It was from April 1969 to March 1970 that we juniors were at the helm of Hakumon Herald. A look at the paper’s reduced edition (containing the first 100 issues) reveals that four issues (from the 85th to 88th) were printed during this period. The front page of each issue carries a photo in the top half, which is accompanied by an article that delicately consists of both news and opinions. All these four editions are strikingly different in layout from those published before and after. To most of us in those days, a change in the page layout was something quite trivial in the big tide of history. I only remember that we were so much preoccupied with continuing the publication that we had little hesitation in changing the style our predecessors had toiled to establish.

 

From late 60s to 70s

The four front-page articles were respectively headlined “Campus,” “Anti-war,” “Civilization” and “Normalization.” All were big-shot theses that dealt with the situation confronting Chuo University and its students in those days, the All-Japan Student Joint Struggle Congress (Zenkyoto) that drew wide attention across the country at the time and the future of human civilization in the 21st century. Reading the articles now, I can hardly say that they are well written in terms of both composition and expression. It is doubtful how much of our intention reached straight to the readers. Mr. Susumu Hiyama, who tookover Mr. Shinshow Nakajima as our adviser, must have had great difficulties checking and correcting the articles we wrote. We were sort of hung up by our zeal to write down our feeling and thought rather than communicate them to other people. This might have doubled Hiyama-san’s troubles.

As it turned out, I spent full five years at Chuo and had to lead most of my campus life girdled by the barricades put up by the students. Chuo’s History Editing Office published the school’s chronology “Time Travel Chuo 125” in commemoration of its 125th anniversary in 2011. It classifies the “campus unrest at Chuo” into four periods – (1) the dispute over the Student Hall at the Ogawacho campus, (2) the school’s retraction of its tuition hike proposal, (3) the confusion over the establishment of a Standing Committee (as a new organ overriding the Faculty Council) and (4) the disbandment of Chuo’s All-Campus Central Struggle Committee (Zenchuto). All these periods precisely coincide with my own campus life. I read the chronology and found it an objective, easy-to-understand testimony of that part of Chuo’s history, which is shared by all members of Hakumon Herald who were there between the latter half of the 60s and the early 70s.

 

Student Hall, the stronghold of “Sampa-Zengakuren” I became a member of Hakumon Herald soon after I joined Chuo in April 1967 and was posted to cover student activities. Chuo’s Day-Course Students Self-Government Association was in high spirits at the time after winning the rights of self-management to the Student Hall. The association was under the control of the Socialist Students League (Shagakudo), an anti-Communist faction of the All-Japan Federation of Students' Self-Government Associations, better known as Zengakuren. It was in confrontation with the Japanese Communist Party-affiliated Democratic Youth League (Minsei), the main stream of Zengakuren. Shagakudo joined hands with the Socialist Youth League (Shaseido) and the Marxist Students League (Marugakudo) to form the Sampa-Zengakuren (meaning Zengakuren made up of the three factions). On October 8, 1967, tens of thousands of students staged a violent demonstration at Tokyo’s Haneda airport to protest then Prime Minister Eisaku Sato’s visit to Vietnam. Their subsequent crash with riot police that left a Kyoto University student dead was broadly reported in the media, marking an epoch in Japan’s anti-Vietnam war movement. A freshman at the time, I also went to Haneda, not as one of Chuo demonstrators but as a reporter of Hakumon Herald. Sampa-Zengakuren swiftly expanded its strength at the time and Chuo’s Student Hall was one of its strongholds. The school’s proposal for a tuition increase was a hot issue from the

autumn of 1967 to early in 1968. Baffled by the barricades put up by the students, the school authorities had to retract the proposal, for the first time among universities across Japan. In later years, the revolt by students spread across the country amid the synergetic effect of the anti-Vietnam war movement and outcries for university reforms. In the Kanda and Ochanomizu district alone, a call for reforms of the Medical Department developed into an all-campus dispute at Tokyo University. Nihon University students who had been seen rather conservative rose in protest over the school authorities’ alleged financial irregularities. Students at the adjoining Meiji University were also markedly active. All these students joined forces to create what they called “Kanda Quartier Latin,” which was named after the student movement in France. The revolt by Zenkyoto and new-leftist students headed for convergence after the Shinjuku Station riot (October 21, 1968), the Offense and Defense at Tokyo University’s Yasuda Auditorium (January 18-19, 1969) and the Okinawa Day Incident (April 28, 1969).

