World（各国語版）

Crush Kakumaru=Matsuzaki’s Rehabilitation Efforts!

Criminal Lie and Falsification by Totsuka

Concealing Kakumaru’s historical betrayal-their role as storm troopers of the Privatization of Japan National Railways-and of destroying the struggle of 1047 dismissed Railway Workers’

In face of the global economic crisis and mass dismissal, the struggle of 1047 dismissed national railway workers to demand their reinstatement has become an urgent agenda for all workers to be fought as a life and death battle against capital. At this precise moment, boosters of Kakumaru-Matsuzaki have emerged to pardon him openly from his historical betrayal in the Division and Privatization of Japan National Railways and even to glorify his deeds. TOTSUKA Hideo, professor emeritus of Tokyo University, recently published a booklet, titled “An Essay―Tracing the labor movement of Doro (Motive Power Workers’ Union), an interim report of the society to hear from JR-Soren (JRU)”. And in line with him, HIGUCHI Tokuzo, ex-editor in chief of the Rodo Joho (“Labor Information”) began a new move. What they are insisting is that an establishment of a “Broad United Front” including JRU is a way to rescue the 1047 workers”. Intention of MATSUZAKI Akira* is to destroy the struggle of 1047 National Railway workers for the survival of JRU and himself by the help of Totsuka and others. We shall never permit their shameless and dirty attempt. We openly denounce this move as a counter-revolutionary assault on the advance of the class struggle unionism and declare that we are determined to crush them completely. This article is the first shot against them.
*MATSIZAKI Akira is “the strongman of JRU.” He is ex-president of Doro, ex-president of JR-East Union (the main affiliate of JRU). His is also the vice-president of Kakumaru.

