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86-532: Kaihо̄-ha played a major role in several of the protest movements of the era, including the 1968-69 Japanese university protests and the Sanrizuka Struggle against the construction of Narita Airport . In 1960, the Zengakuren nationwide student federation dissolved in a series of schisms arising from contentious debates over who was to blame for the failure of the massive Anpo protests to prevent passage of

172-439: A 2004 film ). The events at Yasuda Hall eventually led to the creation of a new genre of literature named Zenkyōtō bungaku (Zenkyōtō literature), which comprises books published in the 1970s and 1980s that are set during the protests. These works include intense imagery of strong emotions, disappointment, confusion, and failure. Philosopher and semiotician Roland Barthes even dedicated a section of his book Empire of Signs to

258-505: A "prophet" by the students, was critical of them for being wrapped up in a "communal illusion". The late-1960s protest cycle caused the Japanese left to lose public support – in the 1969 Japanese general election , the JSP lost 51 seats. The waning influence, power and public image of the left, as well as increased police scrutiny, led to the failure of the 1970 Anpo protests. Within the psyche of

344-553: A "prophet". During the 1968–69 protests, the Zenkyōtō students harassed Yoshimoto's ideological enemy, Masao Maruyama , to the point where he eventually retired in 1971. The slogans of "disassembly of the university" and "self-denial" emerged in the student movement of the University of Tokyo. The conflict at the university transcended the boundaries of university issues and became a form of "conflict between students and state power". This

430-660: A Zengakuren clique aligned with the JCP, became involved. These factions brought factionalist divisions onto campus, leading to fights where non-sectarian students intervened to either break them up or provide first aid. This three-way internal conflict took place mostly at the Komaba campus of the University of Tokyo. In December, a fight between the Shaseidō Kaihō-ha and the Kakumaru-ha at Waseda University that started over an accusation of

516-515: A degree of autonomy. Committee members participated in committee debates, and decisions were voted on by a show of hands. Attempts by universities to arrest leaders of Zenkyōtō were fruitless. The National Federation of Zenkyōtō was set up at Hibiya Park in September 1969. However, Yoshitaka Yamamoto, leader of the University of Tokyo Zenkyōtō, who chaired the rally at Hibiya Park, was arrested. From 1968 to 1969, Zenkyōtō expanded alongside conflicts in

602-465: A delegation of seven undergraduates to pressure University authorities to accept their demands during the period of conflict at the University of Tokyo. With the moving of the Ministry of Education after entrance examinations were cancelled, riot police were introduced to suppress a mass Zenkyōtō protest. Athletic groups and people of different ethnicities participated in combat at Nihon University. In 1948,

688-636: A dispute over the status of graduate students in the University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine over the new Medical Doctors' Law which restricted employment opportunities and a judgement on a militant student made by the board led to mass protests in the University of Tokyo. A Zenkyōtō sprung up at the conflict in the university, and Zenkyōtō students occupied and fought in Yasuda Auditorium, which they had occupied in July, against riot police. In January 1969, 8500 riot police were called to Yasuda Auditorium to break up

774-590: A rally held in Hibiya Park , fractured from infighting. Movements became isolated. Despite the destruction of any unity between Zenkyōtō, students continued to riot in the streets, with more of their attention turned to concerns like the war in Vietnam and the upcoming renewal of the Anpo treaty. In 1970, the situation on campuses returned to normal. Infighting between Anti- Yoyogi (anti-JCP) groups, Minsei, and others plagued

860-628: A student strike at the university in early 1968. A fight on February 19 between a tutor and students caused by the controversy over internship reform led to the punishment of 17 students and the expulsion of four. Medical students, who disrupted graduation ceremonies at the university in March, deemed some of the punishment as absurd, as one of the students was not in Tokyo at the day of the fight but in Kyushu . As riot police were called in to protect these ceremonies,

946-571: A way for students to oppose the progressives for abandoning shutaisei during the Anpo Protests of 1960 . The students wished to have a sense of personal self-hood or agency and wanted to join with other people looking for shutaisei to affirm this through fighting. Some of the most popular books within the student population of Japan at the time were existentialist works such as Dostoevsky 's The Brothers Karamazov and Camus 's The Stranger . Japanese New Left scholar William Andrews likens

