Why have Japan and the USA never had a strong socialist movement?

Question

Japan and the USA are the only two developed countries that haven't had a strong socialist movement at any time in their histories (I think). I remember hearing an explanation for this in university but that was years ago and I cannot remember what it was.

Anyone have any ideas? Know any books/papers that cover the topic?

Ok, let me add: yes, there have been socialist organizations in both countries. What I meant is no socialist organization has ever come close to gaining power in Japan nor the USA. Has the communist party (or a party with a similar ideology) served in the Japanese Diet? I am positive it hasn't in the USA.

Compare that to the EU, where you have the Socialists in France and Spain, the Greens and other left-wing groups in Germany, and the communists in Italy. Those are just off the top of my head.

Now if Japan does have a political party similar to those, please do share.

Answer 1

well there have been major socialist movements in the US (im really only going to adress the US because i dont know much japanese history) mostly during times of economic strife - for example the stock market crash created a lot of interest in socialism. There was obviously a huge backlash but this influenced alot of things, the government definitely shifted a little towards communist politics via huge public labor groups, large amounts of federal aid and control of trade and production levels.

A major reason is that the US has almost always done pretty well with our capitalistic system, why would anyone want a drastic change when things are going pretty well as they are?

Answer 2

I couldn't tell you much about the US(other people seem to have handled that nicely).

However, when it comes to Japan, the main reason is that they took a center-of-the-road approach. Technically speaking, Japan isn't so much capitalist as it is market-socialist. This means that while they do have a market economy, there are a lot of socialistic programs(such as universal healthcare) run by the government. These, as a rule, work very well, so there never was the mass discontent that you need for a socialist movement to get off the ground.

That's my understanding, at least for the post-WWII era.

Answer 3

You kidding. There were communist movement by young people in Japan from late 60s to 1970. 165 Univs (80% at that moment) took part in this movement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoumUFnpXNo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R20HluPRWiw

And lots people were thining that socialism must be better than capitalism.
Even Today, some papers are leftish and admire China.

There were also McCarthyism in Japan in 19th century.

The people (scholars and economists) who know Japan very well say that Japan has 2 faces; one is capitalism but the other is socialism or total-ism.

Answer 4

The US has actually had a pretty strong socialist movement. See Howard Zinn's book, _A People's History of America_, for details.

News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo/

Answer 5

the U.S. is currently suffering from a strong socialist movement
however I believe the answer (all politics aside) is that both nations have a long history of deep national pride that their citizens know is based on the hard work and dedication to capitalist ideaology that made their respective nations strong

Answer 6

because both the Japanese and the Americans have found that capitalism works very nicely...... thank you.... to fulfill peoples needs wants and desires while socialism has been a dismal failure at all three of the above.