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153-513: The Japan Socialist Party ( 日本社会党 , Nihon Shakai-tō , JSP ) was a major socialist and progressive political party in Japan which existed from 1945 to 1996. The party was the primary representative of the Japanese left and main opponent of the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party for most of its existence. The JSP was founded in 1945 by members of pre-war proletarian parties , including
306-556: A bourgeoisie indifferent to the proletariat . The history of socialism has its origins in the Age of Enlightenment and the 1789 French Revolution , along with the changes that brought, although it has precedents in earlier movements and ideas. The Communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1847-48 just before the Revolutions of 1848 swept Europe, expressing what they termed scientific socialism . In
459-492: A neoliberal consensus replaced the social democratic consensus in the advanced capitalist world, while many former socialist politicians and political parties embraced " Third Way " politics, remaining committed to equality and welfare while abandoning public ownership and class-based politics. Socialism experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 2010s, most prominently in the form of democratic socialism. According to Andrew Vincent, "[t]he word 'socialism' finds its root in
612-471: A post-capitalist system based on some form of social ownership of the means of production. By the early 1920s, communism and social democracy had become the two dominant political tendencies within the international socialist movement, with socialism itself becoming the most influential secular movement of the 20th century. Many socialists also adopted the causes of other social movements, such as feminism , environmentalism , and progressivism . While
765-420: A welfare state . The socialist political movement includes political philosophies that originated in the revolutionary movements of the mid-to-late 18th century and out of concern for the social problems that socialists associated with capitalism. By the late 19th century, after the work of Karl Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels , socialism had come to signify anti-capitalism and advocacy for
918-448: A broad-based socialism." The "Eda Vision" of a more moderate form of socialism was received enthusiastically in the mainstream Japanese press, and polled well in public opinion polls. However, it did not lead to any significant expansion of party membership; in 1961, the JSP made a push to increase its membership to over 100,000 within the next three years, but only 363 members were added over
1071-647: A change in U.S. policy towards Japan commonly known as the Reverse Course . Beginning around 1947, and intensifying with the victory of the Communists over the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the U.S. occupation government headed by Douglas MacArthur felt the need to revise its previously conciliatory stance towards the kinds of policies pursued by Japanese leftists, from
1224-419: A conscious desire in the working class to establish collective ownership commensurate with the collective efforts their daily experience. Socialists have taken different perspectives on the state and the role it should play in revolutionary struggles, in constructing socialism and within an established socialist economy. In the 19th century, the philosophy of state socialism was first explicitly expounded by
1377-473: A constant rate of profit, causes problems if the earnings in the rest of society do not increase in proportion. Socialists view private property relations as limiting the potential of productive forces in the economy. According to socialists, private property becomes obsolete when it concentrates into centralised, socialised institutions based on private appropriation of revenue — but based on cooperative work and internal planning in allocation of inputs—until
1530-504: A diverse range of philosophies such as civic republicanism , Enlightenment rationalism , romanticism , forms of materialism , Christianity (both Catholic and Protestant), natural law and natural rights theory , utilitarianism and liberal political economy. Another philosophical basis for a great deal of early socialism was the emergence of positivism during the European Enlightenment . Positivism held that both
1683-577: A general election would be terrifying. They would drastically expand their seats in the Diet." Eda could never overcome the undying animosity his "Eda Vision" had won him from his party's left-wing. In 1976, Eda lost his reelection bid and was booted from the Diet. Blaming his loss on his party's dogmatic, doctrinaire Marxism and desperate for reform, he attempted to resign from the JSP but the party refused to accept his resignation and voted to expel him instead. The following year, Eda and Hideo Den ( 田英夫 ) led
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#17327654033591836-589: A limited amount of candidates for the 1946 elections. However, the party drastically increased its candidate amount after the Purge Directive, issued on 4 January 1946, greatly reduced the membership of right-wing parties. Conservatives attempted to form a government with right-wing members of the JSP, but the Liberal Party and JSP were unable to. The JSP rejected an offer from the JCP to work together in
1989-515: A livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society. — Albert Einstein , " Why Socialism? ", 1949 Socialist economics starts from the premise that "individuals do not live or work in isolation but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that people produce
2142-492: A minimum wage of ¥15000 (equivalent to ¥81,025 in 2019) in 1961. After Takako Doi became party leader, the JSP established a European-style democratic socialism line. Apart from the party's socialist identity, the Murayama Cabinet , which came to power between 1994 and 1996, supported social-liberal reform. The JSP opposed Shintoist social conservatism , and was politically friendly with Christianity in
2295-548: A new socialist party with Chōzaburō Mizutani and Komakichi Matsuoka shortly after Emperor Hirohito 's surrender broadcast . Thirteen former members of the National Diet announced their intention to form a new party on 5 September 1945. This organization was officially formed on November 2. It was given the Japanese name Nihon Shakai-tō (Socialist Party of Japan), but given the official English name of Social Democratic Party of Japan. An inaugural committee of 25 members
2448-406: A result of contradictions in society due to technological changes in the productive forces. Lenin theorised that under capitalism the workers cannot achieve class consciousness beyond organising into trade unions and making demands of the capitalists. Therefore, Leninists argue that it is historically necessary for a vanguard of class conscious revolutionaries to take a central role in coordinating
2601-491: A small group of JSP Dietmembers to split from the JSP and form a new party called the Socialist Democratic Federation ( 社会民主連合 ). In July 1986, under party chairman Masashi Ishibashi , the JSP suffered a disastrous double defeat in both houses of the National Diet in the simultaneously held 1986 Japanese general election and 1986 Japanese House of Councillors election . Losing in a rout to
2754-480: A specific historical phase that would displace capitalism and precede communism. The major characteristics of socialism (particularly as conceived by Marx and Engels after the Paris Commune of 1871) are that the proletariat would control the means of production through a workers' state erected by the workers in their interests. For orthodox Marxists , socialism is the lower stage of communism based on
2907-412: A tremendous waste of material resources during crisis of overproduction . Excessive disparities in income distribution lead to social instability and require costly corrective measures in the form of redistributive taxation, which incurs heavy administrative costs while weakening the incentive to work, inviting dishonesty and increasing the likelihood of tax evasion while (the corrective measures) reduce
3060-553: A younger generation of reform-minded activists became disillusioned and began to drift away from the party. At the same time, the emergence of the " Clean Government Party " ( Kōmeitō ), the political wing of the Sokka Gakkai Buddhist religious movement, and the increasing electoral success of the Japan Communist Party , began to eat away at the JSP's urban working class base. The Socialists slipped in
