B U R M A

burma

Today I don’t remember exactly whether the invitation to visit Burma came before our flight to India in 1955 or whether we received it while we were in India.1 The government of Burma was then headed by U Nu.2 U Nu

had been in the USSR previously. He was a Buddhist monk earlier in his life and was a very religious man. We came to an agreement with him that the Soviet delegation would make a five-day visit to Burma.

We knew even less about Burma than we had known about India. During World War II, the civil war in China was suspended by mutual

agreement. The efforts of all Chinese, both the Communists and Chiang Kaishek, were directed against Japan. When Japan was defeated, the two sides [in China] again took up their positions at opposite poles. The Communists began to conduct a struggle against Chiang Kaishek, and Chiang Kaishek did the same against the Communists. The Americans, as is well known, energetically supported Chiang Kaishek. The Americans had rear bases on the territory of Burma. From those bases they provided aid to Chiang Kaishek’s forces in the south when the Communists had driven them from the eastern part of south China.3 It was in this connection that information about the territory of Burma figured in the Soviet press, but what Burma was actually like, what kind of social system they had there, remained an open question for us. Of course our diplomats gathered information, but no light was shed on these questions in the Soviet press, and Stalin said nothing about them. I don’t think he himself knew much about that country.

In working out the procedures for the departure of our delegation from India, we made the arrangement that we would fly from Delhi. From there we would go to Burma by way of Calcutta. Calcutta has left good traces in my memory. In Burma we were also greeted with great ceremony, including military honors. This country, in its turn [that is, as with India], impressed us as a fantastic part of this earthly sphere. Nature there was so rich! It was literally a land of marvels! Natural conditions in Burma and India have a lot in common, and that’s only logical, because they’re southerly countries and neighbors. Of course the clothing worn by Burmese differs somewhat from Indian, but it is the same kind of brightly colored clothing, especially among the women.

The internal situation, however, differed substantially from the one in India. During military operations in World War II, Burma was invaded and occupied by the Japanese. A section of Burmese society offered resistance and fought

This part of the memoirs was tape-recorded in 1970. [SK]

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against Japan. A strong left tendency developed in Burma, headed by the Communist Party of Burma. It made big gains, and when Japan was defeated the Communists came into the leadership. The Communist leader Aung San4 became the head of the country. Later some local military forces carried out a coup d’état, seized the leaders of the liberation movement, and annihilated them. In this way they crushed the powerful movement led by the Communist Party of Burma5 and the left-wing movement in general, but among the people profound sympathy for the left remained. Monuments were even erected in honor of the leaders of the country who had perished, including Aung San.

The Communists retreated to the mountains and jungles, organized guerrilla detachments, and fought a real war against the government troops. After Japan’s defeat the Communist guerrillas had an absolute majority of the people behind them. They were invited to join the government, but they refused, because they wanted to have their own government. And they aimed to achieve this by waging war. So an interesting situation had arisen for us. The government of Burma had invited Communists to be its guests—that is, the representatives of the USSR—but the Communists of Burma were underground and were engaged in combat against government troops. For this reason we sensed ambivalence and a guarded attitude toward us among Burmese officials. The leadership of Burma understood correctly that our arrival might cause the underground fighters to intensify their activities, and that apparently did happen.

The people greeted us enthusiastically wherever we appeared in public, expressing their feelings of friendship toward the representatives of the USSR. The government in Burma was a coalition government. U Nu represented the upper echelons of the patriotic national bourgeoisie and the Buddhists. Buddhism is the chief religion in Burma. The people are strong devotees of that faith, and U Nu therefore felt himself to be pretty firm in the saddle of government. Socialist [that is, Social Democratic] leaders also belonged to this coalition, including U Ba Swe,6 who was minister of war. U Ba Swe took an understanding attitude toward the policies of the USSR, and consequently he treated our delegation kindly, but the prime minister, U Nu, had a mistrustful attitude, even a bad attitude toward us.

