Word Count: 1997
To what extent was Pol Pot’s regime between the period of 1975-1979 successfully implemented?
Pol Pot was the head of the Khmer Rouge that seized power of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 leaving behind the catastrophic remnants of their reign in the years to come. Pol Pot was inspired by the writings of communist philosopher Karl Marx and based his regime and policies around his famous political manuscript “The Communist Manifesto”. His writing stressed the importance of equality, harmony and justice in society and drew attention to the class struggle. Pol Pot wanted to eliminate American imperialism and capitalism from Cambodia and return it to its former glory as a social agrarian state that would be and completely self sufficient, this policy however was met with many obstacles as the state struggled to meet food requirements. The regime also looked to eliminate class hierarchy from Cambodian society and succeeded to a moderate extent through establishing a uniform peasant class. The Khmer Rouge regime was based around the elimination of their enemies, through mass genocide the party were able to prevent any enemy infiltration however at the cost of many innocent civilians lives. The regime also aimed to completely reform the education and healthcare system in Cambodia to become self-reliant and reeducate students to be dedicated in the state and have an advanced knowledge of science and technology.
To a moderate extent Pol Pot’s regime was unsuccessfully implemented, as his agrarian reform could not fulfill the party’s principle of “self reliance”. A major part of Pol Pot’s regime was to implement an agrarian reform that would act as the “basic factor… to build industry” and transform Cambodia into “modernized state”. Pol Pot was motivated to turn Cambodia into an agricultural super state that would produce the nations entire food and natural