Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939 Aung San helped to found another nationalist organization, the Freedom Bloc, by forming an alliance between the "Dobama", the All Burma Students Union, politically active monks, and Dr. Ba Maw's Poor Man's Party. Dr. Ba Maw served as the "anarshin" ("dictator") of the Freedom Bloc, while Aung San worked under him as the group's general secretary. The group's goals were organized around the idea of taking advantage of the war to gain Burmese independence. The organization, goals, and tactics of the Freedom Bloc were modeled on the Bengali revolutionary group "Forward Bloc", whose leader, Chandra Bose, was in regular contact with Ba Maw.