ABSTRACT
In the Japanese political context, the Japan Socialist party (JSP) is recognized as indigenous, even traditional, despite its leftist rhetoric. Except for a brief period as one element in a coalition government in 1947 and 1948, the JSP has never been in power at the national level. Many of the JSP’s policies were conceived in reaction against the conservative governments of the 1950s, particularly against the power of what the JSP chose to call “monopoly capital.” In the first post-war general election for the House of Representatives, that of April 1946, the JSP won 92 seats to become the third largest party. The formal organizational structure of the JSP incorporates substantial elements of democracy. The most important democratic element in the party organization is the Congress, which must be held at least one per year. The principal organizational and financial backing for the JSP since the 1950s has been provided by the Sohyo Federation of labor unions.
