The Khmer Rouge and The Vietnamese Communist a History of Their Relations as Told in the Soviet Archives
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.....Relations between Khmer and Vietnamese communists have passed
through some major periods of development. In the first period, 1930 to 1954, a
small Khmer section of the Indochina Communist Party (ICP), was under full
ideological and organizational control of the Vietnamese communists. During
the years of struggle for liberation from the governance of France (1946-1954),
the strength of this section grew continuously due to ICP recruitment of the
most radical participants in the anti-colonial struggle. The Khmer People’s
Revolutionary Party (KPRP) was founded in June 1951 on this basis. The leaders
of this party, Son Ngoc Minh, Sieu Heng, and Tou Samut, acted hand in hand
with the Vietnamese in the anti-colonial war and were truly valued allies and
strict executors of all the plans drafted by the ICP.
.......The North Vietnamese leaders who were preparing for a renewal of armed struggle
in the South, found in Sihanouk, with his anti-imperialist and anti-American rhetoric, a far
more important ally than the KPRP.Moreover, Sihanouk had real power. Hanoi
placed its bets on the alliance with Sihanouk, who was not only critical of the
United States but also granted North Vietnam the possibility to use his territory
for creating rear bases on the so-called Ho Chi Minh Trail and even to deliver
ammunition and arms for the fighting in the South through the Cambodian
port of Sihanoukville.
.....
Most likely, high-ranking Vietnamese officials tried to persuade their Soviet allies that Vietnam had the Khmer communist leaders under firm control.
.......
The compromise with Hanoi allowed Pol Pot to maintain his authority in the party leadership, and provided material and military aid for fighting groups, which he called the Revolutionary Army. In the period 1968-1970 this army conducted unsuccessful operations against the
forces of the ruling regime, sustained heavy losses, and did not have the slightest hope of coming to power. A great chance for Pol Pot and Khmer communists came in March, 1970.
Their long-term enemy- Cambodian leader Prince Sihanouk - was overthrown in a
military coup d’etat on March 18, 1970. He had to enter into a military-political union with
the communists to get back to power. It became a turning point for the communists; in
the eyes of thousands of peasants, the Khmer Rouge turned from enemies of Sihanouk
into his protectors. The revolutionary army started growing, and communists’ bases
among the masses increased considerably. The goals of purely communist reorganization
were set aside for the moment, and the slogans about protecting the legitimate chief of state and of national independence came to the fore....
.......