World（各国語版）

Crush G7 Hiroshima Summit by all-out uprising, succeeding the victory of the Suginami ward election!

Join us in Hiroshima on May 19 with youths and students at the forefront!

Preface

In the recent election of the Suginami ward council in Tokyo, held on April 23, Tomoko Horaguchi, a sole revolutionary councilmember with a persistent slogan of "absolutely no to war" has won the seat for her second term. It is a great historical victory for working class people in face of imminent world war.

Unshakable conviction and firm determination consistently held by Japanese working class for a whole period since the end of World War II to never allow war again have been clearly expressed and enormous class anger against Japanese imperialism which is rushing for war, trampling this, has exploded.

The big battle over the ward council election has turned out to be the first challenging struggle as a revolutionary election campaign in actual war-time for us, Japan Revolutionary Communist League, since its foundation. We have carried out our campaign as an anti-war struggle with a clear vision for the overthrow of Japanese imperialism, our own class enemy at home against the stormy nationalistic and chauvinistic propaganda by the government and the media followed by the general surrender of the existing opposition parties and labor union leadership, in a very similar situation examined by Lenin in The Collapse of the Second International.

While the right-wing groups gathering from all parts of Japan to assault the candidate Horaguchi shouted through ultra loud speakers of scores of sound trucks, "Don't vote for Horaguchi." All self-designated "left-wing "or "liberal "political forces headed by the Stalinist Japan Communist Party intend to form a whole-inclusive ruling coalition across entire political parties and tendencies under the incumbent ward mayor Satoko Kishimoto, we have squarely confronted them with the clear slogan, "Stop war from our Suginami!" and have achieved the re-election through heated election campaign. The 2,632 votes for Horaguchi signify the uprising of inhabitants of Suginami ward through their conscious and independent decision against war and for a fundamental change of society.

The experience of this election campaign confirmed our steady road for the victory of the struggle: "Turn imperialist war into a civil war!".

Let's crush the G7summit to be held in Hiroshima from May 19 to 21, a war conference of imperialist burglars by furious anti-war demonstration, surrounding the venue.

Gather the angry anti-war voices of broad swath of people to the Battle of Hiroshima!

I Election campaign on anti-war platform broke down hostility of the state power, right wingers and the Japan Communist Party

(1) We fought a war-time revolutionary election campaign with CM Horaguchi

What have we achieved by the election campaign?

First, the issue of war has become the focus of the debate in the election in face of escalation and aggravation of war in Ukrainian and aggression on China, drive for world war by the resolute no-war declaration of CM Horaguchi, who has brought forth a huge wave of anti-war movement in- and outside of Suginami ward. Our success has been proved by the development of election campaign into a war-time anti-war movement, namely progress toward turning of the imperialist war into civil war and also by the results of the election, in which seven incumbent Liberal Democratic Party members lost their seats.

In her first term since 2019, CM Horaguchi has continuously carried out the struggle against war and privatization from the working-class standpoint. Among other issues, on the occasion of the debate about the Ukrainian war in the ward council, Horaguchi was the only person who resolutely opposed to the resolution which one-sidedly condemned Russian invasion without referring the responsibility of imperialist forces for the cause of this war. Encouraged by her brave deed, a large number of youths, students and workers rallied around her in the other struggle such as protest action against the state funeral of the ex-Prime Minister Abe in last September, November All-out Workers Rally and the struggle resisting the government and Narita International Airport Corporation's violent eviction of farmland in Sanrizuka in February and so on. Anti-war demonstrations on the street of Suginami ward were repeated with Horaguchi on the front line and signature gathering campaign was organized against the doubling of the military budget. Thus, the fierce opposition to the military buildup based on the revision of Three Security Documents and war drive has been widely spread among Suginami inhabitants.

Added to these important issues, CM Horaguchi has denounced the listing for the recruitment of Self-Defense Forces--15-years old male and, 18- and 21-years old male and female students-- by the Suginami ward office to be presented to the Self-Defense Forces and demanded to stop immediately the war-collaboration of the ward office by listing for recruitment. This activity has a serious significance because the Japan Communist Party, who declares to be the member of the "ruling coalition which support ward mayor Kishimoto, has no intention of accusing the SDF's recruitment helped by the ward office although it pays lip service against military buildup.

The victorious reelection of Horaguchi is an ardent appeal to the people of all Japan and the whole world to rise up for the anti-war struggle in the midst of war-time from Suginami ward, the very cradle of the Anti-A- and H-bombs movement and a city of no-war, no-nuke.

Secondly, the victory of the election campaign has been achieved in the midst of the counter-revolutionary cross-fire by all the reactionary forces, ranging from the Japanese imperialist state power and right-wing groups to the JCP with their assault full of hatred against CM Horaguchi, and as a result of uncompromising confrontation with those attacks. Our struggle has clearly exhibited how to carry out anti-war actions in the war-time.

