Japan may be a powerhouse of global capitalism. But it also developed a powerful socialist movement in the twentieth century. During the Cold War, the Socialist Party led the opposition to the ruling Liberal Democrats. Japan today still has a Communist Party with a mass membership and a serious electoral base.
Kenji Hasegawa joins Long Reads for a conversation about the Japanese left. He’s a professor of modern Japanese history at Yokohama National University and the author of Student Radicalism and the Formation of Modern Japan.
Read Kenji's article for Jacobin, "Japanese Socialism Was a Powerful Force Until It Lost Its Political Bearings," here: https://jacobin.com/2022/12/japan-socialist-party-social-democrats-ldp
Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.
An announcement for listeners in the New York area: Join us Friday the 14th (tomorrow) at 7pm at the Mayday Space in Brooklyn for our Bastille Day Party! There will be drinks and a live conversation with Tom O'Neill, author of CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties. Admission is free, but $10 solidarity tickets will get you a yearlong print subscription or a Jacobin tote bag, and $20 supporter tickets will get a subscription plus a Jacobin tote. More info: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bastille-day-party-with-jacobin-tickets-665721048577