3213-533: Is alien to his work and only entered the lexicon of Marxism after his death". In Christian Europe , communists were believed to have adopted atheism . In Protestant England, communism was too close to the Roman Catholic communion rite , hence socialist was the preferred term. Engels wrote that in 1848, when The Communist Manifesto was published, socialism was respectable in Europe while communism
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#17327654033593366-429: Is also considered a centre-left party, but there was a far-left faction within the party. The so-called "leftists" in the JSP were Marxists in favour of scientific socialism . By contrast, the so-called "rightists" were in favour of social democracy and aimed at establishing a welfare state . The party was generally the mainstay of the " Kakushin " (radical-liberal forces) camp. The JSP's foundation program in 1945
3519-449: Is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members". The original conception of socialism was an economic system whereby production was organised in a way to directly produce goods and services for their utility (or use-value in classical and Marxian economics ), with
3672-458: Is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilised in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee
3825-405: Is the accumulation of capital for reinvestment in production, but this spurs the development of new, non-productive industries that do not produce use-value and only exist to keep the accumulation process afloat (otherwise the system goes into crisis), such as the spread of the financial industry , contributing to the formation of economic bubbles. Such accumulation and reinvestment, when it demands
3978-418: Is the belief that socialists should stand in parliamentary elections within capitalist society and if elected use the machinery of government to pass political and social reforms for the purposes of ameliorating the instabilities and inequities of capitalism. Within socialism, reformism is used in two different ways. One has no intention of bringing about socialism or fundamental economic change to society and
4131-453: Is used to oppose such structural changes. The other is based on the assumption that while reforms are not socialist in themselves, they can help rally supporters to the cause of revolution by popularizing the cause of socialism to the working class. The debate on the ability for social democratic reformism to lead to a socialist transformation of society is over a century old. Reformism is criticized for being paradoxical as it seeks to overcome
4284-576: The 1947 election . The JSP became the largest party in the election with 143 seats. It formed a coalition government under Katayama with the Democratic Party and the Citizens' Cooperation Party . Katayama was the first socialist to lead Japan. Katayama's coalition fell in February 1948, in large part due to inexperience and subsequent poor performance in leading the government. A new cabinet
4437-723: The All-Russian Communist Party , interpreting communism specifically to mean socialists who supported the politics and theories of Bolshevism , Leninism and later that of Marxism–Leninism , although communist parties continued to describe themselves as socialists dedicated to socialism. According to The Oxford Handbook of Karl Marx , "Marx used many terms to refer to a post-capitalist society —positive humanism , socialism, communism, realm of free individuality, free association of producers , etc. He used these terms completely interchangeably. The notion that 'socialism' and 'communism' are distinct historical stages
4590-811: The Front for Victory in Argentina, the PAIS Alliance in Ecuador, Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front in El Salvador, Peru Wins in Peru, and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela , whose leader Hugo Chávez initiated what he called " Socialism of the 21st century ". Many mainstream democratic socialist and social democratic parties continued to drift right-wards. On the right of
4743-606: The Hutterites are not usually called "utopian socialists", although their way of living is a prime example. They have been categorised as religious socialists by some. Similarly, modern intentional communities based on socialist ideas could also be categorised as "utopian socialist". For Marxists, the development of capitalism in Western Europe provided a material basis for the possibility of bringing about socialism because according to The Communist Manifesto "[w]hat
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4896-479: The Industrial Revolution , including poverty, oppression, and vast wealth inequality . They viewed their society as harming community life by basing society on competition. They presented socialism as an alternative to liberal individualism based on the shared ownership of resources. Saint-Simon proposed economic planning , scientific administration and the application of scientific understanding to
5049-675: The Japanese Communist Party , the party remained the representative of Sohyo's political interests until the merger with private-sector unions and the Japanese Trade Union Confederation ( Rengō ) in 1989. Because of declining union financial support during the 1980s, some party Diet members turned to dubious fund-raising methods. One was involved in the Recruit affair . Like other parties, it sold large blocks of fund-raising party tickets and
5202-493: The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) under popular prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone , the JSP's seats in the lower house fell from 112 to a new all-time low of 85 and its share of the popular vote dropped from 19.5 percent to 17.2 percent. This defeat led the party to elect Takako Doi as party chair, making her the first woman to ever lead a Japanese political party. Doi was popular with the Japanese public led
5355-540: The Peruvian Aprista Party went from ruling party in 2011 to a minor party. The decline of these mainstream parties opened space for more radical and populist left parties in some countries, such as Spain's Podemos , Greece's Syriza (in government, 2015–19), Germany's Die Linke , and France's La France Insoumise . In other countries, left-wing revivals have taken place within mainstream democratic socialist and centrist parties, as with Jeremy Corbyn in
5508-618: The Shakai Taishūtō . In the 1947 election , the JSP became the largest party in the National Diet and formed a government under Tetsu Katayama until 1948. From 1951 to 1955, the JSP was split into the Left Socialist Party and the Right Socialist Party , and in 1960 some of its members broke away to form the rival Democratic Socialist Party . In 1955, Japan's two major conservative parties merged to form
5661-616: The Soviet model of economic development and the creation of centrally planned economies directed by a state that owns all the means of production , although other trends condemned what they saw as the lack of democracy. The establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, saw socialism introduced. China experienced land redistribution and the Anti-Rightist Movement , followed by the disastrous Great Leap Forward . In
5814-570: The Stalinist era . Socialist realism was imposed under Stalin in artistic production and other creative industries such as music , film along with sports were subject to extreme levels of political control. The counter-cultural phenomenon which emerged in the 1960s shaped the intellectual and radical outlook of the New Left ; this movement placed a heavy emphasis on anti-racism , anti-imperialism and direct democracy in opposition to
5967-868: The Two Chinas policy in 1957, and recognized the People's Republic of China rather than the Republic of China. The JSP supported Gamal Abdel Nasser 's nationalization of the Suez Canal . The party's factions were heavily divided by the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 , with the right-wing supported Hungary and the left-wing supporting the Soviet Union, before a compromise was made stating that "the subsequent de-Stalinization and liberalization were somewhat taken advantage of by reactionary forces,
6120-494: The dominant culture of advanced industrial capitalism . Socialist groups have also been closely involved with a number of counter-cultural movements such as Vietnam Solidarity Campaign , Stop the War Coalition , Love Music Hate Racism , Anti-Nazi League and Unite Against Fascism . The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. ... I am convinced there
