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III. Japan's Post-War Socialist Party*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

John Saffell
John Saffell
Affiliation:
Mt. Union College
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Extract

The development of Japan's Socialist party since V.J. Day may logically be considered in three periods. The first period, that of reorganization, began in August, 1945, and continued until the first post-war election in April, 1946. The second period comprised the months between April, 1946, and June, 1947, during which Socialists were gathering strength in the chief opposition party. The third period, from May, 1947, to February, 1948, saw the revolutionary passage of Japan's government into the hands of a Socialist-led cabinet.

Left-Wing Realignment: August, 1945–April, 1946. Against a background of military defeat, dissolution of war-time political agencies, and resulting efforts at political realignment should be set the movement which led to formation of the present Shakaito (Social Democratic party). By late August of 1945, the political ferment was active; by early September, Tokyo papers were reporting that remnants of the old proletarian and agrarian organizations—Ronoto (Laborers' and Farmers' party), Nominto (Farmers' party), and Shakai Taishuto (Social Mass party)—were already drawing the lines of the new party formation.

Type
Post-War Politics in Japan, I
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 42 , Issue 5 , October 1948 , pp. 957 - 969
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1948

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References

1 The term Shakaito means literally “Social party.” According to Kato Kanju and his wife, Kato Shizue, both left-wing Shakaito leaders, the translation “Social Democratic” is used to indicate the party's ideological similarity to other such-named political parties throughout the world. But the Japanese words meaning “Social Democratic party,” namely Shakai Minshuto, are not used, since this term would link the new party in the minds of the Japanese people with the old Shakai Minshuto, which appealed more to intellectuals than to the masses.

2 Nippon Times, Dec. 30, 1945.

3 Arahata Kanson has long been identified with Japan's labor movement. Since the end of the war he has been active as a left-wing Socialist leader, though he is not so influential as Kato Kanju and Suzuki Mozaburo.

4 Matsumoto Jiichiro, wealthy Fukuoka bachelor, is an important left-wing leader. He is highly respected by the entire party and was elected vice-president of the House of Councillors in May, 1947. Matsumoto's forthright “democratic practices,” such as his refusal to wear a necktie even on formal occasions, and his unwillingness to be received in audience by the emperor, draw considerable press comment. See Nippon Times, May 24, 1947, and Jan. 23, 1948.

5 The eta, or social outcasts, are so regarded because of the occupations in which their ancestors were engaged. Though the eta were granted legal equality in 1867, the effect of centuries of discrimination continues. The Suiheisha (Water-Level Society), which works for eta uplift, and which is now led by Matsumoto, is an important affiliate of the Social Democratic party. Though the Suiheisha is a target of Communist infiltration, it is probable that Matsumoto's influence will continue to tie the group to the left-wing Socialists.

6 Nippon Times, Dec. 13, 1945. Ono expressed his disagreement with Socialist policy in a letter to the Yomiuri Shimbun, rather than through normal party channels. Such breaches of discipline on the part of Japanese Socialists are relatively common. Likewise, in January, 1947, the left-wingers, without consultation with other party officials, drafted and gave to the press their own program for meeting the economic crisis.

7 Crocker, W. R., The Japanese Population Problem (New York, 1931), p. 93.Google Scholar Quoted in Norman, E. H., Japan's Emergence as a Modern State (New York, 1940), pp. 79–80.Google Scholar Crocker's statement that radical tendencies are “mainly confined” to the rural population could not be defended as applicable to post-war Japan.

8 E. H. Norman, op. cit., pp. 79–80.

9 Morito Tatsuo became minister of education in the first Socialist cabinet. Originally an academic man, Morito in his younger days taught economics at Tokyo Imperial University, but was expelled because of his writings on Kropotkin. Morito's intellectual capacity, particularly his ability as a theoretician, is unquestioned. But some contemporary observers, particularly left-wingers, complain that his youthful enthusiasm has been dimmed and that he relishes theories for their own sake rather than for their social or political effectiveness.

10 Obviously, growing tension between the U. S. A. and the U. S. S. R. was one factor in cooling Socialist interest in a joint front.

11 See Quigley, H. S., “Japan's Constitutions: 1890 and 1947,” in this Review, Vol. 41, pp. 865–874 (Oct., 1947).Google Scholar

12 Nippon Times, June 27, 1946.

13 Ibid., June 15, 1946.

14 See Rowe, D. N., “The New Japanese Constitution, I,” Far Eastern Survey, Jan. 27, 1947.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Cited in H. S. Quigley, “Japan's Constitutions: 1890 and 1947,” op. cit.

15 The Nippon Times stated that some 500,000 people participated in the Tokyo demonstration. The writer was in Tokyo at the time and doubts that there were as many as 200,000 participants. Another huge anti-cabinet demonstration was staged on Jan. 28, 1947.

16 Coalition talk continued even after Yoshida's reshuffle of Jan. 31.

17 Nippon Times, Mar. 23, 1947.

18 Four elections were held in Japan in Apr., 1947: on Apr. 5, for the heads of local self-governing bodies; on Apr. 20, for members of the House of Councillors; on Apr. 25, for the House of Representatives; and on Apr. 30, for local assemblymen. Space limitations preclude analysis of Socialist strength in these several contests.

19 The cabinet thus formed included 6 Social Democrats, 7 Democrats, 2 People's Coöperatives, and 1 Independent.

20 Many Socialists, particularly loft-wingers, had hoped that Oyama Ikuo, former university professor who had founded a proletarian party in the late 1920's, and who, under pressure from the militarists, had fled to the United States in the early 1930's, could return to Japan to assume leadership of the Socialist movement. But Oyama's return was delayed until October, 1947. Since then he has not taken an ostensibly active rôle in politics.

21 No Socialist left-wingers were included in the cabinet, although Suzuki Mozaburo was talked about as a possible finance minister and Kato Kanju as welfare minister. The conservative parties insisted on left-wing exclusion as a condition of participation in the coalition.

22 For a criticism of the coalition from the left-wing viewpoint, see Tomin, Suzuki, “The Japan Social Democratic Party and the German Social Democratic Party,” in Jinmin Sensen (People's Front), Aug., 1947.Google Scholar A digest of this article appears in The Japan Review for Sept. 5, 1947.

23 See Nippon Times editorial of Nov. 29, 1947.

24 The Nippon Times of Nov. 14, 1947, reported the warning given by Kan Makoto of the NCIO (National Congress of Industrial Organizations), on November 12, to 100,000 union members assembled in the Imperial Plaza. Kan stated that labor had previously gathered in the plaza to support the Katayama cabinet, but that if conditions did not improve, a mass meeting for the cabinet's overthrow might sometime be necessary.

25 Hirano formed his own National Farmers' Union in July, 1947, after having seceded from the Japan Farmers' Union in February because he felt the latter to be under Communist dominance. After his purge, Hirano's strongest Diet supporters formed their own political party.

26 The Hirano purge case was long drawn out and involved, particularly because Hirano, refusing to accept the decision of the Central Screening Committee, filed a law suit against the Committee. When the Tokyo District Court issued an injunction against the government and the Committee, ordering that Hirano be not purged, the Japanese Supreme Court issued a reversal of the District Court's action, though indicating clearly, by quoting a SCAP statement, that its action was the result of pressure from Allied Headquarters.

27 Nippon Times, Jan. 10, 1948.

28 New York Times, Feb. 15, 1948.

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