Socialist thought in Imperial Japan

Socialist thought in Imperial Japan appeared during the

Diet of Japan, left-socialist parties played little role in the government of the Empire of Japan

.

Early development of leftist politics

The ideology of

public services and at least some nationalization

of the means of production.

The early

labor movement and agrarian movement and increased representative democracy; however, it was more concerned with Constitutional

development than social consciousness.

The Meirokusha think tank, also founded in 1873 is also regarded as a forerunner to Japanese socialist development, due to the support of many of its members for social change. However, the political outlook of most of its members was more liberal than socialist.

Socialism in the Empire of Japan

The

Isoo Abe, Kōtoku Shūsui and Sen Katayama. It was reorganized in 1901 into Japan’s first socialist political party, the Social Democratic Party

(社会民主党, Shakai Minshu-tō). The government outlawed the new party two days after its formation.

The

social reform. This coalition was unstable, and collapsed after only a year, on 22 February 1907. The various factions went on to create small, short-lived political parties, many of which came under police scrutiny and were suppressed under the increasingly restrictive Peace Preservation Laws. The execution of Kotoku Shusui in the aftermath of the High Treason Incident

in 1911 was also a severe blow to the early socialist movement. The next few years were known as "the winter years" of socialism in Japan as political activity was next to none.

Other early socialist parties included:

Japan Labour-Farmer Party (日本労農党, Nihon Rōnōtō) (1926–1928)
Labour-Farmer Party (労働農民党, Rōdōnōmintō) (1926–1928)
Social Democratic Party (社会民主党, Shakai Minshutō) (1926–1932)
Japan Federation of Labour (総同盟, Nihon Rōdō Sōdōmei) (1919–1940)
Socialist Masses Party
(社会大衆党, Shakai Taishutō) (1932–1940)
Japan Proletarian Party
(日本無産党, Nihon Musantō) (1937)

Democratic socialism and social democracy in the Empire of Japan

Moderates who favoured mild reforms followed thinkers like

Tokyo Imperial University. Both felt that the Emperor system and other elements of Japan's traditional kokutai

were compatible with democracy and socialism.

Yoshino went on to found his own political party with a mix of

Confucian public morality, and syndicalism. Along with Tokuzō Fukuda of Keio University, Yoshino joined with others to establish Reimeikai, which was a society "to propagate ideas of democracy among the people."^[1] This group was formed in order to sponsor public lectures.^[2] The movement initially attracted many students and worker leaders. The party collapsed in 1920.^[3]

Communism in the Empire of Japan

The

Toshihiko Sakai, Kyuichi Tokuda and Sanzō Nosaka. Outlawed at once under the Peace Preservation Law, the JCP was subjected to repression and persecution by the military and police

.

The party was dominated by Hitoshi Yamakawa in its early years, but Yamakawa had the party formally dissolved in 1924, stating that the time was not right for a communist party in Japan. Also in 1924,

Comintern

and Fukumoto thought) or if it was no different from the English Monarchy as Yamakawa maintained.

On 15 July 1927, the Comintern issued a thesis attacking both Yamakawa and Fukumoto and demanding that the party strive for an immediate two-stage revolution to overthrow the Japanese government, and especially the

redistribution of wealth and favorable policy with the Soviet Union

.

In the

Home Ministry to expose the inner workings of the JCP and its strategy to undermine the existing political order. All defendants were found guilty and were given stiff sentences, but those who publicly recanted (tenkō

) their communist ideology and who agreed to rehabilitation were given much reduced sentences.

In 1931, the underground JCP issued a new thesis calling for an immediate socialist revolution. This radical approach led to a fracturing of the JCP leadership, attacks from social democrats, and more repression from the government. Overseas aid from Comintern not being forthcoming (the JCP was suspected of being infected with Trotskyism by its Soviet counterparts), the Japanese communist movement virtually ceased to exist after 1935 with the arrest of its leadership and dissolution of supporting organizations. It would not be reestablished until after the war.