Japan Socialist Party

Japanese: 日本社会党 - にほんしゃかいとう

Founded on November 2, 1945 (Showa 20) by members of prewar proletarian parties excluding the Communist Party, it is Japan's leading social democratic party and existed until January 19, 1996 (Heisei 8), when it changed its name to the Social Democratic Party. The history of the Socialist Party can be divided into five periods.

[Taguchi Fukuji]

First Period

The first period was from the party's founding until it split into the left and right Socialist parties in 1951. The Socialist Party, which was founded under the initiative of the anti-communist right wing, also considered the revision and continuation of the Emperor System in its new constitutional concept based on the theory of national sovereignty, and did not participate in the Democratic People's Front movement in early 1946 due to its anti-communist stance. In the general election held in April 1947 against the backdrop of the rise of the labor movement that peaked with the February 1st strike, the party won 143 seats and became the largest party, forming a three-party coalition cabinet of the Socialist Party, Democratic Party, and People's Cooperative Party under Katayama Tetsu. The Katayama Cabinet enacted the National Public Service Law and the New Police Law based on the new constitution, and revised the Civil Code, but not only was the Coal Mine National Administration Law, which was its policy flagship, watered down, but it was also forced to adopt policies such as suppressing labor wages in order to rebuild the economy, which led to a rebellion by Suzuki Mosaburo and other leftists within the party, leading to its resignation in February 1948. Nishio Suehiro and eight others also joined the cabinet of Ashida Hitoshi (Democratic Party), but this cabinet also incurred discontent among workers by depriving national civil servants of their collective bargaining and strike rights through Cabinet Order No. 201, and the Showa Denko Scandal led to the party's en masse resignation in October 1948. The Socialist Party then fell to 48 seats in the general election of January 1949, and at the party's reconstruction conference in April of the same year, the so-called Morito (Tatsuo)-Inamura (Junzo) debate took place over the party's line and character, between the right wing, which advocated reformist gradualism and a party for the masses, and the left wing, which advocated socialist revolution and a class-based party. At the 5th convention in January 1950, the conflict between the left and right became complicated over personnel matters and the youth division, which led to a temporary split in the party, but at the 7th convention in January 1951, it intensified again over the issue of peace and peace, and with the left in the lead, the Four Principles of Peace - complete peace, neutrality, opposition to military bases, and opposition to rearmament - were adopted, and leftist Suzuki Mosaburo was elected as chairman to fill the vacant post. However, at an extraordinary convention in October, just after the peace conference, a fierce clash occurred between the left wing's opposition to both the peace and security treaties and the right wing's support for peace, resulting in the party splitting into a left-wing and a right-wing Socialist Party.

[Taguchi Fukuji]

Second Period

The second period spanned the 1950s and the early 1960s, but can be divided into three sub-stages.

(1) The period from the split of the Socialist Party to its reunification in October 1955. During this time, the Socialist Party joined forces with the growing General Council of Japanese Trade Unions (Sohyo) (the "Left Socialist Party-Sohyo bloc"). The Left Socialist Party, which clearly adopted a peaceful and anti-war line, overtook the Right Socialist Party in terms of the number of seats. In terms of power, the Left Socialist Party had the upper hand. However, the Party compromised with the Right Socialist Party on its platform (which advocated a transition to socialism through a peaceful revolution and the creation of a class-based mass party) and personnel (Chairman Suzuki Mosaburo, Secretary-General Asanuma Inajiro), and reunification was achieved.

(2) After reunification, the Socialist Party took on the constitutional revision and rearmament plans of the Hatoyama Ichiro Cabinet, and the subsequent revision of the Japan-US Security Treaty by the Kishi Nobusuke Cabinet, under the banner of constitutional protection, peace and opposition to the Security Treaty, and was particularly active as a central force in the National Conference to Prevent Security Treaty Revision in 1960. During this time, Nishio Suehiro and others left the party and formed the Democratic Socialist Party (later the Minshato) (January 1960), and after the Security Treaty struggle ended, then-Chairman Asanuma was stabbed to death by a right-wing youth.

