Books

I have reread Cambodia 1975-1982 by Michael Vickery (noted it was written and published at 1984)

tl;dr: Michael Vickery challenging standard total viewpoint (STV) on Cambodia 1975-1978 under the Khmer Rouge, which was actually composed of many factions, but specifically namely the more moderate East, sympathetic to the rest of Vietnam-led Socialist Indochina and the more chauvinistic Southwest, as you would known led by Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, who are known for their genocidal anti-communist legacy.

1954-1970, let alone 1970-1975, which was the Cambodian civil war, was not neccesarily a good time, too much over-educated elite people, rampant corruption, reclusive peasants, a basketcase for foreign investment, overall a political economy that is more destructive than constructive, draining wealth from the rural areas to the urban areas, in order to chase an unsustainable luxurious dream.

Initially, 1975-1976 was a time for recovery, and lot of things like the evacuation of the city or mass executions was contextualized or challenged by Vickery. Things could've have gone well

1977-78 was the time the Southwest purged the East, due to political infighting, and then stocked up rice for war against Vietnam, disrupting food distribution, with all the bloody implications that confirmed the STV.

But the thing is, a lot of what defined the Southwest was not necessarily due to its socialist nature (despite many comparisons to actually existing socialist countries, it showed such path was not inevitable or exclusive to socialism) but actually shaped by Cambodian national characteristics

It includes:

• the hypothesis that Democratic Kampuchea (D.K) was ruled essentially by a vengeful dictatorship of the chavinistic peasantry, which were apathetic at best, and hostile to the urban population, even the proletariat. This would be compared to narodnism or the peasant elements of the Tambov Rebellion.

• the arc of Pol Pot et crew mirrors that of Son Ngoc Thanh

from radical student - active guerilla fighter and revolutionary - anti-Vietnamese nationalist - finally offering support to the U.S. against revolution in Indochina. This arc coincides with the time in the regime change of Thailand towards a more staunchly anti-communist position

Also:

it is interesting to note that Pol Pot's consolidation of power coincided with the Thanin Kraivixien government in Thailand (Oct. 1976-Oct. 1977). From 1973 until October 1976 the Thai government, following a factional line that goes back to the late 1940s, tried to develop a policy of friendship toward all the new Indochinese governments. The Thanin regime, on the contrary, adopted an extreme anti-communist stance, but, along with succeeding governments, would have favored any developments in Cambodia which were inimical to Vietnam. The Pol Pot line as it developed would have been much more disturbing to the first Thai faction than to the second.296

• the torturous violence made by Pol Pot-Ieng Sary - Khieu Samphan clique was adapted from the Issaraks, most of them non-Communist, but nonetheless their name was reclaimed by Khmer Hanoi/Viet Minh-aligned Cambodian Communists

Then we get to People's Republic of Kampuchea, which, despite being Vietnamese aligned, was actually less socialist and more liberal and lax as a state, much to a fault. Nonetheless, the resistance, backed by US, China, Thailand and UN, and anti-PRK migrants spread atrocity propaganda, some of which very ridiculous, and ofc this was challenged by Vickery like the STV on D.K.

Weirdly enough, the PRK actually claimed to be a legitimate heir to Democratic Kampuchea, noting that 1977-1978 D.K was a reactionary abberation.