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61-691: The United Red Army ( 連合赤軍 , Rengō Sekigun ) was a militant organization that operated in Japan between July 1971 and March 1972. The URA was formed as the result of a merger that began on 13 July 1971 between two extremist groups, the Marxist–Leninist–Maoist Red Army Faction ( 赤軍派 , Sekigunha ) , led in 1971 by Tsuneo Mori , and the Reformed Marxist Revolutionary Left Wing group, Japanese Communist Party Kanagawa Prefecture Committee, also known as

122-431: A 20-year sentence. Nagata died on 5 February 2011 from a brain tumor while still being held in a detention facility. As of 2013, Sakaguchi is still alive in prison after an unsuccessful appeal of his sentence. The group is the subject of the 2007 film United Red Army , directed by Kōji Wakamatsu and a 2019 documentary The United Red Army: A Troubled Legacy by NHK World-Japan with interviews of surviving members of

183-458: A Japanese airliner, codenamed "Operation Phoenix," that would allow group members to fly to Cuba and continue their training. However, just before the hijacking could take place, Shiomi was arrested by chance on the street in Komagome, Tokyo on March 15, 1970, having been mistaken for a common thief. Nevertheless, the remaining hijackers pressed on with their plans, and on March 31, 1970, nine members

244-572: A curtain and a hose, during the escape Red Army Faction member Jо̄ji Mochizuki fell and hit his head and would die from his injuries several weeks later. As a result of this incident, the Japan Communist Party expelled all known members of the Red Army Faction the following month. On September 5, 1969, Shiomi and other Faction members publicly appeared at Hibiya Public Hall in Tokyo to declare

305-622: A part of political rehabilitation common under Mao and ended by Deng Xiaoping , is known as a struggle session in reference to class struggle . As General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party , Xi Jinping has partially brought back the practice of self-criticism. The first of his Party's Education Programs on Selected Themes dealt with the mass line and required cadres to make self-criticism before their subordinates and to solicit critique from their subordinates. The Central Committee's 2016 Guidelines on Intra-Party Life in

366-519: A process known as ‘ self-criticism ’, a ritual that had become normalized among Left groups in Japan at the time. The original intention of this practice was to allow members of the group to strengthen their alignment with the values and purpose of the cause. However, Mori quickly introduced an element of violence to this process in keeping with the New Left’s demand for individuals to demonstrate their commitment. The purpose of this violence against members

427-481: A sense of resistance when adults labelled them a crazed group. But I can’t understand the logic of the lynchings. I lost the will to defend them". Further, another student reported "Although I am, if anything, right wing, I understand the United Red Army members’ feelings ... Whichever way you look at it, Japan resembles a police state. In challenging the system, their battles have to take such [combative] forms". In

488-522: A series of relatively successful armed robberies of banks and post offices, in an effort to secure funds for their armed uprising. However, by this time the loss of Shiomi's ideological leadership, combined with relentless pursuit by police and continued arrests of key members, had taken a severe toll on the organization's cohesion. A schism arose between those remaining members who wished to carry out Shiomi's last command to relocate overseas, and those who wished to implement Shiomi's original vision of starting

549-401: A serious party". Lenin again further elaborated at a later date (1922) that "All the revolutionary parties that have perished so far, perished because they grew conceited, failed to see where their strength lay, and feared to speak of their weaknesses. But we shall not perish, for we do not fear to speak of our weaknesses and shall learn to overcome them". According to the official history of

610-515: A year. The Red Army Faction was an organization led by Japanese college students after having split from its parent group, Bund, otherwise known as the Communist League . This split came as a result of a tense disagreement regarding the militant policies the Red Army Faction had adopted. The group consisted mainly of students from regional Japan that attended elite universities with the intention to "do something bold and different that would move

671-521: Is a component of some Marxist schools of thought , primarily that of Marxism–Leninism , Maoism and Marxism–Leninism–Maoism . The concept was first introduced by Joseph Stalin in his 1924 work The Foundations of Leninism and later expanded upon in his 1928 work Against Vulgarising the Slogan of Self-Criticism . The Marxist concept of self-criticism is also present in the works of Mao Zedong , who dedicates an entire chapter of The Little Red Book to

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732-624: The Japanese Communist Party after World War II. They reached the peak of their popularity in the 1960s where they garnered support from university and high school students for their controversial view that such higher education institutions were acting only to serve the state. Much like the Red Army, their protests grew more violent toward police. The group also instilled an element of performance, allowing themselves, in some instances, to be beaten violently to convey metaphorically that they were

