The Japan Cooperative Party (, ''Nihon Kyōdōtō'') was a political party in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

History

On 18 December 1945, the party was established by the center of the former ''Sangyō Kumiai'' () such as cooperatist and dairy farmer . It initially had around 20 members, and journalist was assumed chairperson of the party. On 4 January 1946, the

Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (), or SCAP, was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) ...

(SCAP) published a memorandum pertaining to the

Purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an ...

(from public office) based on the

Potsdam Declaration The Potsdam Declaration, or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, ...

and an order from the

State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee The State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee (SWNCC, "swink") was a United States federal government committee created in December 1944 to address the political-military issues involved in the occupation of the Axis powers following the end of World ...

(SWNCC). Only two of the party's 23 legislative members were able to escape the Purge. It won 14 seats in the April 1946 elections. On the other hand, the dominant

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

could not win an absolute majority, so the Shidehara Cabinet did not resign and began maneuvering to cling to power. In response, the party supported a movement for the campaign to oust the cabinet advocated by the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

, and formed a four-party joint committee of the Japan Cooperative Party, the Socialist Party, the Liberal Party, and the Communist Party. The four-party joint committee started negotiations for a coalition government after defeating the cabinet, but the idea eventually failed due to disagreements within the subcommittee. In May, it merged with several smaller parties to form the Cooperative Democratic Club, later renamed the Cooperative Democratic Party.

Policies

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, several new parties emerged in pursuit of co-operatism as a modification of capitalism, the Japan Cooperative Party was its origin. The party advocated cooperative socialism, co-operatism and ''Kōtō Goji'' () in its platform. In its policy outline, it described co-operatism as "stabilize the lives of the people through

mutual aid Mutual aid is an organizational model where voluntary, collaborative exchanges of resources and services for common benefit take place amongst community members to overcome social, economic, and political barriers to meeting common needs. This ...

between cities and farming / fishing villages centred on cooperatives, and establish and encourage a production system that integrates agriculture, manufacturing and commerce." In addition, it advocated defeat the

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

capital and every feudalistic element, and aimed at

centrism Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

(i.e. stand between capitalism and socialism). The party's mainly base was urban manufacturers and merchants, landlords, wealthy peasants, and small- to medium-sized manufacturers and merchants.

History

Policies

Election results

House of Representatives

References

Further reading