The Socialist and Communist Joint Struggle (社共共闘, Shakyō kyōtō) refers to the political strategy in which the Japan Socialist Party (JSP; now the Social Democratic Party) and the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) fielded unified candidates and cooperated in elections.
Overview It became particularly active from the late 1960s, mainly in mayoral elections. It was also more broadly referred to as the "progressive joint struggle" (kakushin kyōtō). The Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), formed in January 1960 by Diet members who left the JSP, had from the outset advocated anti-communism and rarely cooperated in opposition joint struggles. In the February 1967 Kitakyushu mayoral election, the same month's Kyoto mayoral election, the April 1967 Tokyo gubernatorial election, and the same month's Fukuoka gubernatorial election, the DSP supported unified candidates with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). On 22 February of that year, JSP Chairman Kōzō Sasaki stated that "the DSP is a second conservative party," and at an expanded central committee meeting on 5 March he further sharply criticized that "DSP leaders are helping the LDP's efforts to divide the opposition." Of these, the JSP–JCP unified candidates won the Kyoto mayoral and Tokyo gubernatorial elections, but they lost by narrow margins in the 1971 Aichi gubernatorial election, the 1975 and 1979 Hokkaido gubernatorial elections, the 1975 Tachikawa mayoral election, and the same year's Higashikurume mayoral election to LDP–DSP unified candidates. The nationwide trend of Socialist–Communist joint struggle continued until the late 1970s. After defeats in the two major elections of April 1979—the Hokkaido gubernatorial election and the 1979 Tokyo gubernatorial election—it subsided from the 1980s onward.
1950s 1950 April – The Kyoto gubernatorial election involved joint struggle. Torazō Ninagawa, the JSP-endorsed candidate, ran with the recommendation of the All-Kyoto Democratic Front Unification Conference, which included the JCP. He defeated Seiichi Inoue, who was recommended by the Democratic Liberal Party and the Japan Democratic Party, in a one-on-one contest and was elected for the first time. (Joint struggle, Elected) 1958 July – The Itō mayoral election involved joint struggle. Motokazu Numata, a representative of the Itō Credit Association, ran with the recommendations of the JSP and JCP. He defeated Miyomatsu Maeda, the LDP-endorsed candidate, in a one-on-one contest and was elected for the first time. (Joint struggle, Elected) 1959 April – The 1959 Hokkaido gubernatorial election was a de facto joint struggle. Setsuji Yokomichi, a member of the House of Representatives from Hokkaido 1st district, ran as the JSP-endorsed candidate. Because Yokomichi's spouse's elder brother was former Central Committee Chairman Eitarō Noro, the JCP provided rear support. Kingo Machimura, also a House of Representatives member from the same Hokkaido 1st district, ran as the LDP-endorsed candidate and defeated Yokomichi and others, winning for the first time. This marked the first postwar conservative prefectural government in Hokkaido. (Joint struggle, Defeated)
1960s
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