Anti-Fascist Organisation | |
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Abbreviation | AFO |
Leader | Thakin Soe |
Founded | August 1944 |
Merger of | CPB BNA PRP |
Succeeded by | AFPFL |
Ideology | Anti-fascism Burmese nationalism Factions: Communism Socialism |
Political position | Left-wing |
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The Anti-Fascist Organisation (AFO) was a resistance movement against the Japanese occupation of Burma and independence of Burma during World War II. It was the forerunner of the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League.
The AFO was formed at a meeting in Pegu in August 1944 held by the leaders of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), the Burma National Army (BNA) led by General Aung San, and the People's Revolutionary Party (PRP), later renamed the Burma Socialist Party. [1] [2]
Whilst in Insein prison in July 1941, CPB leaders Thakin Than Tun and Thakin Soe had co-authored the Insein Manifesto, which, against the prevailing opinion in the Burmese nationalist movement led by the Dobama Asiayone , identified world fascism as the main enemy in the coming war and called for temporary cooperation with the British in a broad allied coalition that included the Soviet Union. Soe had already gone underground to organise resistance against the Japanese occupation, and Than Tun as Minister of Land and Agriculture was able to pass on Japanese intelligence to Soe, while other Communist leaders Thakin Thein Pe and Thakin Tin Shwe made contact with the exiled colonial government in Simla, India. Aung San was War Minister in the puppet administration set up on 1 August 1943 which also included the Socialist leaders Thakin Nu and Thakin Mya. [1] [2]
At a meeting held between 1 and 3 March 1945, the AFO was reorganised as a multi-party front named the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League. [3]
The history of Myanmar covers the period from the time of first-known human settlements 13,000 years ago to the present day. The earliest inhabitants of recorded history were a Tibeto-Burman-speaking people who established the Pyu city-states ranged as far south as Pyay and adopted Theravada Buddhism.
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Nu, commonly known as U Nu and also by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a prominent Burmese statesman and the first Prime Minister of Union of Burma. He was educated at Rangoon University, where he developed his political ideas and became actively involved in the student movement. Nu's involvement in the nationalist movement deepened during his university years, and he quickly emerged as a leading figure advocating for Burma's independence from British colonial rule.
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Thakin Than Tun was a Burmese politician and leader of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) from 1945 until his assassination in 1968. He was the brother-in-law of Myanmar's independence leader Aung San and the uncle of the former State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi.
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Thakin Soe was a founding member of the Communist Party of Burma and a leader of the Anti-Fascist Organisation. He is regarded as one of Burma's most prominent communist leaders.
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The State of Burma was a Japanese puppet state established in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Burma in World War II.
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Thakin Tin Mya was a Burmese politician who served as political commissar in the Seventh Military Region of the Burma National Army.
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were opposed by many countries forming the Allies of World War II and dozens of resistance movements worldwide. Anti-fascism has been an element of movements across the political spectrum and holding many different political positions such as anarchism, communism, pacifism, republicanism, social democracy, socialism and syndicalism as well as centrist, conservative, liberal and nationalist viewpoints.
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Kyaw Nyein, called honorifically U Kyaw Nyein, was a Burmese lawyer and anti-colonial revolutionary, a leader in Burma’s struggle for independence and prominent politician in the first decade after the country gained sovereignty from Britain. He held multiple minister portfolios in the government of Prime Minister U Nu, served as General Secretary of the ruling political alliance, Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL), and was joint General Secretary of the Burma Socialist Party (BSP).
The communist insurgency in Burma was waged primarily by the Communist Party of Burma and the Communist Party (Burma) from 1948 to 1989. The conflict ended when the CPB, severely weakened by an internal mutiny, disbanded its armed wing.