Japanese Anarchist Federation

While anarchism gained support within the Zengakuren and Zenkyoto student groups during the 1960s, the Japanese Anarchist Federation remained a small organisation with little direct influence, and resolved to dissolve itself in 1968.

Anarchism in Japan has a long history, arguably having roots in the egalitarian structure of some communal villages during the Tokugawa era.

[1] Its modern form, however, originated in the political activities of Kōtoku Shūsui, an anarchist who edited the libertarian-socialist newspaper Heimin Shinbun in the early 20th century.

[2] He gained the permission of anarcho-communist writer Peter Kropotkin to translate his works into Japanese, which helped to steer the nascent anarchist movement in a communist direction.

[3] In contrast, advocates of anarcho-communism such as Sakutarō Iwasa were strongly focused on the principles of communal solidarity and mutual aid espoused by Kropotkin.

[1] As the Japanese state became more militaristic, repression of political movements such as anarchism intensified, particularly after the Manchurian Incident in 1931, and organised anarchist activism essentially became impossible until the end of the Second World War in 1945.

[8] Land reform instituted after the war also effectively eliminated the class of tenant farmers that had formed the core base of the pre-war anarchist movement.

Idealism, rather than the practical considerations of the populace, became the focus of Heimin Shinbun, and this hindered their capacity to muster public support.

Huge demonstrations swept major cities, and the Sōhyō union and others staged strikes of around 4 to 6 million workers.

The rise of protest groups encouraged the Japanese Anarchist Federation to declare 'The Opening of the Era of Direct Action' in 1968.

[1] It resolved "creatively to dissolve" in an attempt to formulate new forms of organisation, and announced its dissolution formally in Jiyu-Rengo on the 1st January 1969.