Socialist party

Socialist party in U.S. history, political party formed to promote public control of the means of production and distribution. In 1898 the Social Democratic party was formed by a group led by Eugene V. Debs and Victor Berger . Two years later, Debs ran for president with the support of the more moderate wing of the Socialist Labor party , and in 1901 this group, led by Morris Hillquit , united with the Social Democratic party to form the Socialist party. The new party differed from the more radical Socialist Labor party in favoring an evolutionary, as opposed to revolutionary, socialism, and it soon outsized the older organization.

The Socialist party did not show much electoral strength until 1910 and 1911, when its candidates won numerous state and local elections. In 1912, Debs received nearly 900,000 votes (6% of the votes cast) as the party's presidential candidate. The party reached its peak membership (nearly 120,000) in that year. Allan Benson ran for president in 1916, but his percentage of the national vote dropped to 3%. In 1917 the party opposed the American entry into World War I, with a small faction of dissenting prowar members seceding from the party. Debs and a number of others were arrested for their opposition to the war, although Debs ran for president in 1920 while imprisoned and received 920,000 votes. After serving part of his sentence he was pardoned by President Harding. Following the Russian Revolution, a substantial group within the party advocated that the organization drop its evolutionary and reformist position and work instead for the immediate overthrow of the capitalist system. In 1919 this faction withdrew from the party, thereby substantially weakening it, and formed the Communist party of the United States.

In 1924 the Socialist party supported the Progressive party candidate for president, Robert La Follette , but in 1928 it once again nominated its own candidate, Norman Thomas , who ran in the following five presidential elections. The party lost much of its support during the 1930s when the New Deal came into effect, implementing many programs that the Socialists had long demanded. Since then the party's influence has steadily declined. In the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections Darlington Hoopes ran as the Socialist candidate, receiving fewer than 2,500 votes in the latter election. Although other minor parties espousing socialism currently participate in national elections, the Socialist party decided in 1960 to withdraw from national politics and concentrate on education. Since the 1950s the party has reorganized and changed its name several times, with the main group taking the name Social Democrats, USA in 1972.

Bibliography: See W. B. Hesseltine, The Rise and Fall of Third Parties (1948, repr. 1957); I. Kipnis, The American Socialist Movement (1952, repr. 1972); D. Shannon, The Socialist Party of America (1955, repr. 1967); H. Nash, Jr., Third Parties in American Politics (1959); J. Weinstein, The Decline of Socialism in America, 1912-1925 (1967); R. W. Judd, Socialist Cities: Municipal Politics and the Grass Roots of American Socialism (1989).

Socialist Party US political party. It was formed in 1901 by the unification of the Social Democratic Party and the Socialist Labor Party. Dedicated to the state ownership of all public utilities and important industries, its best-known leaders were Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas.

Socialist Party, Japan (Japan Socialist Party, JSP) Japan's largest socialist party and the main opposition party between 1955 and 1993. As it was formed by an alliance of Christian socialists, millenarian Marxists, trade union members, radicals, and liberals, it is not surprising that the factions of the JSP, like those of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), have been a source of conflict throughout the organization's history. In the first years after its formation in 1945, the JSP was propelled into government as the largest partner in two ruling coalitions. However, the experience proved an unhappy one after government policy opened divisions within the party, while the involvement of leading members of the cabinet in the Shôwa Denkô scandal did much to sully the new party's image.

The JSP divided between left and right socialist parties in 1951 over the issue of Japan's peace settlement with the USA, but reunited in 1955. In the intervening period, the strength of the left-wing faction grew thanks to unprecedented electoral success and they emerged stronger than the JSP's right wing. Despite the merger, factional rivalry continued to such a degree that left-wing activists were able to drive out Nishio Suehiro and 40 of his followers from among groups on the party's right in 1959. This defection had the effect of undermining the JSP's confidence in its own abilities to provide a viable challenge to the LDP for many years afterwards. Indeed, the party's organizational and Diet strength suffered chronic difficulties from this period. The JSP's lower house strength that had peaked in 1958 at 166, was 118 in 1972.

While the national party has rarely been free from crisis, local party organizations have had some spectacular successes. By the mid-1970s, as many as 137 local chief executives controlled a population of 40 million with the backing of Japan's opposition parties, including the JSP. Many of the JSP's problems have stemmed from its reliance on a combination of the trade union vote and rural constituencies. With a poor organization and few material spoils to compete for, the JSP demonstrated a tendency towards ideological disputes.

The JSP recorded a record low of 69 seats in the 1993 House of Representatives elections. Ironically, this disappointing performance brought the JSP into power at the head of a coalition government for the first time in nearly 50 years. The Party continued in government until 1998, but its coalition with its erstwhile foe, the LDP (since 1994), was deeply divisive within its own ranks. In 1996 many members left to form the New Socialist Party. More consequential was the defection in that year of many members to form the Democratic Party of Japan. In 1996 the party changed its name to the Social Democratic Party. As a result of its haemorrhaging support in the late 1990s, the Socialists became a marginal parliamentary force in the 2000 elections, when it obtained but 19 seats.