It was suggested that we make a trip through the country to become acquainted with it, and we were first taken to the north. Our embassy warned us that there were strong Communist guerrilla bands operating in that region. There was a peculiar feature to this antigovernment struggle, however. It had to do with a split in the Communist Party of Burma [in February 1946] between the “White Flag” Communists and the “Red Flag” Communists.7

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Both sides called themselves Communists. We had contact with the “White Flag” tendency and supported it. Our ambassador informed us that the leaders of that tendency were people with good heads on their shoulders. We made only a cursory inspection of this region where military operations were under way. When it came time to spend the night it was suggested that we do so in a military garrison. These were military barracks. The army officers invited us for supper. We felt that their attitude toward us was a good one, but we were distrustful of the situation because among the officers there were people of various political views. We were given special warning to be cautious. A barracks from which the soldiers had been removed was provided for us as a bedroom. The only way we had of providing heat in that cold building was by burning firewood. It was a cold place to sleep in. In the morning when we got up and went outside, we saw frost on the walls of the barracks and on the grass. In the south of Burma, by way of contrast, we were exhausted from the heat and perspiration. The humidity there is very high. These contrasts are reflected in the types of vegetation in Burma.

During our visit to the north everything remained calm. There were no sounds of fighting. The garrison where we were housed was a significant distance away from the location of the guerrilla bands. I don’t think it was our presence that restrained them; it was simply that they were not in a position to attack that particular troop concentration. The local garrison was also stronger than the guerrillas. We were visiting a region called the Shan national state. The Shan are a local nationality. U Ba Swe was a representative of their interests. Burma is a multinational country with many ethnic groups. So far there is no nationwide consolidation or firm unity among these disparate peoples. Some are fighting for secession from the Union of Burma and the establishment of independent states.8

In the capital of the Shan people [Mandalay],9 a reception was arranged for us that was not just nice but unique. I never could have imagined such a thing. They have large lakes in their territory overgrown with tropical vegetation but with large areas of clear water. We saw buildings on floating islands on one of the lakes. A huge number of people were living on these structures. A movie was made of our visit to these lake dwellings by the film director and cameraman Roman Karmen.10 Some of these film segments have been preserved. It would be a pleasure to look at them again to refresh my memory now. Being there was at the same time a pleasant visit and a beautiful sight. Boat races were organized with male teams competing against male teams and female teams competing against female teams in long narrow boats. I have seen this type of rowing later in other movies. The rowers stand in two

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rows, one on each side, along the length of the boat, holding the upper part of the oar with one hand and the lower part with the other, and that’s the way they row. All together at one time they make a powerful push, bending their legs, and all of this is done rhythmically in unison, thus achieving a rather high speed.11

They organized a military parade in our honor.12 U Ba Swe himself reviewed the parade. We made appropriate speeches—about friendship and about contacts that ought to be strengthened between our countries. The USSR sincerely wanted this. I think that even today [in 1970] this is what our country desires. As the military units marched past us we studied their weapons. We saw no tanks, but armored cars did move across the square, materiel obtained apparently from the Japanese or the British. They were antediluvian machines, and their guns were also antiquated. All their weapons gave the impression of backwardness and unsuitability. However for operations against guerrillas it seemed that even this weaponry was powerful by comparison with what the guerrillas had. U Ba Swe held talks with us about our selling them more modern weapons, but we could not agree to that; for in that case we would be helping them in their fight against the guerrillas.

The capital of Burma, Rangoon,13 made a unique impression. They have modern buildings, and right alongside of them are shacks made of bamboo both on the outside and inside. People did their cooking right there next to the shack. An unbelievable filth was prevalent everywhere, and the people looked like ragamuffins. On the other hand, the aristocracy and intelligentsia were dressed quite elegantly. Naturally this social division in society provided great opportunities for the Communists, for their propaganda and struggle. In this situation U Nu engaged in all sorts of maneuvers. He personally owned certain commercial enterprises, but being a political figure and a religious leader, he tried to present things as though all he was doing was serving Buddha. Supposedly these businesses belonged solely to his wife. This formidable woman actually did carry on her commercial business rather skillfully. How much capital U Nu and his wife owned I cannot say now. I simply don’t know. I received reports about it back at that time, but now I have forgotten.

The pagodas made a powerful impression on me. They had been preserved from ancient times and in their architectural and artistic execution were very beautiful, richly decorated, with their adornments finished off in gold leaf, so that it all seemed to burn in the sunshine. Bulganin and I were asked to remove our shoes before entering one pagoda. Tired of walking around, we sat down outside the pagoda and feasted our eyes on it for a long time. We were immediately surrounded by journalists, who generally were never

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more than one step behind us. They began to interrogate us: “What do you think? What is your understanding of what you have seen? What impression has Burma made on you?” and so on. Later it was all described in detail in the newspapers. The journalists tried to make their questions as tricky as possible, but we parried them all successfully, explaining our understanding of the local reality.

