Devoted to ending British rule in Burma, Aung San founded or was closely associated with many Burmese political groups and movements and explored various schools of political thought throughout his life. He was a life-long anti-imperialist and studied communism and socialism as a student, and Japanese Pan-Asianism upon joining the Japanese military. In his second year in university he was appointed the editor of the Rangoon University Student Union's newspaper; and, after leading a nationwide student strike and serving on a government committee formed to resolve that strike, he was appointed to the executive committee of the Student Union in his third year. He joined the Thakin Society in 1938, working as its general secretary, and founded both the Communist Party of Burma and the Burma Socialist Party. Although he studied Fascism and militarism in Japan, by the end of his life he had rejected these ideologies, and promoted political ideas based on democratic socialism, federalism, and the meaningful participation of minorities in the government.