Japan Achieves Socialist Unity
NAOI, TAKEO
Left and Right parties merge to form nation's largest opposition movement JAPAN ACHIEVES SOCIALIST UNITY By Takeo Naoi Tokyo Japanese Socialist unity, long heralded, became a reality on the...
...2. Paths to socialism...
...Both Left and Right Socialists wanted to draw a line between themselves and the Communists...
...I believe the Socialist leaders will become more realistic and responsible in their policies in the future...
...upon the success of the revolution, political authority would have to be "stabilized...
...The Socialists are now the largest opposition party...
...They clashed on four main points: 1. The character of the Socialist party...
...Leftist radicalism is becoming a rebellious opposition to the main current of Japanese Socialism...
...I was accompanied by a foreign correspondent, who showered the host with the type of questions indicated at the beginning of this report and expressed misgivings about the future of the new party...
...But in that case lack of experienced administrative personnel and unpreparedness in practical policy would prevent a prospective Socialist government from lasting very long...
...The new platform retains this sentence, in which one can catch glimpses of Khrushchev as well as Lenin: "The broad mass of working people, with the working class as the central core, carries inevitably the struggle for national independence, namely, socialist revolution...
...The Right naturally resisted, and so a unity committee was set up last spring to iron out differences...
...This," said our host, "is impossible when the Socialists come to power...
...In the lower house of Parliament, they have 155 seats...
...Heated discussions went on for four months, from May to August, in the course of which public opinion tended to back up the Right position, while powerful leftist union leaders vehemently supported the Left...
...If this happened, the new Socialist party might threaten not only the future of Japan but the cause of the free world...
...For this reason, many Right Socialists (including this correspondent) energetically resisted unconditional surrender to the Left position...
...When the merger negotiations began, many observers feared that the Right Socialists, because of their inferior position in the Diet, might succumb to the Left's pressure and yield their rather healthy position in favor of Leftist radicalism...
...For reasons of space, I cannot provide a complete picture here of the new Socialist platform...
...it did not open until 10:30 p.m...
...The Left party held to Marxist principles of class struggle, while the Right subscribed to the principles of democratic socialism embodied in the program of the Socialist International...
...and a non-aggression pact among Japan, the U. S., Russia and China...
...In the end...
...A resolution was even introduced to postpone adoption of the platform until after the merger...
...Though Left and Right failed to reach concrete election agreements, both campaigned under the slogan of a "united Socialist government" and pledged Socialist unity soon...
...Both sides opposed the Communist conception of a "dictatorship of the proletariat...
...The compromise platform plank reads: "Japan is formally independent, but in fact she is controlled by the U. S.-Japanese Security Pact and a network of American military and other bases...
...Now, in the new united party, this trend has been pushed aside...
...In his opinion, the Socialists would not assume power in the near future...
...the Right insisted on a "national party" embodying various elements of the population...
...In attempting to answer them, we must first explain how Socialist unity was achieved...
...had there been no such change, even the present platform would have been impossible...
...Furthermore, the Japanese people have considerable common sense...
...Our host was not disturbed...
...The 12-hour delay was caused by continued disagreement over personnel between the two parties, primarily due to the Left's stubborn insistence on its power over the new party...
...In the past, irresponsible radicalism, embodied in the famous "four principles of peace," was the main current of the Left Socialist movement...
...If, as has long been bruited, the Liberals and Democrats should merge in a united conservative party, Japan will have a genuine two-party system...
...the common estimate is that it is tipped perhaps 70-80 per cent in their favor...
...If so, how would that affect Japan's ties with the United States, her relations with the Soviet Union and Red China...
...The Left and Right Socialists had split in October 1951 over the security treaty with the United States...
...They would not permit radical changes even if the Socialists tried to introduce them...
...At a reunification rally of the two Socialist parties, the merger was officially proclaimed and Left Socialist Mosaburo Suzuki designated the new party's chairman, Right Socialist Inejiro Asanuma its secretary-general...
...Before the reunification rally, both parties held final conferences to adopt the new platform...
...The old Left Socialist platform envisaged a political or economic crisis--brought about by war or depression--as the starting point which the Socialist party, with the help of a mass movement, would utilize to assume power...
