The was a

political party in Japan In Japan, any organization that supports a candidate needs to register itself as a political party. Each of these parties have some local or national influence. This article lists political parties in Japan with representation in the National ...

History

The party was established in January 1960 by a breakaway faction of the Japanese Socialist Party. Led by Suehiro Nishio, it was made up of members of the most moderate wing of the former

Rightist Socialist Party of Japan The was a political party in Japan that existed between 1951 and 1955. History Following the defeat of the Japanese Socialist Party in 1948 at the hands of Japan's two main conservative parties, the Liberal Party and the Democrat Party, the ...

, 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 The was a political party in Japan that existed between 1948 and 1955. History Following the defeat of the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) in 1948 at the hands of Japan's two main conservative parties, the Liberal Party and the Democrat Party, t ...

. 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 The , more commonly known as the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in English and as the or just in Japanese, is a treaty that permits the presence of U.S. military bases on Japanese soil, and commits the two nations to defend each other if one or th ...

, known as Anpo in Japanese, and whether or not to cooperate with the

Communist Party of Japan The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...

in doing so. Declassified United States government documents later revealed that covert

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

funding had also helped encourage the founding of this breakaway party. CIA support was aimed at moderating and subverting the political opposition to the ruling

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Liberal Democratic Party, which was the main CIA funded party. 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 The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

. Two years later, in 1998, the New Frontier Party dissolved and most former DSP members eventually joined the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic Part ...

. 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. 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 Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and now centre-right

Democratic Party for the People The , abbreviated to DPP or DPFP, is a centre to centre-right political party in Japan. The party was formed on 7 May 2018 from the merger of the Democratic Party and Kibō no Tō (''Party of Hope''). In September 2020 a majority of the par ...

Political position and foreign policy

The DSP has clamed that it was an

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

party that officially advocated

democratic socialism Democratic socialism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self- ...

and had pro-American foreign policy. The DSP was rated "

moderate Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American ...

", "moderate

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

",, "

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...

" and "

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

" by Japanese political standards at the time, but at the same time it was also regarded as a "

" political party. It derived much of its financial and organisational support from the

Domei Domei is the name of: * Dōmei Tsushin, former news agency in the Empire of Japan * Japanese Confederation of Labour The Japanese Confederation of Labour (Domei; ja, 全日本労働総同盟) was a national trade union federation in Japan. The ...

private-sector labour confederation, but unlike other social-democratic political parties in Japan, the party was not hostile to accepting neoliberal policies and was

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...

that opposed to

class conflict Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...

. Due to the DSP's

syncretic Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...

political position, the party's ideology is often referred to as right-wing social democracy (右派社会民主主義). The DSP strongly backed the Japan–United States alliance and was hawkish in anti-communism and supported the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party's foreign policy. The DSP supported the

Park Chung-hee Park Chung-hee (, ; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the dictator of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979; ruling as an unelected military strongman from 1961 ...

regime in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and the

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

regime in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, and praised the coup caused by the

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. As a result, the DSP was suspected of being a '

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

party' by socialist parties in other countries. 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. In addition, the DSP was a member of left-wing

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...

Leaders

Election results

House of Representatives

House of Councillors

References

{{authority control Anti-communist organizations in Japan CIA activities in Asia Defunct political parties in Japan Defunct social democratic parties Centrist parties in Japan Centre-left parties in Asia Conservative parties in Japan Former member parties of the Socialist International Paternalistic conservatism Political parties established in 1960 Political parties disestablished in 1994 Social conservative parties Social democratic parties in Japan Syncretic political movements 1960 establishments in Japan 1994 disestablishments in Japan