Red Army Faction (Japan)

The Red Army Faction (赤軍派, Sekigunha) was a militant communist organization active in Japan from 1968 to 1971, when it split to form two successor groups, the Japanese Red Army and the United Red Army. The Red Army Faction originated as a schismatic militant sub-faction of a larger New Left student organization called the Communist League (共産主義者同盟, Kyо̄sanshugisha Dо̄mei). Advocating immediate, armed uprising against the forces of Japanese monopoly capitalism in preparation for worldwide revolution, the Red Army Faction planned a variety of attacks on police and government officials, as well as criminal activities such as bank robberies to fund their planned communist revolution. Most notably on March 30, 1970, members of the group hijacked Japan Air Lines Flight 351, eventually flying the aircraft to North Korea where the hijackers were granted political asylum.