(3) After Asanuma's death, Secretary-General Eda Saburo, who became the party's highest leader, advocated a structural reform course at an extraordinary party conference in November 1960, which aimed to achieve socialism by improving the economic structure. However, the left wing, centered around the Socialist Association, sharply attacked this as reformism, and Eda was ousted (at the 22nd conference in December 1962, he was succeeded by Secretary-General Narita Tomomi). At the 24th conference in December 1964, a new programmatic document entitled "The Road to Socialism in Japan" was adopted, outlining a vision for a transitional government that would pave the way for socialism by forming an "anti-monopoly national front" with the working class at its core (this was reinforced and completed at the party conference in 1966).

[Taguchi Fukuji]

Third Period

The third period was from the late 1960s to the end of the 1970s. During the decade from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, the contradictions brought about by the rapid economic growth became apparent, especially in large cities. This was a time when major local governments across Japan, including Tokyo, produced progressive leaders (prefectural governors and mayors who were elected with the official endorsement, recommendation, and support of the Socialist Party or the Communist Party, against the backdrop of the rising resident movement at the time). The Socialist Party played a major role in realizing this by cooperating with the Communist Party to form a coalition, and at its 37th convention in January 1974, it announced a plan for a national unity government based on a national front that was constitutional, democratic, and neutral. However, in the late 1970s, when the economy shifted to low growth, major progressive local governments collapsed one after another due to counterattacks from the conservative side and increasing friction between the Socialist Party and the Communist Party. Furthermore, the Socialist Party was unable to break away from its dependency on labor unions (Sohyo) and its organizational structure as a parliamentary party, and as a result of the rise in the number of opposition parties from the late 1960s onwards, a pincer attack by the Komeito and Communist parties, especially in urban areas, the decline of Sohyo, which was the party's main organizational base, the departure of Vice Chairman Eda in 1977, and the formation of the Social Democratic Union in March 1978, the party's strength showed a long-term decline after its defeat in the general election in December 1969, and its relative vote share continued to fall below 20%. During this period, the party's chairmen were replaced by Sasaki Kozo (May 1965), Katsumata Seiichi (August 1967), Narita Tomomi (October 1968), and Asukata Kazuo (December 1977), but the party's strength did not recover.

[Taguchi Fukuji]

Fourth Period

The fourth period was from 1980 to the general election of July 1993. The party's basic policy since 1970 was to unite all opposition parties, which was full of contradictions between the SDP-Communist alliance on the one hand and the SDP-Kōmin-Democratic Party on the other, but in January 1980, the Asukata executive approached the centrist forces that had advanced in the 1979 general election the previous year, adopted a government plan that excluded the Communist Party, and embarked on the SDP-Kōmin-Democratic Party line. In line with this, the party also attempted to revise its policies on security and defense issues, such as by advocating the "unconstitutionality and legality" of the Self-Defense Forces, and in January 1986 adopted the "New Declaration" entitled "Creation through Love, Wisdom and Strength" as a programmatic document to replace the 1955 "Platform" and the 1964 "Way." In terms of personnel, Ishibashi Masashi, who had been chairman since September 1983, resigned after the party's crushing defeat in the July 1986 simultaneous House of Representatives and House of Councillors elections (with 86 seats in the House of Representatives), and Doi Takako was elected as chairman in an internal party election (September of the same year). Attention was focused on whether the "realization" of the party's political line and the new personnel would lead to a rebuilding of the party, and the party significantly increased its number of seats in the July 1989 House of Councillors election and the February 1990 general election, putting a stop to its downward trend.

[Taguchi Fukuji]

Fifth Period

From the 1993 general election to the change of party name to "Social Democratic Party". As a result of the general election in July 1993, the LDP lost its majority, and in August, a coalition of eight parties led to the formation of the Hosokawa Morihiro administration, with the Socialist Party joining this coalition government. However, when the Hata Tsutomu Cabinet was formed in April the following year, the Socialist Party withdrew from the ruling coalition in protest against the formation of a unified faction called "Kaishin" by the Shinseito and other parties, and on June 30 of the same year, the Murayama Cabinet was formed as a coalition of the LDP, the Socialist Party, and the New Party Sakigake, headed by Socialist Party Chairman Murayama Tomiichi (until January 1996). Then, at the 64th convention of the Japan Socialist Party held on January 19, 1996, the Socialist Party changed its name to the Social Democratic Party, bringing an end to its half-century history.

