160305-0047 - Shiro Mitamura

Pre-war Japanese Communist leader and labor activist Shiro Mitamura (三田村 四郎,1896–1964) at Fuchu Prison (府中刑務所) in Tokyo on October 19, 1945 (Showa 20).

Mitamura had been arrested in 1929 (Showa 4) as part of the April 16 Incident (四・一六事件), when thousands of suspected communists were arrested all over Japan. Some 300 members of the JCP were sentenced, including Mitamura.

When he was discovered by the police, he shot and injured one of the arresting officers. In the 1930s, he defected from the party.

After the war, Mitamura returned to labor activism. In 1946 (Showa 21), he organized his own right-wing socialist group and took an anti-communist stance.