Why is class struggle so weak in Japan?

[jake williams]

I could be way off base here but it seems like nothing good ever really happens in Japan.

There are nominal trade unions but they never really do anything. Strikes are rare to say the least. The Communist Party is apparently fairly large, and in some capacity a major opposition party, but more or less to the right of the CPUSA. There isn't anything much like a labour party. I've heard that the election of the DPJ a couple years ago was in some sense a representation of popular outrage at the Japanese political establishment, but as a form of organized political action by the working class it's limited to say the very least.

Is there something I'm missing here?

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

There are strikes in Japan.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/images/photos2008/fl20080506zga.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlitz_Japan_2007%E2%80%932008_Strike

There has been stuff around rail too.

"On November 29, 1985, militants supporting a radical sect of JNR's labor union objecting to the privatization of JNR damaged signal cables at 33 points around Tokyo and Osaka to halt thousands of commuter trains and then set fire to Asakusabashi Station in Tokyo.

"As such, the relationship with labor unions was always a difficult problem for JNR. Since public workers were prohibited to strike, they carried out "work-to-rule protests" that caused trains to be delayed. On March 13, 1973, train delays caused by such protests resulted in a riot of angered passengers at Ageo Station in Saitama Prefecture (Ageo incident). From November 26, 1975 to December 3, 1975, major labor unions of JNR conducted an eight-day-long illegal 'strike for the right to strike', which resulted in a total defeat of the unions."

[RadioRaheem84]

They should take a lesson from neighboring S.Korea. Woo, those comrades can sure bring on the pain. Love it!

[jake williams]

There are strikes in Japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlitz_Japan_2007%E2%80%932008_Strike

There has been stuff around rail too.

"On November 29, 1985, militants supporting a radical sect of JNR's labor union objecting to the privatization of JNR damaged signal cables at 33 points around Tokyo and Osaka to halt thousands of commuter trains and then set fire to Asakusabashi Station in Tokyo.

"As such, the relationship with labor unions was always a difficult problem for JNR. Since public workers were prohibited to strike, they carried out "work-to-rule protests" that caused trains to be delayed. On March 13, 1973, train delays caused by such protests resulted in a riot of angered passengers at Ageo Station in Saitama Prefecture (Ageo incident). From November 26, 1975 to December 3, 1975, major labor unions of JNR conducted an eight-day-long illegal 'strike for the right to strike', which resulted in a total defeat of the unions."
It's good to hear that at least there may have been some strikes 20 or 30 years ago, but it doesn't change my general impression, something we should be able to explain, that labour militancy in Japan is nowhere near what it is in what I think are comparable countries (say, the US or Germany).

It's very interesting how caught off-guard Japanese managers have been regarding the level of labour militancy in China, where allegedy a fascistic state brutally represses all workers' organizations.

[Blackburn]

I know, there issues are cultural. My sister in law (separated from my brother) who is Japanese is not that keen to return home, as much as she loves her homeland. For one my nephew who is half white would be shunned there. The men there mainly treat women like pigs. High suicide rate.

That's just generalities.

[Apoi_Viitor]

KgizIjUDNuU

[jake williams]

I know, there issues are cultural. My sister in law (separated from my brother) who is Japanese is not that keen to return home, as much as she loves her homeland. For one my nephew who is half white would be shunned there. The men there mainly treat women like pigs. High suicide rate.

That's just generalities.
That's not inconceivable and cultural factors are probably a part of it, but I'm skeptical on the surface of any argument suggesting some major social problem is primarily "cultural".

At any rate, if it is cultural - why is the culture like that?

[Apoi_Viitor]

Also, the communist party polls at 7 - 10 % every election.

[jake williams]

Also, the communist party polls at 7 - 10 % every election.
As I said, the JCP seems to be more or less a social democratic party. They don't advocate or fight for socialism in any meaningful sense; it's practically a charity NGO. It's better that it exists than it doesn't as a barometer of class politics, but if you have sort of a marginal social democratic party as your only representative of working class politics, and it's getting single digits in national elections, you're not in a great place.

[Apoi_Viitor]

marginal social democratic party as your only representative of working class politics, and it's getting single digits in national elections, you're not in a great place.

The socialist party in Japan used to be very strong. For a long time it used to be the largest opposition party... Also, I believe that before the 1980's they were actually fairly leftist, because after 1990 they changed their name and became a center-left party.

[MarxSchmarx]

This likely has more to do with perception outside of Japan and with the difficulty of getting information out.

For example, historically Japan has had probably more red-scares than even America and a vibrant and powerful left that was crushed militarily in the 10s, 30s and 40s and then again in the 60s and 70s. At one point a banner of Che was hoistered over the country's flagship university. There is widespread discontent about youth underemployment and the emergence of inequality in one of the most egalitarian capitalist countries, but you are right that organizing wise this hasn't led to much. Still, Japan is hardly unique in this matter among developed countries.