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1032-582: A whole, as well as change of academic subjects and reviewing the way universities, students and researchers work." Zenkyōtō believed that modern universities were "factories of education" embedded in imperialist forms of management, with faculty councils as "terminal institutions of power" responsible for their management. They claimed that "university autonomy" was no more than an illusion, and that dismantling such an administration would be an issue. They believed that universities should be dismantled by violence, such as university-wide blockades. According to Zenkyōtō,

1118-463: Is an oversimplification of these relations, with many details not shown. Factions colored yellow were the members of the Sanpa Zengakuren , an anti-JCP alliance. The two splinter factions of Kakukyōdō also had their own factions of Marugakudō , Kakukyōdō's Zengakuren student arm. Their interpretation of the idea of shutaisei greatly influenced the students. Once started, the protests became

1204-741: The Central Council for Education . The protests have been the subject of modern popular media, such as Kōji Wakamatsu 's 2007 film United Red Army . The Allied Occupation of Japan from the end of the Second World War to 1952 brought significant changes to Japanese politics. The occupation authorities repealed the Peace Preservation Law , which had been enacted before the war to target left-wing groups specifically and arrest their members. Left-wing prisoners incarcerated under this law were released. The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) and

1290-486: The Japanese Socialist Party (JSP) were legalized and became influential within Japanese politics. The JCP focused on increasing their support among students, which led to the association of students with left-wing activism. The occupation authorities promulgated the post-war Constitution of Japan , which gave political organizations the right to exist and workers the right to organize. Left-wing groups supported

1376-609: The Kakumaru-ha , a breakaway organization of the Trotskyist Japan Revolutionary Communist League , took nine professors as hostages, including Literature Faculty Dean Kentarō Hayashi. Discussing the protests, Hayashi described how many professors like him were interrogated ruthlessly for days and verbally abused by students. The Shaseidō Kaihō-ha , another Zengakuren organization, and the Minsei Dōmei ,

1462-733: The National Diet and implemented it as law in August. The law called for the creation of the Extra Council on University Disputes and made it possible for university authorities to call in riot police to resolve disputes with students. This legislation served as a heavy blow for the already declining student groups and was one of the key factors in their demise. By the end of 1969, the students had been broken. Many barricades had been dismantled, and violence slowly dissipated. The National Zenkyōtō, formed in 1969, whose activity peaked in September with

1548-767: The Sōhyō trade federation representing Japanese trade unions carried out massive protests against renewal of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan (known commonly as Anpo ). For Zengakuren, Anpo marked a renewal and strengthening of their political program and the eclipsing of the Old Left by the New Left. During the Anpo protests of 1960, a split occurred between two leading left-wing intellectuals – Masao Maruyama and Takaaki Yoshimoto . Maruyama saw

1634-584: The U.S.-Japan Security Treaty . Hoping to capture a slice of the splintering student movement in Japan, the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) established a new party youth wing, the " Japan Socialist Youth League " ( 日本社会主義青年同盟解放派 , [ Nihon Shakaishugi Seinen Dо̄mei ] Error: {{nihongo}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 29) ( help ) ) , usually abbreviated [Shaseidо̄] Error: {{Lang}}: Non-latn text/Latn script subtag mismatch ( help ) ) to institutionalize

1720-633: The University of Tokyo are the most well-known. The media reported that University of Tokyo Zenkyōtō members tried to "dismantle colleges". In their protests, University of Tokyo Zenkyōtō members battled police with hurled stones and wooden staves nicknamed "violence sticks" ( gebaruto bō  [ ja ] ). Some say that the University of Tokyo faction was more of a mass movement than an organized movement in which concrete ideas and policies were set forth. Zenkyōtō policies could be more diverse depending on different universities and individuals. Zenkyōtō led

1806-597: The Vietnam War . In late 1968, Prime Minister Eisaku Sato appointed educationist Michita Sakata , who previously called for a special investigation into university deficiencies in 1968, as Minister of Education. Sakata, now tasked with trying to deal with calls for government intervention in the universities, did so by promulgating the Act on Temporary Measures concerning University Management in May 1969. The government rushed it through

