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KAKUEI TANAKA, proudly referred to as the bulldozer by his sup. porters, has been forced to resign as Prime Minister of Japan.
The corruption and gangsterism which surrounded his early political life -and upon which his present wealth is based- were finally brought out into the open, and the Japanese capitalists had no option but to ditch him. Not even a visit by the imperialist chieftain Ford could save Tanaka a reflection of the extent to which these revelations keyed into a much broader economic and social crisis.
ROOTS OF CRISIS The rebirth of Japanese capitalism after its crushing defeat in the Second World War was a result of the cconomic boom which lasted from 1948 until 1966-67 and embraced the entire capitalist world I was also helped by the tact that the trade union movement which devoloped after the war was dominated both By Cold War politics and by a paternal istie structure based on companies rather than indusines, Workers tend to remain tied to companies for housing, social sec unity etc, and quite understandably be come extrcinely reluctant to change jobs. Furtlicamore, when a worker retires he is paid a bonus by the compuny, and the wage-system itself is hased on age: older witkers get more money.
All these lactors taken together exp lain the passivity of the Japanese working class for a whole period.
The end of the boom and the protoctionist incasures announced by the USA in 1971 went hand in hand with a rise of working class militancy. During the 'spring offensive' of 1973 even, the steel unions (the most reactionary a whole number of demands were won. Spring 1975 threatens to confront the Japanese capitalists with their most serious clash yet with the organised workThe Libcral Democratic Party (LDP) of which Tanaks and the new premier Takeo Miki are members, has been the voice of Japanese big business for many decades, It has ruled the country uninterruptedly since the carly 1950s by util ising an electoral law which allows it to govern while remaining a minority in the country as a whole.
Opposition within parliament hai Front cover of newspaper of the Japanese section of the Fourth International shows militants in one of the saries of struggles which have recently broken out erships of these parties:
signed. been provided by the Communist Party. the Sacialist Party, and the Koncito to the list. (a petty-bourgeois Buddhist party). But DECLINE in the streets the mass opposition has aften outflanked the parliamentary leailJapen has a long experiencs of mass movements. They started with the protest against sucicar weapons, reaching a peak with the Bikini tests in 1953, The vacuun left by a passive working class was filled hy the student movement, and anti-emperalist protests were soon to sweep the major citier of Japan. These calminaled in mass protests against Eisenhower's proposed visit to Japan in 1958 to sign a renewal of the Us-Japan Sccurity Pact. The visit was cancelled, even though the pact was VIETNAM WAR The Vietnam war provided the basis for thr next wave of nrotests, which were probably the most anitant and began to involve young workers. The defeat of US imperialism in Vietnam also began to have an important effect on Japanese politics as a atiola. Sioce Japanese stability depended to a lampe exicot on Us stabilly. the CCOnomiE crisis and political defeat suffersd by the taffer lett its mark in Japan Tanaka's job when he became prime minister in 1972 was to prepare itically, economically, militarily - as a the United States, His dismissal and the crisis in the DP show thar it is The growth of Japanese copicalism has brought with it an urban growil which has been totally unplanned, This has created problems of housing, tran sport woo caucalon, wain coupico with pollution have provided the basis for yet another of Japan's mass move ments, this time led by housewives and workers Today inflation has to be added The major support for the LDP orig the economie growta has whitled that down: in 1945 the peasantry was 50% of the population; in 1960 it was 40% but by 1973 it was only 1% of the The weakening of The traditional left has also began to capture certain trade unions, espec Inly in the public sector, The CP is undoubtedly the major workiog clase purty, men though its electoral repres Et has a membership, for instance, of 300,000 compered to the SP's 30,000 But poutically the CP has mored rapidly rightwards, For it the lessons of Chile can that the struggle for socialism must be deferred to an ever moto distant future while the CP a Tempts to create a bloc with the Conseito purty in under to win electoral cictories. Its main theoretician Tersoze has recently translated an article by Lenin in which 'a state of emergeacy has been substituted for "the die tatarship of the proletariat"
to make it fit into "Japanese conditions.
REVOLUTIONARIES The sorolutionary left consists of throw dominant groups; two of which are tate copitalist groups who spend the bulk of rheir political enerpies sizully. This degeneration reflects their Exit for Tanaka solation from both the Japancso work des class and the world revolutionary The third is the Japanoso Revolut Lenary Communist League, the soction covenes both in the working ciss strag gios and in the mass movement: TE Has also played a leading role in the peasants struggles in Sanriraka to provont the building of a new military airport