13 January 1985 Issue No. 33 of ‘Henkaku,’ the official newspaper of the Socialist Workers' Party The following is the full text of a lecture given by Hiroyoshi Hayashi at a symposium titled ‘Thinking About Socialism Today’ held in Osaka on 16 December 1984. 1. The fundamental issue was whether it was Socialism or not. After listening to the various presentations by other speakers, I feel somewhat confused, but I would like to proceed at my own pace. I joined the Japanese Communist Party in the early 1960s, prior to the protests against the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty (ANPO Struggle). I experienced criticism of Stalinism within the party, and when the Communist League was formed, I enthusiastically joined it. At the time, there were about 50 Communist Party (JCP) members at Komaba Campus of the University of Tokyo, but roughly one-third remained in the Communist Party, one-third grew disillusioned and withdrew from political struggle, and the remaining one-third joined ...