Background
Tetsu Katayama was born on 28 July 1887 in Wakayama Prefecture. His father was a lawyer; under his mother’s influence, he became a Christian.
片山 哲
Tetsu Katayama was born on 28 July 1887 in Wakayama Prefecture. His father was a lawyer; under his mother’s influence, he became a Christian.
He graduated from Tokyo University in 1912 and the following year began a career as a lawyer.
In 1926, when the Shakai Minshuto (Social Popular Party) was formed under the leadership of Abe Isoo, he was chosen for the post of chief secretary. He was elected a member of the Lower House of the Diet in 1930. In 1932 he became chief secretary of the Shakai Taishuto (Social Populace Party) that was formed when the Shakai Minshuto merged with the Zenkoku Rond T. aishufo of Kawakami Jotaro and others. In 1940 he joined Abe, Nishio Suehiro, and others in resigning from the Shakai Tai- shuto in a gesture of protest against the expulsion from the Diet of Saito Takao, a member of the Minseito who had made an antimilitary speech in the Diet.
In 1945, after the conclusion of the Pacific War, he played a key role in the formation of the Japan Socialist Party, becoming chief secretary, and in 1946 he became chairman of the party, a post that had up until that time remained vacant. In 1947, in the first general election held under the new constitution, the Socialist Party emerged victor. Katayama became prime minister, forming a coalition cabinet along with the Minshuto (Democratic Party) led by Ashida Hitoshi and the Kokumin Kyodoto (Peoples' Cooperative Party) of Miki Takeo. Katayama, however, was unable to put any of his socialist principles into action. A proposal for government supervision of the coal mines was emasculated in debate, and his cabinet, beset by all the weaknesses inherent in a coalition, was finally forced to resign en masse in 1948. Since then, the Japanese Socialist Party has never again been able to gain political control.
In 1953 he became president of the National League for the Protection of the Constitution and throughout the postwar period has been active in appealing to the Japanese people to support the new constitution. In 1956 he became the first director of the Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association, working to promote friendly relations with the People's Republic of China. In 1960, with the formation of the Minshu Shakaito (Democratic Socialist Party), he became top advisor to the party, but was defeated in the general election in 1963 and thereafter withdrew from politics. He was an authority on works of classical Chinese literature.
While a student in the law course of Tokyo Imperial University, he became interested in the socialist movement led by Abe Isoo and determined to work for the realization of Christian socialism.