Burma’s Victory in the Independence Struggle

Abstract

The actual economic situation of the Burmese people on the eve of the Pacific War was far from prosperous. Seemingly not more than 15% of Lower Burma’s cultivated land was by that time still owned by the agriculturalists themselves.¹ About half of the agricultural land of Lower Burma was to remain for years in the possession of absentee owners and non-agriculturalists devoid of interest in cultivation — other than the determination to collect rents. As they tended to rent the land out to the highest bidder, tenants were not even assured the continuity of their tenancies. Thereby tenancy rents were increasing and came to average one-third of the gross produce. After paying such rents and after deducting cultivation expenses, there was “hardly anything” left for the cultivators’ subsistence.² Not until 1941, not before the last months of colonial rule over Burma, was legislation passed prohibiting the foreclosure of land and its sale to non-agriculturalists.³ It did not reach the point of enforcement, although since 1938 an “All Burma Peasant Organization” had arisen under the presidency of Thakin Mya.