Japan Cooperative Party

A centrist political party founded on December 18, 1945 by Funada Naka, Sengoku Kotaro, Kita Katsutaro, and others. Its chairman was Yamamoto Sanehiko. Based on landlords, wealthy farmers, and small and medium-sized merchants and manufacturers, the party advocated the protection of the Imperial line and cooperative socialism in its platform, and in its policy outline called for "the establishment of a production system in which farmers, merchants, and workers are one" and "the abolition of the monopoly of capital and all feudal elements." It aimed for centrist politics that stood halfway between capitalism and socialism. In the general election of April 1946, 14 members were elected, and in response to the Shidehara Kijuro cabinet's continued tenure in power, the party formed the Joint Committee to Overthrow the Shidehara Cabinet with the Japan Liberal Party, the Japan Socialist Party, and the Japanese Communist Party, and launched a campaign to overthrow the cabinet. On May 24, 1946, it merged with the Japan Farmers Party and the Hyuga Democratic Party, which also advocated cooperativism, to form the Cooperative Democratic Party.

[Kenji Yoshida]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1945年（昭和20）12月18日、船田中(ふなだなか)、千石(せんごく)興太郎、北勝太郎らが結成した中道政党。委員長は山本実彦(さねひこ)。地主・富農・中小商工業者を基盤とし、綱領に皇統護持と協同社会主義を掲げ、政策大綱でも「農工商勤労者一如の生産体制の確立」「資本の独占と凡(あら)ゆる封建的要素の打破」をうたうなど、資本主義と社会主義の中間にたつ中道政治を目ざした。1946年4月の総選挙で14名の当選をみ、幣原喜重郎(しではらきじゅうろう)内閣の政権居座りに対しては日本自由党、日本社会党、日本共産党と幣原内閣打倒共同委員会を結成し、倒閣運動を展開した。1946年5月24日、同じ協同主義にたつ日本農民党、日向(ひゅうが)民主党と合同、協同民主党となった。

［吉田健二］

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