The was a short-lived political party in Japan. It was founded on July 22, 1928 by the Rōnō faction (that had belonged to the Labour-Farmer Party, before that party was banned in April 1928). Suzuki Mosaburō became the general secretary of the party. Yamakawa and Sakai Toshihiko functioned as 'elder' advisors in the party. Other prominent founders of the party were Kuroda, Inamura Junzo and Okada.Beckmann, George M., and Genji Okubo. The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1969. p. 159Hunter, Janet. Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. pp. 186-187
The Proletarian Masses Party claimed to have around 2,500 members. At the time of its foundation, the party declared its intention to struggle against leftwing sectarianism and rightwing disruptionism.Scalapino, Robert A. The Japanese Communist Movement, 1920-1966. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967. p. 35 The founders of the party were critical of the leadership of Oyama Ikuo in the remains of the Labour-Farmer Party, claiming that Oyama Ikuo was too hostile to a merger with the centrist Japan Labour-Farmer Party.Large, Stephen S. Organized Workers and Socialist Politics in Interwar Japan. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]: Cambridge University Press, 1981. p. 142 The party was in fierce competition with the Oyama Ikuo-led group over the loyalty of former Labour-Farmer Party activists and sympathizers.
In October 1928 a women's organization linked to the Proletarian Masses Party, the Proletarian Women's Alliance, was founded.Mackie, Vera C. Creating Socialist Women in Japan: Gender, Labour and Activism, 1900-1937. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. p. 138
On December 20, 1928 the party merged with the Japan Labour-Farmer Party, the Japan Farmers Party and four regional political parties, to create the Japan Masses Party.Scalapino, Robert A. The Japanese Communist Movement, 1920-1966. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967. p. 36Beckmann, George M., and Genji Okubo. The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1969. p. 173International Labour Office. Industrial Labour in Japan. Japanese economic history, 1930-1960, v. 5. New York: Routledge, 2000. p. 114 The women's wing merged with the centrist National Women's League in January 1929, founding the Proletarian Women's League.Mackie, Vera C. Creating Socialist Women in Japan: Gender, Labour and Activism, 1900-1937. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. p. 134
References