Аннотация:ALMOST TWO HUNDRED socialists from ten different political parties in Asia and the Middle East gathered in Rangoon, Burma, to found the Asian Socialist Conference (ASC).During the nine-day gathering, the delegates discussed a variety of political, economic, and organizational issues of concern to Asian socialists.But what most impressed observers was the anticolonialist tone of the proceedings."A socialist congress against colonialism" was how Andre ´Bidet, a French socialist, succinctly described the event. 1 In Rangoon, however, Asian socialists did not simply condemn colonialism; they also sketched out a program for the postcolonial political order.In his opening remarks, the conference chairman, the Burmese socialist U Ba Swe, equated anticolonial struggles with "national revolutions," adding that every colony "has to go through its own." 2 Just what he meant by this became clear several days later, when the delegates unanimously approved a resolution on "freedom movements in the colonies."Defining freedom as the attainment of "independent statehood," the resolution presented the nation-state as the precondition not only for the development of democracy and socialism within each colony, but also for the recasting of international politics.Only when all colonial peoples governed themselves as independent nation-states could they "strive in cooperation with others for [a] world order free from slavery, hunger and war." 3 Put simply, Asian socialists declared that all colonial peoples possessed national rights, and that global peace and prosperity depended on the realization of those rights.In their resolution, Asian socialists called on the Socialist International (SI) "to take a very firm and courageous stand in relation to the question of colonialism.
