kaaos_af
21st September 2006, 16:01
Just wrote this for TAFE (kind of like high school- except not). What do comrades think??? Haven't checked it for errors yet.
Before the revolution, Kampuchea was a deeply impoverished nation, having been under the domination of French colonialists since the late 19th century and having undergone Japanese bombing and occupation for several years. 80% (Ely: 1997) of Kampuchea's population was comprised of peasants. In this atmosphere of deep poverty and resentment of the country's feudal rulers and capitalist class, revolutionary sentiments began to take a firm hold in Kampuchean society. The first organised manifestation of these sentiments was the formation of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party, which emerged in 1951 from the Indochinese Communist Party, a revolutionary party based in Vietnam and led by future Vietnamese president, Ho Chi Minh (Democratic Kampuchea Foreign Ministry: 1975).
In 1954, a young communist called Pol Pot joined the KPRP. Pol Pot, born in a French district of Cambodia in 1928 under the name Soloth Sar, won a scholarship to study radio electronics in Paris in 1949, where he became involved in the French Communist Party another future Khmer Rouge leader, Ieng Sary, studying Marxism extensively and taking part in political activities (Liu). Following a trip to East Germany in 1951, the two founded the secret Cercle Marxiste society, providing Pol Pot with an opportunity to improve his leadership skills.
In the mid-1950's, splits had begun to emerge within the KPRP. Some factions within the party, primarily those supported by the North Vietnamese and based in urban areas, saw Sihanouk as a progressive force, due to his nationalistic, leftist and anti-imperialist sentiments. Others, however, based in rural areas, believed it necessary to overthrow the Sihanouk and the last remnants of feudalism. In 1959, the leader of the rural factions, Sieu Heng, defected to the government and handed over vital security information to the authorities, allowing Sihanouk's forces to destroy as much as 80% of the rural cadres. While the urban cadres remained largely unaffected, KPRP numbers had been dramatically reduced. Furthermore, in 1960, the KPRP cut its relations with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, in protest to Soviet leader Khrushchev's denunciation of J.V. Stalin at the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Nuon Chea: 1978). A split with the Vietnamese communists also came about in 1960, as the Vietnamese disagreed strongly with the KPRP's ultraleftist approach to the revolution, as well as its rejection of Khrushchev's denouncement of Stalin. In 1964, Pol Pot returned to Kampuchea.
Following the assassination of the previous Secretary-General, Tou Samouth, in 1962, Pol Pot was elected Secretary-General of the now renamed Workers' Party of Kampuchea. Pol Pot made a tactical move and replaced Tou's supporters in the WPK leadership with his own. The following year, Pol Pot and many of his supporters were forced to flee police crackdowns and travelled to the north-east Rotanokiri province of Kampuchea, where they established a guerilla army, commonly know as the Khmer Rouge, in 1963, headed by a body called the Angkar, which roughly translates to 'organisation' in Cambodian. In these areas, the local tribes, especially the Khmer Loeu, had no use for money, were largely self-sufficient, uninterested in religion and had had a bad history of being mistreated by the government, providing the ideal conditions for the rise of the guerilla movement Pol Pot envisioned.
In 1966, following a top-secret visit to the People's Republic of China by Pol Pot, the WPK secretly renamed itself the Communist Party of Kampuchea. The WPK launched an insurgency with the aims of overthrowing Prince Sihanouk and the feudal system and replacing it with an independent new economy and to drive foreign powers out of Kampuchea. Further splits with the USSR and the Vietnamese communists (who were allied to one another) appeared in 1968, driving the Khmer Rouge further towards the Chinese camp, which had also split with the USSR following the Soviet denouncement of Stalin. In 1978, the future Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of Democratic Kampuchea, Nuon Chea, described the situation in 1968, stating that the "Soviets said our party was out of its mind to launch armed struggle. They began to build a new party aimed against us, gathering people who had surrendered to the enemy and who were traitors, opportunists and vagabonds. Vietnam also opposed our armed struggle. Vietnamese cadres took action against us, by sneaking around giving our cadres pamphlets such as Lenin's Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder. They said we were too left." By 1970, however, the insurgency had grown wildly beyond the government's ability to control it and the CPK openly declared its new name.
