Posted on 06/10/2023 4:48:08 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Historical ignorance isn’t bliss; it’s suicide.
A forgetful society lives on the precipice of history’s abyss. Lloyd Billingsley reminded us of this when he warned, “as ever, the struggle against genocide is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”
Billingsley was referencing the Communist Khmer Rouge’s democidal frenzy of 1975-1979 that killed over 2,000,000 people, specifically “Cambodian children were clubbed to death and babies smashed against trees.” He provided a link to an historical, contemporaneous 1977 account of the communist regime and its bloodthirsty Angka Loeu (“organization on high”) leadership’s initial crimes against the Cambodian people and humanity: Murder of a Gentle Land: The Untold Story of Communist Genocide in Cambodia, by John Barron and Anthony Paul. It is a horrific chronicle of how the insidious tactics and crimes into which the murderous ideology of communism metastasizes and, ultimately, consumes a people.
It is a lesson of history that humanity ignores at its peril. Consequently, in the hope of reminding the present about the past to preserve the future, let us delve into Barron and Paul’s reportage of the survivors’ accounts of the Khmer Rouge’s barbarity perpetrated in the name of the very people these communists tortured and killed.
When he was deposed and in temporary exile in Mao’s China, in his attempt to return to power Prince Norodom Sihanouk became the titular leader of Cambodia’s Royal Government of National Union. It was not long until the communists controlled this organization.
Thus, through little enterprise of their own, the Cambodian communists almost overnight achieved a textbook objective of communists everywhere—a coalition that cloaked them with respectability and put at their disposal the resources of others. Stigmatized as foreign agents, they could not attract popular support. Now, with their real identity and aims obscured in the coalition, they would appeal to the people in the name of a prince trusted and esteemed by much of the populace.
Having taken power in now “Democratic Cambodia,” the Khmer Rouge regime and its Angka Loeu leadership immediately went about emptying the cities and purging the populace.
In assaulting the material manifestations of Cambodian culture and civilization, the communists were striking at the concepts the objects of their fury symbolized. And the assaults presaged systematic attempts to undermine or eliminate entirely the traditional concepts of family, home, religion, education, commerce, and technology that formed the foundations of society . . . Having emptied and vandalized the cities, Angka Loeu proclaimed the birth of ‘Democratic Cambodia’ and proudly declared, ‘More than 2,000 years of Cambodian history have virtually ended.’ It is difficult to dispute that claim.
Human dignity and core liberties were immediately ended by the communist regime, as the cities and large villages were arbitrarily emptied and their residents forced into the countryside and jungles. No dissent was too small to go unpunished.
[A man said] ‘your order won’t work . . . How will we get to our destination without a car?’ ‘Now is the time of revolution! And you don’t talk back to Angka!’ the soldier shouted in response. Then he sprayed the man with bursts of machine-gun bullets. The man immediately crumpled to the ground, and several others around him also fell.
Indeed, all free speech brought a death sentence. How eerily familiar to present ears echoes the edict of a Khmer Rouge communist officer who, after shooting a vocal dissident, shouted, “In times of revolution, protest is forbidden!”?
Parental rights were abolished; the family unit decimated by communist design.
And children were singled out for the most intensive brainwashing, calculated to estrange them further from their parents and transfer their loyalty from family to Angka Loeu. In the village of Khna Sar university student Ung Sok Choeu observed: ‘The only subjects the students were being taught were revolutionary thinking and the aims of the Khmer Rouge struggle and how to detect the enemies of both. As a result, all the children turned into little Khmer Rouge spies, reporting everything that was said at home.’
Angka Loeu directed Khmer Rouge soldiers to lead reeducation sessions for those who were not starved, shot, or dying of treatable diseases that the communist regime deemed potentially useful to their new “Democratic Cambodia.”
Angka spokesmen attempted to indoctrinate the prisoners at night, repeatedly sounding a basic refrain: ‘All of you are technicians. You are educated men, and the simple village people didn’t dare reeducate you. But we, your brothers from the army, are happy to reeducate and reshape you. In two years’ time, maybe, when you have adapted yourselves to the new regime, you will be allowed to return to Phnom Penh and your former profession. Meanwhile, you have to help Angka produce rice, to defend the country. Never refuse Angka’s orders, and stop thinking about your families.
