THE CONSTITUTION
OF THE
FOR THE TRANSITIONAL
PERIOD OF ITS CONSTRUCTION
ADOPTED BY THE REVOLUTIONARY COUNCIL
CONTENTS
Origin and
Purpose.
CHAPTER 1
Party Organisation
CHAPTER II
Admission into and
Membership of the Party
CHAPTER III
Code of Discipline for Party
Members
CHAPTER IV
Rights
CHAPTER V
Resolves and Duties of the
Party and Individual Members
CHAPTER VI
Amendment of the
Constitution and Rule-making
APPENDIX A.--
Organisational Structure of the transitional Cadre Party.
APPENDIX B. -- Roughcast of
Future National Party.
THE
Origin and Purpose
1. The. Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma, having
rescued the
2. The Revolutionary Council, forged by
peculiar and powerful historical
forces is revolutionary in essence, but wears the outward garb of a military
council. This the Revolutionary Council deems
undesirable. The Revolutionary Council believes that the natural leader of a
revolution should be a revolutionary political party.
3. The Revolutionary Council has therefore decided to build a
transitional political party to carry the leadership in
Organisational Structure of the Cadre Party (Appendix
A)
4. The organisational
structure of this transitional Party is that of a Cadre Party, meaning a party
which performs such basic party functions as recruiting nucleus personnel
called cadres, and training and testing them by assigning duties, etc.
The Cadre Party is
constituted on the principle of centralism. It will however convene Party
conferences as and when required.
The Party will grow by
recruitments of Party cadres on functional and geographical basis.
Organisational Structure of the future National Party
(Appendix B)
5. When the party
constructional work is done and the Cadre Party blossoms into the Party of the
entire nation,
(a) the
leading committees of the Party of all levels shall be elected by popular vote;
(b) lower
committees and all Party members shall abide by the directions and decisions of
the Central Committee and higher committees that are elected by popular vote;
(c) the
minority shall abide by
the decisions of the majority; and
(d) there shall be a reciprocal and
regular flow of reports between higher and lower Party organisations.
When the national Party has
thus been constituted it shall operate on the principle of democratic
centralism.
The Revolutionary Council
envisages the reorganisation of the Party in the future on the principle of
democratic centralism. On such reorganisation a new constitution shall be
framed on the principle of democratic centralism.
The Revolutionary Council
reiterates its firm resolve to strive with patience
and industry to build a vanguard party which earns the confidence of the entire
nation.
THE PARTY IN THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD
OF ITS CONSTRUCTION
CHAPTER I
PARTY ORGANISATION
SECTION I
The Name of the Party
The Party shall be
called "THE BURMA
SOCIALIST PROGRAMME PARTY".
SECTION 2
The Supreme Authority of the Party
The Revolutionary Council
shall be the supreme authority of the Party during the transitional period of
its construction.
SECTION 3
Committees of top echelon
(a) The Revolutionary Council shall appoint three committees of
equal status as follows : -
(i) the Party Central Organising Committee,
(ii) the Party
Discipline Committee,
(iii) the Socialist Economy Planning Committee.
(b) The Revolutionary Council shall appoint a chairman for each of
these Committees.
(c) The Revolutionary Council shall appoint on the Central
Organising Committee only members of the Revolutionary Council.
(d) The Revolutionary Council shall appoint on the Party Discipline
Committee only members of the
Revolutionary Council.
(e) The Revolutionary Council
shall appoint on
the Socialist Economy Planning Committee either members of the
Revolutionary Council only or members of the Revolutionary Council and other
suitable persons also.
SECTION 4
Headquarters of the Central Organising
Committee
(a) The Central Organising
Committee shall establish a headquarters to perform their tasks, and it shall
consist of the following five departments : -
(i) the Central Department for Peasants
Affairs.
(ii) the Central Department for Workers
Affairs,
(iii) the Central Department for Mass
Organisation Affairs,
(iv) the Central Department for
Administrative Affairs.
(v) the Central Department for Educational
Affairs.
These Central Departments
shall appoint, as necessity may arise, committees (or branches) under their
control.
(b) The Central Organising
Committee shall appoint, as necessary, with the approval of the Revolutionary
Council, executives of the Central Organising Committee Headquarters and assign
their duties.