In the United States, Sihanouk's refusals to align Cambodia with the US, opting instead for neutrality and friendship with China, as well as his openly pro-socialist sentiments, were causing deep concern (Rennacker: 1997). In March 1970, the CIA backed a coup d'etat while Sihanouk was out of the country, with the Cambodian National Assembly and the country's pro-US, anti-Vietnamese Prime Minister, General Lon Nol, deposing the prince (MSN Encarta: 2006) and declaring the Khmer Republic. Massive protests followed the coup in 17 of Kampuchea's 19 provinces, but the new government responded with force, executing thousands by beheading. Sihanouk entered into an alliance with the Khmer Rouge against Lon Nol and was sentenced to death in absentia by the Khmer Republic.
One of Lon Nol's first moves as Kampuchea's new dictator was to allow the US military to enter the country. The US launched a massive invasion of Kampuchea on April 13, 1970, to drive Pathet Lao and Viet Minh revolutionary forces out of the country. According to Ely, US forces dropped "over 500,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia between 1970 and 1973- three times what the US dropped on Japan during World War 2." The bombing devastated Kampuchea's agriculture, leading to massive starvation. Unexploded 500 to 2000 kilo bombs dropped by the US continued to be unearthed as late as 1997 (Cookes: 1997). By 1975, an estimated 600 000 Kampucheans had died as a result of the bombing, almost 10% of the total population, with at least another 400 000 wounded and another 2 million becoming refugees, moving into the already overcrowded cities in the thousands (Maoist Internationalist Movement: 1992). In response to the aggression, the CPK met with representatives from the Pathet Lao, South Vietnamese National Liberation Front and the Democratic Republic of North Vietnam in late April 1970. The conference was a success and a unity of struggle against the US was announced. The US forces in Kampuchea were defeated by 1975 and the Khmer Rouge made major advancements.
Lon Nol's regime proved to be deeply unpopular with the Kampuchean people, with deep corruption in the military and government officials enjoying privileged existences while the majority starved as a result of government inefficiency, as described by the New York Times in 1975, "Cabinet ministers ride to and from their air-conditioned villas in chauffeured Mercedes ... [while] refugees, crushed by food prices which have risen more than 1,000 percent ... stir the garbage in the gutter in search of something salvageable." It is little wonder, then, that, as Liu put it, "The Lon Nol regime crumbled in the middle of April 1975. As the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh, the streets were lined with thousands of people who greeted them as liberators."
In a speech following their victory in 1975, Pol Pot stated, "we have waged our revolutionary struggle basically on the principles of independence, sovereignty and self-reliance... In the entire world, ever since the advent of revolutionary war and the birth of US imperialism, no country, no people and no army has been able to drive the imperialists out to the last man and score total victory over them in the way we have." The Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China were swift to celebrate the Khmer Rouge victory with President Kim Il Sung of the DPRK stating, "I warmly congratulate the National Liberation People's Armed Forces of Cambodia on their shining victories," and Chairman Mao Tse Tung stating, "On behalf of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese Government and people, we extend our warmest congratulations and highest esteem to you." Despite its fierce policies of independency, Democratic Kampuchea would accept a great deal of economic and military aid from both countries in the coming years.
By early 1976, Pol Pot's forces had taken complete control of the country, renaming it Democratic Kampuchea and appointing Sihanouk the head of state. The Khmer Rouge's guerilla forces were renamed the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea. The CPK, now renamed the Communist Party of Democratic Kampuchea, made clear its intentions early on, abolishing the old money system and collectivising agriculture, with the leadership stating in a meeting on the 11th of March, 1976, "it is necessary to put an end to feudalism. We have reached this stage. The whole feudal regime has been destroyed and definitively dismantled by the Revolution. The Monarchy existing for over 2000 years has finally been dismantled. We do not have any other alternatives. Reactions will certainly take place, but we must follow the path of the Revolution in order to win." In this period, the Khmer Rouge carried out a heavy retribution on Lon Nol's former regime, executing thousands of former officers and bureaucrats for their part in the government that assisted the genocidal bombing of Kampuchea.