[Taguchi Fukuji]

"Documents on 50 Years of the Japan Socialist Party" (1995, Japan Socialist Party Central Headquarters Organized Press Public Relations Committee)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

1945年（昭和20）11月2日に、共産党を除く戦前の無産政党関係者で結成した、日本の代表的な社会民主主義政党で、1996年（平成8）1月19日に党名を社会民主党に変更するまで存続した。社会党の歴史は五つの時期にくぎることができる。

［田口富久治］

第一期

第一期は結党以来1951年の左右両社会党への分裂までである。反共右派主導で発足した社会党は、その新憲法構想も「国家主権論」で天皇制の修正存続を考えていたし、1946年初頭の民主人民戦線運動にも反共主義の立場から参加しなかった。1947年の二・一ストをピークとする労働運動の高揚を背景として行われた4月総選挙では143人の当選者を得て第一党となり、片山哲(てつ)を首班とする社会・民主・国民協同の3党連立内閣を組織した。片山内閣は新憲法に基づく国家公務員法、新警察法の制定、民法改正などを実現したが、その政策的表看板であった炭鉱国家管理法は骨抜きにされたばかりか、経済再建のため労働賃金を抑制するなどの政策をとらざるをえなかったため、鈴木茂三郎(もさぶろう)ら党内左派の「造反」にあい、1948年2月総辞職した。続く芦田均(あしだひとし)（民主党）内閣にも西尾末広(すえひろ)ら8名が入閣したが、同内閣も政令二〇一号で国家公務員の団体交渉権・争議権を剥奪(はくだつ)して労働者の不満を買い、昭電疑獄事件で1948年10月総辞職した。その後1949年1月の総選挙で社会党は48議席にまで転落し、同年4月の再建大会では党の路線と性格とをめぐって、改良的漸進と国民大衆の党を唱える右派と、社会主義革命と階級政党を主張する左派との間にいわゆる森戸（辰男(たつお)）・稲村（順三）論争が行われた。左右の対立は1950年1月の第5回大会では人事と青年部問題をめぐって紛糾し一時党分裂を招いたが、1951年1月の第7回大会では講和と平和問題をめぐってふたたび激化し、左派優位のうちに全面講和・中立・基地反対・再軍備反対の平和四原則が採択され、空席の委員長に左派の鈴木茂三郎が選出された。しかし講和会議直後の10月、臨時大会で、左派の講和・安保両条約反対論と右派の講和賛成論が激突し、左右両社会党に分裂した。

［田口富久治］

第二期

第二期は1950年代から1960年代前半までであるが、三つの小段階に区別されよう。

(1)社会党分裂から1955年10月の再統一に至るまでの時期で、この間に伸長しつつあった日本労働組合総評議会（総評）と結び付き（「左社・総評ブロック」）、平和・反戦の路線を明確にした左社が議席数でも右社を追い抜き、勢力的には左派優位のもとで、ただし綱領（平和革命による社会主義への移行と階級的大衆政党をうたった）と人事では右派と妥協して（委員長鈴木茂三郎、書記長浅沼稲次郎）再統一がなった。

(2)再統一後の社会党は、鳩山(はとやま)一郎内閣の改憲・再軍備、続く岸信介(のぶすけ)内閣の日米安保条約改定に対して、護憲・平和、安保反対の旗を掲げて正面から対決し、とくに60年安保闘争においては安保改定阻止国民会議の中心勢力として活動した。この間、西尾末広らの脱党と民主社会党（後の民社党）の結成（1960年1月）、また安保闘争の終結後、当時の浅沼委員長の右翼青年による刺殺事件が起こった。