Early one morning, as we were driving through Rangoon, we encountered a large number of Buddhist monks who were running in all different directions. They were wearing long yellow robes. On their shaven heads they wore nothing, and each one, without fail, was carrying something: cups, pitchers, packages, and bundles. It was explained to us that they were on their way to people’s houses, where the people would give them food. People explained to us that it was considered a special virtue to feed Buddhist monks. But these were not beggars with their palms outstretched. The accepted view was that they should be fed not with some leftover crust but with the best food, especially in wealthy homes.14 In general the food given them was not the kind that poor people eat. In Burma wherever you turn, and at every step, invariably you see a Buddhist monk. We joked that this was Mr. U Nu’s private army.

We were taken on a ride on the river in a small boat. The river opened out onto the sea. As we sailed along, we held conversations and at the same time took delight in the beauties of surrounding nature. We were served cold beer and I took a look at the label. It turned out to be Czech beer. I was surprised. With their trading skills the Czechs had already succeeded in promoting their beer as far away as Burma. It was pleasant for me to drink the excellent beer of our friends, and it was the only beverage with alcoholic content that I encountered in Burma.

A reception was held out in the open under trees similar to the European plane tree. The trees were huge and massive, and a large number of tables had been set up beneath them. Some folk dances and folk singing was presented for us. The singing was very melodic. The attitude toward us was emphatically positive. We felt that U Nu, an opponent of the Communists, understood the necessity for establishing contacts with the USSR and developing friendly relations. Burma needed technology, and it needed to have educational institutions built. The government made requests to us accordingly, and we provided them with aid. We built an institute of technology where engineers could be trained. We built it at our own expense as a gift to the people of Burma.

Students [at Rangoon University] invited us to speak to them. We were warned that some of the students were hostile toward the USSR, and some members of our embassy staff expressed doubts about whether it was worth

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going to speak at the university. There could be outbursts of a hooligan nature. We might even be beaten. I consulted with Bulganin and other comrades in our delegation, and we decided it wouldn’t be good to refuse the invitation. That would make a bad impression. I said: “It’s all right. We have our supporters there, too, including Communists. Our visit will be an act of support for them.” And so we went. The students met us outside with friendly chants. We went into the auditorium. Representatives of different tendencies took the floor, including those who nourished ill feelings toward us. The majority hailed the Soviet Union and the socialist cause and expressed admiration for our successes. We had agreed among ourselves that I would speak [for our delegation]. It was difficult to prepare in advance for this speech, because it would be necessary to improvise, not just give a standardized talk. A debate in the form of questions and answers was in prospect. Statements could be made that were totally unexpected, and you couldn’t say: “Give me time, I’ll think about it and then answer you.”

In the first years of the revolution, when we encountered enemies of Soviet power, similar public meetings often occurred. I had occasion to be present at such meetings. There too you had to answer right off, responding impromptu to both friendly statements and hostile ones. So what was there to be afraid of here? It’s true that I encountered a lot of sharp, needling questions, but I answered them calmly. My answers were taken in a friendly way by those present, and that emboldened me. Thus we achieved complete success. The proponents of cooperation with the USSR expressed their attitude toward us in greetings and salutations and warm positive responses to my remarks. Yes, I consider that to have been a political victory, because what happened was not just a tightly organized meeting but a spontaneous one. Moreover, the students belonged to various social and political tendencies, including a substantial sector from wealthy families. Poor people had virtually no opportunity to send their children to a higher educational institution. Despite the social composition of the audience, the majority supported us. An appropriate resolution was even passed, and all this was described in detail in the press. Bourgeois journalists are of course not impartial. They certainly cannot be accused of hiding their hostility toward us from public opinion. But even journalists like that could say nothing bad about the meeting. The people who had expected troublesome incidents were disappointed. Immediately before our arrival in Burma, at that very same university, talks had been arranged for some visiting foreign guests, and there had been an ugly scene. We were warned that we would encounter the same kind of unpleasantness, but to the chagrin of our adversaries, that did not happen.