Yet, the Cambodian people did keep thinking about their families, at least those they hoped were still alive, wherever the Khmer Rouge sent them. For these heartbroken family members, and those who recalled life before the regime, Angka Loeu declared them afflicted by a mental condition:
Simultaneously, Angka identified and proclaimed the existence of a dreaded new malady—chhoeu sattek aram, literally, ‘memory sickness.’ Angka considered that a person was suffering from ‘memory sickness’ if he or she thought too much about life in precommunist Cambodia . . . Angka attempted to cure the ailment by halving the rice ration of the afflicted. Sometimes the punishment for presumed malingering was more swift and direct.
Overall, the Khmer Rouge’s aim was to create “true communism” by eradicating everything:
An Angka official in the Mongkol Borei district declared, ‘To build a democratic Cambodia by renewing everything on a new basis: to do away with every reminder of colonial and imperialist culture, whether visible or tangible or in a person’s mind; to rebuild our new Cambodia, one million men is enough. Prisoners of war [people expelled from the cities and villages controlled by the government on April 17, 1975] are no longer needed, and local chiefs are free to dispose of them as they please.’ [Emphasis in the original.]
This was not an isolated instance. It was Khmer Rouge policy:
The commander of a thirty-man communist detachment stationed at a large farm 8 kilometers west of Sisophon summoned New Villagers and warned: ‘Everything which belonged to the old society must be banished.’ All behavior henceforth had to be ‘revolutionary’: all conversation was to be conducted in ‘revolutionary terms;’ any lapses into ‘old ways’ would be severely punished.
During its heinous reign, by its own admission what were the achievements of Democratic Cambodia under the communist Khmer Rouge?
After the destruction of more than 1,000,000 human beings, a once happy country and a whole civilization, the premier of Democratic Cambodia sums up the accomplishments of Angka Loeu: In short, we have not made any noteworthy achievements except the revolutionary movement of the masses.
As Pol Pot indicated in the interview, Cambodia today is a land without universities. It also is a land without cities, commerce, art, music, literature, science or hope. And as the young refugee said, ‘There is no love anywhere.’
By 1979, the killing fields were stilled. The Khmer Rouge’s tyrannical rule over Cambodia was in history’s dustbin, but its butchers were not before the bar of justice. For those Khmer Rouge who were not internally purged by the regime, the wheels of justice ground far longer than did the “wheel of history” that Angka Loeu claimed compelled the democide. Decades passed. Ultimately, trials were held, though the justice wrought was scant. Given the depths of the Khmer Rouge’s crimes against humanity it is impossible to imagine a justice that would have been comprehensive. Still, one could hope for more than the meager justice meted out to these bloodthirsty bastards.
In Cambodia and some foreign quarters, compassionate people honored the dead and heralded the survivors’ courage, vowing to never let the victims and their suffering be forgotten. Yet most of the world forgot, if they had even paid attention at the time. This lesson of history, paid for by the suffering and slaughter of the Cambodian people, was cavalierly lost in the mists of memory and indifference. So doing, the world only serves to ensure “never again” will be vowed yet again and again over the bodies buried in the latest killing fields by murderers masquerading as their victims’ saviors.
Historical ignorance isn’t bliss. It’s suicide.
I have to agree entirely. I think it is also a reason many military people looked at the European front in WWII versus the Pacific front, and saw an obvious disparity in the conduct and cruelty of the war.
Everyone likes to say “oh, people are people” and there is truth in that, but it is also true that it is easier to relate to people who ostensibly share the same God (the same God on the Wehrmacht belt buckle “Gott mit uns” (God is with us) and who observe Christmas, sing the same carols in different languages, etc. than it is to relate to people who worshiped their ancestors instead of God.
And still, a few here at FreeRepublic support Putin and the Russians.
But, but, Putin is not a true communist ("True Scotsman"?) and he supposedly supports Christianity, and hates gays...
"Religion ... is the opiate of the masses." Said Marx
Historical ignorance isn’t bliss; it’s suicide.
How is supporting Pedo Joe ? Yeah , but ,but.
In the 70’s it was thought the next world war would be between the USSR and China with the US siding with the Soviets-border conflicts in ‘69.
It’s the Asian mentality. Japan’s behavior in Nanking. Khmers. Even Bangladesh. East Germans can unlearn. Hopefully the Russians too. The Japanese required 2 bombs and an unconditional surrender, something not in their DNA. The element of doing ones duty is still there even if it conflicts with their conscience. Russians want to forget about the Gulags(Anne Applebaum’s book). Japanese schoolchildren do not hear about comfort women or Nanking.
Eternal vigilance is required. Not happening.
Vietnamese immigrants. I knew one of the boat people. 4 days out to sea. Pirates did more than steal possessions. The openly raped the young girls. Nothing they could do to stop it.
