The Interaction of Materialism & The History
of Materialism – The Khmer Rouge, 8/1974

Republished from Revolutionary Male & Female Youth’s, Angkar’s publication for the youth.

Suggestion: In order for our revolutionary male and female youths to examine, think, study, arm themselves,
and subsequently build a stronger worker-class stance for the Party. I. View on Class Classification in Society
The class problem is still confusing in our world at present. In societies that do not apply the Marxist-Leninist
doctrine, the imperialist, feudalist, and capitalist classes — which are the oppressive classes — strive to pro
-pagandize, educate, and disseminate to the people the view that “the problem of being rich and poor in human
society is normal because it is the cause and effect of actions committed in previous lives.” This is the idealist
worldview [subjectivism], based on the principle of cause and effect, which is invisible and non-existent. It is
a worldview that contradicts the materialist worldview. They promote this idea in order to cover up their oppr
-essive rule over the poor. On the other hand, many Marxist-Leninists in the world are still confused about the
class problem. There remains confusion regarding class classification, class boundaries, and the class stance
between friend and enemy. There is still confusion between the line of friend and enemy in combat tactics,
between friend and enemy in strategy, and confusion about stance, viewpoint, and class boundaries. To resolve
this, our revolutionary male and female youths must strive to build a clear and firm stance on friend and
enemy, as well as a strong worker-class stance for the Party. We must have a clear view that in our Kam
-puchean society, as in the world, there is class classification. Where there are classes, there are class
contradictions. Therefore, there is class struggle in all sectors. This is the logic of materialism, because
each class has its own interests and its absolute class stance. II. Criteria for Determining Class In order
to determine which class a person belongs to, we must judge two main traits: Economic trait — which is
basically the most important criterion. Political trait. 1. Economic Trait The economic trait includes the
possession of materials, means of production, and livelihood conditions, etc.

But the key points to examine are: Does the person perform labor work themselves or not, and how much
or how little? How do they perform labor, and how much do they do by themselves? Or do they exploit the
labor of others, and if so, how much or how little? This is because labor is the source of human life and the
foundation of Marxist-Leninist doctrine. Examples: Landowners do not perform any labor work themselves.
They completely exploit the labor of others and take all the crops or resources from the land. Rich peasants
perform some labor themselves but exploit the labor of others more. Upper middle peasants have sufficient
food and some surplus. They perform more labor than rich peasants but still exploit some labor from others.
Middle middle peasants work entirely by themselves. They neither hire others nor work for anyone else.
Lower middle peasants work by themselves using their available means, but they still lack some means of
production. Therefore, they must sell some of their labor to support themselves and cover shortages. They
may face 1 to 3 months of shortages per year. Poor peasants have 5 to 6 months of shortages per year. To
survive, they must sell a large amount of their labor, either in the countryside or by going to work in the city.
Political Trait After analyzing the economic trait, we can also examine the political trait and, through it, the
person’s political behavior. Based on their economic and political traits — that is, their economic and political
interests — we can determine which class a person belongs to. However, between the two, greater emphasis
must be placed on the economic trait. Within the economic trait, the focus should be on the possession of
means of production and tools, and their relationship to production. This is the general principle. In addition,
we must consider the influence coming from other classes. Example: When poor peasants rent land from
landowners, there are two possible reactions: Some peasants become enraged and suffer under the opp
-ressive landowner. Others receive political and economic influence from the landowner and become their
satellites. The more interests they share, the stronger the influence.

Therefore, when analyzing which class a person belongs to, we must not judge them mistakenly from the out-
side. If we can clearly analyze class differences, we will be able to gather forces effectively. We will know which
forces to gather, which to neutralize, which to isolate, and which to attack. In this way, we will not confuse friend
with enemy, and we can make a clear distinction between who is a friend and who is an enemy. Only then can
we successfully gather friendly forces and correctly attack the enemy. III. Various Class Types in Kampuchean
Society There are five main class types in Kampuchean society: 1. The Feudalist Class — divided into two types:
a) Feudalist-aristocrat b) Feudalist-landowner a) Feudalist-aristocrat refers to the ruling feudalist group that
oppresses the people. This includes the king and high-ranking officials such as ministers, provincial governors,
district governors, down to commune chiefs and clerks (chumtup). In liberated zones: There are no longer any
feudalist-aristocrats in power. Some remain only as individuals and have now become semi-feudalist or semi-
capitalist. Their political stance is that if they can make contact with the enemy, they will do so. Our attitude
toward them is to persuade them to join the Front, then struggle to eliminate their old political stance and ideology
through continuous education. It is important to redistribute land to them and make them perform labor to produce
food for their own support. In enemy-controlled areas (such as Svay Rieng, Prey Veng, Siem Reap, Kampong
Thom, and Kampong Cham): Compared to the past, only a very small number of feudalist-aristocrats remain, as
most have fled to Phnom Penh. Those who remain have lost the means to oppress people because their land
has been reduced to small plots. They hope the enemy will defeat us so they can reclaim their land and resume
oppression. We must arouse the anger of poor peasants and lower middle peasants against this group so they
will join the revolution more actively by firmly grasping power, guns, and land, and by waging revolutionary war
decisively. b) Feudalist-landowner: These are people who own land and have the power to control it.