Matsuzaki can never erase his historical crime

 Matsuzaki is a mortal enemy of working class, a hundred-percent Fascist. Doro (now JRU), Japan Confederation of Railway Workers Union) -Kakumaru with Matsuzaki at its head spearheaded together with imperialists Nakasonne administration the Division and Privatization of the JNR that triggered the neo-liberal offensive in Japan. This privatization policy is responsible for what is now happening to workers in Japan, large part of them being replaced to irregular employment and to be “working poor”. Their historical crime can never be erased in spite of their desperate efforts. 
 The offensive of the Division and Privatization of the JNR has been, however, basically defeated by the struggle of Doro-Chiba that squarely confronted this by strikes together with the unflinching struggle of 1047 dismissed national railway workers to demand their reinstatement. The privatized JR (Japan Railway Companies) system, a major pillar of the neo-liberal offensive of the Japanese imperialism, exposed its most fragile and critical situation full of contradictions and as its inevitable consequence ended up in total bankruptcy. Matsuzaki was abandoned by the JR company and the state power because of the failure of the collaboration system of JR capital and Kakumaru. Moreover, JRU has undergone a split. Added to this the irregularity of Matsuzaki in the union business, a huge amount of union money usurpation, a civil criminal act was publicly revealed. Thus Kakumaru and Matsuzaki are precipitated into a crisis.
  As a desperate attempt to escape from the crisis, Matsuzaki set up  “a Society to hear the experience [of Matsuzaki]” organizing Totsuka, Higuchi and others, to wipe off his numerous class crimes and corruptions. Among the participants of the “Society”, there are, besides outspoken Kakumaru members, such people as YAMAZAKI Koichiro, a deputy spokesperson of the “Socialist Association” (social-democrats organization, which was very pro-USSR till the collapse of the USSR), not to say Totsuka and Higuchi.
 In the “Society”, Matsuzaki disavowed JRU’s relations with Kakumaru and shamelessly lied that he had sort of disassociated himself from Kakumaru already during the process of the Division and Privatization of the JNR and that not he but a political organization (namely Kakumaru) was to blame for all that happened at that time. Everybody knows that is all an outrageous lie.
 Totsuka’s booklet intends to defend Matsuzaki’s total lie, a fascist demagogy, and supports his effort of shameless justification of his criminal deeds. The primary purpose of this article is to free Matsuzaki from the name of class traitor and to rehabilitate him in Japanese labor movement through admitting his betrayal as justifiable behavior. All these attempts are being carried on pretending to be “academic ” work from the “neutral position” in a wicked intention.
 Matsuzaki, “theoretically” armed with the Totsuka’s booklet, fiercely launched a scheme of intervening in, and destroying, the struggle of 1047 dismissed national railway workers’ sensing that his time has come to rehabilitate himself by the recent shift of the political power, the taking power of the Democratic Party in alliance with RENGO (Japanese Trade Union Confederation), major national trade union center. He has Totsuka’s booklet translated into Korean and is distributing its free copies to Korean workers by the help of ICLS (International Center for Labor Solidarity), a JRU-funded organization. Matsuzaki’s aim is to deceive Korean workers into thinking that JRU is a “militant labor union”. It is an unpardonable attack on Doro-Chiba and the November 1 Workers’ Rally.
Matsuzaki founded ICLS for international activities of JRU with headquarters based in Seoul. Its general manager is YOMONO Osamu, a notorious Kakumaru. The founding of ICLS in 2003 is planned as an attempt of reorganizing international activities of JRU that had been developed since 1990’s with abundant money, in fact abused union fees, for the personal profit of Matsuzaki, causing scandals (he was accused for that). As it has been exposed to the public and there is no room for activity in the Japanese labor world, he and JRU thought of setting up ICLS to survive on the international scene under the guise of a “labor union”.
ICLS has been working as an instrument of concealing dirty essence of JRU as well as Matsuzaki, and of spreading a demagogy that JRU is “a labor union under the most severe repression of the state power” in Japan “as is demonstrated in ‘Urawa affair’ ”. What is, however, “Urawa affair” at all? It is nothing to do with a political repression on militant labor action but an outcome of Fascist rule and intimidation of the JRU over their own union members in an extremely violent form beyond allowance of the management and the state power. 
It is urgent not only for the Japanese working class but also for the international labor movement to confront and crush the new counter-revolutionary attempt of Matsuzaki by publishing Totsuka’s booklet. As the global economic crisis is going on and a life-and-death battle of labor and capital is developing as a confrontation of revolution and counter-revolution, Matsuzaki=Kakumaru and JRU have finally been involved in this battlefield.
Under the Democratic Party’s administration in alliance with Rengo, Japanese labor movement now faces a decisive alternative - class struggle unionism or patriotic collaborationist unionism. In Korea, the uprising of Ssanyong autoworkers has opened up a new stage in the struggle against the neo-liberal attack of Lee Myong Bak administration.
Matsuzaki=JRU and their agent, Totsuka and others are endeavoring to help survive and rehabilitate Matsuzaki through desperately attacking the struggle of 1047 dismissed national railway workers’ and kDoro-Chiba. This is being carried out in line with the assault of the Lee Myong Bak administration on KCTU (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions) to disband it.
No effort of Matsuzaki will succeed in erasing the brand of “class traitor” on his back and in hiding the real essence of JRU as Fascist unionism. Don’t allow desperate move of Matsuzaki! Those who support him and justify his class-criminal deeds are not exempt from severe criticism. In name of class struggle unionism and international solidarity, let’s crush their outrageous attempt into pieces.

“Kakumaru intends to survive through destruction of other unions”