SECTION 5
Party Units
(a) The Central Organising
Committee shall establish, in exercise
of the powers conferred on it by the Revolutionary Council, Party Units
(Primary Party Organisations) having direct relations with the Central
Organising Committee, on the basis of constituencies and branches of
production, and where circumstances and conditions require on the basis of
townships and hill tracts.
(b) The
Executive Committee of a Party Unit shall
be constituted as follows:-
(i) President
(supervisory control),
(ii) Secretary
(general),
(iii) Member in charge of Peasants Affairs,
(iv) Member in charge of Workers Affairs, and
(v) Committee Members (to be appointed as many
as are required and assigned duties).
(c) The Executive Committee of a Party Unit
shall be responsible for the control and administration of that Party Unit.
SECTION 6
Committees and Party Groups
(a) Party Units may appoint their own Committees and Party Groups as required organisationally in the villages, wards, roads and streets,
mills and factories, etc., within their respective jurisdictions. Party Units
shall be responsible for the control and administration of their respective
Committees and Party Groups.
(b) The Rules Drafting Body referred to in Section 20 of Chapter VI
shall make rules for the Work Tables of the Committees and Party Groups which
are subordinate to Party Units.
SECTION 7
Divisional Supervision Committees
(a) The Revolutionary
Council of the Union of Burma shall directly appoint Divisional
Supervision Committees to
supervise, direct, co-ordinate and inspect the activities of Party Units that
have direct relations with the Central Organising Committee, and to carry out
such special duties as are assigned from time to time by the Revolutionary
Council of the Union of Burma and the Central Organising Committee.
(b) The Divisional Supervision Committees shall appoint their own
office staff with the approval of the Central Organising Committee.
(c) The Divisional Supervision Committees shall submit reports on their work to the
Central Organising Committee.
SECTION 8
The Party Discipline Committee
The Revolutionary Council of
the Union of Burma shall prescribe separately the functions and the
organisational structure of the Party Discipline Committee.
SECTION 9
The Socialist Economy Planning
Committee
The Revolutionary Council of
the Union of Burma shall prescribe separately the functions and the
organisational structure of the Socialist Economy Planning Committee.
SECTION 10
Council of Ministers
The Chairman of the
Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma shall form the Council of Ministers
of the Revolutionary Government either with members of the Revolutionary
Council only, or with members of the Revolutionary Council and other suitable
persons in combination, after obtaining the approval of the Revolutionary
Council.
SECTION 11
The Party and the Government
The Revolutionary Council of
the Union of Burma shall ensure that there is close and appropriate
co-operation between the Central Organising Committee and the Council of
Ministers of the Revolutionary Government of the Union of Burma for effective
implementation of programmes relating to peasants and workers, for educating
the people in Socialist Democracy, for implementing the Socialist Economy Plan
and for carrying out other needed tasks.
CHAPTER II
ADMISSION INTO AND MEMBERSHIP OF THE PARTY
SECTION 12
Admission into the Party
(a) Required Qualifications. -- An applicant seeking admission into the
Party must:
(i) be a citizen of
the Union of Burma;
(ii) have attained the
age of 18 years;
(iii) accept
out of conviction the
(iv) be
resolved to carry out unswervingly the tasks assigned to him by the Party; and
(v) be
prepared to submit to the scrutiny of the Party Discipline Committee appointed
by the Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma.
(b) Submission of
applications. -- A candidate for
member ship having those qualifications stated in Section 12 (a) above, shall
submit his or her application in prescribed form, endorsed by at least two
Party members, to the Central Organising Committee either directly or
through the Party
Unit concerned.
(c) Candidate Members. --
The Central Organising Committee shall transmit the applications for candidate
member-ship to the Revolutionary Council on whose concurrence the applicant
shall be admitted as a candidate member in the Party Unit concerned.
(d) Tenure of Candidate Membership. -- Candidate members shall pass
through a probationary period of two years studying the duties responsibilities
and the role of the Party and performing tasks assigned to them.