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1892-669: The Yodogō Hijacking Incident and the Asama-Sansō incident . The evolution of these groups from the protests is the subject of Kōji Wakamatsu 's 2007 film United Red Army . The aftermath of the protests also led to the rise of Japanese feminism. Women were constrained in their ability to protest during the movement, especially in Japanese society, where women's roles were more traditional. Importantly, female students were given an opportunity and agency for public action. The failure of female students to be treated equally during

1978-573: The Zengakuren was founded as a student organization close to the Japan Communist Party (JCP). In 1960, the students of Zengakuren broke with the JCP over methodological differences during the Anpo protests . Although some Zengakuren members eventually reconciled with the JCP, many were turned against it, leading to conflict between Zengakuren and the JCP. Zengakuren itself was broken into multiple factions, who participated in factional infighting within

2064-462: The Zenkyōtō ( Japanese : 全共闘 ), were Japanese student organizations consisting of anti-government, anti- Japanese Communist Party leftist and non-sectarian radicals. The Zenkyōtō were formed to organize students during the 1968–69 Japanese university protests . Unlike other student movement organizations, graduate students and young teachers were allowed to participate. Active in the late 1960s, Zenkyōtō

2150-447: The postwar baby boom had reached university and universities had accommodated this change by opening up thousands of additional spaces. Tensions had already risen, and the student movement had been mostly dormant since the Anpo protests. The situation in the universities had become increasingly unstable, leading to the 1968 protests. Student unrest reemerged with protests at Keio University in 1965 and Waseda University in 1966 being

2236-411: The proletariat . The Chūkaku-ha criticized Kakumaru-ha as being petite bourgeois . The Shaseidō Kaihō-ha believed that the problem with the university was its educational ideology of preparing students to become "slaves" in industry. The Bund was much more hierarchical compared to other student groups. Ideologically, they focused on the defense of Japanese democracy from fascism instead of destroying

2322-478: The " Liberation Faction National Council " ( 解放派全国協議会 , Kaihō-ha zenkoku kyōgi-kai ) . 1968-69 Japanese university protests [REDACTED] Students: [REDACTED] Government Incidents In 1968 and 1969, student protests at several Japanese universities ultimately forced the closure of campuses across Japan. Known as daigaku funsō ( 大学紛争 , lit. 'university troubles') or daigaku tōsō ( 大学闘争 , 'university struggles'),

2408-423: The 1960s, putting pressure on higher education institutions to expand, and for secondary education institutions to extend into tertiary education. The rise of left-wing sympathies among students led to the creation of the Zengakuren , a socialist student organization formed in 1948. Zengakuren grew out of a 1947–48 protest against an increase in university fees led by student supporters of the JCP. With Zengakuren,

2494-521: The 1968 generation, the defeat of the protests generated an identity crisis. This lack of understanding towards the self was one of the main inspirations for writer Haruki Murakami – some of his books deal directly with the aftermath of the protests in the 1970s, like Hear the Wind Sing . Other famous books inspired by the protests include the 1977 Zenkyōtō novel Boku tte nani by Masahiro Mita ( ja ), and 69 by Ryū Murakami (further adapted into

2580-917: The Constitution and students sought to protect it and defend themselves against actions by the Japanese state they viewed as unconstitutional. Occupation authorities restructured the Japanese education system by repealing the Imperial Rescript on Education , decentralizing the administration of the education system, and introducing the American-based 6-3-3-4 school system (six years of primary school, three years of junior secondary school, three years of senior secondary school, and four years of tertiary education), making at least nine years of education mandatory. High school admission continued to be rare and competitive. The 1949 National School Establishment Law expanded

2666-514: The Japanese New Left against mainstream progressivism and orthodox Stalinism . By the late 1960s, the number of university students and universities reached an all-time high, with 52 universities in Tokyo providing a haven for New Left radicals. The lack of post-war publication censorship, the printing of affordable Marxist texts and the abundance of free time at university led to the radicalization of many more students. The generation born in

