The beginning of the Khmer Rouge Army...

In 1953, the enthusiasm for anti-colonialism attracted the attention of the French authorities, which then lead to the disbanding of the KSA. Even though the association was disbanded, the members still had underground activities going on. In 1956, Hou Yuon, Thioum Mum and Khieu Samphan finally had a chance to help organize the Khmer Students’ Union (KSU). Members of the KSU studied Marxist political and economic theory. Hou Yuon and Khieu Samphan both took doctorates in Paris, which gave then good knowledge in publishing letters. In 1964, Huo Yuon wrote “our purpose is to transform and develop the rural economy based on establishing the peasant as the key to the organization of production” (pp. 51). This theory became the Khmer Rouge’s intellectual foundation for the revolution.

After KSA was disbanded, Saloth Sar returned to Cambodia where he was assigned to the headquarters of the National Central Executive Committee. There he learned to work with the masses at the base and to build up the Issarak committees at the village level. After being the president of the KSU in 1955 for a year, Ieng Sary returned to Cambodia as well in 1957. In Cambodia he started teaching at public schools and joined Hou Yuon’s private lycée, a French public secondary school, (Kambubtoh College). Hou Yuon returned to Cambodia after the KSU was stable and actually found his lycée. Basically, everyone eventually returned to Cambodia. Though there later came a conflict on the group’s priority. Ieng Sary, Saloth Sar, and Son Sen think that their first priority in the revolutionary struggle is to arm struggle against the Sihanouk regime. Khieu Samphan, Hu Nim, Hou Yuon and Chau Seng believed that U.S. imperialism was the greatest threat so they should first support Sihanouk in fighting U.S. imperialism. But they didn’t reach any agreements until later. Actually at that time, there was already a Khmer People’s Party (KPP) was weakened by Sihanouk in 1954. So on September 30, 1960, there was a meeting between the KPP and the Pol Pot faction. After the meeting, they finally agreed to adopt their whole group as the Worker’s Party of Kampuchea. Saloth Sar was elected to be number three in the party, and Ieng Sary was elected number five. Touch Samouth and Nuon Chea became the general secretary and the deputy general secretary. Very quickly in 1963, Saloth Sar’s clique grew and changed the party to the Kampuchea Communist Party (KCP). After seeing the growing power of the KCP, Sihanouk tried many ways to weaken the corporation by imprisoning and killing their members. Followed by Sihanouk’s threat, many high positioned people disappeared such as Saloth Sar, Ieng Sary, Son Sen, and Touch Samouth. Though Saloth Sar, Ieng Sary and Son Sen only went to a more secure place in the province. Touch Samouth was the actual one that disappeared on July 20, 1962. After playing “Disappear” there was, of course, still underground activities where Saloth Sar and the others kept in close contact with Khieu Samphan, Hou Yuon, and Hu Nim. With Touch Samouth disappeared, Saloth Sar became the general secretary in 1963. After that, the KCP’s activities were unclear during the early revolution stage. There were many versions of what they were doing such as building their arms.

Source: Etcheson, Craig. The Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1984.

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