Democratic Socialist Party (Japan)

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Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox political party The Template:Nihongo was a political party in Japan from 1960 to 1994.

History

The party was established in January 1960 by a breakaway faction of the Japanese Socialist Party.<ref name="Kapur">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Schreurs2014">Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="Kapur"/> 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.<ref name="Kapur"/>

Declassified United States government documents later revealed that covert CIA funding had also helped encourage the founding of this breakaway party.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref name="Schreurs2014"/> 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.Template: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

The DSP was rated "moderate",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> "moderate social-democratic",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Taguchi">Template:Cite web</ref> "centrist"<ref name="Centrist 1"/><ref name="Centrist 2"/><ref name="Centrist 3"/>, "centre-left"<ref name="Centre-left 1"/>, and "leftist"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> by Japanese political standards at the time, but at the same time it was also regarded as a "conservative"<ref name="Conservative 1"/><ref name="Conservative 2"/><ref name="Conservative 3">Template:Cite book</ref> 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<ref name="及川(2019)">Template:Cite book</ref> 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).<ref name="RightSoDem">Template:Cite book</ref>

The DSP strongly backed the Japan–United States alliance.<ref name="Taguchi"/> 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.<ref name="JapanCentre">Template:Cite book</ref> In addition, the DSP was a member of left-wing Socialist International.<ref name="RightSoDem"/><ref name="DochertyLamb2006">Template:Cite book</ref>

Leaders

No. Photo Name

(Birth–death)

Constituency/title Term of office
Took office Left office
1 File:NISHIO Suehiro.jpg 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 File:Nishimura Eiichi.png Eiichi Nishimura

(1904–1971)

Rep for

Osaka 2nd district (1947–93)

Osaka 5th district (1947–93)

June 1967 27 April 1971
3 File:Kasuga-Ikko-1.jpg 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

House of Representatives

Election year Candidates No. of seats won Change Status
1960 105 Template:Composition bar Template:Steady Template:No2
1963 59 Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 6 Template:No2
1967 60 Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 7 Template:No2
1969 68 Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 1 Template:No2
1972 65 Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 12 Template:No2
1976 51 Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 10 Template:No2
1979 53 Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 6 Template:No2
1980 50 Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 3 Template:No2
1983 54 Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 6 Template:No2
1986 56 Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 12 Template:No2
1990 44 Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 12 Template:No2
1993 28 Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 1 Template:Yes2

House of Councillors

Election year Seats Status
Total Contested
1962 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1965 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1968 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1971 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1974 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1977 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1980 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1983 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1986 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1989 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1992 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:No2

See also

References

Template:Reflist

Template:New Frontier Party (Japan) Template:Social Democratic Party (Japan) Template:Authority control