2020 IB Extended Essays

8

of the Khmer Rouge upon returning from France made the decision to join the Khmer Viet

Minh and become leaders of the party from there 14 .

For the next couple of months, Circle members were forced to follow Vietnamese orders

and were given insignificant tasks such as cleaning, while the Vietnamese were given key

roles. This is evidenced by the quote from Pol Pot himself saying “After a while they let me

work… I was the deputy mess officer. The mess officer himself was Vietnamese. The

Cambodians were only there in name.” 15 . Which corroborates the belief of the Cambodians

that they were being given insignificant tasks when there was a battle for independence

occurring.

The Khmer Viet Minh held strong international connections with not only North Vietnam but

also in turn the communist state of Russia 16 . This meant that once the Khmer Rouge leaders

came to power, they would hold those international communist connections which could

aid them. The Khmer Viet Minh communist party installed by the North Vietnamese meant

the beginnings of a communist movement was already in Cambodia. The Khmer Viet Minh

already had the beginnings of a support structure of communists in Cambodia and when the

Khmer Rouge took over this support structure remained 17 . The training of Cambodians by

the Khmer Viet Minh meant that the Khmer rouge leaders had the beginnings of a

communist military. The presence of having the Khmer Viet Minh installed in Cambodia was

a foreign influence which allowed Khmer Rouge leaders to utilise the many benefits that

14 Ford, H 1972, Communism and Cambodia, Directorate of Intelligence, viewed 10 April 2020, < https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/esau-54.pdf > 15 Richards, M 2019, Biography of Pol Pot, Thought Co, viewed 11 April 2020, < https://www.thoughtco.com/pol-pot- 1779833 > 16 Pol Pot 1984, interview by Cai Ximei, May 1984. 17 Short, P 2004, Pol Pot; the History of the Nightmare, Hachette UK Company, London.