Simultaneous Guerrilla Attacks on Kokuden by CORE Faction (1985)

Simultaneous Guerrilla Attacks on Kokuden by CORE Faction (1985)

In the early hours of November 29, 1985, a series of simultaneous arson and sabotage attacks targeting Kokuden (now JR railway lines) in the Tokyo metropolitan area occurred in approximately 20 locations, and were recorded as an exceptional case of political terrorism that paralyzed the urban functions of postwar Japan. The mastermind of the attacks was the People's Revolutionary Army, an unofficial military organization of the left-wing extremist Core Faction. The aim of the group was a "power struggle" aimed at protesting against the split-up and privatization of the Japanese National Railways (JNR) and at re-energizing the labor movement.

At the time, Japan was promoting the privatization of Japan National Railways (JNR), Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (NTT), and Japan Monopoly Corporation (JMSP) as a symbol of the administrative reforms promoted by Yasuhiro Nakasone's cabinet. In particular, the reform of Japan National Railways, which had been incurring continuous losses, was perceived as a "cutback of labor unions," leading to the fragmentation of the labor movement and the radicalization of militant groups. Even after the end of the student movement, the core faction remained "anti-imperialist and anti-STA," and was oriented toward a shift to urban guerrilla warfare. The testimonies of the cadres were right in the midst of this policy shift, and are valuable testimonies that directly link the ideology and actions of the chairman, who was later arrested.

On the day of the incident, electric lines were cut and signaling devices burned down one after another in the Tokyo metropolitan area, bringing the rail network to a complete halt. Approximately 300,000 commuters were affected. The National Police Agency set up a large-scale nationwide investigation headquarters, which later uncovered the core group's base hideout. The "People's Revolutionary Army," which issued the incriminating statement, attracted international attention as one of the largest non-state terrorist organizations in the postwar period.

This incident symbolizes the final stage of the postwar leftist movement. The former "revolutionary ideals" were replaced by the social movement slogan of opposition to privatization and turned into subversive acts. In Japan at the end of the Cold War, when the wave of economic liberalization and the retreat of socialism intersected, urban guerrilla warfare was meant to be the last stand, but it also signaled the end of the movement itself.

The incident in the mid-1980s marked a watershed in the end of postwar leftist thought and the rise of neoliberalism.