Just a few additions to Sam's excellent post.
Pol Pot's background was in the peasantry. Although his parents were better off
peasants, without a
government scholarship Pol Pot would not have been able to go to Paris to study and
eventually teach.
While in France he was active within French Communist Party Circles from about
1949-1952. In 1953
he returned to Phnom Penh to teach there and found a Communist Party in Cambodia. He
fled the capital in 1963 to escape police repression and sought sanctuary in remote
rural areas. It was here that
he devised an ultimately successful revolutionary strategy that was derived from
Stalinism, nationalism, and peasant radicalism. In effect his strategy was a
variation of that of Mao.
Whatever the crimes of Pol Pot---and Louis and Angela seem to buy into the view
promoted by the
CIA and the film the Killing Fields--his Khmer Rouge were a popular and ultimately
successful
revolutionary movement.
In 1970 a CIA directed military coup ousted Prince Sihanouk and installed General
Lon Nol. The
country's population was subjected to the most intensive saturation bombing in
history. From 1969 to
1973, 532,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Cambodia, more than three times the
tonnage dropped on Japan in World War II.
By 1974, 95 percent of Cambodia's income came from US aid much of it being
siphoned off by corrupt officials. Two million of 7 million were homeless. Rice
production plunged from 3.8 million tons to
655,000 tons. It was American intervention that enabled the Khmer Rouge to thrive and
ultimately
throw out Lon Nol in April 1975. Sam tells much of the rest of the story.
It should be noted though that the US supported Pol Pot after the Khmer Rouge
were defeated by a
Vietnamese invasion in 1978. As per usual, the US used Pol Pot as a pawn in the Cold
War against
the Soviet Union with whom Vietnam was allied. Not only did the US send arms to
enable Pol Pot's armed struggle to continue, it recognised the Khmer Rouge as the
legitimate UN representative for almost a decade. This shows how much concern there
was over the killing fields.
CHeers, Ken Hanly
PS. MOst of this information comes from the World SOcialist Web Site. The piece is
quite hostile
to Pol Pot by the way.
Sam Pawlett wrote:
> Back to the land was actually carried out after the successful revolutions in
> Cambodia in 1975 and to a much lesser extent in Vietnam. Starting on April 17, 75
> the CPK(Khmer Rouge) evacuated 90% of the population of Phnem Penh to the
> countryside. I would argue that this was the only option the CPK had at the
> time. The population of Phnom Penh had increased by 2 million duting the war
> years out of a total population of 7-8 million. Phnom PEnh was and always had
> been an unproductive center that siphoned off the wealth produced in the
> countryside. The U.S. State Department claimed in early 1975 that at least 1
> million would starve to death if present conditions remained the same. Phnom Penh
> at the time of its liberation by the CPK had 2 months supply of food. Everyone in
> the country had to be put to productive work immediately to prevent mass famine.
> MOst of the people who were evacuated (or depositees as the CPK called them) were
> returned to the villages where they came from. The new people or former permanent
> urban residents were singled out for punishment as a class by the CPK. It is
> important to remember that the CPK and DK were not homogenous and monolithic
> entities. Factions existed right up until the Vietnamese took Phnom Penh. Faction
> fights and purges cost the lives of tens if not hundreds of thousands of people.
> Conditions and governance in he country varied from region to region and village
> to village and changed over time....Was the CPK Marxist? They certainly has a
> class analysis; only the poorest and lower middle layers of the peasantry were
> considered revolutionary. They were granted considerable leeway, freedom and
> privilege relative to the rest of the population. The CPK forced everyone to live
> like poor peasants--barracks socialism. The CPK tried to eliminate the
> rural-urban divide by suppressing it...The term "intellectual" had a different
> meaning in the Cambodian of the time. Often people with only primary schooling
> considered themselves intellectuals. MOst of the CPK lower and middle level cadre
> were completely illiterate. The CPK collectivization effort, initially raised
> productivity in some areas, but ultimately failed when the Pol Pot faction gained
> control of most of the country and implemented extreme measures like communal
> cooking and dining and the abolishment of all personal property which alienated
> the people and thus lowered productivity. Poor nutrition and disease also
> contributed to the failure of the communes.
>
> I/m doing a lot of research on Cambodia right now and plan to post a longer
> article when I'm finished.
>
> Sam Pawlett
>
> Louis Proyect wrote:
>
> > Doug:
> > >The WB says 53% of the population was urban in 1980. Of course the urban
> > >population is swelled by dispossession (just like England a couple of
> > >centuries ago), and in the case of Central America, by war. But they're
> > >there in cities now. What would an appropriate policy be? Back to the land?
> >
> > Back to the land? Absolutely. That was what the FSLN and FMLN and the
> > Guerrilla Army of the Poor in Guatemala fought for. These were basically
> > peasant struggles for land reform, which was also at the heart of the
> > Chinese and Cuban revolutions. The name of this appropriate policy is
> > called socialist revolution. Its appeal should be obvious from Cuba's
> > ability to withstand imperialist blockade, chemical and biological warfare,
> > and nonstop propaganda barrages.
> >
> > >In China, the communes are gone, all broken up. Hundreds of millions of un-
> > >and semiemployed people are in China's cities now. Should Mexico City and
> > >Managua be depopulated?
> >
> > Depopulated? You have a way of phrasing questions that reflect your own
> > political bias. Socialists advocate the expropriation of agribusiness.
> > Period. When there are landless peasants in Central America, while land is
> > being used for exports such as flowers, tomatos, mangos, tobacco, coffee
> > for the imperialist markets, a revolutionary government should proclaim
> > "Food First." Land should be used to produce rice, beans, corn and
> > vegetables. If the country needs foreign exchange, it should reserve a
> > certain percentage of land for cash crops. I worked with the Nicaraguan
> > Central Bank to automate foreign exchange calculations for just this purpose.
> >
> > >There's no question that great crimes have been
> > >committed against peasants everywhere over the last few centuries; the
> > >question is what to do about the world around us. I think the reason Lou
> > >spends so much time in the 17th century is that he doesn't know what to do
> > >about the 21st.
> >
> > "I" don't matter. Unless there is a socialist movement to tackle these
> > problems, we are doomed. I am trying to pull together people
> > internationally to apply Marxism creatively. I regret that you no longer
> > find socialism attractive.
> >
> > Louis Proyect
> >
> > (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
