Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
1 of 8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kampuchea
Contents
1 History
1.1 Foundation of the party; first divisions
1.2 The Paris students' group
1.3 Clandestine existence in Phnom Penh
1.4 Insurgency in rural Cambodia
1.5 Rise to power
2 The Khmer Rouge in power
2.1 The Angkar
3 Fall of the Khmer Rouge
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Nuon Chea
Founded
1951
Dissolved
1981
Succeeded by
Party of Democratic
Kampuchea
Youth wing
Ideology
Communism
Agrarian socialism
Khmer nationalism
Political position
Far left
Colors
Red, Yellow
History
Foundation of the party; first divisions
The party was founded in 1951, when the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) was divided into separate
Cambodian, Lao, and Vietnamese communist parties. The decision to form a separate Cambodian communist
party had been taken at the ICP congress in February the same year. Different sources claim different dates for
the exact founding and the first congress of the party. Son Ngoc Minh was appointed as Acting Chairman of the
party. The party congress did not elect a full Central Committee, but instead appointed a 'Party Propagation and
Formation Committee'.[2] At the time of its formation, the Cambodian party was called Khmer People's
Revolutionary Party. The Indochinese Communist Party had been heavily dominated by Vietnamese, and the
KPRP was actively supported by the Vietnamese party during its initial phase of existence. Due to the reliance
8/4/2015 9:13 PM
2 of 8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kampuchea
on Vietnamese support in the joint struggle against French colonial rule, the history of the party would later be
rewritten, stating 1960 as the year of foundation of the party.[3]
According to Democratic Kampuchea's version of party history, the Viet Minh's failure to negotiate a political
role for the KPRP at the 1954 Geneva Conference represented a betrayal of the Cambodian movement, which
still controlled large areas of the countryside and which commanded at least 5,000 armed men. Following the
conference, about 1,000 members of the KPRP, including Son Ngoc Minh, made a "Long March" into North
Vietnam, where they remained in exile. In late 1954, those who stayed in Cambodia founded a legal political
party, the Krom Pracheachon, which participated in the 1955 and the 1958 National Assembly elections. In the
September 1955 election, it won about 4% of the vote but did not secure a seat in the legislature. Members of
the Pracheachon were subject to constant harassment and to arrests because the party remained outside
Sihanouk's Sangkum. Government attacks prevented it from participating in the 1962 election and drove it
underground. It is speculated that the decision of Pracheachon to file candidates for the election had not been
approved by the WPK.[3] Sihanouk habitually labeled local leftists the Khmer Rouge, a term that later came to
signify the party and the state headed by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, and their associates.
During the mid-1950s, two KPRP factions, the "urban committee" (headed by Tou Samouth), and the "rural
committee" (headed by Sieu Heng), emerged. In very general terms, these groups espoused divergent
revolutionary lines. The prevalent "urban" line, endorsed by North Vietnam, recognized that Sihanouk, by virtue
of his success in winning independence from the French, was a genuine national leader whose neutralism and
deep distrust of the United States made him a valuable asset in Hanoi's struggle to "liberate" South Vietnam.
Champions of this line hoped that the prince could be persuaded to distance himself from the right wing and to
adopt leftist policies. The other line, supported for the most part by rural cadres who were familiar with the
harsh realities of the countryside, advocated an immediate struggle to overthrow the "feudalist" Sihanouk. In
1959 Sieu Heng defected to the government and provided the security forces with information that enabled
them to destroy as much as 90% of the party's rural apparatus. Although communist networks in Phnom Penh
and in other towns under Tou Samouth's jurisdiction fared better, only a few hundred communists remained
active in the country by 1960.
8/4/2015 9:13 PM
3 of 8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kampuchea
group forged a bond that survived years of revolutionary struggle and intraparty strife, Pol Pot and Ieng Sary
married Khieu Ponnary and Khieu Thirith (also known as Ieng Thirith), purportedly relatives of Khieu
Samphan. These two well-educated women also played a central role in the regime of Democratic Kampuchea.
