Asian Socialist Conference

The Asian Socialist Conference (ASC) was an organisation of socialist political parties in Asia that existed between 1953 and 1965. It was established in an effort to build a Pan-Asian multinational socialist organization, clearly independent from earlier European colonial centres, yet free from the new superpowers of the Cold War. In total, four Asian Socialist Conferences convened: Rangoon, 1953 and 1954, and Bombay, 1956 and 1965. Until 1963 its headquarters was in Rangoon, Burma; the first chairman and treasurer of the conference were the Burmese socialist leaders Ba Swe and Kyaw Nyein, respectively. As of 1956, the member parties of ASC had a combined membership of about 500,000.