The major purpose of the Totsuka’s booklet is to conceal all criminal deeds of Matsuzaki and Kakumaru in Doro in the course of the Division and Privatization of the JNR and to justify openly what Matsuzaki did was completely right. No one but Totsuka defended and praised the class crime of Matsuzaki to such an extent. We can’t read his article without explosive indignation.
 Totsuka writes:
 “One, who wants to examine without any preoccupation what the union leaders of Doro insisted at that time, will recognize their intense efforts to grope for a way forward. In face of an unprecedented rationalization offensive, they [union leaders of Doro] urged the union members to establish a solid base for fighting-back even at the sacrifice of the vested rights, suppressing impetuous young union activists. They advocated the policy of maintaining union organization and to find a way to break the besiegement rejecting the temptation of a tactic of suicidal attack. From these endeavor, they came to dissociate themselves from the dogmatic principles and to organize all wisdom of union members to present a labor plan for rationalization. … I’ve finally reached an understanding that this was a process of “the Great Turn”
 “Doro avoided to rush violently for ‘the defense of the vested rights’ in face of ‘stormy’ union busting concentrated on the JNR. The choice was made to address the stormy drive of the JNR Reform, by taking one step backwards in a ‘very restrained and disciplined manner’ with preparation for building up a base for fighting-back.”
What a shameless demagogy! What actually happened in the course of the Division and Privatization of the JNR in 1980’s was far from the whitewash by Totsuka. The fact was: 200,000 national railway workers out of 400,000 were fired and violently driven out from their workplaces. 200 workers were forced to commit suicide (virtually slaughtered) because of inhuman treatment of the management in enforcing the privatization policy. In fact, however, it was not the JNR managers but Matsuzaki and Kakumaru in Doro who played a major and decisive role in carrying out the management’s policy of mass discharge and forced suicides.
We can’t remember their vicious and bloody deeds on the spot without violent indignation. National railway workers witnessed that Kakumaru in Doro totally cooperated with management in carrying out mass discharge through “change of union line” and demanded the management immediate firing of union members of Doro-Chiba as well as Kokuro who were opposed to the privatization.
Survival of Doro through destruction of other unions is what the “change of the union line” of Doro really meant contrary to the shameless compliment by Totsuka. Doro transferred engineers belonging to it to Tokyo and Osaka from Hokkaido and Kyushuu where local lines were abolished by rationalization. It was done in the name of “wide regional transfer of jobs” only to expel engineers who were union members of Kokuro from all driving workplaces. Those expelled railway workers were sent to “Revitalizing Center of Human Resources”, in fact a concentration camp for “superfluous personnel.” “Superfluous workers” were intentionally produced as a result of union busting by collaboration of the JNR management and Doro, Matsuzaki. The remaining members of Kokuro were threatened by Doro to quit Kokuro if they didn’t want to lose their job. It was practiced by a “labor union”.
Brother Nakano, ex-president of Doro-Chiba violently denounces this in his testimony:
“Matsuzaki declared, ‘as the president of Doro, I have only to defend jobs of our union members. I have nothing to do with the jobs of union members of Kokuro’. One should not say such a thing even as an excuse. When you take a position of defending the interest of national railway workers as a whole, you can never defend the particular interest of Doro or Kokuro. This is an essential point” (NAKANO Hiroshi “Labor Unions revive” chapter 9)
 Did Matsuzaki really “defend” the jobs of his own union members? No, on the contrary. Matsuzaki urged even his own union members to accept transfer, relocation or temporary lay-off. Furthermore, he dared to demand immediate retreat. It is an unprecedented union practice that very union officers instead of superintendents “counseled” their own union members to resign. Senior members were harassed and intimidated by “union activists,” in reality Kakumaru. They abused them, “How long are you going to stay in the job? It’s time for you to go” etc. When refused, they poured sewage water in their lockers or in their shoes.
 As a result workers older than the age of 50 completely vanished from the workplace under the influence of Doro. Under the pretext of “defending the job of Doro union members”, they did everything for their own survival as dominant power of Doro even through bargaining with the capital and the state power over dirty business for their interest. This is what Matsuzaki really is.
 All these facts are publicly known and national railway workers never forget this. Totsuka also knows it very well and still he shamelessly pretends to be innocent. What an outrageous liar! Totsuka keeps therefore complete silence over the actual development of mass discharge promoted by Kakumaru in Doro in workplace. He dare not or can’t say even a word on this issue.
 Another important point that Totsuka evades is the struggle of Doro-Chiba that, contrary to Doro, fought strikes as an only militant union to confront the privatization offensive at the head of angry national railway workers. Though Totsuka justifies Matsuzaki for “rejecting the temptation of a tactic of suicidal attack to preserve the union organization”, Doro-Chiba rose up for an all-out struggle against the privatization offensive risking the jobs and in full confidence on class unity of union members. Doro-Chiba thus succeeded in defending the union organization.
 It was a struggle based on the labor union principle, “An injury to one is an injury to all”. In face of collaborated assault of the state power, the management and Kakumaru in Doro, Kokuro, once named “the strongest union in Japanese labor movement” was driven almost to ruin through losing 4/5 membership (originally 200,000). In contrast, Doro-Chiba has strengthened its unity without any drop-off. Totsuka, however, never refers to this fact. A word on Doro-Chiba will make collapse the fictitious world of Totsuka based on outright demagogy.
 Totsuka is making a tragic effort to justify Matsuzaki by citing the definition of the word, “betrayal” from a voluminous dictionary. According to his interpretation, deeds of Matsuzaki can’t be regarded as “betrayal” because “From the view point of keeping the promise with union members and maintaining loyalty to them, Doro leadership has never betrayed their union members”. It is the last argument! It clearly exposes that Totsuka is fully aware of what he is doing. In other words, he is consciously committing class crime in defending Matsuzaki.
 Totsuka has proved himself to be a poor and phony academician. He praises as “distinguished labor leaders” such character as SHIOJI Ichiro, alias “Emperor Shioji”, ex-president of confederation of Japan Automobile workers’ Unions, a notorious anti-communist company union boss, and also John Sweeny, ex-president of AFL-CIO, a typical union aristocrat. His whole life depended upon the interest of the existing system and made use of labor movement for his money in a world totally different from the real life and actual endeavor of rank and file.
 Matsuzaki is digging his own grave in mobilizing Totsuka as propaganda captain for the rehabilitation of JRU. Working class never forgive traitor. They’ll find out the true character of betrayers even under disguise. Traitor Matsuzaki will be buried together with Totsuka forever in the midst of overall denunciation by the working class.