One thing we have to understand is that unlike most of western europe, English is not widely spoken in Japan and the media tends there tends to be quite insular. Japanese domestic affairs are also largely ignored in the western press. The former means that there are not much in the means of say indymedia postings by japanese activists, and they don't use mainly English-language websites or news outlets. The latter means that the atrocious Japanese daily press in particular just does not cover activism. As bad as we think the media in the west is in this regards, all the major dailies in Japan are deplorable.

So, a lot of the demonstrations and the like that we will hear about in the UK for example go largely unreported or unnoticed by most western activists.

One thing that might be unique to Japan is the enormous violent infighting that has plagued the leninist left. As much as we complain about sectarianism here, it has not led to people of one party assaulting members of another party. It used to be common for activists to hand out flies with helmets on in case members of rival sects tried to attack them. It's largely died down, some of it was likely initiated by the cops, but I can't imagine that helped.

[jake williams]

This likely has more to do with perception outside of Japan and with the difficulty of getting information out.
Thanks. I suspected that might be part of it. What's your source on this?

[bricolage]

There was this thread on libcom once (http://libcom.org/forums/thought/lean-manufacturing-toyotism-class-struggle-28072006) where someone talked about Toyotism as a response to class struggle and a means to moderate it;

Drew et al (2004) wrote:
[Toyota's] system has taken 50 years to develop, and has been shaped by historical constraints. After the Second World War, stringent labour regulations made it much harder for Japanese employers to lay people off. Toyota found a way to turn this apparent problem to its advantage. Guaranteeing lifetime employment allowed it to establish rigorous performance management processes and create the conditions for continuous improvement.

[bietan jarrai]

The Japanese Communist Party is of a eurocommunist and social-democratic left orientation, that could explain a lot (eurocommunism annihilated class struggle in France and Italy), being the largest left-wing party in the country.

[Blackburn]

That's not inconceivable and cultural factors are probably a part of it, but I'm skeptical on the surface of any argument suggesting some major social problem is primarily "cultural".

At any rate, if it is cultural - why is the culture like that?

Goes back to their history of isolationism. They are actually kinda xenophobic and racist on the whole. That's the old culture. Obviously the younger generations are changing.

My home town is Cairns in North Queensland, Australia. It has the largest Japanese community in Australia there. When Japanese come to Australia, they frigging love it. They go mental and have lots of fun. A lot don't want to return.

Also Cairns, is kinda an extreme. Because they are really laid back up there. Whereas Japan is known for it's massive stress.

The whole honour/warrior culture. The Shoguns and Samurai. Part of that is why they went militaristic in WW2.

So their history has been very Authoritarian.

[ColonelCossack]

don't they have a huge communist party or something? :confused:

[Apoi_Viitor]

http://en.internationalism.org/icconline/2007/kamagasaki


I entered the crowd. No one took any notice of the camera that I held in my hand. After a while, a man spoke to me. ‘Are you from the news papers?' When I answered no, he said, ‘If you are, you are going to get killed.'" (-anonymous observer at Kamagasaki )

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Yea, there have definitely been activities and actions. Things may have died down over the last few decades, but that's also been the case in much of the world. We are only now beginning to break free from the reactionary tide that has swept the world since the early 80's. And any "special circumstances" (massive crackdowns on reds, several times through history; integration of unions into corporate apparatuses, with management all but hand picking the leadership; move away from heavy industry since the early 80's, putting more workers in the tertiary and precarious sectors; decades of economic stagnation; rigid social structures that have carried over from fascism and earlier; etc.) have only contributed to that in Japan.

From wiki:

The relationship between the typical labor union and the company is unusually close. Both white- and blue-collar workers join the union automatically in most major companies. Temporary and subcontracting workers are excluded, and managers with the rank of section manager and above are considered part of management. In most corporations, however, many of the managerial staff are former union members. In general, Japanese unions are sensitive to the economic health of the company, and company management usually brief the union membership on the state of corporate affairs.

...

The number of working days lost to labor disputes peaked in the economic turmoil of 1974 and 1975 at around 9 million workdays in the two-year period. In 1979, however, there were fewer than 1 million days lost. Since 1981 the average number of days lost per worker each year to disputes was just over 9% of the number lost in the United States. After 1975, when the economy entered a period of slower growth, annual wage increases moderated and labor relations were conciliatory. During the 1980s, workers received pay hikes that on average closely reflected the real growth of GNP for the preceding year. In 1989, for example, workers received an average 5.1% pay hike, while GNP growth had averaged 5% between 1987 and 1989. The moderate trend continued in the early 1990s as the country's national labor federations were reorganizing themselves.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunt%C5%8D

[jake williams]

Is there anyone here who either is Japanese or has Japanese friends/family and would able to post a bit more here about the situation there?

