First Published: The Call, Vol. 7, No. 4, January 30, 1978.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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A campaign of hideous horror stories has been appearing in the news media ever since the Kampuchean people liberated their country on April 17, 1975. This slander campaign against Democratic Kampuchea (formerly called Cambodia), a revolutionary Southeast Asian country striving to build socialism, has grown to a fever pitch in recent weeks since the outbreak of hostilities between Vietnam and Kampuchea last month.
The major news media have, been racing to outdo each other in creating sordid tales of life in Democratic Kampuchea today, tales which are not necessary to repeat here, but which are dreamed up by professional, anti-communist hack journalists–none of whom has ever set foot inside Kampuchea itself!
The reasons for all the propaganda against Kampuchea are evident. The liberation of Kampuchea was a crushing blow to U.S. imperialism. It earned for Kampuchea’s leaders and people the undying hatred of those people who own Time, Newsweek, CBS and the other media organs which have been promoting the current wave of hysteria.
Since liberation, Democratic Kampuchea has firmly practiced a policy of independence and self-reliance, refusing to bow to superpower pressure from either the U.S. or the USSR.
Kampuchea has made it clear to the imperialists that its door is not open for exploitation. It has militantly and vigilantly defended every inch of its territory against imperialist-backed aggression, making the imperialists and social-imperialists even more desperate, and their attacks more strident.
A typical lie which has been promoted in the U.S. press is that all the residents of the cities such as Phnom Penh have been moved to the farms where they are “forced” to labor in the rice paddies.
It is true that such towns as Phnom Penh are far less jammed with people than they were during the U.S. occupation. The old system of feudalism which prevailed in the countryside before liberation ruined the peasantry. They were so poor that thousands were forced to leave their land and go to the cities to seek work and escape starvation. These conditions grew even more severe during the five years of U.S. bombings of the countryside.
Once the enemies of Kampuchea were driven out, a high priority of the government was immediately set to reorganize food production and make the country self-reliant. Many of the peasants were able to return to their land and to the work of feeding the nation.
They have been joined by many former city-dwellers and soldiers, who have willingly gone to the countryside to help the cause of reconstruction.
The Paris newspaper Le Monde reported in its Dec. 30 edition an interview with Swedish diplomat Jean C. Oberg, ambassador to Thailand, who just visited Democratic Kampuchea. His observations served to counter many of the hysterical lies that have been circulating.
Oberg observed that “an entirely new society is being built.” He noted that “the towns are relatively empty,” but added, “The Kampucheans explained that they haven’t the means to buy high-priced food from abroad to feed the urban populations. Therefore they have led the majority of town-dwellers out to the countryside, where they can produce their own subsistence.”
While the U.S. imperialists fill their press with stories of “bloodbath,” “forced labor,” and the like, the Soviet social-imperialists are even more insidious in their attacks on Kampuchea. Having supported the reactionary Lon Nol clique almost up to its final hour before the liberation of Kampuchea, it is not surprising to see the USSR continuing to attack the new revolutionary society that is being born there.
In fact, mounting battlefield evidence points to Soviet involvement in Vietnam’s incursion into Kampuchean territory. Radio tank corps orders have been monitored in Russia, and Russian soldiers have died on the battlefield.
Here in the U.S., the revisionist CPUSA echoes the Soviet Union’s opposition to the Kampuchean revolution. Its newspaper, the Daily World, even refuses to recognize the country’s independence, insisting on referring to it as “Cambodia,” the name given to it by the 19th century French colonialists.
But while the imperialists and social-imperialists alike try to paint a picture of misery and despair in Kampuchea, the people are marching on with their revolution.
Pol Pot, general secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, recently gave a progress report on the building of socialism and the rebuilding of the country since the U.S. war of aggression.
Stressing the successes of collective fanning in the countryside, Pol Pot said, “They are transforming our barren, arid and miserable countryside of the old days into land each day more luxuriant, dotted with reservoirs of all sizes, canal networks, paddies and green fields.
“Each collective farm has become a small socialist society, an entirely new society, freed from the depraved and corrupt customs and culture of the past, a healthy new society which is developing steadily and where equality and harmony prevail.”
Nowadays, said Pol Pot, the peasants and workers have “become the true masters of the lands, paddies and the fruits of their labors. In a word, they have fully regained their dignity.”
This is the true picture of the Kampuchea of today, a new society being born on the ashes and devastation of the old. It is easy to understand the stake which every Kampuchean man, woman and child has in defending the homeland they have won through sweat and blood. No slander, no matter how vile, can cover up the truth of the matter.