They were always disguised as ‘cultural delegations’ but they performed a multitude of tasks including giving pep-talks to the CPJ and bringing them special messages from Papa Stalin or Khrushchev to judging the mood of the people. The CPJ was undergoing a huge growth in membership during this period, partly in reaction to the prolonged American presence and partly because the Americans encouraged it as a counterbalance to civil unrest. She addressed massive rallies in Tokyo and other big cities in their own language.
After one such trip in 1963, she suggested to the Alma Ata Communist Party that they invite a group of Japan’s most vibrant Communist Party activists to come to stay in Alma Ata for a week’s paid holiday. The idea was cautiously liked and sent up the chain of command, from w
