The was a socialist political party in Japan between December 1926 and December 1928. During its existence, it occupied a centrist position in the divided socialist movement. Foundation The Japan Labour-Farmer Party was one of several proletarian parties that existed in Japan in the late 1920s. It was founded in Tokyo on December 9, 1926, as a split from the Social Democratic Party (the founding occurred just four days after the founding of the Social Democratic Party). The split had both personal and ideological dimensions. Amongst the founders of the Japan Labour-Farmer Party were Asanuma Inejirō and his followers in the Japan Peasant Union and leftwing socialist intellectuals such as Asō Hisashi, Kono Mitsu, Suzuki Mosaburō, Tanahashi Kotora and Kato Kanju. Asō Hisashi became chairman of the party, whilst Miwa Jusō became its general secretary. Political outlook In terms of its programme, the party differed little from the Labour-Farmer Party which was essentially controlled by the Japanese Communist Party, although having non-Communists amongst the ranks. In fact several members of the Japan Labour-Farmer Party were former communists themselves (such as Kondo Eizo, the founder of the Enlightened People's Communist Party). However, in practice there was a clear political demarcation between the Japan Labour-Farmer Party and the Labour-Farmer Party. The Japan Labour-Farmer Party occupied a centrist position in the Japanese left at the time, between the Japanese Communist Party and the Labour-Farmer Party on the left and the Social Democratic Party on its right. The party sought to mobilize the working class masses in legal struggles. The party opposed Japanese intervention in China. Polemics with other socialist parties Whilst the leadership of the Japan Labour-Farmer Party rejected links to the Communist International, they did identify themselves as revolutionary Marxists. The party stated that it had adopted the "correct line in the proletarian movement". In their discourse, the leftwing of the socialist movement suffered from an "infantile disorder" whilst the rightwing was "senile". However, the party was also criticized from its two flanks, the left characterizing it as "petty bourgeois" and the right claiming that the party was used by the communists. There were also some other, regional, proletarian parties, which also found themselves having centrist positions like the Japan Labour-Farmer Party. In its 1927 thesis the Communist Party stated that the role of the Japan Labour-Farmer Party was particularly "treacherous", and that the Japan Labour-Farmer Party differentiated itself from the right-wing