(1907–1977), Japanese politician. Born in Okayama Prefecture, Eda Saburo left college to participate in the leftist farmer's movement. Those activities led to his becoming a member of the central executive committee of the National Farmers' Party and service in Okayama Prefecture's prefectural assembly. An activist for socialist causes all his life, he spent time in prison in the 1930s for his activities and worked for the North China Political Council in Beijing in the 1940s. He joined the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) after returning to Japan in 1946 and served several terms as party secretary-general in the 1960s. With Asanuma Inejiro (1898–1960), the head of the JSP, Eda led the movement opposing the renewal of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, which let the United States retain military bases in Japan. After Asanuma's assassination in October 1960, Eda took over leadership of the party; he then stood for election as the party head, but lost, despite his platform of structural reform. In 1976 he lost a bid for election to the lower house of Diet, and the following year he left the JSP.
Further Reading
Dore, Ronald. "The Japanese Socialist Party and Structural Reform." In The Japan Reader. Vol. 2, edited by Jon Livingston, Joe Moore, and Felicia Oldfather. New York: Random House, 500–502.
Ushio Shiota. (1994) Eda Saburo: hayasugita kaikakusha (Eda Saburo: Reformer Ahead of His Time). Tokyo: Bungei Shunju.
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