Proletarian Party - Proletarian Party

A general term for social democratic political parties in Japan before World War II. Excludes illegal Communist parties. The term proletariat, which was popular in the 1920s, is said to be the origin of the name. Around 1923 (Taisho 12), movements to form proletarian political parties began, centered around the Japan General Federation of Labor and the Japan Farmers Union, with the aim of realizing universal suffrage. However, due to left-right conflicts within the labor movement and a struggle for leadership in forming political parties, progress was slow, and the Farmer-Labor Party was finally formed in January 1925, but was banned from associating the same day. The party then re-established the Labor-Farmer Party (Labor-Farmer Party) in March 1926, excluding the left wing, but the party became increasingly left-leaning, and the right wing left the party in October, and the party thereafter operated as a legal party affiliated with the Communist Party. The defectors formed the Social Democratic Party and the Japan Labor-Farmer Party in December of the same year, and these two proletarian parties became the prototypes of social democratic parties, the former being right-wing, and the latter being centrist, excluding both left and right. From then on, Japan's proletarian party movement, with the addition of the left-wing Labor-Farmer Party (New Labor-Farmer Party) formed in November 1929 (Showa 4), fought for democracy in difficult circumstances, with three factions - left, right and center - repeatedly splitting and merging. In the first general election after universal suffrage was introduced, the proletarian parties won a total of 490,000 votes (5% of the vote) and 8 elected members, but in 1930 they garnered 520,000 votes and 5 elected members, and in 1932 they stagnated with 260,000 votes and 5 elected members. In the general election of 1936, amid a sense of crisis over fascism, the proletarian parties won 22 seats, but after the start of the Sino-Japanese War they entered a period of hardship and change of heart. That is to say, in December 1937 the left-wing Japan Proletarian Party (formed in March) was ordered to disband, and the Social Mass Party (formed in July 1932), a merger of moderate and right-wing parties, declared its support for the war effort, and in July 1940 it was dissolved and merged with the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, thus bringing to an end the proletarian party movement which had lasted for around 15 years. The weakness of the proletarian party movement was due in part to problems with the organisational tactics and methods of struggle of the parties themselves, but fundamentally it was due to the immaturity of Japanese democratic politics.

[Hiroshi Tanaka]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

第二次世界大戦前の日本における社会民主主義諸政党の総称。非合法共産党は除く。1920年代に普及していた無産階級という語がこの名称の起源といわれる。1923年（大正12）ごろより、普通選挙の実現を目ざして日本労働総同盟、日本農民組合などを中心に無産政党結成の動きが始まった。しかし、労働運動内部の左右の対立、政党結成の主導権争いもあってなかなか進まず、25年1月にようやく農民労働党が誕生したが、即日結社禁止の処置を被る。ついで同党は26年3月に左派を排除した労働農民党（労農党）を再建したが、党内が左傾化したため10月には右派が脱党、以後同党は共産党系の合法政党として活動する。脱党派は同年12月に社会民衆党と日本労農党を結成するが、この二つの無産政党はそれぞれ、前者は右派系、後者は左・右両派を排除する中間派系の社会民主主義政党の原型となった。以後、日本の無産政党運動は、29年（昭和4）11月に結成された左派系の労農党（新労農党）を加えて、左・右・中間の三派の対立、離合集散を繰り返しつつ困難な状況のなかで民主主義運動を闘う。普通選挙実施後最初の総選挙では無産政党は全体で49万票（得票率5％）、当選者8名を獲得したが、30年得票数52万票、当選者5名、32年26万票、5名と伸び悩んだ。36年の総選挙では、ファッショ化の危機感のなかで無産政党は22議席を獲得したが、日中戦争開始後は受難と変節の時代を迎える。すなわち、37年12月には左派系の日本無産党（3月結成）が解散を命じられ、また中間派と右派の合同した社会大衆党（1932年7月結成）は戦争協力の態度を表明し、40年7月には解党して大政翼賛会に合流、ここに約15年にわたる無産政党運動はその幕を閉じた。無産政党運動の弱さは政党それ自体の組織論や闘争方法にも問題があったが、基本的には日本の民主政治の未成熟によるものであった。

［田中　浩］

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