Pol Pot,
Thayer interview
.
Opening paragraph
:
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
cyclo-pousses
and coolies of 1950s Phnom Penh, not of any proletarian workforce that Marx ever dreamed of.
73
Surrealistic encounter
:
Le Monde,
Dec. 31 1998.
Robespierre’s personality
:
Suong Sikoeun, interview. See also
Phnom Penh Post,
Nov. 15 1996; and Sher,
thesis,
p. 62.
74
To the Russian . . . centre ground
:
Kropotkin, pp. 312,406,433 and 707–9.
Ambivalence
:
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,
inter alia,
pp. 107–8, 178, 206
et seq
., 255, 279–81, 285, 405, 431–3, 615–16, 658.
‘Never stop half way’
:
Ibid., pp. 646 and 738–9.
76
On June 4
:
The official French-language version of the speech, which Sihanouk delivered in Khmer, is reproduced in
Bilan,
pp. 125–36. Nhiek Tioulong gives unrevised excerpts in ‘Chroniques Khmères’,
supra,
p. 11.
78
Special issue
:
‘Lettre de l’Association des Etudiants Khmers en France à Sa Majesté Norodom Syhanouk [
sic
], Roi du Cambodge’, July 6 1952, in
Khemara Nisut,
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
Old Khmer
:
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
not
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 Neak Ngear
(Khmer hereditary slave)—an allusion to the plight of the population under the monarchy—and
Khmer Serei
(Free Khmer).
‘Monarchy or Democracy?’
:
Khemara Nisut,
no.14, Aug. 1952 (d. D00084, DC-Cam).
82
‘Reconnaissance’
:
Pol Pot,
Cai Ximei interview
.
Second task
:
Ping Sây, interview.
CHAPTER THREE: INITIATION TO THE MAQUIS
85
Regimental despatch
:
‘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.
Before I went away
:
Pol Pot,
Thaver interview;
See also In Sopheap,
Khieu Samphân
.
To Sâr
:
See
Sammaki,
Nov. 24 1954 (in c. HCC 27 [Surveillance de la presse Cambodgienne, 1951–1955], AOM), cited in Sher,
thesis,
pp. 610–11, where the ‘essential task’ of internal policy is described as ‘achieving national independence and internal sovereignty’.
88
Colonial troops
:
Bunchan Mol,
Charek Khmer,
pp. 44–67; ‘Proclamation Royale’, June 21 1952, in
Bilan,
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
explained
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
Saloth Chhay
:
Pol Pot,
Cai Ximei interview.
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).
While Sâr . . . into reality
:
De Langlade to Salan, 156/CAB, Mar. 24 1953, c. 10H285, SHAT.
92
–4
On June 6 . . . Laos and Vietnam
:
Unless otherwise indicated, the following account is based on ‘Politique Intérieure, Mois de Juin 1953’, c. 10H613, SHAT. The document is unsigned, but Chandler (
Tragedy,
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
Secret memorandum
:
‘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
On July 3
:
De Langlade, ‘Politique Intérieure’,
supra.
96
Bona fides
:
‘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.
Sâr remembered
:
Pol Pot,
Cai Ximei interview.
His story of having worked as a cook is confirmed by a Vietnamese source (‘Biographie de Pol Pot’, Doc. 32(N442)/T8313, VA).
Yun Soeun
:
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
‘Six Rules’
:
‘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
‘Real difficulty’
:
‘Recherche sur le Parti Cambodgien’, Doc. 3KN/T8572, VA.
Sâr himself
:
Pol Pot,
Cai Ximei interview.
99
Ba remembered
:
Quoted in Kiernan,
How Pol Pot,
p. 123 (translation amended).
Visit nearby villages
:
Pol Pot,
Cai Ximei interview
.
He made friends
:
Ibid.; Mey Mann, interview;’Implantation Rebelle au 15 mai 1952’, EMIFT map, c. 10H4122, SHAT.
100
After a fashion
:
Pol Pot,
Cai Ximei interview
.
Unruffled manner
:
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.
Principal aide
:
Mey Mann, interview.
102
The engine . . . 30 monks
:
Haut Commissariat Royal du Cambodge, No. 054A, Apr. 21 1954, c. A-O-I 166, QD.
104
–5
Sâr, Mey Mann . . . set out last
:
The following account relies on Mey Mann (interview). Pham Van Ba, in his interview with Kiernan (
How Pol Pot,
p. 155), appears to inflate his own role.
105
Three young Khmers
:
Mey Mann, interview.
CHAPTER FOUR: CAMBODIAN REALITIES
106
Already . . . end of Cambodia
:
‘De Langlade à Monsieur . . . le Commandant en Chef des Forces Terrestres . . . en Indochine’, Nov. 11 1953, c. 10H285, SHAT.
107
Sâr was chosen . . . coming elections
:
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
Sâr had gone . . . united force
:
Keng Vannsak, interview.
‘Important role’
:
Ping Sây, interview.
‘Manipulating Vannsak’
:
Thiounn Mumm, interview.
109
Abdication
:
La Grande Figure, supra,
pp. 385–8.
111
Evil genius
:
Keng Vannsak, interview.
112
‘Slaves for centuries’
:
Keng Vannsak, interview.
Sâr recalled
:
Pol Pot,
Cai Ximei interview.
113
‘Taking part in elections’
:
Pol Pot,
Cai Ximei interview.
New instructions
: ‘Recherche sur le Parti Cambodgien’, Doc. 3KN. T8572, VA.
115
‘Rouges’
:
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
RC