Communist Party of Kampuchea

The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), also known as the Khmer Communist Party, was a communist party in Cambodia. Its leader was Pol Pot and its members were generally known as the Khmer Rouge (Red Khmer). Originally founded in 1951, the party was split into pro-Chinese and pro-Soviet factions as a result of the Sino–Soviet split with the former being the Pol Pot faction, and the latter adopting a more revisionist approach to Marxism. As such, it claimed that 30 September 1960 was its founding date, then it was named the Workers' Party of Kampuchea before it was renamed the Communist Party in 1966. The party operated underground during most of its existence and it took control of the country in April 1975 and established the state which was known as Democratic Kampuchea. The party lost power in 1979 with the establishment of the People's Republic of Kampuchea following the intervention of Vietnamese military forces. The party was officially dissolved in 1981, with the Party of Democratic Kampuchea claiming its legacy. The party was founded in 1951, when the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) was divided into separate Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese communist parties. The decision to form a separate Cambodian communist party had been taken at the ICP congress in February the same year. Different sources claim different dates for the exact founding and the first congress of the party. Son Ngoc Minh was appointed as acting chairman of the party. The party congress did not elect a full Central Committee, but instead appointed a Party Propagation and Formation Committee. At the time of its formation, the Cambodian party was called the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (KPRP). The ICP had been heavily dominated by Vietnamese and the KPRP was actively supported by the Vietnamese party during its initial phase of existence. Due to the reliance on Vietnamese support in the joint struggle against French colonial rule, the history of the party would later be rewritten, stating 1960 as the year of foundation of the party.