The Union Party ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စုပါတီ, translit=Pyidaungsu Pati) was the ruling political party in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Formed by a split in the

Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League The Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL), ; abbreviated , ''hpa hsa pa la'' was the dominant political alliance in Burma from 1945 to 1958. It consisted of political parties and mass and class organizations. The league evolved out of t ...

, it was initially known as the Clean Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (Clean AFPFL) or Nu-Tin faction.

History

The party was formed in June 1958 when the AFPFL split in two following internal disputes that had intensified since its January congress;Haruhiro Fukui (1985) ''Political parties of Asia and the Pacific'', Greenwood Press, p115 One group was led by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

U Nu Nu ( my, ဦးနု; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as U Nu also known by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a leading Burmese statesman and nationalist politician. He was the first Prime Minister of Burma under the pr ...

, which he named the "Clean AFPFL"; the other was led by

Kyaw Nyein Kyaw Nyein ( my, ကျော်ငြိမ်း; ; 19 January 1913 – 29 June 1986), called honorifically U Kyaw Nyein ( my, ဦးကျော်ငြိမ်း;), was a Burmese lawyer and anti-colonial revolutionary, a leader in Burma’ ...

and

Ba Swe Ba Swe ( my, ဘဆွေ, ; 17 October 1915 – 6 December 1987) was the second Prime Minister of Burma. He was a leading Burmese politician during the decade after the country gained its independence from Britain in 1948. He held the position ...

and became known as the

Stable AFPFL The Stable Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (Stable AFPFL) was a political party in Burma. History The party was formed in June 1958 when the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) split in two following internal disputes that had inte ...

. The Clean faction was occasionally referred to as the Nu-Tin faction, referring to its other leader Thakin Tin, and contained several groups from different political streams, including the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

Pongyi Kyaung faction of the Burma Socialist Party and conservative commercial interest groups.Fukui, pp126–127 Although the Stable faction was supported by the larger group of AFPFL members in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

, U Nu was able to continue as Prime Minister due to support from the

National United Front The National United Front ( my, အမျိုးသား ညီညွတ်ရေး တပ်ပေါင်းစု) was a political alliance in Myanmar, Burma. History The alliance was formed in 1955 as a successor to the People's Democr ...

and some of the independent MPs. However, the dispute between the two factions continued to worsen and in September 1958 the Army brokered a compromise, taking power with a government headed by

Ne Win Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...

until elections were held eighteen months later. In the 1960 elections campaign the Clean AFPFL promised increased autonomy for the Mon and Rakhine minorities, and that

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

would become the

state religion A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular state, secular, is not n ...

, gaining it support from the Buddhist clergy. It received 57% of the vote, winning 158 of the 250 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 53 of the 125 seats in the

Chamber of Nationalities The Chamber of Nationalities ( my, လူမျိုးစုလွှတ်တော်) was the upper house of the bicameral Union Parliament of Burma (Myanmar) from 1948 to 1962. Under the 1947 Constitution, bills initiated and passed by the ...

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p616 allowing U Nu to return as Prime Minister. Following the elections, it adopted the Union Party name. In 1962 U Nu's government was overthrown by a

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such ...

led by Ne Win. In 1964, Ne Win's

Burma Socialist Programme Party The Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), ; abbreviated , was Burma's ruling party from 1962 to 1988 and sole legal party from 1964 to 1988. Party chairman Ne Win overthrew the country's democratically elected government in a coup d'éta ...

became the sole legal political party.

References

{{Burmese political parties 1958 establishments in Burma Defunct political parties in Myanmar Political parties established in 1958 Socialist parties in Myanmar