PRODUCTION 1958 1962 1963 100 201 219 “In 1963 exports increased 10.8%; including machines, 19%, metals and metal products, 27.4% Imports increased 19.5%; including food products, 46.9%, due primarily to sugar. “The reasons for this growth: first of all, Japan, after the second world war, had to begin, like Germany, from zero; that is renew all the fixed capital. This permitted her to build a modern industry (installations, machines, equipment), focused likewise on the technical level and particularly capable of meeting the international market. At the same time Japanese capitalism had at its disposal an enormous mass of labour, permitting it to bear down on wages and to maintain the rate of profit. In addition, Japanese monopoly capitalism benefited from the destruction of noncapitalist sectors, bringing it considerable income and a surplus of labour, Individual and agricultural enterprises which accounted in 1949 for 49% of the national income, in 1961 accounted for only 27% (as in France).
“Next, it should net be forgotten thatJapan, if it has nothing in common with her underdeveloped Asian neighbours, does not have an exceptional standard of living, far from it. The average standard of living in France or even the northern half of the Italian peninsula would justly appear luxurious to the Japanese worker. Capitalist expansion has profited from the rise in productivity (9.4% last year), without the labour movement being able to seriously contest capitalist profits. There has even been a tendency to lower the share of wages in the national income.
“Nevertheless the Japanese economic growth can be put in question by the permanent deficit in the balance of trade, by. inflation, which is increasing in Japan, and by the dependence of the Japanese economy on American capitalism. In other words, a recession in the United States could have very grave repercussions for Japan.
“However, the Japanese balance of payments is completely positive, the influx of American capital, the association of Japan in the American imperialist sphere and in the exploitaton of «the under-developed countries — all this works powerfully in favour of Japanese expansion, and it must not be believed that as long as the American boom lasts the good health of Japanese capitalism will be seriously affected.”
This extraordinary growth of the specific weight of Japan in the capitalist world is bound, sooner or later, to lead to big political repercussions. * Analyses et Documents, 29 rue Descartes, Paris 5. Subscription for 20 issues to countries outside France, 36 Francs.