6273-455: The 1930s . In Literature and Revolution , Trotsky examined aesthetic issues in relation to class and the Russian revolution. Soviet scholar Robert Bird considered his work as the "first systematic treatment of art by a Communist leader" and a catalyst for later, Marxist cultural and critical theories. He would later co-author the 1938 Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art with
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6426-475: The 1956 election. Polling by The Asahi Shimbun in October 1948, showed that 40% of unionized workers supported the JSP, but 18% of non-unionized workers supported them. These figures was 39% and 28% respectively in 1949, and 37% and 26% in 1950. The JSP is generally regarded as having been a progressive " left-wing " party that opposed the conservative " right-wing " Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The JSP
6579-493: The 1990 election before losing many of its seats in the 1993 election. In 1994, JSP leader Tomiichi Murayama became prime minister of a coalition government before the coalition collapsed in 1996. The JSP's period in the government alienated many of its traditional supporters, and it was reconstituted in 1996 as the Social Democratic Party , which became a minor party . The Democratic Party of Japan replaced
6732-525: The Bolshevik-led revolution in Russia, many socialists including reformists , orthodox Marxist currents such as council communism , anarchists and libertarian socialists criticised the idea of using the state to conduct central planning and own the means of production as a way to establish socialism. Following the victory of Leninism in Russia, the idea of "state socialism" spread rapidly throughout
6885-583: The Central Executive Committee at the 1957 convention. The JSP made minor gains in the 1958 general election and 1959 House of Councillors election . It performed poorly in the 1959 gubernatorial election, including the loss of the governorship of Hokkaido . The JSP was harmed as the JCP, which had strategically withdrawn its candidates in other elections, declined to do so in the 1958 and 1959 elections. The party split again in 1960 because of internal disagreement over how to conduct
7038-542: The DSP. Sōhyō, the largest labor federation in Japan, was aligned with the JSP's left-wing while the National Railway Workers' Union was aligned with the right-wing. The Red Purge resulted in the amount of unions falling by 5,500 and union membership falling by 880,000 in 1949 alone. Sōhyō's membership fell to below 47,000 in this period, but grew to 3.7 million by 1962. Sōhyō had three major factions during
7191-586: The Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( North Korea ) and the Republic of Korea ( South Korea ). In the past, the party had favored the Kim Il Sung regime in Pyongyang and in the early 1990s it still refused to recognize the normalization of relations between Tokyo and Seoul with Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea (1965). In domestic policy, the party demanded
7344-717: The Democratic Reform Party, the political arm of the Rengō trade union federation, together with the JSP. In 1994, the JSP and the New Sakigake Party decided to leave the non-LDP coalition. The minority Hata cabinet lasted only a few weeks. The JSP then formed a grand coalition ( dai-renritsu ) government with the LDP and the New Party Sakigake under JSP Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama , who
7497-563: The Diet were expelled after voting against the budget during Ashida's tenure. Kuroda and his supporters broke away and formed the Labourers and Farmers Party . The JSP attempted to delay the 1949 election as it feared massive losses. The JSP's seat total fell from 148 to 48. The JSP rejected efforts by the Sanbetsu to form a united opposition of the JSP, JCP, and Labourers and Farmers against Yoshida's government. JSP members who left to form
7650-526: The Diet with Kaishintō and disaffected Liberals to pass motions of no confidence against Minister of Finance Hayato Ikeda . In 1953, Yoshida lost a vote of no confidence to the socialists and conservatives after disaffected Liberals abstained and new elections were called. The Left Socialists overtook the Right Socialists in seat count in the general election . In the House of Councillors election
7803-620: The German political philosopher Ferdinand Lassalle . In contrast to Karl Marx's perspective of the state, Lassalle rejected the concept of the state as a class-based power structure whose main function was to preserve existing class structures. Lassalle also rejected the Marxist view that the state was destined to "wither away". Lassalle considered the state to be an entity independent of class allegiances and an instrument of justice that would therefore be essential for achieving socialism. Preceding
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#17327654033597956-589: The JSP as the main opposition to the LDP. The two major left-wing political parties in Japan in the 1930s were the Labour-Farmer Masses Party and Social Democratic Party . They merged into the Shakai Taishūtō in 1932, and were the third-largest party in the after the 1937 election . It was dissolved in 1940 due to the Imperial Rule Assistance Association . Suehiro Nishio started talking about creating
8109-556: The JSP beyond a hard core of labor unionists, leftist student activists, and Marxist intellectuals to encompass people from many walks of life, in order to dramatically increase the party's potential supporters at the polls. In an effort to build popular support for his reform program, Eda announced his "New Vision of Socialism", better known by its nickname, the "Eda Vision", in July 1962. Eda declared that "[s]ocialism must be defined in sunny and cheerful terms that are easily understandable to
8262-723: The JSP broke apart into the Left and Right parties. The Independence Group was aligned with the Left JSP. The Right JSP had the New Village Construction Group of the Japan Farmers' Union, but it never held a convention during its existence and was poorly organized. The All-Japan Famers' Union federated with this organization and formed the General Federation of Farmers' Union after Hirano joined
8415-466: The JSP changed its name from the JSP to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as an interim party for forming a new party. Nomizo and his faction were affiliated with agricultural workers and unions. Their power in the JSP waned after land reforms in the 1950s. Matsumoto and his faction found support among the Burakumin , whose rights Matsumoto advocated for. The JSP consistently received around 10-20% of
8568-459: The JSP to an electoral comeback with an impressive showing in the 1990 Japanese general election , winning 136 seats and 24.4 percent of the vote. Some electoral districts had more than one successful socialist candidate. Doi's decision to put up more than one candidate for each of the 130 districts represented a controversial break with the past because unlike their LDP counterparts many party candidates did not want to run against each other; however,
8721-399: The JSP to play a leading role in fomenting a mass movement. Eda's "structural reform" platform called for a combination of parliamentary pressure tactics and Anpo-style extra-parliamentary mass movements that would gradually move Japan toward socialism by forcing the government into a series of piecemeal concessions. Above all, Eda and his fellow structural reformers hoped to broaden the base of
8874-563: The JSP's right-wing, led 15% of the union to break away into League for Revivifying the Japan Farmers' Union (later renamed to the All-Japan Farmers' Union) after continued disputes with the left-wing and communists at the union's 1947 convention. 31 of the 143 seats won by the JSP in the 1947 election were held by officers of the Japan Farmers' Union and an additional 8 were held by members of Hirano's union. Nomizo attempted to become Minister of Agriculture after Hirano's dismissal, but
9027-591: The JSP's split in the 1950s. The left-wing Worker Comrades Society had ties to the Suzuki and Wada factions, a communist faction under Minoru Takano 's leadership, and right-wing Democratic Labor Movement Study Group. The Democratic Labor Movement Study Group broke away to form the All-Japan Trade Union Congress in April 1954. 26 representatives and 38 councilors were affiliated with Sōhyō after
