Provided is an organic tellurium compound having a versatility that, when used as a living radical polymerization initiator, it is applicable to polymerization of a vinyl monomer in an aqueous vehicle without using any surfactant or dispersant. An organic tellurium compound represented by a general formula (1),

where in the general formula (1) R 1 and R 2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, A represents an alkali metal atom or an alkaline earth metal atom, x = 1 when A is monovalent, x = 1/2 when A is divalent, and R 3 is represented by a general formula (2),

where in the general formula (2) R 4 represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, R 5 and R 6 each independently represent an alkylene group having 2 to 8 carbon atoms, and a represents an integer from 0 to 10.