Japan: Syakai Minsyuto

The successes of the workers' movement were disturbed by the Japanese ruling classes. The Japanese government, led by Yamagata, one of the most prominent leaders of the Japanese military, adopted in early 1900 a so-called police law on the protection of order, which initiated a decisive attack. The labor movement was actually outlawed. The police law forbade strikes.

The program documents of the Syakai minxuto (Social Democratic Party), published in the workers' press, clearly demonstrated the immaturity and theoretical weakness of the young Japanese socialist movement in these years. In the general part of the program, Syakai said:

§ 1. Regardless of racial differences and differences in political systems, it is necessary to extend the principle - all people are brothers ...

§ 3. It is necessary to completely destroy the system of division into classes.

§ 4. It is necessary to completely nationalize land and capital, which are necessary as means of production.

§ 5. It is necessary to fully socialize such means of communication as railways, sea transport, canals and bridges.

§ 6. The distribution of public finances should be conducted impartially.

§ 7. It is necessary to ensure that the people receive equal political rights ...

Despite the moderation of the program, the Social Democratic Party was soon banned.

If, before the attempt to create an independent proletarian party, many Japanese socialists did not separate themselves from bourgeois liberals, then in subsequent years the socialist intelligentsia dissociated themselves from them and, despite some errors, took an independent position. Among the Japanese socialists, discussion of theoretical problems began, disputes arose on the topical issues of the workers' movement, and the main lines emerged, according to which the division between the revolutionary wing and the opportunists took place in the future. Japan: Syakai Minsyuto ...

Many liberal politicians who called themselves "socialists" openly adopted reactionary positions. The external expression of this evolution of Japanese bourgeois liberalism was the creation in 1900 of the political party Seyyukai (Society of Political Friends). This party was created by the leader of the Japanese bureaucracy, Prince Ito. It was supposed to serve as a support for the imperial government in the parliament. With the help of various baits (beginning with the promises of "nomination" and ending with direct bribery), most of the deputies who joined the party of Dziyuto in the past entered the new party. The Seyyukai Party reflected the interests of some of the landlords and the bourgeoisie, most closely associated with the government bureaucracy.

The program of Seyyukai put forward the task of strengthening the Japanese mo-naoahic state system.

Japan: Syakai Minsyuto