793-788: The Keihin Anti-Security Treaty Joint Struggle Group ( 京浜安保共闘 , Keihin Anpo Kyōtō ) , led by Hiroko Nagata . The group intended to disrupt the Japanese political system to enable the emergence of Communism in the state. The URA came to a sudden end with the Asama-Sanso incident , a 9-day siege and hostage situation that occurred at the group’s mountain hideout in the Nagano Prefecture in February 1972. This event

854-527: The Khmer Rouge engaging in frequent self-criticism to reinforce group cohesion during his imprisonment in rural Cambodia in 1971: Several evenings a week—every evening it didn't rain—the guards gathered for a collective confession. Douch ( Kang Kek Iew ) did not take part. I was a privileged witness to these circles, where they would sit on the ground under the direction of an elder. Military homilies alternated with simple, repetitive songs. "Comrades," began

915-620: The October Revolution and Soviet Union produced under Stalin, The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) , the concept is described briefly in the twelfth chapter, In order to be fully prepared for this turn, the Party had to be its moving spirit, and the leading role of the Party in the forthcoming elections had to be fully ensured. But this could be done only if

976-484: The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party engages in "self-criticism and ruthless exposure of their own shortcomings". Lenin further discussed the idea in "Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920), "Frankly admitting a mistake, ascertaining the reasons for it, analysing the circumstances which gave rise to it, and thoroughly discussing the means of correcting it—that is the earmark of

1037-632: The "Osaka War." Similarly on September 30, Faction members threw molotov cocktails at the Motofuji police box in Tokyo, which they then declared to have been the "Tokyo War." Meanwhile, the group planned more significant attacks against government agencies and the Prime Minister's official residence, for which they began "training" at the Daibosatsu mountain pass northwest of Tokyo. However, on November 5, 1969, having been tipped off by informants, police raided

1098-490: The Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System . They are required to attend self-criticism sessions from the age of 8. Members of the ruling Korean Workers' Party can be dismissed if they do not attend sessions for longer than three months. Inmates at North Korean kwalliso camps are required to engage in self-criticism sessions, which often lead to harsh collective punishments for entire work-units. The practice

1159-660: The New Situation also encourage self-criticism. Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh made numerous references to the importance of self-criticism within the Vietnamese Communist Party . In 1956 he critically assessed the Communist Party as having leaders who did not practice self-criticism and that criticism from the lower levels of the party was also lacking. In Democratic Kampuchea , self-criticism sessions were known as rien sot , meaning "religious education". In his memoir The Gate , François Bizot recalls observing

1220-612: The Party organization and increasing its fighting capacity" however he warned against criticism degenerating into personal attacks - "The method of correction is to help Party members understand that the purpose of criticism is to increase the Party's fighting capacity in order to achieve victory in the class struggle and that it should not be used as a means of personal attack". In the People's Republic of China, self-criticism—called ziwo pipan ( 自我 批判 ) or jiǎntǎo ( 检讨 )—is an important part of Maoist practice. Mandatory self-criticism as

1281-454: The Party organizations themselves became thoroughly democratic in their everyday work, only if they fully observed the principles of democratic centralism in their inner-Party life, as the Party Rules demanded, only if all organs of the Party were elected, only if criticism and self-criticism in the Party were developed to the full, only if the responsibility of the Party bodies to the members of

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1342-479: The Party were complete, and if the members of the Party themselves became thoroughly active. Following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, successor to Soviet premiership Nikita Khrushchev would reaffirm the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 's ideological dedication to the concepts of "criticism and self criticism" in the conclusion to the 1956 speech before the 20th Party Congress , while also denouncing

1403-449: The Red Army Faction, armed with katana swords and a homemade bomb, hijacked Japan Airlines Flight 351 , a domestic Japan Airlines Boeing 727 out of Tokyo International Airport carrying 129 people aboard. After being informed that the airliner did not have enough fuel to fly all the way to Cuba, they forced the crew to fly the plane to Fukuoka and later Gimpo Airport in Seoul , where all

1464-514: The Revolutionary Left deserted the group. In order to make an example of the defectors, Nagata arranged their murders with the assistance of other URA members. In December 1971, by the order of their leader Mori, the URA moved its headquarters to the training camps that the Red Army Faction had previously made use of. Aside from the preparation of their next movements and missions, the group underwent

1525-516: The Revolutionary Left, Hiroko Nagata . The purpose of the group was initially outlined as to "carry out hit-and-run attacks" on the Japanese imperialist bourgeoise. However, after troubleshooting their conflicting underlying beliefs and purposes, a unified resolve "to fight a war of annihilation of guns, against the Japanese authorities" was decided to be the group's manifesto. Soon after the United Red Army’s formation, two members originally from

