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British Burma - Steps Toward Indepedence

Because the cooperation of the BNA was needed for the recovery of Burma from the Japanese, Mountbatten was inclined to forgive and forget the events of 1942. At the end of May 1945 the BNA was officially recognized as a component of Allied forces and renamed the Patriotic Burmese Forces (PBF). At victoy celebrations held in Rangoon in June, the "resistance flag" of the Anti-Fascist Organization -- a white star on a red field - flew alongside the Union Jack. Mounthatten and British commanders in the field had come to respect General Aung San's commitment to independence and regarded him as the principle representative of Burmese national aspirations.

In London and in India, where the British government of Burma had been in exile during the war, attitudes were quite different. Aung San was still regarded as a turncoat who would have no role to play in future developments. There were also divergent perceptions of what Burma's postwar political status should be. On May 17, 1945, the Churchill government issued a white paper enunciating a very conservative program: the 1937 constitution, with its elective prime minister, would be suspended; the governor, appointed by London, would retain all authority. Although what the British called "Burma Proper," where the population was predominantly Burman, would be given "self-government within the Commonwealth" after 1948, the Shan states and the other border regions inhabited by Burman minorities would remain under British rule indefinitely. The white paper envisioned several years of economic reconstruction for war-ravaged Burma, and the prewar colonial firms were to play an important role in this. The white paper revealed little appreciation of the Burmese point of view. It granted less than the Japanse had, even though Ba Maw had been only a puppet leader.

Perhaps the most unpopular proposal was the idea that Chettiar moneylenders be allowed to keep their titles to land. During the Japanes conquest many thousands of Indians had left with retreating British forces, including most Chettiars. The Japanese gained much peasant support by allowing the farmers to reoccupy their foreclosed lands.

Aung San initiated a campaign against the white paper at a mass meeting in Rangoon on August 19, 1945, demanding that independence be granted immediately. The AFPFL, a united front, was established to replace the Anti-Fascist Organization. The AFPFL's broad base of support, including the socialist and communist parties, and its control over a large armed force assured it a dominant position. General Aung San had resisted the demobilization of the PBF. Some 4,700 men were absorbed into the regular armed forces by December 1945, but another 3,500 refused to hand in their arms and comprised the new People's Volunteer Organization (PVO), which became in effect the private army of the AFPFL. The PVO established contingents all over the country, increasing to as many as 14,000 men.

The British governor who had headed the prewar colonial government, Reginald Dorman-Smith, sought to offset the influence of the AFPFL by supporting U Saw, who had returned from exile in East Africa; the governor also excluded members of the AFPFL from his executive council, which functioned as a cabinet, though he included U Saw and the conservative Sir Paw Tun. Conditions became chaotic as components of the AFPFL, led by the communist Thakin Than Tun, organized mass demonstrations and guerrilla operations in order to pull down the Dorman-Smith government. A general strike broke out in September 1946 involving government workers, police, laborers, and university and high school students. Because the country was dangerously close to rebellion and there were few troops at his disposal, Dorman-Smith's successor as governor, Hubert Bance, was obliged to come to terms with Aung San. A new executive council was formed; Aung San served as deputy chairman, and six of its 11 members were adherents of the AFPFL. The general strike came to an end on October 2, 1946.

In July 1946, Thakin Soe, leader of the Burmese Communist Party [BCP] broke with the AFPFL and with other communists formed an underground movement known as the Red Flag faction of the BCP. Hard on the heels of Rance's decision to include Aung San in the government, the communists remaining in the AFPFL under the leadership of Thakin Than Tun labeled Aung San a collaborationist. Aung San in turn expelled Than Tun and the latter's communist White Flag faction from the AFPFL The White Flag faction thereafter adopted a policy whereby it opposed the government by all means short of armed struggle. Immediately after independence, however, the White Flag communists also took up armed struggle against the government; its large contingent of armed men and countrywide organization dated from the Japanese occupation, and the group proved a formidable foe of the independent Burmese government.

The British government in London, under Labor Prime Minister Clement Attlee since July 1945, was apparently encouraged by Aung San's break with the communists, believing that it could negotiate with him. In December 1946 the prime minister invited him and other political leaders to come to London. On January 27, 1947, Attlee and Aung San signed an agreement calling for full independence within a year, elections for a constituent assembly within four months, continued British aid, British sponsorship of Burma to membership in international organizations and, most significantly, the promise that the border areas would be included within the boundaries of the new nation.