9180-483: The LDP even gave individual party Diet members funds from time to time to persuade them to cooperate in passing difficult legislation. As part of the fallout of the Recruit Scandal , the party secured a mere 70 seats (down from 137) in the 1993 Japanese general election while the LDP lost its majority in the lower house for the first time since the 1983 Japanese general election and was out of government for
9333-471: The Labourers and Farmers Party were readmitted in 1957. In the period immediately following the end of World War II, the JSP had played a key role in the drafting of the new Japanese constitution, adding progressive articles related to issues such as health, welfare and working conditions. Unfortunately for the JSP and the broader Japanese left in the immediate postwar era, their time in power coincided with
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#17327654033599486-593: The Latin sociare , which means to combine or to share. The related, more technical term in Roman and then medieval law was societas . This latter word could mean companionship and fellowship as well as the more legalistic idea of a consensual contract between freemen". Initial use of socialism was claimed by Pierre Leroux , who alleged he first used the term in the Parisian journal Le Globe in 1832. Leroux
9639-633: The Left Socialists rose from 30 to 41 seats while the Right Socialists declined from 30 to 26 seats. The Right Socialists attempted to form a coalition with the Left Socialists, Kaishintō, and disaffected Liberals. This failed as Minoru Takano failed to convince the Left Socialists, who wanted Suzuki as prime minister, to accept Mamoru Shigemitsu , the Kaishintō leader, as prime minister. Yoshida became prime minister again after two ballots and Kaishintō announced that it would end its partnership with
9792-568: The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has held power near-continuously since. The JSP was the largest opposition party for the next 40 years, but was incapable of forming a government. Nonetheless, it managed to hold about one third of the seats in the National Diet during this period, preventing the LDP from revising the Constitution of Japan . Under the leadership of Takako Doi , the JSP achieved brief resurgence in
9945-437: The Right JSP. A sample of 48 Left JSP and 33 Right JSP candidates in 1955 showed that 31 Left JSP candidates had farmer union support compared to 7 Right JSP candidates. The All-Japan Farmers' Union, New Village Construction Group, a rump faction of the Independence Group unified into the National Japan Farmers' Union in 1958. Another schism occurred as supporters of Nishio left to form the All-Japan Farmers' Federation aligned with
10098-411: The Right Socialists selected Asanuma as Secretary General and left the position of chairman vacant. At the time of the schism the JSP's House of Representatives membership was divided into 30 Right Socialists and 16 Left Socialists. Their seat totals rose to 57 for the Right Socialists and 54 for the Left Socialists after the 1952 election . Despite this divided membership the two groups worked together in
10251-429: The UK, Herbert Morrison said that "socialism is what the Labour government does" whereas Aneurin Bevan argued socialism requires that the "main streams of economic activity are brought under public direction", with an economic plan and workers' democracy. Some argued that capitalism had been abolished. Socialist governments established the mixed economy with partial nationalisations and social welfare. By 1968,
10404-412: The Unification Discussion Group. The two factions held separate conventions, but worked together in the Diet due to spring labor disputes and threats from the National Railway Workers' Union to pull its support for the party. The three groups reunited on 3 April, after three months of negation. The position of chairman was left vacant, but Asanuma was made Secretary General. The Central Executive Committee
10557-453: The United Kingdom and Bernie Sanders in the United States. Few of these radical left parties have won national government in Europe, while some more mainstream socialist parties have managed to, such as Portugal's Socialist Party . Bhaskar Sunkara , the founding editor of the American socialist magazine Jacobin , argued that the appeal of socialism persists due to the inequality and "tremendous suffering" under current global capitalism,
10710-568: The United States . There were quite a few Christians in the JSP. Former Japanese Prime Minister Tetsu Katayama was also a Christian. The JSP supported a neutralist foreign policy and opposed amending the Constitution of Japan , especially the Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan . Japan's left-wing liberalism emerged as a "peace movement" and was largely led by the JSP. Suzuki stated that he wanted Japan to follow Yugoslavia's brand of neutrality rather than Austria's. The left-wing participated in anti-American military base protests in 1953, while
10863-453: The accumulation of capital generates waste through externalities that require costly corrective regulatory measures. They also point out that this process generates wasteful industries and practices that exist only to generate sufficient demand for products such as high-pressure advertisement to be sold at a profit, thereby creating rather than satisfying economic demand. Socialists argue that capitalism consists of irrational activity, such as
11016-399: The armed intervention of the Soviet Union cannot be condoned". Socialist Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production , as opposed to private ownership . It describes the economic , political , and social theories and movements associated with
11169-457: The basis of society. Literature and art will be tuned to a different key. —Trotsky, Literature and Revolution , 1924 In the Leninist conception, the role of the vanguard party was to politically educate the workers and peasants to dispel the societal false consciousness of institutional religion and nationalism that constitute the cultural status quo taught by the bourgeoisie to
11322-539: The bourgeoisie produces above all is its own grave diggers", namely the working class, which must become conscious of the historical objectives set it by society. Revolutionary socialists believe that a social revolution is necessary to effect structural changes to the socioeconomic structure of society. Among revolutionary socialists there are differences in strategy, theory and the definition of revolution . Orthodox Marxists and left communists take an impossibilist stance, believing that revolution should be spontaneous as
11475-431: The breakup of Zaibatsu , the country's business conglomerates, to land reform, to the ousting of nationalist figures in government. Apart from reversing early steps taken towards implementing these policies, the U.S. occupation government oversaw and assisted in the purging of almost 30,000 workers deemed to be " red " between 1948 and 1950, frustrating leftist attempts to hold on to state power. The party's 1949 convention
11628-404: The coalition would aid the party, but did not believe that the JSP was organized enough to maintain control over it. Morito Tatsuo proposed the creation of a Democratic League for National Salvation after the 1946 election so that the JSP could establish itself as the leader. The JSP's Central Executive Committee voted to end negotiations with the JCP on 14 July 1946. The JSP initially selected
11781-495: The context of a future socialist society would amount to a distortion of these concepts by using them out of context. Utopian socialism is a term used to define the first currents of modern socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon , Charles Fourier and Robert Owen which inspired Karl Marx and other early socialists. Visions of imaginary ideal societies, which competed with revolutionary social democratic movements, were viewed as not being grounded in
11934-437: The continued protection of agriculture and small business in the face of foreign pressure, abolition of the consumption tax and an end to the construction and use of nuclear power reactors. As a symbolic gesture to reflect its new moderation, the party dropped its commitment to socialist revolution at its April 1990 convention and described its goal as social democracy, the creation of a society in which "all people fairly enjoy
