JCP sends message to 6th Congress of Mexico's Party of Democratic Revolution

The following is a solidarity message the Japanese Communist Party Central Committee sent to the 6th Congress of Mexico's Party of Democratic Revolution (PRD) which was held in Sacatecas from April 24-28:

On the occasion of the 6th Congress of the Party of Democratic Revolution (PRD), the Central Committee of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) sends its cordial greetings to the delegates and all PRD members. The JCP wishes this Congress great success in defending the Mexican people's living conditions and their rights, and to establish a democratic society in Mexico.

We well know that you are working hard to change the present economic system to one of benefiting the people and build a productive society with justice and equality. In particular, you are now waging a movement against the plan for adverse fiscal reform which will levy value-added taxes on foods, medicines, and other items which are currently taxes exempt.

In Japan, in a bid to overcome the prolonged recession and safeguard the people's living conditions, we have published an emergency economic stimulus package which calls for a consumption tax rate cut to help boost personal purchasing power. As part of this effort, we are developing discussion and cooperation with many public organizations and municipal mayors. This is why we are interested in the movement you are developing in Mexico.

As clear from the airstrikes against Iraq early this year, the U.S. Bush administration does not intend to change its attitude of ignoring the United Nations and unilaterally launching military actions. An important task continues to be to establish an international order of peace based on the U.N. Charter, in opposition to an order of war and oppression in which the U.S. acts arbitrarily. It is equally a pressing task to establish a new democratic international economic order to stop the abuse of the U.S.-led globalization which only protects the interests of multinational corporations. We believe that these tasks have important bearings on our two countries because Japan, with more than 100 U.S. military bases, is increasingly subordinate to the U.S., and Mexico's economic sovereignty and its independent economic development are endangered under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In Japan, LDP politics, which is responsible for Japan's subordination to the U.S. serves the interests of large corporations, is threatening the people's livelihood, and is at an impasse in all aspects including the economy and foreign relations. Putting forward a democratic reform within the framework of capitalism as its immediate political task, the JCP is doing its utmost to safeguard and improve the people's living conditions, establish democratic regulations of large corporations' unfair activities, and achieve nonalignment and neutrality for Japan through independent diplomacy and the abrogation of the Japan-U.S. military alliance. We are now focusing our efforts on the goal of achieving a major JCP advance in July's House of Councilors election.

The 21st century will undoubtedly be an era in which capitalism, the source of the sharp contradictions such as exploitation, unemployment, the gap between rich and poor, and environmental destruction, will become a major issue in every part of the world. The JCP envisages a staged social development towards a new society, a socialist society, which will overcome the profit-first system, to be achieved after we accomplish the task of a "democratic reform within the framework of capitalism" in Japan.

We are content with the present progress in JCP-PRD relations, in which the PRD for the first time sent its representative to attend the JCP 22nd Congress. We hope that cooperation and solidarity between our two parties will be further developed based on the common tasks that include the establishment of an international peace order, the abolition of nuclear weapons, and democratic regulations of speculative investors and multinational corporations. (end)