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2752-566: The Japanese poet and critic Takaaki Yoshimoto . Yoshimoto's interpretation of "autonomy" ( jiritsusei ) and "subjectivity" ( shutaisei ) were based on his critique of the progressive liberal interpretations of these ideas by other Japanese intellectuals such as Masao Maruyama , whom he denounced as hypocritical. The students' devotion to shutaisei in particular would lead ultimately to the disintegration of their movement, as they focused increasingly on "self-negation" ( jiko hitei ) and "self-criticism" ( hansei ). The university troubles helped in

2838-490: The Sanpa Zengakuren to physically prevent Prime Minister Eisaku Satō from traveling to the United States to meet with U.S. president Lyndon Johnson , leading to a violent struggle with police in which one student activist was killed. In 1968 and 1969, Kaihо̄-ha participated in the 1968-69 Japanese university protests on various campuses around Japan. Beginning in 1968 and lasting into the 1980s, Kaihо̄-ha participated

2924-432: The University of Tokyo, "spreading like a wildfire" to universities nationwide. Zenkyōtō initially only dealt with issues specific to each university (tuition fees, etc.) beyond the jurisdiction of university student councils. Later, after experiencing hard responses from university authorities as well as government intervention with riot police, Zenkyōtō changed to deal with the change of the "philosophy of universities as

3010-575: The Zengakuren students. The student protests did not spawn any reformist political movements, like the Green Party in Germany . Oguma identifies three reasons for this – the students' rejection of any concrete goals and their own moralistic goals, continuing economic growth in Japan leading to the employment of former activists within traditional Japanese society, and the rigid structure and Marxist nature of

3096-552: The agency to negate their own selves. Critics of this interpretation like then-dean of the Literature Facility of the University of Tokyo, Kentaro Hayashi, who had been taken hostage by the students during the protests, denounced the students' ideas as "the hypocrisy of self-denigration" – despite all of their talk about denying "the University of Tokyo within us", the students were hypocritically keeping their privileges as University of Tokyo students. Yoshimoto himself, seen as

3182-541: The conviction of the groups in Yasuda Hall that they would win the conflict, the weekend ended with police in control of the roof of Yasuda Hall, the final holdout of the University of Tokyo student movement. This fight was a low point for the student movement – the number of occupied university campuses had declined to 33. Following the siege, Mishima addressed the students, criticizing them for not believing strongly enough to die for their cause. The television broadcasts of

3268-466: The demands of the students, leading to the resignation of all University directors involved. However, following the negotiations, Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato declared that "establishing relations with popular gangs deviate from common sense", and the authorities withdrew their promises to the students. Students with associations to sports began to riot in Ryogoku Auditorium, and riot police

3354-429: The dispersal of protesters in 1969. Initially, demonstrations were organized to protest against unpaid internships at the University of Tokyo Medical School. Building on years of student organization and protest, New Left student organizations began occupying buildings around campus. The other main campus where the protests originated was Nihon University . They began with student discontent over alleged corruption in

3440-453: The emergence of Mitsu Tanaka 's Women's Liberation ( Ūman Ribu ) movement. While most disputes had settled down by the 1970s and many of the students had reintegrated into Japanese society, the protests' ideas entered the cultural sphere, inspiring writers like Haruki Murakami and Ryū Murakami . The students' political demands made education reform a priority for the Japanese government, which it tried to address through organizations such as

3526-502: The end of 1968, students had seized control of 67 campuses, with hundreds of campuses subject to significant student unrest. Protests also occurred outside of university campuses. Thousands of students entered Shinjuku Station on October 21 (International Anti-War Day) and rioted , leading the police to invoke the Riotous Assembly Crime Act . The scale of the riot provoked public backlash that increased public support for

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3612-430: The fighting in Yasuda Hall only increased the fervor of student activists elsewhere. The explosion of student unrest following the Yasuda Hall siege led to the number of occupied campuses skyrocketing from 33 to 77 by March and 111 by April. However, the government paid close attention to the protests, and police strengthened their stance against them. In February, the barricades at Nihon University were dismantled, and

