The Way to Socialism-- & Havoc

While the world's attention was focused on South Viet Nam, another Southeast Asian nation was quietly going from bad to disastrous. Burma's business is virtually at a standstill, credit is nonexistent, foreign investment has vanished -- all because Dictator Ne Win insists on instant, total socialism. Burma has 1,370 miles of mountainous border with Red China, and, says an Eastern European diplomat, "practicing socialism in such proximity to Communism is like walking a tightrope in a typhoon."

In foreign affairs, Ne Win has not yet been blown off the tightrope, has man aged to maintain what passes for neutrality: mildly hostile toward the U.S., friendly toward China (without, however, endorsing Peking's attack against India), friendlier toward Moscow--and, of course, accepting aid from all three. But domestically, the typhoon is causing havoc.

Nationalization. Energetic Dictator Ne Win, who is part-Chinese, in 1958 pressured Parliament into making him Premier in place of dreamy, inefficient but popular U Nu. After ruling for 17 months, Ne Win permitted national elections. U Nu won an easy victory and proved even more ineffectual than before. In March 1962, Ne Win jailed U Nu and most of his Cabinet, abolished Parliament, imposed censorship, and began to rule through a 17-man Revolutionary Council of army officers. Leaving nothing to chance, Ne Win named himself leader of the council, President of Burma, Minister for Defense, Finance and Revenue, and chief of the military tribunals that have replaced Burma's graft-ridden judiciary. Devout Buddhist U Nu is still under house arrest and passes the time in meditation and, presumably, in pursuit of his special obsession--astrology.

Ne Win also produced a vague document called "The Burmese Way to Socialism" and nationalized industry, collectivized agriculture, and took complete control of foreign trade. One Saturday afternoon, he grabbed the nation's 24 foreign and domestic banks. Britain's prestigious Lloyd's bank was renamed People's Bank No. 19, and the same fate befell two Red Chinese banks, putting a crimp in Rangoon's Communist propaganda machine.

Industrial production has fallen 40% in three months and urban unemployment has soared. The few remaining private companies are clamoring for nationalization, hoping to get a better break on raw material allocations and some protection against strikes. Because there are too few trained administrators to run any more enterprises, Ne Win last week was forced to refuse all future nationalization petitions. Although in the past the government encouraged workers to strike against private employers--in state-run businesses, strikes are considered unpatriotic--Ne Win last week urged labor to moderate its wage demands, in a belated attempt to pacify businessmen.

Insurrection. While crippling the economy, Ne Win has been striving for a measure of national unity. His fairly competent army of 50,000 men controls the main cities and about 50% of the Texas-sized nation. About 35% of the area is no man's land, and the remaining 15% is divided among a variety of insurgents, ranging from tribal groups, such as the Shans, Karens and Kachins, to two major bands of Communist insurgents, 1) the Trotskyite Red Flag movement, and 2) the larger White Flag Communists, who are fragmented into Stalinist and Revisionist wings. Still another insurgent outfit is composed of several hundred Chinese Nationalist soldiers who fled their homeland years ago and have since operated as bandits.

In vain, previous Burmese governments have offered amnesties to the rebels. Ne Win went farther: he promised a safe-conduct to rebel leaders for discussions in Rangoon. Red Flag Leader Thakin Soe accepted. He was picked up by a river gunboat, taken to a government airfield and flown to Rangoon, where he promptly demanded 1) a nationwide ceasefire, 2) withdrawal of Burmese troops from vital Red Flag areas, and 3) a meeting of all political factions--legal and illegal--to form a new government. Taken aback by these demands, Ne Win denounced Thakin Soe as "insincere" and gave him seven days' immunity to get back to the safety of his jungle hideouts.

Opposition. Though Ne Win is conceded to be honest and hardworking, easygoing Burmese long for the good old good-for-nothing government of U Nu, whose photo is still hawked on the streets and outsells that of Ne Win by a wide margin. One opposition leader, U Ba Swe, called on Ne Win "to retreat from the brink of disaster for the sake of the nation," and the ex-Ambassador to the U.S., U Win, demanded a return to parliamentary democracy. Both were packed off to "protective custody," along with nine other dissenters from instant socialism.

Nervous Ne Win frequently carries a pistol, and antiaircraft guns stand ready at Government House. Yet, even though opposition to his regime is massive throughout the country, he still has the bulk of the army with him. And, as is his habit when he encounters obstacles, Ne Win changed course slightly. He temporarily rescinded controls on rice to placate farmers, offered to build a new Student Union at the University of Rangoon (he had blown up the old one after a student riot in July 1962), and called a conference of his administrators to "improve and review" all measures enacted by the government.

Presumably to show he is not a total tyrant, Ne Win released three former Cabinet ministers (but not ex-Premier U Nu) from house arrest. Unless the army stages a coup, Ne Win may muddle along indefinitely. "It's not the Burmese way to man the barricades," explained a Rangoon educator. "Given our plentiful food supplies and the passivity of the people, it's possible for someone to misrule Burma for perhaps a decade before incurring true wrath."

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