Explain the Purpose of Post-Revolutionary Purges. Are They Necessary for the Survival of the Revolutionary State?
Explain the Purpose of Post-Revolutionary Purges. Are They Necessary for the Survival of the Revolutionary State?
Explain the purpose of post-revolutionary purges. Are they necessary for the survival of the revolutionary state?
“Peace had never been helpful to the Khmer Rouge cause”
Post-revolutionary purges are necessary for the survival of the revolutionary state because they allow the new government to secure their own regime, wipe away remnants of the old regime and ensure that any interference, whether internal or external, can be easily and effectively quashed. In December 1976, the year after the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia, leader Pol Pot declared to the Central Committee that “there is a sickness inside the Party, born in the years [of struggle]”, a phrase reminiscent of Stalin’s description of communist enemies as “an ulcer in a healthy body”. For the revolutionary government of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, a post-revolutionary purge was necessary for several reasons. The first was to rid the new regime of enemies, both internal and external. Any Chinese, Vietnamese or Chan Muslim living in Cambodia was killed, along with anyone who held a position of responsibility with the previous government. One Khmer Rouge slogan ran “better to destroy ten innocent people then let one enemy go free”. Rich land-owners and anyone with a university education was also killed under the Khmer Rouge, whether from direct execution or malnutrition. Another reason for the post-revolutionary purges in Cambodia was that the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot attempted to learn from the mistakes of both Mao and Stalin. China, Russia and Cambodia had a large proportion of their populations made up of agricultural land-workers so it made sense to make them the focus of the revolution at the expense of the rest of Cambodian society. The Khmer Rouge hoped to emulate Russia and China in some ways, while avoiding what they saw as mistakes i.e. taking too long, and suffering too many enemies of the regime to live. The results of the post-revolutionary purges in Cambodia were catastrophic. A letter from former Khmer Rouge officer Hun Sen, dated 3 July 1979, requests international aid and goes onto say that under the four years of Khmer Rouge rule approximately 3 million of Cambodia’s 7.25 million inhabitants had died. The remaining four million were suffering from malnutrition and disease, and 2.25 million were threatened by imminent starvation. For the purpose of this essay deaths resulting from malaria, starvation and malnutrition are counted as being the result of the post-revolutionary purges. Post-revolutionary purges are necessary for any revolutionary government if they are to consolidate their hold on a turbulent society, and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia was no exception.
One reason for post-revolutionary purges is the extermination of enemies, whether they be ideological (anti-communist) or political. Any opposition to the regime was viewed as treason, and was generally followed by torture, a false confession to belonging to either the CIA or KGB (often, adversely, both) and death. An example of how determined the Khmer Rouge were to find enemies is the case of English teacher John Dewhurst, who was captured in 1978 by Khmer forces while on holiday. After repeated electric shocks he �admitted’ that “I am a CIA agent who officially works as a teacher in Japan… My father was a CIA agent whose cover was headmaster of Benton Road elementary school”. John Dewhurst was later executed and his body burned. The Khmer Rouge saw this ruthlessness as being for the greater good, with only the truly guilty being executed. Pol Pot saw the Cambodian psyche as having innate failings which could only be overcome by strict totalitarian rules. This would be done for the common good. Under the Khmer Rouge children were removed from their families, supposedly to foster a greater link with the Khmer Rouge. Under the Khmer Rouge they received political indoctrination rather than formal education, making them perfect to carry out many of Pol Pot’s killings. The capture of anti-revolutionaries (anyone suspected of being anti-communist, a traitor to the party or merely unnecessary to the cause) meant that they “must be tortured fiercely in order that we may obtain a complete understanding of their organisation… all methods, and all political and military measures must be employed”. In 1999 Deuch (real name Kaing Khek Iev), director of Khmer Rouge prison Tuol Sleng, head of Pol Pot’s secret police and responsible for the deaths of over 20 000 men, women and children, admitted that the purges had been planned as early as 1971; “Whoever was arrested must die. It was the rule of the party… Even children. This was the policy, the orders. No-one could leave S-21 (Tuol Sleng) alive”. By 1978 the purges had reached such a level that Tuol Sleng