The Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) was the

ruling party The ruling party or governing party in a democratic parliamentary or presidential system is the political party or coalition holding a majority of elected positions in a parliament, in the case of parliamentary systems, or holding the executive ...

of Burma (now

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

) from 1962 to 1988 and the country's sole legal party from 1964 to 1988. Party chairman

Ne Win Ne Win (; ; 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002), born Shu Maung (; ), was a Burmese army general, politician and Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma from 1962 to 1981. Ne Win was Burma's mili ...

overthrew the country's democratically elected government in a coup d'état on 2 March 1962. For the next 26 years, the BSPP governed Burma under a

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

, until mass protests in 1988 pressured party officials to adopt a

multi-party system In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional ...

Founding and programme

The BSPP was established on 4 July 1962, after the declaration of the "

Burmese Way to Socialism The Burmese Way to Socialism (), also known as the Burmese Road to Socialism, was the state ideology of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma, the socialist state governed by the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) from 1962 to 1988. ...

" (BWS) by the

Union Revolutionary Council The Union Revolutionary Council (), officially the Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma () or simply the Revolutionary Council (RC; ), was the supreme governing body of Burma (now Myanmar) from 2 March 1962, following the overthrow of U N ...

(URC) on 30 April 1962. The BWS set out the political and economic ideology of the URC which had taken over power in the

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

of 2 March 1962. The BSPP advocated a programme of the "Burmese Way to Socialism" which, according to Ne Win, incorporated elements of

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...

, and

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

. The programme was described by some scholars as anti-Western and

isolationist Isolationism is a term used to refer to a political philosophy advocating a foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality an ...

. A booklet entitled ''Special Characteristics of the Burma Socialist Programme Party'' was published in January 1963 in both Burmese and English. The booklet distinguished the BSPP's ideology from those of both "

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

social democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

ic parties and communist parties. The BSPP, the booklet stated, rejected the "bourgeois" belief and practices of social democratic parties that

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

could be reached through parliamentary methods (even before the announcement of the BWS, the URC had already abolished, by decree, the parliament that was established under the 1947 Burmese Constitution, stating in effect that

parliamentary democracy A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of the legisl ...

was not suitable for Burma). The booklet further stated that, although there was much to be learnt from the doctrines of

Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

, it did not regard their word as "gospel" unlike the Burmese communists, which the booklet referred to as "vulgar

materialists Materialism is a form of philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materia ...

". Later in the same year the BSPP elaborated on its ideology in a book published in both Burmese and English entitled ''The System of Correlation between Man and His Environment'', commonly referred to simply as "correlation" (). The book used both Buddhist and Marxist rhetoric to espouse what came to be known as the "Burmese Way to Socialism". Its most memorable line was borrowed from an old popular expression, "One can only afford to be moral on a full stomach", which struck a chord with the people trying to eke out a living in increasingly dire economic circumstances under the rule of the BSPP. These economic conditions were a consequence of the policies implemented by the BSPP-led Socialist Economy Construction Committee (''hsa sa ta ka''), starting with the

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

of all businesses across the board.

One-party state

On 23 March 1964, the URC issued a decree entitled "The Law Protecting National Unity" whereby all political parties except the BSPP were abolished and their assets appropriated. This was repealed on the day the

State Law and Order Restoration Council State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

(SLORC) seized power in the military coup of 18 September 1988. The now-defunct 1974 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma constitutionalised the BSPP's leading role in Burmese politics. Article 11 of the 1974 Constitution stated that, "The State shall adopt a single party system. The Burma Socialist Programme Party is the single political party and it shall lead the State". This provision merely formalised what was already a

fait accompli Many words in the English vocabulary are of French language, French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman conquest of England, Norman ...

—a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...

—since March 1964. All government servants from all sectors including doctors, teachers, engineers, scientists, managers from the nationalized industries and businesses as well as civil administrators were compelled to undergo a three-month political indoctrination and basic military training at the Hpaunggyi Central People's Services Training School, accommodated in military barracks, starting in the early 1970s. The phrase "socialist consciousness" (, ) became a pun for socialist friend or connection that one must have to get anything or anywhere. The

Military Intelligence Service The Military Intelligence Service (, ''America Rikugun Jōhōbu'') was a World War II U.S. military unit consisting of two branches, the Japanese American unit (described here) and the German-Austrian unit based at Camp Ritchie, best known as ...

(MIS) and its army of informers served the function of the

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

to sniff out and extinguish any political dissent.

Cadre to mass party

In 1971 BSPP was opened up for mass membership as "a people's party". During the 1960s, there were three types of membership in the BSPP. The first type or tier was that of a "friend of the party" (). The second type or tier was "alternate or provisional membership" (, lending itself to mockery as means "reckless") and the third type was that of a "fully-fledged" party member (). Under the party rules of the time once a person became a "full party member", unless there were extraordinary reasons such as those of ill-health one could not "resign from the party". A full party member could only be dismissed from the party. The BSPP continued to be dominated by the military, and in 1972 more than half of its 73,369 full members was still made up of army or police personnel; Dr.

