The Shining Victories of 1976 & The Clear Bright Future of 1977 – The Khmer Rouge, 1976

The great victories in fulfilling the missions of continuing socialist revolution, building socialism, and defe
-nding the country during 1976 opened a bright new page of history for the marvelous, correct, and clear
-sighted Communist Party of Kampuchea, for the marvelous, mighty Kampuchean revolution, for the huge,
marvelous Kampuchean people, and for the brave, mighty, skilled, and magnificent Revolutionary Army
of Kampuchea. 1. The Mission of Socialist Revolution Our Party correctly raised the mission of socialist
revolution in every field, and we implemented it well and to the maximum. We received the fruits of this
work to an important extent, in leaps and bounds. As for the various exploiting classes that were attacked
and overthrown, we struck them again during 1976 and further annihilated them. They cannot raise their
heads anymore, whether in the countryside, in the cities, in the ministries, in the offices, or in the revolutionary
ranks inside the Party. This attack and annihilation was not an easy thing done in just one or two fields; it
was systematic—an attack on every field to dig them out by the large roots and the small roots. The private
ownership regime of the feudalist landowners and the capitalists, like the various other non-proletarian
classes and the petty bourgeoisie of the private farmers, private workers, and private laborers, were also
dug out by the roots during 1976. Private ownership will not be allowed to raise its head again. We attacked
private ownership to a major extent and profoundly during 1976. We attacked it inside the Party, inside the
Army, and among the people—in particular inside the Party and inside the ranks of our revolution. These are
three aspects that show that our victories were substantial in continuing to wage socialist revolution during 1976.
We did everything inside the national society and inside our own ranks. We worked in every field: in
ideology and economics; we also worked in culture, technology, and science. We worked systematically.

When we assess the results, we see that the victories were great. Looking at the ordinary picture, it seems
as if nothing has changed. However, looking at the theme of class struggle inside our socialist revolution
framework, we worked profoundly. This has emerged as a good factor inside the entire Party; there is strong
unity in the fight against the enemies that penetrated into the Party. This cast an influence on our Army and
made our Army cleaner and an even more dictatorial instrument of the Party. Had we not carried out such
profound socialist revolution, our Army would not be clean like this and would not be in unity like this, and
there may have been dangers too. This cast a good influence on the people and made the people able to
purge and eradicate bad elements time and time again. It made our national society among the people clea
-ner and guaranteed the work of socialism and defending the country. If socialist revolution had not been so
profound, the Party would be complicated, the Army would be complicated, the people would be complicated,
and the ministries and offices would be complicated. The work of defending the country would have failed.
There would have been difficulties both inside and outside the Party in both the immediate and long term.
This is to clarify the important meaning and the role of socialist revolution. Socialist revolution dominates
everything. It is the fundamental factor of our current revolution. Building socialism is not the fundamental.
Defending the country is not the fundamental. Building socialism and defending the country are important
factors, but all these factors must be based on the foundation of socialist revolution before the immediate
and long-term future can be guaranteed. As a specific example during 1976, speaking just about inside the
Party: by making profound socialist revolution, the disease within the Party that had occurred since the
national democratic revolution and could not be seen was exposed.

Because the abscesses in the national democratic revolution were microbes. With the level of national strug
-gle and class struggle inside the national democratic revolution framework, we could not see and locate the
germs inside the Party. They were able to embed themselves. But when we carried out socialist revolution
profoundly, strongly, and broadly within the Party, the Army, and the people, we found the bad germs. They
came out. They came out because of the true nature of socialist revolution, which pushed them out. So then,
this enabled us to eradicate traitor elements dangerous to the Party and our revolution in a timely manner.
This makes clear the good essential characteristic of socialist revolution. This view leads us to make it clear
that socialist revolution is not carried out so that there will be more contradictions. Perhaps some people think
that socialist revolution has been too profound and has led to the creation of additional contradictions. Some
elements understand that class struggle leads to the creation of contradictions. There certainly is this view on
this issue. This is the view of a person who does not want to see the contradictions; however, the contradictions
do exist. When we cover them up time after time, it becomes corrupt inside, corrupt inside society, corrupt
inside the Party and inside the Army. If we do not make profound socialist revolution, they will build many
forces. An example: The traitor strings that we smashed successively were organized traitor strings, syste-
matic strings, that had existed since the national democratic revolution period. However, during that period,
they could live with us. In socialist revolution, they were segregated out. 1976 was a year of class combat
inside our revolution and inside our Party. Many germs appeared. All the traitor strings appeared. So then,
we did not raise socialist revolution so there would be contradictions. In truth, the contradictions had already
existed for a long time, but they had been buried. We must clearly resolve this mistaken view that exists
within our ranks. When socialist revolution is absorbed inside the Party, inside the Army, and inside the
people, it segregates the good and bad elements, the revolutionary elements and the traitor elements.

