The economic meltdown that has hit Japanese workers and students in the last decade has led to an intriguing trend: the renewed popularity of Takiji Kobayashi’s proletarian novel Kani Kosen, translated as “The Factory Ship” (or “Crab-Canning Ship”).  Takiji’s work is considered a staple of the Japanese Proletarian Literary Movement, which flourished from around 1920-1930, and included figures such as Shigeharu Nakano, Fusao Hirabayashi, and the anti-imperialist and anti-militarist novelist Kuroshima Denji.

Proletarian writers criticized international capitalism, the rise of fascism, and the super exploitation of the working class. Takiji’s work describes the exploitation of ship workers who through coercion, economic necessity, and violence are forced into accepting the appalling conditions of the factory ship and who are gradually awakened to political action by a handful of worker-leaders who realize that without unity any future action will fail.

The popularity of Kani Kosen, which hit the top ten bestseller list in 2008, was remade into four different Manga (Japanese comics) and a recent film. It has led to new phrases that characterize the degrading labor to which young Japanese especially are subjected (Kani ko suru—“to do debasing work”). It also signifies the extent to which workers are reflecting on the material conditions of the current crisis and the failures of the capitalist system. 

Takiji experienced first-hand the systemic injustice of Japanese capitalism after he moved with his family to the northern-most island of Hokkaido, which at the time was in the process of rapid state development that demanded the super-exploitation of Japanese, immigrant, and Ainu (Hokkaido’s indigenous) workers. By 1915, over 400 strikes had taken place across Hokkaido, followed by a mass strike in 1917 of over 4,000 Japanese steel workers.  In 1922 the Japanese Communist Party came into existence and was met with severe police repression. 

In 1927 Takiji first took part in a number of strikes, including the general strike of Otaru Dock in northwest Sapporo (Hokkaido’s largest city). The same year he joined the All-Japan Proletarian Artist Federation (Zen Nihon Musansha Geijutsu Renmei).  Kani Kosen gained immediate attention by the literary and communist establishment, leading to his arrest and torture by Japanese police in the spring of 1930. Takiji’s arrest, torture, and murder at the hands of police on February 20, 1933 has not gone unnoticed: since 1947, people have gathered to commemorate his death and legacy at various places around Japan, an occurrence that has sharply increased in the last few years.

The popularity of Kani Kosen has helped the reformist Japanese Communist Party rebuild its base: the JCP has gained 14,000 members since 2008 and one in four of these new members is under the age of 18.  This is a generation that grew up without having experienced the relative stability that existed in Japan during the post-war “boom” and has only experienced hard conditions. The increasing worker-led rallies in the streets have sparked interest in communism, which the JCP is misleading to rebuild its base in mainstream politics.  The JCP claims well over 400,000 members in 25,000 local branches, making it one of the largest “Communist” Parties of the G8 countries.  While this is a seemingly hopeful trend, the resurgent JCP deceives the working class. Their call for “pragmatic solutions” and a peaceful transition towards socialism without the total dissolution of the capitalist system abandons the communist principles of the party Takiji joined.

The renewed interest in Kani Kosen is the most significant development that has emerged from the capitalist crisis in Japan.  As Takiji makes clear in his work, it is a slow, difficult process for workers to reach the understanding that only through international solidarity do they have any chance of survival and that their real enemy is not only the managers and bosses immediately in front of them, but also the system of capital itself, which needs to be overthrown. 

Reflecting on Takiji’s words in the context of the recent strike at Stella D’Oro, whose workers are now looking for other jobs, we can see why workers need to build a real revolutionary communist party, the PLP, and take it with them from one struggle to the next, wherever they go — in the U.S., in Japan, everywhere.  PLP will never follow the JCP path into the dead-end of electoral reformism, a betrayal that dishonors Takiji’s writing and the revolution for which he organized, struggled and died.

NEW YORK CITY, April 13 — An angry, militant and festive sea of about 10,000 doormen and apartment building workers — black, Latino and white, women and men, citizen and immigrant — marched up Park Ave. today, warming up for an April 21 strike against the real estate bosses. They’re members of Service Employees International Union Local 32 B-J.

The bosses want to cut sick days, vacations and healthcare, and end pensions for new hires. The workers voted overwhelmingly to strike to defend their living standards and protect new hires.  A strike by the 30,000 workers could be one of the city’s biggest in a while. PLP will mobilize city-wide support, while struggling to make such a strike a school for communist revolution, the only thing to secure our class’s future. 

BROOKLYN, NY, March 28 — A recent school forum about the threats looming for workers and their children in the public education system attracted 25 teachers and other school staff, including PL members, friends and CHALLENGE readers.

An opening guest speaker explained that for the entire history of class society, a small group of rulers has controlled the means of production and used the apparatus of the state to maintain that control and to keep power over the laboring classes. The tools they use to exercise this control include the military, the laws and legal system and cultural media, from fine art and literature to the movies and TV.

The public education system, since its inception, has been a pivotal means to control the ideas workers learn and believe. The bosses want the schools to keep workers and youth obedient by teaching them the ideology the system is built on: individualism, elitism, patriotism, racism, sexism and loyalty to the ruling class.

