BURMA 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 MANAGED TO MAINTAIN WHAT PASSES FOR NEUTRALITY : MILDY 
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 PER CENT 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 PER CENT OF 
THE TEXAS-SIZED NATION . ABOUT 35 PER CENT OF THE AREA 
IS NO MAN'S LAND, AND THE REMAINING 15 PER CENT 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 CEASE-FIRE, 
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 HARD-WORKING, 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 ANTI-AIRCRAFT 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 . / 