the khmer rouge

Rise of the Khmer rouge

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• The Khmer Rouge, was the communist party of Kampuchea
• They took control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975 and ruled the 
• country until 1979.
• The party's existence was kept a secret until 1977,
• and no one outside of Cambodia knew who it's leaders were

My thoughts
"A government that has to be kept a secret from the world is no true government at all"

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• The Cambodian communist movement emerged from the country's 
• struggle against french colonization, trying to become a independent nation
• It was influenced by the vietnamese, and the first Indochina war 
• In the 1950's the movement took root  and began to grow 
• for the next 20 years

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• General Marshol Lon Nol started as a general in the military
• and after became a Cambodian politician 
• In March 1970, with help from his American associates over
• threw Prince Sihanouk, and took down the Monarch 
• governmnet bringing a democratic government into Cambodia

My thoughts
"About time, in a new and industrialized age there is no room for something as old and incompetent as a monarchy"

aMerica's part

• By helping over throw the monarch goverenmnt
• America was welcoming Cambodia into a new aged
• government. However, as America has done many times,
• they were quick to install and shape Cambodia with their
• own political views. Making Cambodia a democratic capitalist nation.

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• When the monarchy fell, Prince Norodom Sihanouk
• and his followers made an alliance with the Khmer Rouge.
• At this point the Khmer Rouge was starting to gain popularity
• and support in Cambodia, they were now in a position to play
• a major role in the civil war

My thoughts
"I guess the past does not matter when you are threatened by the future"

pol pot

• Born in Cambodia, Pol Pot was educated in France where he became
•  a member of the french communist party. While returning to Cambodia in
• 1953, he joined the Cambodian communist movement and began his rise
• up the ranks. When Lon Nol took power, pol pot was the leader of the
• Khmer Rouge Army, and was after appointed to the party's leader in 1963 

why communism?

• Cambodia being a country that is in desperate need
• for independence looks for hope, and in this case the thought
• of a country built on the ideology of equality was all they needed
• to boost their confidence and nationalism. So that is why a 
• communist movement took part.

civil war

• As Pol pot became the leader of the Khmer
• Rouge the civil war in Cambodia had started.
• The people of Cambodia were now fighting against
• Lon Nol, and with the people were the Khmer Rouge.
• This was at a time where the Khmer Rouge became popular

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• The Khmer Rouge began playing a large role in the civil
• war fighting against the government. Aided by the 
• Vietnamese, they began to defeat Lon Nol's forces on
• the battlefield. By the end of 1972, the Vietnamese left
• giving the major responsibilities to the Khmer Rouge

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• From Jan-August 1973, the government led by
• Lon Nol with assistance from the US, dropped half a
• million tons of bombs on Cambodia, killing around 300,000.
• People who suffered from the bombings joined the Khmer
• Rouge's revolution.

My thoughts
"probably the most impudent thing you can do in the middle of a civil war"

the enemy of my enemy is my friend

• The khmer Rouge would not have come to power if it were not have been for
• the civil war Lon Nol fought with the people of Cambodia. Fighting this war
• helped gain support for the Khmer Rouge. You had the Khmer Rouge fighting
• Lon Nol because of their anti-capitalist  and pro communist views, and when
• the people of Cambodia rised against Lon Nol, they united with the K.R.

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• By early 1973, 85 percent of Cambodia was in the hands of the 
• Khmer Rouge. For two years, only the US assistance fought helping Lon Nol. 
• On April 17 1975, the major city in Cambodia, Phnom Penh was taken over.
• Soon after, the Khmer Rouge had taken over all of Cambodia.

The Khmer Rouge in Power

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• Few days after taking power, two million people
• in cities like Phnom Penh were forced into the 
• countryside to start agriculture. Thousands of  
• people died just in the evacuation

My thoughts
"A really bad way to start off your political campaign, as it being your first time in power"

Marxist-Leninist Transformation of Cambodia

marxism

• There is no real theory to marxism has it has many times been misconceived 
• and modified during the course of it's development. It is simply a idea or
• theory, but is far from being a actual political system. Marxism was the 
• idea that a classless, stateless, humane society can be created on the 
• basis of common ownership. Where everyone receives equal share.