SECTION 13
Full-fledged Membership of the Party
A candidate member who has
not committed any offence throughout his or her term of candidature is eligible
for promotion to a full-fledged
membership on completion of the term of his or her probation. For such
promotion the Party Unit concerned shall submit a recommendation in respect of
a candidate member under its control, commenting in detail on his or her
loyalty to the Country and the Party, moral character and potentialities, to
the Revolutionary Council through the Central Organising Committee. The
Revolutionary Council shall be the deciding authority.
Proviso:
The Revolutionary Council shall however have the competence to recognise any
suitable person as candidate member or a full-fledged member.
SECTION 14
Length of Service of a Party Member,
Promotion, Resignation from the Party
(a) Length
of Service of a Party member. -- The length of service of a Party member shall be reckoned from
the date of commencement of his or her candidature.
(b) Promotion.
-- A Party member
shall be eligible for promotion to a higher office only after
he or she has served for at least two years as a full-fledged member.
Proviso:
The Revolutionary Council shall however have the competence to promote any
deserving person before the lapse of the prescribed period, by virtue of his or
her loyalty to the Country and the Party and of his or her moral character and
potentialities.
(c) Resignation from
the Party.
-- A candidate member wishing to resign
his or her membership
may do so by
application to the Central Organising Committee. But once full-fledged
membership has been attained no Party member shall have the right to resign
from the Party.
CHAPTER III
CODE OF DISCIPLINE FOR PARTY MEMBERS
(In
Section 15 which follows the term "Party
member" includes candidate member
as well as full-fledged Party member.)
SECTION I5
Code of Discipline
(a) Every Party member shall
strictly abide
by the Code of discipline prescribed below:-
(i) A Party member shall not
owe allegiance of any form or extent to any other country. Nor shall he or she
subject himself or herself to any auspices or influence of any other country.
He or she shall acknowledge allegiance only to the Union of Burma.
(ii) A Party member shall in
all his or her activities avoid any manifestation of factionalism, group or
individual leadership, and work with fidelity to the principle of collective
leadership.
(iii) A Party member shall
observe the principles, policy, programme, discipline, etc., formulated by the
Party, and shall accept the decision of the Party for any infringement thereof.
(iv) A Party member shall not have income other than that
earned legitimately by his or her own labour.
(v) A Party member shall not
give or receive gifts to further his or her own personal interest.
(vi) A Party member who
receives gifts under particular circumstances, shall
account for and turn them over to the Party.
(vii) A Party member shall
refrain from any behaviour or act that will lower him or her in the esteem of
the people.
(viii) A Party member,
engaged in any Party work of a confidential nature, shall not divulge any
information of the work to anybody outside of those who are participating for
its successful performance.
(ix) A Party member shall protect Party secrets with vigilance and also
ensure that other members do likewise.
(x) No Party
member shall disclose any
Intra-party discussions outside the Party.
(xi) A Party member, even if
he or she may disagree with any decision of the Party, shall nevertheless
discharge his or her duty fully in the execution of the decision if so assigned
by the Party.
(xii) A Party member shall
act only in accordance within the powers conferred upon and duties assigned to
him or her by the Party. If a Party member wishes to act beyond his or her
powers and duties, he or she shall submit his or her wish to a competent authority, and only with the permission of that authority shall
he or she act.
Proviso:
In an emergency which allows no time for submitting the case to a competent
authority but demands immediate action, Party members may act on their own
initiative, but not prejudicial to the principles, policy, programme, discipline,
etc., laid down by the Party. A full report of such a case shall be submitted
to the authority concerned as soon as possible.
(xiii) Party members may
criticise each other's shortcomings only inside the Party and in the presence
of the members concerned. When any allegation is made against any Party member
that member shall have the right to reply. If the allegation is proved false
and to have been made with evil motives, action shall be taken against the
member who made the allegation.
(xiv) A Party
member shall report to
the authority concerned truthfully
and in time about the wants and needs, attitudes and opinions, aspirations and
expectations, and grievances of the people.
(xv) A Party member shall
avoid all acts which may be injurious to the aims and tasks of the Party and
its solidarity and unity.
(b) The Revolutionary Council has the competence
to amend or add to this Code of Discipline.
CHAPTER IV
RIGHTS
SECTION 16
Rights of Candidate Members
Candidate members have the
following rights:-
(a) to freedom of conscience and religion
;
(b) to discuss at meetings of the Party Unit concerned, openly,
politely and in an accommodating spirit the practical problems arising out of assignments for which
he or she is responsible ;
(c) to submit to the Party Unit concerned
suggestions that may contribute towards successful prosecution of his or her assignments;
(d) to attend in
person the meeting at which the Party censures or commends him or her.