 

 

HH members sneak into barricaded club room Throughout much of this period, a fierce battle continued at Chuo, with students putting up barricades around the campus and with the school authorities retorting with a lockout. There were virtually no term-end exams during my first three academic years. There were no classes either and professors simply asked the students to submit reports in writing. I remember Hakumon Herald had its annual budget frozen by the school halfway into my

second year. But we could use our semi-underground club room while the Surugadai campus was blockaded by the students. One day when I was a sophomore, we were forced to vacate the room as the school authorities locked out the campus all of a sudden. The 84th edition (dated March 13, 1969) of Hakumon Herald carries a front-page article headlined “222 students nabbed in the campus rally.” It is about the students who tried to break into the campus to hold a rally in protest of the lockout. The school called in riot police to foil the attempt. Some Hakumon Herald members were there among those students.

We wanted to enter the campus to reach our club room. Some of us managed to break open a windowpane on the southern side of the room. They knew there was a locker containing a portable safety box near the window. Our treasurer was quite happy, knowing that we could recover our roster of members, bank book and seal from the safety box. Our “intruders” narrowly escaped arrest as they left the room as soon as they saw riot police.

 

Torch of Hakumon Herald relayed

We remained locked out of the campus for a prolonged period after that. By and by we were joined by younger members who even didn’t know we had our own club room. No financial aid came from the school. We had our routine meetings at a coffee shop called “Hilite.” We had to pay expenses for our daily activities on our own and rely solely on ad revenues for the printing cost. Personally I had no financial problems as I lived with my parents. But my colleagues who led a boarding life away from their home might have had a lot of difficulties. However, I don’t remember we had to bear the cost of publishing the newspaper on our own.

It seemed to me in those days that many of the clubs affiliated with the Federation of Cultural Clubs (Bunren) continued putting top priority on the student activity (which meant political fight). Some English newspaper clubs in other universities had difficulties continuing their publication. Things must have been far more serious for the students who joined our club a couple of years later. It was fortunate that the torch of Hakumon Herald was turned over to younger generations. That undoubtedly was the result of the strong spirit and determination all our members had shared throughout those hard times.

(The writer graduated in 1971)

 

 

 

バリケードに囲まれた学園生活

―ヘラルドに見る中大苦難の時代―

花田 政幸

私たちが3年生となってヘラルドの執行部を預かったのは、1969年4月 から70年3月までになります。縮刷版で調べてみると、この間に4号(85 から88)を発行しています。フロントページの上半分が写真、その下にニュースだか論説だか微妙なスタイルの1本物記事が掲載されています。この4つ の号はその前後の号の紙面体裁と大きく異なります。しかし、大きな歴史の流れの中で紙面体裁の変更などは些細なことといえましょう。ヘラルドの号数を 絶やさずに続けること。その1点が拠り所となっていたためか、先輩たちが営々 と築いてきた紙面を変えることに、ためらいは尐なかったように記憶しています。

 

▼60年代後半から70年 4つのフロント記事の見出しは「Campus」「Anti-War」「Civilization」

「Normalization」。当時の中央大学と学生たちが置かれた状況、社会的にも注 目されることになった全共闘運動、さらには21世紀に向かう人類文明に思いをはせた一大論文です。さすがに文章力不足は否めません。私たちの思いが読 者にどこまで伝わったのか、疑問符の方が大きいでしょう。中島(申祥)さん からバトンタッチしたばかりの飛山(将)アドバイザーのご苦労は想像を超えるものだったはずです。もっとも当時の私たちは人様にメッセージを伝えることよりも、自分たちの思いを書き残すことに固執していたのですから、飛山さんにとっては「二重苦」だったことでしょう。

私は結局、大学に5年間お世話になりました。この間、大半が文字通りバリ ケードに囲まれた学園生活でした。中央大学の125周年事業として「タイム トラベル中大125」が編纂されました。その中の「中大紛争」は1学生会館 (小川町校舎)2学費値上げの白紙撤回3常置委員会をめぐる混乱4全中闘の 解体―の4項目。私が在籍した期間とピタリ重なるのですが、客観的で分かり やすい歴史証言になっています。60年代後半から70年にかけてヘラルドに 在籍した部員はすべて、この時代を共有したのです。

 

