Context: Malcolm Caldwell was a Scottish academic and Marxist writer who passionately supported the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. He spent much of his time criticizing U.S. foreign policy and defending the Khmer Rouge, even downplaying the horrific atrocities they committed.

    In December 1978, Caldwell, along with two other Western journalists, got a rare invitation to visit Cambodia. After a private meeting with Pol Pot, the country's notorious and brutal dictator, Caldwell returned to his guesthouse on a euphoric high. Hours later, he was dead—shot in his room under mysterious circumstances.

    Who killed him and why they did it was unconfirmed, a Journalist and some of Caldwell's family members believed it was ordered by Pol Pot, possibly over a disagreement. Alternatively, four of the guards at the guest house were arrested and two of them confessed after torture at the Khmer Rouge's S-21 prison that the killers were subversives attempting to undermine the Khmer Rouge regime and that Caldwell was killed "to prevent the Party from gathering friends in the world". Three days after Caldwell was killed, the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia and soon put an end to the Khmer Rouge government. Becker (one of the journalists that visited Cambodia with him) said, "Malcolm Caldwell's death was caused by the madness of the regime he openly admired".

    by Edothebirbperson

    8 Comments

    1. As person from formerly communist country I don’t want anybody to die but I really would love to for all those tankies to live like a year during Stalin terror…

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