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| honorific_prefix = [[Burmese honorifics|Thakin]]
| name = Than Tun
| native_name = {{lang|my|သန်းထွန်း}}
| image = ThaKhin Than Htun.jpg
| alt =
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}}
[[Burmese name#Honorifics|Thakin]] '''Than Tun''' ({{
==Early life==
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==Struggle for independence==
Than Tun worked as a school teacher after qualifying from the Teachers' Training School, [[Yangon|Rangoon]], and was influenced by Marxist writings. He joined in 1936 the nationalist ''[[Dobama Asiayone]]'' ("Our Burma" Association) and helped forge an alliance with Dr [[Ba Maw]]'s [[Poor Man's Party]] to form the [[Freedom Bloc]]. He co-founded the ''Nagani'' (Red Dragon) Book Club with [[Thakin Nu]] in 1937, which for the first time widely circulated Burmese-language translations of the Marxist classics. He was imprisoned by the British in 1940 along with [[U Nu|Thakin Nu]], [[U Soe|Thakin Soe]], Dr. [[Ba Maw]], and [[Kyaw Nyein]].<ref name="ms"/>
While in Insein prison in July 1941, he co-authored with Thakin Soe the "Insein Manifesto" which identified world [[fascism]] as the major enemy in the coming war and called for temporary cooperation with the British and the establishment of a broad coalition alliance that should include the [[Soviet Union]]. The struggle for national liberation against [[imperialism]] would be resumed after the defeat of fascism. This was against the prevailing opinion of the Dobama movement including Thakin [[Aung San]] who had secretly left Burma with a group of young men subsequently known as the [[Thirty Comrades]] in order to receive military training from the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] and founded the [[Burma Independence Army]] (BIA).<ref name="ms"/><ref name="oh">{{cite book|url=http://www.smlc.leeds.ac.uk/eas/eas_content/resources/documents/67LEAP.pdf#search=%22%22Thakin%20Than%20Tun%22%22|title=The Burmese Communist Party and the State-to-State Relations between China and Burma|author=Oliver Hensengerth|year=2005|publisher=Leeds East Asia Papers|pages=10–11, 15–16, 29–30|access-date=2 October 2006|archive-date=28 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528034733/http://www.smlc.leeds.ac.uk/eas/eas_content/resources/documents/67LEAP.pdf#search=%22%22Thakin%20Than%20Tun%22%22|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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==Civil war==
When Thakin Soe's [[Communist Party (Burma)|Red Flag Communist Party (‘’Alan Ni Party’’)]] split from the [[Communist Party of Burma]] in early 1946, accusing it of [[Marxist revisionism|revisionism]]—"[[Browderism]]", named after [[Earl Browder]], leader of the [[Communist Party of the United States of America]]—and went underground, Than Tun and the majority of Communists continued to cooperate with the AFPFL.<ref name="oh"/> However, the rift over strategy, whether to negotiate with the postwar colonial administration or to continue with the threat of general strikes and armed rebellion till full independence was achieved, came to a head after Aung San and others accepted seats in the Executive Council. In July 1946, Than Tun was forced to resign as general secretary, and the CPB, now dubbed the "White Flag" faction, expelled from the AFPFL the following October, after the CPB had accused Aung San and others of selling out to the British and settling for a "sham" independence.<ref name="ms"/>
Independence was declared on 4 January 1948, with the AFPFL, now dominated by the Socialist Party, in power, and [[Thakin Nu|U Nu]] became prime minister, now that Aung San had been assassinated along with most of his cabinet on 19 July 1947, commemorated since as [[Burmese Martyrs' Day|Martyrs' Day]]. The CPB was charged with inciting revolt after organising a series of strikes and mass rallies, and orders were issued to arrest the leadership on 28 March 1948. Than Tun escaped and led his party underground in order to organize armed revolution, and established guerrilla bases in central Burma from the CPB stronghold at [[Pyinmana]].<ref name="ms"/> Than Tun, now Chairman of the CPB, sent a number of party members to China to be trained by Chinese revolutionaries.<ref name="oh"/> Some of them returned for the peace parley of 1963 when the CPB sent a delegation to [[Rangoon]] to negotiate with the Revolutionary Council government headed by General [[Ne Win]]. Than Tun himself remained in the jungle and was reunited with the so-called "[[Beijing|Peking]] returnees" after the peace talks broke down.<ref name="ms"/>
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