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There really have been few autocrats in this world who were as cunning and gaul as General Ne Win of Burma.
A member of a Right-Wing nationalist group during the years of leadership under U Nu, Aung San, and Thein Pe, he went on to establish a government in a coup -
A member of a Right-Wing nationalist group during the years of leadership under U Nu, Aung San, and Thein Pe, he went on to establish a government in a coup -
- which perfectly toed the lines of the Coldwar.
After the coup in 1962, Ne Win set out to craft an ideological justification for his regime. He had “ideologists” go out to the library and read all the books on Marxism immediately after he took power.
After the coup in 1962, Ne Win set out to craft an ideological justification for his regime. He had “ideologists” go out to the library and read all the books on Marxism immediately after he took power.
The result of this was the infamous “Burmese Road to ‘Socialism.’”
This “socialist” posturing of his regime allowed him to accomplish 3 things.
1. It allowed him to justify extending Statist control over Burma. He blamed the lack of matured public opinion and the “importation”-
This “socialist” posturing of his regime allowed him to accomplish 3 things.
1. It allowed him to justify extending Statist control over Burma. He blamed the lack of matured public opinion and the “importation”-
- of western influences as justification for militaristic rule in order to discipline a productive workforce.
2. This nominally Socialist official doctrine allowed him to toe the lines of the Cold War with ease. Because his regime was officially anti-communist, it was -
2. This nominally Socialist official doctrine allowed him to toe the lines of the Cold War with ease. Because his regime was officially anti-communist, it was -
- able to maintain good relations with the US. Because it was “Socialist” it could still maintain relations with China and the USSR. “Maybe the Americans are finally going to appreciate a guy who can keep his mouth shut.
3. It justified his “Burma for the Burmans program -
3. It justified his “Burma for the Burmans program -
- wherein, he nationalozed the wealth of the Chinese and Indian Burmese, not so much to redistribute, but to destroy. Additionally, he created a State personality cult, not around himself, but around Aung San, leader of the famed Thirty Comrades who had been assassinated-
- years before.
Ne Win proclaimed a certain text from 1941, in reality probably written by some japanese imperial army soldiers, was written by Aung San while in military training in Japan. It espoused a very generic and neat fascist ideology. The title was “The Blueprint for -
Ne Win proclaimed a certain text from 1941, in reality probably written by some japanese imperial army soldiers, was written by Aung San while in military training in Japan. It espoused a very generic and neat fascist ideology. The title was “The Blueprint for -
- Burma.”
“...there shall be only one nation, one party, one leader ... no parliamentary opposition, no nonsense of individualism. Everyone must submit to the State which is supreme over the individual.”
“...there shall be only one nation, one party, one leader ... no parliamentary opposition, no nonsense of individualism. Everyone must submit to the State which is supreme over the individual.”
In this text, Socialism is not mentioned anywhere.