1586-492: The Slogan of Self-Criticism". Stalin wrote in 1928 "I think, comrades, that self-criticism is as necessary to us as air or water. I think that without it, without self-criticism, our Party could not make any headway, could not disclose our ulcers, could not eliminate our shortcomings. And shortcomings we have in plenty. That must be admitted frankly and honestly." For Stalin self-criticism was not supposed to be "temporary and transient" but an "indispensable and permanent weapon in

1647-452: The Soviet Union. This would eventually develop into the practise of "criticism and self-criticism" campaigns in which intellectuals suspected of possessing counter-revolutionary tendencies were publicly interrogated as part of a policy of " proletariatization ." Joseph Stalin introduced the concept of self-criticism in his 1924 work The Foundations of Leninism . He would later expand this concept in his 1928 article "Against Vulgarising

1708-527: The arsenal of Bolshevism". However, Stalin posited that self-criticism "date[s] back to the first appearance of Bolshevism in our country". Stalin stated that self-criticism was needed even after obtaining power as failing to observe weaknesses "make things easier for their enemies" and that "without self-criticism there can be no proper education of the Party, the class, and the masses". Vladimir Lenin wrote in One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (1904) that

1769-465: The base to determine whether any group members remained. The members that had fled the training base took a dangerous route through the mountains to Nagano prefecture in order to avoid leaving traces of footsteps and the strong odor of dead bodies that they carried due to lack of bathing facilities. The following day, the group members split into two groups. One group was arrested shortly after at Karuizawa train station , having been reported by members of

1830-435: The eldest, "let us appraise the day that has passed, in order to correct our faults. We must cleanse ourselves of the repeated sins that accumulate and slow down our beloved revolution. Do not be surprised at this!" "I," said the first one, "should have replaced the rattan rod today, the one north of the first shelter, which we use to dry clothes. I have done nothing about it... on account of my laziness." The man presiding over

1891-449: The far left wing of the already far-left Second Bund. Around June 1968, the Kansai faction began calling itself the "Red Army Faction," and began making plans for a violent uprising in Japan, originally intended to coincide with the 1970 Anpo protests . The main theory of the Red Army Faction was that by first carrying out a successful armed proletarian revolution in Japan, Japan would become

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1952-415: The forces of Japanese monopoly capitalism in preparation for worldwide revolution , the Red Army Faction planned a variety of attacks on police and government officials, as well as criminal activities such as bank robberies to fund their planned communist revolution . Most notably on March 30, 1970, members of the group hijacked Japan Air Lines Flight 351 , eventually flying the aircraft to North Korea where

2013-612: The group. Red Army Faction (Japan) The Red Army Faction ( 赤軍派 , Sekigunha ) was a militant communist organization active in Japan from 1968 to 1971, when it split to form two successor groups, the Japanese Red Army and the United Red Army . The Red Army Faction originated as a schismatic militant sub-faction of a larger New Left student organization called the Communist League ( 共産主義者同盟 , Kyōsanshugisha Dōmei ) . Advocating immediate, armed uprising against

2074-401: The groups co-operating with some of their rallies and demonstrations. This ultimately led to the groups forming an alliance. The formation of their United Red Army was publicly announced on 15 July 1971 in the magazine that the groups had created, entitled Jūka, meaning "Gunfire". This new group was led by Red Army Faction leader Tsuneo Mori , with his second in command being the female leader of

2135-627: The headquarters of a worldwide revolution against the United States of America and its allies, and the Red Army Faction would become the leaders of that revolution. Finding the rest of the Second Bund unamenable to the cause of immediate, armed revolution, the Red Army Faction signaled its open split from its parent organization by launching an assault on the Bund's National Congress held at Meiji University in Tokyo on July 5, 1969, briefly seizing control of

2196-531: The hijackers were granted political asylum . In 1966, the New Left student organization the Communist League , defunct since 1960, reformed, becoming known as the "Second Bund" ( 第二次ブント , Dainiji Bunto ) . At this time, the " Kansai faction" of the Second Bund, based out of Doshisha University in Kyoto and led by Kyoto University philosophy major dropout Takaya Shiomi ( 塩見孝也 , Shiomi Takaya ) , comprised

2257-416: The hostage. Before the police cut off power to the lodge after a few days, group members watched media coverage of the siege on TV. On the 28th of February, the tenth and final day of the incident, the police brought in a wrecking ball to destroy the entrance of the lodge and fired water mixed with teargas into the building to assist police in their room-by-room search. After a battle that lasted eight hours and