The right-wingers, endorsed by the very state power, rallied from all parts of Japan and repeated persistently interference and assault by sound trucks with ultra-loud speakers to the election campaign of Horaguchi on the street. But it resulted in expanding support and assistance from the part of Suginami inhabitants, raising their voices: "Don't let them win!" "We are with you, candidate Horaguchi" . Thus, those right-wingers completely disappeared in the days close to the voting day. Thus, the violent attempts of the state power and the right-wingers have definitively crushed by the unflinching fightback by the Horaguchi campaigners.

It is to be noted that the election campaign has been developed under the policy agreement between mayor Kishimoto , who took office last June, and JCP and various political parties, which call themselves, for the cooperating during the election campaign.

In face of this political situation, Horaguchi has energetically exposed a series of reactionary policies being forced by mayor Kishimoto: continuation of the SDF's recruitment, succeeding the former mayor Ryo Tanaka, abolition of children House, privatization of the public day care center, distribution of leaflets that propagate the "safety of contaminated water" in elementary schools, and redevelopment plan of Asagaya district. She called upon ward inhabitants to oppose these policies against the interest of people whoever the next governor will be. A huge amount of firm support has been sent to assembly member Horaguchi, who has proved to be a sole candidate to hold the position of absolute no to all the reactionary policies.

Thirdly, the whole election campaign has been carried out by the solid organizational unity of Japan Revolutionary Communist League, which has achieved a revolutionary regeneration through 26th general assembly of national committee in autumn 2019, the 8th national congress in February 2022 and the 30th general assembly of national committee last February. Above all, young people, students and women comrades have appeared on the front line of the election campaign and other actions, and have enormously contributed to the struggle through their devoted and self-liberating activities. It is remarkable that those young comrades have experienced a dynamic process of growing into pillars of revolutionary movement and a perspective for the construction of future leadership has been opened.

(2) Put Anti-Imperialist, Anti-Stalinist revolutionary workers party on center stage!

The whole results of recent elections, including the Upper House, the House of Representatives, prefectural governors and assemblies and municipal mayors and councils, has shown the lowest level of voting rate in the intense political situation, represented by the chauvinistic propaganda of the "national defense" by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the Liberal Democratic Party, surrender of the Constitutional Democratic Party and the JCP to the ruling force and transformation into wings of its supporters and reactionary standout of the Japan Restoration Party .

What is exposed now is that the wide spread anger against the war, inflation and destruction of life and desire for a transformation of society have already gone beyond the bourgeois parliamentary system and the frameworks of the existing political forces. The reelection of Horaguchi means a breakthrough for the struggle turning the imperialist war into a civil war through the presentation of a clear standpoint of absolute opposition to war and of fundamental change of the society free from the maintenance of capitalist system.

The underlying significance of these facts will be more evident when we consider what is the major factor that lies behind the drive for world war, promoted by the confrontation between US, Japan and other imperialist forces and China and Russia over Ukraine and Taiwan.

Capitalism has grown into a world system of colonial oppression and of the financial strangulation of the overwhelming majority of the population of the world by a handful of "advanced" countries. And this "booty" is shared between two or three powerful world plunderers armed to the teeth (America, Great Britain, Japan), who are drawing the whole world into their war over the division of their boot.

More than hundred years have passed since this preface to the French and German editions of Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism was written. After experiencing two world wars, imperialist world system today is composed of the G7 countries (US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada) with US imperialism as its center.

These "handful of 'advanced' countries", whose influence is said to be stepping back in face of the growing power of the emerging countries such as China and India and their position in the world ranking of GDP has decreased from 60 % to 50 % in these twenty years, are actually still "spreads its net over the entire world" (Imperialism) and sucking the wealth everywhere.

According to the Global Wealth Report 2022 published by Credit Suisse, while 40% of "billionaires" are occupied by the US and 64 % by the G7 countries, more than 50 % of military budget goes to the G7 countries (in which 40 % to the US). Thus, imperialist countries are fully armed with the highest technology and "modernized" nuclear weapons. What for ? Their aim is to eternalize "a world system of colonial oppression and financial strangulation of the overwhelming majority of the population of the world by a handful of 'advanced' countries".

Imperialist countries of the G7 often emphasize "the rule of law". But what is their "law" ? It is nothing but "their law" and "international order" which a few imperialist countries headed by the US have compelled the world to obey by their own military, financial and economic forces. Generally speaking, no law cannot function without violence to force it. The fact is that they claim their rule by violence under the name of "the rule of law" and justify the status quo as "international order".

They claim the existing world system under their rule to be "the free and open international order" (in fact free and open only for them, imperialists) and accuse those countries, who refuse to obey their rule, as "despotic" or "authoritarian states" which attempt to "change the status quo one-sidedly by the force". While inciting provocative actions, imperialists claim that Russia and China are responsible foot the start of war and that the "West" are on the "defense". Thus, imperialist countries try to justify their war for the purpose of imperialist interests and intend to mobilize the working class and people to "their own war" by instigating "defense of fatherland" "chauvinism".