Among the first moves was the complete evacuation of Phnom Penh in the fear that the US may launch another massive aerial attack, just as it had to the cities of Hue and Cholon in Vietnam following the Tet Offensive. US bombing had already destroyed most of Kampuchea's agriculture, and Phnom Penh's food supplies were running dangerously low, with the excess weight of thousands of refugees from the bomb-ravaged areas. Additionally, the hospitals were overcrowded and diseases had begun to spread beyond the control of the city's medical staff, many of whom had fled to other countries during the bombing. As many as 2.5 million people were relocated by the CPDK to the countryside in the hopes of finding a solution to the problems. Unfortunately, as many as 3000 died in the relocation, according to CPDK statistics, and the relocation brought about a whole new set of problems. The Khmer Rouge, used to rural struggle, had overlooked the fact that many urban dwellers simply lacked agricultural skills and didn't know how to farm new areas. Despite the high rate of death and disease that came about as a result of the relocation, it is argued that the move was a good move economically and saved many more lives. The cities of Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom, Kampong Thom were also evacuated.
In this atmosphere of severe economic collapse, confusion, starvation, disease and ruin, mostly in part due to American bombing and trade embargoes, the Khmer Rouge lost sight of its original revolutionary aims and began to severely stamp down on civil liberties, restricting freedom of speech and movement and curtailing the rights of religious worship. This last point is disputable as Khmer Rouge leaders often promoted the role Buddhists played in the revolution, with Deputy Secretary of the CPDK Nuon Chea stating in 1978 that during the revolution, the KPRP had "built up the leadership of the party, recruiting good cadres from among the workers, peasants, civil servants in the administration, Buddhist monks and women." Nonetheless, however, this is uncertain, due, as Ely states, to the fact that the "centralised connections between (the) Khmer Rouge of various regions were extremely loose--and that widely different polices were carried out in the country's seven main Khmer Rouge regions."
It is around this time that the situation began to spiral out of control. The presence of factionalism and lack of communication within the CPDK meant that many districts carried out completely different policies and often acted autonomously of the central government. Confusion reigned in many parts of the country. Resentment began to reach new highs among many evacuees, and acts of civil disobedience and sabotage became common. Many local Khmer Rouge authorities and NADK officers responded brutally, carrying out executions for minor charges.
The exact number of how many died and were killed, and who by, in Democratic Kampuchea before its fall is unknown. What is known is that the US bombing devastated the country, causing mass starvation and a culture of fear and paranoia. David Chandler, a US Foreign Services officer serving in Phnom Penh during the bombing claimed that even during the bombing, the American government estimated that millions would die as a result of starvation in the years following the bombardment. US media sources continue to report that as many as one to two million were executed by the Khmer Rouge, but many believe that a majority of these deaths were caused by starvation. A Finnish inquiry concluded that up to a million died in Democratic Kampuchea and that a majority were due to famine and several thousand to heavy fighting with the Vietnamese. The Maoist Internationalist Movement, backed by western intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman reports that between 75 000 to 150 000 were executed by the Khmer Rouge, while John Barron and Anthony Paul, the authors who first accused Pol Pot of genocide, claim that around 10% of deaths in the Democratic Kampuchea period were a result of executions. No matter what the number was however, the Khmer Rouge?s execution rate is widely condemned as being far too high. There is, however, no evidence to suggest that Pol Pot himself ordered, approved, took part in or even witnessed any executions- even following the collapse of Democratic Kampuchea he was not convicted for any killings in absentia.
Following months of border skirmishes with the Vietnamese, ten divisions of the communist Vietnamese army invaded Democratic Kampuchea (Yun Shui) in January 1979, smashing the NADK's defences within days. Heavy fighting had reached the outskirts of Phnom Penh by the 2nd and on the 5th, it was reported that a large number of Vietnamese tanks were advancing on Highway One into Phnom Penh. A mass evacuation of foreign tourists and diplomats took place. Sihanouk and the royal family was also evacuated. By the 7th, the Vietnamese had taken the city and the country was officially under occupation. The same day, the Vietnamese declared the foundation of the People's Republic of Kampuchea under the leadership of former CPDK member Hun Sen. The invasion was condemned by a number of nations, including China and the DPRK, and was condemned by a vote thirteen to two by the UN Security Council. In Beijing, Prince Sihanouk expressed to the world at a press conference, "the resolve of the Cambodian people to resist aggression and to protect their motherland." On the 17th, China invaded the north of Vietnam, in what Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping called "punishment" for the invasion of Kampuchea. After taking several towns, the Chinese felt they had made their point and withdrew on the 16th of March.
