ABSTRACT
Counterrevolutionary elements in the defeated regime and society must be dealt with, neutralized. Sudden and fundamental change in the historical trajectory of a society requires much more than the mere destruction of the physical manifestations of the ancien regime. The monachy had more than a spiritual role in society, wielding a degree of influence in village life amounting to a sort of adjunct temporal regime. The Kampuchean Communist Party (KCP) was indeed acutely conscious of the importance of youth in the establishment of a new society. The reports of several refugees who saw the pile of bodies in dress uniform at Kbal Damrei and others elsewhere as well, confirmed that the KCP acted quickly and systematically to liquidate the upper levels of the defeated military. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the Kampuchean revolution is the scope of the change that the KCP sought to bring about in Democratic Kampuchea.
