To eliminate the individual & private possession decisively
& strengthen & expand the collective possession forcefully
– The Khmer Rouge, 11/1975

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

Possession means controlling, greed, or the desire to own something by a person or by many
people, by one class or by many classes. Human beings, or any class of people, always have many kinds
of possessions, such as: Material possession, which includes consumer goods, food, and clothing. Ideological
possessions (feelings), which include individualism, liberalism, bragging, seeking the limelight, rank, and
personal honor, etc. Power possessions, which include authoritarianism, mandarin-ism, bureaucracy, ministry
-ism, and sectionism. Sentimental possessions, which include love, anger, compassion, worry, and happ-
iness, etc. 1. Private Possession Private possession includes greed, the desire to control, and the will to
become rich by owning various materials. It exists within the ideology and sentiment of any individual. It is
like the old saying: “Everything is mine. Everything belongs to me.” This means that “I” dominate the human
society around me. This private possession ideology is the ideology of the oppressive classes, who always
exploit, oppress, and rob the poor so that they can become rich. They take everything into their possession
and do not care about the misery of the people. They feel no headache or pain when people are hungry and
starving. This private possession is the view and ideological stance of the imperialist, feudalist, and capitalist
classes, which our revolutionary male and female youths must fight to eliminate from Kampuchean society,
from our revolutionary ranks, and from ourselves. 2. Collective Possession Collective possession is the
shared control or collective property of the mass of people — the laborers, who are the producers, the
inventors, the reformers of society, and the makers of human history. Therefore, collective possession is
good and just. This collective possession ideology is what our revolution desires. Our revolutionary male
and female youths must strive to build it within our Kampuchean society, within our revolutionary ranks,
and within each of us. I. The Status of Possession in Our Present Kampuchean Society After the entire
country was liberated, the American imperialists and their servants were expelled from Kampuchea.

The feudalist and capitalist classes were basically overthrown both politically and economically. The means
of production — small, medium, and large — have fallen completely into the hands of the state, the workers
and peasants, and the cooperative people. For example, in the cities, factories, ports, roads, and all means
of water and land transportation have fallen into the hands of the state and the workers and peasants. All
workers living and working in the factories are organized within the union framework, which has a collective
character. In the countryside, more than 99% of the main means of production — such as land, paddy fields,
cattle, carts, seeds, etc. — belong to the collectivity of the cooperatives. Nowadays, in both the previously
and newly liberated zones, our people are living in cooperatives. Human labor, the means of production, and
daily living and working are all organized in collective form. Private possession has been gradually eliminated.
Today, our new and old peasants are living, working, learning, playing, having, and not having together coll
-ectively within the cooperatives under the leadership of the Party. Therefore, their stance, spirit, and ideology
are also advancing toward collectivity. In conclusion, it appears that in the new Kampuchean society, the worker
-peasant people in both the countryside and the towns have already reached a high level of collective spirit
and organization. In the future, when the cooperatives and unions are further strengthened and expanded,
the collective possession stance of our people will rise even higher, and private possession will move toward
total collapse. This is a good aspect and a positive evolution for our new Kampuchean society. II. The Status
of Possession in Our Revolutionary Ranks In our revolutionary ranks, our revolutionary male and female
combatants and cadres have sacrificed their private possessions — such as housing, paddy fields, gardens,
family, parents, relatives, children, and other property — in order to serve the Party, the revolution, and the
people. After joining the revolutionary ranks and receiving constant propaganda, education, and instruction
from the Party, our comrades have strived to build a higher stance of sacrificing material, ideological, and
sentimental possessions.

Even so, the ideology of private possession has not yet been completely eliminated from our ranks. This is an
obvious truth that we must recognize and pay attention to, and we must strive to eliminate it step by step. We
must see clearly and hold the correct view that all of us, comrades — regardless of our original class — have
just come out of imperialist, feudalist, and capitalist society. We lived for many years under the private possession
system. Therefore, whether we want it or not, or realize it or not, we still carry, more or less, the ideology of private
possession (also called individual possession), which is the influence of the previous regimes. That is why some
wrong activities stemming from the private possession stance have occurred in our revolutionary male and female
youth ranks. These include. Material possession: Collecting booty for their own unit or for themselves, privately
using booty or collective materials in violation of Angkar’s discipline and assignments, and taking control of various
collective materials, etc. Authority possession (authoritarianism): Applying authority over the people and over
male and female combatants in the ministry; cursing and scolding revolutionary male and female combatants
whose work does not satisfy them; blaming and punishing revolutionary male and female combatants for even
small mistakes. Some comrades even use their authority to kill people who made mistakes but were not enemies.
Some comrades exhibit mandarin-ism, bureaucracy, and arrogance. They act as supervisors who have power
over others. They only give orders but do not want to do direct work themselves. They are not close to the people
and do not understand the well-being of the people and the male and female combatants. Ministry, section,
and unit possession: Keeping collected booty only for use within their own unit, ministry, or section, without
caring about the needs of the country or other sections and ministries, even when those people and units
need the materials urgently. For example, if others criticize their ministry, they react angrily and attack back
without considering that their actions may harm internal solidarity and unity .For example, when something
happens, they believe only their ministry, section, or unit is right, while all others are wrong.