12087-631: The delicate process of moving the party away from its strong opposition to the Self-Defense Forces . While maintaining that these forces were unconstitutional in light of Article 9 , he claimed that because they had been established through legal procedures, they had a legitimate status (this phrasing was changed a year later to say that the Self-Defense Forces exist legally). Ishibashi also broke past precedent by visiting Washington to talk with United States political leaders. By
12240-506: The direct allocation of resources in terms of physical units as opposed to financial calculation and the economic laws of capitalism (see law of value ), often entailing the end of capitalistic economic categories such as rent , interest, profit and money. In a fully developed socialist economy, production and balancing factor inputs with outputs becomes a technical process to be undertaken by engineers. Market socialism refers to an array of different economic theories and systems that use
12393-690: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Socialists have adopted the causes of other social movements such as environmentalism , feminism and progressivism . In 1990, the São Paulo Forum was launched by the Workers' Party (Brazil) , linking left-wing socialist parties in Latin America. Its members were associated with the Pink tide of left-wing governments on the continent in the early 21st century. Member parties ruling countries included
12546-619: The early 21st century. This phenomenon is known as Pasokification from the Greek party PASOK , which saw a declining share of the vote in national elections—from 43.9% in 2009 to 13.2% in May 2012, to 12.3% in June 2012 and 4.7% in 2015—due to its poor handling of the Greek government-debt crisis and implementation of harsh austerity measures. In Europe, the share of votes for such socialist parties
12699-488: The emergence of the Soviet Union as the world's first nominally socialist state led to socialism's widespread association with the Soviet economic model , academics have noted that some Western European countries have been governed by socialist parties or have mixed economies that are sometimes called " democratic socialist ". Following the revolutions of 1989 , many of these countries moved away from socialism as
12852-467: The end of the decade, the party had accepted the Self-Defense Forces and the 1960 U.S.-Japan Security Treaty . It advocated strict limitations on military spending (no more than 1 percent of GNP annually), a suspension of joint military exercises with United States forces, and a reaffirmation of the three non-nuclear principles (no production, possession, or introduction of nuclear weapons into Japanese territory). Doi expressed support for balanced ties with
13005-598: The endorsement of prominent artists Andre Breton and Diego Rivera . Trotsky's writings on literature such as his 1923 survey which advocated tolerance, limited censorship and respect for literary tradition had strong appeal to the New York Intellectuals . Prior to Stalin's rule, literary, religious and national representatives had some level of autonomy in Soviet Russia throughout the 1920s but these groups were later rigorously repressed during
13158-528: The existing economic system of capitalism while trying to improve the conditions of capitalism, thereby making it appear more tolerable to society. According to Rosa Luxemburg , capitalism is not overthrown, "but is on the contrary strengthened by the development of social reforms". In a similar vein, Stan Parker of the Socialist Party of Great Britain argues that reforms are a diversion of energy for socialists and are limited because they must adhere to
13311-405: The extension of freedom and equality in society. Many forms of socialist theory hold that human behaviour is largely shaped by the social environment. In particular, socialism holds that social mores , values, cultural traits and economic practices are social creations and not the result of an immutable natural law. The object of their critique is thus not human avarice or human consciousness, but
13464-468: The female vote. In 1957, women were estimated to account for 10% of the JSP's membership and the party had eleven female members in the Diet. The Japan Farmers' Union was officially not aligned with any party, but its leadership were members of the JSP. Five the union's seven executive members were elected to the Diet, including Kuroda and Nomizo. Rikizō Hirano, the Minister of Agriculture and aligned with
13617-402: The first time in 38 years. The anti-LDP coalition government of Morihiro Hosokawa was formed by reformists who had triggered the 1993 election by leaving the LDP ( Japan Renewal Party and New Party Sakigake ), a liberal party formed only a year before ( Japan New Party ), the traditional centre-left opposition ( Kōmeitō , Democratic Socialist Party and Socialist Democratic Federation ) and
13770-542: The fruits of technological advancement and modern civilization and receive the benefits of social welfare ." Delegates also elected Doi to a third term as party chairwoman. Because of the party's self-definition as a class-based party and its symbiotic relationship with the General Council of Trade Unions of Japan ( Sōhyō ), the public-sector workers' confederation, few efforts were made to attract non-union constituencies. Although some Sōhyō unions supported
13923-499: The great majority of the 149 socialist candidates who ran were successful, including seven of eight women. Doi, a university professor of constitutional law before entering politics, had a tough, straight-talking manner that appealed to voters tired of the evasiveness of other politicians. Many women found her a refreshing alternative to submissive female stereotypes and in the late 1980s the public at large in opinion polls voted her their favorite politician (the runner-up in these surveys
14076-408: The human spirit.", adding that "While it promised prosperity, equality, and security, it delivered poverty, misery, and tyranny." Some in the scientific community have suggested that a contemporary radical response to social and ecological problems could be seen in the emergence of movements associated with degrowth , eco-socialism and eco-anarchism . Early socialist thought took influences from
14229-557: The implementation of such systems. Social ownership can take various forms, including public , community , collective , cooperative , or employee . As one of the main ideologies on the political spectrum , socialism is considered as the standard left-wing ideology in most countries. Types of socialism vary based on the role of markets and planning in resource allocation, and the structure of management in organizations. Socialist systems divide into non-market and market forms. A non-market socialist system seeks to eliminate
14382-555: The labor unions and farmers' organizations", held a convention attended by 300 right-wing leaders and 28 Diet members. The Socialist Club, under the leadership of Nishio, had 12 members in the House of Councillors and 21 in the House of Representatives. This organization broke away to form the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) on 24 January 1960. Asanuma was elected chairman of the JSP at the 1960 convention. Asanuma
14535-567: The last third of the 19th century parties dedicated to Democratic socialism arose in Europe, drawing mainly from Marxism . The Australian Labor Party was the first elected socialist party when it formed government in the Colony of Queensland for a week in 1899. In the first half of the 20th century, the Soviet Union and the communist parties of the Third International around the world, came to represent socialism in terms of
14688-445: The left-wing of the JSP revolted, and succeeded in persuading a majority of party members present to adopt an "Eda Vision Criticism Resolution" that renounced the "Eda Vision" as antithetical to core party principles. Eda was forced to resign his position as Secretary General, and thereafter the party returned to a more dogmatically Marxist platform which emphasized the urban working classes as the party's main political base. Thereafter,
14841-407: The logic of capitalism. French social theorist André Gorz criticized reformism by advocating a third alternative to reformism and social revolution that he called " non-reformist reforms ", specifically focused on structural changes to capitalism as opposed to reforms to improve living conditions within capitalism or to prop it up through economic interventions. Under Socialism, solidarity will be
