Thakin Lwin
Encyclopedia
Thakin Lwin was a Burmese politician and trade union
ist, writer
and journalist
. He was a leading member of the anti-colonial Dobama Asiayone movement, a parliamentarian, the president of the Trade Union Congress (Burma)
and a prominent leader of the Burma Workers and Peasants Party.
mobilized support for the oilworkers' strike of 1938, giving revolutionary speeches in favour of Marxism-Leninism
. Basing themselves of the experiences of the oilworkers' strike, a preparatory committee to set up a 'All Burma Workers Asiayone' was formed in 1939. Lwin was one of the members of the preparatory committee.
During the Second World War, Lwin was put in charge of the Pakokku District
by the People's Revolutionary Party.
In 1945, Lwin became a Central Executive Committee member of the People's Freedom (Socialist) Party. In 1947 he was elected as a Member of Parliament.
. Under Lwin's leadership, the TUC(B) steered towards an openly communist line. At the May Day
rally of 1950, TUC(B) demonstrators had carried large portraits of Karl Marx
, Friedrich Engels
, Vladimir Lenin
, Joseph Stalin
and Mao Zedong
. In his speech at the rally, Lwin publicly declared that TUC(B) followed the 'communist party line' and said that the organisation should join the World Federation of Trade Unions
. He harshly condemned the policy of the Burmese government of accepting British financial aid. But he also denounced the White Flag Communist Party
, Red Flag Communist Party and Josip Broz Tito
as 'deviationists'. Lwin's speech made the ongoing division in the Socialist Party public.
Lwin's May Day speech had political repercussions, but did not result in any immediate disciplinary action from the Socialist Party or the AFPFL. However, when the TUC(B) vice-president and AFPFL Member of Parliament Thakin Hla Kywe lashed out at the governments support for the Korean War
in September 1950, the AFPFL decided to suspend the TUC(B) from the AFPFL. The AFPFL demanded that Lwin and Hla Kywe be removed from their positions in order for the TUC(B) to be reintegrated into the AFPFL. The TUC(B) complied and demoted Lwin and Hla Kywe.
In December 1950, Lwin was one of 42 leading cadres of the Socialist Party which denounced the party leadership of Ba Swe and Kyaw Nyein and went on to found a new party, the Burma Workers and Peasants Party. Lwin became one of the main leader of the BWPP.
During the 1950s he was active in the National Unity Front
, and electoral front launched by the BWPP ahead of the 1955 elections. He also served as the Chairman of the Burma Conference to Defend World Peace.
Lwin retired from political life following the 1962 coup. However, with the democratic opening in 1988, he again became active in politics in September 1988. He became chairman of the People's Democratic Party. His party become officially registered on 4 October 1988.
He also wrote several books. The notable ones are:
was barred from assisting the funeral, as she was under house arrest. Her party, the National League for Democracy
, was represented at the funeral by party vice chairman Kyi Maung.
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
ist, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. He was a leading member of the anti-colonial Dobama Asiayone movement, a parliamentarian, the president of the Trade Union Congress (Burma)
Trade Union Congress (Burma)
The Trade Union Congress was a central trade union organization in Burma. The TUC was founded by the Socialist Party in November 1945, in an attempt to counter the influence of the communist-led All Burma Trade Union Congress. Ba Cho was the President of TUC...
and a prominent leader of the Burma Workers and Peasants Party.
Early life
Lwin was born in Zigon, Tharrawaddy District, in 1914 to a family of traders. He finished high school in 1936.Pre-war
Lwin served as the secretary of the Oilfield Workers' Association between 1938 and 1941. Lwin's discourse for organising workers was based on a combination of nationalism and communalism. He and other revolutionary leftwing ThakinsThakins
The Thakins were a Burmese nationalist group formed around the 1930s and composed of young, disgruntled intellectuals. Drawing their name from the way in which the British were addressed during colonial times, thakin means "lord" or "master", just as the Indians called the British "sahib"...
mobilized support for the oilworkers' strike of 1938, giving revolutionary speeches in favour of Marxism-Leninism
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
. Basing themselves of the experiences of the oilworkers' strike, a preparatory committee to set up a 'All Burma Workers Asiayone' was formed in 1939. Lwin was one of the members of the preparatory committee.
During the Second World War, Lwin was put in charge of the Pakokku District
Pakokku District
Pakokku District is a district of the Magway Division in central Burma . The administrative centre is the city of Pakokku.In October 2011, 7 wards and 95 villages were flooded because of heavy rain from tropical storm 02B which made a landfall at Myanmar-Bangladesh border on 19 Nov. All 4...
by the People's Revolutionary Party.
In 1945, Lwin became a Central Executive Committee member of the People's Freedom (Socialist) Party. In 1947 he was elected as a Member of Parliament.
Post-war
In 1949 he became the president of the Trade Union Congress (Burma)Trade Union Congress (Burma)
The Trade Union Congress was a central trade union organization in Burma. The TUC was founded by the Socialist Party in November 1945, in an attempt to counter the influence of the communist-led All Burma Trade Union Congress. Ba Cho was the President of TUC...