They use land as a means to oppress peasants by renting it out while taking all the crops. Currently in liberated
zones, oppression through land rental no longer exists. Landowners remain only as individuals, along with some
of their ideology. This group still holds an oppressive stance and ideology because they used to oppress people.
They are discontented with and complain about our regime because they can no longer oppress others as before.
Intentionally or unintentionally, they serve the politics of peaceful alliance with the enemy. We should not attack
them constantly. We must know how to persuade them to join the Front, but we must always remain cautious. We
should struggle to reduce their influence by “reducing their rice fields to the same level as other peasants.” 2. The
Capitalist Class — divided into two types: a) Comprador capitalist b) National capitalist a) Comprador capitalist:
These are big capitalists who collect rice, corn, beans, tobacco, and other products within the country and sell
them to foreign countries with which they have connections. Presently, in both Type I and Type II liberated zones,
comprador capitalists no longer exist as a class because the state has monopolized commercial exports. However,
some individuals remain in Type II liberated zones (such as Kratie, Chhlong, Krauch Chhmar, Koh Sotin, etc.).
Their political stance and interests lie with the imperialists. They stay with us only out of necessity. If they have
the opportunity to connect with the imperialists, they will do so and carry out activities to destroy our revolution.
Therefore, we must maintain high revolutionary vigilance toward this group. b) National capitalist: These are
domestic capitalists operating in industry, commerce, and agriculture. They use national natural resources,
means of production, and labor (workers) to produce goods, which they sell mainly domestically and in small
amounts abroad. This group exploits the labor of workers. Judging from their economic trait, their political trait
has some national characteristics and is more progressive than that of the feudalists.

Therefore, the national capitalist is a strategic supporting force of the Democratic National Revolution. There
are no national capitalists in Type I liberated zones. They exist only in Type II liberated zones. Nowadays, they
are almost unable to oppress people because the state monopolizes commerce and trade of important strategic
goods and widely organizes production cooperatives. Based on their economic interests, they have two faces:
if we win, they will side with us; if the enemy wins, they will go over to the enemy. They are with us now because
of their own interests. At the same time, they are discontented with us because we restrict them and do not allow
them to trade and oppress people arbitrarily. For this group, we must persuade them to cooperate with the rev-
olution, but we must do so cautiously. 3. The Second Capitalist Class (also called the mediocre middle class or
petty bourgeoisie): They do not oppress anyone, nor are they oppressed by anyone. Their economic and political
interests are mediocre. They live peacefully. There are two types: a) Intellectual second capitalists: Students
and civil servants who mainly live by their intelligence. They are patriotic, love the revolution, and want to make
revolution because they are somewhat oppressed by the enemy. They can understand ideas and theory quickly.
However, their weaknesses are that they fear hardship, prefer to live peacefully alone, and absorb the revolu
-tionary line slowly because they have rarely experienced hardship or severe oppression. b) Trader second
capitalists: Small traders with little capital running small businesses. Their political and economic traits are
similar to intellectual second capitalists, but they are slightly more difficult because they are traders and care
only about profit. Even after joining the revolution, they continue to think about profits. These two types are
classified into three levels: Upper second capitalist: Have more than enough and exploit a little labor (e.g.,
hiring cooks or babysitters). Middle second capitalist: Have fair economic conditions and do not exploit
anyone’s labor. Lower second capitalist: Have some shortages and must sell some labor to others. They
are partly oppressed. The strengths of the second capitalists are their nationalist and democratic nature.

