ABSTRACT

The conflict over revolutionary tactics, strategy, and alliances transcended the Khmer People's Party (KPP)-Kampuchean Communist Party (KCP) division and extended deep into the ranks of the Saloth Sar faction itself. Shrouded in myth, secrecy, and disinformation, the relationship between the KPP and the younger Khmer Students' Association-Khmer Students' Union student groups during the early revolutionary period is complex and poorly understood. Touch Samouth was a veteran with a long history of leadership in the revolutionary movement. The party as a whole probably could not avoid in 1960 the conclusion that continued agitation in the urban areas and among Cambodian elites was a necessary—but not sufficient—condition for revolutionary progress. The historical record concerning the strategy of the Khmer Rouge during the early revolutionary period is far from clear. The very fact that the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea was founded in the first week of 1968 would seem inexplicable had the KCP previously been engaged in armed struggle.