Plausibility Check: Communist Japan scenario

So, the basic PoD in this idea is that the Nationalist forces begin to extend control over China much sooner, leading to a conflict between Japan and China in an attempt to ensure Japanese hegemony over East Asia. As in OTL, the US ends up intervening, and a bloody war is fought between the two nations in the mid-20s. The peace agreement forces Japan to yield some of her colonies (not sure how much would be realistic), nominally abandon imperialism and democratize significantly.

When the Great Depression hits, this fledgling "Japanese Republic" nearly collapses. The Japanese Communist Party ends up becoming the strongest party thanks in equal parts to the success of the Stalin's USSR through the Great Depression and the disgrace of the rightist factions from the war. Perhaps a major constitutional reform happens as well at this point, ensuring the principles of Communism remain a part of JCP for the indefinite future.

So how plausible does this seem?
 
IMO to get a Communist Japan you need to go back to the last years of the 19th century / first years of the 20th century, since by the 20's the Communist movements in Japan were essentially dead, do to major government suppression, and even after a war it's unlikely they'd get enough support to form a government, let along form a Communist state.

Now, if you go back and somehow have the Socialist parties be more successful and the government much less hostile to them, if at all, you could eventually get a Communist state in Japan, however it'd likely not look like any that existed OTL*.


Note:
-Technically their's never been a true Communist state, the USSR started out as Marxist-Leninist and slowly transformed into a failed worker's state.
 
IMO to get a Communist Japan you need to go back to the last years of the 19th century / first years of the 20th century, since by the 20's the Communist movements in Japan were essentially dead, do to major government suppression, and even after a war it's unlikely they'd get enough support to form a government, let along form a Communist state.
Well, historically, in 1947 the largest political party became the Japan Socialist Party. With a recent military defeat, the right-wing elements of Japan were discredited. The same would happen here, but earlier, so the ensuing Great Depression would radicalize these leftist sentiments.
 
Republic? What happened to the Emperor? In Japanese society (especially the militaristic one) the Emperor is a symbol of unity to the Japanese people
 
Republic? What happened to the Emperor? In Japanese society (especially the militaristic one) the Emperor is a symbol of unity to the Japanese people
Yeah, it would probably be a more-or-less historical constitutional monarchy. It's just calling a pacifist constitutional monarchy the "Empire of Japan," while historical, is a bit confusing.
 
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