Dissolved 3 March 1974 Jurisdiction Burma Agency executive Ne Win, Chairman | Type Council Headquarters Rangoon | |
Formed 2 March 1962 (2 March 1962) | ||
The Union Revolutionary Council (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စု တော်လှန်ရေး ကောင်စီ အဖွဲ့, abbreviated URC; also known as the Revolutionary Council of Burma, abbreviated RC) was the supreme governing body of Burma (now Myanmar) from 2 March 1962, following the overthrow of U Nu's civilian government, to 3 March 1974, with the promulgation of the 1974 Constitution of Burma and transfer of power to the People's Assembly (Pyithu Hluttaw), the country's new unicameral legislature.
The Revolutionary Council's philosophical framework was laid in the Burmese Way to Socialism, which aspired to convert Burma into a self-sustaining socialist democratic state, on 30 April 1962. On 4 July 1962, the URC established the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), the country's only legal political party which Donald M. Seekins claims was modelled along the lines of a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary party. From 1962 to 1971, BSPP transitioned from a cadre party (consisting of elite RC affiliated member) into a mass party. In the First Congress, the party had 344,226 members. By 1981, BSPP had 1.5 million members.
Leadership
The Union Revolutionary Council was led by Ne Win, its chairman and 16 senior officers.
The founding members of the First Revolutionary Council, all of whom were military officers, are: