Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 41 No. 15. July 3 1978
Two Revolutions - Two Lines
Two Revolutions - Two Lines
Since its formation in 1960 the Comminust Party of Kampuchea has maintained that the line of the Kampuchean revolution must be decided by the Kampuchean people without outside interference. This has consistently brought them into conflict with the leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party which has used its greater size and the fact that it was the focal point of imperialist domination of Indochina to try to dominate the Kampuchean communists and force them into subservience to the needs of Vietnam "for the greater good of Indochina".
During the anti-communist reign of Norodom Sihanouk (which started in 1954 following the signing of the Geneva agreements) the Vietnamese pressured the Kampuchean comminusts to abandon their guerilla struggle. For a number of years no marxist party existed and the revolutionary forces were dispersed and weak. Only a Vietnamese instigated and dominated grouping was present. This accepted the Vietnamese line of no struggle against Sihanouk. It was not until 1960 that a genuine marxist party could be formed. Thus from the beginning of the genuine Kampuchean communist movement the Vietnamese openly interfered and divided the Kampucheans.
In a recent interview Kampuchean Prime Minister Pol Pot described the continuing interference and sabotage of the Vietnamese in Kampuchea. "From 1965 to 1975, when they asked for and obtained refuge in Kampuchea's territory, they took advantage of the friendship of Kampuchea's people to carry out subversive activities, create a separate party, set up a separate power, create a separate army in Kampuchea's territory already under the control of Kampuchea's revolution and in which Kampuchea generously gave them refuge.
"Concerning the party particularly, from 1970 to 1975, Vietnam carried out all the most criminal procedures aiming at annihilating the correct and clearsighted Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea."
In March/April last year a group of Vietnamese agents within the Kampuchean leadership attempted a coup which failed miserably.
Kampuchean soldiers and rightist refugees from Kampuchea are being placed in special "re-education camps" by the Vietnamese where they are taught the 'errors' of the Kampuchean communists and encouraged to struggle against the sovereign government of Kampuchea. In one camp former member of the Kampuchean Communist Party was reported as leading discussions on mounting armed struggle against the Phnom Penh leadership. In front of Vietnamese officials one person in the Ben San camp (Tay Ninh province) declared whe would be returning to Kampuchea "when the whole of the country is liberated ... by the Vietnamese army".
Yet the Vietnamese continue to deny interference in the affairs of Kampuchea! Obviously attempts to overthrow the legitimate Government and Communist Party leadership which they continue to directly aid and abet don't count as interference. Such is the benevolent logic of the Vietnamese's "special relationship". The Kampucheans are paying a heavy price for insisting on a purely "normal relationship" as one Kampuchean official put it.
(A second part of this article further describe the Vietnamese / Kampuchean conflict, deteriorating Sino-Vietnamese relations and Soviet expansionism in Asia.)
James Morgan