At some time between 1949 and 1951, Pol Pot and Ieng Sary joined the French Communist Party. In 1951 the
two men went to East Berlin to participate in a youth festival. This experience is considered to have been a
turning point in their ideological development. Meeting with Khmers who were fighting with the Viet Minh
(and whom they subsequently judged to be too subservient to the Vietnamese), they became convinced that only
a tightly disciplined party organization and a readiness for armed struggle could achieve revolution. They
transformed the Khmer Students' Association (KSA), to which most of the 200 or so Khmer students in Paris
belonged, into an organization for nationalist and leftist ideas. Inside the KSA and its successor organizations
was a secret organization known as the Cercle Marxiste. The organization was composed of cells of three to six
members with most members knowing nothing about the overall structure of the organization. In 1952 Pol Pot,
Hou Yuon, Ieng Sary, and other leftists gained notoriety by sending an open letter to Sihanouk calling him the
"strangler of infant democracy." A year later, the French authorities closed down the KSA. In 1956, however,
Hou Yuon and Khieu Samphan helped to establish a new group, the Khmer Students' Union. Inside, the group
was still run by the Cercle Marxiste.
The doctoral dissertations written by Hou Yuon and Khieu Samphan express basic themes that were later to
become the cornerstones of the policy adopted by Democratic Kampuchea. The central role of the peasants in
national development was espoused by Hou Yuon in his 1955 thesis, The Cambodian Peasants and Their
Prospects for Modernization, which challenged the conventional view that urbanization and industrialization are
necessary precursors of development. The major argument in Khieu Samphan's 1959 thesis, Cambodia's
Economy and Industrial Development, was that the country had to become self-reliant and end its economic
dependency on the developed world. In its general contours, Khieu's work reflected the influence of a branch of
the "dependency theory" school, which blamed lack of development in the Third World on the economic
domination of the industrialized nations.
4 of 8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kampuchea
question of cooperation with, or resistance to, Sihanouk was thoroughly discussed. A new party structure was
adopted. For the first time since, a permanent Central Committee was appointed with, Tou Samouth, who
advocated a policy of cooperation, as the general secretary of the party. His ally, Nuon Chea (also known as
Long Reth), became deputy general secretary; however, Pol Pot and Ieng Sary were named to the Central
Committee to occupy the third and the fifth highest positions in the party hierarchy. Another committee member
was veteran communist Keo Meas. In Democratic Kampuchea, this meeting would later be projected as the
founding date of the party, consciously downplaying the history of the party prior to Pol Pot's ascent to
leadership.[3]
On July 20, 1962, Tou Samouth was murdered by the Cambodian government. In February 1963, at the WPK's
second congress, Pol Pot was chosen to succeed Tou Samouth as the party's general secretary. Tou's allies, Nuon
Chea and Keo Meas, were removed from the Central Committee and replaced by Son Sen and Vorn Vet. From
then on, Pol Pot and loyal comrades from his Paris student days controlled the party center, edging out older
veterans whom they considered excessively pro-Vietnamese.
Rise to power
The political appeal of the Khmer Rouge was increased as a result of the situation created by the removal of
Sihanouk as head of state in 1970. Premier Lon Nol, with the support of the National Assembly, deposed
Sihanouk. Sihanouk, in exile in Beijing, made an alliance with the Kampuchean Communist Party and became
the nominal head of a Khmer Rouge-dominated government-in-exile (known by its French acronym, GRUNK)
backed by the People's Republic of China. Sihanouk's popular support in rural Cambodia allowed the Khmer
8/4/2015 9:13 PM
5 of 8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kampuchea
Rouge to extend its power and influence to the point that by 1973 it exercised de facto control over the majority
of Cambodian territory, although only a minority of its population.