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The proposal was made that we should see the city face to face, that is, go to the bazaar. Again we were warned that a bazaar is exactly that—a place where anything could happen. But we went there anyhow, took a look at it, and got a better idea of what this country was like. After all, the bazaar was thronged with poor people, for whom the bazaar [with its cheap prices] was a vital necessity, and we had a glimpse of the social classes that make up this society. One exotic feature we found there was a middle-aged woman squatting on the ground. In a basket in front of her cobras were coiled up, and she was playing to them on a pipe. Around her was a crowd of onlookers gawking and gaping, European tourists apparently. We were told that her husband had previously worked with these cobras, but a year before that he had been bitten by one of the snakes and had died. After the death of her husband, this woman took up his profession and now earned her daily bread by working at this dangerous trade. We had seen snake charmers in India. Nehru had invited us to breakfast at his home once, a clean, white, spic-and-span home. The reception for us was in the living room, where it was immediately evident that this was the residence of someone who was quite well off. We had breakfast in a small garden with tropical plants and flowering bushes. The three of us ate breakfast together: Bulganin, Nehru, and I. Then we were introduced to the husband of Indira Gandhi, owner of a print shop.15 The conversation touched on various questions of concern to our two countries, international questions mostly—above all, how to avoid a war.

Then Nehru turned and said something to the people who were serving us, and soon a fakir with a basket appeared. Smiling, they introduced him to us as a man who could work miracles. The fakir sat down on the ground, opened the basket, took two cobras out of it, and the performance began. He played on a flute, and the cobras assumed threatening poses. The fakir put his nose and lips right up next to the snakes’ heads, demonstrating that he had no fear of them. Later I read something about the work of snake charmers. Some authors stated that the poison sacs were removed from the cobras and that they were no longer dangerous. Nevertheless the art of the snake charmer made a big impression on us. Wishing to introduce us to additional exotic items, Nehru showed us a small tame bear that was a vegetarian. It ate only leaves. When the bear was brought in, it immediately climbed up a tree. From this I drew the conclusion that Nehru loved animals.

In comparing Nehru with U Nu, I would say that Burma’s chief of state made a good impression on us also, because he adhered to democratic forms in the way the Burmese government was organized. But we had no illusions that he was going to encourage economic development in Burma along the

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road of socialist reforms. He was a man who was supported by the capitalists, and he himself was convinced that capitalism suited his people better. His religious fanaticism, to put it rather crudely, was tarnished somewhat by the fact that he owned a profitable business, which supposedly belonged to his wife. Thus, in the person of Mr. U Nu, capitalism and Buddhism were closely bound together. Still, we deliberately sought further contacts with him, hoping to establish economic relations of many different kinds with Burma. Later, when he asked us to provide even more extensive economic aid to Burma, we agreed to that, calculating that sooner or later new people would come to power in that country and the good seeds that we had sown would sprout and grow and eventually produce good fruit. We were not mistaken. The USSR today [in 1970] is gathering in the fruits of that earlier period. Our good works, including the building of a higher educational institution that trained engineers, as well as the building of a hospital, resonated in the hearts of the Burmese people.

In winter 1960 on our way to Indonesia, I visited Burma again, this time at the invitation of General Ne Win,16 who had become the head of the government. Prime Minister U Nu had encountered great difficulties and had not been able to cope with them. Separatist tendencies had developed strongly in the country, tendencies that had existed before. [As I have said,] Burma is made up of several different nationalities. They all demanded independence, and U Nu had proposed that Ne Win become the head of the government. As a military man he might call the opposition to order. Meanwhile U Nu himself was preparing for the next elections. U Nu hoped to return to power. We accepted General Ne Win’s invitation and stopped in Rangoon, but not for a long visit, only a day or a little more.17 We had a meeting with Ne Win at his home. The material conditions indicated that the general was a man of medium income. He proved to be a clever person, who knew his way around on political matters and told us in detail about the history of Burmese resistance during the Japanese occupation. Ne Win had taken an active part in that struggle and commented favorably on his fellow fighters, the Burmese Communists. Some of them he called his closest friends. He was trying to show us that he took an understanding attitude toward the Communist Party, which after World War II had demonstratively marched off into the jungles, with the aim of winning the favor and support of the entire Burmese people, but the Communist Party had taken a wrong position then and had in fact isolated itself [according to Ne Win]. From the jungles their link with the people in the cities was weak, and they were unable to work among the masses on a wide basis. It would have been better for them to work legally and operate in the open.

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In describing the situation that had developed in his country, Ne Win also gave an accurate characterization of U Nu, stating the opinion that U Nu’s policies were also incorrect. Ne Win himself spoke in favor of the socialist development of Burma. His statements turned out to be very close to my own views, and it was pleasant for me to listen to him. This was a man who, if he continued to remain in power, would guide Burma along the best possible path. I had held talks with U Nu more than once in the past. How would I compare the talks with the two men? My conversation with Ne Win felt like a breath of fresh air after the musty atmosphere of a cellar. Listening to Ne Win was as pleasant as breathing fresh oxygen. Nevertheless, I didn’t have complete confidence in him. Maybe he was making these remarks only out of tactical considerations and inwardly was planning something different.

