Opportune Moment

The Japanese Communist Party is a legal organization, but all its leaders are wanted by the police. Five years ago General MacArthur, in a letter to Premier Yoshida, accused members of the Communist Central Committee of attempting to create social unrest which would set the stage for eventual overthrow of the constitutional government by force. Under the Occupation's authority, warrants of arrest were issued for the top Reds, who quickly disappeared underground.

Last week, in a drab Young Men's Hall in Tokyo, some 3,500 Communist Party members and fellow travelers were legally gathered to review the new party program. Some in the audience were already beginning to drowse under the somniferous spell of Marxist platitudes when the chairman of the meeting suddenly barked: "We have an important announcement to make . . ." Before he could finish it, three men in light grey summer suits, Panama hats in hand, walked briskly down the aisle toward the rostrum. The crowd recognized Sanzo Nozaka, who is Japan's No. 1 Communist since the death of Kyuichi Tokuda (TIME, Aug. 8), and two of his henchmen. Looking like a dapper but tired businessman, Nozaka approached the microphone, told the audience that after five years underground he had come back to take up his duties on the Communist Party's Central Committee. Afterwards Nozaka told newsmen that his hideout had been in Japan, not Peking, added that he had come out of hiding "because this seems to be the most opportune moment."

The three wanted Communists chatted with old friends, munched sweet buns and raisin bread, and two hours later, coolly submitted to arrest. Their case will test the legality of the Occupation's control ordinance, which many legal experts assert was nullified when Japan regained her independence.

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