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Democratic Socialist Party (Japan)

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This article is about the Japanese political party that existed from 1960 to 1994. For other Japanese socialist parties, see Japan Socialist Party (disambiguation).

Democratic Socialist Party
民主社会党
Minshu Shakai-tō
FounderSuehiro Nishio
Founded24 January 1960[1]
Dissolved9 December 1994[1]
Split fromJapan Socialist Party[2]
Preceded byRightist Socialist Party of Japan (factions)
Merged intoNew Frontier Party[1]
Youth wingMinsha Youth
Ideology
Political positionCentre[4][5][6] to centre-left[7][A]
International affiliationSocialist International
Colors  Red
Party flag
^ A: The Democratic Socialist Party was a national conservative party, due to its stances on social issues and national security, and was considered an "extremely conservative" party in Japan.[8] However, its economic policies were of social democracy.[2]

The Democratic Socialist Party (民主社会党, Minshu Shakai-tō, abbreviated 民社党, Minsha-tō) was a political party in Japan from 1960 to 1994.

History

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The party was established in January 1960 by a breakaway faction of the Japanese Socialist Party.[9][10] Led by Suehiro Nishio, it was made up of members of the most moderate wing of the former Rightist Socialist Party of Japan, a moderate faction that had existed as an independent party between 1948 and 1955 before reluctantly merging back together with the Leftist Socialist Party of Japan.[9] Although long-standing ideological differences and factional rivalries played a key role, the proximate cause of the split was internal disagreements over how to conduct the ongoing Anpo protests against revision of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan, known as Anpo in Japanese, and whether or not to cooperate with the Communist Party of Japan in doing so.[9]

Declassified United States government documents later revealed that covert CIA funding had also helped encourage the founding of this breakaway party.[11] CIA support was aimed at moderating and subverting the political opposition to the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which was the main CIA funded party.[12][13]

The DSP was dissolved in 1994 to join the New Frontier Party. In 1996, the Japan Socialist Party was transformed into the Social Democratic Party. Two years later, in 1998, the New Frontier Party dissolved and most former DSP members eventually joined the Democratic Party of Japan.[10] Despite the dissolution of the DSP in 1994, its youth organisation (Minsha Youth) survived until 2003 and was a member of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY). After Minsha Youth was dissolved, some of its former members and independent social democrats formed Young Socialists, a new youth organisation which retained full membership in IUSY; however, it was finally dissolved on 8 March 2008 without any successor organisation and abandoned its IUSY membership.[citation needed]

The tradition of the DSP is carried on by the Minsha kyōkai (民社協会, Democratic Socialist Group) as a faction within the liberal Democratic Party of Japan, Democratic Party and now centre-right Democratic Party for the People.

Political position and foreign policy

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The DSP has claimed that it was an anti-communist party that officially advocated democratic socialism and had a pro-American foreign policy.[2]

The DSP was rated "moderate",[14][15][16] "moderate social-democratic",[17][2] "centrist"[4][5][6] and "centre-left"[7] by Japanese political standards at the time, but at the same time it was also regarded as a "conservative"[3][8][18] political party. It derived much of its financial and organisational support from the Domei private-sector labour confederation, but unlike other social-democratic political parties in Japan, the party was not hostile to accepting neoliberal policies[19] Due to the DSP's syncretic political position, the party's ideology is often referred to as right-wing social democracy (右派社会民主主義).[20]

The DSP strongly backed the Japan–United States alliance.[2] For this reason, the DSP was often called the "right-wing party" in Japan, but because the DSP had a belief in socialist ideals, it was classified as a political "centrist" along with the old Komeito at the time.[21] In addition, the DSP was a member of left-wing Socialist International.[20][22]

Leaders

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No. Photo Name

(Birth–death)

Constituency/title Term of office
Took office Left office
1 Suehiro Nishio

(1891–1981)

Rep for

Osaka 4th district (1947–93)

Osaka 1st district (1947–93)

Osaka 2nd district (1947–93)

24 January 1960 June 1967
2 Eiichi Nishimura

(1904–1971)

Rep for

Osaka 2nd district (1947–93)

Osaka 5th district (1947–93)

June 1967 27 April 1971
3 Ikkō Kasuga

(1910–1989)

Rep for

Aichi 1st district (1947–93)

27 April 1971 28 November 1977
4 Ryōsaku Sasaki

(1915–2000)

Cou for

National district

Rep for

Hyogo 5th district (1947–93)

28 November 1977 23 April 1985
5 Saburo Tsukamoto

(1927–2020)

Rep for

Aichi 2nd district (1947–93)

Aichi 6th district (1947–93)

23 April 1985 25 February 1989
6 Eiichi Nagasue

(1918–1994)

Cou for

Kyoto Prefecture

Rep for

Kyoto 1st district (1947–93)

25 February 1989 April 1990
7 Keigo Ōuchi

(1930–2016)

Rep for

Tokyo 2nd district (1947–93)

April 1990 8 June 1994
8 Takashi Yonezawa

(1940–2016)

Rep for

Miyazaki 1st district (1947–93)

Kyushu PR block (from Miyazaki)

8 June 1994 9 December 1994

Election results

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House of Representatives

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Election year Candidates No. of seats won Change Status
1960 105
17 / 467
 Steady Opposition
1963 59
23 / 467
 Increase 6 Opposition
1967 60
30 / 486
 Increase 7 Opposition
1969 68
31 / 486
 Increase 1 Opposition
1972 65
19 / 491
 Decrease 12 Opposition
1976 51
29 / 511
 Increase 10 Opposition
1979 53
35 / 511
 Increase 6 Opposition
1980 50
32 / 511
 Decrease 3 Opposition
1983 54
38 / 511
 Increase 6 Opposition
1986 56
26 / 512
 Decrease 12 Opposition
1990 44
14 / 512
 Decrease 12 Opposition
1993 28
15 / 511
 Increase 1 Government

