In October 1938 Aung San left his law classes and entered national politics. At this point, he was anti-British and staunchly anti-imperialist. He became a "Thakin" ("lord" or "master": a politically motivated title that proclaimed that the Burmese people were the true masters of their country, often used at the time as an informal title for Westerners in Burma) when he joined the "Dobama Asiayone" ("We Burmans Association"). He acted as its general secretary from 1938 until August 1940. While in this role he helped organize a series of countrywide strikes that became known as the ME 1300 Revolution. The name of this movement was based on the Burmese calendar year 1300: in the Western calendar this year occurred between August 1938 and July 1939.