Terekhov Danila

A New Look at the 1967 Samlout Uprising

ЮГО-ВОСТОЧНАЯ АЗИЯ: АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ РАЗВИТИЯ, 2025, №2(67), 320-334

 
Annotation: The 1967 Samlout Uprising is one of the most controversial events in Cambodia's post-colonial history. For several decades, the view that these events were the result of the activities of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and the starting point of the country's civil war has dominated in Khmer studies. However, new data can be used to refute these claims and trace both the true causes of the popular unrest and the true role of the Khmer leftist movement in it. The article pays attention to previously unexplored details to determine the role and place of the Cambodian left in these events, as well as to understand how the situation was seen by all sides of the conflict. At the same time, the article reflects the impact of the region-wide conflict and its consequences on the situation in the kingdom. It is concluded that the uprising was linked to the activities of internal and external actors - both Sihanouk's inconsistent domestic policy and the actual violation of Cambodia's sovereignty and neutrality by other countries led to the social explosion.

Keywords: Indochina, Cambodia, Samlouth, Norodom Sihanouk, Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, Lon Nol, Vietnam, USA, China, uprising, peasants, communists