The relationship between the massive carpet bombing of Cambodia by the United States and the growth of the
Khmer Rouge, in terms of recruitment and popular support, has been a matter of interest to historians. Some
historians have cited the U.S. intervention and bombing campaign (spanning 19651973) as a significant factor
leading to increased support of the Khmer Rouge among the Cambodian peasantry. However, Pol Pot
biographer David Chandler argues that the bombing "had the effect the Americans wanted it broke the
Communist encirclement of Phnom Penh".[7] Peter Rodman and Michael Lind claimed that the US intervention
saved Cambodia from collapse in 1970 and 1973.[8][9] Craig Etcheson agreed that it was "untenable" to assert
that US intervention caused the Khmer Rouge victory while acknowledging that it may have played a small role
in boosting recruitment for the insurgents.[10] William Shawcross, however, wrote that the US bombing and
ground incursion plunged Cambodia into the chaos Sihanouk had worked for years to avoid.[11]
The Vietnamese intervention in Cambodia, launched at the request of the Khmer Rouge,[12] has also been cited
as a major factor in their eventual victory, including by Shawcross.[13] Vietnam later admitted that it played "a
decisive role" in their seizure of power.[14] China "armed and trained" the Khmer Rouge during the civil war
and continued to aid them years afterward.[15]
When the U.S. Congress suspended military aid to the Lon Nol government in 1973, the Khmer Rouge made
sweeping gains in the country, completely overwhelming the Khmer National Armed Forces. On April 17, 1975
the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh and overthrew the Khmer Republic, executing all its officers.
8/4/2015 9:13 PM
6 of 8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kampuchea
The Angkar
For roughly two years after the CPK took power, it referred to itself as the "Angkar" (Khmer: ;
pronounced ahngkah; meaning 'The Organization'). However, on September 29, 1977, Pol Pot publicly declared
the existence of the CPK in a five-hour-long speech.[2] He revealed the true character of the supreme authority
in Cambodia, an obscure ruling body that had been kept in seclusion.
The CPK had been extremely secretive throughout its existence. Before 1975 the secrecy was needed for the
party's survival and Pol Pot and his closest associates had relied on continuing the extreme secrecy in order to
consolidate their position against those they perceived as internal enemies during their first two years of power.
The revelation of the CPK's existence shortly before Pol Pot was due to travel to Peking resulted from pressure
from China on the Khmer Rouge leaders to acknowledge their true political identity at a time that they
increasingly depended on China's assistance against the threats from Vietnam. Accordingly, Pol Pot in his
speech claimed that the CPK's foundation had been in 1960 and emphasized its separate identity from
Vietnamese communism.[16] This secrecy continued even after the CPK took power. Unlike most Communist
leaders, Pol Pot was never the object of a personality cult. It would be almost a year before it was confirmed
that he was Saloth Sar, the man long cited as the CPK's general secretary.
8/4/2015 9:13 PM
7 of 8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kampuchea
By December 1978, because of several years of border conflict and the flood of refugees fleeing Cambodia,
relations between Cambodia and Vietnam deteriorated. Pol Pot, fearing a Vietnamese attack, ordered a
pre-emptive invasion of Vietnam. His Cambodian forces crossed the border and looted nearby villages. Despite
American and Chinese aid, these Cambodian forces were repulsed by the Vietnamese.
In early 1979, a pro-Vietnamese group of CPK dissidents led by Pen Sovan held a congress (which they saw as
the '3rd party congress', thus not recognizing the 1963, 1975 and 1978 party congresses as legitimate) near the
Vietnamese border. Along with Heng Samrin, Pen Sovan was one of the foremost founding members of the
Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation (KUFNS or FUNSK), after becoming disillusioned with the
Khmer Rouge.[17] Effectively the CPK was then divided into two, with the Pen Sovan-led group constituting a
separate party, the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (now the Cambodian People's Party).[2]
The Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia along with the KUFNS, capturing Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979.
The Pen Sovan-led party was installed as the governing party of the new People's Republic of Kampuchea. The
CPK led by Pol Pot withdrew its forces westwards, to an area near the Thai border. With unofficial protection
from elements of the Thai Army, it began guerrilla warfare against the PRK government. The party founded the
Patriotic and Democratic Front of the Great National Union of Kampuchea as a united front in September 1979
to fight the PRK and the Vietnamese. The Front was led by Khieu Sampan. In December 1979 the armed forces
under the command of the party, what remained of the erstwhile People's National Liberation Armed Forces of
Kampuchea, were renamed National Army of Democratic Kampuchea.[18] In 1981 the party was dissolved, and
substituted by the Party of Democratic Kampuchea.[3][19]
See also
Agrarian socialism
Communist Youth League of Kampuchea
Party of Democratic Kampuchea
References
1. Cambodia and the Khmer People's Revolutionary Party (KPRP), Appendix B - Major Political and Military
Organizations (http://www.country-data.com/frd/cs/cambodia/kh_appnb.html)
2. Frings, K. Viviane, Rewriting Cambodian History to 'Adapt' It to a New Political Context: The Kampuchean People's
Revolutionary Party's Historiography (1979-1991) (http://links.jstor.org
/sici?sici=0026-749X%28199710%2931%3A4%3C807%3ARCHT%27I%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N) in Modern Asian
Studies, Vol. 31, No. 4. (October , 1997), pp. 807-846.