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

I have been to Japan twice in the last 12 months. I have more than a dozen friends there, and some very close Japanese friends here in the city. We've talked about this sort of thing pretty extensively. I'm also in regular conversations with people looking to publish some radical Japanese literature into English and vice-versa.

A lot of reasons for the lack of strikes have already been given in this thread. I think one of the biggest is the dwindling away of union membership and the integration of the main unions into the corporate structure. Economic stagnation and rigid social structures coming out of the Tojo era and earlier also play a real part.

It should be noted though that there has been a flood of members into the reformist "Communist" Party since the crisis started in 2008; Kanikōsen (a piece of "proletarian literature" from 1929 about a mutiny on a crabbing ship) has become a best seller and has been turned into plays, films and comics; and Marx's Capital has been turned into a fairly popular manga (Japanese-style comic).

If I recall there was someone on the boards who was teaching ESL in Japan a while back but I don't know if they're still here.

[MarxSchmarx]

This likely has more to do with perception outside of Japan and with the difficulty of getting information out. Thanks. I suspected that might be part of it. What's your source on this?

If I assume you are referring to the Japanese media's insularity, look for example at the terrible "reporter's club" system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisha_club

which is where most of the foreign journalists congregate to receive the decrees of the Japanese ruling class.

As far as the problems Japan has had with ENglish language proficiency:
http://www.atimes.com/japan-econ/DF27Dh01.html

Although it's a shot in the dark, I don't have strong reasons for believing that Japanese leftist activists are an outlier when it comes to language abilities than the Japanese public more generally.

[Die Neue Zeit]

The Communist Party is apparently fairly large, and in some capacity a major opposition party, but more or less to the right of the CPUSA. There isn't anything much like a labour party.

Please provide proof of the JCP being "to the right of the CPUSA."

They don't enter into coalitions, much less tail the main center-left party.

[jake williams]

Please provide proof of the JCP being "to the right of the CPUSA."

They don't enter into coalitions, much less tail the main center-left party.
For reasons already discussed I don't know a lot about it, but I know they openly celebrated the counterrevolution in the USSR (something even the trots didn't do). According to wiki they don't oppose the Emperor being the head of state. But most importantly, I haven't heard any suggestion that they actually advocate or fight for the socialization of the economy under workers' controll. I've heard they do a lot of charity work and fight for Japanese sovereignty vis-a-vis American imperialism, which isn't exactly objectionable, but it doesn't make them a communist party.

Comparisons between it and the CPUSA are complex, multidimensional and difficult, because they're working in different contexts. In the US the right wing leadership has practically liquidated the party; in Japan the party is large and a major opposition party. On the other hand the left of the CPUSA are clearly MLs, something I don't think can be said about the JCP.

Again though, I pointed out from the outset that I don't know anything about the country and I'm basing my comments on what little I do.


edit: eg. this, from the online English version of their program:


Advancing toward socialism through a market economy accords the law of development of socialism conforming to the Japanese conditions. In carrying out socialist reforms, it is important to run the economy effectively with flexibility by combining the elements of the planned economy and the market economy, and to continue efforts and exploration that respect private initiatives by farmers, fishers, and small- and medium-sized producers and traders. A "controlled economy" in which the people's spending practices are controlled or uniformed will totally be rejected in Japanese economic life under socialism/communism.

A lot of their criticisms of the SU on the surface look like leftism a lot more than rightism, but in the context of the above quote I don't think that's the case.

[MarxSchmarx]

The biggest difference between the JCP and the USCP is that the former actually contests (and wins) elections quite regularly, with the expectation that their candidates will be elected. In a liberal democracy this means they operate on a completely different level. The CPUSA has long since given up going anywhere electorally. The problem was they had nothing to replace their constant Quixotic campaigns with.

As far as the Soviet Union that is a reflection of the complex history of the Japanese left. You had this strange dynamic where throughout much of the cold war the economically and domestic more right-wing Socialist Party was closer to the USSR and China whilst the JCP renounced both quite early on. Another issue was that for various reasons, including the American occupation and virulent anti-Soviet, anti-Chinese propaganda from the prewar yaers, from early on anti-Soviet and Chinese propaganda was very effective in Japan and the JCP has always had to deal with the question of how they are different from the soviet or chinese communist parties among the workers they organized. So their reaction when the USSR collapsed was one of relief from an organizational standpoint. To their credit, rather than defending the indefensible they broke very early and this helped them distinguish themselves from the socialists as the true "defenders of democracy" and whatnot.