The Asian Socialist Conference (ASC) was an organisation of socialist political parties in Asia that existed between 1953 and 1965. It was established in an effort to build a Pan-Asian multinational socialist organization, clearly independent from earlier European colonial centres, yet free from the new superpowers of the Cold War.
In total, four Asian Socialist Conferences convened: Rangoon, 1953 and 1954, and Bombay, 1956 and 1965.Ministry of Culture, Government of Singapore. Socialist Solution for Asia. Singapore: Government Printing Office, 1965Alijah Gordon. On Becoming Alijah. Part 1: From the American Revolutionary War through Burma, March 1957. Malaysia: Self-publication, 2003 Until 1963 its headquarters was in Rangoon, Burma; the first chairman and treasurer of the conference were the Burmese socialist leaders Ba Swe and Kyaw Nyein, respectively.Rose, Saul. Socialism in Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. pp. 7,238 As of 1956, the member parties of ASC had a combined membership of about 500,000.Docherty, James C. (ed.). Historical Dictionary of Socialism . Scarecrow Press, 2006.
Background The Burma Socialist Party had expressed a wish for cooperation with other Asian socialists as early as 1946. At that time, the party was in the midst of the anti-colonial struggle and hoped for cooperation with other Asian socialists against a common enemy.Win, Kyaw Zaw. The Asian Socialist Conference in 1953 as precursor to the Bandung Conference in 1955 On the occasion of the Asian Relations Conference, held in Delhi in 1947, leading members of the Socialist Parties of Burma, India and Indonesia, at an informal meeting, discussed the need and the possibility of the Socialist Parties of Asia meeting to discuss common problems and exchange experience. Subsequently, informal meetings between Burmese, Indian and Indonesian socialists were held in connection with the Asian Regional Conference of the International Labour Organization in Delhi in December 1951.
At Delhi, it was agreed on that a committee for the holding of an Asian Socialist Conference would be formed consisting of representatives of India, Burma, Indonesia, Malaya, Siam, Vietnam, Korea and the Philippines (the Japanese would be invited as observers). The proposed committee would have its headquarters in Rangoon. However, these plans did not materialise as agreed and it would take several years until such an organisation of Asian socialist parties would take form.Rose, Saul. Socialism in Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. pp.4–5
When the Socialist International was founded in 1951, some Asian socialists considered that the new organisation was too Eurocentric. Thus they felt that there was a need for an organised form of cooperation between Asian socialist parties.Surendra Mohan. . In The Hindu, Jun 17, 2002. In September 1951, representatives of the Socialist Party of India (later the Praja Socialist Party) and the Japanese Socialist Party had a meeting in Tokyo. A joint statement was adopted, calling for a conference of Asian socialist parties. In December 1951, representatives of the Progressive Socialist Party of Lebanon met with the Socialist Party of India in Delhi and a joint manifesto calling for Asian socialist cooperation was adopted.
Preparatory Committee Following these meetings, the socialist parties of India, Burma and Indonesia met in Rangoon, Burma in March 1952 for a preparatory meeting. The Japanese Leftist and the Rightist socialist parties took part in the meetings as observers.
This meeting convened the Asian Socialist Conference, to be held in Rangoon in January 1953. The participants formed the 'Preparatory Committee for the first Conference of Asian Socialist Parties' headed by Kyaw Nyein. The Preparatory Committee began publishing Socialist Asia, which would later become the organ of the Asian Socialist Conference.Callesen, Gerd. Socialist Internationals – A Bibliography Publications of the Social-Democratic and Socialist Internationals 1914–2000May Day 1955, jointly published by the Socialist International and the Asian Socialist Conference. p. 1
Invitations for the 1953 Rangoon conference were sent to Socialist Party of Indonesia, the Burma Socialist Party, the Praja Socialist Party (these were invited by default, as sponsors of the conference), both Japanese socialist parties, the Socialist Party of Egypt, the Iraqi National Democratic Party (which was not considered as a socialist party as such, but was seen as relatively close to socialist positions), the Arab Socialist Baath Party in Syria, the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party, the Israeli Mapai, the Pan-Malayan Labour Party and the Pakistan Socialist Party. Observers were invited from African freedom movements from Algeria, Tunisia, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Morocco, the Gold Coast as well as the Congress of Peoples against Imperialism. Invitations for fraternal organisations were sent to the Socialist International, the International Union of Socialist Youth and the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.Rose, Saul. Socialism in Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. p. 6
Despite its Asian focus, the organization still welcomed one European party, the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, which was perceived as unique case as the country never was a colonial power and since the 1948 Tito–Stalin split was also independent of the Soviet Union. Inclusion of Yugoslavia in the Conference was particularly promoted by Burma while Yugoslavia perceived its independent participation (as the only independent European delegation) as a recognition and honor which led to the opening of Yugoslav Embassy in Rangoon during the Conference. Yugoslavia of that day and age was perceived as a country that despite geography will fit well into the Third World initiatives while its World War II anti-imperial revolution was reminiscent of anti-colonial struggle.
Rangoon conference The Asian Socialist Conference was founded at a first conference held in Rangoon, Burma, January 6–15, 1953.Rose, Saul. Socialism in Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. p. 7 The conference established the ASC as an independent socialist organisation, with headquarters in Rangoon. Ba Swe was elected Chairman of the ASC.