In face of this situation, the task of working class and its revolutionary party is to expose that the war is continuation of the reactionary politics to eternalize the world rule of imperialism and that imperialism, which has no other way of survival than to mobilize working class into war, should be overthrown by the proletarian revolution.

Putin and Chinese Stalinist Xi Jinping's regime, however, are endeavoring to militarily confront the imperialist offensive and oppose to anti-war struggle of working class and are actually promoting world war, nuclear war, by giving imperialist suitable pretext for launching imperialist war.

Only by clarifying the standpoint of Anti-Imperialism and Anti-Stalinism, can we achieve the revolution of overthrowing imperialism through declaring absolute opposition against imperialist war and carrying out the struggle to turn imperialist war into a civil war.

II Join us in Hiroshima, breaking up the state of siege and share the anger of A-bombed victims!

(1) G7 summit intends escalation of war in Ukraine and prepares for war of aggression on China

The G7 summit in war-time in the midst of Ukrainian war is going to take place in Hiroshima, an A-bombed city. Behind this outrageous attempt lies an extraordinary counter-revolutionary resolution of PM Kishida, chairing the conference, and US and other imperialist countries.

The intention of Kishida, Biden and other top leaders of the G7 is to hold a war conference to win Ukrainian war through bringing the "nuclear button" in Hiroshima with them ,trampling the long years' struggle of A-bomb victims who have been raising voices to demand, "No more Hiroshima and Nagasaki" "Abolish nukes" "Absolute no to war".

The G7 summit is going to be a place to confirm military buildup and strengthen nuclear armament to defeat China and to establish a system ready to start war including nuclear war.

Now Hiroshima, the stronghold of anti-war and anti-nuke struggle, is going to be transformed into a place of war conference for the interests of imperialist burglars and a cry of A-bombs victims of "no more Hiroshima and Nagasaki" is used to justify the war against Russia and China.

Recently it has been disclosed that presentation of the cruelty and extreme anti-human character of war of aggression and A-bombs, illustrated by the manga series Barefoot Gen and the description of suffering of the fisher boat Fukuryumaru by the H-Bombs experiment of the US on the Bikini atoll in 1953 was omitted from the class rooms in Hiroshima. This fact is a sheer expression of the attempt of the G7 toward a new war of aggression. a nuclear war.

Moreover, immediately after the disclosure of the UK imperialist decision to deliver depleted uranium shells to Ukraine, the City of Hiroshima deleted and altered the column on the DU

The first agenda of the G7 summit in Hiroshima is the demand on Russia of "immediate and unconditional retreat from Ukraine". The joint communiqué adapted by the G7 Foreign Ministers conference (from April 16 to 18) prior to the Hiroshima G7 summit expresses this request in a most explicit way tantamount to unconditional surrender of Russia, which is obviously not acceptable for Russia.

Following this, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited Ukraine for the first time and assured that "Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO".

This is a clear declaration that the war should be carried out in order to achieve a goal of complete integration of Ukraine into the sphere of military, political and economic influence by the affiliation of Ukraine and separating it together with Crimean peninsula from Russia. It is reported that a large-scale counter-attack operation of Ukraine is prepared with enormous support of NATO, that is, the provision of a large number of weapons, munitions and air defense systems, including Leopard 2 tanks and other newest major tanks and fighters backed by the military training and participation of US special forces in the actual war fighting..

In the midst of this intense situation, the G7 summit will assure "a support and assistance" to president Zelensky , who is planned to participate in the war conference on line and declare a will of completion of Ukrainian war.

Secondly, the G7 summit will confirm to promote aggressive war on China in line with the war in Ukraine. As is also openly declared in the joint communiqué of the G7 Foreign Ministers conference, they haughtily demand China, "abstain from threats, coercion, intimidation, or the use of force " and opposes "any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion" and " reaffirm the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait . . . and call for the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues ".

The G7 countries, especially the US, while repeating military provocation with the aim of separating Taiwan from the mainland China by offering Taiwan a large amount of military assistance and waging a large-scale military exercise together with allied powers, denounce China for its counter measure to these provocations and flares up hostility and chauvinistic hatred against China. Thus, they are now pushing for a war of aggression on China.

The G7 countries hold their overwhelming nuclear capabilities and are now modernizing the nuclear weapons and at the same time, denouncing the nuclear buildup of China. They intend to promote their anti-China nuclear strategy utilizing the name of the "A-bombed city".

They are also determined to carry through the war against Russia till the complete defeat of it, a second largest nuclear power. As regard to China, the second largest economic and military power next to the US and a country modernizing its nuclear weapons, imperialists' scheme of an aggressive war on it means they do not exclude a nuclear war.

As is already evident, the G7 summit in Hiroshima is nothing but a nuclear war conference. The Kishida government has issued a "Hiroshima Action Plan", in the pretense of contributing for the "world without nuclear weapons".

