Comparison and Contrast

Although many would say that Joseph Stalin’s regime was very much like Pol Pot’s, it was truly radically different. For example, Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge considered the rural farmer to be the proletariat, and the true representative of the working class. Based on agrarian communism, Cambodians worked on collective farms and on labour projects. In contrast to the Khmer Rouge rule, Joseph Stalin’s rapid industrialization of the Soviet Union focused on urban industrialization, and greatly ignored agriculture and farm work. As a result many people starved to death in a widespread famine. Secondly, under Pol Pot’s command an estimated 1.5 million people died solely because they were suspected of free market activities. Whereas, Stalin’s Great Purge was a campaign to rid the Communist Party of corruption and treachery. Finally, Pot cited the enemies of the state and society to be the parents of families. Children would be separated from their parents at a young age because the parents were said to be tainted with capitalism. Thus, children could be brainwashed with socialist ideals, and taught to torture animals. In comparisons, Stalin saw ethnic minorities as the greatest threat to the Soviet Union. To combat this Stalin would deport millions of people to Siberia to be exiled. In conclusion, although Pol Pot was influenced by Joseph Stalin’s ideas and actions, their regimes were by far diverse.