3698-402: The first to use the name " All-Campus Joint Struggle Committees " ( Zenkyōtō ) to refer to the student organizations coordinating the protests. The Waseda disturbances lasted 150 days, ending when student activism calmed down nationwide. A controversial reform made by the University of Tokyo in late 1967 regarding medical internship , seen as six years of free labor by medical students, led to

3784-508: The higher education system, leading to local higher education institutions being consolidated into national universities, ensuring the existence of state-supported universities in every prefecture. This standardization later resulted in an increasing number of students ready to go on to high school, which led to the creation of more private high schools by the Ministry of Education (MoE). The number of high school graduates grew to 90% of students by

3870-454: The ideological question of "self-denial" should be advanced to deny statuses as students or researchers. Students began to use wooden staves against both the riot police and each other, with students taking their nihilism and anger not only onto university power structures, but themselves. Zenkyōtō began to lose its momentum and the support of the students as university struggles were stuck in stalemates, with seemingly impossible demands, all

3956-456: The legal basis to apply more forceful measures, although splinter groups of the New Left groups, such as the United Red Army , continued their violence into the 1970s. The students drew ideological inspiration from the works of Marxist theorists like Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky , French existentialist philosophers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus , and the homegrown philosophy of

4042-524: The midst of struggle. At the beginning of 1969, the students were hopeful they would hold out against the police. As violence continued, the government canceled the spring 1969 university entrance exams. The situation was hectic on the University of Tokyo campus. Minsei, the pro-JCP clique of Zengakuren, was winning, which pressured the University of Tokyo Zenkyōtō to call in student reinforcements from Nihon University and Chuo University. The students became disillusioned, resulting in many of them voting to stop

4128-534: The organization. This increasing conflict between different groups in the left began a cycle of violence that would last into the late-1960s. In 1962, student unrest at Waseda University over the building of a new student hall led to the founding of the Waseda Zenkyōtō, a precursor group to other Zenkyōtō. Chaired by Akihiko Oguchi, a member of the Shaseido Kaiho-ha , the Waseda Zenkyōtō turned eventually from

4214-424: The piece of Zengakuren controlled by JSP-affiliated student activists. Thereafter, the "[Shaseidо̄ Zengakuren] Error: {{Lang}}: Non-latn text/Latn script subtag mismatch ( help ) " was one of several Zengakurens competing for the title of the "true" Zengakuren. In 1964, however, Shaseidо̄ itself experienced a schism over the JSP's party platform of "Structural Reform," which some of the radical youth activists felt

4300-516: The police, which led them to use more force when assaulting occupied campuses. The Sophia University occupation, for example, collapsed in December 1968 after a police siege of the campus. Violence escalated in the autumn of 1968. Until then, police viewed students as part of the widespread anti- Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) movement that included opposition parties and labor unions. However, increasing violence, which resulted in less public support for

4386-435: The pre-Zenkyōtō situation, where activists were split into 39 groups affiliated with Zengakuren and opposed to the JCP and one group that was pro-JCP. The Zenkyōtō helped to expand the scope of protestors. Whereas only undergraduate students protested against Anpo in 1960, the Zenkyōtō included graduate students and some members of staff. The Zenkyōtō at Nihon University helped students push back against conservative influence on

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4472-589: The problem of the student hall to that of a planned rise in tuition fees. The Zenkyōtō students took action, leading to fighting within the university that subsided in June 1966. In May 1968, a demonstration was held in Nihon University, dubbed the 200 Meter Demonstration as a reaction to the secrecy of university authorities on the expenditure of 3400 million yen. On May 27, the Nihon University Zenkyōtō

4558-480: The protest as an example of the enacting of the concept of shutaisei (subjectivity), or the idea of the autonomy of society from the state and the self, and as a shining beacon of democratic ideals. Yoshimoto saw the protest as a reaction against capitalist alienation, not as an act of protecting democracy. Yoshimoto accused Maruyama and his supporters of being duplicitous, hypocritical, and going against shutaisei by deceiving themselves into believing they were against

4644-421: The protest's primary focus was giving the students a role in electing the university rector, and students aimed to gain control of student association buildings at Nagasaki University and Hanazono University . Sophia University shut down its campus for six months. An American jet crashed into the computer center at Kyushu University , sparking anti-American protests aimed at shutting down Brady Air Base . By

