Page 148 - Communism in Ambush

COMMUNISM IN AMBUSH
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Cambodia—the Pinnacle of Communist Insanity

Communism, already a pitiless, contentious, cruel and bloodthirsty
ideology, reached its worst expression of advanced brutality in Maoism.
To understand more clearly why Maoism's "traditional" Far Eastern bru-
tality was joined to Communism, we must look at another example from
the Far East—th he Cambodian regime of the Khmer Rouge, which came
to power with Chinese support and adopted Maoist methods.
Cambodia, a small and poor country, is located between India and
China. This region is also called Indo-China. For centuries the majority
of its people eked out a living by agriculture, whose principal element is
the rice paddies throughout the country. But between 1975 and 1979,
these rice paddies became "killing fields." About three million people in
this country of nine million were murdered. Some were shot in the head,
others had their skulls crushed by axes, or left to starve. Still others were
smothered with plastic bags put over their heads.
The perpetrators of this unparalleled brutality were the Cambodian
Maoists, or the Khmer Rouge, a Communist party founded and led by a
Maoist by the name of Pol Pot. For years the Khmer Rouge had been or-
ganizing in Cambodia's forests and dreaming of coming to power.
Finally in 1975, their dream came true. They established a regime that
was more cruel and totalitarian than Stalin's Russia or Mao's China—a
pinnacle of Communist insanity.
For the good of the country, the party de-
cided that a Communist's sole duty was to work
in the rice paddies as much as possible.
Cambodia's entire population was forced to
work in those fields. Tens of thousands living in
the cities—statesmen, bureaucrats, teachers, in-
tellectuals—were driven to the villages and
made to work on collective farms under very se-
vere conditions. To avoid work, say prayers, or
even to eat the smallest piece of food from what
was being collected without permission was re-
garded as "rebellion against the state," and
Pol Pot, leader of the
under this pretext, people were killed every Khmer Rouge, mur-
minute. dered three million
Cambodians.