2318-585: The independence of the Red Army Faction from the Communist League and announce the start of an immediate armed revolution. The Hall was surrounded by uniformed police, while plainclothes police officers photographed the 300 or so people present, many of whom wore ski masks to conceal their identities. On September 21, 1969, members of the Red Army Faction threw molotov cocktails at three police boxes in Osaka, in an incident grandiosely recollected by Faction members as

2379-606: The initial stages of the investigation, group members refused to give information to police. Mori wrote to police in the month following the Asama Sanso incident to take responsibility for the killings and to ask for the group members bodies to be returned to their families. This was interpreted as an act of weakness by other members of the group, who felt betrayed given that Mori had punished other members for more trivial matters. Following his speaking up, other members began to cooperate with police by providing statements. Each group member

2440-407: The inn where the student militants were sleeping, arresting 53 group members (including many key Red Army leaders) and capturing detailed plans for the intended attacks. Realizing that they could no longer operate openly in Japan, the group went underground, and began searching for a way to escape Japan and continue their guerrilla training overseas. In early 1970, Shiomi began making plans to hijack

2501-437: The issue. Accordingly, many party members who had fallen out of favor with the nomenklatura were forced to undergo self-criticism sessions, producing either written or verbal statements detailing their ideological errors and affirming their renewed belief in the party line . According to David Priestland, the concept of politically enforced "criticism and self-criticism" originated during the 1921–1924 purges of academia within

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2562-473: The killing of two police officers, the members and their hostage were found taking shelter behind a mattress on the top floor of the building. This event was viewed on 90% of Japan's television screens and became known as the Asama-Sanso incident . Initially after the siege, public perception of the group was markedly less negative than what it would become. In the month following the Asama-Sanso incident, there

2623-535: The passengers were freed. The aircraft then flew to North Korea, where the hijackers abandoned it and the crewmembers were released. The hijackers were granted political asylum by the North Korean government of Kim Il Sung , and several of them still reside in North Korea to this day. Between February and July 1971, Red Army Faction members who remained in Japan, now under the leadership of Tsuneo Mori , carried out

2684-699: The policies and actions of Stalin. Mao Zedong provides a significant focus on the idea of self-criticism, dedicating a whole chapter of the Little Red Book to the issue. Mao saw "conscientious practice" of self-criticism as a quality that distinguished the Chinese Communist Party from other parties. Mao championed self-criticism saying "dust will accumulate if a room is not cleaned regularly, our faces will get dirty if they are not washed regularly. Our comrades' minds and our Party's work may also collect dust, and also need sweeping and washing." Mao saw

2745-437: The process of revolution forward". These actions were targeted towards police, the group’s ultimate enemies and motivation for attack. The Red Army Faction lost its numbers over time due to deaths resulting from violent missions and protests, as well as arrests. Despite this, the group was able to amass large amounts of money from their ‘Operation M’ which involved a series of robberies. The Revolutionary Left group split off from

2806-418: The public as suspicious due to their “bedraggled” look. The remaining group, consisting of five members, were chased by police into a lodge at the base of Mount Asama . Here the members took hostage of the lodge keeper’s wife. A nine-day siege ensued which saw the mountain sealed off and 3 000 riot police on scene. The police did not close in on the group despite several exchanges of gunfire in order to protect

2867-485: The session nodded with a frown, though not severely, only meaning to show that he knew how hard it was to combat inertia, so natural in man when he is not sustained by revolutionary convictions. He passed wordlessly onto the next man, indicating who this should be by pursing his lips in his direction. North Koreans are required to engage in saenghwal ch’onghwa sessions in which they confess to wrongdoings, transgressions, and deviations from Kim Il Sung 's Ten Principles for

2928-483: The seven who had opted to be tried as a group, was released by authorities before trial at the demand of the Japanese Red Army (JRA). The JRA also demanded the release of Sakaguchi ; however, he chose to remain to face trial, Another two of the seven defected before trial, leaving only Nagata, Sakaguchi and Uegaki to face collective trial. Nagata and Sakaguchi were ultimately sentenced to death, whilst Uegaki received

2989-422: The timing of self-criticism as important also, writing that "do it in good time; don't get into the habit of criticizing only after the event". Mao advocated "active ideological struggle" in the form of self-criticism while warning "we must not become complacent over any success. We should check our complacency and constantly criticize our shortcomings" He said "inner-Party criticism is a weapon for strengthening

