Divided & Conquerable

In other circumstances, Japan's Premier Eisaku Sato might well feel a sense of panic. There is great pressure on him to call general elections next month--at a time when his own party is beclouded in "black mists" of scandal and split by factional rivalries. But Sato seems unworried. The reason is that the main opposition party is in even worse shape than his Liberal Democrats.

In today's affluent Japan, the Socialists have had little success with their doctrinaire, Peking-lining appeals. They failed last year to block the treaty that normalized relations with Korea. Nor have they been able to force Sato to declare the country off limits to visiting U.S. nuclear-powered submarines or to dissociate Japan from the U.S. stand in Viet Nam. Though most Japanese are prospering as never before, the Socialists still rant about complete nationalization of all Japanese industry and the need for class warfare.

Having failed to find a vote-pulling cause, the Socialists control only 221 seats in the Diet (v. 417 for the Liberal

Democrats) and lag far behind Sato's party in current voter-preference polls.

Last week, as 597 delegates met in Tokyo's musty old Kudan Hall for their 28th annual convention, the Socialists had a chance to change the party's image. Up for re-election was Party Chairman Kozo Sasaki, 65, whose far-left tendencies have helped establish the present ideological direction. The challenger was Saburo Eda, 59, a moderate who seeks to direct the party into more vote-catching paths by de-emphasizing such Marxian credos as class war and nationalization. Instead, Eda promised to head the party toward his "Eda vision," an eclectic selection of party goals that would have Japan under the Socialists strive to emulate the Soviet Union's social security system, Britain's parliamentary democracy, and the U.S.'s standard of living.

At the showdown, the vote split along predictable factional lines: 313 for Hard-liner Sasaki v. 274 for Eda and his vision. It was a guarantee that if Premier Sato does call a general election next month, the major opposition will not only still be out of touch with modern Japan, but will also be even more badly divided than his own scandal-tainted Liberal Democrats.

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