The government of Democratic Kampuchea made its new headquarters in the Cardamom Mountains. Feeling threatened by the Vietnamese advance, especially after its utter in Vietnam at the hands of the North Vietnamese Army and he Viet Minh, the US blocked the Vietnamese from totally wiping out the Khmer Rouge, threatening to use their Thai puppets to intervene in Kampuchea. The Chinese, opposed to the Soviet allied Vietnamese, continued to support the Khmer Rouge along with the United Nations, which continued to recognise Democratic Kampuchea until 1993. Opposed to the Vietnamese, the American Central Intelligence Agency began to provide the NADK with arms and training, and persuaded the Thai government to allow them to use some of the border areas.
The Vietnamese continued to occupy Kampuchea until 1989. In this period, the Khmer Rouge waged an ongoing guerilla war against the People's Republic with CIA and Chinese funds and Thai intelligence and military protection. Pol Pot resigned from the CPDK leadership in 1985, handing the Party's leadership over to Khieu Samphan, the former president of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea. Following the Vietnamese withdrawal, a coalition government was formed in Phnom Penh to which the Khmer Rouge were invited to become a part of, as they still enjoyed a great deal of support from the people in the districts under their control. In 1991, the Khmer Rouge agreed to disarm, but rejected the results of the country's first election results and resumed fighting in 1992.
In 1993, the government restored the monarchy and Sihanouk was crowned king. The Khmer Rouge lost their seat in the UN and was no longer recognised by any country as Cambodia's legal government. In 1996, the Khmer Rouge leadership split, and Ieng Sary and as many as 4000 NADK troops defected, almost half of the Khmer Rouge's remaining forces, gaining official amnesty from Cambodia's prime minister, Hun Sen. The next year, Pol Pot was accused of the murder of one of the Khmer Rouge's leading members, Son Sen, and his supporters were overthrown in an internal coup, with Ta Mok taking over the leadership. On April the 15th, 1998, Pol Pot died of heart failure and was cremated. Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea surrendered shortly afterwards, with Nuon Chea stating in a press conference "We are very sorry, not just for the human lives but also animal lives that were lost in the war." On December the 5th, 1999, Ta Mok and the remaining Khmer Rouge forces surrendered
Following the surrender, a number of former Khmer Rouge members, including Ta Mok, were put on trial, but many others, such as Ke Pauk, who has been accused of carrying out acts of genocide, have been allowed to return to Cambodian society, with Ke Pauk becoming a one-star general in Cambodia's army. The effects of the war continue to have a major effect on Cambodia today, thanks to the four to six million landmines still scattered throughout the country. As many as 70% of patients in Cambodian hospitals are victims of landmines.
While the Khmer Rouge begun with the Kampuchean people's best interests at heart, the conditions in Kampuchea were so extreme, following decades of oppression, war and bombing at the hands of the monarchy, Lon Nol, the Japanese, the Americans and finally the Vietnamese, that any noble ideals they held were swiftly distorted and caved in. Under their rule, it is indisputable that terrible and unforgivable abuses took place, but these abuses must be understood within the context of the situation that the country had been placed under.
Bibliography
Boua, C and Kiernan, B n.d., Peasants and Politics in Kampuchea, 1942-79, Zed Press, London
British Broadcasting Corporation n.d., 1979: China invades Vietnam n.d. Retrieved 20 September, 2006, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/low/dates/...000/2547811.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/low/dates/stories/february/17/newsid_2547000/2547811.stm)
Brunner, B 2006, Who Was Who in the Khmer Rouge. Retrieved 21 September, 2006 from http://www.infoplease.com/spot/khmer2.html
Central Intelligence Agency n.d., Party of Democratic Kampuchea. Retrieved 18 September 2006, from http://members.tripod.com/~fantasian/frames.html
Cookes, T 1997, Cambodia?s Torment. Retrieved 20 September 2006 from http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54/067.html
Ely, M 1997, ?Straight Talk on the Trial of Pol Pot?, Revolutionary Worker No. 918. Retrieved 19 September, 2006, from http://rwor.org/a/v19/910-19/918/polpot.htm
Force, M 2006, ?Excerpts From Kim Il Sung Speech, April 18, 1975?, DemocraticKampuchea discussion list, 30 April. Retrieved 19 September 2006, from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DemocraticKa...hea/message/132 (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DemocraticKampuchea/message/132)
Great Victory of the Cambodian People, 1975, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing.