"Five pillars", mentioned there, however, have nothing to do with the "abolition of nukes". The contents of this document are:

(1) "continuation of no use of nuclear weapons" instead of "prohibition of use of nuclear weapons", (2) "level-up of transparency of Chines nuclear military force" instead of "prohibition of the production of nuclear weapons", (3) "maintenance of the tendency of reduction of numbers of nuclear weapons" instead of "reduction of numbers",(4) "non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and peaceful utilization of atomic power" means the policy of maintenance of nuclear monopoly system and promotion of nuclear power plants as is stipulated by the NPT (Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty), (5) "promotion of visit by the leaders of each participating country on the A-bombed cities" is to utilize Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the purpose of the possession of nukes by imperialist countries and to justify war, nuclear war.

(2) Organize Anti-Nuke-War Battle of Hiroshima that will shake the world!

On April 15, a little over a month before the G7 summit in Hiroshima, a 24-year-old threw a bomb made by himself to Kishida. Less than a year after former Prime Minister Abe was shot to death with a homemade gun, the current PM was targeted by the explosive; the Japanese government lost face. The essence of the situation is that Japanese society has been stifled by neoliberalism, from its collapse to war, the discontent and rage of the popular masses, including the youth, who have been deprived of class unity, organization and means of struggle, have reached such an extreme level that it is impossible to predict when and where they will erupt and in what form. Horrified by this self-inflicted crisis, Japanese imperialists have no choice but to quell the discontent and revolt of the people with even more violent repression.

The government sent riot police to Hiroshima one after another, under the direction of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and placed all citizens under repression and surveillance, shutting down public transportation and schools and placing the entire city under quasi-martial law in order to force the G7 summit to take place. For four days, from May 18, the day before the summit, to May 21, the last day, the area around the Peace Memorial Park and the Atomic Bomb Dome will be cordoned off with iron barricades, which were also used in the recent seizure of farmland for Narita Airport, and the Atomic Bomb Museum will be closed. The government and the city are also trying to ban march towards the city center. This is a self-exposure of the anti-people nature of the G7 summit talks.

Workers, students and people of the whole country!

Break the G7 quasi-martial law and stop the constitutional revision and the war!

Join the May 19 action in Hiroshima called by the Anti-Constitutional Revision, Anti-War Grand March Movement and the August 6 Hiroshima Grand Action Organizing Committee and defeat the Summit talks!

Fight together with the first, second and third generation A-bomb survivors!

Shake the world with our voices from Hiroshima, the A-bombed City!

"No to Imperialist Word War, a Nuclear War!"

"NATO and Russia, Hands off Ukraine!"

"No to Aggressive War on China!"

"Let's Abolish Nukes and War with International Solidarity of Working People!"

III The bankruptcy and systemic crisis of imperialism is the very cause of world war, nuclear war

(1) Dead End of the super monetary easing since 2008 and Resurgence of the Great Depression

The reason the U.S led G7 imperialists are being pushed so violently toward world war is that the current global inflation and the resulting sharp increases in interest rates have shaken the world economy to its very foundations, ultimately causing the reappearance of the great depression. The dead end of capitalism, imperialism, is nothing less than the cause of a world war.

The first major blows in the process of reignition of the great depression were the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 10, followed by Signature Bank on March 12 and the withdrawal of deposits from small and medium-sized banks across the U.S., as well as the bailout or de facto collapse of Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second largest financial institution. This series of the March financial crises appeared to have been resolved by various emergency measures, but inflation, rising interest rates and falling government bond prices resulted in massive unrealized losses for banks (total unrealized losses on government bonds and other assets held by U.S. banks amounted to $650 billion (more than 87 trillion yen) by mid-March, and overcapacity and excess capital in information technology, semiconductors and other areas led to the collapse of many banks and the failure of many banking institutions. The fundamental contradictions of surplus-capital, surplus-productive forces in the U.S. economy, which also extend to information technology, semiconductors and other industries, have no solution whatsoever, and the economy is heading for a re-explosion of an even greater depression.

On April 24, First Republic Bank (FRC), the 14th largest U.S. regional bank, provider of wealth management, investment, trust, and securities trading services primarily to high-net-worth individuals, announced its financial results for the period January through March 2011, noting that the deposit balance was $104.5 billion at the end of March 2011. It was well below the market forecast of $137 billion. Due to a wave of withdrawals following the SVB bankruptcy, the bank's deposit fell by 40 percent from $176.4 billion at the end of last year. On the same day, the FRC announced a 25% reduction in its workforce, but there is no way to stop the sudden spread of financial instability. On April 23, the day before FRC announced its results, Credit Suisse, which was preparing to be acquired by UBS, Switzerland's largest financial institution, announced a leakage of $68 billion in assets in the first quarter of the year 2023 alone.

