TheAinu Revolution Theory (Japanese:アイヌ革命論,Hepburn:Ainu kakumeiron) was a left-wing political concept in Japan that was prominent in the 1970s. It was a variant of theProletarian Revolution Theory focusing on theAinu people that came to light shortly after the revision of theTreaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan. The actions and writings of Japanese left-wing thinkerRyu Ota in particular made Ainu Revolution Theory well known.
In the early 1970s, a certain tendency ofZenkyoto groups and theZengakuren began to emerge among otherNew Left activists in reaction to the stalemate of the All-Campus Joint Struggle League Movement (Zenkyoto). They believed that thelumpenproletariat could be the main body of the revolution, and that the Ainu people of Japan were also included inside this group. They believed that the Ainu people lived in a primitive communist system and were deemed worthy of being the "leaders of the Communist revolution".[1]
In the mid-1970s, a number of violent incidents that appeared to have been influenced by the Ainu Revolution Theory occurred in various parts of the country (mainly inHokkaido), such as theShakushain Statue Incident, theBombing of the Fusetsu no Gunzo and Institute of Northern Cultures, theAttack on the Mayor of Shiraoi, theHokkaido Shrine Arson Incident, theBombing of Hokkaido Police Headquarters, theHokkaido government bombings, and theBombing of Higashi Honganji. However, many of these incidents were carried out by the wider JapaneseNew Left.[2]
The Ainu people's own ethnic movements, such as theRemoval of theOld Earth Protection Law of Hokkaido movement, became active in the 1970s, but the development of Ainu Revolution Theory was not related to these movements. Ota Ryu was criticized for appropriating these movements. The Ainu Revolution discourse within leftist circles in Japan criticized Ota, saying that "by making the Ainu into the stock of the revolutionary movement, you are bothering them."[3]
Ainu political activistsShoji Yuki andKazuaki Yamamoto, along with others, formed theAinu Liberation Alliance in 1972, challenging Japanese policy on the Ainu and public perception of the Ainu people. TheSapporo Olympics held in 1972 helped inspire militants to become more active in Hokkaido. Yuki became acquainted with Ota around 1972, accompanying him when he read out a public questionnaire at theJapanese Anthropological and Ethnic Association Congress atSapporo Medical University. Yuki later criticized that Ota's Ainu Revolution Theory was inconsistent with Ainu beliefs and circumstances. After both were arrested in 1974 for inciting riots (Nolle prosequi), Ota and Yuki mutually criticized each other, with Ota being insulted and isolated.[4]
Eventually, Ota's decline, conversion to becoming an ecologist, and subscription to conspiracy theories led to a rapid decline in the popularity of Ainu Revolution Theory.[3]