Chance for Changes	No.649 September 8, 2009
		The 45th general election has ended. The results eloquently showed a fact that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has controlled over the country since the end of WWII as a regime, has collapsed. An opportunity has come for political changes. The government is replaced with by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), but their stance is dull to counter dominance of business circle. The new administration will not be reliable in terms of improving lives of the working population. Politics goes back and forth. The critical job is to strengthen labor movements, the subjective element for changes. REORGANIZE LABOR MOVEMENTS – FORMATION OF SUBJECT FOR CHANGES LDP’S Breakdown Instead of giving speeches in the streets to appeal to the electorate, the LDP Prime Minister Aso Taro made calls to the supporters of his party: industry leaders and organizations, including the Japan Business Federation (=Nippon Keidanren), after the defeat in the August elections. Premier, however, faced unexpected facts: he felt strong anger at the doctors’ associations and agricultural organizations, at the lower strata of the organizations, in particular. They turned away, and some groups favored the DPJ. The Keidanren, which has been a major contributor of the LDP, had advised the member employers to make an independent ballot in the general elections. The LDP’s policy to merge municipalities has shrunk the number of deputies of local assemblies, which deprived the LDP of its influence in the communities. Not only the governors elected as a TV-celebrity, including Governor of Osaka Prefecture Hashimoto Toru, but local bureaucrats chose the DPJ as it was expected to win in the election. Former-premier Koizumi Jun’ichiro took the nation’s top post after expressing ‘I will break up the LDP’. He implemented a structural reform package, which not only undermined the ground of LDP’s supporters, but also split the conservative politicians, who warred, consequently, in the 2005 general elections in the midst of privatization of postal services. He fielded rival candidates to kill his opponents inside the party. Now look at the 2009 general elections. It was over 40 days for campaigns from the Diet dissolution to the ballot on August 30, but a political shake-up which had already begun alienated the LDP. In this context the LDP destroyed itself. The Koizumi structural reform policy, which represents neo-liberalism of Japanese-version, uprooted employment, social services and local autonomy. It has not only provoked indignation among voters, but also damaged the LDP’s electoral mechanism to collect ballots. The election results reflect two contradictory elements: resentment of the working population and citizens and a silent approval of political alteration from the business circle. Responsibility of New Socialist Party Neo-liberalism has given a deadly blow to trade unions too. It wiped out unions which had fought for workers’ causes. In the name of deregulation and liberalization, the judicial system to curb wild activities of capital has been demolished. Employers are allowed to sack workers through the worker dispatch act. You can see the outcomes today. The temporary New Year tent village in Tokyo’s Hibiya Park is a typical example. Free movements of capital mean a jungle philosophy under which the stronger expel the weaker. Gaps are produced in the society and people are separated as individual persons. Self-responsibility is emphasized and the defeated are driven away. Not only the labor rights are infringed, but also public services to help people get united are torn apart. Let’s look at the DPJ. It does not have a policy package to support workers’ struggles, realize the demands and build up a welfare state, fighting against the employers’ side. The DPJ’s stance reflects in its proposal to reduce public workers. Properly speaking, workers or unionists should take initiatives. We see, however, another reality. Mr. Motoyama Yoshihiko, Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University, who headed the support council to encourage Candidate Ms Hara Kazumi in the Hyogo No.1 district, used a phrase ‘a jump of left wingers’ in the meeting of election activists. Forces to defend the constitution principles and the left which should alter the two-big-party system are weak in the organizational level. That is one more characteristic of the last general election. The New Socialist Party owes responsibility too. The DPJ proclaims in the manifesto to decrease lawmakers in order to ‘eliminate wastes’. The policy is not only to exclude minor parties but also remove workers from the stage of political struggles. This indicates some fear of emergence of, like Left Party of Germany. The urgent duty is to revitalize labor movements.