As a JCP member I found myself in society -- A former leprosy patient relates his struggle

Kodama Yuji, a former leprosy (Hansen's disease) patient who has played an important part in the patients' human rights struggle, has been a Japanese Communist Party member since he was 23. Akahata on May 24 reported how he joined the JCP as follows:

"I'm an internee of Kuryu Rakusenen, a state-run sanatorium for leprosy patients in Gunma Prefecture. I joined the Japanese Communist Party at age 23 in the struggle calling for the abolition of the Leprosy Prevention Law which the state used as the legal basis for compulsory isolation of the patients.

I thought winning the struggle requires ties with society beyond the boundary of sanatoriums.

Why did I choose the JCP?

Through the movement on two fronts, one for human rights and the other for national budget for effective medicine, I gained confidence in the JCP.

The human rights struggle, which was started by Rakusenen internees in 1947 calling for an end to the penalty of imprisoning offenders, soon spread to leprosy sanatoriums throughout the country. The struggle gained momentum when five JCP members visited Rakusenen and witnessed patients in forced labor.

At that time I was interned in another sanatorium. In the patients assembly, a Rakusenen representative and a JCP member were present. The head of the sanatorium, who was monitoring the convention from above, tried to stop a speech by the JCP member by saying, "Who are you to speak?" The JCP member promptly answered back, "Who are you who sits high above the patients?"

In his resolute response I saw the JCP's character of always speaking and acting for the weak.

The second was the 1948 movement calling for national budget for effective medication. My brother died due to the lack of proper medicine. A JCP Dietmember negotiated with then finance Minister Ikeda Hayato. Money for the medicine was achieved, and the medicine became available."

Looking back on his life as a JCP member since he was 23, Kodama said, "My conviction is that the JCP and I are almost one. Since I joined the JCP, I'm socially reinstated as far as freedom of thought is concerned, despite being interned." (end)