Category: Democratic Kampuchea

Who were the Workers Party of Kampuchea? The communist movement in Cambodia went through numerous changes from its initial birth as part of the Indochinese Communist Party, to the Khmer Rouge years and finally to the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), which still govern the country today. The current CPP trace […]

What was Democratic Kampuchea? In short Democratic Kampuchea was the Khmer Rouge state that governed Cambodia from April 1975, until their overthrow in December of 1979. Despite its rather short tenure it is one of the most controversial states to have ever existed. And despite officially being overthrown in 1979, […]

Despite being one of the most brutal regimes in history Democratic Kampuchea was also one of the least successful. So, why did Democratic Kampuchea fall? A simple answer would be that it fell quite simply because it was too extreme and drastically unpopular. This would of course be a drastic […]

What was the Super Great Forward? Quite simply the Super Great Leap Forward was the policy of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, AKA the Khmer Rouge in Democratic Kampuchea. It’s aims were to turn Cambodia into a fully functioning independent socialist state essentially by doing everything “faster” than communists had done […]

What did people eat in Democratic Kampuchea? The famine and mass killings during the regime of the Khmer Rouge are well documented, but it should be remembered that as messed up as it was, Democratic Kampuchea was to a degree a functioning state. As part of the “Super Great Leap […]

Why did the Khmer Rouge not kill Sihanouk? The fact that the Khmer Rouge were allies of the deposed King of Cambodia is no secret. That many Cambodian peasants thought that they were fighting for their king rather than the Khmer Rouge is also well documented. We also know the […]

The Pol Pot Legacy in Cambodia? What is it? And how does it affect everyday life in the Kingdom of Cambodia? Since watching the film Killing Fields I have always had a a fascination with Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge. Ironically Facebook reminded me yesterday that it was six years […]

Son Sen (Khmer: សុន សេន) was a leading member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. He was also a leading member of the other various incarnations of the Khmer Rouge until his death in 1997. In the “brother system” of the Khmer Rouge he was “Brother number […]

The National Army of Democratic Kampuchea was the successor to the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea. It was the armed wing of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from 1979-1982 and for the Party of Democratic Kampuchea from 1982-1992.  It was the strongest armed element of the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea.  It was directly […]

The Kampuchean Revolutionary Army were the armed forces of the state of Democratic Kampuchea. On April 17th 1975 the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh and the transition from being a rebel army to masters of a new country began. The country was renamed to Democratic Kampuchea, a constitution was […]