Imperialist governments and central banks are now faced with a dilemma: go forward or go backward. If interest rates continue to be raised to control runaway inflation, indebted businesses and households will be hurt and the economy will decline. Banks, still burdened by huge unrealized losses, will cut back on lending, causing the economy to contract further. If monetary policy is eased again to avoid a recession, inflation will accelerate again, leading to a sharp rise in interest rates. What is happening is that "the countermeasures against the Great Depression - the 'Covid Great Depression' measures - that have been taken since the Great Depression of 2008 and have been implemented on an extraordinary scale since the Corona crisis of 2008 have reached their limits and the foundations of the economy are on the verge of collapse" (Report No. 2 of the 8th Congress of the Japan Revolutionary Communist League ). The excess of capital and productive forces, which was concealed by 20 or 30 years of super monetary easing, massive fiscal spending = extreme increase in public debt and economic boiling, was revealed by inflation and rising interest rates accelerated by the Corona crisis and the war, and "capitalist production, whose sole motive is the production of surplus value = profit, is now collapsing" (The Second Report of the eight Congress of the Revolutionary Communist League). The depression has violently immobilized "capitalist production, whose only motive is the production of surplus value (profit)", making it impossible. The "typical depression" of "the exposure of surplus capital as a result of a fall in the rate of profit and a rise in the rate of interest" exploded in its extreme form at the very end stage of capitalism.

Rising interest rates have also triggered an explosion of debt problems in developing and emerging economies, which is about to become the decisive catalyst for the explosion of the Great Depression. According to the World Bank, by the end of 2021, the external debt stock of "low- and middle-income countries" will amount to about $9.1 trillion, double the amount at the end of 2010. Money has flooded into the least developed countries and emerging economies. Financial capital and investors of imperialist countries have earned interest margins by lending money raised at low domestic interest rates to less developed and emerging economies, where they can earn higher returns. China has also increased its investments in developing countries in competition with imperialist countries, but much of this investment is denominated in dollars. While developing country's debt increased further during the economic crisis under Corona, rising interest rates and a stronger dollar have made the debt problem even more acute.

The total outstanding world debt, including the huge public debt of the imperialist countries and the external debt of the developing countries, amounts to about $300 trillion (more than three times the world's GDP). Capitalism, which has prolonged its life by borrowing money on top of the debt, as well as China and Russia, which have integrated themselves into the global economy of capitalism, imperialism, have all reached their limits. Capitalism, or imperialism, in this desperate stage, has spiraled out of control and is now violently driving for a world war in which China and Russia will be the targets of aggression and redivision. China and Russia are militarily counteracting and thus spurring imperialist drive to a world war. Thus, almost a century after the Great Depression of 1929, another great depression is underway. as an explosion of the fundamental contradictions of imperialism, and its process of transformation into a world war.

(2) The weakest link of imperialism, Japanese imperialism, in financial ruin and its drive to war

Japanese imperialism is the weakest link of imperialism. Its economic and political crisis is beyond comparison. At the end of last year, the outstanding ordinary government bonds exceeded 1,005 trillion yen, more than twice the GDP, the worst level among imperialist countries, and more than half of the bonds, about 582 trillion yen, is held by the central bank, the Bank of Japan. The BOJ's purchase of government bonds is government financing--financing of the government's fiscal deficit. The BOJ prints banknotes to supplement public finances. In addition, under the former BOJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda, who had made it his "mission" to support the Abe administration on the economic front, the BOJ has continued to support the rise of the stock market (i.e., the fiction of "successful Abenomics") through BOJ's massive stock purchases and is now Japan's largest major shareholder. This situation means that the Japanese imperialist economy is "no longer viable" as a capitalist system.

With continuing rise of global inflation and interest rates, it is estimated that if interest rates rise by even 1%, the unrealized loss on government bonds held by the BOJ will be 28.6 trillion yen, and 108 trillion yen if interest rates reach 5%, the same level as that of the current U.S. rates. The state finances of the Japanese imperialists will also be flattened by interest payments on government bonds. Even before the war begins, the Japanese imperialists are already in a worse financial situation than at the end of World War II. Such is the depth of the systemic crisis of Japanese imperialism that pushes the ruling class to violently engage in a massive military build-up, constitutional revision and war. From there, the desperate drive to constitutional revision and war has been intensified since the Abe administration--the strengthening of the Japan-US alliance for an aggressive war on China, the possession of means of attack on the territory of other countries under the guise of "counterattack capabilities," the conversion of the Nansei Islands into missile bases, military build-up using "43 trillion yen in five years", nuclear development and consideration of "nuke sharing" with the U.S. a major shift towards the promotion of nuclear energy, and so on. The Japanese imperialists are forced to plunge into a violent and desperate reversal.

These schemes by the Japanese imperialists have been helped by the attack of dismantling of the class struggle labor movement during and since the division and privatization of Japan National Railways, the domination of workers by RENGO, the reactionary national trade union center created after the JNR privatization, and the capitulation, betrayal of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan together with the Stalinist JCP.