Participation In total 177 delegates, observers and fraternal guests took part in the conference. The parties that took part as delegates were: CountryPartyNumber of delegatesNotable delegatesBurmaBurma Socialist Party15Ba Swe, Kyaw NyeinEgyptSocialist Party of Egypt1Ahmed HusaynIndiaPraja Socialist Party77Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Asoka MehtaIndonesiaSocialist Party of Indonesia26Sutan Sjahrir, IsraelMapaiMoshe Sharett, Reuven BarkatJapanLeftist Socialist Party of JapanRightist Socialist Party of Japan30Suzuki MosaburoKomakichi MatsuokaLebanonProgressive Socialist PartyMalayaPan-Malayan Labour PartyPakistanPakistan Socialist PartyMobarak Sagher
The fraternal guests and observers at the conference were: Socialist International: Clement Attlee (British Labour Party), Saul Rose (British Labour Party, Attlee's secretary), André Bidet (SFIO), Kaj Björk (Swedish Social Democratic Party)Kemseke, Peter van. Towards an Era of Development: The Globalization of Socialism and Christian Democracy, 1945–1965. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2006. p. 80 International Union of Socialist Youth: Donald Chesworth, William Worthy Congress of Peoples Against Imperialism: Margaret Pope League of Communists of Yugoslavia: Milovan Đilas, Aleš Bebler, Anton Blazevic Nepali Congress: Delegation led by B.P. Koirala Representatives of African freedom movements: Said Farni (Algerian People's Party), Ignatius Musazi (Kenya African Union), Taib Slim (Tunisian Destour Party), E. N. K. Mulira (Uganda National Congress)Braunthal, Julius (ed). Yearbook of the International Socialist Labour Movement. Vol. I. London: Lincolns-Prager International Yearbook Pub. Co, 1957. pp. 75–76
Debates All sessions of the conference were held in English, to the advantage of the Indian delegates but disadvantage for the Japanese, Indonesians and the Yugoslav delegation leader Đilas.
A proposal in formation of a 'Third Force' in world politics was raised at the conference (the conference would in many ways serve as a precursor of the 1955 Bandung Conference). The British SI representative Clement Attlee ridiculed the notion of building a third bloc outside the West-East contradiction. Milovan Đilas, B.P. Koirala and Jayaprakash Narayan intervened in favour of the Indian socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia's proposal for a 'Third Force'.Bhargava, G.S.. Nepal: Herald of a New Dawn. In Mainstream, Vol XLVI, No 25. In the end, the conference adopted a resolution calling for support of democracy, condemning capitalism, communism and imperialism.
During his stay in Rangoon, Đilas gave an interview to the Yugoslav party organ Borba, stating that "[t]he Conference has revealed that in Asia, especially in India, Burma and Indonesia, there are very significant combat forces, able to fight not only against the old colonialism but also against Cominformism and the Soviet and Chinese hegemony... [These nations] have unmasked the anti-Socialist soul of the Soviet Union and its satellites."
Relation with the Socialist International Even before the holding of the conference, the main organisers had agreed that the new organisation would exist separately from the Socialist International. However, at the Rangoon conference the SI delegation and its leader Attlee tried to convince the conference that the ASC would be a regional organisation of the SI. During the conference, Asian delegates criticised the stance of SI towards anti-colonial liberation movements.
Three delegations (Israelis, Malayans and Japanese Rightists) supported the proposal to merge ASC into the SI fold. The Israeli and Malayan parties were both SI members. Other delegations at Rangoon opposed the proposal (albeit in varying degrees). Opposition towards the SI was mainly expressed on issues relating to colonialism (the lukewarm attitudes of the SI towards anti-colonial liberation movements was criticised by delegates at the conference) and neutralism (at the conference, the SI was labelled as being part of the American camp). However, the way that the conference identified socialism was in terms similar to those the Socialist International used at the time.Rose, Saul. Socialism in Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. pp. 10–11
Interlude
Rangoon Bureau meeting Between the first and second ASC conferences, the Bureau of the ASC met five times. The first Bureau meeting was held just after the first conference, in Rangoon on January 15, 1953. The Rangoon Bureau meeting appointed a Secretariat, which was to run the day-to-day affairs of the ASC at its Rangoon office. The post of general secretary was earmarked for the Indonesian party, which was to name their appointee at a later stage. Two joint secretaries were appointed, Madhu Limaye from India and Hla Aung from Burma. The Burmese Kyaw Nyein was selected as the Treasurer of ASC, a difficult task considering the underfunding of the Rangoon office. Limaye arrived at the office in March 1953.Rose, Saul. Socialism in Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. pp. 238–239
In July 1953, ASC sent a four-member delegation to the congress of the Socialist International in Stockholm. The delegation was led by the Indonesian ASC general secretary . The ASC delegation suggested to the SI to commemorate a 'Dependent Peoples' Freedom Day', a proposal not well received by the SI congress.
Hyderabad Bureau meeting On August 10–13, 1953, the Bureau held its second meeting in Hyderabad. The meeting was held in the Hill Fort Palace and was chaired by Ba Swe.