Salute Heroic Japanese Nuclear Workers

The Partisan Defense Committee in the U.S. sent the following statement of solidarity to the Federation of Electric Power Related Industry Workers Unions of Japan on March 19.

The Partisan Defense Committee salutes the heroic members of your union who are risking their lives in an effort to control the dangerous situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant following the earthquake and tsunami. The PDC is a class-struggle legal and social defense organization associated with the Spartacist League/U.S., which, along with the Spartacist Group Japan, are sections of the International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist).

The valor and dedication of the Fukushima Daiichi workers stand in sharp contrast to the parasitism and greed of the owners and managers of TEPCO [Tokyo Electric Power Company] and their unofficial spokesmen in the government. They have endangered the population with their obfuscation and mismanagement. For the capitalists in every country and every industry, the overriding concern is their profits and not the safety of the workers or the interests of society as a whole.

All of this underlines the urgent need for trade-union control over safety and all working conditions at every level. If the labor of those who toil is to serve the interests of society and not the bottom line of the bosses, it is necessary for the working class to take power and rule on the basis of a collectivized planned economy.

We intend to circulate this message to organizations within the workers movement internationally and encourage them to likewise extend their support.

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The PDC urges trade unions and other organizations to send their own letters to the union in solidarity with the nuclear power workers at the Fukushima plant—known as the “Fukushima 50”—some of whom have already been hospitalized. Messages can be e-mailed to: icemjaf@blue.ocn.ne.jp. The PDC has contributed $500 to the union and urges others to make their own contributions. The information for wiring funds is as follows. Bank Name: Mizuho Bank, Ltd.; Swift Code: MHBKJPJT; Branch Name: Shiba Branch; Branch Address: 5-34-7, Shiba, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 108-0014, Japan; Account Name: Nihon Kagaku Enerugi-Kouzan Roudoukumiai Kyougikai; Account Number: 054-3316103. Please state “Earthquake” on the wire transfer form.