Over-all praise of “Campaign－Let’s work Hard” and “Strategic Movement for Labor Alternative”

 Kakumaru-Matsuzaki is desperately trying to conceal or justify his betrayal in the Division and Privatization of the JNR by the help of Totsuka because the most fatal weak point of Doro is to be found here.
The aim of Matsuzaki and Totsuka is to rehabilitate JRU in a deepening crisis. The global economic crisis has been driving class antagonism to its irreconcilable extremity and bringing forth a tremendous upsurge of the struggle of the working class to overthrow capitalist rule all over the world with young workers at its head. The world today is on the eve of a general uprising. This development is violently shaking Matsuzaki. The achievement of overthrowing the JR system together with the Fascist domination of Kakumaru over JRU is before us, when the historical rise of the working class joins the struggle of militant Doro-Chiba and Doro-Mito as well as General Confederation of Motive Power Union, and also the struggle of the JNR Coordination Committee headed by the 1047 dismissed national railway workers’ for reinstatement.
That is why Matsuzaki and JRU have recently launched a desperate attempt of intervening in the struggle of 1047 dismissed national railway workers’ to destroy and disorganize it through approaching to the “Four Parties and Four organizations”, a collaborationist group, to cooperate with them in this scheme. For this purpose, Totsuka and Higuchi suddenly began to advocate a “Broad United Front” under the instruction of Matsuzaki. The proposition of establishing a “Broad United Front” insists, “In a new political situation with the Democratic Party assisted by Rengo (Japanese Trade Union Confederation) in power, it is high time to build up a ‘Broad United Front’ including JRU. This is a way to rescue the 1047 workers”. An absurd argument! In order to back this argument, Matsuzaki desperately needs a demagogic campaign in a Fascist way to conceal or justify all of his deeds of betrayal of the class cause. Totsuka was called upon by him to write an article totally dedicated to this purpose.
The first effort of Matsuzaki and Totsuka in this article is focused upon to wipe off by all means the brand of “Kakumaru” from Matsuzaki and JRU. This attempt is doomed to bankruptcy from the very beginning. Matsuzaki and Doro headquarters spearheaded the offensive of Nakasone, Japanese imperialist, in promoting the Division and Privatization of the JNR and paved the way for the dissolution of Sohyo (General Council of Trade Unions of Japan), they only followed the organizationally decided political line of Kakumaru and it is no secret. Kakumaru is a Fascist organization under the guise of “left wing” and Matsuzaki has consistently materialized its Fascist policy in the actual scene of labor union movement as distinguished incarnation of Kakumaru. Although Kakumaru has undergone a split and a Kakumaru faction influential over JRU has dissociated itself from the center of Kakumaru, it doesn’t serve as a proof that JRU had or has nothing to do with Kakumaru. Nobody but Totsuka, a booster of Kakumaru, would believe it.
Their second effort is to justify the total surrender and historical betrayal of Matsuzaki in face of the Division and Privatization of the National Railway and to describe it as “an endeavor to bring forth a new unionism” as if it were a positive contribution for labor movement. According to Totsuka, Matsuzaki sensed that the period of capitalist crisis meant a winter for labor movement and he came to the recognition that the traditional struggle of labor union to defend the vested rights or raise a slogan of absolute opposition to the rationalization was no more valid. Totsuka tells us that Matsuzaki emphasized upon the necessity of a new movement and in this perception and proposition, Matsuzaki was a forerunner.
We are obliged here to focus the criticism on one of the essential points covered by his falsification and lie. The core of Totsuka’s effort is to justify the “Movement－Let’s work hard” which was forced upon members of Doro and now still being imposed upon JRU members.
