Membership in the Japanese Communist Party increased in December for the 14th straight month, possibly due to its efforts to help workers and unemployed people struggling in the slumping employment situation, a party executive said Monday.
A total of 14,000 people became members of the JCP between September 2007 and last month, with the ratio of young people among members rising as well, according to the executive.
Also, the print run of the JCP newspaper, Shimbun Akahata, rose last year for the first time in 21 years. JCP chief Kazuo Shii, addressing party members earlier this month, called the increase in members and the newspaper's print run "a historic achievement."
A JCP employee, however, said the party still faces the more crucial challenge of increasing the number of its Diet members in the upcoming Lower House election.