動に責任を持ち、それを次代に繋（つな）ぐ、その一心で運動を進めよう。
英訳版↓
No. 1204 Tasks for 26th Party Congress
The 26th Party Congress will be held soon to celebrate 25 years of the foundation. It is 23 years since the party lost membership in the national assembly. Party members have kept fighting locally across the country. It is very time to get united with all opposition forces to win in the state-level elections, for which we, the New Socialist Party, work, too. The coming congress will consolidate determination and convey aspirations to new generations.
LET’S OWE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MOVEMENTS AND TO CONVEY ASPIRATIONS TO YOUNGER GENERATIONS!
Poverty prevails all around us. That makes people discouraged and overwhelmed with loss of hopes. Employment, which ensures dignity to working people, has been eroded severely: not only irregular workers, but also regularly-employed workers suffer from aggravating labor rights.
For whom does the society work?
Balance of power between the labor and the management vastly leans on the latter. Most of big trade unions neatly stay within this sort of framework. Majority of seats in the parliament are occupied by members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which enjoys solid patronage of the United States’ government and support from the coalition partner, the Komeito Party, a religious party of Japan.
The LDP-led governments have long worked to build a society in which each individual must owe responsibilities for his/her deeds: the labor-related laws have been revised for worse and medium-and-small-sized companies have fallen victims to big businesses. The administrations have surged the consumption tax rates repeatedly, explaining in a smart way, for the sake to improve public services. Nevertheless, the tax policy simply has favored the rich and the big businesses. Thus the social service system has been undermined, losing power to keep people safe.
The Peace Constitution has been spoiled: the country’s land has been breached by the US military bases and voices of people in Okinawa have been ignored who have kept saying, No! The current administration, however, not satisfied with today’s status, attempts to ally more closely with the US forces and to deploy the Self Defense Forces in their wars.
It is ten years since the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants have perished to scatter radiation. Over 40 thousand people have lost home to return, staying away from the contaminated native land. Germany, learning lessons from the disaster in Fukushima, works earnestly to abolish nuclear power generation. Meanwhile, Japan, even though it is a country of earthquakes, is unable to get awaken by the catastrophe. Is the Japanese society fine for people to live in?
Let’s create new relationships
What should we do to change the society? How can we take movements over to coming generations? All party members should make an important step forward, which is the key task for the 2021 congress.
The Japanese society prefers money to make more money to production and distribution of products. We should stand on the side of people whom this utterly deformed society has overlooked. Let’s create new relationships with them, sharing sufferings and agonies in common.
Let’s have a big dream once again!
We have common tasks to achieve, but each of us has our own. A call, ‘Let’s fight together!’ is not enough. Firstly, we must understand the public services and labor systems so that we can work to meet people’s needs and then to channel to the right office of the administration. Thus, we see it is indispensable to change the systems.
It is vital for us to engage in social movements together with people so as to make the society as better as possible. It is also imperative to rebuild labor movements. Dreams may be seen very far not only from the eyes of younger generations but also from ours, but we must keep dreams in mind. Without confidence we cannot persuade others. Let’s get responsible for our movements and take them over to younger generations.
Let’s go forward!
April 6, 2021