Zengakuren

The word Zengakuren (全学連) is an abridgement of Zen Nihon Gakusei Jichikai Sō Rengō (全日本学生自治会総連合) which literally means "All-Japan Federation of Student Self-Government Associations.

Nevertheless, for the time being Zengakuren held together in order mobilize its full power to try to stop the 1960 revision of the US-Japan Security Treaty.

At the apex of its organizing power during the anti-Treaty protests in 1960, Zengakuren was able to count on around 250 jichikai at 110 schools, representing a total strength of around 290,000 students.

[2] The first open splits within Zengakuren occurred in the immediate aftermath, as despondency at the failure of the anti-Treaty protests to stop the Treaty from being ratified led to numerous rounds of recriminations.

Although dozens of rival sects emerged over the course of the 1960s, three major groupings occurred:[7] By the end of the 1960s, there were several different factions claiming the mantle of the name "Zengakuren."

Demonstrators and police buses outside the Japanese National Diet on Friday September 18, 2015 during the debate in the House of Councillors shortly before the 2015 Japanese military legislation was passed in the early hours of September 19th. A Zengakuren banner is visible in the middle of the image.
Zengakuren protestors in Tokyo, 1968