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• After coming to power the Khmer Rouge began to implant the marxist-leninist
• ideology on Cambodia. Marxist-leninist adopts the idea of a classless 
• society, but sees that there be no presence of political competition. In
• this theory you accomplish common ownership by means of production.
• In this case the government gets to decide what is done with everything.  

FROM MARXISM TO MARXIST-LENINIST
- Following marxism is believing in a classless society where everyone receives equal share of what is produced. Countries go into marxist-leninist theology when they adopt the concept of "enemies to the state", that is where genocides and massacres begin when they start targeting specific groups. While in marxism there cannot be no real enemy to the state, because the state is made up of the people, and the enemy of the state would have to be someone who is a enemy to each and every individual.

My thoughts
"Marxist-leninist ideology takes the whole point of marxism away, the whole idea of equality and equal share goes out the window when politicians believe in destroying competition or any other freedom of speech and opinion, and especially when they receive more than the average person than it is no longer equal share and common ownership, but its simply a dictatorship, coated with sugar (to make it look like a society built on hard work and a common goal) feasting off of nationalism"

year zero

• The goal of the Khmer Rouge was to make Cambodia a rural, classless 
• society. In order to achieve this they tried to convert Cambodia back to
• year zero. Which basically meant constructing a society that followed 
• peasant values and went back into a past life style. They abolished
• money, free markets, religon, normal schooling, and private property.

My thoughts
"In no way does limiting a society to follow older days of living, help it become more equal. You can have a country full of equally poor people or equally rich people. The Khmer Rouge went with poor"

YEAR ZERO A STAND AGAINST CAPITALISM
Year zero abolishes all ideas involving markets, business, and commerce. These are the very things that capitalism is built on, capitalist concepts like the "American dream" are designed to allow people to achieve a higher class of living through business related activities and hard work. In order for this you need a market oriented economy full of consumerism and competition. While the Khmer Rouge's ideology opposes the idea of competition, against the state, and using consumerism to claim ownership.

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• Public schools, mosques, churches, universities, and shops were shut down
• and destroyed or turned into prisons, stables, and reeducation camps.    
• Leisure activities were restricted. People through out the country, 
• including the leaders had to wear black costumes as their traditional
• revolutionary clothing.

My thoughts
"I think, that the reason why religion was abolished in Cambodia was to stomp on all hope or sense of identity and union the Cambodians could have. A religion is a way for people to form a common identity and unite under a community. By destroying it and taking those privileges away, you have a country full of weak independent people rather than a strong force united together. Which is what the Khmer Rouge was going for"

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• Under Khmer Rouge control, people were not allowed to gather up and
• talk, a group of 3 or more would be seen as enemies. Family relations
• were heavily criticized. Cambodians were asked to see the leaders as  
• everyones "mothers and fathers". The Khmer Rouge claimed that only
• "pure" people were allowed to build the revolution.

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• The Khmer Rouge killed off thousands of soldiers and military
• officers who use to operate under Lon Nol, claiming they were
• not "pure" for the revolution. They executed many intellectuals,
• city residents, minorities, and own party members classified as 
• all traitors to the state. 

My thoughts
"Where have we seen this before,..... yes, in Nazi Germany where they believed in the "pure" Aryan race to rule the world, and where Hitler believed in killing off members, of his own party"

four year plan

• In 1976 the Khmer Rouge came up with the four year plan, where
• Cambodians were expected to produce three tons of rice per hectare,
• which was a goal they never reached. To accomplish this required people
• to grow rice all year round. In most regions people were forced to work
• more than 12 hours a day.

