For the next 26 years, the BSPP governed Burma under a totalitarian military dictatorship, until mass protests in 1988 pressured party officials to adopt a multi-party system.

The BSPP, the booklet stated, rejected the "bourgeois" belief and practices of social democratic parties that socialism could be reached through parliamentary methods (even before the announcement of the BWS, the URC had already abolished, by decree, the parliament that was established under the 1947 Burmese Constitution, stating in effect that parliamentary democracy was not suitable for Burma).

Its most memorable line was borrowed from an old popular expression, "One can only afford to be moral on a full stomach", which struck a chord with the people trying to eke out a living in increasingly dire economic circumstances under the rule of the BSPP.

These economic conditions were a consequence of the policies implemented by the BSPP-led Socialist Economy Construction Committee (hsa sa ta ka), starting with the nationalisation of all businesses across the board.

On 23 March 1964, the URC issued a decree entitled "The Law Protecting National Unity" whereby all political parties except the BSPP were abolished and their assets appropriated.

This was repealed on the day the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) seized power in the military coup of 18 September 1988.

All government servants from all sectors including doctors, teachers, engineers, scientists, managers from the nationalized industries and businesses as well as civil administrators were compelled to undergo a three-month political indoctrination and basic military training at the Hpaunggyi Central People's Services Training School, accommodated in military barracks, starting in the early 1970s.

The Military Intelligence Service (MIS) and its army of informers served the function of the secret police to sniff out and extinguish any political dissent.

In his inaugural speech on 23 July 1988, party chairman Ne Win stunned the nation when he, "taking indirect responsibility for the sad and bloody events of March and June 1988" (whereby many students and civilians in largely peaceful protests against the BSPP regime were shot and killed by the Military Police Lone Htein) tendered his resignation as party chairman.

The appointment of Sein Lwin, who was widely perceived to be mainly responsible for the shootings and killings of more than 100 students at Rangoon University on 7 July 1962, shortly after Ne Win's coup d'état,[11] as well as the killings of students and civilians in March and June 1988, earning the epithet "Butcher of Rangoon", sparked widespread protests in the country.

On 18 September 1988 the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC or na wa ta), led by the army Chief of Staff General Saw Maung (d. July 1997) took over after crushing the failed 8888 Uprising of 8 August 1988.

[12] The NUP contested the 1990 general election and was seen as a proxy party of the military and the main rival to Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.