I've heard that Khmer Rouge was backed by the United States because of it's hostility towards Vietnam. Is this true? Was Pol Pot backed by western powers?
Khmer Rouge abolished money but didn't the state still control the means of production, along with most aspects of their citizen's lives? I have no idea what to call this kind of system. If there's no capital, can we call it state capitalism? If the means of production aren't controlled by the people, can we call it Socialism?
I've heard Khmer Rouge described as "Sartre's Children". What does this mean? As a fan of Sartre, I find this name very confusing and disturbing.
"We are not Communists. We are revolutionaries"-Pol Pot
What do you make of this statement? Pol Pot's version of Communism was brutal, depraved, xenophobic, racist, and in a way, could almost even be called reactionary but at the same time, it still called for the creation of a stateless, classless, moneyless society. Should we consider Pol Pot a Communist?
I've heard that Khmer Rouge was backed by the United States because of it's hostility towards Vietnam. Is this true? Was Pol Pot backed by western powers?
Yes, the Khmer Rouge were financially and militarily backed by the United States and the United Kingdom financially both during the Cambodian–Vietnamese War and in the years following the Khmer Rouge exile in an attempt to counterbalance Soviet-backed Vietnam.
China gave more overt help in the form of arms shipments and, of course, the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War.
I've heard Khmer Rouge described as "Sartre's Children". What does this mean? As a fan of Sartre, I find this name very confusing and disturbing.
British writer Paul Johnson described the Khmer Rouge as "Sartre's Children" as he felt that many of the key members of the group had borrow heavily from Sartre's beliefs. Many key members, including Pol Pot himself, had studied for a time in France.
As Sartre had previously showed support or empathy for Stalinism, Maoism and Castro, it was easy for writers such as Johnson to draw a connection between Sartre's belief in the use of terror to build socialism and the intellectual, French educated nature of the Khmer Rouge elite.