U.S. rulers have specific needs in the current crisis of the failing economy and threats from imperialist rivals. The rulers need to retool schools to produce patriotic workers who have more skills but will work for lower wages and fight in their widening imperialist wars. A pool of workers like this is necessary for them to compete with growing rivals like India and China.

The rulers are engaged in debate about what tactics will get these results, and their debate plays out in the “reforms” imposed on schools. These have included the standards movement, which under the auspices of “No Child Left Behind” has become primarily about testing and has been abandoned by ruling-class mouthpieces like Diane Ravitch as a failure.

Other strategies the bosses are trying out include the increase in charter schools, changes in teacher training, merit pay for teachers and business models for school management. All these strategies lead to more direct government control of schools which is another step in building fascism.  

The forum discussed how the Department of Education is moving charters or other new schools into buildings already housing a public school and pitting the parents and teachers against each other in a war over resources, funds and space. In these scenarios, the workers are encouraged to fight over which school is better and not look at the real enemy: the ruling class.

No matter which kind of schools our working-class children attend, charter or public, they are being taught ruling-class ideas, not the knowledge, skills and class-consciousness they need to make a revolution and a new society. No matter what reforms the rulers put in the schools, they cannot provide jobs for all the students who leave the schools with or without diplomas. Racism gives the majority of black and Latino youth only the choice between racist unemployment or fighting in the bosses’ imperialist wars.

Although one teacher described the situation as “depressing,” the response of the overwhelming majority was “what can we do about this?” Teachers wanted to discuss these ideas with students and make plans to fight back if specific attacks were imposed on our schools, along with starting a petition and letter-writing campaigns. The job of the workers in the school who are in, or close to, the Party now becomes to build on the class-conscious understanding and fighting spirit of our friends and coworkers.

As the results of Obama’s “Race to the Top” emerged, coworkers expressed more anger to us about the state of education. One of them fumed as she read an article about the subject, saying, “Look at what they are doing to us!” declaring her unity with PL’s communist analysis and the class interests of workers and students.

The forum allowed us to see where people stand so we can build relationships and engage them with us in struggle against the rulers. This is a long-term process, but a necessary one to build a fighting Party. We need to unite students, parents and teachers at our school, and around the world, to destroy the capitalist system and build communism. Only when workers rule the world can we create an educational system that teaches our youth what they need to run the world in their own class interest.

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 21 — Over 250,000 working-class youth and families marched and rallied in support of the “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” (CIR) bill. The crowd was loud, spirited and hopeful, but at the same time wary. The Democratic Party, along with unions, churches and community groups, organized the event they called a “March for America.” It was no surprise that the marchers, led by SEIU president Andy Stern, were prompted to wave the U.S. flag and chant, “USA, USA.”

While the majority of the marchers echoed the bosses’ chant, a group of PL’ers and friends interjected working-class internationalism with the chant, “Workers’ Struggles have no Borders” and sold several hundred CHALLENGES.

Many immigrants want changes, because they know all too well how the long arm of capitalism — imperialism — decimated their home countries and forced many of them to trek dangerous routes to feed their families. PL’ers must expose how the proposed reforms fit into U.S. imperialism’s needs.

U.S. rulers need a much larger military and civilian population that is patriotic, or at least passive, and willing to “sacrifice for America” because they face mounting challenges to their top-dog status from rivals in China, Europe, the Middle East and South America. Their solution to these problems is to make ALL workers pay to save their economy and finance their wider wars.

Obama has pledged his “support for immigration reform that provides for national prosperity, national security, and a population that plays by the rules and a path to citizenship.” These “rules” mean immigrant workers will have to declare themselves criminals and pay fines and back taxes (from $10,000 to $20,000 per person). An ID system (E-verify) would intensify enforcement of fascist workplace rules, heighten armed military control of the U.S.-Mexico border and lay a path to citizenship that may take from 8 to 13 years.

CIR’s promise of “legalization” will keep the bait sweet enough to continue to attract millions of workers into a temporary worker status under the watchful eyes of government agents. Immigrant workers are victims of racist super-exploitation, which impoverishes the whole working class. It creates a “reserve army of the unemployed” which the bosses use as a club over the heads of all workers, including white workers.

CIR will tie immigrant workers to their jobs: their temporary status would depend on
maintaining employment. Get laid off — get deported. This policy would continue the U.S. history of slave labor under a liberal disguise. Then the only option for youth becomes joining the military to fight and die for U.S. imperialism.

Conveniently overlooked are two key elements of “reform”: the Dream Act and a guest-worker program. These are not “details to be worked out,” as the politicians and their lackeys proclaim. They’re real-life issues that will result in more raids and deportations as workplace regulations tighten, with more racist profiling and criminalization of immigrants. This would soften all workers for even sharper attacks on labor standards.

It is important to emphasize international working-class unity, particularly at workplaces, in communities and among youth. PLP pledges to fight racist attacks against immigrants and  refuse to hand over information about undocumented immigrants, while protecting them in any way possible. We pledge to link the pro-immigration fight to the one against racist unemployment. Activities to mobilize a successful May Day and build the revolutionary communist PLP are crucial _