False Alarm from Burma ?
There is always a strong element of violence and irresponsibility in Burmese politics. But those who had feared that these elements would become dominant when Burma, on achieving her indepen- dence, left the British Commonwealth as well, must have felt, early this week, that their worst fears had been confirmed. It became known that the Prime Minister, Thakin Nu, who is also the President of the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League, had endorsed a manifesto calling for the propagation of Marxist doctrine and an attack on capitalism all along the line. The natural instinct to treat these reports with some reserve, was checked by the announce- ment that there was disquiet in London and that Mr. Bevin had had a meeting with the Burmese Ambassador. But at that moment more complete reports began to arrive from Rangoon and something like equilibrium was restored. The manifesto had originally been issued at the end of last month, in an attempt to unite the various Burmese parties of the Left. The Prime Minister really had sup- ported it, but the speech which he made last Sunday, far from being a Marxist tirade and an attack on the Anglo-Burmese Treaty, was a balanced statement in which he pointed out that Communist extremes would not be tolerated by the Government either in internal affairs or in foreign policy. So far so good. But it still remains true that the A.F.P.F.L. has committed itself to a Marxist pro- gramme, that the compensation terms for the nationalised industries are sufficiently uncertain to have caused gloom on the London Stock Exchange, that at one moment the Foreign Office was seriously disturbed, and that Thakin Nu retires from office next month. It will be as well to be ready for more shocks.
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