SUMMARY
KNUP (Karen National United Party) was a rebel group that fought an intrastate armed conflict over territory against the Government of Myanmar (Burma). KNUP claimed to represent the politically discriminated Karen ethnic minority group, and it promoted a Communist ideological agenda; its primary goal was the creation of an independent and socialist Karen state.
KNUP was created in September 1953 when the Karen National Union (KNU), another Karen rebel group that had been created in 1947, decided to radically change the nature of its insurgency. By taking inspiration from the Maoist strategies of the CPB, the KNUP was organized as the “vanguard party” of the KNU; the KNUP was also given a clear Marxist-Leninist ideological orientation. Within the group, this shift in objective was referred to as the “Second Phase Program”; the Second Phase was by the group itself considered distinctly different from the unorganized and largely ineffective “first” phase of the insurgency, which lasted between 1947 and 1953. As such, with the creation of the KNUP, the KNU largely abandoned its more straight-forward ethnic nationalist agenda and demands for self-determination and autonomy, to instead focus on the creation of an independent socialist Karen state; many of the KNUP’s sub-objectives were formulated using contemporary Maoist terminology. While the KNU was not formally disbanded, the fact that it was completely marginalized by the KNUP implied that from 1953, the KNUP replaced the KNU. The KNU essentially became a mass movement for the KNUP, whilst the latter was the branch of the organization that formulated group policy, and carried out all military activities. As such, KNUP was treated as a direct continuation of the old KNU movement in the UCDP data.
The KNUP’s highest decision-making body was the Karen Revolutionary Council (KRC), and the group regularly assembled a “National Congress” that served a consultative function in outlining group policy. Until 1963, Saw Hunter Thamwe led the KNUP. Mahn Ba Zan then served as chairman until 1967, and as of 1972, Mahn Mya Maung held this post. The group also maintained an armed wing, which until 1956 was known as the Kawthoolei (sometimes “Karen”) Armed Forces (KAF); after 1956 it was known as the Kawthoolei People’s Liberation Army (KPLA). In the early 1950s, the group’s fighters numbered 10 000-12 000; by 1975, this number was down to 600.
In 1963, the group’s leader Saw Hunter Thamwe and a faction loyal to him broke away from the KNUP to form the Karen Revolutionary Council (KRC). This split was primarily motivated by KNUP’s refusal to abandon its cooperation with the CPB. KRC had favored closer ties to anti-Communist actors, and was concerned with the damage the group could be subjected to via its ties to the CPB. KRC then signed a peace deal with the Government of Myanmar (Burma) soon after the split. In 1966, the KNUP’s eastern units led by Bo Mya splintered from the group to create the Karen National Liberation Council (KNLC); this faction was later renamed KNUF, and then renamed again to become KNU by 1968. It should thus be noted that Bo Mya’s KNU was not the same groups as the old KNU (which became KNUP in 1953) according to UCDP definitions.
KNUP maintained a cordial relationship with the CPB, and cooperated frequently with this group. For example, KNUP contributed to the creation of the Democratic Nationalities United Front (DNUF), which in 1959 was expanded to become the National Democratic United Front (NDUF). During the 1960s, KNUP also engaged in various cooperation schemes with a plethora of parties and factions from other ethnic minority groups, such as Karenni, Mon, Chin, Kachin, and Shan.
In 1975, KNUP decided to join KNU, which was then the stronger faction, and thus ceased to exist as an independent actor. After the merger, the Communist agenda was dropped completely.
