Letter from Fumiaki Hoshino

I was deeply moved and encouraged by your recognition of Akiko’s and my 40-year struggle.

You describe “the feast of colors” in my paintings as being like you’ve “never come across” and the “blaze of resistance illuminating the darkness.” Indeed, the colors show my total trust in the power of humanity, workers, and nature, and the light of hope that shines from this. As you write, this “response to the exploitation and the oppressors’ persecution pays forty million times for the wrongs” done to us. It is the power of all workers united together that vanquishes them, with the liberation of human labour, which lies at the heart of fully developing all human activities and exists at the bottom of their exploitation, and the leaders of this, the workers, which liberates all the activities of humanity and develops them as fully as we can imagine. My heart and struggle has been honed like this, whetting solidarity, humanity, cooperation, and creativity. As you write, the struggle to completely liberate universal humanity of all workers and peoples in the world rots and rusts the power of the monstrous rulers, overthrowing and discarding them in the garbage bin of history.

When society flourishes with the workers as leaders, our struggle for the emancipation for our children and us will be the only thing worth mentioning.

Your message of support coming to me from across borders and seas unites us into a single heart and hope, a single working class fighting the same enemy of the capitalists and the ruling class, and the same attacks of war and neoliberalism (exploitation and poverty). I could sense in my heart how we are one united class for self-emancipation of the worker and for the liberation of all humanity.

As a result of exploiting workers, capitalism had too much surplus and caused the Great Depression, leading to war between capitalist states, bringing further suffering to workers through war and neoliberalism. Workers all over the world are uniting to fight these attempts to take away their lives, striving to crush the capitalists and ruling class of their countries. Alongside the workers of Turkey in this worldwide maelstrom fighting to realize a workers’ society out of the society of the capitalists and the oppressors, I vow to keep fighting in this international struggle in solidarity with workers from Japan and around the world.

The struggle in Japan in 1970 when the youth workers and students rose up was a struggle to unite with the workers all over the world rising up against the incursions of imperialism in Vietnam, Asia and the Middle East, striving to crush capitalism and imperialism, and achieve the self-emancipation of the worker and universal liberation of humanity. It was an alliance of the far-reaching anger and uprising workers against the wars of imperialism, and against exploitation and oppression. It was an alliance that rejected the yoke of Stalinism and the establishment factions, and aimed to topple imperialism through the development of solidarity and the fundamental power of workers’ self-emancipation, and launch a world revolution of the proletariat. Our struggle has continued until today, overcoming all manner of oppression and difficulty to achieve the hope of victory through its evolution.

The authorities have become fearful of the collapse of their system through our struggle, and so attempt to crush us through their violent oppression. As an example of this, they have imposed 41 years of imprisonment on me from a full-life sentence in spite of knowing that I am innocent.

However, this oppression is an injustice that will fail, attempting to stifle the overwhelming righteousness that is the liberation of the workers from warfare, exploitation and oppression. Workers everywhere are angry, impeaching and rise up to resist this. Through their struggle we can certainly smash the oppressors.

The state knows that I am innocent and yet imposes 41 years of imprisonment and a full-life sentence on me. This further angers the workers, giving us the power to crush our enemies and win our victory by smashing the oppression. This is achieved through my own humanity and through solidarity, and through the bonds of love with Akiko who has shared all of my struggle.

It was announced that the wealth of the 62 richest people in the world is equivalent to the wealth of the bottom 3.6 billion. This is the result of the 1% exploiting the 99%. This 1% exploits the 99%; it rules and oppresses. It destroys humanity and society through warfare and neoliberalism, and is attempting to seize all life. If the workers who support society rise up and unite, they can overthrow the capitalists, ruling classes, and governments of their countries and all others. When everything has been taken back and returned to the hands of the workers, then we will be able to realize a future society where everyone can live in ways fit for humanity. Let’s unite together and fight!