—”How is supporting Pedo Joe ? Yeah , but ,but.”
Not the question tell us why you support Putin.
—”NATO equipment and NATO trained NAZIs up in smoke .”
Clearly he voice of a Putin supporter.
June 21, 1975
Conversation Record of Chairman Mao Zedong’s Meeting with Pol Pot, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea
This document was made possible with support from Henry Luce Foundation
Conversation Record of Chairman Mao Zedong’s Meeting with Pol Pot, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea
[Not Reviewed by Chairman Mao]
Time and Date: 21 June, 1975, 5.15pm to 6.20pm
Venue: Zhongnanhai
Participants:
Cambodia—Ieng Sary, Member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea [CPK]; Ming Shan, Member of the CPK Central Committee and Minister of Armaments [of the GRUNK]; Du Mu, Member of the CPK Central Committee; Peng, Member of the CPK Central Committee.[1]
China——Deng Xiaoping
Interpreters: Xie Yue’e, Qi Zonghua
Minutes: Wang Hairong, Tang Wensheng
[Chairman Mao shakes Secretary Pol Pot’s hand warmly]
Secretary Pol Pot: My respects for Chairman Mao!
Chairman Mao: Welcome!
Pol Pot: Thank you!
Chairman Mao: VERY WELCOME! [Mao says “very welcome” in English]
Pol Pot: We are very happy to be able to meet the great leader Chairman Mao here today.
[Chairman Mao shakes hands with Ieng Sary]
Chairman Mao: [Raises two fingers] This is the second time we meet!
Ieng Sary: I wish Chairman Mao a long life!
Chairman Mao: [pointing to the Cambodians] LONG LIVE YOU! [Mao says “long live you” in English]
[Chairman Mao shakes hands with Ming Shan]
Ming Shan: Chairman Mao is an excellent leader [Chairman Mao waves his hand]
[Chairman Mao shakes hands with Du Mu]
Du Mu: My respects for Chairman Mao!
[Chairman Mao shakes hands with Peng. The guests take their seats]
Chairman Mao: My eyes are not good, my legs are not good either and I can’t speak properly. I can’t do it anymore, I will have to depend on you!
Pol Pot: We are very glad to do so, we are very happy to meet the Chairman.
Chairman Mao: Your fighting, WAR [Mao says “war” in English], political, military, economic, foreign policies and the united front–I won’t talk about it. [Referring to Deng Xiaoping] I agree with what he says, he said you were right.
Pol Pot: Thank you. It warms our hearts to hear the Chairman say so.
Chairman Mao: We approve of what you do. Much of your experience is better than ours. China is not qualified to criticize you. We committed errors of the political lines for ten times in fifty years—some are national, some are regional (The mistakes made by) Chen Duxiu, Qu Qiubai, Li Lisan, and Luo Zhanglong had nothing to do with the Soviet Union. (Those made by) Wang Ming, Zhang Guotao, Gao Gang, Peng Dehuai, Liu Shaoqi, and Lin Biao involved the Soviet Union. They opposed us and divided the party, but they all failed. The party remained undivided and they were excluded. Thus I say that China has no qualification to criticize you, and can only agree with you. You are basically correct. I am not sure whether you have any shortcoming. There are bound to some and you’ll rectify by yourself. RECTIFICATION [Mao says “rectification” in English]. I won’t talk about all these. Let this fellow surnamed Deng do it. [Laughters]
There is one point I’d like to talk about. Currently you are on the transition from democratic revolution to the socialist way. SOCIALIST WAY [Mao says “socialist way” in English]. There are two possible outcomes: one is socialism, the other is capitalism. We are still struggling between the two possible outcomes now. Wang Ming, Zhang Guotao, Gao Gang, Peng Dehuai, Liu Shaoqi, and Lin Biao—they wanted to build capitalism. In the next 50 or 100 years, there will still be a struggle between these two lines. In the next ten thousand years, there will still be a struggle between the two. Even when Communism is achieved, there will still be a struggle between the two. Otherwise we aren’t Marxists. The unity of opposites, UNITY OF OPPOSITES [Mao says “unity of opposites” in English]. If we only talk about one, that’s metaphysics; if we talk about two, then it’s the UNITY OF OPPOSITES [Mao says “unity of opposites” in English], STRUGGLE OF OPPOSITES [Mao says “struggle of opposites” in English]. I believe in what Marx and Lenin said.
The road is winding. Lenin’s Soviet Union changed under Khrushchev and Brezhnev. In future, it will still return to the Lenin’s path. The same goes for China. It could become revisionist in the future, but eventually it will follow the path set by Marx and Lenin.