In order to guarantee our revolution’s rectitude into the future, it must be based on socialist revolution. We
must absorb these invaluable and lofty lessons. The success of socialist revolution in every field like this
is the general experience. Standing upon this general experience, we come to examine the experience in
each location, in each unit, in each base area. Any location, unit, or base area that makes profound socialist
revolution leads to good Party building, good national defense, good building of the country, and good ful
-fillment of every mission. To the contrary, any base area or any unit that does not wage socialist revolution
well does not do Party-building well, and the movement does not rise and is not fast; building is not fast and
the fulfillment of routine missions is not fast. Sometimes there is no visible sign of opposition, but it lies dor
-mant. Sometimes signs of complications and breaks in solidarity emerge. When we wage socialist revolution
well, we can sort this out immediately. In summary, this year we waged socialist revolution profoundly to
an important extent. This has emerged as a good factor in eradicating traitors embedded inside the Party,
inside the Army, and among the people, and has enabled us to defend the country well and build the
country well. In tandem with this, we must see that our socialist revolution has been systematic in 1976.
In 1973, we just carried it out in the cooperatives. As for doing it within the entire Party, the entire national
society, and the entire Army, we had not yet done that previously. We only recently did that during 1976.
We did it very quickly. National defense was complete and good, not complicated or difficult. We built the
country well. But one year is not a foundation; it is incomplete; it must be continued. In 1977, it will continue.
In later years, it must be continued. This is due to the following reasons: Our subjective factors: We are
not yet rid of contradictions inside the Party, internal contradictions.

There is still private ownership—whether a little or a lot, it still exists. This is an aspect of the contradiction
between collective ownership and private ownership. This problem still arises. If we do not resolve it well,
this contradiction will change from quantity to quality, and someday this problem will become an antagonistic
contradiction, a counter-revolutionary contradiction. This is speaking about private ownership. Along with
this, we may pose the question of whether or not there are still any more enemy activities to sneak in and
embed inside the Party, whether or not these activities are gone. The experience of the last ten years shows
that they clearly are not gone. This is because Party induction in the past was firm in part and relaxed in
part. Thus, the enemy is still able to penetrate. They still exist; there may be just one or two, but they still
exist. The objective factors: Enemies in every direction continue to carry out activities. They create antagon
-istic contradictions. Whether they create few or many, they create them routinely. They create them in
every fashion—hot, cold, overt, covert, flexibly, by boring from within—in every fashion. So then, this is why
we must make clear the view that we must continue to carry out socialist revolution and not take internal
contradictions lightly, because internal contradictions develop. If we do not fight to eradicate private owner
-ship, after a long time it will transform from quantity to quality into counter-revolution. These cases have
occurred one after another. Thus, do not take them lightly. Do not evaluate internal contradictions as being
antagonistic contradictions; however, it is imperative to see that internal contradictions develop successively.
So then, it is imperative to struggle to build to see the development of contradictions in order to gain mastery
in leadership, in order to gain mastery in taking measures. We see the contradictions within us in order to
shrink and eradicate them. We see the contradictions within the Party in order to wage class struggle
inside the concrete revolutionary movements.

We see the internal contradictions and see the antagonistic contradictions in accordance with their concrete
visible signs in order to take measures to sort out the contradictions in accordance with their actual type and
to gain mastery. So then, in 1977 it is imperative to carry out socialist revolution profoundly and systematically
in every field. It is imperative to be meticulous and not fear the loss of one or two traitorous elements. Based
on socialist revolution, we can make an examination and see that there is only profit: there is no loss. The
profit is very large. If we do not sweep clean the traitor elements and if we leave them as they are, they will
expand and this will lead to danger for the revolution. Getting rid of the traitor elements is a big victory. Purge
the Party by way of socialist revolution. Strengthen the Party by way of socialist revolution. 2. The Mission
of Building Socialism We have also had major successes in the mission of building socialism. A. The field of
strengthening and expanding the collective regime We strengthened and expanded the position of collectivity
in general throughout the entire nation and society. We strengthened and expanded all the cooperatives in
the countryside, and they are even higher in quality than they were during 1975. Now our cooperatives in
general are village cooperatives. In tandem with this, a suitable number of subdistrict cooperative locations
have been organized. The locations where this has been done have gained management experience and
are operational. In the cities, all of the workers are collective workers; there is no private ownership. So then,
our people in general, the workers and the peasants, are all collective workers and peasants. This collectivity
is no ordinary collectivity; its composition is high level, with: collective means of production collective tools to
increase production collective eating and living collective work, etc. It is no ordinary collectivity; there are
organized mobile forces divided into regular forces, one, two, front, and rear, at a high level. So then, we
fundamentally and completely eradicated the old production relations.