Hall, K 2005, ?Excerpts from the Black Paper?, DemocraticKampuchea discussion list, 31 April. Retrieved 19 September 2006, from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DemocraticKampuchea/message/4
Ixabert 2005, ?Killing Fields, DemocraticKampuchea discussion list, 25 July. Retrieved 19 September 2006, from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DemocraticKampuchea/message/15
Kiernan, B and Kosal, P (translators) 1998, Ieng Sary?s Regime: A Diary of the Khmer Rouge Foreign Ministry, 1976-79. Yale Center for International and Area Studies, New Haven, Connecticut
Liu, H 1999, Propaganda About Pol Pot Retrieved 18 September 2006 from http://www.marxmail.org/archives/July99/pr...out_pol_pot.htm (http://www.marxmail.org/archives/July99/propaganda_about_pol_pot.htm)
Maoist Internationalist Movement 1992, Maoism and Pol Pot Myths. Retrieved 20 September, 2006, from http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/faq/polpot2.html
Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism 2006, Khmer Rouge. Retrieved 20 September, 2006, from http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=4099
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Rennacker, S 1997, The Forgotten US Role in Cambodia's Tragedy. Retrieved 19 September, 2006, from http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54/064.html
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Shawcross, W 1979, Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia, Simon and Schuster, New York.
Before the revolution, Kampuchea was a deeply impoverished nation, having been under the domination of French colonialists since the late 19th century and having undergone Japanese bombing and occupation for several years. 80% (Ely: 1997) of Kampuchea's population was comprised of peasants. In this atmosphere of deep poverty and resentment of the country's feudal rulers and capitalist class, revolutionary sentiments began to take a firm hold in Kampuchean society. The first organised manifestation of these sentiments was the formation of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party, which emerged in 1951 from the Indochinese Communist Party, a revolutionary party based in Vietnam and led by future Vietnamese president, Ho Chi Minh (Democratic Kampuchea Foreign Ministry: 1975).
In 1954, a young communist called Pol Pot joined the KPRP. Pol Pot, born in a French district of Cambodia in 1928 under the name Soloth Sar, won a scholarship to study radio electronics in Paris in 1949, where he became involved in the French Communist Party another future Khmer Rouge leader, Ieng Sary, studying Marxism extensively and taking part in political activities (Liu). Following a trip to East Germany in 1951, the two founded the secret Cercle Marxiste society, providing Pol Pot with an opportunity to improve his leadership skills.
In the mid-1950's, splits had begun to emerge within the KPRP. Some factions within the party, primarily those supported by the North Vietnamese and based in urban areas, saw Sihanouk as a progressive force, due to his nationalistic, leftist and anti-imperialist sentiments. Others, however, based in rural areas, believed it necessary to overthrow the Sihanouk and the last remnants of feudalism. In 1959, the leader of the rural factions, Sieu Heng, defected to the government and handed over vital security information to the authorities, allowing Sihanouk's forces to destroy as much as 80% of the rural cadres. While the urban cadres remained largely unaffected, KPRP numbers had been dramatically reduced. Furthermore, in 1960, the KPRP cut its relations with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, in protest to Soviet leader Khrushchev's denunciation of J.V. Stalin at the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Nuon Chea: 1978). A split with the Vietnamese communists also came about in 1960, as the Vietnamese disagreed strongly with the KPRP's ultraleftist approach to the revolution, as well as its rejection of Khrushchev's denouncement of Stalin. In 1964, Pol Pot returned to Kampuchea.
Following the assassination of the previous Secretary-General, Tou Samouth, in 1962, Pol Pot was elected Secretary-General of the now renamed Workers' Party of Kampuchea. Pol Pot made a tactical move and replaced Tou's supporters in the WPK leadership with his own. The following year, Pol Pot and many of his supporters were forced to flee police crackdowns and travelled to the north-east Rotanokiri province of Kampuchea, where they established a guerilla army, commonly know as the Khmer Rouge, in 1963, headed by a body called the Angkar, which roughly translates to 'organisation' in Cambodian. In these areas, the local tribes, especially the Khmer Loeu, had no use for money, were largely self-sufficient, uninterested in religion and had had a bad history of being mistreated by the government, providing the ideal conditions for the rise of the guerilla movement Pol Pot envisioned.
