From the article of 'Petrel'
No.591 / July 28, 1996
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The defense white paper "forgotten" the constitution
From "the Self-defense" to "the Order Keeping" in the world
It converted the meaning of the army reinforcement
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"The Defense White Paper" of 1996 term was announced.
This white paper expresses "The correspondence to a new age", writes up the consciousness of crisis to China and the North Korea, expresses not the armament reduction but a certain meaning the armament reinforcement, it is necessary to confirm clearly for the workers what this "Correspondence to a new age" means and to what change in the Japanese monopolistic capitals it corresponds.
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In postwar days, reflecting on the imperialism war, Japan had "The Peace Constitution" solemnly sworn the abandonment even of the possession of the army to say nothing of the combat act using military power, and not depending on military power in the solution of "international dispute".
However the rule class had promoted the army, and the excuse was consistently that an army for "the Self-defense of Japan", was not denied in the constitution. They say that Japan is also a nation and has "the Right" of the natural national defense as a nation, and can do nothing but continuing as a nation, so even the peace constitution does not deny the army "for self-defense" at all.
However, the rule class tries to throw away this own reason now.
It was the slogan such as "the International Contribution" that they had taken out in place of the byword of "For Self-defense".
The Liberal-Democratic Party, the New Frontier Party, and also the "reformation" parties
that surrendered themselves to the monopolistic capitals insist altogether, that is, the Japanese army grown up to a powerful one now must "contribute" not only to the Japanese "defense" but also to the world "peace", "the regional stability and order", it is an egoism and not to be accepted in the world to think of only Japanese peace and "defense".
The reactionary Ozawa has roared that the soul of the Japanese constitution is "the One Country Pacifism" --- though not Stalin's "One Country Socialism" --- and does not apply in the age of this "Internationalization", it is also necessary for Japan to become "the Usual Country".
His saying "Usual Country" is "the Usual Country" about which the bourgeoisie in the present age world thinks, that is, the country thinking about "Peace" or "Order" like nations of United States and Western Europe by the world scale, and to defend or to win it, showing military power everywhere in the world and aggressively "contributing".
And the government of the Liberal-Democratic Party and the Shamin (Social Democratic) Party (Murayama regime and Hashimoto regime) not only dispatch the Self Defense Forces to overseas as "Usualness" already, but also confirmed the Japan-U.S. security treaty also to be converted from the "narrow" problems such as "the Defense of Japan" to the one adjusting "the regional dispute" and contributing to "the Stability" in Asian various regions widely, too.
The white paper says "the threat" of the Soviet Union retreated by the dismantling of the Soviet Union, but insists, at the same time, it is not correct to start the reduction of armaments, "the dangerous" of China does not become small at all, the intention of the Chinese army to "modernize" the military power is becoming more strong because of the "dispute" with Taiwan,
the expense of the national defense is also expanding, the possession number of submarine increases 10 ships and amounts to 90 ships, the fighters from Russia were disposed the front, etc.
It is also insisting that the situation of the North Korea also is "Opacity" and it is not the situation to be relieved.
In short, it says that even if "the Threat" of the Soviet Union retreated by the dismantling of the Soviet Union ("it is the Post Cold War Age"), it is not an international situation we are able to go without thinking of "the Defense" of Japan, it is necessary to see "the Reality in the Asian region" full of the fires.
Especially, there is danger in "the Surrounding" of Japan.
The white paper of this year might move to the way by which the maintenance and the reinforcement of the armament of Japan are justified like this to push "the Threat" of China and the North Korea out in place of the Soviet Union.
The countries such as China have come to the front newly as "the Bad Character" (or "the Hypothetical Enemy" in a little old expression) in place of the Soviet Union.
Of course, on the assumption of the reality of the world system that the bourgeois nations face and conflict each other, it is clear that the problem is not the one to get away only saying "The Japanese Nation is safe, it is not necessary to worry about such things" as the petty bourgeois opinion.
Though the Japanese bourgeois nation is not lacked to the excuse to reinforce the armament, it is similar to the nation of China and the North Korea so.
To pay attention by another one is the white paper emphasizes that the unity reinforcement with the local government has been achieved taking advantage of the Hanshin large earthquake, the understanding of "the People" has been obtained through the rescue activity such as the damages by flood, so the defense of the life and the property of "the People" from not only the assumption receiving "Invasion" but also a big calamity and an accident is being acknowledged as a main duty of the Self Defense Forces.
There would not be no problem in case of this.
However, it might be one qualitative conversion for the Self Defense Forces to be beginning to say that they defend the property and the safety of "the People" in the domestic daily life advancing further from "the National Defense" and "the International Contribution".
Is this not the thing or at least the starting point that the army also mobilizes to defend the bourgeois's and petty bourgeois's property and safety from the revolutionary struggle of the working class or they perform a definite role in the domestic class struggle?
The army is a thorough class organization and a final prop of the bourgeois nation, an ultimate guardian deity of the bourgeois class more than the police and the judicial organization.
The history of Japan of 50 years after the war has taught us that the army is indispensable in the rule of capitals and the bourgeois nations.
The army revives as the phoenix and has already been sitting on the center of the nation firmly as the last reliance as long as the rule of the capitals continues and as long as the class nation continues though the peace constitution exists majestically and though on what the reformation political party insists.
At the turning point of the Japanese monopolistic capitals, with the changing of the Japanese monopolistic capitals to the imperialism bourgeoisie, the Japanese army is now being located and evaluated again from the one for mere "Defense of Japan" to the one to be useful for "the International Contribution", and furthermore as the class national violence organization.
The defense white paper of this year talks about this clearly.
The bourgeois liberal opinion arranges the out of focus grumbles as usual, that the white paper not to pay attention to the peace keeping strategy and the armament's reduction is not able to become "the white paper of new age".
However, the workers evaluate for this defense white paper to reflect and express extremely faithfully the present will and class standpoint of the Japanese monopolistic capitals.
The problem is to confirm the will and to move to the decisive counteroffensive aiming at crushing the rule of the monopolistic capitals.
Saying incidentally, it is completely nonsense to evaluate the direction of the new "Defense policy" of Japan from the viewpoint of "Subordination" to the United States entirely.
For instance, the Communist Party is emphasizing as follows.
"How is it dangerous that Japan follows, with no criticism and saying to 'Share of the basic value and the idea', to the United States that assumes 'the National interests' of the home country to be the supremacy and stands on the action principle assumed that it is natural to violate the sovereignty and the territory of another country for that?
--- it is not different for Japan to start a joint action saying to have 'the Common outlook on value' with the United States that assumes the invasion war to be 'Justice' from turning the halberd ahead to Asian nations with the US Army" (The Red Flag, July 20)
However, Japan cooperates with the United States and expresses "International Contribution" even also from "assuming 'the National interests' of the home country to be the supremacy", and the bourgeois egoism is common not only in the United States but also in the nation general at the present age, so in the Japanese nation also.
The Communist Party is overlooking in fact the selfishness and all the imperialistic uplift of the Japanese bourgeois nation by admitting the egoism of the bourgeois nation only in the United States and drawing the Japanese nation as a mere victim.
The Communist Party criticizes the Japanese bourgeois nation because it sold over "the National Interests of Japan" to the United States and "is becomeing the ringleader who keeps pressing the US Army base against Okinawa and Japan as a sortie base of interference and the hegemonism" for the United States national interests, and does not from any other reason.
Therefore, the reason for it is to think that "the National interests" is not defended enough.
It is not possible for this Party to stand in a correct viewpoint at all because it lacks the class aspect.