Their weaknesses are that they are not as sharp as the worker-peasant class, they are unstable, and they
mostly want to live peacefully alone. The second capitalists are allied forces of the worker-peasant class.
We must actively gather these forces because they are numerous. We should not attack them, but we must
not depend on this class either, because our base is the worker-peasant alliance. 4. The Peasant Class
— divided into three levels: a) Rich peasant b) Middle peasant c) Poor peasant a) Rich peasant: They pe-
rform some labor themselves but exploit the labor of others more. If they exploit others’ labor more than 80%,
they are on the verge of becoming landowners. They have contradictions with feudalists and imperialists,
but their weakness is that they also oppress others. Their economic and political traits are similar to those
of national capitalists. Therefore, they are, strategically, a supporting force for the Democratic National
Revolution. There are still many rich peasants in liberated zones along river banks. However, their economic
and political influence has been continuously reduced because we have organized poor and lower middle
peasants into production cooperatives. This group wants to become landowners because they have the
qualifications. They are discontented with us because we ban them from trading, lending money, and hiring
labor arbitrarily. Our objective is to transform rich peasants into middle peasants. To achieve this, we must
gather poor peasants to apply economic and agricultural collectivization so they can be separated from the
rich peasants. b) Middle peasant: Divided into three categories: Upper middle peasants: Receive a little
more than they need and exploit others from 10% to 30%. Middle middle peasants: Work entirely by
themselves using their own means of production. Their crop is just enough for living.

Lower middle peasants: Work entirely by themselves but lack means of production. They face 1 to 3 months
of shortages per year and must work for others to survive. In conclusion, the economic and political traits of
middle peasants are similar to those of the second capitalist class. Therefore, the middle peasant is an ally
of the worker-peasant class. c) Poor peasant: They lack means of production. They work very hard themselves
but still do not receive enough crops to eat. They face 3 to 6 months of shortages per year and must sell a
large amount of their labor, either in the countryside or as freelance workers in the city. Because of their
economic shortages, they suffer and are closely connected to the nature of labor. They are the basic force
of the Democratic National Revolution in the countryside and play a great role in the revolution. Together
with the worker class, they play a major role in the Democratic National Revolution as well as in the future
Socialist Revolution and Communism. However, because they have long been ideologically, politically, and
economically controlled by feudalists, poor peasants often have difficulty understanding politics and still
strongly hold idealist [subjective] views. Therefore, when conducting propaganda, education, and organi-
zational work, we must look at all problems from every aspect and not focus only on their poverty. We must
also be patient, as it will take a long time to clear them of the old oppressive ideology. Poor peasants
understand things slowly, but once they understand something, they stick to it firmly and do not want to
lose it. They have been awakened and have learned a lot after four years under the Party’s leadership.
We must strengthen their stance and push them forward vigorously by continuously educating, reforming,
and organizing them into various secret organizations, state authorities, and the Party. 5. The Worker
Class: Workers have no means of production at all.

They have only their empty hands and must sell 100% of their labor power to survive. Therefore, workers
hate and suffer under oppression. Compared to other classes, workers resist oppression more absolutely
because they have nothing to lose. Thus, they have a stronger revolutionary nature than any other class.
Workers are classified into three important categories: Gathering (concentrated) workers at factories —
the best. Semi-gathering workers (e.g., sea port and rubber plantation workers) — who have more free
-lance characteristics. Pell-mell (scattered) workers (e.g., cart pullers, cyclo drivers, construction workers)
— who are too free and influenced by many undisciplined activities. However, compared to other classes,
these workers are still far better for carrying out the revolution. In our liberated zones, only types 2 and
3 exist, and their level of awakening is still limited. This is because they were oppressed by the enemy
for too long and too heavily, and because they received many influences from previous regimes. We must
see both the strong and weak points of workers in order to lead them correctly and avoid subjectivism.
The workers we particularly value are the industrial workers, who have the best qualities. Their labor has
a collective character, a social character, Angkar discipline, and a high level of labor consciousness. The
worker class has the nature of continuously advancing the Democratic National Revolution, socialism,
and communism. The worker class of the Party must adhere to its leading role over all other classes
because it possesses the four real natures of the Party: worker-class nature, vanguard nature, com-
manding nature, and connection to the masses’ rights. Regardless of which class they originally came
from, our revolutionary male and female youths who have joined the revolution must strive to build the
worker-class stance of the Party — including the four natures mentioned above — so that they can take
the leading role in carrying out and continuing the revolution into the future. Therefore, comrades who
come from the base classes should not brag or become too proud of their original class. They should
not look down on others, and they must continuously strive to reform themselves.