We are now a capitalist country without capitalists, as said by Lenin. This country wants to protect the legal rights of the capitalist classes. People’s wages are not equal. It perpetuates unequal systems under the guise of slogans of egalitarianism. That’s what we are like right now and this will continue for many years before we achieve Communism. Communism will also have two lines of struggle, and the struggles between the progressive and the backward. We can’t talk about it comprehensively as yet. These are what we openly say in the newspapers.
That’s all I have to say.
Pol Pot: We are very honored to be able to pay our respects to Chairman Mao here today. We have always respected Chairman Mao and learned from your works. Your writings have guided our revolution until we achieved a nationwide victory. We are able to meet Chairman Mao in person today and hear Chairman Mao talk about the issue of the lines. This is a very important and strategic issue. We will be sure to do as you say from now on. I studied many of Chairman Mao’s works from a young age, particularly your work on the people’s war. Chairman Mao’s works guided our entire party while we were engaged in the political and military struggles. We made use of it in our actual struggle and achieved results. When our struggles entered the most difficult stage , we studied the work The Struggle in the Jinggang Mountains, and it steeled our resolve. We also paid close attention to the experience of the Chinese people led by Chairman Mao after China was liberated. We read articles talking about China’s experience very closely. Chairman Mao’s earlier comments on the issue of the line struggle...
Chairman Mao: Uh huh.
Pol Pot: We also study it within the party. We pay close attention to class struggle and line struggle. We will study and learn from the experience of China until we achieve the final victory.
Chairman Mao: Don’t copy China’s example completely. Master Shi said, whoever attempts to be like me will get sick. Master Shi is named Kumarajiva, living during the ear of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. He was a foreigner who could speak Chinese and he translated many Buddhist texts. We have to figure it out on our own. As Marx said, their teachings could only serve a guide and are not doctrines. Marx said so himself. Kumarajiva’s words were quoted by a Chinese scholar called Yan Fu . Yan was a translator. This quotation is from (the introduction of) On Evolution translated by Yan. Yan said he was not “translating”, but was “expressing the original texts elegantly,” and that was what was he did for this book [referring to On Evolution]. But he translated literally the other works such as those about political economies. This was written by (Thomas Henry) Huxley, HUXLEY [Mao says “Huxley” in English]. He was British and a supporter of Darwin and called himself “Darwin’s Bulldog.” He came up with the idea of “agnosticism., German [philosopher Immanuel] Kant talked about agnosticism. Huxley said the agnosticism talked about by Kant, only knew what was on the surface but not the substance. He [note: referring to Huxley] was a materialist in his understanding of the natural sciences and idealist with regards to the social sciences. He endorsed Indian Buddhist philosophy. Thus Marx called him a “shamefaced materialist.”
I’ve never said so much to other people on the things I’ve said to you.
Pol Pot: Thank you. This is a great honor to us. Chairman Mao has received us today and talked to us about so many things and given us a great deal of inspiration. It is a treasure trove for our party and people. Please allow us to express our deepest thanks once again.
Chairman Mao: Don’t thank me. Thank Marx and Lenin. There are 30 works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, in big type, that I wish to gift to you. Marx and Lenin said it very well, better than myself.
Pol Pot: We are glad to receive them. We will study them very hard and apply them in accordance with the conditions in our country. We also want to continue learning Chairman Mao’s works.
Chairman Mao: I am not satisfied with myself.
Alright, thank you!
Pol Pot: We are taking our leave. I wish Chairman Mao a long life! I represent our delegation, our party and all our fighters in wishing Chairman Mao longevity! Farewell!
Chairman Mao: Thank you.
Pol Pot: Goodbye!
Ieng Sary: I wish Chairman Mao good heath!
[Chairman Mao shakes hands with the comrades of the Central Committee Members of the CPK]
[1] The names of the three CPK Central Committee members are in Pinyin. The Romanized names could not be identified.
This records contains the full transcript of the talks between Mao and Pol Pot (an excerpt was originally published in CWIHP Working Paper #22, ‘77 Conversations between Chinese and Foreign Leaders on the Wars in Indochina’). Mao Zedong muses on the nature of the struggle between the capitalist and socialist forces within China. He tells Pol Pot not to blindly follow the Chinese model, but adopt Marxist theory to the Cambodian realities.