In 1966, following a top-secret visit to the People's Republic of China by Pol Pot, the WPK secretly renamed itself the Communist Party of Kampuchea. The WPK launched an insurgency with the aims of overthrowing Prince Sihanouk and the feudal system and replacing it with an independent new economy and to drive foreign powers out of Kampuchea. Further splits with the USSR and the Vietnamese communists (who were allied to one another) appeared in 1968, driving the Khmer Rouge further towards the Chinese camp, which had also split with the USSR following the Soviet denouncement of Stalin. In 1978, the future Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of Democratic Kampuchea, Nuon Chea, described the situation in 1968, stating that the "Soviets said our party was out of its mind to launch armed struggle. They began to build a new party aimed against us, gathering people who had surrendered to the enemy and who were traitors, opportunists and vagabonds. Vietnam also opposed our armed struggle. Vietnamese cadres took action against us, by sneaking around giving our cadres pamphlets such as Lenin's Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder. They said we were too left." By 1970, however, the insurgency had grown wildly beyond the government's ability to control it and the CPK openly declared its new name.
In the United States, Sihanouk's refusals to align Cambodia with the US, opting instead for neutrality and friendship with China, as well as his openly pro-socialist sentiments, were causing deep concern (Rennacker: 1997). In March 1970, the CIA backed a coup d'etat while Sihanouk was out of the country, with the Cambodian National Assembly and the country's pro-US, anti-Vietnamese Prime Minister, General Lon Nol, deposing the prince (MSN Encarta: 2006) and declaring the Khmer Republic. Massive protests followed the coup in 17 of Kampuchea's 19 provinces, but the new government responded with force, executing thousands by beheading. Sihanouk entered into an alliance with the Khmer Rouge against Lon Nol and was sentenced to death in absentia by the Khmer Republic.
One of Lon Nol's first moves as Kampuchea's new dictator was to allow the US military to enter the country. The US launched a massive invasion of Kampuchea on April 13, 1970, to drive Pathet Lao and Viet Minh revolutionary forces out of the country. According to Ely, US forces dropped "over 500,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia between 1970 and 1973- three times what the US dropped on Japan during World War 2." The bombing devastated Kampuchea's agriculture, leading to massive starvation. Unexploded 500 to 2000 kilo bombs dropped by the US continued to be unearthed as late as 1997 (Cookes: 1997). By 1975, an estimated 600 000 Kampucheans had died as a result of the bombing, almost 10% of the total population, with at least another 400 000 wounded and another 2 million becoming refugees, moving into the already overcrowded cities in the thousands (Maoist Internationalist Movement: 1992). In response to the aggression, the CPK met with representatives from the Pathet Lao, South Vietnamese National Liberation Front and the Democratic Republic of North Vietnam in late April 1970. The conference was a success and a unity of struggle against the US was announced. The US forces in Kampuchea were defeated by 1975 and the Khmer Rouge made major advancements.
Lon Nol's regime proved to be deeply unpopular with the Kampuchean people, with deep corruption in the military and government officials enjoying privileged existences while the majority starved as a result of government inefficiency, as described by the New York Times in 1975, "Cabinet ministers ride to and from their air-conditioned villas in chauffeured Mercedes ... [while] refugees, crushed by food prices which have risen more than 1,000 percent ... stir the garbage in the gutter in search of something salvageable." It is little wonder, then, that, as Liu put it, "The Lon Nol regime crumbled in the middle of April 1975. As the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh, the streets were lined with thousands of people who greeted them as liberators."
In a speech following their victory in 1975, Pol Pot stated, "we have waged our revolutionary struggle basically on the principles of independence, sovereignty and self-reliance... In the entire world, ever since the advent of revolutionary war and the birth of US imperialism, no country, no people and no army has been able to drive the imperialists out to the last man and score total victory over them in the way we have." The Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China were swift to celebrate the Khmer Rouge victory with President Kim Il Sung of the DPRK stating, "I warmly congratulate the National Liberation People's Armed Forces of Cambodia on their shining victories," and Chairman Mao Tse Tung stating, "On behalf of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese Government and people, we extend our warmest congratulations and highest esteem to you." Despite its fierce policies of independency, Democratic Kampuchea would accept a great deal of economic and military aid from both countries in the coming years.
