Burma has reintroduced its People’s Liberation Army over the Burmese Communist Party. A representative from the party has spoken about why communists have resumed armed work against Myanmar’s junta.
After the Burmese community returned to the Army, a youth group hold a flash mob rally to protest against it. They don’t support the military government led by Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing in Pabedan township in Yangon, Myanmar.
Mass protestors peacefully protested against the coup, which included strikes and demonstrations violently suppressed by the military. Since then, many political and ethnic groups have set up or revived armed resistance groups in response.
The supporters of communism believers don’t appreciate the change of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). Burma had the People’s Liberation Army a long time ago, and now more than after 30 years, it’s again re-established to fight Myanmar’s military regime. However, the decision of armed struggle was in process for a long. Nevertheless, the process has been given a fresh inspiration by the Spring Revolution, the mass upsurge inside the country that erupted after the military coup since this February. After that, civilian parties were ejected by the army leadership, grouped around Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), from the government.
General Min Aung Hlaing arrested several civilian political leaders, including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Su Kyi. The claim of electoral fraud in the 2020 Myanmar general election established the State Administration Council (SAC).
A Communist Party representative stated that ‘It’s true that the Communist Party of Burma has started organizing an armed force. But I must point out that our attempts to rebuild the PLA began before reports reached the media.
‘We have been trying to re-establish it for several years, but it has effectively come into existence now due to new possibilities that have emerged from the people’s resistance against the junta’s coup.’
A Communist Party spokesman said, ‘In a country like Burma, where the trigger-happy ruling elite resorted to arms even against unarmed students on university campuses, we have drawn lessons from history. It has taught us to resort to arms when fighting against fully armed demons. This is in no way minimizes the peaceful mass struggles.
The CPB leader responded, ‘We acknowledge the heroic valour and sacrifices of the people carrying out non-armed struggles. These movements are remarkable, and we salute them, both those who are still alive and those who gave their lives.
‘We know very well that the military has murdered many of our comrades for the simple reason of standing up against them. We don’t believe that the power-thirsty generals, who are armed to the teeth, can be toppled by any form of struggle besides armed means.’
‘Everything that has followed the February 1 coup is simply repeating history’, the CPB leader says.
Many opposition supporters suggested that, at a certain point, the regime will have to pull back and reluctantly restore the pre-coup status quo. Hence, the communist party has no delusional thoughts about the military’s trustworthiness or willingness to compromise.
‘We, who have dealt with military dictators for decades in this country, believe that real change in Burma’s ruling group can be made only utilizing arms,’ the party representative insists. Our armed revolution hasn’t achieved its aim so far. But this is not because the universal law that ‘Rebellion against military dictatorships is right’ does not hold or has exceptions.
‘The most visible defect has been the opposition forces’ inability to unite themselves. They are used to relying on other people or forces (both domestic and abroad) for various resources, including financial ones. Put very simply, differences of interest create differences of views and objectives.’
A spokesman from the party insisted that eventually, the day would come, but it’s not yet adequately established to set formal alliances right now.
‘The PLA hasn’t formed an official coalition or coordination with any existing armed resistance group yet. However, we have never ruled out joint efforts with resistance forces.’
To add some justification of the return of armed struggle, the CPB spokesman talked about a reference to a famous quote from Mao, ‘We firmly believe that the military has confirmed, again and again, the lesson that ‘political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.’ Why shouldn’t we grasp the same truth as they do?’
In such a situation, instead of providing simple quotations or military training to younger party members and PLA fighters, it is necessary to provide political education, and consciousness is urgent yet important. However, this can be entirely a challenging task.
‘PLA cadres are educated in basic Marxism-Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought as well as the revolutionary experiences of all Marxist movements. However, there has only been a brief period since the PLA’s formation, so political education among the ranks still needs time and the opportunity to apply this in practice. As you can imagine, each individual cadre’s ability to grasp these theories fully differs from one to the other,’ the party spokesperson added.
It’s not yet established whether the People’s Liberation Army will become a significant military force in the anti-junta struggle or not. However, the fact that the communist response to the military junta is based neither on pro-Western liberal nor ethnic-nationalist ideologies opens up the possibility of a very different outcome to the current crisis in Myanmar.