Author(s):
Sary, Ieng
Mao, Zedong
Pol Pot
Associated People & Organizations
Wang, Ming
Li, Lisan
Chen, Duxiu
Zhang, Guotao (Chang Kuo-tao)
Gao, Gang
Peng, Dehuai
Liu, Shaoqi
Lin, Biao
Associated Places
Cambodia
China
Associated Topics
China-Southeast Asia Relations
Conversations with Mao Zedong
77 Conversations
Subjects Discussed
Cambodia—History—Civil War, 1970-1975
China—History—Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976
Cambodia—Foreign relations—China
China—Politics and government—1949-1976
Cambodia—History—1975-1979
Cambodia—Politics and government—1975-1979
Mao, Zedong, 1893-1976—Political and social views
Related Documents
June 21, 1975
Conversation between Chinese leader Mao Zedong and Cambodian Leader Pol Pot
Mao Zedong muses on the nature of the struggle between the capitalist and socialist forces within China. He tells Pol Pot not to blindly follow the Chinese model, but adopt Marxist theory to the Cambodian realities. Excepts.
Document Information
Source
Song Yongyi, ed., Zhongguo wenhua dageming wenku (Chinese Cultural Revolution Database), 3rd ed. (Hong Kong: Universities Service Centre for Chinese Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013). Translated by Caixia Lu.
And then Edwin Starr joined them on stage and Starr and Mao broke out into "War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!"
People are insane.
This was the worst Democide in History by percentage.
Does she know anybody in Long Beach, California? Long Beach has a huge Cambodian population...
Interesting read.
“We are now a capitalist country without capitalists, as said by Lenin. This country wants to protect the legal rights of the capitalist classes”
Translation: We use the Capitalist’s to get things done so the Communists can reap the benefits.
It’s the same the left do here. Demonize “Big Money” publicly, but privatly not so much. As Mao said “As we say in the newspapers”. The Big Money people kow-tow to the left so they won’t lose their power and money.
Agree. I believe we are on the road of putting the structure in place through the indoctrination throughout all levels of our institutions. There are some exceptions. The one to watch and fear if the trend continues is our military, it used to be one that one would not have to worry about them using force against their own citizens, but know I’m beginning to question if how true that might be today or in the near future. Since the COVID mandates/lockdowns under the current administration started a purge of our military whether it was alleged “White Supremacy”, COVID vaccine mandates and now the LGBT..... indoctrination/mandated acceptance.
The true American patriots who would normally join the military because they believe in what we stood for. Now all the branches of our military are having a hard time meeting their quotas and will soon have to look at other means. One dangerous aspect would be to allow the illegals that have flooded our borders to join with certain promises. Depending on who is in the WH, it doesn’t take much of an imagination how this can go badly. Even with the ranks filled with Marxists will be bad for those Americans who still believe in their GOD given freedom and liberty.
I had a gardener 40 years ago who had been a Colonel in the RVNA. He was captured by the Viet Cong, escaped and made his way south by night on foot. During the day he slept submerged in marshes breathing through reeds.
A Vietnamese man about 30 years old worked for me around 2000. They escaped around 1978 on one of the boat lifts. He recalled being strafed on the boat as they were fleeing.
When the Russians invaded eastern Europe in 1944-45, they evicted millions of ethnic Germans. My great grandfather got the knock on their door and had until sundown to leave. He and his sister managed to walk the 800 miles back to West Germany at age 80 and he passed away in 1951, the year I was born in the states.
We forget the natural state of man is war and deprivation.
Which is why the only good commie is a dead commie. And letting them metastasize in your country, infiltrate your organizations, and teach your children, is a recipe for catastrophe.
Thank you for sharing that.
My one daughter heard about the Holocaust early on and started reading up on it at a very young age. She gave a book report in class about it and all the kids said she was making it up. The teacher corrected them, and they formerly learned about it two or three years later in school.
But everybody talks about remembering the Holocaust so that it won’t happen again. I told my kids that it is important to learn about it - but it HAS and WILL happen again. I gave a crash course on the various genocides and evil after WWII. I can’t recall them all now, but Mao, Vietnam, Laos, etc.
She knows some people in the Sacramento area, not Long Beach. She has many aunts/uncles in Georgia where there is a large number of Cambodians. Always fun to watch her when she is with family, sihe is so happy.
Her family are all about FAMILY. That is all that matters to them. It is very heart warming to see.
#6 They are trying to kill as many people as they can with the man made wuhan flu virus and deadly vaccines and now wanting to restrict farmers from growing food. Actually shutting down farming in places like Denmark and here in the USA proposing to do the same. Everything the democrats / socialists propose is a restriction for travel, to heat or cool your home and water your lawn to using a dishwasher and washer that works to banning guns etc. etc.
Communists are socialists who are in a hurry.
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