New collective production relations have been strengthened and expanded, organized into front units and
rear units that enable the building of the country to go well. During 1976, we lacked food supplies, medicines,
and tools, but high-level collective organizational forces with units on the offensive in the front and in the
rear enabled us to fight hard. We sorted out transitional food supplies to a large extent. Canals, paddy-
dike systems, and feeder canals were sorted out to a large extent, exceeding plans. This is the result of
our position of collectivity. This position of collectivity emerged from our socialist revolution. The collective
position is divided into separate fields: economics, culture, social affairs, technology, and science. In tandem
with this, ideology during 1976 had an important level of collectivity inside the Party, among the people,
and inside the Army. But in comparison with other fields, ideology is slow. It has not changed in time at
all with the collective movement in terms of organization and economics. However, the collective ideology
of the proletarian class has had a very actively combative role, even though it has been slow. The Party
and the Army, in general and to an important extent, also have a collective position in terms of organization,
economics, and living. So then, they are high-speed, in tandem with the development of the people. We
see this in order to concentrate more on the field of ideology. As for the experience of deploying the colle
-ctive position during 1976, as we examine and look at it, the key factors are the Party and cadres. When
we sort out the collective position well inside the entire Party and at every Party echelon, this casts a good
influence on the Army. So then, progress during 1976 in terms of the collective position was due to the Party.
However, the slow part on the ideological side is due to the Party being slow in terms of ideology. So then,
in accordance with this experience, the major issue in sorting this out in the future is strengthening and
expanding the collective position of the Party in the fields of organization, economy, and living. In tandem
with this, struggle to build ideology collectively inside the Party to make it better and more effective.

Do whatever it takes to make them strong. The line is already correct; the measures are already correct;
there remains only the methodology of struggling to build internally to make them understand, be crystal
-clear, and be clear-sighted. Have them see the reasoning. Making socialist revolution has its own reasoning.
In eradicating private ownership and the private regime, have them see the reasoning clearly. So then, in
the future it is imperative to concentrate on ideological revolution inside the Party, on socialist revolution
inside the Party. This is because the lines of the Party in every field emerge from the concrete movements.
Our movements are very fast. So then, it is imperative to do political and ideological work quickly. It is
imperative to demonstrate the good essential characteristics of collectivity by using concrete examples
that exist in each unit. B. Building has made leaps and bounds. We were empty-handed, lacked food
supplies, lacked means, and had many cattle and buffaloes fall sick and die. The external enemies and
the internal enemies carried out constant activities. There was no aid from the world. We took a stance
of complete self-reliance, and we were able to sort out the livelihood of the people by increasing production
of transitional food supplies by growing rainy season rice. Generally speaking, we were able to achieve 90
percent of our three-ton plan. We have resolved fertilizer and water issues exceeding plans with independence
and mastery. So then, our building of socialism is strong, quick, high-quality, with independence and mastery.
Our doing this is extraordinary. We had countless difficulties, but we were able to do it. This is a major lesson
and a major experience; it must be recorded in our history. 1977 will not be as difficult as 1976. 1978 and
1979 will be even less difficult than 1976. The year of serious difficulty was 1976. 1975 was not as difficult
as 1976. In 1975, there were still forces and food supplies. As for 1976, the original resources almost totally
ran out. Almost everything had to be re-organized. The re-organization was planned and systematic during 1976.
In this state, we took a stance of independence, mastery, and self-reliance. We were able to sort it
out, and we achieved the 1976 Plan in the sense that in 1977 we eat following the Party ration, there is
enough seed and we exported some.