3050-468: The venue. The next day, Bund students from Chuo University launched a counter-attack, kidnapping Red Army chairman Shiomi and others, and imprisoning them for three weeks in a stronghold on the Chuo University campus, where they were subjected to threats and torture. Although Shiomi and the others eventually managed escape by descending from a third floor window using a makeshift rope constructed from

3111-633: The victims were buried in the woods nearby their mountain camp. The police were able to trace the URA to their mountain hideout. In the surrounding areas, they located the bodies of members that had fallen victim to self-criticism sessions. In early February 1972, Mori and Nagata took a trip to Tokyo. Whilst they were away, several URA members took the opportunity to desert the group. On 15 February, remaining group members discovered that police were aware of their whereabouts which led them to leave their training base. During their escape, two members were arrested. Mori and Nagata were also arrested upon return to

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3172-462: The victims. The Revolutionary Left escalated their violent approaches with the intentions of obtaining weaponry, such as with their gun shop robbery of 1971. The alliance between the Revolutionary Left and Red Army Faction began as each had resources that the other desired. The Revolutionary Left were able to provide guns that the Red Army needed to support their 'armed conflict', for which they received much needed funds. This relationship developed with

3233-583: The worldwide revolution in Japan. Those that wanted to relocate overseas became the Japanese Red Army , led by Shigenobu Fusako and Tsuyoshi Okudaira , while those who wished to continue the revolution at home in Japan joined forces with the Kanagawa prefectural branch of the Revolutionary Left Faction to form the United Red Army , led by Tsuneo Mori and Hiroko Nagata . Self-criticism (Marxism%E2%80%93Leninism) The concept of self-criticism

3294-437: Was given two options to choose from in how they could be tried by the courts. He or she could remain as in the collective and face a group trial given that the crimes were committed together, or be tried individually although this would result in being perceived as a traitor. Seven members, including Mori, opted to be tried together. However, Mori committed suicide in prison on 1 January 1973 before making it to trial. Bando, one of

3355-558: Was introduced in 1962 during a series of ideological disputes with the Soviet Union. French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser wrote "Essays in Self-Criticism" focused on the issue of ideologically correcting ideas expressed in his prior works, most prominently For Marx and Reading Capital . The American New Left revolutionary organization Weather Underground dedicated a chapter of their work Prairie Fire to self-criticism of their prior revolutionary strategies. Likewise,

3416-489: Was not before another member, Ozaki Mitsuo, was killed in the self-critique process initiated against him on 28 December that resulted in his death two days later. These violent beatings ultimately saw the death of 12 members of the URA who had been deemed not sufficiently revolutionary. Many of the twelve victims died tied to posts in the open, exposed to the elements, but others were beaten to death or slaughtered with knives. The last death occurred on 12 February. The bodies of

3477-619: Was significant coverage relating to the interrogation of group members. With police having provided information about the group’s killings, media communicated an image of the URA that associated “armed resistance with the murder of comrades”. This saw a shift in public perception. This sentiment was conveyed by a student who was interviewed for one of Japan’s most noteworthy news publications, the Asahi Shimbun . This student remarked "When they were captured without being completely defeated, I thought that they were definitely revolutionaries, and I felt

3538-410: Was through this process that several group members were killed. Two members originally from the Revolutionary Left were the first victims of self-criticism. Kato Yoshitaka was selected for self-criticism as he had spoken to police during an earlier interrogation, and Kojima Kazuko for lacking the ability to fight her “bourgeois thinking”. Initially the pair were refused food, and from 26–27 December Kato

3599-454: Was tied up and beaten by group members. Kojima was also beaten by group members. As Kato had not lost consciousness during the beatings, Mori concluded that he had not achieved self-criticism and so he was tied to a post outside in the harsh mountain climate to suffer further beatings. Once the leaders Nagata and Mori were satisfied that Kato had achieved self-critique he was brought inside. However, he died from his injuries on 4 January 1972. This

3660-433: Was to test their devotion to the cause. Mori argued that beating members into unconsciousness would allow for them to be reborn with true "communistic subjectivity" when they were brought back to consciousness. Members of the URA expressed their concerns to Mori regarding this practice and the unpredictability as to the consequences of beatings, unsure of an exact way to achieve sending a member into unconsciousness. As such, it

3721-399: Was widely publicized, with viewers across Japan able to view the shoot-out between the radicals and riot police on TV. Public perception of the group was varied. Many were strongly opposed to the group and their tendency toward violence, whilst others sympathized with them and their desire to bring down the police state. The United Red Army had 29 members and lost 14 due to killings in less than

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