Immediately after its victory, the CPK ordered the evacuation of all
cities and towns, sending the entire urban population into the
countryside to work as farmers, as the CPK was trying to reshape society
into a model that Pol Pot had conceived.
The new government sought to completely restructure Cambodian
society. Remnants of the old society were abolished and religion was
suppressed. Agriculture was collectivized, and the surviving part of the
industrial base was abandoned or placed under state control. Cambodia
had neither a currency nor a banking system.
Democratic Kampuchea's relations with Vietnam and Thailand worsened
rapidly as a result of border clashes and ideological differences. While
communist, the CPK was fiercely nationalistic, and most of its members
who had lived in Vietnam were purged. Democratic Kampuchea established
close ties with the People's Republic of China, and the
Cambodian-Vietnamese conflict became part of the Sino-Soviet rivalry,
with Moscow backing Vietnam. Border clashes worsened when the Democratic
Kampuchea military attacked villages in Vietnam. The regime broke off
relations with Hanoi in December 1977, protesting Vietnam's alleged
attempt to create an Indochina Federation. In mid-1978, Vietnamese
forces invaded Cambodia, advancing about 30 miles (48 km) before the
arrival of the rainy season.
The reasons for Chinese support of the CPK was to prevent a
pan-Indochina movement, and maintain Chinese military superiority in the
region. The Soviet Union supported a strong Vietnam to maintain a
second front against China in case of hostilities and to prevent further
Chinese expansion. Since Stalin's death, relations between
Mao-controlled China and the Soviet Union had been lukewarm at best. In
February to March 1979, China and Vietnam would fight the brief Sino-Vietnamese War over the issue.
In December 1978, Vietnam announced formation of the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation (KUFNS) under Heng Samrin,
a former DK division commander. It was composed of Khmer Communists who
had remained in Vietnam after 1975 and officials from the eastern
sector—like Heng Samrin and Hun Sen—who had fled to Vietnam from
Cambodia in 1978. In late December 1978, Vietnamese forces launched a
full invasion of Cambodia, capturing Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979 and
driving the remnants of Democratic Kampuchea's army westward toward
Thailand.
Within the CPK, the Paris-educated leadership—Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Nuon Chea, and Son Sen—were
in control. A new constitution in January 1976 established Democratic
Kampuchea as a Communist People's Republic, and a 250-member Assembly of
the Representatives of the People of Kampuchea (PRA) was selected in
March to choose the collective leadership of a State Presidium, the
chairman of which became the head of state.
Prince Sihanouk resigned as head of state on April 4. On April 14, after its first session, the PRA announced that Khieu Samphan
would chair the State Presidium for a 5-year term. It also picked a
15-member cabinet headed by Pol Pot as prime minister. Prince Sihanouk
was put under virtual house arrest.
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