SECTION 17
Rights of Party Members
Party Members have the
following rights:-
(a) to freedom of conscience and religion
;
(b) to discuss at meetings of the Party Unit concerned openly,
politely and in an accommodating spirit the practical problems arising out of
his or her Party Unit's assignments;
(c) to submit, in the interest of successful performance of Party
tasks, his or her critical appraisals made
on the basis of principles not prejudicial to the Burmese Way to Socialism as adopted by the Revolutionary Council of
the Union of Burma, and also his or her practical suggestions and proposals
to the Central Organising
Committee through the
Party Unit concerned ;
(d) to appeal in writing to the Party Unit
concerned on matters relating to his or her
grievances or com plaints. He or she has the right to send copies of his
or her appeal right up to the Revolutionary Council through the Central
Organising Committee. Should the Party Unit concerned fail to take action, he
or she has the right to address his or her appeal directly to the Revolutionary
Council through the Central Organising Committee. Copies of this appeal shall
be sent to the Party Unit concerned ;
(e) to attend in person the meeting at
which the Party censures or commends in respect of him or her ;
(f) to
elect or be elected according
to Intra-party democracy at the
time when the present
Cadre Party has transformed itself into the Party of the entire nation
and is constituted on the principle of democratic centralism.
(This right shall
not be exercised during the
transitional period of Party construction)
CHAPTER V
RESOLVES AND DUTIES OF THE PARTY AND INDIVIDUAL
MEMBERS
SECTION 18
The Party
The Party as a whole is pledged to carry out the resolutions and duties
stated below:-
(a) With the
(b) The Party will rally to its fold the entire mass of peasants,
workers, intelligentsia who have public welfare at heart and those who earn
their living in vocations which do not exploit the labour of others.
(c) The Party believes that its own interests and the people's coincide;
should they conflict, however, at any time those of the nation and the Union of
Burma shall prevail.
(d) The Party shall always be mindful of preventing members of the
party from turning into a privileged class at the expense of the people.
(e) The Party will always be concerned with and interested in the
aspirations and sufferings of the people and their plight.
(f) In accordance with the slogan "From the people to the
people", the Party, while taking lessons from the life experiences of the
people, will also raise their intellectual level with all patience. This shall
be the basic working style of the Party.
(g) The Party shall so organise the masses of the people that they
eventually come to have faith in the Party's programme and decisions and of their own will implement them with heart and soul.
(h) The Party will strive
towards developing the present Defence Services of the Union of Burma into a
national armed force imbued with socialist patriotism and inspired to defend
the Socialist Economy and the
(i) The Party will always be
vigilant to safeguard and uphold the sovereignty of the Union of Burma and to
repulse any peril that may threaten the people from within the country or
abroad.
SECTION 19
Individual Members
Every candidate member and every Party member as
individuals shall carry out the following duties:-
(a) To acquire socio-economic knowledge and
experiences of Socialist Economy.
(b) To make constant efforts to improve one's own
general knowledge and raise one's own intellectual level.
(c) To be always mindful of having to strictly
abide by the Party Code of Discipline.
(d) To try to improve one's skill in one's own
work.
(e) To set an example in maintaining the moral
norms of leadership, in carrying out one's duties and in one's own personal
life and relations with others.
(f) To cultivate the habit of self-criticism to
correct one's own shortcomings and mistakes. To help in a spirit
of comradeship and with patience in correcting the shortcomings and mistakes of
one's comrades.
(g) To strive towards a level of maturity where
one sincerely and honestly sees things as they really are, with true
objectivity, and to think accordingly.
CHAPTER VI
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION AND RULE-MAKING
SECTION 20
Rule-making Authority
The two committees, the
Central Organising Committee and the Party Discipline Committee, as a joint
body, have the authority to make, amend and prescribe the necessary Rules under
the Party Constitution as and when required.
SECTION 21
Authority for amending the Constitution
The Revolutionary Council of
the Union of Burma has the authority to make, amend and prescribe the Party
Constitution as and when required.