4730-473: The protest. With different action committees nationwide participating in solidarity with the Nihon Zenkyōtō, the committees were federated into a nationwide Zenkyōtō , escaping the supervision of the Zengakuren, who often sided with university authorities. Committees were organized by levels (students, staff, researchers, etc.) and by departments (humanities, medicine, literature, etc.). Each committee had

4816-501: The protests led to a greater awareness among women of gender inequality on campus. This new awareness led feminist intellectual Mitsu Tanaka to write her 1970 work No More Toilets , a seminal work in the Ūman ribu movement. Tanaka criticized the infighting within the New Left groups as overly masculine and capitalistic. Books Journal articles Zenky%C5%8Dt%C5%8D The All-Campus Joint Struggle Committees ( Japanese : 全学共闘会議; Zengaku kyōtō kaigi ), commonly known as

4902-433: The protests were part of the worldwide protest cycle in 1968 and the late-1960s Japanese protest cycle, including the Anpo protests of 1970 and the struggle against the construction of Narita Airport . Students demonstrated initially against practical issues in universities and eventually formed the Zenkyōtō in mid-1968 to organize themselves. The Act on Temporary Measures concerning University Management allowed for

4988-533: The sects. However, some militant students created their own new movements, such as the Rengo Sekigun (United Red Army) or the Nihon Sekigun (Japanese Red Army). For these students, the student protests were just a step in the right direction, and not the end of their military struggle. Sekigun and other remnant groups of the student groups that participated in the protests were responsible for such incidents as

5074-532: The self" or "self-transformation". The students rejected anything they deemed "reformism", such as concrete reform goals. Their goals overall were very vague; one Zenkyōtō member claimed to be fighting "for the battle itself" and some students simply wanted to join in on the fighting. The students, especially those within the Bund, interpreted shutaisei through Takaaki Yoshimoto 's simplified interpretation. Their idea of shutaisei led to their demise – they wanted to have

5160-474: The strikes at the University of Tokyo. The hardliners, however, holed up in buildings like Yasuda Hall, readied themselves for a siege. On 18 January 1969, thousands of police moved onto the University of Tokyo campus. Nationalist writer Yukio Mishima was so alarmed by the siege that he contacted the police to tell them to be careful. Conflict continued among the disparate Zengakuren cliques and Zenkyōtō, although their power had been greatly reduced. Despite

5246-557: The student movement had a banner to rally under. In the 1950s, New Left movements that had evolved from Zengakuren, which were unaffiliated with the JCP, sprang up within the student movement. Some of Zengakuren's student leaders, for example, split from the JCP to form the Communist League , a Leninist group known as the "Bund" which took their name from the German name of the Communist League of Karl Marx 's time. Groups that followed

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5332-485: The student movement. In July 1968, the Zenkyōtō at the University of Tokyo demanded that all senior medical staff at the university resign. This led to the resignations of the director of the University of Tokyo Hospital and the dean of the Faculty of Medicine on August 10. In the same month, talks broke down, violence reemerged on campus, and the Zenkyōtō slowly lost control to different organizations. In November, members of

5418-405: The students moved to occupy Yasuda Hall in June. The University of Tokyo decided to take measures to take back Yasuda Hall from student occupation and clear its barricades. However, this led to outrage amongst the student population, which re-occupied the hall and called a general strike. The protests by the University of Tokyo medical students spilled over to other universities. One of the first

5504-482: The students' interpretation of shutaisei to Jean-Paul Sartre 's theory of good and bad faith – it was personal conviction and student agency that the students thought would bring about change, not following any party line. This led to an emphasis on self-criticism and self-negation ( jikohihan ) as a way of becoming more revolutionary. When University of Tokyo students were asked what they were fighting for, most of them claimed they were fighting either for "asserting

5590-407: The students, led the police to single out student radicals. The students fought with staves made of wood or bamboo known as Gewalt Staves , or gebaruto-bō in Japanese (abbreviated as geba-bō ). The word Gewalt means "violence" or "force" in German, to students a valid means towards achieving political goals. There is silence in the midst of battle, Peace in the midst of war and Order in

