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敗者となった社民党が責められるのは自分だけ
私は入社二年目にいきなり国会担当になって右も左もわからないまま当時の社会党を追うことになったのですが、とにかく政治家の顔も分からないし、ほかにいろいろ聞けるような知り合いの記者もいなかったので大変でした。
そんな状況で助けを差し出してくれたのが実は社民党の人たちでした。色々なことを教えてもらったり裏情報を提供してもらったりしている間に結構たくさんの社民党の人たちとつながりができたのもこのころの苦労のおかげです。
そんな感じで若いころ大変お世話になった社民党にとってこの年は波乱万丈の一年でした。人気者の辻本清美議員が秘書給与流用で三月に辞任し、また北朝鮮の拉致問題扱いがずさんだったといった批判があって相次いで山本正和、田嶋陽子、大渕絹子議員らも「社民党に嫌気がさした」と離党していったのです。
かつての最大野党の存在感がものすごく薄くなってしまったいきさつをどうしても取材したくて書いた記事です。
SDP, now merely an also-ran, has no one to blame but itself
The Japan Times, Dec. 11, 2002
This year was certainly not a good one for the Social Democratic Party of Japan — once the largest opposition force but now the smallest in the Diet.
In addition to popular lawmaker Kiyomi Tsujimoto's resignation from both the party and the Diet in March over alleged misuse of her secretaries' government-paid salaries, politicians Masakazu Yamamoto, Yoko Tajima and Kinuko Ofuchi fled after becoming disgruntled with the way the SDP was managed.
The main gripe for Tajima was the party's long accommodating stance toward North Korea, which in September finally admitted it kidnapped several Japanese in past decades, confirming long-held suspicions in Japan that were
routinely dismissed by the SDP.
Then recently there was a plan
hatched by now-departing Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama to
form an opposition bloc uniting the DPJ, the Liberal Party and the SDP — an idea that was never
formally conveyed to SDP leader Takako Doi.
"We haven't received a
formal overture from the leaders of the two parties," SDP Secretary General Mizuho Fukushima said. "It is a mere strategy for Mr. Hatoyama, who
wanted to survive as the DPJ leader, and for Liberal Party leader (Ichiro) Ozawa, who sought to create a bigger power base for his leadership in the Diet."
It now appears the
grand alliance will never get off the ground. Hatoyama failed to sell his party on the idea and is stepping down as a result. Even if the next DPJ leader tries
to resurrect the plan, the SDP would probably not join, according to Fukushima.
"To form a joint parliamentary group, we need to share a
policy goal, and we don't see it now with the two parties," she said. "Joining hands without that goal
would be suicidal for a party."
And even before the SDP can entertain the notion of joining an opposition coalition, it must
shore up its support base and boost its chances of survival.
The party, which in the early 1990s had nearly 140
Lower House members and over 70 in the
Upper House, now has a mere 18 in the Lower House and five in the Upper House. Total membership, which
peaked at 150,000 in November 1992, is now just 32,000, according to the SDP.
Critics list a number of reasons for the
party's decline, ranging from a weakening labor movement following the end of the Cold War to its
loss of fortunes with the 1996 introduction of a
new electoral system with
single-seat constituencies.
But longtime party members also admit the SDP has been out of touch with the
needs of a rapidly changing society.
Shigeru Ito, a retired SDP Lower House member and
transport minister under the
1993 coalition government of Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, said years of strong
labor union support led the party to
overestimate its influence, even though its membership in real terms was small.
The SDP, which before the 1990s
was known as the Japan Socialist Party, never tried to build a popular support base and instead relied on the backing of
organized labor, such as the General Council of Trade Unions (Sohyo), Ito said. The party held the illusion that it had its own support base, but in reality, that belonged to Sohyo.
After Sohyo joined other labor organizations to establish the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) in 1987, Rengo provided the support for the party.
But the power of the nation's labor unions has waned over the past two decades.
"In the old days, we could count on unions to gather nearly twice as many votes as their membership," Ito said. "But recently, only one-third of their members cast votes in an election."
A major setback came in 1996, when nearly half of the SDP lawmakers bolted to join in the creation of the predecessor to the DPJ. That splinter group took Rengo's support with it.
The SDP had a chance to run the country when the party formed a coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake in June 1994.
As it turned out, however, Socialist Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama's perceived ineptitude in running the government and crisis-management eventually led people to doubt that the SDP had what it takes to lead the country.
