[5] In the early postwar period, the JCP had pursued a "peaceful line" of attempting to gradually build support for communism while winning over voters in elections.
[6] However, in 1951, in response to the so-called "Cominform Criticism" issued by the Soviet-backed Cominform at the urging of Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, which demanded that the JCP abandon its "peaceful line" and pursue immediate, violent communist revolution in Japan, the JCP had ordered the student activists to go into the mountains to form "mountain village guerrilla squads" and foment the violent revolution Stalin had demanded.
[1] In fact, in an attempt to win back voters with extreme moderacy, the JCP urged Zengakuren student activists to refrain from contentious protests or strikes of any kind and instead focus their energies on organizing sporting events, potlucks, and other social activities.
[11] The Bund was undeterred however, and in January 1960, helped organize a sit-in in Tokyo's Haneda Airport to try to physically block Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi from traveling to Washington, D.C. to sign the new treaty.
[13] This time, however, they were met by hundreds of police armed with truncheons, who attempted to force them back out, precipitating a bloody struggle that lasted for many hours, long into the night.
[13] It was during this violent confrontation that female Bund activist Michiko Kanba was killed, shocking the nation and helping to precipitate the fall of the Kishi cabinet.
[17] However, historian Kenji Hasegawa emphasizes that the Bund nevertheless played a crucial role as midwife to the Japanese New Left by helping the student movement decisively break free of the influence of the Japan Communist Party.