. Under Lwin's leadership, the TUC(B) steered towards an openly communist line. At the May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
rally of 1950, TUC(B) demonstrators had carried large portraits of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
, Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
, Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
, Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
and Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
. In his speech at the rally, Lwin publicly declared that TUC(B) followed the 'communist party line' and said that the organisation should join the World Federation of Trade Unions
World Federation of Trade Unions
The World Federation of Trade Unions was established in 1945 to replace the International Federation of Trade Unions. Its mission was to bring together trade unions across the world in a single international organization, much like the United Nations...
. He harshly condemned the policy of the Burmese government of accepting British financial aid. But he also denounced the White Flag Communist Party
Communist Party of Burma
The Communist Party of Burma is the oldest existing political party in Burma. The party is unrecognised by the Burmese authorities, rendering it illegal; so it operates in a clandestine manner, often associating with insurgent armies along the border of People's Republic of China...
, Red Flag Communist Party and Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
as 'deviationists'. Lwin's speech made the ongoing division in the Socialist Party public.
Lwin's May Day speech had political repercussions, but did not result in any immediate disciplinary action from the Socialist Party or the AFPFL. However, when the TUC(B) vice-president and AFPFL Member of Parliament Thakin Hla Kywe lashed out at the governments support for the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
in September 1950, the AFPFL decided to suspend the TUC(B) from the AFPFL. The AFPFL demanded that Lwin and Hla Kywe be removed from their positions in order for the TUC(B) to be reintegrated into the AFPFL. The TUC(B) complied and demoted Lwin and Hla Kywe.
In December 1950, Lwin was one of 42 leading cadres of the Socialist Party which denounced the party leadership of Ba Swe and Kyaw Nyein and went on to found a new party, the Burma Workers and Peasants Party. Lwin became one of the main leader of the BWPP.
During the 1950s he was active in the National Unity Front
National Unity Front
The National Unity Front is a political party in Bolivia.At the legislative elections in 2005, the party won 7.8 % of the popular vote and 8 out of 130 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 1 out of 27 seats in the Senate. Its candidate at the presidential elections, Samuel Jorge Doria Medina Auza,...
, and electoral front launched by the BWPP ahead of the 1955 elections. He also served as the Chairman of the Burma Conference to Defend World Peace.
Lwin retired from political life following the 1962 coup. However, with the democratic opening in 1988, he again became active in politics in September 1988. He became chairman of the People's Democratic Party. His party become officially registered on 4 October 1988.
Literary and journalism careers
Lwin founded the Shudaung Journal (lit. Viewpoint Journal) in 1969 and was the chief editor of the journal until its closing in 1971.He also wrote several books. The notable ones are:
- Alouthama Lawka Htudaunggya, 1947 (Let's Build A Workers' World)
- Thway Mye Kya Taikpwe (May Day Thamaing), 1949 (Bloodied Battle: History of May Day)
- Thakin Kodaw Hmaing Hnint Pyidwin Nyein-gyan-yay, 1956 (Thakin Kodaw HmaingThakin Kodaw HmaingThakin Kodaw Hmaing is considered one of the greatest Burmese poets, writers and political leaders in the 20th century history of Burma. He is regarded as the Father of Burmese nationalist and peace movements as well as a literary genius...
and Peace in Domestic Affairs) - U Ottama Letywayzin, 1967 (Select Writings of U OttamaU OttamaSayadaw U Ottama was a Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk, author and a leader of the Burmese independence movement during the British colonial rule. The ethnic Rakhine monk was imprisoned several times by the British colonial government for his anti-colonialist political activities. He went on a...
) - Myanma Naingngan Alouthama Hloushahmu Thamaing, 1968 (History of Burmese Workers Movement) -- Winner, Myanmar National Literary Award, Second Prize
- Japan Khit Myanma Pyi, 1969 (Japanese Burma)
- Azani Ashin U Wisara, 1971 (U WisaraU WisaraU Wisara was a Burmese monk, and a national hero of the nation of Myanmar. He was one of the prominent activists against the British rule of Burma. He was captured eventually by the British and put in jail where he died 166 days later after a hunger strike. In Yangon he is commemorated with the U...
the Martyr) - The-baw Shin-bet, (translated), 1972
Death
Lwin died in his Yangon residence on 20 December 1996. A funeral service was held on 24 December 1996. It was attended by family, friends, politicians and diplomatic representatives. Aung San Suu KyiAung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi, AC is a Burmese opposition politician and the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, her National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained...
was barred from assisting the funeral, as she was under house arrest. Her party, the National League for Democracy
National League for Democracy
The National League for Democracy is a Burmese political party founded on 27 September 1988. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi serves as its General Secretary. The party won a substantial parliamentary majority in the 1990 Burmese general election. However, the ruling military junta...
, was represented at the funeral by party vice chairman Kyi Maung.