EatTheRich
President
The first follow-up to the thread I started in this forum about the Soviet Union. I apologize for any errors here, I know a lot less about Cambodia than the Soviet Union, I've only perused (meaning "studied carefully") one book about it, but it was a detailed book (Ben Kiernan's The Pol Pot Regime) by a UN-recognized expert on Cambodian war crimes, and I'm trying to get this done in a timely way. But I thought I'd look at DK next because it is of such general interest and the story is not well known.
Latest political news and current events: Cambodia remains a highly educated, highly Buddhist society with little cultural diversity, traditional gender roles, and an economy based on subsistence fishing and rice farming. Politically, as a puppet of Stalinist Vietnam it is nominally a socialist state, but in actuality a capitalist military-police dictatorship with a pro-Vietnam orientation. It has a low standard of living, particularly in the regular threat of famine, but at present has a high economic growth rate largely as a result of mechanization of agriculture through World Bank-founded state investment.
Best of: Slim pickings but I'll give it a shot. Let's see ... the Khmer Rouge's victory ended U.S. bombing of Cambodia, they initially boosted rations, they opposed the U.S. in international politics and supported Yugoslavia, Romania, and China in their efforts to assert political independence from Moscow. They captured an American warship in a propaganda blow for the semicolonial nations.
Trash heap (of history): Pol Pot's regime represents the ultimate triumph of the fascist dream ... a totalitarian state in which the private property of the petit bourgeoisie remains untouched, while the persoral property of the proletariat is expropriated to make them the slaves of that state. It also represents the bankruptcy of the Stalinists who, counterrevolutionary betrayal by counterrevolutionary betrayal, allowed this to be the culmination of a popular fight for communism. And it stands in reproach to the "Communist" factions that have gone part or all of the way down the same Pol Potist line ... Colombia's FARC, the Zapatistas, the Coard faction in Grenada, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path), or the Revolutionary Communist Party (USA).
Op ed: Within the party leadership factions with very different ideological perspectives contended for power ... the battle to dominate the Politburo's discussions was carried out on the ground by proxy armies of warlords (indeed, Chinese Communist Party factions fought their own battles with each other and with their Vietnamese Communist Party rivals by the same means). As a cat's paw for Chinese power, the ideology was vaguely Maoist, but people took critical stances of Mao, those around them, and political leaders of the past in their coded arguments over the practical decisions to be made by the government in the context of Cambodia' nightmare. Ideology was also broadly nationalist, racist, and stressed the theme of heroic self-sacrifice. Pol Pot, speaking for the party center, publicly praised Robespierre and Zhou Enlai, while denouncing the Gang of Four and Lenin. Speaking for an unprincipled rival clique that started on the center-left and ended on the center-right, Nuon Chea praised the Red Guards and denounced the Gang of Four and Ho Chi Minh. Giving him left cover, Khieu Ponnary defended Marx from the attacks of Ieng Sary and others. On the far left, Khieu Samphan praised the Great Leap Forward, Kim Il-Sung, and Enver Hoxha, while denouncing Zhou Enlai. Speaking for the right wing of the party, Ta Mok championed the politics of Deng Xiaoping. And Ieng Sary, leading a right-leaning clique, praised Tito, Leopold Senghor, and Deng Xiaoping before turning further to the right, praising Hitler, and explicitly denouncing communism. Koy Thoun, leading the pro-Vietnamese faction of the party, and his successors So Phim and Heng Samrin, praised Ho Chi Minh and Tito and denounced Kim Il-Sung. Meanwhile leaders of various political combinations and palace intrigues tailored their repetition of the regime's propaganda line to send messages of support or opposition to these factions.
Civil and human rights: None to speak of. On Pol Pot's initiative military commanders were given unquestioned authority to execute people, an authority only suspended for a few months in 1975 on the initiative of Hou Yuon. In all the regime killed perhaps 1 million dissidents, minorities, and people who for one reason or another were singled out ... the leading proponents of high rates of political killing were Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ke Pauk, Duch, Ieng Sary, and Ieng Thirith, while Hou Yuon, So Phim, and Ney Sarann resisted killing in principle and used it relatively seldom in practice. The Constitution guaranteed women's equality, which occurred in practice only through the general degradation of the entire populace and the occasional entree of women to the corridors of power. The Constitution also guaranteed personal property, which was not respected in practice, and freedom of religion, which was widely violated.
On Pol Pot's and Ta Mok's initiative, and over So Phim's objections, using a model pioneered by Kim Il-Sung in N. Korea, political rights as well as rations were distributed unequally according to a caste system to which people were assigned by local military officials. In 1975, people were either "base people"--rural, ethnic Khmer, Khmer Leou, or Cham people, judged loyal to the regime, and local to the area--or "new people"--urban people, evacuees, ethnic Vietnamese, or those judged disloyal. Only "base people" were allowed to vote on ration levels. By late 1975 in Ta Mok's Southwestern Zone and 1977 nationwide, "base" people were further divided into those with family in the military (later in 1977, those with family in the pre-1975 military), those in active sympathy, and those in need of correction, while "new" people were divided into loyal evacuees, typically disloyal new people, the families of Lon Nol soldiers, and Lon Nol soldiers themselves.
Controversial topics: In the Eastern Zone under So Phim's leadership, open debates were held, at least among "base people" and sometimes among "new people" as well, prior to 1976. In much of the country, excluding Khek Penn's Northwestern Zone, base people at least were permitted to express dissenting opinions without fear of more serious consequences than getting rations cut or being forced to attend re-education classes. However, the military and party losers of factional fights were killed outright or sent to a prison such as the notorious Tuol Sheng where tens of thousands were tortured to death. After 1977, largely on Ieng Thirith's initiative and over opposition led by So Phim and Heng Samrin, the utterance of a breath of dissent was an instant death sentence.
