Japan's resolute opposition force
Thursday, 2 August 2007
Mark Robinson
Kenji Miyamoto, the former, long-time leader of the Japanese Communist party who has died at the age of 98, transformed a loose-knit band of streetfighting radicals into Japan's best-organised, most tenacious opposition group.
Charismatic and forceful, Miyamoto's leadership mixed idealism and pragmatism to lure otherwise conservative voters weary of the scandal-prone mainstream parties. Under his stewardship, the party evolved from Soviet-style thinking to a more business-friendly model whose fundamental tenet was its anti-emperor and anti-US stance - though in recent years those policies too have softened.
Perhaps Miyamoto's greatest achievement was in the 1996 lower house elections, when the party attracted two-fifths as many votes as the dominant Liberal Democrats. The communists also became a force to be reckoned with in local politics.
Born in 1908 in Yamaguchi prefecture, on the southern tip of Japan's main island, his father, a merchant, went bankrupt when Miyamoto was a child. Educated at the economics department of Tokyo University, he was drawn to socialist theories and joined the Communist party upon graduating in 1931. Outlawed since its formation in 1922, it remained illegal throughout the second world war.
Miyamoto rose quickly and took charge of the party newspaper, Akahata [Red Flag], which became the main source of its wealth. But as the Communists grew stronger, so did the risks of associating with them. Police informers were a chronic threat and the party carried out brutal retribution against infiltrators.
In 1933 Miyamoto was interrogated over a suspected spy who died allegedly while trying to escape. Miyamoto, a judo expert, insisted the death was an accident but he was charged with illegal detention and causing injuries leading to death. Jailed for life, he said he was repeatedly beaten senseless in prison.
Freed in 1945 when US General Douglas MacArthur ordered the release of all political prisoners, Miyamoto rejoined his now-legal party but infighting erupted between the pro-Russian and domestic factions.
In 1950, as street riots peaked, MacArthur ordered a purge of the party and Miyamoto was demoted. A feature of his 1958 comeback, when he was elected secretary-general, was the party's severe self-criticism over the violence of the past. Miyamoto pledged to create a legitimate parliamentary group by making the party more accessible and, in little over a decade, saw membership rise tenfold to about 300,000. A cornerstone of his policy was that the party should be free from outside interference.
On a 1964 visit to Moscow he severed ties with the Russians. Two years later, provoked by Beijing's demand that Mao's word be accepted as absolute, he visited the Chinese leader and broke off relations. Ties were not restored until 1998.
In 1932 Miyamoto married the feminist novelist Yuriko Nakajo, also a party member, and their union became the subject of one of her stories. Jailed and tortured by Japanese police during the war, she refused to renounce her beliefs. She died in 1951.
Under syndication arragement
with FE
Kenji Miyamoto, the former, long-time leader of the Japanese Communist party who has died at the age of 98, transformed a loose-knit band of streetfighting radicals into Japan's best-organised, most tenacious opposition group.
Charismatic and forceful, Miyamoto's leadership mixed idealism and pragmatism to lure otherwise conservative voters weary of the scandal-prone mainstream parties. Under his stewardship, the party evolved from Soviet-style thinking to a more business-friendly model whose fundamental tenet was its anti-emperor and anti-US stance - though in recent years those policies too have softened.
Perhaps Miyamoto's greatest achievement was in the 1996 lower house elections, when the party attracted two-fifths as many votes as the dominant Liberal Democrats. The communists also became a force to be reckoned with in local politics.
Born in 1908 in Yamaguchi prefecture, on the southern tip of Japan's main island, his father, a merchant, went bankrupt when Miyamoto was a child. Educated at the economics department of Tokyo University, he was drawn to socialist theories and joined the Communist party upon graduating in 1931. Outlawed since its formation in 1922, it remained illegal throughout the second world war.
Miyamoto rose quickly and took charge of the party newspaper, Akahata [Red Flag], which became the main source of its wealth. But as the Communists grew stronger, so did the risks of associating with them. Police informers were a chronic threat and the party carried out brutal retribution against infiltrators.
In 1933 Miyamoto was interrogated over a suspected spy who died allegedly while trying to escape. Miyamoto, a judo expert, insisted the death was an accident but he was charged with illegal detention and causing injuries leading to death. Jailed for life, he said he was repeatedly beaten senseless in prison.
Freed in 1945 when US General Douglas MacArthur ordered the release of all political prisoners, Miyamoto rejoined his now-legal party but infighting erupted between the pro-Russian and domestic factions.
In 1950, as street riots peaked, MacArthur ordered a purge of the party and Miyamoto was demoted. A feature of his 1958 comeback, when he was elected secretary-general, was the party's severe self-criticism over the violence of the past. Miyamoto pledged to create a legitimate parliamentary group by making the party more accessible and, in little over a decade, saw membership rise tenfold to about 300,000. A cornerstone of his policy was that the party should be free from outside interference.
On a 1964 visit to Moscow he severed ties with the Russians. Two years later, provoked by Beijing's demand that Mao's word be accepted as absolute, he visited the Chinese leader and broke off relations. Ties were not restored until 1998.
In 1932 Miyamoto married the feminist novelist Yuriko Nakajo, also a party member, and their union became the subject of one of her stories. Jailed and tortured by Japanese police during the war, she refused to renounce her beliefs. She died in 1951.
Under syndication arragement
with FE