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Tou Samouth ( km, ទូ សាមុត; c. 1915 – 20 July 1962), also known as Achar Sok (), was a
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
n politician. One of the two founding members of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (KPRP), the other being
Son Ngoc Minh Sơn Ngọc Minh ( km, សឺន ង៉ុកមិញ; 1920 – 22 December 1972), also known as Achar Mean (), was a Cambodian '' achar'' and communist politician whose first notable career achievement was in 1950 when he was appointed the head ...
, and head of its more moderate faction. He is mainly remembered for mentoring Saloth Sar, who would later change his name to
Pol Pot Pol Pot; (born Saloth Sâr;; 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian revolutionary, dictator, and politician who ruled Cambodia as Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea between 1976 and 1979. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist a ...
.


Career in the Khmer resistance

Samouth was a Khmer Krom who was born and raised in
Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
(in the Southern part of
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
).Chandler (1992), p. 45 Samouth was trained as a
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
in his youth, and by World War II, he was professor of
Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
at Unnalom Monastery in
Phnom Penh Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...
. In 1945, an American air raid directed against
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
military targets struck the Monastery, causing several deaths. Samouth was so frightened by this event that he fled to the countryside, eventually making his way to
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, where he joined the
Viet Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
.Dommen, A. ''The Indochinese experience of the French and the Americans'', Indiana University Press, 2001, p.63 In the late 1940s, Samouth lectured groups of Khmer recruits on political awareness and economics. Samouth went on to be a founder member of the Khmer People's Revolutionary Party, the precursor to the
Communist Party of Kampuchea The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK),, Romanization of Khmer#UNGEGN, UNGEGN: , Romanization of Khmer#ALA-LC Romanization Tables, ALA-LC: ; french: Parti communiste du Kampuchea also known as the Khmer Communist Party,Son Ngoc Minh Sơn Ngọc Minh ( km, សឺន ង៉ុកមិញ; 1920 – 22 December 1972), also known as Achar Mean (), was a Cambodian '' achar'' and communist politician whose first notable career achievement was in 1950 when he was appointed the head ...
. He was also one of the leaders of the
United Issarak Front The United Issarak Front (in km, សមាគមខ្មែរឥស្សរៈ, ''Samakhum Khmer Issarak'', lit. 'Khmer Issarak Front') was a Cambodian anti-colonial movement 1950–1954,Kiernan, Ben. ''How Pol Pot Came to Power''. London: ...
, a broadly leftist affiliation of various disparate elements of the anti-French resistance, the
Khmer Issarak The Khmer Issarak ( km, ខ្មែរឥស្សរៈ, or 'Independent Khmer') was a "loosely structured" anti- French and anti-colonial independence movement. The movement has been labelled as “amorphous”. The Issarak was ...
. When the Front formed its 'Khmer Resistance Government', Samouth was named as the Interior Minister.


Position in the KPRP

As head of the Vietnamese-sponsored 'urban' faction of the Cambodian Party, Samouth's presence helped to attract many Buddhist monks to the left-wing cause. The 'urban' communists, as opposed to Sieu Heng's 'rural' cadres, advocated generally more moderate policies; in particular, they supported the presence of the Cambodian king,
Norodom Sihanouk Norodom Sihanouk (; km, នរោត្តម សីហនុ, ; 31 October 192215 October 2012) was a Cambodian statesman, Sangkum and FUNCINPEC politician, Norodom Sihanouk filmography, film director, and composer who led Cambodia in vari ...
, as a figure of national unity and a useful ally in the
North Vietnamese North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
attempt to overcome the
South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
. It was within Samouth's faction of the Party that Pol Pot, and the other recent returnees from Paris who would form the nucleus of the Party's later incarnation as the
Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. ...
, would gain experience. Samouth appears to have adopted Pol Pot as his protégé, leading to the latter's rapid promotion within the Party subsequent to Cambodian independence. The 'rural' cadres of the party were decimated by Sihanouk's security forces in 1959, following Sieu Heng's defection to the government. In the face of increasing repression from Sihanouk's government, the KPRP held a secret meeting in 1960 in Phnom Penh railway station. Samouth, who still advocated cooperation with Sihanouk, was elected General Secretary. Pol Pot was named as third in the Party's hierarchy behind Samouth and
Nuon Chea Nuon Chea ( km, នួន ជា; born Lao Kim Lorn; 7 July 1926 – 4 August 2019), also known as Long Bunruot ( km, ឡុង ប៊ុនរត្ន) or Rungloet Laodi ( th, รุ่งเลิศ เหล่าดี), was a Cambodian co ...
.Ross, R. (ed)
The KPRP Second Congress
' in ''Cambodia: A Country Study'', Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1987


Death

Samouth disappeared in disputed circumstances in July 1962; the event was a closely guarded secret until the later 1970s. Although he is usually assumed to have been murdered by Sihanouk's police, it has been suggested that Pol Pot may have arranged Samouth's death to ensure his own promotion to party secretary. The historian Ben Kiernan claims that there is strong evidence that Pol Pot's circle was responsible for Samouth's disappearance: in particular a secret Party report on 'internal enemies', dating from 1978, accused Kandal Province Secretary Som Chea of killing Samouth. Chea, who was later executed, had been a courier for Pol Pot's group in 1962.Kiernan, p.241 Pol Pot denied these claims in one of the last interviews before his death, stating that Samouth, who had left his safe house to obtain medicine for his sick child, had been arrested by
Lon Nol Marshal Lon Nol ( km, លន់ នល់, also ; 13 November 1913 – 17 November 1985) was a Cambodian politician and general who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia The prime minister of Cambodia ( km, នាយករដ្ឋមន្ ...
's men, interrogated, and killed: "If Tou Samouth had talked, I would have been arrested. He was killed at Stung Mean Chey pagoda. We loved each other."Thayer, N.
Day of Reckoning
'', accessed 26-05/09
Pol Pot was elected Party secretary early in 1963, and subsequently broke decisively with the Vietnamese communists, securing instead the backing of
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.


Legacy

One of the main streets of Phnom Penh was named in honour of him after his death, until it was changed to
Norodom Boulevard Norodom Boulevard ( km, មហាវិថីព្រះនរោត្តម), also called Street 41 ( km, ផ្លូវលេខ៤១, link=no), is a major boulevard in Cambodia and one of Phnom Penh's oldest arterial roads. It was named af ...
in 1997.


References


Sources

* Chandler, David P., ''Brother Number One: A political biography of Pol Pot'', Westview Press, 1992, * Kiernan, B. ''How Pol Pot Came to Power''. London: Verso, 1985 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tou, Samouth 1910s births 1962 deaths Cambodian communists Cambodian Buddhist monks Communist Party of Kampuchea politicians Government ministers of Cambodia Khmer Krom people People of the First Indochina War 20th-century Buddhist monks