Japanese Nationalist Party (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

The Nationalist Party of Japan, also known as Myomi Kokuminto (MKT) (明水国民党) is the founding and ruling political party of the Republic of Japan. Although nominally it exists alongside the National Front, a coalition of governing political parties, in practice, the MKT is the only party in Japan, maintaining a unitary government and centralizing the state, military, and media. The current First Secretary of the MKT is Tadayoshi Ichida who also the member of the party Politburo and the President of the Republic of Japan

The party was established in September 1919 in Osaka by the merger of several smaller left-wing parties which under government repression with the implementation of Peace Preservation Laws. The party initially used Marxism-Leninism as its guiding ideology and the party establishment itself inspired by the 1917 Russian Revolution. But, the party ideology quickly changed from the far-left to the centre-left under Dr. Nagayama Yoshida leadership

Under Yoshida management, the Party changed from the militant party to became more organized. He established the solid party organizational structure based on democratic centralism in the 2nd Party Congress in 1921. Yoshida also developed his own interpretation of Marxism which later more known as the Social Nationalism which became the party guiding ideology in 1922.

After a 5 years civil war, the Nationalist Party assumed full control of islands of Japan by 1930 and proclaimed the foundation the Myomi Republic in 1931. The party rule halted for moments during Nakano Seigo regime in Japan from 1942 to 1945 and restored after the end of the World War II.

The party changed its initial name “Nihon Kokuminto” into the recent name “Myomi Kokuminto” following the official change name of Japan in 1946 according the amendment of 1931 Republic Constitution

The vast majority of military and civil officials are members of the Party. Since 1991, the party has attempted to institutionalize transitions of power and consolidate its internal structure. The modern party stresses unity and avoids public conflict while practicing a pragmatic and open democratic centralism within the party structure.

Organization
Although MKT is not a Marxist-Leninist party, the party's organizational structure was modeled after the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The structure destroyed for a moment during the Fascist regime and rebuilt afterwards by Etsu Hotori and Mizunari Kazama in 1946 which brought all state apparatuses back under the rule of the MKT

The governing body of the MKT was the Party Congress which was held at least once every four years. Party Congresses would elect a Central Committee which, in turn, would elect a Politburo. The Politburo then elected the Secretariat. Before 1949, the Chairman of the Party Congress is the most powerful position in the party and only Nagayama Yoshida is the only person who ever held those position. Those post later abolished and many of powers transferred to the First Secretary in 1949. However, its powers later removed in 1991 in the favor of the collective leadership.

The party main decision-making bodies is the Politburo consisted minimum 15 peoples and maximum 25 peoples. The Politburo formulated and regulated the Party policies which later ratified the Central Committee and implemented by the Secretariat. In the political convention developed in Japan since 1991, the most influential member of Politburo is also the de-facto Party leader.

The Secretariat served as the party central administration body consisted a First Secretary as the head of Secretariat, a Second Secretary and seven Secretaries. The body responsible for day to day operations of the Party.

Since 1946, the party established the military counterpart of the Politburo, the Military Bureau of the National Party of Japan, or more known as the Militburo. The power of the Militburo, however, still below its political counterpart. The Militburo has the power to oversee the Japanese National Army (明水国民軍 Myōmi Kokumin-gun) to avoid the independence of military from party's rule like such happened in 1941 and ended in the rise of Fascist Government between 1941-1945. This body also serves as the advisory body for matter of the appointment of the Minister of Defense by the Prime Minister.

At lower levels the organizational hierarchy was managed by the local Party Committees which headed by the local Secretary which elected by the local Party Congress every four years

The lowest level of the party organization is the Party bureau which created at least by five cadres in every neighborhood levels as the nucleus organization of the party. Every members of the Party Bureau is also the members of the municipality-level Party Meeting which later elected the members of the more higher level Party Congress.

History
By the 1910s, the Imperial government of Japan regulated the Peace Preservation Laws which destroyed every left-wing organizations in Japan. The socialists and the republicans gone underground and formed several small left-wing parties which even had the conflicts with each other.

Some left-wing activists fled abroad to the Europe or America to avoid the government repressions. One of them is Dr. Nagayama Yoshida who fled to Moscow and joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. After the success 1917 Russian Revolution, Yoshida became the Japanese unofficial ambassador for the newly founded Soviet Russia.

The Party was initially founded by Masashi Harada, Fukumura Akira and Matsumoto Ken as the Japan People Party (日本人民党 Nihon Jinmintō) in September 1919 by the merger of several smaller left-wing parties. Nagayama Yoshida was invited for return to Japan to attended the party establishment convention in Osaka. Yoshida elected as the secretary of party propaganda department. Although his position not so influential, Yoshida still honored by most of party members as the senior and experienced revolutionary.

