The Japanese Communist Party, at the Sept. 19 general meeting of the Central Committee, proposed scrapping the preamble to the party charter that sets out basic principles for its activities and organization. The preamble contains words symbolic of the Communist Party, such as "socialist revolution," "class struggle" and "vanguard."

The proposal is expected to be approved at the JCP congress in November. It is unclear, however, whether the party's platform -- which states its basic policies and goals -- will also be rewritten in line with the charter revision.

The proposed revision seems long overdue. What prompted the party to take the plunge is probably its defeat in the June general elections. JCP Chairman Tetsuzo Fuwa and other party bigwigs blamed the rout on an anticommunist smear campaign. The truth is that the JCP was unable to attract the unaffiliated voters who make up one-half of eligible voters. Consideration of this fact must have led to the decision to delete the outdated preamble. It seems the JCP wants to play a role in the power change that seems likely in the near future. If so, it will also have to change its platform drastically.