Racism, Marxism, Labelling, and Genocide in Ben Kiernan’s The Pol Pot Regime

Abstract

This in-depth review suggests that Kiernan's argument that Pol Pot's Democratic Kampuchea regime was more racist and genetically total itarian than Marxist or specifically Communist is unconvincing. It also takes issue with his argument about the predominance in Democratic Kampuchea of a French-educated ‘Pol Pot group’ permanently allied with ‘warlords’ heading two of the regime's Zones. Kiernan's suggestion that this coalition was solely accountable for war against Viet Nam is found to be faulty, as is his presentation of another Zone, the East, as the main locus of opposition to Pol Pot. The review considers Kiernan's theoretical categories to be empty and stresses that Marxism and Communism were at the root of racism and genocide in Democratic Kampuchea.