Ideological possession: Bragging, revolutionary impoliteness, individualism, selfishness, liberalism, subject
-ivism, seeking the limelight, seeking rank, role, and personal honor, etc. Knowledge possession: The view
that one is the only person who knows and understands more, so they reject the opinions or knowledge of
the masses. Those with this stance usually consider their own ideas better and do not listen to the Party’s
instructions. Sentimental possession: Caring only for, sympathizing with, and loving their own family, friends,
relatives, and parents. If the people are sick, hungry, or starving, they do not care and consider it normal.
On the other hand, they only love and favor individuals who know how to flatter and please them. They
ignore and dislike any male or female combatant who does not come to please them, no matter how hard
they work. These are the wrong activities stemming from the individual possession stance, which is the
ideology of the oppressive classes — the imperialist, feudalist, and capitalist classes. Our revolutionary male
and female youths must clearly see that the individual possession ideology still exists in our revolutionary
ranks, in our revolutionary youth ranks, and within ourselves. This does not mean we should become pess
-imistic or hopeless and allow it to remain hidden within us, our ranks, or our revolutionary youth ranks. We
see this situation objectively in order to stay vigilant, constantly resist it, and take practical measures to deal
with it and absolutely eliminate it. III. Our Revolutionary Male and Female Youths Must Eliminate Individual
Possession Decisively, and Educate and Arm Themselves with Collective Possession Forcefully and Constantly
We are currently in the period of socialist revolution and are preparing to enter the period of building socialism
in Kampuchea. To become a socialist country, our male and female youths and the entire population must
possess a very high and firm collective possession stance.

After examining the current situation of our people and Kampuchean society, and seeing the current state
of private possession within our revolutionary ranks, can our revolutionary male and female youths develop
a high collective stance so that we can advance into socialism? Objectively, based on the strengths and
weaknesses mentioned above, we truly believe that our revolutionary male and female youths can definitely
reach the goal of collectivity and must absolutely strive to attain this collective goal. In the past, we successfully
fought to expel the imperialists and their neo-colonialist regime from Kampuchean soil. We basically overthrew
the feudalist and capitalist classes. Thus, we have successfully smashed private and individual possession
from Kampuchean society. Our Kampuchean people have sacrificed all their private possessions — paddy
fields, cattle, labor force, and even their intelligence — to the collective possession of the cooperatives. Our
Kampuchean society has therefore already reached the stage of collectivity and is evolving progressively
and strongly. This evolution is moving very fast and does not allow our revolutionary male and female youths
to hold back. Furthermore, our revolutionary male and female youths have already been organized collectively.
Our comrades have sacrificed everything by joining the revolutionary ranks in order to serve the Party and
the people unconditionally. At the same time, our comrades want to re-educate and develop themselves in
order to keep up with the movement; no one wants to fall behind or be left out. These are the good qualifications
that will help our revolutionary male and female youths eliminate individual possession decisively and strengthen
and expand collective possession further and even more powerfully.

As for the weaknesses mentioned above, these are only temporary phenomena that are being resolved through
the current intense class struggle. At the same time, our revolutionary male and female youths must recognize
that this individual possession stance still has strong influence within the revolutionary ranks and inside each
of us. If we do not take practical measures and show high determination to smash it, it will survive and expand
further within the ranks and inside each of us. Our revolutionary male and female youths must understand clearly
that the struggle between the private possession ideology and the collective possession ideology within the revo
-lutionary ranks and inside ourselves is part of the class struggle. It is therefore a life-and-death, tense, and tough
struggle. Our revolutionary male and female youths must not compromise with it, tolerate it, or ignore it. If we
compromise with it, tolerate it, or ignore it, the collective possession stance will definitely be defeated by the
private and individual possession stance. That would mean the revolution is defeated by the feudalist-capitalist
regime. The people and the masses — who have already traveled very far along the path of collectivity and
who want our revolutionary male and female youths to catch up quickly with this hot movement — will absolutely
not allow this feudalist-capitalist stance to dominate us again. Therefore, if any revolutionary male or female
youth is still attached to this individual possession and regrets losing it, they may stay behind and cling to it.
But the people and the masses cannot wait for them and will leave them behind. That means you, comrades,
will be dropped from the movement. Seeing this situation objectively, our revolutionary male and female youths,
who are subjective, must strive to run fast and catch up with the movement. We cannot take a break even for
a short moment.

Comrades, you should understand and remember this: It is you who have continuously sacrificed everything
— even your young lives — for the Party, the revolution, and the people in smashing the neo-colonialist regime
of American imperialism and the feudalist-capitalist regime until they were driven from Kampuchean soil. So
why should you still regret or want to embrace individual possession, which is the legacy of the colonialist,
feudalist, and capitalist regimes that we ourselves have already kicked out? There is no material better than
socialism. They strongly believe in the bright future that is rising gloriously before them. Comrades have joined
the tense and difficult revolutionary struggle until we completed the Democratic National Revolution. Now, the
Party and the people have given comrades the role of carrying out the task of socialist revolution. This is a
great honor and a very pure happiness for our revolutionary male and female youths. We all must make a
firm determination to achieve it absolutely. Therefore, we must throw away the old burden called “individual
possession.” We must arm ourselves firmly and strongly with the collective possession stance and turn it
into a force that will constantly push our journey forward until we absolutely reach the goal of socialism.