5676-523: The students. Entrance exams were held in March in emergency centers in Kyoto under police protection, following which the protests at Kyoto University fizzled out. On Okinawa Day , students clashed with police in central Tokyo against the background of a much larger protest against the American occupation of Okinawa . Student activity spiked again in June, as they allied with other left-wing groups to protest against

5762-727: The theft of papers spilled over to the University of Tokyo, where the factions occupied different buildings belonging to the University's Literature Department and built barricades. This dispute lasted three weeks, leading to the withdrawal of the Kakumaru-ha from the Zenkyōtō. Different Zengakuren factions controlled different buildings from then on. In the meantime, protests spread across many universities in Japan. Students at different universities protested different things. At Kansei Gakuin University and Tōhoku University , students protested rising tuition costs. They called for university democratization at Kanagawa University and Beppu University . At Doshisha University and Waseda University ,

5848-561: The theory of Leon Trotsky came together to form the Japan Revolutionary Communist League ( Kakukyōdō ), and less radical Zengakuren leaders within the Bund led the Student Socialist League ( Shakai Gakusei Dōmei , shortened to Shagakudō ). These factions wrested control of Zengakuren from the JCP for the New Left. In 1960, a broad coalition of left-wing groups including the JCP, the JSP, Zengakuren, and

5934-459: The university board of directors. At Nihon, protests were driven less by ideology and more by pragmatism because of the university's traditional and conservative nature. The movement spread to other Japanese universities, escalating into violence both on campus and in the streets. In late 1968, at the zenith of the movement, thousands of students entered Tokyo's busiest railway station, Shinjuku , and rioted . Factional infighting ( uchi-geba , 内ゲバ )

6020-536: The university reopened its classes. Its entrance exams were held under heavy police guard. Attention shifted to Kyoto University , where the Kyoto Zenkyōtō and the local Minsei chapter, supported by the Kyoto University authorities, had been fighting viciously. Following a fight that ended at Nihon University, Zenkyōtō students declared central Kyoto a "liberated area", and riot police were called in to deal with

6106-474: The university struggles. The Chūkaku-ha and Kakumaru-ha were the two main factions of the Trotskyist Kakukyōdō . The Chūkaku-ha agreed with the Bund and posited that the institution of the university had been brought under capitalism from its previously free status, and that the struggles represented the contradictions within capitalism. The Kakumaru-ha believed because of the imperialistic nature of

6192-453: The university, students could never influence society by entering its administration. (They were also anti-Zenkyōtō, having fought against them at Waseda University in late 1969). Both also disagreed politically – although they were both Marxist. Kakumaru-ha advocated for a focus on the creation of an anti-Stalinist party, while the Chūkaku-ha focused more on class war and the mobilization of

6278-414: The university. Minsei , as a more reformist faction aligned with the JCP, believed that compromise was possible with professors and that their ultimate opponent was the oppressive force of the Ministry of Education. Minsei was important in working against Zenkyōtō, opposing their occupations of campuses. This chart shows the relationships between various factions within the Japanese New Left. However, it

6364-460: The violent Sanrizuka Struggle against the construction of Narita Airport . In 1971, the JSP severed all ties with Kaihо̄-ha and evicted its members from the party. Kaihо̄-ha had an intense, long-running conflict with rival New Left group Kakumaru-ha . By 1980, Kaihо̄-ha had killed around 20 members of Kakumaru-ha. In 1981, Kaihо̄-ha splintered into the " Revolutionary Workers' Association " ( 革命的労働者協会 , Kakumei-teki rōdō-sha kyōkai ) and

6450-407: The war and the heralds of popular democracy. The New Left, especially the Bund, took up Yoshimoto's ideas and his critique of Maruyama and Japanese progressivism. Zengakuren attacked the JCP, the progressives, and anything else they deemed as the "Establishment" as organizations that threatened shutaisei by destroying the autonomy of the self and replacing it with a vanguard. This marked the turn of

6536-499: The while universities were really in danger of being dissolved. Oda Makoto of the Beheiren (Citizen's Alliance for Peace in Vietnam) group claimed that he would start his own movement if Zenkyōtō could not destroy the University of Tokyo. The Zenkyōtō students were extremely nihilistic and rejected hierarchy, seeing the university system as being based primarily on oppression. Their motto