STALINISM OR COMMUNISM
We must remember that what the Khmer Rouge implanted in Cambodia was not pure communism but rather stalinism. Everything was state owned but it was not equally distributed, as the leaders received more leaving everyone else "equally" poor, similar to what happened in the soviet Union under Stalin control. Also the Khmer Rouge believed in destroying all enemies of the state which is also a ideology used in stalinism.

tuol-sleng

• Also referred to as S-21, was a security prison which was a former
• high school in Phnom Penh. Around 20,000 people entered the
• prison, and only 12 have been reported to survive. Prisoners were
• repeatedly tortured and interrogated into naming family members 
• and close associates.

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• At first prisoners were people who supported Lon Nol,
• but after the prison was made full of members of
• Pol Pot's own party. Anybody who was suspected of being 
• a traitor was sent here. This made it easy to target people
• because anybody can be labelled as a triator.

My thoughts
"So easy to target people as "traitors" or "enemies", that way Pol pot could get away with putting anybody he felt like in prison"

going through the prison

• On entering the prison, prisoners were photographed and were
• required to give a detailed autobiography. Prisoners were kept shakled
• to the wall and were forbidden to talk to each other, Day started at 4:30am
• everyday, prisoners received two meals a day which consisted of four small
• spoonfulls of rice porridge and watery soup of leaves.

pol pot and stalin

• Both relied on marxist-leninist ideology 
• Both used agriculture as means of state production 
• Both did not distribute state produced food equally to the people, but
• rather sold it. Both committed atrocities and crimes against humanity 
• in order to achieve their long term plans for the state.

Fall of Khmer Rouge

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• In 1975 the Khmer Rouge began waging
• a war with Vietnam under the fear and influence
• of Vietnam uniting with China to start another 
• Indochina war.

My thoughts
"The Khmer Rouge were just paranoid, as it was this paranoia that made their worst fears come true"

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• In 1976, the leaders of Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge made public
• diplomatic exchanges to hold strong relations between the two
• countries. Despite this, the Khmer Rouge still feared Vietnamese
• expansion, and so on April 30 1977, they launched another military
• attack on Vietnam.

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• In response Vietnam launched a strike at the end of 1977 in attempte
• to force the Khmer Rouge government to negotiate peace. However,
• small scale attacks continued through 1978, as China tried to mediate
• peace talks between the two countries, but they could not reach a
• acceptable compramise that could lead potentally to peace.

My thoughts
" There is only so much China can do to mediate, but the attacks had come too far"

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• By the end of 1978 the Vietnamese government decided to remove
• all Khmer Rouge domination in Kampuchea, because they saw
• the party as being too pro chinese and hostile towards Vietnam.
• On December 25, 1978 150,000 Vietnamese troops invaded 
• Kampuchea and overran the kampuchean army in just two weeks.

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• On December 1978, Vietnamese troops fought their
• way into Cambodia. Phnom Penh, the capital city, was 
• captured on January 7, 1979. The Khmer Rouge leaders
• fled to Thailand territory where they were aided by China.

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• In Phnom Penh, Vietnam helped to create a new
• government , called the People's Republic of
• Kampuchea, which was led by Heng Samrin.
• In 1982, the Khmer Rouge formed a coalition with the
• non-communist leader Son Sann to create the Triparty coalition government 

My thoughts
"Total Vietnamese influence in Phnom Penh, they could have just taken it over, but yet they made it independent"

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• The United Nations voted to give the resistance
• movement in Cambodia a seat in it's general   
• assembly. From 1979-1990 it was recognized as
• the only representative of Cambodia. 

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• The united nations recognized the Democratic of kampuchea as the
• representatives for Cambodia instead of the People's Republic of
• Kampuchea(PRK). The PRK fought with the coalition government of Kampuchea
• for power over Cambodia and for the ability to represent the country. Peace
• talks continued, as they shared power over the state.

UN'S REACTION
It really makes you think why the UN would see what was left of the Khmer Rouge as the representatives for Cambodia. But you must remember that the People's Republic of Kampuchea was under Vietnam influence and control, so the only real independent Cambodian government was the Democratic of Kampuchea. The Democratic of Kampuchea was now under anti-communist control, and it was just simply competing with the PRK for official Cambodian control. When you have a country that still has not decided on who their government is, it is hard to see them as independent.