ABSTRACT
A brief comparison of the circumstances and resolutions of the congresses will illuminate the evolution of Party policy and its ideological and practical adaptations to the changing Japanese political environment. The resolutions of the 18th Congress condemned the policies of the new Takeshita government as a continuation of the bad policies of its predecessor and deplored the ongoing rightward fall of the Socialists. The adoption of an independent, nationalist and Eurocommunist line after 1968 helped the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) to grow and, more importantly, to capture a segment of the floating and protest votes. Ironically, as the JCP broke out of isolation in the international Communist movement, it became more and more isolated on the Japanese political scene. The JCP's 14th Congress in October 1977 concerned itself with the anti-Communist counteroffensive, and subsequently the JCP characterized the domestic situation as being the second worst for the Party since the end of World War II.
