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Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma

The Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma (), initially titled as the Revolutionary Council of the Union of the Republic of Burma () and the State Revolutionary Council (), or simply, the Revolutionary Council (RC; ), was the supreme governing body of Burma (now Myanmar) from 2 March 1962, following the overthrow of U Nu's civilian government, to 3 March 1974, with the promulgation of the 1974 Constitution of Burma and transfer of power to the Pyithu Hluttaw (People's Assembly), the country's new unicameral legislature.

The Revolutionary Council's philosophical framework was laid in the Burmese Way to Socialism, which aspired to convert Burma into a self-sustaining democratic socialist state, on 30 April 1962. On 4 July 1962, the RC established the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), the country's only legal political party which Donald M. Seekins claims was modelled along the lines of a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary party. From 1962 to 1971, BSPP transitioned from a cadre party (consisting of elite RC affiliated members) into a mass party. In the First Congress, the party had 344,226 members. By 1981, BSPP had 1.5 million members.

Names

  • The declaration of the council's establishment on 2 March 1962 used the name (Revolutionary Council of the Union of the Republic of Burma).
  • The orders and law issued in 1962 used the name (State Revolutionary Council).
  • Later, the official full name became (Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma).
  • In short, it was also referred to as (Revolutionary Council) in news and media outlets.
  • The name (Revolutionary Council of Burma) was used during the peace talks of 1960s.
  • The Burmese version of the 1974 Constitution refers to it as and the English version the Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma.

Leadership

The Revolutionary Council was led by Ne Win, its chairman and 16 senior officers.

The founding members of the first Revolutionary Council, all of whom were military officers, are:

  1. General Ne Win BC-3502 (Chief of General Staff)
  2. Brigadier General Aung Gyi BC-5458 (Vice-Chief of General Staff) (Army)
  3. Commodore Than Pe (died 1962) (Vice-Chief of General Staff) (Navy)
  4. Brigadier General Thomas 'Tommy' Cliff (Vice-Chief of General Staff) (Air Force) (resigned 1964)
  5. Brigadier General Tin Pe (resigned 1970) BC-3508 (Quartermaster General)
  6. Colonel Than Sein BC-3574 (Colonel-General Staff)
  7. Colonel Kyaw Soe (retired 1974) BC-3526 (Military Appointment General)
  8. Colonel Chit Myaing (dismissed 1964) BC-3520 (Vice-Quartermaster General)
  9. Colonel Khin Nyo (dismissed 1965) BC-3537 (Director General of Directorate of Military Training)
  10. Colonel Hla Han (Director General of Directorate of Medical Services)
  11. Brigadier General San Yu BC-3569 (Commander of Northern Military Command)
  12. Brigadier General Sein Win BC-3525 (Commander of Central Military Command)
  13. Colonel Thaung Kyi BC-3523 (Commander of Southeast Military Command)
  14. Colonel Kyi Maung (sacked 1963) BC-3516 (Commander of Southwest Military Command)
  15. Colonel Maung Shwe (resigned 1972) BC-3575 (Commander of Eastern Military Command)
  16. Colonel Saw Myint (sacked 1964) BC-3518 (Administrator of Border Regions)
  17. Colonel Tan Yu Sai (resigned 1968) BC-5090 (Vice-Commissioner of General of People's Police)

Revolutionary Council member terms

Revolutionary Government

The State Revolutionary Council formed its administrative government on 2 March 1962, and the government was formally renamed as the State Revolutionary Government () on 30 March 1962. This government later came to be known as the Revolutionary Government of the Union of Burma () or, simply, Revolutionary Government ().

Formally, on 30 March 1962, the names of the State organs and their members used in the existing laws were renamed as follow:

  • the term "Cabinet" () was replaced with the term "State Revolutionary Council" (),
  • the term "Prime Minister" () was replaced with the term "Chairman of the State Revolutionary Council" (),
  • the term "Minister" () was replaced with the term "Member of the State Revolutionary Council" ().

Because the terms "Ministry" (, ) and "Minister" () were deemed to be monarchist, they were instead called "Department" () and "Commissar" (, ) respectively during the time of the Revolutionary Government.

The terms "Ministry" and "Minister" were seemed to be restored in 1971 as some laws were amended to replace these two words back.

Notes

References