Saloth Sâr ("Pol Pot"), which was named for "Politique Potentielle" viewed the achievements of Jayavarman II and the Angkorian civilization as proof of the inherent greatness of the Khmer people. He famously stated, "If our people can build Angkor, they can do anything". He viewed Jayavarman II not as a deity, but as the architect of a sovereign, powerful state of Cambodian society, and was deeply influenced by both ancient Khmer history and radical
Marxism during his formative years in
France as a student in
Paris by October 1949, when he was also a founding member of
Cercle Marxiste, an anti-intellectual study group of Khmer students, and his early return to
Cambodia on 13 January 1953. Saloth argued that democracy was the only moral solution for the Cambodian nation and criticized the monarchy as a "putrid wound" that exploited the people. Cambodia gained full independence from France under
King Norodom Sihanouk on 9 November 1953, Saloth Sâr had formed as a separate entity from the earlier
Vietnamese-dominated movement as the "Workers' Party of Kampuchea", which was later renamed in 1966 as the
Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), after he made frequent visits to China training on the theory of the
dictatorship of the proletariat, and was inspired by the
Great Leap Forward,
Red August and the
Cultural Revolution. In 1970, while
King Sihanouk was overthrown and fled to
Pyongyang and then
Beijing in exile, Saloth Sâr changed his name to "Pol Pot".
Lon Nol took power, and the
Khmer Republic was formally proclaimed on 9 October 1970 until 17 April 1975, when the
Khmer Rouge ("Cambodian Reds") led by their
Maoist organization as "Angkar" took control and captured the capital
Phnom Penh which came to power as the beginning of
Year Zero which sought to aim, transform and build
Cambodia into an
agrarian,
socialist and
communist state, which he later established as
Democratic Kampuchea on 5 January 1976, after the Khmer Rouge received a strong support from the
People's Republic of China by
Chairman Mao. North Korea's leader
Kim Il Sung maintained a
personal friendship with Pol Pot which aligned with the Khmer Rouge's agenda to isolate Cambodia, after
North Korea, with its own policy of
Juche. North Korea became Democratic Kampuchea's second-largest trading partner, after China, between the
two communist nations. The Khmer Rouge ideology was a blend of
Marxism-Leninism and intense nationalism, aiming to restore the perceived former glory of the
Khmer Empire established by Jayavarman II. Once adopted on 5 January 1976, the flag of Democratic Kampuchea (DK) featured a yellow, three-towered temple—representing Angkor Wat, national tradition, and prosperity—centered on a red field that symbolized the blood of the people and the revolutionary struggle of its minimalist design reflected the Khmer Rouge ideology by rejecting complex artistic traditions, while the yellow-on-red scheme mirrored international communist alignment (like "Vietnam") and repurposed traditional yellow, once associated with
Royalty and
Buddhism (rather than
Hinduism), to represent the "lustre" of the revolutionary spirit, which lacked the intricate outlines found in previous
royalist versions, aligning with the regime’s ideology of simplicity and its rejection of "superfluous" creativity in favour of a "New Cambodia" to transform the country into a
socialist paradise with a symbol of the Khmer grandeur which idolised the Khmer Empire founded by Jayavarman II. Pol Pot used the monument as proof that if their ancestors could build a "stupendous marvel," the new revolution could achieve even greater heights, specifically the
Super Great Leap Forward ("Moha Lout Plaoh"). The flag represented the
communist revolution like China and the Khmer Rouge's aim to blend ideology with the nation's ancient history. The design symbolized the blood of the people and national tradition, similar in color scheme to the
Vietnamese flag that led to the
reunification as a
national holiday on 2 July 1976. == Notes ==