Pol Pot (94 page)

Pol Pot,

.

Kropotkin, pp. 1–2. The phrase I have translated as ‘peasants and labourers’ is, in the original, ‘des paysans et des proletaires dans les villes’. However, in the eighteenth century the industrial proletariat did not yet exist and Kropotkin made clear (p. 283) that he was referring to ‘les artisans et toute la population laborieuse des cités.’ In this context, to use the literal translation, ‘proletarians’, would be misleading. The eighteenth-century French proletariat was the equivalent of the

and coolies of 1950s Phnom Penh, not of any proletarian workforce that Marx ever dreamed of.

73

Dec. 31 1998.

Suong Sikoeun, interview. See also

Nov. 15 1996; and Sher,

p. 62.

74

Kropotkin, pp. 312,406,433 and 707–9.

This is a constant theme throughout Kropotkin’s book. ‘The bourgeoisie and the educated classes would have done nothing . . . if the mass of the peasants had not risen up and . . . given the discontented elements among the middle classes the possibility to fight the King and the Court’ (p. 5); ‘the bourgeoisie constantly distrusted its ally of a day, the people’ (p. 76); ‘so began, on the part of the bourgeois leaders, the systematic treason that we shall see occurring throughout the Revolution’ (p. 100); ‘in short, the bourgeoisie and the intellectuals, the defenders of property rights, worked so hard to break the élan of the people that they halted the Revolution altogether’ (p. 288). See also,

pp. 107–8, 178, 206

., 255, 279–81, 285, 405, 431–3, 615–16, 658.

Ibid., pp. 646 and 738–9.

76

The official French-language version of the speech, which Sihanouk delivered in Khmer, is reproduced in

pp. 125–36. Nhiek Tioulong gives unrevised excerpts in ‘Chroniques Khmères’,

p. 11.

78

‘Lettre de l’Association des Etudiants Khmers en France à Sa Majesté Norodom Syhanouk [

], Roi du Cambodge’, July 6 1952, in

no. 14. Unlike earlier editions, which were cyclostyled or printed in French, this issue, dated Aug. 1952, was handwritten on wax stencils in Khmer. The text quoted is from a contemporaneous French version of the letter, kindly supplied by Ben Kiernan, and from a later ms translation made by Mey Mann.

79

The usual, and literal, translation of this term—which is used to describe the autochthonous peoples inhabiting the Cardamoms and other remote parts of the country—is ‘Original Khmer’. But it would be wrong to attach too much significance to that: it does

indicate an atavistic yearning for a primitive, golden age. According to Keng Vannsak (interview), ‘It was a term that was in common use. It simply meant “Old Khmer”, or “Ancestor”, and it conveyed the image of a Brahman. It had no revolutionary significance . . . The idea was rather that of a sage.’ Other students, writing in the same issue, used the pseudonyms

(Khmer hereditary slave)—an allusion to the plight of the population under the monarchy—and

(Free Khmer).

no.14, Aug. 1952 (d. D00084, DC-Cam).

82

Pol Pot,

.

Ping Sây, interview.

85

‘Compte-rendu de Combat du 22 Décembre 1952’, A.R.K., 4ème Bataillon, 2ème Compagnie, No. 1025/C3, pp. 1–3, in ‘Opérations de Pacification au Cambodge, Décembre 1952-Janvier 1953’, Etat-Major, 3èrme Bureau, No. 146/3, c. 10H285, SHAT.

Pol Pot,

See also In Sopheap,

.

See

Nov. 24 1954 (in c. HCC 27 [Surveillance de la presse Cambodgienne, 1951–1955], AOM), cited in Sher,

pp. 610–11, where the ‘essential task’ of internal policy is described as ‘achieving national independence and internal sovereignty’.

88

Bunchan Mol,

pp. 44–67; ‘Proclamation Royale’, June 21 1952, in

p. 149. For Viet Minh accounts of French atrocities, see SDECE, Bulletins de Renseignements Nos. 17574/1 of Oct. 2 1949 and 18431/1 of Oct. 24 1949, in c. 10H4120, SHAT. On Nov. 18 1951, the French commander, General Dio, felt it necessary to issue orders—‘to be read, understood and

regularly to the cadres’—for the maintenance of ‘strict discipline. Plunder, robbery, pillage, rape, abuse of power and taking food without payment are absolutely to be avoided.’