House of Councillors

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Election year Seats Status
Total Contested
1962
12 / 250
5 / 125
 Opposition
1965
7 / 250
3 / 125
 Opposition
1968
10 / 250
7 / 125
 Opposition
1971
13 / 252
6 / 126
 Opposition
1974
10 / 252
5 / 126
 Opposition
1977
11 / 252
6 / 126
 Opposition
1980
12 / 252
6 / 126
 Opposition
1983
12 / 252
6 / 126
 Opposition
1986
12 / 252
5 / 126
 Opposition
1989
8 / 252
3 / 126
 Opposition
1992
9 / 252
4 / 126
 Opposition

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典の解説 [The Encyclopædia Britannica: Micropædia's explanation]. kotobank.jp (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun Company. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Taguchi, Fukuji [in Japanese]. 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)の解説 [The Nihon Dai Hyakka Zensho: Nipponica's explanation]. kotobank.jp (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun Company. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b John E. Endicott; William R. Heaton, eds. (1996). The Politics Of East Asia: China, Japan, Korea. Routledge. p. 137. ISBN 9781000304718. Continuing cooperation between the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the New Liberal Club (NLC), and the conservative Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), will probably assure conservative rule for some time to come.
  4. ^ a b James Brown; Guibourg Delamotte; Robert Dujarric, eds. (2021). The Abe Legacy: How Japan Has Been Shaped by Abe Shinzo. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 24. ISBN 9781793643315. A coalition of fragments of the old Japan Socialist Party, the former "centrist" Democratic Socialist Party, and disaffected refugees from the LDP, its mastermind was Ozawa Ichiro, the most formidable of Tanaka Kakuei's disciples.
  5. ^ a b Michael J Hogan; Michael J. Hogan, eds. (1996). Hiroshima in History and Memory. Cambridge University Press. p. 137. ISBN 9780521566827.
  6. ^ a b R. Taggart Murphy, ed. (2014). Japan and the Shackles of the Past. Oxford University Press. p. 122. ISBN 9780190213251.
  7. ^ a b Franklin Henry Hooper; Walter Yust, eds. (1982). Britannica Book of the Year. Encyclopaedia Britannica. p. 1950.
  8. ^ a b Jon Halliday, ed. (1975). A Political History of Japanese Capitalism. Pantheon Books. p. 238. ISBN 9780394483917. The JCP has rigorously excluded the militant Hansen Seinen linkai, although it has been prepared to collaborate with the Kōmeitō and even the extremely conservative Democratic Socialist Party ( DSP ) on certain issues in the Diet and ...
  9. ^ a b c Kapur, Nick (2018). Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 109–113. ISBN 978-0-6749-8442-4.
  10. ^ a b Miranda Schreurs (2014). "Japan". In Jeffrey Kopstein; Mark Lichbach; Stephen E. Hanson (eds.). Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order. Cambridge University Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-139-99138-4.
  11. ^ "U.S. admits CIA gave LDP money in 1950s, 1960s". Japan Times. Kyodo News. 20 July 2006. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  12. ^ Hounshell, Blake (30 July 2007). "U.S. admits CIA gave LDP money in 1950s, 1960s". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  13. ^ Weiner, Tim (9 October 1994). "C.I.A. Spent Millions to Support Japanese Right in 50's and 60's". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 December 2007.
  14. ^ Robert E. Cole, ed. (2022). Japanese Blue Collar: The Changing Tradition. Univ of California Press. p. 18. ISBN 9780520310650.
  15. ^ United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, ed. (1996). United States-Japan Relations: Hearings Before the Subcommittees on Asian and Pacific Affairs and on International Economic Policy and Trade of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-eighth Congress, Second Session, May 2, 3, 23; June 12, 1984. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 444. This year the moderate Democratic Socialist Party has also called for abolition of the one percent ceiling and the setting of a new, more realistic limit.
  16. ^ William D. Hoover, ed. (2018). Historical Dictionary of Postwar Japan. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 160. ISBN 9781538111567. ... Dōmei was a supporter of the more moderate Democratic Socialist Party while Sōhyō members generally supported the Japan Socialist Party.
  17. ^ Jeffrey Kopstein; Mark Lichbach; Stephen E. Hanson, eds. (2014). Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order. Cambridge University Press. p. 192. ISBN 9780521135740.
  18. ^ Tomohito Shinoda, ed. (1994). Struggle to Lead: The Japanese Prime Minister's Power and His Conduct of Economic Policy. Johns Hopkins University. p. 228. The conservative Democratic Socialist Party agreed to further discuss the tax reform, while the Japan Socialist Party, the Japan Communist Party, and the Kômeitô demanded the dissolution of the lower house before the reform could be introduced.
  19. ^ 及川智洋 (March 2019). "第5章 第3節 民社党－－－社会党から分裂した社民主義政党が、反共の新自由主義政党へ". 戦後革新勢力の対立と分裂. 法政大学 博士論文(政治学) 32675甲第451号. 法政大学 (Hosei University). doi:10.15002/00021756.
  20. ^ a b Ian Neary, ed. (2005). War, Revolution and Japan. Routledge. p. 140. The Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) was a right-wing social democratic party, founded by the separation from the SP in I960, and a member of the Socialist International.
  21. ^ Albrecht Rothacher, ed. (2016). The Japanese Power Elite. Springer. p. 121. ISBN 9781349229932.
  22. ^ James C. Docherty; Peter Lamb (2006). Historical Dictionary of Socialism. Scarecrow Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-8108-6477-1. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
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