Maung Maung Maung Maung ( ; 31 January 1925 – 2 July 1994), known honorifically as Dr. Maung Maung, was a well-known writer and legal scholar in Myanmar, who served as the seventh president of Burma from 19 August 1988 to 18 September 1988. Early life ...

was notably the only civilian in the higher echelons of the party.

Congresses

Prior to being transformed from a cadre party to a mass party, the BSPP held four seminars, the last one from 6 to 11 November 1969. * The first Congress of the BSPP was held from 28 June 1971 to 11 July 1971 * The second in October 1973 * The third in February 1977 * The fourth in August 1981 * The fifth in October 1985 Extraordinary Congresses of the BSPP were held in: * April 1973 * October 1976 * November 1977 * July 1988 * September 1988 At each regular Congress of the BSPP starting from June 1971 to October 1985, Ne Win was elected and re-elected by the BSPP as its chairman. Each Congress also elected a 150 to 200 member Central Committee and in the later Congresses a Central Executive Committee (roughly equivalent to that of the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

in one-party Communist States though the term "Politburo" was never used) of about 10 to 15 members were elected.

Student wing

The URC merged the

Union of Burma Boy Scouts The Myanmar Scout Association (''formerly known as the Union of Burma Boy Scouts'') is the national Scouting organization in Myanmar. Scouting in Myanmar was started in 1916 and disbanded in 1964 due to country's political changes; the current ...

and the Union of Burma Girl Guides Association in 1962 to create the coeducational Union of Burma Boy Scouts and Girl Guides (UBBSGG). The URC dissolved the UBBSGG on 1 March 1964 and turned over its assets to the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, which subsequently formed the Programme Youth Organisation (PYO; , ) as the UBBSGG's replacement. All students, from elementary to university level, were required to join the PYO. The organisation had three branches: The Glorious Youth (, ) for primary school students (5 to 9 years old), the Pioneer Youth (, ) for middle and high school students (10 to 15 years old), and the Programme Youth (, ) for college or university students and youths (16 to 25 years old). Upon reaching the age of 18 years old, members of the Programme Youth could apply to become provisional members of the BSPP. At the age of 21 years old, a provisional member could apply to become a full-fledged member of the BSPP.

Inspirations

Although the BSPP was anti-communist and neutral in Cold War politics, the student wings of BSPP were based on the model of the

Young Communist League The Young Communist League (YCL) is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name ''YCL of ountry' originates from the precedent established by the Communist Youth International. Examples of YCLs includ ...

s of

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

countries, particularly the Soviet Union's ''

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

''. * တေဇလူငယ်: တေဇ (Teiza) has nothing to do with the meaning of its words, but it was the ''nom de guerre'' of

Aung San Aung San (, ; 13 February 191519 July 1947), known honorifically as '' Bogyoke'' Aung San, was a Burmese politician, independence activist and revolutionary. He was instrumental in Myanmar's struggle for independence from British rule, but he w ...

(ဗိုလ်တေဇ, Bo Teiza), who was one of the

Thirty Comrades The Thirty Comrades () constituted the embryo of the modern Burmese army called the Burma Independence Army (BIA) which was formed to fight for independence from Britain. This was accomplished just before the majority of the Thirty Comrades retu ...

. The photo of Aung San as Bo Teiza is their badge, and they wore blue scarf and uniform like children organizations from communist countries. * ရှေ့ဆောင်လူငယ်: ရှေ့‌ဆောင် (Sheihsaung) is translation of Pioneer. It was formed as the

pioneer movement A pioneer movement is an youth organization, organization for children operated by a communist party. Typically children enter into the organization in elementary school and continue until adolescence. The adolescents then typically join the Yo ...

. They wore school uniform and the

red scarf The red scarf is a neckerchief worn by young pioneers of several communist and socialist countries. In the Soviet Union, it was known as ''pionerskiy galstuk'' (пионерский галстук, i.e. 'pioneer's tie'), in Vietnam as ''khăn q ...

like pioneer movement of communist countries. * လမ်းစဉ်လူငယ်: လမ်းစဉ် (Lansin) means either "programme" (as in Burma Socialist Programme Party) or "way" (as in

) or "path" (as in Magga Path). They did not wear scarf, but top white and bottom blue uniform either westernized or traditional.

Purge

In November 1977 a purge of the BSPP including those on the Central Committee took place. This schism in the BSPP was seen as a power-struggle or in-fighting between the military faction and the ex-communist faction (mainly consisting of some ex-communist rebels who had surrendered to the government, joined and risen in the ranks of the BSPP hierarchy and their sympathisers) in the BSPP. Among the thousands that were purged from the party were

leftists Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

or communist sympathizers.

Crisis

An Extraordinary Congress of the BSPP was held from 23 to 26 July 1988. In his inaugural speech on 23 July 1988, party chairman Ne Win stunned the nation when he, "taking indirect responsibility for the sad and bloody events of March and June 1988" (whereby many students and civilians in largely peaceful protests against the BSPP regime were shot and killed by the Military Police ''Lone Htein'') tendered his resignation as party chairman. Ne Win also announced that four of his colleagues vice-chairman and State President

San Yu San Yu (, ; 3 March 1918 – 28 January 1996) was a Burmese army general and statesman who served as the fifth president of Myanmar from 9 November 1981 to 27 July 1988. Biography San Yu, an ethnic Burmese, was born in Thegon during the ...

