| Anti-Fascist Organisation | |
|---|---|
| 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 |
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.
History
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.
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.
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.
References
- ^ Oliver Hensengerth (2005). The Burmese Communist Party and the State-to-State Relations between China and Burma (PDF). Leeds East Asia Papers. pp. 10–12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-28. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
- ^ Martin Smith (1991). Burma - Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity. London and New Jersey: Zed Books. pp. 60–61.
- Haruhiro Fukui (1985) Political parties of Asia and the Pacific, Greenwood Press, pp108–109
External links
- Heroes and Villains The Irrawaddy, March 2007
- The Bloodstrewn Path:Burma's Early Journey to Independence Archived 2008-04-16 at the Wayback Machine BBC Burmese, 30 September 2005
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- Defunct political party alliances in Myanmar
- Political parties established in 1944
- Political parties disestablished in 1945
- Resistance against Imperial Japan
- World War II resistance movements
- Rebel groups in Myanmar
- 1944 establishments in Burma
- 1945 disestablishments in Burma
- Burma in World War II
- Anti-fascism
- Japanese occupation of Burma
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