| abstract
| - The Japanese Nationalist Party traces its roots to the Konkikai (紺旗會, literally “Blue Flag Society”), a secret Japanese nationalist organization that was founded by Nagayama Yoshida, a Spanish-Japanese War veteran, and Kita Ikki, a nationalist-minded intellectual, in 1907. The Konkikai’s political ideology was mostly a syncretic amalgamation of militant Japanese nationalism, social progressivism and economic socialism. In 1910, most of Konkikai members and its leadership decided to participate in mainstream Japanese politics by joining the Constitutional Nationalist Party (立憲國民黨 Rikken Kokumintō), led by Inukai Tsuyoshi. In the 1912 General Election, the new party secured 95 seats, making it the single largest opposition party (to the Constitutional Party) in the Lower House. In January 1913, about half of the Constitutional Nationalist Party defected to join the Constitutional Party (憲政黨 Kenseitō). These left the party consisted mostly by the Konkikai-affiliated members who belong to the party's left-wing Toseiha ("Control") faction. The Toseiha leaders opposed what so-called "filthy defection" of some party members and parliamentarians toward pro-government Kenseito and rallied solely behind Inukai Tsuyoshi against the policy of Prime Minister Katsura Taro for creating a "big-tent" royalist party that had been stealing most of the party members. In April 1913, Inukai, advised by Nagayama and other Toseiha leaders, called a general party meeting for adopting more progressive programs into party's platforms. Resulting platforms of the April meeting were the nationalization of the railways, land reform and clear advocacy for the cause of working classes. This platforms' adoption stirred the party more toward the left of political spectrum and alienated it with most of conservative members of the parliament. Nagayama, as the foremost left-wing party leader, was appointed as the party's general secretary in May 1913, putting the Toseiha faction at the top of party leadership. Although the party was still nominally a moderate liberal party as it was still headed by Inukai, in practice, the Nationalist Party became espousing more radical views on nationalism and socialism. While the conservative leaders had toying with an idea for re-joining more larger Seiyukai Party in 1914, the Toseiha leaders insisted the Nationalist Party should retain its position as the "true opposition" party against the Seiyukai and the Kenseito. By 1915, the Nationalist Party had became the foremost left-minded party in the Japanese politics for its strong advocacy on working classes. The Nihon Nomin Kumiai (日本農民組合 “Japanese Farmers’ Union”), an agrarian movement under Arima Yoriyasu and the Yuaikai (友愛會 "Fraternity"), a moderate labour organization under Suzuki Bunji, although not affiliated with the party, were associated with the Toseiha leaders, during the late 1910s. The party regained its momentum in 1917 in which 70 of its candidates were elected to the Diet. Among of its elected members are Inukai Tsuyoshi and Nagayama Yoshida. During his parliamentary tenure, Nagayama quickly built a rapport among other parliamentarians for his opposition on the imperial house and support for the labor and agrarian issues. By 1910s standards, Nagayama can be called as the sole socialist-minded member at the Japanese Diet, making him outstanding among the leftist circle. With the restriction on the leftists' political activities still raging on, the leftist intellectuals, including the Marxists, anarchists and republicans, soon joined the Nationalists in mass between 1918 and 1919. By 1918, the party had growing strength with 90,000 members throughout the nation. During the Rice Riots of 1918, the party strongly against the government’s violent suppression on the demonstrators, especially the Hibiya Park Massacre that killed 50 individuals and injured 327 others. Albeit a caution from Inukai, Nagayama stood up alone against the government's mishandling of the situation by delivering a fiery speech before a session of Lower House on November 13, 1918. His speech shocked both the pro-government and opposition parties for attacking the cabinet as well as the unpopularity of the Imperial Regency. Nagayama's attitudes on the November 13 session of Lower House alarmed the establishment that he might harboring revolutionary tendency of the people and even compared him with Vladimir Lenin. Two days later, Nagayama was kidnapped and detained by the Kempeitai secret police, for about 10 hours on November 15, 1918. Nagayama’s kidnapping sparked a protest from the Constitutional Nationalist members on the Imperial Diet who demanded the immediate resignation of Constitutional Party’s government under Prime Minister Iwasaki Hisaya. Iwasaki resigned as prime minister on November 19, 1918 and replaced by an Army figure, Hasegawa Yoshimichi, instead of Hara Takahashi, a Constitutional Party candidate for the premiership that had been approved by most of political factions on the Parliament. Under Hasegawa, the Imperial government took more radical measures in response on the Japanese revolutionary situation by implemented the Martial Law that subsequently approved by Prince Regent Fushimi Sadanaru on November 25, 1918. With the election of Hasegawa as prime minister, the Constitutional Nationalist members on the Diet were resigned en masse as an act of protest. On December 1, 1918, Inukai Tsuyoshi resigned from his position as the president of the Constitutional Nationalist Party and Nagayama Yoshida, leading pro-revolution figure, was elected to replace him. With Nagayama as the party leader, the Constitutional Nationalists merged with Kokuryukai, Rōsōkai, and other smaller nationalist groups to form the Nationalist Party of Japan on December 13, 1918. The new party was organized along the Democratic Centralist lines, similar with the Bolshevik Party in order to become a vanguard party of the farmers, workers, intellectuals, and merchants. The Nationalist Party adopted a deep blue flag with white star on its centre as the party's symbol. Under Nagayama’s leadership, the Nationalist Party took a pro-revolution stance and openly called for the establishment of the Republican government in Japan. The Nationalists undertook an extra-parliamentary struggle against the Japanese ruling establishment by symbolically moved its headquarters on December 21, 1918 to Nagoya that already fallen under the influence of revolutionary movement, before finally moved to Kyoto, the old capital of Japan, on January 7, 1919.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)