Ne Win’s wife made a pleasant impression on me. She was witty, sociable, and well educated. She told us many things about Burma and expressed the desire to visit Moscow, since she was a great lover of the theater, especially ballet. She said: “I have read and heard about it, and now I would like to see it with my own eyes.”

In reply I said: “That depends on both you and your husband. You are always welcome to come and visit all of our theaters.”

“When would be the best time?”

“Well, of course, during the theater season.”

She objected: “There’s a difficulty here, because your theatrical season is in the winter, but we’re in a different climatic zone. It would be difficult for us to coordinate the timing properly.”

I smiled: “For the pleasure that you would get from watching the ballet you would have to suffer and put up with our climate.”

Ne Win’s family was not at all like U Nu’s, whose wife was a businesswoman. That was her main interest, and she acted accordingly. But Ne Win’s wife was quite a different kind of woman. She was educated and had a wide outlook. She was well read and a pleasant person.

When I returned home I reported to the Soviet leadership about Ne Win. Previously we had had a completely different picture of him, based on the fact that his army was waging a war against Communist guerrillas. To us that meant that he was a reactionary general. Ne Win actually is a hard person to understand. He is the head of the Burmese army, which is fighting against the Communist Party, and yet he advocates socialism. I spoke in favor of our studying and getting to know the situation in Burma better and establishing closer ties with Ne Win. I argued that we ought to get closer and establish a rapprochement with this man. We suspected that it was possible

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that he wanted to paralyze our political activity in Burma, that in fact he was pursuing reactionary aims while talking in favor of socialism in his conversation with me as camouflage [to mask his real intentions.]18

Regular elections took place in Burma. The party headed by U Nu once again won the elections. But the political direction of the government remained the same as before. It sought to maneuver between the socialist countries and imperialist America. In essence they were pursuing a reactionary policy, and the wealth of the country was being exploited by foreign corporations. Burma is a very rich country. It has oil, ferrous metals, such as iron, and many other types of ore, as well as gold and various rare minerals and rare and expensive types of wood. Its agriculture is based on a favorable climate and large areas of arable land. It exports rice, of which it has a surplus. When we began to establish friendly relations, we traded our goods for rice from Burma. We then sold the rice to China or Indonesia and bought from them products that the Soviet Union needed.

In principle, domestic policy in Burma today remains as it was, because the forces that were operating against the government continue to exist. As a result even greater difficulties have arisen. Several provinces were openly threatening to secede from the Union of Burma. Then another military coup took place.19 U Nu and his associates were arrested. All power passed into the hands of the army. Once again Ne Win became the head of the government. Our attitude toward the coup was restrained. We waited for a certain time to see what sort of showing Ne Win would actually make. On the other hand, China very quickly recognized the new government. As I recall, Zhou Enlai even flew to Rangoon. We were somewhat concerned, wondering why Beijing was displaying such haste. Some time went by, and our embassy reported on the direction Ne Win was taking. For the time being everything was moving in the kind of direction that the general had talked about with me at our earlier meetings. Moscow changed its attitude toward the coup and recognized the new government in Burma. Our relations improved and became better than they had been under U Nu, actually developing into friendly relations. Ne Win had begun to put his ideas into effect concretely.

Nowadays [in 1970] I follow what’s going on only from newspaper reports and the radio. So I have no specific information about the activities of one or another government. But I see that it is not only the public statements of Ne Win but his real actions that testify to the sober direction of his policies. Like President Nasser of Egypt, he has declared that he is guided by socialist ideas in the development of his government and economy.

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As for our earlier cautiousness, we didn’t interfere with Ne Win in any way. On the contrary, we continued to provide aid in the form of credits, the construction of projects that were needed by the Burmese government,20 diplomatic support, and public support (through the press).

I have read in the papers that Ne Win has released U Nu and the members of his government from prison.

Mr. U Nu is now hanging around the Americans’ doorway [seeking U.S. support] and mobilizing émigré forces to fight against the existing government. How realistic are U Nu’s hopes?21 My sympathies are on the side of Ne Win and not U Nu, who has harnessed himself to the American wagon.

If the Burmese government and General Ne Win continue the correct policy and if they base themselves on Marxist-Leninist doctrine, the influence of Ne Win will grow stronger, and the people will support him.

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