THE JAPANESE RED ARMY

JAPANESE RED ARMY: ORIGINS, OBJECTIVES, IDEOLOGY

By: Sahba Saravi

OVERVIEW

• University students aggravated with post WWII conditions• Offshoot of the Japanese Communist Party,

evolved from three different groups• Anarchic left-wing militant group• Goal of global communist revolution

• Sekigun- Ha (Red Army)• 1969 Created when Shiomi

broke away from JCP• Declared world revolution

would occur Sep. 1 1970• Rengo Sekigun (United Red Army)• 1970 Merged with Keihin

Ampo Kyoto• Nihon Sekigun

(Japanese Red Army)• Largest fragment left

from Katuisawa events

IDEOLOGY• Marxist-Leninist ideology• Leading member Fusako

Shigenobu grew up poor and became a communist in university

• Craving for modernization w/ connection to tradition • Distasted restrictions

imposed on Japan post WWII• Imposed Samurai Moral

Code

OBJECTIVES

• Revolutionize the nation and eventually the world based on Marxist ideology• Eliminate poverty & embrace equality• Tackle government corruption• Terminate U.S military presence in Japan &

Vietnam• Communism allowed these goals to take place in

society

LEADERSHIP IN THE JRA

By: Max Workman

Primarily led by:

•Fusako Shigenobu •Takeshi Okudaira.

LEADERS

• Joined Red Army Faction as a student, left because of political issues

• She was a co-founder of the Lebanon branch which was the Japanese Red Army.

• One of the few females given power in Japanese groups.

FUSAKO SHIGENOBU

• Founded the JRA with Shigenobu in 1972.

• Was killed on May 30, 1972, in the Lod Airport Massacre which left 26 people dead and 80 others wounded.

• Reported to be dating/engaged/married to Shigenobu but other sources say that this relationship was a lie.

TAKESHI OKUDAIRA

By: Jessica Colbourn

SUPPORT AND RECRUITMENT

SupportIncluded:hijacking planes and blowing up refineries. •“Precision planning”

MONETARY SUPPORT

Funded themselves through bank and post office robberies.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

(PFLP)

•Supported the JRA’s goal of revolution•Provided the JRA with guerilla training•Helped launch numerous terrorist attacks along side the JRA.

• Ex: Lod Airport Massacre 1972

EXTERNAL SUPPORT

• Recruitment of college students and young workers.

• Selectively looking for individuals from private and exclusive universities.

• Use of propaganda and recruitment films

RECRUITMENT

STRATEGY, TARGETS AND METHODS

By: Brooke Tavel

STRATEGY

Believed in the practice of mass casualties, along with public

displays of power and threat to the community.

LOD MASSACRE

• Most notable and deadly attack carried out by the JRA:

• May 30, 1972 – 3 members attacked the airport with gun and grenades.•26 killed, at least 80 injured.

ATTACKS

Types of carried out and planned attacks:

•Plane hijackings• North Korea

•Hostages• AIA Building takeover, 1975

•Bombings• Naples, April 1988

CONCLUSION

The organization was disbanded.

Though, the JRA conducted several “successful” attacks, the organization was not successful in it’s

overall goal of overthrowing the Japanese government with the attempt at a Revolution.