December 1, 2018

Japanese Communist Party Financial and Management Commission Chair Iwai Tetsuya on November 30 released a statement outlining the party’s financial activities following the publication of political parties’ financial reports for 2017 by the Internal Affairs Ministry.

In the statement, Iwai explained that the JCP Central Committee in 2017 had a total income of about 21.27 billion yen (down 1.9% from 2016) and a total expenditure of about 21.47 billion yen (down 1.9% from 2016), with about 1.03 billion yen in balance carried forward.

Iwai noted that the JCP business activities, chiefly the publication of Akahata and various magazines and books, made up 84.6% of the total income and 60.8% of the total expenditure and that the amount of donations from individuals increased for four consecutive years. This shows that the JCP is closely connected with the general public through its activities centering on its daily newspaper Akahata, he said.

Stressing that the JCP finances itself with revenues from party dues, Akahata subscriptions, and grassroots donations, the JCP financial department chief pointed out that unlike other political parties, the JCP accepts neither government subsidies nor political donations from corporations and organizations. As the reason for this, he cited that the public subsidy system distributes tax money to political parties in violation of the constitutional right to freedom of thought and creed and that corporate and organizational political donations distort politics with the power of money.

In conclusion, Iwai referred to the nationwide simultaneous local elections and the Upper House election both scheduled to be held in 2019, saying that a JCP advance and the success of opposition/citizens united struggles in these elections will pave the way for replacing the Abe Cabinet with a coalition government of opposition parties. In order to achieve this, the JCP will work to further develop grassroots movements on various issues, such as constitutional revision and the planned consumption tax hike to 10%, and will make its utmost efforts to build a bigger and stronger JCP, Iwai added.