The Japanese Communist Party, the Soviet Union and Korea

E VEN before the outbreak of the Korean war, the program and .activities of the Japanese Communist Party were of interest to observers of Asian affairs. As the largest and most effective Communist organization in non-Communist East Asia, the Party represented a significant element in the struggle for power which has accompanied the cold war. In view of recent events, the proximity of Japan to Korea, as well as the increasing likelihood that a peace treaty of some kind will shortly be offered Japan, focuses attention on the relations of the Party with the Soviet Union and Korea. Unique circumstances permit fuller knowledge of the past workings of the Communist movement in Japan than of similar movements elsewhere in Asia. After a precarious illegal existence of more than twentyfive years, the Japanese Communist Party made its initial appearance in 1945 as a legal political party. For nearly five years thereafter, a continuous stream of Communist literature-political tracts, translations from foreign languages, reminiscences of Party leaders, and official and unofficial Party histories-circulated in Japan without interference from the government or the Occupation. In addition, the destruction of the police-state apparatus brought to light a substantial number of Japanese government records pertaining to the Communist Party, records once marked confidential or secret.' Moreover, the men who formerly led the revolutionary movement in Japan or represented it abroad have for the most part survived the war and government repression.2 Analy

Communism · Economic history · Economic system · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Soviet union · Japanese History and Culture · Korean Peninsula Historical and Political Studies · Law

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