In 1957 a number of dissidents dissatisfied with the direction of the Japan Communist Party (JCP), along with a number of student activists from the Nationwide Zengakuren student federation, formed the Revolutionary Communist League (RCL), usually abbreviated as Kakukyōdō in Japanese. This group was fervently anti-Stalinist, and soon fell under the sway of the charismatic half-blind Trotskyist philosopher Kan'ichi Kuroda. The RCL believed the Stalinist form of communism, which they saw as predominant in Eastern Europe, China, the USSR, and North Korea, did not elevate the working class as true as Marxist communism intended. Their goals at this time were to overthrow the Japanese government, end U.S. occupation of Okinawa, and abolish the U.S.-Japan Alliance.
