JAPAN: Unity Is Purple

Japan's Socialists, split into left and right wings by the peace treaty with the Western allies, patched things up last week. Amid bouquets of chrysanthemums, carnations and ferns, the two factions joined to become Japan's second largest political party, with 155 seats in the Diet v. 185 for Premier Ichiro Hatoyama's conservative Democrats.

The Socialists came to windy settlements of many differences, from party dues to rearmament policy, in the end settled everything except the color of the party's flag. Both sides, the blue-flag right-wingers and red-flag left-wingers, wanted time to consider...

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