Comparative Analysis

Introduction

Communism is a social revolutionary movement objected towards creating a classless society with common ownership of means of production for all. It is an economic and socio-political ideology to establish a new social order different from conventional social structures. Communism is interpreted in several ways but the most significant were the Marxist-Leninist interpretations which influenced the history of many socialist states.

This paper will discuss and compare the regimes of Pol Pot of Cambodia, Ho Chi Min of Vietnam and Mao Zedong of China, according to their personal interpretations and implementation of Marxist-Leninist interpretations of communism and there affects on the respective countries.

Pol Pot- Cambodia

Pol Pot was the ruling leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia from 1975-1979, he is considered one of the most brutal dictators of the world as he massacred 21%f the Cambodian population.

His political activities started in1952 after he returned to Cambodia and joined the anti France Party called Kampuchea People's Revolutionary Party gaining popularity through activism in the rural people. He promoted the idea that the government of Lon Nol. Khmer Rouge was rotten and corrupt and needed a new society under a communist system. He overpowered the government and seized control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975. (Kiernan, 2005)

His interpretation of communism was extreme. The dogma for creation of a strong agricultural base which could later be switched to industrialization, his implementation of this dogma was ruthless as he evacuated the city of Phnom Penh forcing the population to the rural settings to work day and night for the creation of such an agricultural base. Any retaliation was met with execution and torture, he was against the urban population and most executed under the Khmer Rouge were the educated people of Cambodia. He implemented communist social order in the literal sense of classless society with abolishment of money, private property and religion under his regime. (Ean, 2012)

The Khmer Rouge regime fell in 1979 after Vietnam retaliated and overthrew it due to the raids of the regime inside Vietnam. Pol Pot was arrested by former colleagues and house arrested in 1997, he died on 15th April 1998. (Heder and Tittemore, 2001)

Ho Chi Minh- Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh is the founder of Democratic Republic of Vietnam, liberating the former Indo Chinese colony from French and then the intruding Japanese rulers on September 2nd 1945. His political activities started in 1919 as he attempted to present the case of Independence for Vietnam at Treaty of Versailles and refined under the Comintern of Moscow in 1923. He founded the IndoChina Communist Party (ICP) in 1930 and Viet Minh in 1941 to end French and Japanese rule in Vietnam.

His interpretation of Communism was moderate as he initially believed on the principles of Equality and Freedom and self determination from the French and American Revolutions but soon realized the hypocrisy of the Colonizers who were exploiting colonial people for the sake of capitalism even with the establishment of the basic principles of equality thus turning to communism ...