90

Pol Pot,

In Sept. 1951 French intelligence located Keo Monis SE Zone HQ as being’at Krâbao, 50 kms ENE of Prey Veng town’ (Note de Renseignement No. 1919/2, Sept. 5 1951, c. 10H4122, SHAT). In the summer of 1954, when Mey Mann went there, it was still in that area (interview).

De Langlade to Salan, 156/CAB, Mar. 24 1953, c. 10H285, SHAT.

92

–4

Unless otherwise indicated, the following account is based on ‘Politique Intérieure, Mois de Juin 1953’, c. 10H613, SHAT. The document is unsigned, but Chandler (

p. 328 n.53) attributes it to De Langlade on the basis of a copy sent to Washington by the US Embassy in Saigon.

92

‘Note Personnelle redigée par Norodom Sihanouk de Cambodge à l’intention des Etats-Unis d’Amérique et de la Grande Bretagne’, c. 10H613, SHAT.

94

De Langlade, ‘Politique Intérieure’,

96

‘Rapport [oral] du camarade Khieu Minh, fonctionnaire-cadre de l’Ambassade Vietnamien à Phnom Penh, fait au sujet de Pol Pot et son Parti à la délégation des cadres du Comité de Recherche sur l’idéologie du CC’, Phnom Penh, May 10 1980, Doc. 32(N442)/T8243, VA.

Pol Pot,

His story of having worked as a cook is confirmed by a Vietnamese source (‘Biographie de Pol Pot’, Doc. 32(N442)/T8313, VA).

He added: ‘Because I was a student from France, I was not a trustworthy cadre as far as those in the resistance group were concerned . . . So, I was not assigned any work to do.’ (Yun Soeun, confession).

97

‘Les Six Règies de Vie du Membre du Parti Communiste’, Comité Exécutif Central du Parti Lao Dong, 1951, c. BA 2346, Archives de la Préfecture de Police, Paris.

98

‘Recherche sur le Parti Cambodgien’, Doc. 3KN/T8572, VA.

Pol Pot,

99

Quoted in Kiernan,

p. 123 (translation amended).

Pol Pot,

.

Ibid.; Mey Mann, interview;’Implantation Rebelle au 15 mai 1952’, EMIFT map, c. 10H4122, SHAT.

100

Pol Pot,

.

Both In Sopheap and Suong Sikoeun (interviews) stressed Pol Pot’s serene, monk-like demeanour as one of the sources of his charisma and hence of his power.

Mey Mann, interview.

102

Haut Commissariat Royal du Cambodge, No. 054A, Apr. 21 1954, c. A-O-I 166, QD.

104

–5

The following account relies on Mey Mann (interview). Pham Van Ba, in his interview with Kiernan (

p. 155), appears to inflate his own role.

105

Mey Mann, interview.

106

‘De Langlade à Monsieur . . . le Commandant en Chef des Forces Terrestres . . . en Indochine’, Nov. 11 1953, c. 10H285, SHAT.

107

In his confession (Oct. 7 1976), Keo Meas indicates that the assignment of tasks in the winter of 1954 was undertaken ‘on instructions from the brothers higher up . . . which were conveyed at first through the Vietnamese, and later on through Comrade [Saloth Sâr]’. Of the ‘brothers higher-up’, Son Ngoc Minh was in North Vietnam, and Sieu Heng in southern Vietnam (until 1956). That leaves only Tou Samouth—whom Meas noted soon afterwards took charge of the Phnom Penh Committee—as the source of these directives. Sâr’s role in liaising with the Democrats is confirmed by Keng Vannsak and Thiounn Mumm (interviews).

108

Keng Vannsak, interview.

Ping Sây, interview.

Thiounn Mumm, interview.

109

pp. 385–8.

111

Keng Vannsak, interview.

112

Keng Vannsak, interview.

Pol Pot,

113

Pol Pot,

: ‘Recherche sur le Parti Cambodgien’, Doc. 3KN. T8572, VA.

115

In 1956, Sihanouk used the term ‘pro-Easterners’ to designate the Pracheachon (’La Subversion au Cambodge’, Nov. 7 1956, c. CLV 20, QD). The terms ‘rouge’ and ‘rose’ occur several times in the series of articles Sihanouk published in