...Nevertheless, there was notable change on the part of the Left Socialist leaders and their followers in the course of the merger process...
...Throughout these processes, parliamentary procedures were regarded as supplementary rather than fundamental...
...After the merger conference, I visited a veteran Right Socialist leader who had been a member of the coalition government after the war...
...The most difficult task of the unity committee was to write a new platform...
...Though this motion failed by 230 votes to 135, two motions were carried to qualify the original platform in the future...
...4. Attitude toward Communism...
...In a year or two, they might obtain a plurality...
...At this point, my correspondent friend interrupted: "But what about the new platform urging nullification of the pact with the U.S...
...Left and Right parties merge to form nation's largest opposition movement JAPAN ACHIEVES SOCIALIST UNITY By Takeo Naoi Tokyo Japanese Socialist unity, long heralded, became a reality on the night of October 13...
...Still unsatisfied, the left wing of the Left party forced a resolution, on the very eve of the merger rally, to adhere to the "four principles of peace...
...What about the new party's platform plank calling for "complete restoration of Japanese sovereignty and territories, nullification of the Japan-U...
...The veteran politician replied: "Don't bother too much about the things they say now...
...the Democrats of Premier Hatoyama have 185 and the Liberals of former Premier Yoshida have 117...
...The merger rally was originally slated to meet at 10 a.m...
...In the new platform, the Left retreated from its old position, though it did not abandon it completely...
...They have been used to interpreting situations on the basis of Marxian concepts and then framing "policy" according to these interpretations, instead of approaching realities with an open mind...
...In the upper house, the Socialists have 70 seats to the Liberals' 90 and the Democrats' 25...
...To the Communists, Japan is a U. S. colony...
...The Left favored a "class party" based on the working class...
...This opinion on the future of Japanese Socialism may sound too optimistic...
...It may also be premature to say that Left Socialism is becoming a fractional opposition within the new Socialist party...
...The four principles are an "overall peace treaty" (including Soviet Russia and Red China), "neutralism in foreign policy," and opposition to rearmament and U. S. military bases...
...Basically, the Left called for a socialist revolution, to be brought about through class struggle...
...the platform coined a new expression, "class party of the people...
...The Left Socialist conference was stormy indeed...
...But public opinion generally is inclined to view it as a success for the Rightists...
...A Socialist majority in Japan is a long-range matter...
...and both opposed the activities of the Cominform...
...to the Right Socialists, an incompletely independent state...
...Public opinion was decidedly against this stand and more favorable to the Rightists, who wished to achieve socialism through democracy...
...These questions are being heard from all quarters...
...both Left and Right can interpret it to suit themselves...
...In sum, it is a compromise of expressions rather than of principles...
...While Communism is rejected along with imperialism and fascism, it is not labeled a brand of totalitarianism or inhuman...
...to the Left Socialists, a U. S. dependent...
...on October 13...
...The Right Socialist conference, on the other hand, strongly favored holding to the new platform without change, although some labor representatives wanted to criticize Communism more thoroughly...
...S. Security Pact and administrative agreement...
...In these circumstances, Left Socialist chairman Suzuki nearly lost control over his followers...
...Can the Socialists come to power in the near future...
...By the time that comes about, the present Socialist party will have been much matured, sufficiently so to be realistic on both internal and international policies...
...3. Japan's status...
...In the election, the Left Socialists emerged considerably stronger than the Right and thereupon began talking of absorbing, rather than merging with, the right-wingers...
...Throughout the meeting, there was one revolt or attack after another against the new platform...
...The Leftists agreed with the Rightists on a peaceful revolution through democracy, but managed to combine this with "national independence" as well as socialist revolution...
...This change, encouraged by public opinion and pressed by the logic of politics, will continue to develop...
...In his opinion, Japanese Socialists have long been under the sway of Marxism...
...Observers abroad should look at the future of the new Socialist party with patience, without worrying too much about what its leaders say now...
...The platform's criticism of Communism stops at this point, however...
...The first move toward reunification came three years later, when the new Hatoyama Government dissolved the Diet and scheduled a general election for last February...
Vol. 38 • October 1955 • No. 43
