History
The BSPP was established on 4 July 1962, after the declaration of the "Burmese Way to Socialism" (BWS) by the Union Revolutionary Council (RC) on April 30, 1962. The BWS set out the political and economic ideology of the RC which had taken over power in the military coup of 2 March 1962. The party Chairmen were:
- Ne Win (4 July 1962 to 23 July 1988)
- Sein Lwin (26 July - 12 August 1988) and
- Dr. Maung Maung (19 August - 18 September 1988).
The BSPP advocated a programme of the "Burmese Way to Socialism" which embodied both Communist and Buddhist influences. A booklet was published in January 1963 in both Burmese and English languages entitled 'Special Characteristics of the Burma Socialist Programme Party'. The booklet distinguished the BSPP’s ideology from those of both 'bourgeoisie' social democrat parties and Communist parties. The BSPP, the booklet stated, rejected the 'bourgeois' belief and practices of 'social democrat parties' that 'socialism' could be reached through 'Parliamentary methods'. (Even before the announcement of the BWS, the RC had already abolished, by decree, the Parliament that was established under the 1947 Burmese Constitution stating in effect that 'Parliamentary democracy was not suitable for Burma'.) The booklet further stated that though there was much to be learnt from the doctrines of Marx, Engels and Lenin it did not regard them as 'gospel' unlike Communists, 'especially Burmese Communists', who are 'vulgar materialists'.
Later in the same year the BSPP published in both Burmese and English its ideology in a book entitled 'The System of Correlation between Man and His Environment', simply known as Innya myinnya (Correlation), where both Buddhist and Marxist rhetoric were used 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, and implemented by the Socialist Economy Construction Committee (hsa sa ta ka), starting with nationalisation of all businesses, dubbed 'capitalist', across the board. In an article published in a February 1974 issue of Newsweek magazine, the Burmese Way to Socialism was described as 'an amalgam of Buddhist and Marxist illogic'.
Read more about this topic: Burma Socialist Programme Party
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