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160 How shall I put it to you? There is no one else to stand up for the interests of the poor peasantry but our worker-peasant party. And that’s because it is backed up by the Communist Party, the party which is really fighting for the interests of the workers and peasants. Listen! We are against the government of proprietors and capitalists”

Banging on the table with his fist he spoke about the Party which had issued these slogans. But, first of all, he explained the slogan which demands “confiscation of the big properties and the transfer of the land to the poor peasantry.”

This village had the advantage of much fighting experience. The audience rose to its feet and drowned the speaker’s words in applause. The audacious speaker ended up with the words, flung into the packed hall:

“Long live the Communist Party of Japan!”

“Hurrah!” shouted his hearers.

This was probably the first time that a crowd cheered the Communist Party on the eve of elections.

But news of this speech got about. The young speaker was seized at Otsu, and put in the police cells, where he remained till the middle of March.

Hamamato Sendzi was returned, much to the alarm of the bourgeoisie.

The elections were over, but not police repressions. The district police administration increased police guards and arrested peasants wholesale all over the province. Houses were broken into and old men, women, and even children were corded up and dragged off to prison. There was not a