Liberal Party (Japan, 1945–1955)

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The Liberal Party ( Japanese 自由 党 , Jiyū-tō ) was a political party in Japan and a forerunner of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). It existed with several name changes from 1945 to 1955.

Liberal Party of Japan

After the end of the Second World War , some politicians of the bourgeois prewar party Rikken Seiyūkai founded the Liberal Party of Japan ( 日本 自由 党 , Nihon Jiyū-tō ) under the leadership of Hatoyama Ichirō . Yoshida Shigeru , Ashida Hitoshi and Miki Bukichi were also among the founders . In the Shūgiin election in 1946 , the party was the strongest force; However, shortly afterwards, Chairman Hatoyama was banned from office by the American occupation authorities , so that Yoshida took over the party chairmanship and leadership of the government.

Some dissatisfied members around Ashida Hitoshi left the party in 1947 and founded the Democratic Party together with the members of the Nihon Shimpotō ("Progressive Party of Japan") . This split in the bourgeois camp led to the victory of the Socialist Party of Japan in the 1947 Shūgiin election , which formed a coalition with the Democrats.

Democratic Liberal Party

However, sections of the Democratic Party were unhappy about the coalition with the socialists and left the party. These MPs returned in 1948 to the Liberal Party, which from then on was called the Democratic Liberal Party ( 民主 自由 党 , Minshu-Jiyū-tō ). After the collapse of the coalition, she returned to the government and Yoshida became prime minister again.

Liberal Party

In the 1949 Shūgiin election , the party regained its position as the strongest force and most of the Democratic Party MPs returned to the Liberals. It was now called the Liberal Party. Under Yoshida's leadership, she shaped the post-war order in Japan by initiating reconstruction on the basis of a managed market economy and foreign policy based on the USA ( Yoshida doctrine ).

After Hatoyama Ichirō's ban had been lifted and he had overcome the consequences of a stroke, he pushed back into politics in 1954. However, Yoshida had now firmly established himself at the head of the Liberal Party. Hatoyama founded the Democratic Party of Japan , which was also joined by numerous liberals, including Miki Bukichi, Kōno Ichirō and Kishi Nobusuke . Through an alliance with the socialists, Hatoyama succeeded in driving the Liberal Party out of government. He dissolved parliament, and in the new elections of 1955 his party became the strongest force.

The renewed split in the bourgeois camp did not last long: after Yoshida had withdrawn, the leaders of both parties pushed for the " Conservative Fusion " to form the Liberal Democratic Party, which ruled for 38 years without interruption from its founding in 1955.

Liberal Party leader