14994-403: The long run. Marxists argue that the establishment of a socialist mode of production is the only way to overcome these deficiencies. Socialists and specifically Marxian socialists argue that the inherent conflict of interests between the working class and capital prevent optimal use of available human resources and leads to contradictory interest groups (labour and business) striving to influence
15147-785: The market mechanism to organise production and to allocate factor inputs among socially owned enterprises, with the economic surplus (profits) accruing to society in a social dividend as opposed to private capital owners. Variations of market socialism include libertarian proposals such as mutualism , based on classical economics, and neoclassical economic models such as the Lange model . Some economists, such as Joseph Stiglitz , Mancur Olson , and others not specifically advancing anti-socialists positions have shown that prevailing economic models upon which such democratic or market socialism models might be based have logical flaws or unworkable presuppositions. These criticisms have been incorporated into
15300-448: The masses for raising the standards of education , as well as entry into the cultural sphere, but that the process of artistic creation in terms of language and presentation should be the domain of the practitioner. According to political scientist Baruch Knei-Paz in his book The Social and Political Thought of Leon Trotsky , this represented one of several distinctions between Trotsky's approach on cultural matters and Stalin's policy in
15453-399: The masses. I believe that 'socialism' is that which allows human potential to blossom to its fullest extent. The main four accomplishments that humankind has achieved so far are America's high standard of living, the Soviet Union's thoroughgoing social welfare system, England's parliamentary democracy, and Japan's peace constitution. I believe that if we can integrate these, we can give birth to
15606-456: The material conditions and man-made social systems (i.e. the economic structure of society) which give rise to observed social problems and inefficiencies. Bertrand Russell , often considered to be the father of analytic philosophy, identified as a socialist. Russell opposed the class struggle aspects of Marxism, viewing socialism solely as an adjustment of economic relations to accommodate modern machine production to benefit all of humanity through
15759-488: The material conditions of society and as reactionary. Although it is technically possible for any set of ideas or any person living at any time in history to be a utopian socialist, the term is most often applied to those socialists who lived in the first quarter of the 19th century who were ascribed the label "utopian" by later socialists as a negative term to imply naivete and dismiss their ideas as fanciful or unrealistic. Religious sects whose members live communally such as
15912-412: The material productive forces (in industry and commerce) brought into existence by capitalism predicated a cooperative society since production had become a mass social, collective activity of the working class to create commodities but with private ownership (the relations of production or property relations). This conflict between collective effort in large factories and private ownership would bring about
16065-415: The means of production by capitalists and consequently, overthrowing the state that upheld this economic order. For Marx and Engels, conditions determine consciousness and ending the role of the capitalist class leads eventually to a classless society in which the state would wither away . Marx and Engels used the terms socialism and communism interchangeably, but many later Marxists defined socialism as
16218-512: The models of market socialism developed by John Roemer and Nicholas Vrousalis . Liberal Party (Japan, 1945) The Japan Liberal Party ( 日本自由党 , Nihon Jiyūtō ) was a political party in Japan . The Japan Liberal Party was founded on November 9, 1945, mainly by former members of Seiyukai Party , with Ichirō Hatoyama being its first leader. From 1946-1954 the next party leader Shigeru Yoshida served as Prime Minister . In 1948
16371-411: The natural and social worlds could be understood through scientific knowledge and be analysed using scientific methods. The fundamental objective of socialism is to attain an advanced level of material production and therefore greater productivity, efficiency and rationality as compared to capitalism and all previous systems, under the view that an expansion of human productive capability is the basis for
16524-490: The next six months. Moreover, the "Eda Vision" was the final straw for the more orthodox Marxist left-wing factions in the JSP, who had already chafed against the moderate tone of Eda's "structural reform" platform. In particular, they could not accept praise of what they viewed as the "imperialist" United States and Great Britain, and the "deviationist" and "Stalinist" Soviet Union. At the 22nd Party Congress in November 1962,
16677-418: The old social relations of production of capitalism that would generate contradictions, leading to working-class consciousness. Marx and Engels held the view that the consciousness of those who earn a wage or salary (the working class in the broadest Marxist sense) would be moulded by their conditions of wage slavery , leading to a tendency to seek their freedom or emancipation by overthrowing ownership of
16830-660: The ongoing Anpo protests against revision of the security treaty and whether or not to cooperate with the JCP in doing so. Left-wingers from Sōhyō and the Youth Division, with backing from supporters of Hiroo Wada and Jiichirō Matsumoto , had attempted to expel Nishio at the 1959 convention, but it failed in the Steering Committee. Nishio attacked the left-wing for serving Sōhyō. The Association for Party Reconstruction, which called for "democratic socialism" that received support from "the whole nation, not merely
16983-621: The organisation of society. By contrast, Robert Owen proposed to organise production and ownership via cooperatives . Socialism is also attributed in France to Marie Roch Louis Reybaud while in Britain it is attributed to Owen, who became one of the fathers of the cooperative movement . The definition and usage of socialism settled by the 1860s, with the term socialist replacing associationist , co-operative , mutualist and collectivist , which had been used as synonyms, while
17136-430: The overall efficiency of the market economy. These corrective policies limit the incentive system of the market by providing things such as minimum wages , unemployment insurance , taxing profits and reducing the reserve army of labour , resulting in reduced incentives for capitalists to invest in more production. In essence, social welfare policies cripple capitalism and its incentive system and are thus unsustainable in
17289-492: The party and expand its base. Eda ran numerous times for the post of party chairman, but was unsuccessful, although he did serve a second stint as Secretary General from 1968 to 1970. Nevertheless, Eda remained popular among the broader Japanese public and in the mid-1970s conservative prime minister Kakuei Tanaka said at a press conference, "If the Japan Socialist Party were ever to make Eda its Chairman again,
17442-510: The party's, demanded the expulsion of all members of the Independent Youth League and prepared a motion of no confidence against Katayama. The left-wing held greater control over the convention than in the previous year, holding almost all of the committee chairmanships. Katayama declined to run for reelection and the right-wing walked out of the convention. Members of the Diet who were not aligned with either faction formed
17595-748: The perceived inefficiencies, irrationalities, unpredictability , and crises that socialists traditionally associate with capital accumulation and the profit system. Market socialism retains the use of monetary prices, factor markets and sometimes the profit motive . As a political force, socialist parties and ideas exercise varying degrees of power and influence, heading national governments in several countries. Socialist politics have been internationalist and nationalist ; organised through political parties and opposed to party politics; at times overlapping with trade unions and other times independent and critical of them, and present in industrialised and developing nations. Social democracy originated within