Matsuzaki not only acted as promoter of mass discharge of 200,000 national railway workers at the time of the privatization offensive. He moreover urged Doro union members to be engaged in the “Campaign－Let’s Work Hard” (to raise business efficiency). He caved in to a violent union busting of Japanese imperialist on national railway workers’ unions through a propaganda, “The huge deficit of the Japan National Railway is due to idling employees” and demanded to work in a “very restrained and discipline manner”. He went so far as to force violently railway workers to accept extraordinary long-hour labor and exceptionally intense labor with insufficient pay, saying, “You have to be ready to sacrifice yourselves”.
Totsuka describes “Campaign－Let’s Work Hard” as a “Strategic Movement for Labor Alternative” and insists that it is an only way for labor movement to survive in the age of global economic crisis and mass dismissal. This is exactly the same idea as the Patriotic Industrial Association maintained in the wartime Japan (1940-1945). Workers are requested to offer themselves voluntarily for the rescue of imperialism (capitalism) and to work for the corporations and the state without voicing complaint. It will end up in mobilization into imperialist war and war of aggression that would mercilessly demand workers’ life.
 Their underlying ideology is a traditional thinking that “No company, no workers”. This is a slavery thought that believes in the eternal life of capitalism and that regards workers as powerless and unable to win. This is a rotten and corrupt thought to the bottom of the heart.
 The position of Matsuzaki and Totsuka coincides with the current union line of Jichro (All-Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers’ Unions) National Executives that advocates “positive response to privatization”. Through backing Jichro’s policy, Totsuka intends to pave a way for rehabilitation of Matsuzaki and JRU in the labor world. Kakumaru group in Jichro is joining in this move.
 The “new labor unionism” is already bankrupt and is precipitated in corruption. Look at what is actually happening to the JR (Japan Railway) system and what was exposed by the Amagasaki deadly railway accident! JR company is not at all concerned about the collapsing railway safety. Its only concern is how to increase profit at the sacrifice of everything. The company put all responsibilities on workers and shamelessly attempted to conceal the real cause of the accident. The workplace of engineers are devastated by the fierce practice of “in-house daily drilling” of engineers. Who is responsible for this all? It is not only the JR capital but also the corrupt and degenerated labor unions with JRU and Matsuzaki at the head that is to blame.
 A great rising of the working class has started for a fundamental change of the society triggered by the collapse of the post-war domination of the Liberal Democratic Party. At its forefront stand Doro-Chiba and a new stream of class struggle unionism represented by the advocates of the November Workers’ Rally. Only those who fight the struggle of absolute opposition to capital offensive based firmly on class unity can win the victory in the struggle to defend the right and life of workers, put an end to capitalism and create a new society. The time has come.
 This revolutionary development has driven Matsuzaki into a new counter-revolutionary attempt of destroying the struggle of 1047 dismissed national railway workers. It is a result of the advance of the class struggle unionism and 1047 workers’ struggle.
 Let’s go ahead for a complete defeat of Kakumaru in JRU crushing all desperate attempts of Matsuzaki. It’s time Doro-Chiba emerge as a powerful mainstream of Japanese labor movement. Organize for the success of the November 1 Workers’ Rally and rise up for the struggle to turn the global economic crisis into revolution.