Ne Win's Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) government from military to ostensible civilian rule, and the same year that it adopted a new constitution. Commentator Raja Arumugam argues that the transition was simply a "change of garb", and that Ne Win and his senior commanders merely retired from the army and became civilian government leaders. Moreover, as he contends, the implementation of the new constitution only legitimized the consolidation of military power through the BSPP. Against the backdrop of these political developments, popular discontent against the government grew due to high prices and food shortages. Additionally, rice production along the Irrawaddy River declined due to intense monsoon rains and flooding. These economic and political conditions cumulated in workers' strikes in May and June 1974, as well as subsequent rioting and a violent crackdown. According to Burma scholar Andrew Selth: Relationship with the 1962 and 1988 uprisings Selth notes that the funeral crisis "[tends] to be forgotten, or dismissed as a mere footnote in Burmese history". Nevertheless, some historical accounts of the funeral crisis frame its causes in terms of political repression, economic failure, and as part of a broader struggle for democracy and freedom. Some authors see it as part of a larger pattern that includes the 1988 uprising and the 1962 Rangoon University protests. For instance, scholar Donald Seekins notes that the funeral crisis was a reawakening of student political activism which had been otherwise dormant since Ne Win shut down the People's Peace Committee in November 1963 and the way that the protests spread from students to the general population was "a pattern that would be apparent on a much larger scale during the unrest of 1988". Historians have also pointed out the powerful symbolism of where the student activists entombed U Thant's body, which was the former site of the RASU Students Union, which had been demolished by the government during the July 1962 crackdown and was a daily reminder for students of those events. In contrast, historian Robert Taylor holds a different view of the funeral crisis. He writes that the student activists were linked to "amorphous but potent" underground political organisations linked to the Communist Party of Burma, and that students were "often a focus of their activities" and "needed little encouragement when given a cause with which to rally opposition to the government". The funeral Escorted by family members and UN personnel, U Thant's