Murayama drew heavy criticism in particular for his late responses to two historic crises that shook the nation — the Great Hanshin Earthquake in January 1995 and Aum Shinrikyo's sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system two months later.
In subsequent elections, the party's Diet strength has steadily declined. Then this year, on top of the Tsujimoto affair, came the North Korea shock.
If the SDP hopes to return as a viable force, it needs realistic policies that can appeal to a wide range of people.
"I think we have failed in our marketing," said an SDP official who declined to be named. "For example, our slogan seeking to appeal to 'women' and 'citizens' now sounds old-fashioned.
"Today, many women already hold important positions in society, and the time when any female candidate backed by the party could win in an election is over," the official said, referring to the "Madonna" boom during the bubble economy years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when several female SDP candidates were elected to the Diet.
Ito noted that when the SDP pitched its appeal to "citizens," it apparently was only targeting left-leaning activist groups. The time when left-leaning slogans were a recipe for success is over, he said, adding the party must now present policy positions that reflect a determination to be a viable governing force.
"The party needs to have a clear policy goal that can be distinguished from (and be more appealing than) those of other parties. At the same time, the process of achieving that policy goal must be very concrete and realistic," he said, adding that the SDP lacks these elements, unlike social democratic forces in Europe.
Shukan ST: Feb. 2, 2004
(C) All rights reserved
- opposition force
- 野党
- Diet
- 国会
- popular lawmaker
- 人気議員
- alleged misuse
- 悪用したとされる
- government-paid salaries
- 秘書給与
- disgruntled
- 不満をもつ
- gripe
- 不満
- long accommodating stance toward North Korea
- 長い間北朝鮮に親密に接してきた政策
- long-held suspicions
- 長い間疑われていた事
- routinely dismissed
- 日常的に退けられていた
- hatched
- (計画を)立てる
- form an opposition bloc
- 野党を構成する
- formally conveyed
- 正式に伝える
- formal overture
- 正式な提案
- wanted to survive as 〜
- 〜(民主党の党首)として君臨し続けたかった
- grand alliance
- (民主党、自由党、社民党の)連合
- to resurrect the plan
- 案を復活させる
- policy goal
- 政策
- would be suicidal
- 自殺的な行為となる
- shore up
- 強化する
- Lower House
- 衆議院
- Upper House
- 参議院
- peaked
- ピークに達する
- Critics
- 批評家、評論家
- party's decline
- 党の勢力の低下
- new electoral system
- 新しい選挙制度
- single-seat constituencies
- 小選挙区制度
- needs of a rapidly changing society
- めまぐるしく変化する社会での要求
- transport minister
- 運輸大臣(現国土交通大臣)
- 1993 coalition government
- 1993年の連立政権
- labor union support
- 労働組合の支持
- overestimate
- 過大評価する
- was known as 〜
- かつて〜として知られていた
- relied on
- 頼る
- General Council of Trade Unions (Sohyo)
- 総評
- held the illusion
- 幻想を抱いていた
- Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo)
- 連合
- waned
- (勢力が)弱くなる、衰える
- count on 〜
- 〜に頼る、〜を当てにする
- nearly twice as many votes
- ほぼ倍近い票
- cast votes
- 票を投じる
- setback
- 妨げ
- bolted
- 脱党
- predecessor to the DPJ
- 民主党の前身
- splinter group
- 分離した派
- a chance to run the country
- 与党になるチャンス、政権政党になるチャンス
- As it turned out
- 結果的には
- perceived ineptitude
- 皆が認める不手際さ
- crisis-management
- 危機管理
- had what it takes
- 器を備えている
- two historic crises
- 二つの歴史的危機
- Great Hanshin Earthquake
- 阪神大震災
- Aum Shinrikyo's sarin attack
- オウム真理教によるサリンガステロ
- subsequent elections
- その後の選挙で連続して
- steadily declined
- 着実に(党の勢力が)衰えた
- on top of 〜
- 〜に加えてさらに
- viable force
- 存続する力を持った勢力
- appeal to a wide range of people
- 幅広い層に受け入れられる
- declined to be named
- 名を出すことを断る
- referring to the "Madonna" boom
- 'マドンナ'ブーム(1980年代に何名かの女性議員が社会党から選出された現象)のことを指して
- pitched its appeal
- 政策を呼びかける
- left-leaning activist groups
- 左翼の活動家集団
- recipe for success
- 成功への秘訣
- present
- 示す
- distinguished from 〜
- 〜とは区別できる
- concrete and realistic
- 明確で現実的な
- lacks these elements
- (そういった)要素が欠けている