However, as the recent Suginami Ward Council elections have vividly demonstrated, the will of the Japanese working class for "absolute opposition to war," which has been formed and accumulated through its history of struggles, remains strong. Even though the Japanese imperialists shout day after day about the "threat of North Korea, China and Russia" and the "Taiwan contingency after Ukraine", and even though they try to prepare a war footing with frequent issuing of J-Alert (the national instant warning system), missile evacuation drills etc., the strong anti-war will of the people and ever stronger determination, "the Battle of Okinawa, never again!" "No more Hiroshima and Nagasaki!" are unshakable. The fact that the number of recruits for the self-defense forces has been drastically reduced since the beginning of the Ukraine war; recruits last year were less than half of the planned number.

In terms of the systemic crisis of Japanese imperialism, we must above all keep in mind the enormous contradiction between the strong will and struggle of the working class for absolute opposition to war and the intention of the imperialist ruling class, represented by Kishida, who have no choice but to violently and desperately pursue massive military build-up and war, still unable to dismantle the anti-war will of the people. The war must be turned into a civil war and such struggle will become a reality when the revolutionary party consciously grasps the serious character of this systemic crisis and contradiction of Japanese imperialism and proposes and implements a concrete action plan. The election of the Suginami Ward council was conducted precisely in this way, awakening the broad and ardent determination of the people of the ward and bringing the victory over all the reactionary forces.

(3) Having reached neoliberalism, imperialism is now at the end of its rope

The above-mentioned historical impasse of imperialism, the crisis and desperate virulence of Japanese imperialism as its weakest link, have pushed the completion of the Japanese proletarian revolution to overthrow Japanese imperialism and the Anti-Imperialist, Anti-Stalinist World Revolution to the urgent task of this very moment.

Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism, forms the domination of monopolies and finance capital, and engages in conflicts, struggles or alliances for the sharing and redividing of markets, territories, colonies and spheres of influence for its huge productive forces and surplus-capital or for the chauvinistic shift of the crisis of class and political domination at home to abroad. And finally, a world war will break out. In the midst of the horrific devastation caused by World War I, world history entered a period of transition from imperialism to socialism and communism when the Bolsheviks led by Lenin won the Russian Revolution, the first proletarian revolution in world history, with the slogan "turn imperialist war into a civil war!." However, after Lenin's death, Stalin (and Stalinists), succumbing to imperialist pressure and encirclement, abandoned world revolution and made "the construction of socialism in one country" the end in itself, turning the international communist movement into a means to achieve such a false goal of betrayal. Imperialism, which had basically prolonged its life thanks to this betrayal, experienced the explosion of the Great Depression of 1929 and the world economy was broken up and divided into economic blocs, which led to WW II, involving also USSR Stalinism in a war of re-division of the globe between Germany, Japan and Italy on the one hand, and the United States, Britain and France on the other. Driven by fear of revolution, imperialism went desperately brutal, and WW II brought death and destruction to the world far greater than that of WW I. It culminated in the policy of ethnic extermination and genocide carried out by Nazism and Japan's Emperor system, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, i.e., nuclear war.

On the other hand, despite the Stalinist betrayal, the war created a postwar revolutionary situation by arousing the determination of the working class and oppressed peoples, and the victory of the Chinese revolution and the upsurge of national liberation-revolutionary wars throughout the world collapsed the colonial system and shook the imperialist world domination to its foundations. [As for the Chinese Revolution and Chinese Stalinism, see Chapter II of JRCL's New Year Appeal of 2023.
We will translate other JRCL's literatures on this issue later.]

However, under Stalinist treachery, the postwar revolution was crushed in the imperialist countries, and imperialism built a new postwar system with the US imperialism, with overwhelming military and economic power, as the sole pivotal country. Thus, the period of world historical transition from imperialism to socialism was reorganized in a reactionary manner into a divided world ruled by imperialism and Stalinism, with the U.S. as its imperialist pivot.

However, this post WWII world system did not fundamentally resolve any of the basic contradictions of imperialism that had led to the Great Depression of 1929 and WWII. It was a system on the basis that could only be achieved by rebuilding and rallying other imperialist countries under the overwhelming military and economic power of the U.S., with the treacherous Stalinists. This system was barely viable only on these unstable conditions. Because of this critical nature, the U.S. imperialists needed to keep the world in a state of military confrontation and tension on the verge of nuclear war with USSR Stalinism, created multiple military divisions in the Korean peninsula, China (Taiwan), Vietnam, the Middle East and Palestine, Latin America and Africa, etc., and, in the name of "defense from communism", constructed a global network of U.S. military bases and repeatedly waged wars of aggression.

