Khmer Rouge Ideology: Nuon Chea, Buddhism and Sihanouk Breaks with America

The Khmer Rouge did not sell communism to Cambodian peasants in the language of Marx. They sold it in the language of Theravada Buddhism, using its grammar, its vocabulary and its habits of thought, to carry ideas that had nothing to do with it. That translation is one of the most under-examined reasons the revolution worked.

Time Period Covered: 1963 to 1965

Who was Nuon Chea? What does Buddhism have to do with Khmer Rouge ideology? Why did Sihanouk sever ties with the United States?

In this episode we explore the impact of the fateful year of 1963 in Cambodia, as well as the circumstances the new Cambodian communist leadership were dealing with in the Vietnamese jungle. We also look at the difference between two influential future leaders of Democratic Kampuchea, Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, as they play quite different roles for the organisation.

This episode also explores the relationship between Theravada Buddhist language, grammar and thought, and the way this was used by the Khmer Rouge to transplant communist ideas into Cambodian minds.

Finally, the episode concludes by explaining the reasons surrounding Sihanouk's distancing from the US and eventual cutting off of aid and relations between the two countries.

Sources

Philip Short Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare
David Chandler The Tragedy of Cambodian History & Brother Number One
Ben Kiernan How Pol Pot Came to Power
Milton Osbourne Sihanouk
Steve Heder Cambodian Communism and the Vietnamese Model
Norodom Sihanouk My War with the CIA
Alex Hinton Why Did They Kill?

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