(3)浅沼の死後、党の最高指導者となった江田三郎書記長は、1960年11月の臨時党大会で、経済構造の改良によって社会主義に至るという構造改革路線を提唱したが、社会主義協会を中心とする左派はこれを改良主義として鋭く攻撃し、江田を追い落とし（1962年12月第22回大会。後任書記長成田知巳(ともみ)）、1964年12月の第24回大会では、労働者階級を中核とする「反独占国民戦線」の形成によって社会主義への道を切り開く過渡的政権構想を示した新しい綱領的文書「日本における社会主義への道」を採択した（1966年党大会で補強・完結）。

［田口富久治］

第三期

第三期は1960年代後半から1970年代末までである。1960年代後半から1970年代前半にかけてのほぼ10年は、経済の高度成長のもたらした矛盾がとくに大都市部において顕在化したのを背景として、東京をはじめ全国の主要な自治体で革新首長（当時の住民運動の高揚を背景に、社会党・共産党系の公認・推薦・支持で当選した都道府県知事や市町村長）が輩出した時期である。社会党は共産党との連携による社共共闘を軸にその実現に大きな役割を果たし、1974年1月の第37回大会では、護憲・民主・中立の国民戦線を基礎にした国民統一政府の構想を発表した。しかし低成長経済に移行した1970年代後半には、保守側の反撃、社共間の軋轢(あつれき)の増大などによって、主要な革新自治体は次々と崩壊していった。また、労組（総評）依存、議員党的組織体質を脱却できなかった社会党は、1960年代後半以降の野党の多党化、とくに都市部における公明、共産両党による挟撃や、党の主要な組織基盤である総評の地盤沈下、1977年の江田副委員長の離党、1978年3月の社会民主連合の結成などによって、1969年12月総選挙の敗北以降、長期低落傾向を示し、相対得票率で20％を割り続けた。この間、委員長は、佐々木更三(こうぞう)（1965年5月）、勝間田清一(かつまたせいいち)（1967年8月）、成田知巳（1968年10月）、飛鳥田一雄(あすかたいちお)（1977年12月）と交替したが、党勢の回復はならなかった。

［田口富久治］

第四期

第四期は1980年から1993年7月の総選挙までである。もともと1970年以降の党の基本方針である全野党共闘路線は一方での社共共闘、他方での社公民路線という矛盾をはらんでいたが、1980年1月、当時の飛鳥田執行部は、前年1979年総選挙で進出した中道勢力に接近し、共産党を除外する政権構想を採択し、社公民路線に踏み切った。それに伴って、政策的にも安保・防衛問題で自衛隊の「違憲合法論」を唱えるなど手直しを試みるとともに、1955年「綱領」、1964年「道」にかわる綱領的文書として、1986年1月には「愛と知と力による創造」と題する「新宣言」を採択した。人事面では、1983年9月以来の石橋政嗣(まさし)委員長が1986年7月の衆参同時選挙での惨敗（衆院議席86）ののち辞任、党内公選で土井たか子を委員長に選んだ（同年9月）。政治路線の「現実化」と新人事が党再建につながるか注目され、1989年（平成1）7月参院選挙、1990年2月総選挙で議席を大幅増、低落傾向に歯止めをかけた。

［田口富久治］

第五期

1993年総選挙から「社会民主党」への党名変更まで。1993年7月総選挙の結果、自民党が過半数割れをおこし、8月には8党派の連立による細川護熙(もりひろ)政権が成立するが、社会党はこの連合政権に加わった。しかし、翌1994年4月の羽田孜(つとむ)内閣の発足に際しては、新生党などによる統一会派「改新」の結成に反発して、社会党は与党から離脱し、同年6月30日には、村山富市(とみいち)社会党委員長を首班とする自民・社会・新党さきがけの連立による村山内閣が成立した（1996年1月まで）。そして、1996年1月19日に開催された日本社会党第64回大会で社会党は党名を社会民主党に変更し、半世紀に及ぶ歴史をひとまず閉じたのである。

［田口富久治］

『『資料日本社会党50年』（1995・日本社会党中央本部機関紙広報委員会）』