In addition, imperialism also implemented various social security policies and tax expenditures for employment and economic stimulus--bailout of monopoly capital (policies of state monopoly capitalism)--in order to rally the working class to the side of imperialism and prevent revolution. This approach reached, however, a decisive limit in the late 1960s and 1970s, with the defeat of the U.S. in the aggressive war on Vietnam and decline in its unrivaled national strength, as well as with the global state of surplus-capital, surplus productive forces, the end of postwar development and high growth, highlighted by the great depression of 1974-1975. From this moment on, imperialism became more and more dependent on neoliberalism, a desperate attempt for capitalist survival--whose decisive lever was also the military and ideological confrontation with Stalinism. It has waged systematic attacks on social security, all public enterprises and trade unions as "socialist" measures and institutions, which bring economic and social stagnation and promoted privatization and union busting.

This neoliberal counterrevolution raged during the drastic process of the collapse of Stalinism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991 and violently engulfed the entire world. What emerged from it was, however, the naked form of capitalism as described in the Communist Manifesto and the Capital, an extreme state of deprivation and exploitation of the working class, and the extremely intensified class contradictions and conflicts. Therefore, the working class must reappropriate Marxism as a weapon of its own emancipation, regenerate and forge their party and unions. For this, it is absolutely necessary to establish an anti-Stalinist position.

(4) Uncontrollable inflation which leads to the final collapse of anti-recession measures

The great depression of 2008, the Lehman shock, marked the beginning of the last great explosion of contradictions within imperialism after a prolonged process of life extensions since the Great Depression of 1929, World War II, the depression of 1974-1975, the end of postwar development and finally neoliberalism. All imperialist countries, headed by the U.S., trembled on the verge of abyss for the first time since the Great Depression of 1929. Spiraling contraction of credit and production, chain reaction of bank and corporate failures, mass unemployment and the explosion of the class struggle, the revolutionary crisis, the break-up of the world economy and formation of economic blocks, the irreconcilable intensification of confrontations and struggles between the imperialist states, the world war--all of these were about to become reality again in 2008.

At this critical moment it was China that imperialism turned to. China implemented a massive stimulus package of four trillion yuan (about 57 trillion yen at the rate of the time) in two years. Following what the Bank of Japan had already done as a countermeasure to the great recession and deflation of Japan from the financial depression of the late 1990s, the imperialist countries plunged into zero interest rates, which is not a viable policy for capitalism, and even into negative interest rates, as in Japan and Europe. Zero or negative interest rates are expression of a renunciation and a death sentence for capitalism, which considers the growth of value of capital as the fundamental motive for social production. Moreover, when interest rates can no longer be lowered, the central bank, like the BOJ, had no choice than to be engaged in "quantitative easing", buying up large quantities of government bonds and other debt instruments to flood the market with money. This flooding policy temporarily halted the endless progress of the great depression, driven to a corner where all is possible.

It is today's capitalism, imperialism, that had to go so far to survive. The bourgeoisie calls the monetary policy carried out after the great depression of 2008 "unconventional policies". In other words, policies that the bourgeoisie itself must admit are "no longer sound or normal". But no matter how much money is available to borrow at low (or even zero) interest rates, as long as the foundation of historical surplus-capital, surplus productive forces, are not addressed, there can be no increase in plant investment as was shown by the fact that IT-related investment instantaneously became excess. The bourgeoisie will never be able to admit the simple and clear materialist fact that the capitalist economy has reached a dead end because of this undeniable state of surplus capital, surplus productive forces.

In the end, the large amount of money provided by central bank monetary easing and government spending could not have gone to investment in production equipment, but rather to speculation in stocks, bonds and real estate, creating a huge bubble that is destined to grew. It is obvious that this bubble will eventually burst. That is why, in December 2015, the U.S. Fed ended its seven-year zero interest rate policy and gradually turned to raise the rates; starting in October 2017, it began buying government bonds to recoup the money it had provided to the market. Europe followed suit. However, only the Japanese imperialists continued their ultra-easy monetary policy. Indeed, the contradictions of the BOJ Governor Kuroda's ultra-easing (i.e., the BOJ's de facto underwriting of government bonds) were already too big that there was no turning back.

The underlying crisis of class domination and the reality of revolution

It was in this context that the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 suddenly curtailed production and supply, and imperialism was faced with an unprecedented situation, named as the "Covid Great Depression." The Fed bought U.S. Treasuries and other debt instruments en masse, and a total of about $9 trillion was pumped into the markets. The U.S. government debt balance increased by $31 trillion last year, while the Japanese public debt exceeded 1,000 trillion yen and the government continues to expand its public finances by doubling military spending and implementing extraordinary measures to increase birth rates and dampen price hike. If we ask ourselves whether this situation will lead to a return to "normal" capitalism in the future, the answer is obviously No. Uncontrollable inflation, rising interest rates, a plunge into a state of national bankruptcy and the endless progression of the great depression, with no remaining monetary or fiscal measures to take, is what is appearing on the horizon. The Covid crisis has intensely accelerated this process.