Latest political news and current events: Cambodia remains a highly educated, highly Buddhist society with little cultural diversity, traditional gender roles, and an economy based on subsistence fishing and rice farming. Politically, as a puppet of Stalinist Vietnam it is nominally a socialist state, but in actuality a capitalist military-police dictatorship with a pro-Vietnam orientation. It has a low standard of living, particularly in the regular threat of famine, but at present has a high economic growth rate largely as a result of mechanization of agriculture through World Bank-founded state investment.
Best of: Slim pickings but I'll give it a shot. Let's see ... the Khmer Rouge's victory ended U.S. bombing of Cambodia, they initially boosted rations, they opposed the U.S. in international politics and supported Yugoslavia, Romania, and China in their efforts to assert political independence from Moscow. They captured an American warship in a propaganda blow for the semicolonial nations.
Trash heap (of history): Pol Pot's regime represents the ultimate triumph of the fascist dream ... a totalitarian state in which the private property of the petit bourgeoisie remains untouched, while the persoral property of the proletariat is expropriated to make them the slaves of that state. It also represents the bankruptcy of the Stalinists who, counterrevolutionary betrayal by counterrevolutionary betrayal, allowed this to be the culmination of a popular fight for communism. And it stands in reproach to the "Communist" factions that have gone part or all of the way down the same Pol Potist line ... Colombia's FARC, the Zapatistas, the Coard faction in Grenada, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path), or the Revolutionary Communist Party (USA).
Op ed: Within the party leadership factions with very different ideological perspectives contended for power ... the battle to dominate the Politburo's discussions was carried out on the ground by proxy armies of warlords (indeed, Chinese Communist Party factions fought their own battles with each other and with their Vietnamese Communist Party rivals by the same means). As a cat's paw for Chinese power, the ideology was vaguely Maoist, but people took critical stances of Mao, those around them, and political leaders of the past in their coded arguments over the practical decisions to be made by the government in the context of Cambodia' nightmare. Ideology was also broadly nationalist, racist, and stressed the theme of heroic self-sacrifice. Pol Pot, speaking for the party center, publicly praised Robespierre and Zhou Enlai, while denouncing the Gang of Four and Lenin. Speaking for an unprincipled rival clique that started on the center-left and ended on the center-right, Nuon Chea praised the Red Guards and denounced the Gang of Four and Ho Chi Minh. Giving him left cover, Khieu Ponnary defended Marx from the attacks of Ieng Sary and others. On the far left, Khieu Samphan praised the Great Leap Forward, Kim Il-Sung, and Enver Hoxha, while denouncing Zhou Enlai. Speaking for the right wing of the party, Ta Mok championed the politics of Deng Xiaoping. And Ieng Sary, leading a right-leaning clique, praised Tito, Leopold Senghor, and Deng Xiaoping before turning further to the right, praising Hitler, and explicitly denouncing communism. Koy Thoun, leading the pro-Vietnamese faction of the party, and his successors So Phim and Heng Samrin, praised Ho Chi Minh and Tito and denounced Kim Il-Sung. Meanwhile leaders of various political combinations and palace intrigues tailored their repetition of the regime's propaganda line to send messages of support or opposition to these factions.
Civil and human rights: None to speak of. On Pol Pot's initiative military commanders were given unquestioned authority to execute people, an authority only suspended for a few months in 1975 on the initiative of Hou Yuon. In all the regime killed perhaps 1 million dissidents, minorities, and people who for one reason or another were singled out ... the leading proponents of high rates of political killing were Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ke Pauk, Duch, Ieng Sary, and Ieng Thirith, while Hou Yuon, So Phim, and Ney Sarann resisted killing in principle and used it relatively seldom in practice. The Constitution guaranteed women's equality, which occurred in practice only through the general degradation of the entire populace and the occasional entree of women to the corridors of power. The Constitution also guaranteed personal property, which was not respected in practice, and freedom of religion, which was widely violated.
On Pol Pot's and Ta Mok's initiative, and over So Phim's objections, using a model pioneered by Kim Il-Sung in N. Korea, political rights as well as rations were distributed unequally according to a caste system to which people were assigned by local military officials. In 1975, people were either "base people"--rural, ethnic Khmer, Khmer Leou, or Cham people, judged loyal to the regime, and local to the area--or "new people"--urban people, evacuees, ethnic Vietnamese, or those judged disloyal. Only "base people" were allowed to vote on ration levels. By late 1975 in Ta Mok's Southwestern Zone and 1977 nationwide, "base" people were further divided into those with family in the military (later in 1977, those with family in the pre-1975 military), those in active sympathy, and those in need of correction, while "new" people were divided into loyal evacuees, typically disloyal new people, the families of Lon Nol soldiers, and Lon Nol soldiers themselves.
Controversial topics: In the Eastern Zone under So Phim's leadership, open debates were held, at least among "base people" and sometimes among "new people" as well, prior to 1976. In much of the country, excluding Khek Penn's Northwestern Zone, base people at least were permitted to express dissenting opinions without fear of more serious consequences than getting rations cut or being forced to attend re-education classes. However, the military and party losers of factional fights were killed outright or sent to a prison such as the notorious Tuol Sheng where tens of thousands were tortured to death. After 1977, largely on Ieng Thirith's initiative and over opposition led by So Phim and Heng Samrin, the utterance of a breath of dissent was an instant death sentence.