Angkar
|
Communist Party of Kampuchea
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| General Secretary | Pol Pot |
| Vice Secretary | Nuon Chea |
| Founder |
Son Ngoc Minh Tou Samouth |
| Founded | 1951 |
| Dissolved | 1981 |
| Succeeded by | Party of Democratic Kampuchea |
| Youth wing | Communist Youth League of Kampuchea |
| Ideology |
Communism Khmer nationalism |
| Colors | Red |
The Communist Party of Kampuchea (Khmer: គណបក្សកុំមុយនីសកម្ពុជា; CPK), also known as Khmer Communist Party, was a communist party in Cambodia. Its leader was Pol Pot and its followers were generally known as Khmer Rouge (Red Khmers). The party was underground for most of its existence, and took power in the country in 1975 and established the state known as Democratic Kampuchea. The party lost power in 1979 with the establishment of the People's Republic of Kampuchea by leftists who were dissatisfied by the Pol Pot regime, and by the intervention of Vietnamese military forces after a period of mass killing. The party was officially dissolved in 1981, with the Party of Democratic Kampuchea claiming its legacy.
The party was founded in 1951, when the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) was divided into separate Cambodian, Lao, and Vietnamese communist parties. The decision to form a separate Cambodian communist party had been taken at the ICP congress in February the same year. Different sources claim different dates for the exact founding and the first congress of the party. Son Ngoc Minh was appointed as Acting Chairman of the party. The party congress did not elect a full Central Committee, but instead appointed a 'Party Propagation and Formation Committee'. At the time of its formation, the Cambodian party was called Khmer People's Revolutionary Party. The Indochinese Communist Party had been heavily dominated by Vietnamese, and the KPRP was actively supported by the Vietnamese party during its initial phase of existence. Due to the reliance on Vietnamese support in the joint struggle against French colonial rule, the history of the party would later be rewritten, stating 1960 as the year of foundation of the party.
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