The U.S. with a confirmed that the cumulative death toll from Covid-19 is exceeding 1.1 million, and other imperialist countries pursued "economic reopening" at the expense of working people, which naturally triggered inflation in the face of an enormous flood of money. Labor shortages and rising wages, mainly in the service sector due to the pandemic, have also contributed to this grave situation. On top of it, the Ukrainian crisis in late 2021 onward and war inflation due to soaring resource, energy and food prices after the outbreak of war in February 2022, and inflation reached around 10 percent year-on-year for the first time in 30 or 40 years in Western countries. The world economy went from a trend of low inflation and low interest rates, which had held for more than 20 years, to a phase of high inflation and high interest rates. Inflation does not stop once it is triggered.

Above all, nothing hits the lives of working classes and low-income groups more directly than inflation. Many revolutions in history have been triggered by price hikes, hunger or wars. Controlling inflation is a top policy for the ruling class to maintain the ruling system, and so imperialist central banks make price stability their primary policy goal. Thus, the central banks of the imperialist countries were forced to abandon their super-loose monetary policy and extinguish inflation by massively raising interest rates. The Fed raised the fed funds rate from about 0% to 4.75-5% all at once from March 2022 i.e., a historic speed of only one year. This rise in interest rates finally triggered the process of total bankruptcy of the counter-depression measures put in place since 2008 and the ruthless explosion of all its contradictions. In other words, at the root of what is happening, there is nothing but the crisis of class rule and the actuality of imminent revolution, and as the only way for imperialism to escape is a world war. There is no historical choice but two options: world war or world revolution.

(5) Rise up with all strength to the decisive battle of Hiroshima to overthrow Kishida and his massive military buildup!

From the fight against forced eviction of the Sanrizuka farmer in February to the victory in the Suginami Ward council election in April, our struggle has been waged victoriously on the line of turn war into civil war with youth and students at the forefront. At the same time, our efforts to revive class struggle labor movement, based on the anti-war struggle, is progressing unrelentingly, led by three unions: Solidarity Union of Japan Construction and Transport Workers Kansai Area Branch (Kan-Nama), Metal and Machinery Workers' Union in Osaka (Minato-Godo) and National Railway Motive Power Union of Chiba (Doro-Chiba).

RENGO, which had long dominated the Japanese labor movement since 1987 and suppressed the outbreak of the struggle of the working class, now openly colluded with the Japanese imperialist bourgeoisie and the Kishida administration, as is recently illustrated by the 2023 "Spring Offensive", which left pay raise to Kishida and the business community, and RENGO's May Day, which hosted Kishida as an honorable guest. In face of these developments, which marked a turning point of Rengo's degradation, workers have run out of patience with them; the collapse of Rengo has begun. The war and inflation are creating huge layers of outraged working class. The joint declaration of the three unions and the signatures for the withdrawal of the dismissal of 1,047 Japan National Railway workers have to be carried into the ranks of workers, and the time has come for a great explosion of the rank-and-file labor movement.

Let us strengthen the struggle in Okinawa on May 15, 51th anniversary of the Okinawa "Reversion," in frontal confrontation with the ever-increasing transformation of the Nansei Islands into a missile base and war zone, as a joint action with the struggle in Hiroshima against the G7 summit. In addition, the struggle against the Parliamentary sessions, which promotes military build p and strengthens war regime will finally enter a decisive phase in May and June. The Kishida administration has forced the Parliament to begin deliberations on a bill to amend the Immigration Control Act, We protests also against the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan's agreement to amend the bill. A bill to secure financial resources for a major military buildup and a bill to strengthen the military industry have already entered deliberation, and consultations at the working level among the ruling parties to review the operational policy of the Three Principles on the Transfer of Defense Equipment, which together with these procedures allow the export of lethal weapons. In addition, the Electricity Supply Decarbonization Bill, which combines the Atomic Energy Basic Act, the Nuclear Reactor Regulation Act, the Electricity Business Act, the Reprocessing Act, and the Renewable Energy Special Measures Act into one bill to fundamentally change nuclear weapon and energy policies, has already been deliberated. Let's organize a huge struggle against the May-June parliamentary session and crush this war parliament.

Let us join the state compensation lawsuit against the death in prison of Comrade Fumiaki Hoshino, and the court battle of Comrade Masaaki Osaka, who finally defeated the incommunicado detention and win a victorious court ruling!

We must not allow the prison authorities to deny medical treatment to Comrade Taketoshi Suga, who is serving a sentence in Yokohama Prison for the framed-up charge on the bombings of the Guest House in Akasaka and the US military base in Yokota (in 1986) , and we must stand up to defend and free Comrade Suga.

In conclusion, we must confirm that everything depends on the battle in Hiroshima to crush the G7 summit. Let's launch a powerful mass struggle in Hiroshima, the place of the decisive battle, for absolute opposition to the war and transform the class struggle landscape, a step forward to turn imperialist war into a civil war!