As expected, the newly-founded party forced to dissolve by the Imperial government in August 1920. With this situation, Yoshida decided to took over the party leadership. He arranged the meeting in Kyoto in September 1920 with his comrades, including Ishigawa Tobe, Yoichi Aikiro, Yoshinohe Toyoda and Sawamura Makoto which later became the party’s “old revolutionaries”. With the help of the “old revolutionaries”, Yoshida appointed as the secretary of the party executive council at the council meeting in December 1920.

By the March 1921, the “old revolutionaries” took over central and local party control. In the Party Executive Council Meeting in April 1921, Yoshida stressed the direct actions by the party involvement instead just organized the general strikes. Yoshida also involved unified the smaller left-wing militias under the Party militant wing, the People Militia in August 1921 which became the forerunner of the Myomi People Army.

Under the guidance of Yoshida, the party reorganized into itself modeled after Russian Communist Party organizations in Second Party Congress in September 1921 and renamed the itself as the National Party of Japan. Yoshida himself also elected as the Chairman of the Party Congress. Between 1921-1923, the party branches established all around the islands and growth rapidly. In 1922, Yoshida denounced the Marxism-Leninism as the party guiding ideology and replaced its with his own Marxism interpretation, Social Nationalism.

The imperial government tried to destroys the party organizations after the party unexpected growth. As result, the some members of the party leadership moved the party headquarters to Hong Kong while the rest still remained in Japan

On 15 March 1925, riots broke out in Niigata among the local farmers. This events soon organized by every left-wing movements. Toyoda Yoshinohe as the Nationalist leaders for Western Honshu proclaimed the establishment of the Executive Council of Workers and Peasants Government in 20 March 1925. The Fatherland Worker and Peasant People’s Army formed in 27 March 1925 and led by imperial dissident, Lieutenant Imada Matsutaka.

The revolution caused great concern around military elements of government for its establishment and the Imperial Government reacted by the sent the troops to suppress the revolutionaries in early April. The revolutionaries and the imperialists fought a protracted battle in Tohoku and Niigata known as the Battle of Sakurayama that would last until 10 April 1925.

Japan entered the Five-Year Civil War from 1925 to 1930. The Nationalists as the only political party which capable to growth bigger and survived than other left-wing organizations rose as the main revolutionary forces. In the alliance with smaller party like Social Mass Party and Constitutional Party and also with the Korean Independence Party, the Nationalists finally defeated the imperial government in 1930. The new republican government proclaimed at Tokyo in 16 February 1931.

Similar with Mao Zedong interpretations of Marxism, Dr. Yoshida’s revolution was focused on rural development and peasant background instead focused on worker background of original Marxism. Yoshida believed the Lenin’s interpretations of worker revolution cannot be implemented in Japan society which still under the feudal stage.

Yoshida proposed a “gradual society revolution” for Japan which includes three phases:
 * 1) Mobilized phase, to changed Japan into the modern, humanized and industrialized society with the party guidance
 * 2) Stagnant phase, which the party rule still remained and could last for about 100 years
 * 3) New Society phase, which the party organization will eventually dissolved and the society will fully functioning without depend on the state.

The Party role in Japan described by Dr. Yoshida as “the guiding power of the Republic to protect the revolutionary cause until Japan entering the last phase of the Revolution”. Yoshida also opposed Lenin’s idea of “state as the class exploitation machine” and believed the state is more independent body to guaranteed the law and the public order which will be fully to function in the last phase.

Under Yoshida leadership, the Party also tried the reform the society by implemented Confucianistic public morality into the national law and those system of Japanese legal law called as “the Japanese legal system”

Different by the communist movement, the National Party does not pursuing the revolution goal in the economy field. Although Yoshida formulated the Great Economic Plan, modeled after Lenin’s New Economy Policy, in 1950s, several party moderates accepted West German-inspired social market system can be developed well in Japan

Yoshida’s thoughts of Social Nationalism still become the party official ideology today and seen as the alternative “non-communist” interpretations of Marxism.

In 1941, the party rule overthrown by the Fascist regime and only restored in 1946 by the help of Allies forces. When Yoshida resigned from all of his positions in the Party in 1949, the intra-party democracy improved. Unlike any ruling parties in the world at the time, the Nationalist Party relaxed their state control over the media and economy in the middle of 1950s. The party, under Mizunari Kazama leadership on 1950s to 1960s redefined its influences over the government by the improvement of the rule of law, than the rule of man.

When Yamamoto Hideki step up as the new party leader in 1971, Japan enjoyed the economy miracle which made the country as the “rising Asian super-power”. After the collapse of Communist regime in Eastern Europe in 1991, the party rules faced the challenges from the progressive liberal-democrats. The party organizational reform occurred in 1991 and the “one-man leadership” replaced by the “collective leadership”. The degree of power the Party had on the state has gradually decreased as economic liberalizations progressed.

Until today, the party influences over the government weakened but its position still unchallenged. Undoubtedly, the MKT party rule of Japan is the one of the most successful single-party regime in the world beside the CPC party rule in North China.