Did Ne Win read Norman Lewis' "Golden Earth"?

A rare signed First Edition from 1952 of "Golden Earth"
Read the book here

 

My year spent in Burma in 1975 shaped much of my personal and professional life like no other time before or since. Burma was then still under the regime of its military dictator Ne Win and his particular "Burmese Way to Socialism" (Burmese: မြန်မာ့နည်းမြန်မာ့ဟန် ဆိုရှယ်လစ်စနစ်)

Madman Ne Win, using a slaphappy mixture of Buddhism and socialism, eliminated all private enterprise, expelled all foreigners, and sealed up the country's borders. When he took over, the country had been the foremost exporter of rice, and even today it is rich in teak, vast quantities of rubies, even oil. Yet with one wave of his wand, he managed to put the entire country to sleep. In 1974, it had emerged from its solitary confinement just long enough to announce its willingness to enter into joint-venture projects. My new employers, TOTAL - Compagnie Française des Pétroles, were the beneficiaries of one such joint-venture, and I became their chief accountant.

Had Ne Win, who came to power in 1962, taken a leaf out of Norman Lewis' 1952-book "Golden Earth"? Then, Norman Lewis had written, "The Burmese way of life has never been based on unnecessary consumption, and there is no reason why it ever should. It is as good as any, as it is."

"Even in the present state of tragic disorder the Burmese can still export annually several million tons of rice. All that is necessary, then, is to cure the people of their infantile craving for manufactured trash from overseas that fills their markets, and to import only essential medicines, hospital equipment, means of transport and agricultural machinery. If necessary a little teak could be cut, and oil pumped to help pay for this. While the population stays at its present level the Burmese need neither kolhozes nor Boulder Dams (nor, since they cannot afford an atomic pile, do they need armaments), and there is no mysterious natural law which compels a country to produce a greater population than its own soil can support. Above all, they do not need the glittering baubles described in the advertisement sections of American magazines. The Burmese way of life has never been based on unnecessary consumption, and there is no reason why it ever should. It is as good as any, as it is ... Herein lies a simple blueprint for Utopia."
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It's been more than forty-five years since I left Burma. I began to regret my decision to leave even as the creaky old "Union of Burma" plane was taxiing for take-off from Mingaladon, Burma's only international airport, and I have never really stopped regretting leaving this "Golden Land".

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