6622-474: Was Nihon University (known commonly as Nichidai ), which saw 10,000 of its 86,000 students demonstrating in May 1968 over the suspicious use of two billion yen of funds by the university's board of directors. Students accused the board of "money-making" in a "mass-production university". Although the political ideologies of the universities were different, the University of Tokyo was an elite school whose students had left-wing sympathies, while Nihon University

6708-517: Was "smash the university" ( daigaku funsai ) – they saw themselves as diametrically opposed to the university system, and would only stop if the universities were destroyed. Zenkyōtō further deemed everyone complicit in the university system as "victimizers" ( kagaisha ). The Zenkyōtō found their ideological basis in Takaaki Yoshimoto – he was so popular among the New Left that he was referred to as

6794-477: Was brought in. After the situation calmed down, Nihon University resumed classes in a temporary school complex in Shiraitodai , Fuchū , with 10 buildings surrounded by vacant fields and barbed wire. Staff were stationed at the entrance of the premises, and students were required to show student IDs. This complex was popularly called "Nihon Auschwitz", in reference to Auschwitz concentration camp . In January 1968,

6880-411: Was elected leader of this Zenkyōtō. Although it had previously existed, the University of Tokyo popularized the Zenkyōtō model. This served as the mainstream interpretation of the model after this point. The Zenkyōtō brought the actions of non-sectarian activists – people who did not follow any set path to revolution and were unaffiliated with either Zengakuren or the JCP – to light. This contrasted with

6966-402: Was formed by Akehiro Akita , who chaired the organization. The Zenkyōtō consisted of anti-Communist and non-sectarian radicals. In response to student demands, University authorities held a conference at the Ryogoku Auditorium on September 30 to negotiate between students and authorities. The rally was attended by as many as 35,000 students. After 12 hours of negotiations, the authorities accepted

7052-447: Was more conservative and repressive. The protests used similar tactics, such as the occupation of important university buildings, whose use later allowed for the formation of Zenkyōtō groups in different universities. In July 1968, the University of Tokyo Zenkyōtō , or All-Campus Joint Struggle Committee was formed to coordinate protests at different universities across the country. Non-sectarian postgraduate student Yoshitaka Yamamoto

7138-423: Was no longer a struggle that could be ended by a compromise at each university. Tomofusa Kure , a student involved in the conflict, said that "Self-negation is self-affirmation. To discover it is self-negation. Self-negation is not intended to be the aim – Rather, it emerges as a result of self-affirmation." This "self-negation" was a form of "negation of the university which produces men to serve capital as if in

7224-441: Was rampant among these students. In January 1969, the police besieged the University of Tokyo and ended the protests there, leading to renewed fervor from students at other universities, where protests continued. However, as public support for the students fell, and the police increased their efforts to stop the protests, the movement waned. The passage of the 1969 Act on Temporary Measures concerning University Management gave police

7310-768: Was the driving force behind clashes between Japanese students and the police. Zenkyōtō groups were driven by alienation and a reaction to " American imperialism ", Japanese " Monopoly Capitalism ", and "Russian Stalinism ". However, many members of the movement were non-political (known as nonpori in Japanese), and were focused more on more practical and local problems. Much of the movement centered around nihilism , humanism and existentialism , which served as inspirations for revolution. Since individual Zenkyōtō groups were formed independently at each university, their timing, purpose, organization and policies were unique. Among Zenkyōtō groups at universities, Nihon University and

7396-650: Was too gradualist. Those activists who favored immediate push for socialist revolution broke away to form the Shaseidо̄ "Liberation Faction" in 1965, under the slogan "immediate worldwide proletarian revolution." This was the origin of Kaihо̄-ha. In 1966, Kaihо̄-ha joined with two other radical student sects, Chūkaku-Ha and the Second Bund , to form the "Three-Faction Zengakuren" ( Sanpa Zengakuren ) in order to pursue immediate revolution through violent direct action. On October 17, 1967, Kaihо̄-ha participated in an effort by

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