As the Japanese economy falters, the father of communism, Karl Marx, is enjoying a revival.
Publishers have produced a manga, or comic, version of Das Kapital, Karl Marx's treatise on how capitalism would collapse under the weight of its own contradictions.
In the political arena, the Communist Party of Japan says it's attracting about a thousand new members every month - and more than 1 million people are reading the party's newspaper.
"I support the Communist Party because it's the one that thinks about workers first," said one man on a recent march for better rights for temporary workers.
The party has always had a surprisingly large role in Japan, the world's second biggest economy.
But while it had been fading towards irrelevance, as the recession bites it is on the rise again.
The party has more than 400,000 members and people are joining at the rate of 1,000 a month.
In comparison, the membership of the Liberal Democratic Party, the largest member of the governing coalition, is twice the size. But its numbers are declining.
"Many people are beginning to think: 'Is Japanese capitalism okay as it is?'" said Akira Kasai, a Communist member of the Diet's House of Representatives.
"Living standards are going down. The gap between rich and poor is growing."
Communist ideology has been spread in Japan in unusual ways.
A book, Kanikosen - The Crab Factory Ship, has raced back up the bestsellers' lists. It's a tale of fishermen uniting to rise up against their bosses, but had been almost forgotten since it was written in 1929.
Some new followers discovered Communism on the internet.
"I got interested in Karl Marx a few years ago," one 34-year-old woman, who did not want to be named for fear her employers would find out, said.
"In capitalism now we are controlled by the capitalists, or capital. But I think in a communist society we can think about whole of the society and decide our economic activities in a democratic way."
Japan's economy, which relies for growth on sales abroad of cars, electronics and machinery, is struggling.
Exports have fallen by nearly half compared to a year ago, and industrial production has dived.
The traditional Japanese dream of a job for life has been further undermined by reforms of the labour market in 2004 that allowed manufacturers to take on temporary workers.
About a third of the workforce is now on short-term contracts and their jobs are the most threatened.
Communist members of parliament make much of their efforts to get workers a better deal by holding talks with company managers.
The Communist Party won nearly 5 million votes in the last election for the lower house of the Diet, held before the downturn.
They are hoping to do better when the Japanese next go to the polls later this year.
"Of course the final goal is a socialist, communist society in Japan, overcoming capitalism," said Mr Kasai.
"But before that we are taking a step-by-step approach. The first stage is to solve problems of labour and living standards according to people's demand."