, General Secretary Aye Ko, Joint-General Secretary Sein Lwin and Member of the Central Executive Committee Tun Tin, also a Deputy Prime Minister, had expressed their desire to resign. Referring to the student-led demonstrations against the government in March and June 1988 Ne Win stated that these events indicated that some people "don't like the government and the Party that led the government". He also proposed that a nationwide referendum be held in late September 1988 to determine whether the people preferred the

one-party system A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...

or wished to shift to a

Fall from power

The BSPP Congress accepted the resignations of Chairman Ne Win and Vice-chairman San Yu but rejected the resignations of General Secretary Aye Ko, Joint General Secretary Sein Lwin and Central Executive Committee member Tun Tin. Joint-General Secretary Sein Lwin (former Brigadier, d. 9 April 2004) was chosen and appointed as the new Chairman of the Party by the Party Congress. The appointment of

Sein Lwin Sein Lwin (, ; 27 January 1924 – 9 April 2004) was a Burmese politician and retired military general in the Myanmar Army. He was served as the sixth president of Burma for 17 days in 1988, following the resignation of San Yu. Sein Lwin was ...

, who was widely perceived to be mainly responsible for the shootings and killings of more than 100 students at

Rangoon University The University of Yangon (also Yangon University; , ; formerly Rangoon College, University of Rangoon and Rangoon Arts and Sciences University), located in Kamayut, Yangon, is the oldest university in Myanmar's modern education system and the b ...

on 7 July 1962, shortly after Ne Win's

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

, as well as the killings of students and civilians in March and June 1988, earning the epithet "Butcher of Rangoon", sparked widespread protests in the country. The Extraordinary Party Congress of July 1988 also rejected Ne Win's call for a national referendum. The election of Sein Lwin as Party Chairman as well as the refusal by the BSPP to take steps to move towards a multi-party system led to massive demonstrations to which the military responded by shooting and killing hundreds if not thousands of demonstrators in many towns and cities across the country from 8–12 August 1988. On 12 August 1988 Sein Lwin resigned as both Party Chairman and State President. After the selection by the BSPP Central Committee of Dr

(31 January 1925 – 2 July 1994) as Party Chairman on 19 August and later by the ''

Pyithu Hluttaw The Pyithu Hluttaw (, ; House of Representatives) is the ''de jure'' lower house of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the bicameral legislature of Myanmar (Burma). It consists of 440 members, of which 330 are directly elected through the first-past-the ...

'' as State President on 20 August 1988, the uprising against the BSPP government intensified. On 10 September 1988 in yet another hastily reconvened Congress, the BSPP decided to hold

multi-party elections In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional r ...

and the next day the Pyithu Hluttaw passed a resolution to hold multi-party elections "not earlier than 45 days and not later than 90 days". However massive demonstrations in Rangoon and the rest of the country continued, demanding for the resignation of the BSPP government led by Dr Maung Maung in favour of a neutral

interim government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revolut ...

to supervise multi-party elections. On 18 September 1988 the

(SLORC or ''na wa ta''), led by the army Chief of Staff General

Saw Maung Saw Maung (; ; 5 December 1928 – 24 July 1997) was a Burmese military leader and statesman who served as Chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and Prime Minister of Burma from 1988 until 1992, when he was deposed ...

(d. July 1997) took over after crushing the failed

8888 Uprising The 8888 Uprising, also known as the People Power Uprising and the 1988 Uprising, was a series of nationwide protests, marches, and riots in Burma (present-day Myanmar) that peaked in August 1988. Key events occurred on 8 August 1988 and ther ...

of 8 August 1988. The party changed its name to the

National Unity Party The National Unity Party, National United Party, Party of National Unity or National Unity Front may refer to: * National United Party of Afghanistan (founded 2003) * National Unity Party (Albania) * National United Party (Armenia), defunct * Natio ...

(NUP) on 24 September 1988. The NUP contested the 1990 general election and was seen as a proxy party of the military and the main rival to

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Myanmar), Ministe ...

National League for Democracy The National League for Democracy (, ; Abbreviation, abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a deregistered liberal democratic political party in Myanmar (formerly Burma). It became the country's ruling party after a landslide victo ...

. The NUP was defeated in the election, but the results were not recognised by the military and subsequently voided.

Chairmen

Timeline

Electoral history

People's Assembly elections

Notes

References

External links

The Burmese Way to Socialism (top secret)
The Revolutionary Council, 28 April 1962

The Revolutionary Council, 4 July 1962

BSPP, 17 January 1963, 3rd. edition 1964

''Working People's Daily'' {{Authority control 1962 establishments in Burma 1988 disestablishments in Burma Burmese nationalism Defunct political parties in Myanmar Defunct socialist parties in Asia Nationalist parties in Asia Parties of one-party systems Political parties disestablished in 1988 Political parties established in 1962 Socialist parties in Myanmar