Pol Pot
Pol Pot ប៉ុល ពត | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Saloth Sâr 19 May 1925 Prek Sbauv, Kampong Thom, Cambodia |
| Died |
15 April 1998 Choam, Oddar Meanchey, Cambodia |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Nationality | Cambodian |
| Ideology |
Marxism–Leninism Khmer nationalism |
| Political party | CPK |
Pol Pot[a] (19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian revolutionary who governed Democratic Kampuchea as its Prime Minister from 1976 to 1979 and also acted as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea 1963 to 1981. His government would be overthrown by a Vietnamese invasion in December 1978 and he would be forced into exile in his country's western-most area, which would act as a holdout for the "Khmer Rouge"[b] movement.
Born into a rural Khmer family, Pol Pot’s early life under French colonial rule shaped his later anti-imperialist views. Educated in Phnom Penh and Paris, he declared himself a Marxist–Leninist, rising through the CPK to lead a peasant and worker-driven movement against colonial and capitalist oppression. His tenure saw agrarian reforms and the evacuation of urban centers, aiming for a classless society. He diplomatically aligned Democratic Kampuchea with the People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong and against the Soviet Union and its sponsored government in Vietnam.[1] Pot would die on April 15, 1998 after a heart attack.[2]
Pol Pot remains a controversial figure in communist circles. His supporters view him as a true communist revolutionary and champion of Kampuchea's sovereignty and resistance against Soviet and United States imperialism and social-imperialism while his opponents consider him to be an anti-communist, bourgeois nationalist, and traitor to Marxism.[3][4]
See also
References
- ↑ Pol Pot (1976). "Words of Condolence Upon the Death of Chairman Mao Zedong".
- ↑ "Biography of comrade Pol Pot, secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea" (1978). Dept. of Press & Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Democratic Kampuchea.
- ↑ "Pol Pot Archive" biography. Marxists Internet Archive.
- ↑ "Pol Pot Was Not and Is Not A Communist" (February 19, 1986). Challenge-Desafio.
Notes
- ↑ Born Saloth Sâr.
- ↑ The term Khmers rouges, French for red Khmers, was coined by King Norodom Sihanouk and it was later adopted by English speakers in the form of the corrupted version Khmer Rouge. It was used to refer to a succession of communist parties in Cambodia which evolved into the Communist Party of Kampuchea and later the Party of Democratic Kampuchea. Its military was known successively as the Kampuchean Revolutionary Army and the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea.