The Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) was the dominant political alliance in Burma from 1945 to 1958. It consisted of political parties and mass and class organizations. The league evolved out of the anti-Japanese resistance organization Anti-Fascist Organisation (AFO) founded in August 1944 during the Japanese occupation by the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), the Burma National Army and the socialist People's Revolutionary Party (PRP). The AFO was renamed AFPFL in March 1945. An AFPFL delegation under the leadership of Aung San led the negotiations for independence in London in January 1947. After winning the elections of April 1947 for a Constitutional Assembly, the AFPFL leadership drafted the new constitution for a sovereign Burma. The AFPFL determined Burma's post-independence politics and policies until June 1958, when the party split into two factions, the Clean AFPFL and the Stable AFPFL. History Fight for independence The origins of the league go back to the clandestine anti-Japanese resistance organization AFO that was founded by the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) led by Thakin Soe, the Burma National Army (BNA) led by Aung San, and three socialists from the People's Revolutionary Party (PRP), Kyaw Nyein, Thakin Chit, and Ba Swe in August 1944. The AFO was renamed Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League at a meeting held from 1–3 March 1945. The name change indicated that the aim of the organization was both to liberate Burma from the Japanese and achieve independence. The communist leaders Thakin Soe and Thakin Than Tun served as first president respectively general secretary of the league. Personal issues led to Thakin Soe's ouster from the CPB and consequently to his absence at the first post-war conference of the AFPFL held at the Naythurain theater on the Kandawgyi Lake from 16 to 19 August 1945 in Rangoon. Aung San chaired the conference and eventually superseded Thakin Soe as president of the AFPFL. Dissent and ideological rifts with the communists over leadership and strategy in the independence struggle began soon to emerge within the league. Thakin Soe, after splitting from the CPB and forming the Red Flag Communist Party, started a rebellion in 1946. Though the CPB, dubbed the White Flag Communists, continued to co-operate with the AFPFL, its leader Thakin Than Tun resigned as general secretary in July 1946 after contentions with Aung San and other AFPFL leaders, and was replaced by the socialist Kyaw Nyein. When Aung San accepted in September