Burma Socialist Programme Party

The Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), also referred to as the Lanzin Party, was the ruling party of Burma (present-day Myanmar) from 1962 to 1988 and the country's sole legal party from 1964 to 1988. Party chairman Ne Win 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 military dictatorship, until mass protests in 1988 pressured party officials to adopt a multi-party system.

The BSPP was established on 4 July 1962, after the declaration of the "Burmese Way to Socialism" (BWS) by the Union Revolutionary Council (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 of 2 March 1962.

The BSPP advocated a programme of the "Burmese Way to Socialism" which, according to Ne Win, incorporated elements of Buddhism, humanism, and Marxism. The programme was described by some scholars as anti-Western and isolationist. 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" social democratic parties and communist parties. The BSPP, the booklet stated, rejected the "bourgeois" belief and practices of social democratic parties that socialism 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 was not suitable for Burma). The booklet further stated that, although there was much to be learnt from the doctrines of Marx, Engels and Lenin, it did not regard their word as "gospel" unlike the Burmese communists, which the booklet referred to as "vulgar materialists".

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" (innya myinnya). 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 of all businesses across the board.

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 (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—a one-party state—since March 1964.

All government servants from all sectors including doctors, teachers, engineers, scientists, managers from the nationalised 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" (ဆိုရှယ်လစ်အသိ, hsoshalit athi) became a pun for socialist friend or connection that one must have to get anything or anywhere. The Military Intelligence Service (MIS) and its army of informers served the function of the secret police to sniff out and extinguish any political dissent.

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" (ပါတီမိတ်ဆွေ). The second type or tier was "alternate or provisional membership" (အရန်ပါတီဝင်, lending itself to mockery as အရမ်း means "reckless") and the third type was that of a "fully-fledged" party member (တင်းပြည့်ပါတီဝင်). 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 was notably the only civilian in the higher echelons of the party.