Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge

Genocide, or the mass killing of a nationality or ethnic, is a common and relatively frequent event in the history of mankind. Pol Pot, born Saloth Sar, was a leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and was responsible for the Cambodian Genocide. He came to power in a state of unrest and, much like Adolf Hitler, won the support of his people with his radical new proposals and ideas. He proposed an idea to implement an agrarian utopia, which was inspired by the Maoist principles he had seen in China (The History Place). He implemented them using violence which eventually led to the mass murder of millions who did not meet his “requirements” of an individual. This eventually led to the economic instability of the country and the decline of the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot came to power with a country full of desperate people, and through his actions, eventually led to the further deterioration of Cambodia and its population. The Khmer Rouge ascended to power in a period in which South East Asia was in a time of unrest with things such as the Vietnam War. While the Vietnamese and the United States were engaged in a war across the border, Cambodia had its own struggles to deal with. Cambodia, at the time, was led by Prince Sihanouk. However, a politician named Lon Nol, with the help of the United States, successfully led a Coup d'état against the Prince. The Prince retaliated by summoning his allies in the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, to aid him in defeating Nol. The Vietnamese aided this “communist” revolution. Lon Nol now faced enemies in the form of the Communists and the Khmer Rouge, and had to depend on America for financial aid to help build his country's economy and maintain political stability (The Killing Fields: Genocide in Cambodia). Eventually, the Khmer Rouge was successful in their revolution and the Vietnamese withdrew from Cambodia, leaving it in control of Pol Pot. The Cambodian revolution led to Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to take control. Once in power, Pol Pot decided to implement several revolutionary reforms. He declared “Year Zero”. Which basically meant that he would start from scratch with Cambodian society (Pol Pot: A life of a Tyrant). His main objective was to create an agrarian utopia. Mao Zedong imposed a similar policy in China known as the “Great Leap Forward”. Pol Pot modeled his action after that of Mao. He even named his policy “The Super Great Leap Forward” This basically was looking to change Cambodia into a rural, classless society in which there were no rich people, no poor people, and no exploitation (Historical overview of Khmer Rouge). This would abolish the middle and upper classes. All people would be as equal as possible. No one would be smarter, or richer than one another. They essentially would be living the same lives. This would provide Cambodia with a strict peasant Communist society. In addition, Pol Pot wanted to rid Cambodia of all forms of foreign influence, or anything that was even indirectly against the government. He was going to ban capitalism as it led to inequality on the social scale. Additionally, he wanted to purge Cambodia of Western culture and city life. Pol Pot’s solutions were mainly to destroy the current social, political, and economic structure of Cambodian society, and rebuild it based on a strict peasant communist principle obtained from Mao Zedong. The agrarian society the Khmer Rouge wished to establish took several steps. First, The Khmer Rouge ordered the relocation of its entire people to agricultural collectives in the countryside as one of the first measures of Pol Pot’s regime. These agricultural collectives were renamed “Killing Fields” later on due to the high number of casualties that occurred on them He ordered the evacuation of all the cities and transfer of the population at gunpoint (Pol Pot Biography). Out of approximately two million people, about twenty thousand died on the march. Millions of Cambodians accustomed to city life were now forced into slave labor in Pol Pot's "killing fields" where they soon began dying from overwork, malnutrition and disease, on a diet of one tin of rice (180 grams) per person every two days (The historical place). Living conditions were terrible. Hundreds of people often had to share very cramped living quarters. Long working hours, around fifteen a day, with two small breaks and only one measly meal were mandatory for all workers year round. People were often killed for the slightest infraction, even laughing, by the young soldiers. By 1977, almost the entire population was involved in agriculture production (Pol Pot). The agrarian aspect of the Khmer Rouge regime involved harsh conditions, poor treatment, and bad planning for the workers.
Pol Pot implied many radical policies involved based on Communism. The policy of removing the upper and middle classes was done by essentially eliminating anything that would give a person an upper hand over another. These included the removal of money and private property. They even went so far as to limit schooling. To abolish foreign influence, all foreigners were forced out of the country, foreign aid was declined, and embassies were shut down. Businesses were destroyed. Many of these deserted institutions were turned into prisons, stables, reeducation camps and granaries, but most of them were shut down. Leisure was also destroyed. Activities or items not involving working, or anything to do with the revolutionary government, were banned. These included newspapers, televisions among other things. Transportation was also severely limited as both private and public were destroyed. Furthermore, Religion was abolished. This was a popular action in Communist regimes as the leaders saw religion as a force that divides the loyalties of the public. Basic liberties were also deprived from the general public. These included communication and expressing of basic emotions such as happiness or sorrow. People were not allowed to go outside their cooperative. The regime would not allow anyone to gather and hold discussions. If three people gathered and talked, they could be accused of being enemies and arrested or executed (Historical Overview of the Cambodian Genocide). Familial structure was also removed. They were often separated to prevent attachment and such feelings towards each other as this could be potentially damaging to the government. People were told to think of the Khmer Rouge as their mother and father. Violators of these, or many of the other restrictions, were either killed or brutally punished.
The Cambodian Genocide had impactful results, both short term and long term. The most immediate result of Pol Pot’s regime was the enormous amount of casualties that resulted from it. Approximately 2 million Cambodians died through the combined result of political executions, starvation, and forced labor. Furthermore, the poor economic planning had led to Cambodia to be susceptible to attack. Vietnam eventually successfully attacked Cambodia after about three years under Pol Pot. After the Khmer Regime was taken out of power, many Cambodian refugees fled the country to places like the United States (Cambodian Refugees and the Effects of Surviving Genocide). One of the long standing effects of this problem is the abundant poverty that is in Cambodia today. The reign of Pol Pot had many negative effects on Cambodia for years to come.
Pol Pot was the dictator who was responsible for the Cambodian Genocide. He came to power through a revolution where he led the Khmer Rouge to overthrow Lon Nol. He planned to achieve a strict agrarian communist state based on the principles of Maoism with limited freedom and many restrictions. This was eventually achieved. He ruled with an iron fist, killing for every minor atrocity. His harsh actions and poor planning eventually led to almost one third of the Cambodian population to be killed, among other unfavorable results. Perhaps if Pol Pot’s regime wasn’t as bad as it was, Cambodia wouldn’t be suffering from severe poverty to this very day.