Democratic Kampuchea

Democratic Kampuchea កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ
1975–1979
Flag (1976–1979) Emblem (1976–1979)
Anthem: ដប់ប្រាំពីរមេសាមហាជោគជ័យ "Victorious Seventeenth of April" (1976–1979)
Location of Democratic Kampuchea Location of Democratic Kampuchea
Capital and largest city	Phnom Penh
Common languages	Khmer
Religion	State atheism
Mode of production	Socialism
Government	Unitary one-party Marxist–Leninist socialist republic
CPK General Secretary
• 1975–1979	Pol Pot
Head of state
• 1975–1976	Norodom Sihanouk
• 1976–1979	Khieu Samphan
Prime Minister
• 1975–1976	Penn Nouth
• 1976	Khieu Samphan (acting)
• 1976	Pol Pot
• 1976	Nuon Chea (acting)
• 1976–1979	Pol Pot
Legislature	People's Representative Assembly
History
• Khmer Rouge capture of Phnom Penh	17 April 1975
• Constitution established	5 January 1976
• Start of Vietnamese invasion	21 December 1978
• Vietnamese capture of Phnom Penh	7 January 1979
• CGDK established	22 June 1982

Democratic Kampuchea was a socialist state in modern Cambodia which existed between 1975 to 1979. The government which ruled the country is often known in the West as the Khmer Rouge. The state was led by the Communist Party of Kampuchea headed by Pol Pot.

The socialist government of Kampuchea initiated several large-scale programs to build a communist society and repair the damages caused by United States bombings, including the evacuation of most urban centers, abolition of currency, and agrarian collectivization. Democratic Kampuchea aligned with the People's Republic of China against the revisionist Soviet Union and maintained relations with other countries such as North Korea. The state would collapse in 1979 with an invasion by the Soviet-backed government of Vietnam and would continue as an insurgency until 1999.

Left-wing critics have accused Democratic Kampuchea as being a detachment from Marxism and a Western-backed regime installed the counter the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and its interests.

History

Background

The land that would become Democratic Kampuchea was the location of several monarchic states in pre-modern times, most notably the Khmer Empire (802–1431). In 1863, the French Colonialists installed a protectorate in Cambodia along with the rest of Indochina. French colonial rule would be briefly interrupted during the Second World War with an invasion by the Empire of Japan, which would establish a puppet monarchy in Cambodia in 1945 until being defeated that same year by the Allied powers.

In 1953, an independent monarchy would established and would last until 1970, when it was overthrown in a military putsch and the Khmer Republic established. Kampuchea at this time was in a civil war between Western-sponsored capitalists and communists led by the Communist Party of Kampuchea. With large popular support in the countryside, the capital Phnom Penh finally fell on 17 April 1975 to the CPK, beginning the period of Democratic Kampuchea.

See also

• Communist Party of Kampuchea
• People's Republic of Kampuchea