I think that the biggest problem for the Khmer Rouge was their extreme far leftism rather than adoption of both right and left concepts. In addition to the oppressive system that did not value human life, this spelled disaster for the Khmer Rouge. Their immediate adoption of marxist ideology taken to the extreme was a harsh shift for the population and led to the deaths of so many people not adapted to an agrarian life, in need of western medicine, people starving, or people that the Khmer Rouge outright killed. In my opinion, this demonstrates an inherent with far left communism on a national scale. A much better solution would be a socialist or more center-left ideology that still prioritizes the common person, while also having enough basic rights like private property. Marx’s end goal of communism–a society not bound by class or inequality–is impossible because it shows a fundamental lack of understanding of human nature. Human nature is to strive and leap forward ahead of the pack, which inherently means that the pack is left behind. In my opinion, I think that Marx’s vision is an idealized dream that wants human nature to be something that it is not. While I think that inequality on the whole is awful and the wealth differences between Americans today is disgusting, the solution is not to strip everyone of what makes them human. At the end of the day, difference, inequality, and individualism is what makes us human. It distinguishes us from one another and gives each person infinitely unique value. Imagine a world for a moment, wherein you dress, look like, eat, drink, say, think, dream about, wish for, desire, the exact same thing as the person next to you, and the person beside them, and so on and so forth. A world where no one owns anything, a world where there is nothing distinguishing you from anyone else. Ideologically, that environment sounds horrible. With no thoughts, dreams, or aspirations to separate yourself from the crowd, what even are you? At that point, are you even human, or just an animal? For marxist extremists like the Khmer Rouge, this is how society should be. At the same time, it is true that workers around the world since the beginning of time have been exploited. Whether it was the slaves in Egypt building the pyramids, or the factory workers in England working ten hours each day, the poor have been constantly exploited. Similarly, the workers under the Khmer Rouge were also exploited by their leaders. This highlights another issue with the Khmer Rouge, which is that they brutally exploited their population and executed the marxist ideology poorly. This is evidenced by the vegetables grown by the camps being sent away in First They Killed My Father, which demonstrates how the Khmer Rouge never actually cared about the Marxist paradise, but rather sought to replace Lan Nol’s regime with their own. Ultimately, the failure of the Khmer Rouge that led to the deaths of so many innocents, was caused by a combination of inherent flaws of communism, and the Khmer Rouge’s oppressive regime that killed thousands upon thousands of innocent people.
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