17748-484: The polls in the 1967 election, lost more ground in the 1968 Upper House election, and suffered a crushing repudiation in 1969, when they lost 51 seats in the National Diet . In some regions, the party continued to perform well at the local level and by the 1970s many areas were run by JSP (or JSP-backed) mayors and governors, who supported environmental protection initiatives and introduced new social welfare programs. Meanwhile, Saburō Eda continued his efforts to reform
17901-428: The principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution ", while upper stage communism is based on the principle of " from each according to his ability, to each according to his need ", the upper stage becoming possible only after the socialist stage further develops economic efficiency and the automation of production has led to a superabundance of goods and services. Marx argued that
18054-481: The productive forces and technology was the basis for the expansion of human freedom and that socialism, being a system that is consistent with modern developments in technology, would enable the flourishing of "free individualities" through the progressive reduction of necessary labour time. The reduction of necessary labour time to a minimum would grant individuals the opportunity to pursue the development of their true individuality and creativity. Socialists argue that
18207-442: The progressive reduction of necessary work time. Socialists view creativity as an essential aspect of human nature and define freedom as a state of being where individuals are able to express their creativity unhindered by constraints of both material scarcity and coercive social institutions. The socialist concept of individuality is intertwined with the concept of individual creative expression. Karl Marx believed that expansion of
18360-598: The proletariat to facilitate their economic exploitation of peasants and workers. Influenced by Lenin, the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party stated that the development of the socialist workers' culture should not be "hamstrung from above" and opposed the Proletkult (1917–1925) organisational control of the national culture. Similarly, Trotsky viewed the party as transmitters of culture to
18513-493: The prolonged Vietnam War gave rise to the New Left , socialists who tended to be critical of the Soviet Union and social democracy . Anarcho-syndicalists and some elements of the New Left and others favoured decentralised collective ownership in the form of cooperatives or workers' councils . In 1989, the Soviet Union saw the end of communism , marked by the Revolutions of 1989 across Eastern Europe , culminating in
18666-420: The public. At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or—this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms—with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. Then begins an era of social revolution. The changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation of
18819-540: The public. In particular, Eda earned the enmity of the party's left-wing due to his ambitious platform of "structural reform" ( 構造改革 , kōzō kaikaku ) and his related "Eda Vision" of socialism. The "structural reform" platform drew inspiration from the recently concluded Anpo protests against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty , which had achieved massive size and forced the resignation of conservative prime minister Nobusuke Kishi . Eda and his allies viewed these protests as having been an unalloyed success in having allowed
18972-447: The purchasing of commodities only to sell at a later time when their price appreciates, rather than for consumption, even if the commodity cannot be sold at a profit to individuals in need and therefore a crucial criticism often made by socialists is that "making money", or accumulation of capital, does not correspond to the satisfaction of demand (the production of use-values ). The fundamental criterion for economic activity in capitalism
19125-560: The right-wing did not. The party was critical of nuclear testing done by the United States and Soviet Union. The party interacted with the North Korea 's Korean Social Democratic Party . The party was also strongly opposed to the far-right South Korea 's anti-communist dictatorship, including Park Chung Hee and Chun Doo-hwan , and allied with South Korean liberals , including Kim Dae-jung . The JSP ended its support for
19278-671: The right-wing successfully opposed him. In the face of rising communist influence in the union JSP members formed the League for the Establishment of Independence in 1948, while Kuroda and the communists formed the Unity Discussion Group. The union broke apart into the Independence Group and Unity Group as these two groups held separate conventions on 22 April 1949. New agrarian groups were formed after
19431-498: The role of the capitalist becomes redundant. With no need for capital accumulation and a class of owners, private property in the means of production is perceived as being an outdated form of economic organisation that should be replaced by a free association of individuals based on public or common ownership of these socialised assets. Private ownership imposes constraints on planning, leading to uncoordinated economic decisions that result in business fluctuations, unemployment and
19584-456: The social revolution to overthrow the capitalist state and eventually the institution of the state altogether. Revolution is not necessarily defined by revolutionary socialists as violent insurrection, but as a complete dismantling and rapid transformation of all areas of class society led by the majority of the masses: the working class. Reformism is generally associated with social democracy and gradualist democratic socialism . Reformism
19737-749: The socialist movement and eventually state socialism came to be identified with the Soviet economic model . Joseph Schumpeter rejected the association of socialism and social ownership with state ownership over the means of production because the state as it exists in its current form is a product of capitalist society and cannot be transplanted to a different institutional framework. Schumpeter argued that there would be different institutions within socialism than those that exist within modern capitalism, just as feudalism had its own distinct and unique institutional forms. The state, along with concepts like property and taxation, were concepts exclusive to commercial society (capitalism) and attempting to place them within
19890-422: The socialist movement, supporting economic and social interventions to promote social justice . While retaining socialism as a long-term goal, in the post-war period social democracy embraced a mixed economy based on Keynesianism within a predominantly developed capitalist market economy and liberal democratic polity that expands state intervention to include income redistribution , regulation , and
20043-687: The socialist movement, the Progressive Alliance was founded in 2013 by current or former members of the Socialist International . The organisation states the aim of becoming the global network of "the progressive , democratic , social-democratic , socialist and labour movement ". Mainstream social democratic and socialist parties are also networked in Europe in the Party of European Socialists formed in 1992. Many of these parties lost large parts of their electoral base in
20196-507: The socialists. Yoshida lost a motion of no confidence supported by the Japan Democratic Party and Socialists on 7 December 1954. Ichirō Hatoyama replaced him and new elections were called. The Left and Right Socialists, faced with Hatoyama's popularity, adopted the same platform. The two groups held conventions on 18 January 1955, in which they called to reunify after the election. The combined Socialist seat total, 156,
20349-402: The state to intervene in the economy in their favour at the expense of overall economic efficiency. Early socialists ( utopian socialists and Ricardian socialists ) criticised capitalism for concentrating power and wealth within a small segment of society. In addition, they complained that capitalism does not use available technology and resources to their maximum potential in the interests of
20502-439: The term communism fell out of use during this period. An early distinction between communism and socialism was that the latter aimed to only socialise production while the former aimed to socialise both production and consumption (in the form of free access to final goods). By 1888, Marxists employed socialism in place of communism as the latter had come to be considered an old-fashioned synonym for socialism . It