So then, our being able to pass through this must be recorded in the history of our Party. The fight on the soc
-ialist revolution side is hot, strong, and profound. Building socialism has been systematic and really strong.
This comes from a high stance of independence and mastery, a spirit of patriotism, and a high revolutionary
spirit. In tandem with this, the spirit of proletarian class internationalism is high. We have been able to defend
the country, sort out the livelihood of the people, and maintain the purity of our revolution during the current
complicated world situation. This is a major positive quality and is a key in the post-liberation period. If we
maintain the 1976 level of combat on into 1977 and 1978, we will be very strong because our forces will
increase, food supply will be sufficient, the health of the people will be stronger than before, the forces of the
livestock will be stronger than they were in 1976, and the forces of various tools will be stronger than they
were during 1976. Along with this favorable quality, shortfalls still exist: For instance, sorting out the people’s
transitional food supplies has been one of our unfavorables. We have still not absorbed the line of sorting
out transitional food supplies. Some locations have sorted this out well; however, three-fourths of the entire
country has not sorted this out well. This has to an extent impacted the health of the people. So then, this
issue arises from subjective factors of the Party. The line has not been closely grasped. The stance of socialist
revolution is not yet strong. The spirit of responsibility is not yet strong. Some locations have similar land,
similar food supply shortages, and similar water shortages; however, some locations have been able to
resolve them and some have not. Sometimes the upper echelon has absorbed this, but the lower echelons
have not, and there has been no detailed follow-up and constant sorting out. Another shortfall is the stance
of independence, mastery, self-reliance and creativity; there are still deficiencies in the base areas in the
Zone frameworks, the Sector frameworks, and the District frameworks. This can clearly be sorted out to
some extent inside the District frameworks; this can clearly be further sorted out to some extent inside the
Sector frameworks and further sorted out in the Zone frameworks too. Some locations have resolved a lot
and have accomplished the plans and even surpassed them with self-reliance. The factors are still Party
factors: absorbing the line in an implementational sense and organizing effectively. If these issues can be
resolved, any issue can be resolved. There will be no more issues of food shortages, whether in 1977 or
on into the future. We will have many more preconditions than we did during 1976.

So then, it is imperative to concentrate on the issue of self-reliance by relying on the Party, the Army,
and our people. In this, the Party must act as the core. In this, the issue of the position of collectivity arises.
In this, concentrate on the Sector level and in particular the District and Subdistrict levels and the cooperatives.
Concentrate on the line of collectivity in the sense that the water issue has two aspects: some locations lack
water; some store it, but some do not. When there is a lot of water, some locations have the same amount of
water, but the issue of the activity line arises. The Party has instructed that at the end of this year to get ready
to conserve water. Some have done this well; some have not. This is not speaking about high ground, but the
lowlands. But some locations have been unable to sort this out. We mention these shortfalls so that we can
move forward strongly. These shortfalls in the framework of the favorables are fundamental. When we learn
from the experiences of 1976, we will have a lot of experience for later years. From stances to activity lines,
we will have more confidence in ourselves. 3. The Mission of Defending the Country Generally speaking, the
results of our work of defending the country have been good to the maximum. Defending the fruits of the
revolution has been good to the maximum and complete. Also, there are the preconditions for expanding the
fruits of the revolution well in the future. We have been able to defend the entire country. This is the overall
result. The reasons and experience: During 1976 there were some general aspects which we bring up for
examination: The enemy harassed us from the outside. During 1976, the enemy harassed us from the outside
to test our forces and assess our forces. Had we been weak, they would have penetrated further inside.

However, our forces of every type were able to resist and defend, demonstrate their identity, and eradicate
the enemy. This means that the preparedness of our Army in defending entry passes both large and small
is much more masterful than it was in 1975. The enemy harassed us inside the country. This year, the enemy
is far weaker than they were in 1975. The reason is because the revolutionary state authority is even better
and is even more revolutionarily vigilant. This is because the situation is strengthening and expanding in
the direction of the Party. This is because politics, ideology, defense, and patrol measures are even better
than they were in 1975. Other manifestations are the events that it is imperative to concentrate on during
1976, namely the attempts to smash the Party leadership and attack and overthrow our revolution. They
are traitor forces, foreign subjects; they sneak in to embed inside our flesh and blood. Their plans are big.
They attack to overthrow the Party leadership, and through this they attack to overthrow the Kampuchean
revolution and make Kampuchea subject to a foreign country. We eradicated them in time because our
socialist revolution was good, our revolutionary vigilance was high, and our organization was meticulous.
Through this experience, we see that the decisive factor in eradicating enemies of every type is the factor
of good Party leadership of socialist revolution during 1976. It was this that was the decisive factor, the
fundamental, not the material factor. In summary, under the correct, clear-sighted, and magnificent
leadership of our Communist Party of Kampuchea, the people and our Revolutionary Army of Kam
-puchea accomplished the missions of the Party of 1976 in a great victory and opened a new bright
stage of our history only 20 months after the great victory of the liberation of the entire country in
eradicating the American imperialists and their servants and overthrowing the feudalists, landowners,
and capitalists. The great shining victories of 1976 have made a clear, bright future for more great
victories in fulfilling the Party’s missions for 1977.