Tetsuzo Fuwa | |
Native Name Lang: | ja |
Office: | Chairman of the Central Committee of the Japanese Communist Party |
Term Start: | 24 November 2000 |
Term End: | 14 January 2006 |
Predecessor: | Kenji Miyamoto (1997) |
Successor: | Kazuo Shii (2024) |
Office1: | Chairman of the Japanese Communist Party |
Term Start1: | 29 May 1989 |
Term End1: | 24 November 2000 |
Predecessor1: | Hiromu Murakami |
Successor1: | Kazuo Shii |
Term Start2: | 31 July 1982 |
Term End2: | 29 November 1987 |
Predecessor2: | Kenji Miyamoto |
Successor2: | Hiromu Murakami |
Office3: | Member of the House of Representatives |
Term Start3: | 29 December 1969 |
Term End3: | 10 October 2003 |
Constituency3: | Tokyo proportional representation block |
Birth Date: | 26 January 1930 |
Birth Place: | Nakano, Japan |
Party: | Japanese Communist Party |
Occupation: | Politician and staff of the political party |
is the pen name of,[1] a member[2] and the former chair of the Japanese Communist Party.[3] He is a graduate of Tokyo University.[4] He joined the Communist Party in 1947, and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1969.
By around 1972, Fuwa was being placed in positions of higher authority over some other senior party members as part of the JCP's attempts at changing its image and courting younger voters, with the Asahi Shimbun remarking on Fuwa's "eloquency, gentle manner and good looks" in connection to the JCP's electoral strategy. Fuwa was one of the figures in the party who were instrumental in leading the charge to shift the JCP's public image from that of a violent revolutionary group to a reformist and democratic one.[5]
Fuwa eventually become chairman of the JCP from 1982 to 1987; he held the position again from 1989 to 2000. He was president of the Central Committee from 2000 to 2006. Fuwa declined to seek reelection in the 2003 Japanese general election, ending a career in the Diet that lasted over 30 years.[1] he remains a member of the party standing committee and presidium.[6] He stepped down from the party's executive committee upon the resignation of his successor, Kazuo Shii, in 2024.[7]
He advocates scientific socialism[8] and believes that socialism should be achieved through stages.[9]