▼サンパの拠点となった学生会館 私は67年4月の入学直後にヘラルドに入部、学生自治会の取材を担当しました。当時の昼間部学生自治会は全国の大学で初めて学生会館の自主管理権を 手中に収めて意気あがる状態。この自治会の指導権を握っていたのが反日共系 全学連の一派、社会主義学生同盟(社学同)でした。日本共産党の指導を受ける民主青年同盟系の全学連に対抗する勢力として当時売り出し中だった三派全 学連は、この社学同と社会主義青年同盟(社青同・解放派)、マルクス主義学生 同盟(マル学同・中核派)で構成され、サンパと呼ばれました。

67年10月8日、当時の佐藤栄作首相が南ベトナムを訪問することに抗議 して羽田空港を取り囲む激しいデモを展開。この中で京大生が死亡したことも あって社会的に注目を集め、日本におけるベトナム反戦運動のエポックとなり ました。ヘラルド1年生の私も中大のデモ部隊にくっついて羽田周辺まで行き

ました。 三派全学連はこの時期、急速に勢力を拡大、その拠点のひとつが小川町の中

大学生会館でした。その年の秋から年明けにかけて中大の学費値上げ問題が持ち上がり、学生のバリケードの前に当局は全国の私大で初めて値上げを白紙撤 回したのです。

これ以降、ベトナム反戦と大学改革の2つの波の相乗効果で学生の反乱は日 本全国に広がります。中大キャンパスがあった神田、御茶ノ水地域に限ってみ ても、医学部の制度改革に端を発した東大紛争、保守的と見られていた日大の 学生たちの異議申し立て、もちろんお隣の明大も学生運動は活発でした。フラ ンスの学生運動からのネーミング「神田カルチエラタン」も、いまは懐かしく 響きます。新宿駅騒乱(68年10月21日)、東大安田講堂の攻防(69年1 月18-19日)、沖縄デー事件(同4月28日)などを経て、全共闘と新左翼 系の学生たちの反乱は収束に向かいます。

 

▼封鎖された部室に突入した部員 この間、中大では学生側のバリケードと大学当局のロックアウトの応酬が続

き、私の1年生から3年生までの期末試験はほとんどレポートでした。ヘラル ドの活動も2年生の途中から大学による資金が完全にストップした記憶があり ます。駿河台キャンパス2号館地下の部室は、学生側がバリケード封鎖している間は自由に使用できました。

2年生のある時期、大学当局の突然のロックアウトで部室から締め出されました。ヘラルド84号(69年3月13日発行)の1面に、「222 StudentsNabbed In The Campus Rally」という見出しがあります。この記事は学生たちが大学当 局のロックアウトに抗議して駿河台校舎の2号館中庭に侵入、集会を開こうと した内容。機動隊の導入で222人が逮捕されたのですが、この時にヘラルド 部員の何人かも一緒にキャンパスに入りました。

何をしたかというと当時、封鎖されていた部室を目指したのです。半地下の 部室の南側ガラス窓を外から開けました。窓際のロッカーの中には手提げ金庫 があります。これを持ち出したことで部員名簿や銀行通帳、印鑑などが手元に 戻り、当時のマネジャーはほっとしました。部員たちは機動隊の姿を見て、すぐに学外に出たため無事でした。

 

▼受け継がれたヘラルドの灯 これ以後、キャンパスに入れない状態は長く続きます。私たちより後輩の年

次では部室を全く知らない部員がだんだん増えていきました。もちろん大学か らの資金は一切ありません。部員の溜まり場は喫茶店「ハイライト」。活動資金はすべて手弁当で、新聞印刷の費用は広告だけが頼りです。私は自宅から大学 に通っていましたので経済面の不安はありませんでした。下宿生活の部員は苦 労も多かったことと察せられますが、新聞発行の費用を部員が個人で負担するようなことは無かったと記憶しています。

中大の文化連盟各サークルの間ではこの時期、学生運動(政治闘争)優先論 が支配的だったようです。また、他の大学の英字新聞部で活動が続かない状態 に追い込まれたところも無かったわけではありません。私たちの年代よりもその後の数年の方が、部活動にとってさらに苦難の時代が続いたはずです。厳しい状況の中でヘラルドの灯が受け継がれたことは幸いです。この時代を共有したすべての部員の心意気と真摯さの賜物というほかはありません。(昭和46年卒)