Social Democratic Party (Japan) - History

History

Socialist and Social-Democratic parties have been active in Japan, under various names, since the early 20th Century—often suffering harsh government repression as well as ideological dissensions and splits.

The SDP was originally known as the Japanese Socialist Party (日本社会党 Nihon Shakai-tō), or JSP, and was formed in 1945, following the fall of the militarist regime which had led Japan into the Second World War. At the time, though, there was serious conflict inside the party among factions of the right and the left, and the official name in English became the "Social Democratic Party of Japan" (SDPJ), as the right had argued. On the other hand, the left wanted to use the older "JSP."

The party became the largest political party in the first general election under the Constitution of Japan in 1947 (143 of 466 seats), and a government was formed by Tetsu Katayama, forming a coalition with the Democratic Party of Japan and the Citizens' Cooperation Party. However, due to the rebellion of Marxists in the party, the Katayama government collapsed. The party continued the coalition with the Democrats under prime minister Hitoshi Ashida; but the cabinet was engulfed by the Shōwa Denkō scandal, the largest corruption scandal during the occupation, allowing Shigeru Yoshida and the Liberal Party to return to government.

The party was split in 1950/1951 into the Rightist Socialist Party, consisting of socialists who leaned more to the center, while the Leftist Socialist Party was formed by hardline left-wingers and Marxist-Socialists. And, the farthest left faction formed a small independent party, the Workers and Farmers Party, and espoused Maoism from 1948 to 1957.

The two socialist parties were merged in 1955, reunifying and recreating the Japan Socialist Party (the official name was SDPJ again). The new opposition party had its own factions, although organized according to left-right ideological beliefs rather than what it called the "feudal personalism" of the conservative parties. In the House of Representatives election of 1958, the Japan Socialist Party gained 32.9 percent of the popular vote and 166 out of 467 seats. This was enough result to block the attempt of constitutional amendment by Kishi Nobusuke government.

However, the party was again split in 1960 because of internal conflicts and the assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, and the breakaway group (a part of the old Right Socialist Party of Japan, their most moderate faction) created the Democratic Socialist Party, though the Japan Socialist Party was preserved. After that, the JSPs percentage of the popular vote and number of seats gradually declined. The party performed well on a local level, however: by the Seventies, many areas were run by SDPJ mayors and governors, who introduced innovative and popular new social programmes.