By early 1976, Pol Pot's forces had taken complete control of the country, renaming it Democratic Kampuchea and appointing Sihanouk the head of state. The Khmer Rouge's guerilla forces were renamed the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea. The CPK, now renamed the Communist Party of Democratic Kampuchea, made clear its intentions early on, abolishing the old money system and collectivising agriculture, with the leadership stating in a meeting on the 11th of March, 1976, "it is necessary to put an end to feudalism. We have reached this stage. The whole feudal regime has been destroyed and definitively dismantled by the Revolution. The Monarchy existing for over 2000 years has finally been dismantled. We do not have any other alternatives. Reactions will certainly take place, but we must follow the path of the Revolution in order to win." In this period, the Khmer Rouge carried out a heavy retribution on Lon Nol's former regime, executing thousands of former officers and bureaucrats for their part in the government that assisted the genocidal bombing of Kampuchea.
Among the first moves was the complete evacuation of Phnom Penh in the fear that the US may launch another massive aerial attack, just as it had to the cities of Hue and Cholon in Vietnam following the Tet Offensive. US bombing had already destroyed most of Kampuchea's agriculture, and Phnom Penh's food supplies were running dangerously low, with the excess weight of thousands of refugees from the bomb-ravaged areas. Additionally, the hospitals were overcrowded and diseases had begun to spread beyond the control of the city's medical staff, many of whom had fled to other countries during the bombing. As many as 2.5 million people were relocated by the CPDK to the countryside in the hopes of finding a solution to the problems. Unfortunately, as many as 3000 died in the relocation, according to CPDK statistics, and the relocation brought about a whole new set of problems. The Khmer Rouge, used to rural struggle, had overlooked the fact that many urban dwellers simply lacked agricultural skills and didn't know how to farm new areas. Despite the high rate of death and disease that came about as a result of the relocation, it is argued that the move was a good move economically and saved many more lives. The cities of Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom, Kampong Thom were also evacuated.
In this atmosphere of severe economic collapse, confusion, starvation, disease and ruin, mostly in part due to American bombing and trade embargoes, the Khmer Rouge lost sight of its original revolutionary aims and began to severely stamp down on civil liberties, restricting freedom of speech and movement and curtailing the rights of religious worship. This last point is disputable as Khmer Rouge leaders often promoted the role Buddhists played in the revolution, with Deputy Secretary of the CPDK Nuon Chea stating in 1978 that during the revolution, the KPRP had "built up the leadership of the party, recruiting good cadres from among the workers, peasants, civil servants in the administration, Buddhist monks and women." Nonetheless, however, this is uncertain, due, as Ely states, to the fact that the "centralised connections between (the) Khmer Rouge of various regions were extremely loose--and that widely different polices were carried out in the country's seven main Khmer Rouge regions."
It is around this time that the situation began to spiral out of control. The presence of factionalism and lack of communication within the CPDK meant that many districts carried out completely different policies and often acted autonomously of the central government. Confusion reigned in many parts of the country. Resentment began to reach new highs among many evacuees, and acts of civil disobedience and sabotage became common. Many local Khmer Rouge authorities and NADK officers responded brutally, carrying out executions for minor charges.
The exact number of how many died and were killed, and who by, in Democratic Kampuchea before its fall is unknown. What is known is that the US bombing devastated the country, causing mass starvation and a culture of fear and paranoia. David Chandler, a US Foreign Services officer serving in Phnom Penh during the bombing claimed that even during the bombing, the American government estimated that millions would die as a result of starvation in the years following the bombardment. US media sources continue to report that as many as one to two million were executed by the Khmer Rouge, but many believe that a majority of these deaths were caused by starvation. A Finnish inquiry concluded that up to a million died in Democratic Kampuchea and that a majority were due to famine and several thousand to heavy fighting with the Vietnamese. The Maoist Internationalist Movement, backed by western intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman reports that between 75 000 to 150 000 were executed by the Khmer Rouge, while John Barron and Anthony Paul, the authors who first accused Pol Pot of genocide, claim that around 10% of deaths in the Democratic Kampuchea period were a result of executions. No matter what the number was however, the Khmer Rouge?s execution rate is widely condemned as being far too high. There is, however, no evidence to suggest that Pol Pot himself ordered, approved, took part in or even witnessed any executions- even following the collapse of Democratic Kampuchea he was not convicted for any killings in absentia.