20655-406: The use of wage labor "which rests on the exploitation and domination of humans by other humans," and ecological crises, such as climate change . In contrast, Mark J. Perry of the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) argued that despite socialism's resurgence, it is still "a flawed system based on completely faulty principles that aren't consistent with human behavior and can't nurture
20808-491: The whole immense superstructure. —Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels argued that socialism would emerge from historical necessity as capitalism rendered itself obsolete and unsustainable from increasing internal contradictions emerging from the development of the productive forces and technology. It was these advances in the productive forces combined with
20961-441: Was a follower of Henri de Saint-Simon , one of the founders of what would later be labelled utopian socialism . Socialism contrasted with the liberal doctrine of individualism that emphasized the moral worth of the individual while stressing that people act or should act as if they are in isolation from one another. The original utopian socialists condemned this doctrine of individualism for failing to address social concerns during
21114-410: Was assassinated by a right-wing youth, Otoya Yamaguchi , during a televised election debate on 12 October 1960. Asanuma had been a charismatic figure who had been able to hold the antagonistic left and right factions of the party together through the force of his personality. Asanuma's untimely death deprived the party of his adroit leadership, and thrust Saburō Eda into the leadership role instead. Eda
21267-593: Was at its 70-year lowest in 2015. For example, the Socialist Party , after winning the 2012 French presidential election , rapidly lost its vote share, the Social Democratic Party of Germany 's fortunes declined rapidly from 2005 to 2019, and outside Europe the Israeli Labor Party fell from being the dominant force in Israeli politics to 4.43% of the vote in the April 2019 Israeli legislative election , and
21420-415: Was concerned, there is nothing in principle in economic theory that precludes an economic order based on socialist policies" and promoted substituting capitalist businesses with worker cooperatives . While democrats looked to the Revolutions of 1848 as a democratic revolution which in the long run ensured liberty, equality, and fraternity , Marxists denounced it as a betrayal of working-class ideals by
21573-494: Was divided between fifteen left-wingers, nine right-wingers, and six centrists. In the 1950 elections the JSP won the governorship of Kyoto Prefecture and became the second-largest party in the House of Councillors while the JCP declined in strength. The party's factions were heavily divided over the Treaty of San Francisco and Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan . The party's convention
21726-505: Was equally tough-talking conservative LDP member Shintarō Ishihara ); however, Doi's popularity was of limited aid to the party, as the powerful Shakaishugi Kyokai (Japan Socialist Association), which was supported by a contingent of the party's 76,000-strong membership, remained committed to orthodox Marxism, impeding Doi's efforts to promote what she called perestroika and a more moderate program with greater voter appeal. In 1983, Doi's predecessor as chairman Masashi Ishibashi had begun
21879-515: Was formed under the leadership of Hitoshi Ashida , a member of the Democrats. Ashida's tenure was marked by labor disputes and he resigned after eight months due to a corruption scandal. A caretaker government was formed under the leadership of Shigeru Yoshida . Nishio, who was involved in the corruption scandal and arrested, was expelled from the JSP, but later readmitted into the right-wing JSP in 1952. Members of Hisao Kuroda 's JSP faction in
22032-510: Was formed. The founding convention was chaired by Tetsu Katayama and Nishio was elected General Secretary. Nishio, Mizutani, and other inaugural committee members were appointed to the party's executive committee. The Japanese Communist Party (JCP), unbanned and its leaders freed from prison in October 1945, asked the JSP to form a common political front of Japan's democratic parties. The JSP declined stating that neither had formally established their parties or policies yet. The JSP believed that
22185-407: Was greater than their seat total during Katayama's government. Unification negotiation committees met in April and the platform it created was accepted by a united convention on 13 October. Suzuki was appointed as chairman and Asanuma as Secretary General. The Central Executive Committee and Control Commission was divided equally between the two factions. The left-wing gained a 22 to 18 seat majority on
22338-411: Was hastily named "Acting Chairman" of the JSP and became the party's leader and candidate to become prime minister of Japan should the party triumph in the election. A centrist, Eda rapidly took the party in a more centrist direction, far faster than the left socialists were ready to accept. This led to growing infighting within the party, and drastically damaged its ability to present a cohesive message to
22491-466: Was held on 23 October 1951, and divided into the Right Socialist Party of Japan and Left Socialist Party of Japan after seventeen hours. In the Diet the left-wing voted against both treaties while the right-wing opposed the peace treaty and supported the security treaty. The party remained united at the prefecture level until the final prefecture division in 1953. The Left Socialists selected Suzuki as chairman and Masaru Nomizo as Secretary General while
22644-579: Was leader of the party from 1993 to 1996. Most of the other parties from the anti-LDP coalition, now forced back into opposition, united to form the New Frontier Party (NFP), which overtook the JSP as second largest political party in Japan. The JSP suffered a defeat in the 1995 Japanese House of Councillors election . In January 1996, the New Socialist Party of Japan split off from the JSP, Murayama resigned as Prime Minister, and
22797-667: Was not until after the Bolshevik Revolution that socialism was appropriated by Vladimir Lenin to mean a stage between capitalism and communism. He used it to defend the Bolshevik program from Marxist criticism that Russia's productive forces were not sufficiently developed for communism. The distinction between communism and socialism became salient in 1918 after the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party renamed itself to
22950-729: Was not. The Owenites in England and the Fourierists in France were considered respectable socialists while working-class movements that "proclaimed the necessity of total social change" denoted themselves communists . This branch of socialism produced the communist work of Étienne Cabet in France and Wilhelm Weitling in Germany. British moral philosopher John Stuart Mill discussed a form of economic socialism within free market. In later editions of his Principles of Political Economy (1848), Mill posited that "as far as economic theory
23103-568: Was postponed until after the year's election. The party leadership, including multiple members of the Central Executive Committee, resigned following the party's defeat. The party's right-wing wanted to rename the organization to the Social Democratic Party while the left-wing wanted to retain its name, which was approved. The left-wing wanted the entire right-wing leadership to resign, Katayama retained as chairman, and Mosaburō Suzuki appointed as Secretary General. Inejirō Asanuma
23256-454: Was the right-wing candidate for Secretary General. Asanuma defeated Suzuki in the nominating committee's vote with 31 to 30, but lost the convention vote 390 to 261. Katayama was reelected as chairman. By the time of the 1950 convention the party's factions formed two youth leagues. The left-wing controlled the official Youth Department while the right-wing formed the Independent Youth League. The Youth Department, which held its convention before
23409-450: Was three sentences long and stated that the party was "the national rally of the laboring strata". This program was maintained until 1955. Both nationalization , supported by the left-wing, and socialization , supported by the right-wing, were in the 1955 platform. In the 1950s the party supported a five-year plan to socialize the electricity, coal, iron and steel, chemical fertilizer, transportation, and cement industries. The party supported
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