The Anti-Fascist Organisation (AFO) was a

resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objective ...

against the

Japanese occupation of Burma The Japanese occupation of Burma was the period between 1942 and 1945 during World War II, when Burma was occupied by the Empire of Japan. The Japanese had assisted formation of the Burma Independence Army, and trained the Thirty Comrades, who ...

and independence of Burma during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. 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 The Communist Party of Burma (CPB), also known as the Burma Communist Party (BCP), is a clandestine communist party in Myanmar (Burma). It is the oldest existing political party in the country. Founded in 1939, the CPB initially fought aga ...

(CPB), the Burma National Army (BNA) led by General Aung San, and the People's Revolutionary Party (PRP), later renamed the

Burma Socialist Party The Burma Socialist Party (), initially known as the People's Freedom (Socialist) Party or PF(S)P, was a political party in Burma. It was the dominant party in Burmese politics after 1948, and the dominant political force inside the Anti-Fascist ...

. Whilst in Insein prison in July 1941, CPB leaders

Thakin Than Tun Thakin Than Tun ( my, သခင် သန်းထွန်း; 1911 – 24 September 1968) was a Burmese politician and leader of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) from 1945 until his assassination in 1968. He was uncle of the former State C ...

and

Thakin Soe Thakin Soe ( my, သခင်စိုး, ; 1906 – 6 May 1989) was a founding member of the Communist Party of Burma, formed in 1939 and a leader of Anti-Fascist Organisation. He is regarded as one of Burma's most prominent communist leaders. ...

had co-authored the ''Insein Manifesto'', which, against the prevailing opinion in the Burmese nationalist movement led by the ''

Dobama Asiayone Dobama Asiayone ( my, တို့ဗမာအစည်းအရုံး, ''Dóbăma Ăsì-Ăyòun'', meaning ''We Burmans Association'', DAA), commonly known as the Thakhins ( my, သခင် ''sa.hkang'', lit. Lords), was a Burmese national ...

'', identified world

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

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 The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. 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 India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Aung San was War Minister in the puppet administration set up on 1 August 1943 which also included the Socialist leaders

Thakin Nu Dobama Asiayone ( my, တို့ဗမာအစည်းအရုံး, ''Dóbăma Ăsì-Ăyòun'', meaning ''We Burmans Association'', DAA), commonly known as the Thakhins ( my, သခင် ''sa.hkang'', lit. Lords), was a Burmese national ...

and

Thakin Mya Dobama Asiayone ( my, တို့ဗမာအစည်းအရုံး, ''Dóbăma Ăsì-Ăyòun'', meaning ''We Burmans Association'', DAA), commonly known as the Thakhins ( my, သခင် ''sa.hkang'', lit. Lords), was a Burmese national ...

. 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.Haruhiro Fukui (1985) ''Political parties of Asia and the Pacific'', Greenwood Press, pp108–109

References

External links

Heroes and Villains
''The Irrawaddy'', March 2007
The Bloodstrewn Path:Burma's Early Journey to Independence
BBC Burmese, 30 September 2005 Defunct political party alliances in Myanmar Political parties established in 1944 Political parties disestablished in 1945 World War II resistance movements Rebel groups in Myanmar 1944 establishments in Burma 1945 disestablishments in Burma Burma in World War II {{World-War-II-stub