Politics
By the April 1975 communist victory, Pol Pot and his associates occupied the most important positions in the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and in the state hierarchies. Pol Pot was known as "Vach du Mach" or One with the Gun. He had been CPK general secretary since February 1963. His associates functioned as the party's Political Bureau, and they held a majority of the seats on the Central Committee.
Through the 1970s, and especially after mid-1975, the party was shaken by factional struggles. There were even armed attempts to topple Pol Pot. The resultant punitive measures were taken in 1977 and 1978 when hundreds of thousands of people, including some of the most important CPK leaders, were executed.
Read more about this topic: Cambodian Genocide
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“If American politics are too dirty for women to take part in, there’s something wrong with American politics.”
—Edna Ferber (1887–1968)
“Our family talked a lot at table, and only two subjects were taboo: politics and personal troubles. The first was sternly avoided because Father ran a nonpartisan daily in a small town, with some success, and did not wish to express his own opinions in public, even when in private.”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)