Following months of border skirmishes with the Vietnamese, ten divisions of the communist Vietnamese army invaded Democratic Kampuchea (Yun Shui) in January 1979, smashing the NADK's defences within days. Heavy fighting had reached the outskirts of Phnom Penh by the 2nd and on the 5th, it was reported that a large number of Vietnamese tanks were advancing on Highway One into Phnom Penh. A mass evacuation of foreign tourists and diplomats took place. Sihanouk and the royal family was also evacuated. By the 7th, the Vietnamese had taken the city and the country was officially under occupation. The same day, the Vietnamese declared the foundation of the People's Republic of Kampuchea under the leadership of former CPDK member Hun Sen. The invasion was condemned by a number of nations, including China and the DPRK, and was condemned by a vote thirteen to two by the UN Security Council. In Beijing, Prince Sihanouk expressed to the world at a press conference, "the resolve of the Cambodian people to resist aggression and to protect their motherland." On the 17th, China invaded the north of Vietnam, in what Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping called "punishment" for the invasion of Kampuchea. After taking several towns, the Chinese felt they had made their point and withdrew on the 16th of March.
The government of Democratic Kampuchea made its new headquarters in the Cardamom Mountains. Feeling threatened by the Vietnamese advance, especially after its utter in Vietnam at the hands of the North Vietnamese Army and he Viet Minh, the US blocked the Vietnamese from totally wiping out the Khmer Rouge, threatening to use their Thai puppets to intervene in Kampuchea. The Chinese, opposed to the Soviet allied Vietnamese, continued to support the Khmer Rouge along with the United Nations, which continued to recognise Democratic Kampuchea until 1993. Opposed to the Vietnamese, the American Central Intelligence Agency began to provide the NADK with arms and training, and persuaded the Thai government to allow them to use some of the border areas.
The Vietnamese continued to occupy Kampuchea until 1989. In this period, the Khmer Rouge waged an ongoing guerilla war against the People's Republic with CIA and Chinese funds and Thai intelligence and military protection. Pol Pot resigned from the CPDK leadership in 1985, handing the Party's leadership over to Khieu Samphan, the former president of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea. Following the Vietnamese withdrawal, a coalition government was formed in Phnom Penh to which the Khmer Rouge were invited to become a part of, as they still enjoyed a great deal of support from the people in the districts under their control. In 1991, the Khmer Rouge agreed to disarm, but rejected the results of the country's first election results and resumed fighting in 1992.
In 1993, the government restored the monarchy and Sihanouk was crowned king. The Khmer Rouge lost their seat in the UN and was no longer recognised by any country as Cambodia's legal government. In 1996, the Khmer Rouge leadership split, and Ieng Sary and as many as 4000 NADK troops defected, almost half of the Khmer Rouge's remaining forces, gaining official amnesty from Cambodia's prime minister, Hun Sen. The next year, Pol Pot was accused of the murder of one of the Khmer Rouge's leading members, Son Sen, and his supporters were overthrown in an internal coup, with Ta Mok taking over the leadership. On April the 15th, 1998, Pol Pot died of heart failure and was cremated. Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea surrendered shortly afterwards, with Nuon Chea stating in a press conference "We are very sorry, not just for the human lives but also animal lives that were lost in the war." On December the 5th, 1999, Ta Mok and the remaining Khmer Rouge forces surrendered
Following the surrender, a number of former Khmer Rouge members, including Ta Mok, were put on trial, but many others, such as Ke Pauk, who has been accused of carrying out acts of genocide, have been allowed to return to Cambodian society, with Ke Pauk becoming a one-star general in Cambodia's army. The effects of the war continue to have a major effect on Cambodia today, thanks to the four to six million landmines still scattered throughout the country. As many as 70% of patients in Cambodian hospitals are victims of landmines.
While the Khmer Rouge begun with the Kampuchean people's best interests at heart, the conditions in Kampuchea were so extreme, following decades of oppression, war and bombing at the hands of the monarchy, Lon Nol, the Japanese, the Americans and finally the Vietnamese, that any noble ideals they held were swiftly distorted and caved in. Under their rule, it is indisputable that terrible and unforgivable abuses took place, but these abuses must be understood within the context of the situation that the country had been placed under.
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