3. Chandler, David P., Revising the Past in Democratic Kampuchea: When Was the Birthday of the Party?: Notes and
Comments (http://links.jstor.org
/sici?sici=0030-851X%28198322%2956%3A2%3C288%3ARTPIDK%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T), in Pacific Affairs, Vol. 56,
No. 2 (Summer, 1983), pp. 288-300.
4. Chronologie du Cambodge de 1960 1990 (http://khmercanada.site.voila.fr/cambodge60.htm)
5. Benjamin, Roger W.; Kautsky, John H.. Communism and Economic Development (http://links.jstor.org
/sici?sici=0003-0554%28196803%2962%3A1%3C110%3ACAED%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V), in The American Political
Science Review, Vol. 62, No. 1. (March 1968), pp. 122.
6. The party statutes, published in mid-1970s, claims that the name change was approved by the party congress in
1971.[1] (http://www.yale.edu/cgp/iengsary.htm)
7. Chandler, David 2000, Brother Number One: A Political Biography of Pol Pot, Revised Edition, Chiang Mai,
Thailand: Silkworm Books, pp. 96-7.
8. Rodman, Peter, Returning to Cambodia (http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2007/0823iraq_rodman.aspx),
Brookings Institution, August 23, 2007.
8/4/2015 9:13 PM
8 of 8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kampuchea
9. Lind, Michael, Vietnam: The Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of America's Most Disastrous Military Conflict, Free
Press, 1999.
10. Etcheson, Craig, The Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea, Westview Press, 1984, p. 97
11. Shawcross, William, Sideshow, Isaacs, Hardy, & Brown, pgs. 92100, 106112.
12. Dmitry Mosyakov, The Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese Communists: A History of Their Relations as Told in the
Soviet Archives, in Susan E. Cook, ed., Genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda (Yale Genocide Studies Program
Monograph Series No. 1, 2004), p54ff. Available online at: www.yale.edu/gsp/publications/Mosyakov.doc "In
AprilMay 1970, many North Vietnamese forces entered Cambodia in response to the call for help addressed to
Vietnam not by Pol Pot, but by his deputy Nuon Chea. Nguyen Co Thach recalls: "Nuon Chea has asked for help and
we have liberated five provinces of Cambodia in ten days.""
13. Shawcross, William and Peter Rodman,Defeat's Killing Fields (http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2007/06
/07iraq-rodman), Brookings Institution, June 7, 2007.
14. The Economist, February 26, 1983; Washington Post, April 23, 1985.
15. Bezlova, Antoaneta, China haunted by Khmer Rouge links (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KB21Ad01.html),
Asia Times, February 21, 2009.
16. Osborne, Milton E. Sihanouk Prince of Light, Prince of Darkness. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994. ISBN
978-0-8248-1639-1
17. Milton Osborne, Sihanouk, Prince of Light, Prince of Darkness. Silkworm 1994
18. Kroef, Justus M. van der, Cambodia: From "Democratic Kampuchea" to "People's Republic" (http://links.jstor.org
/sici?sici=0004-4687%28197908%2919%3A8%3C731%3ACF%22KT%22%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23), in Asian Survey,
Vol. 19, No. 8. (August , 1979), pp. 731-750.
19. Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / Country Studies / Area Handbook Series / Cambodia / Appendix B
(http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cambodia/kh_appnb.html)
External links
List of incidents attributed to the Khmer Rouge on the START database (http://www.start.umd.edu
/gtd/search/Results.aspx?page=1&casualties_type=&casualties_max=&perpetrator=446&count=100&
charttype=line&chart=overtime&ob=GTDID&od=desc&expanded=yes#results-table)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org
/w/index.php?title=Communist_Party_of_Kampuchea&
oldid=670271096"
8/4/2015 9:13 PM