Today, I'm going to tell you about a

dark and tragic piece of history, and it

didn't even happen very long ago.

This is the story of the only time in

history a country ever tried to

completely abolish money.

The results were horrific, so viewer

discretion is advised. It's the story of

this country here in Southeast Asia,

nestled between Thailand, Laos, and

Vietnam. This is Cambodia.

Our story starts with the Vietnam War.

In the late 1960s, Cambodia was dragged

into the chaos, even though it tried to

stay neutral.

North Vietnamese forces secretly used

Cambodian territory, and in response,

the United States launched heavy bombing

campaigns, which devastated rural areas.

Villages were destroyed, farmland was

ruined, and hundreds of thousands of

civilians were displaced or lost their

lives. The population was fearful and

angry.

In 1970,

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>> a coup led by Lon Nol aligned Cambodia

more closely with the US, which turned

the country into an active war zone.

This only worsened the situation.

But a military insurgent group appeared

on the scene, who promised change. They

were known as the Khmer Rouge, and they

were communists.

Khmer refers to the Cambodian people and

culture, and Rouge is the French word

for red, the color of communism.

Before we go any further, we need to

define communism.

>> Ever hear of Karl Marx? He saw a man as

divided into two classes, workers and

capitalists. In the Communist Manifesto,

he called upon the workers, the

proletarians, to rise up and overthrow

their capitalistic masters.

>> Communism is a political and economic

system where everything is owned

collectively by the state, or the

people, instead of by individuals.

The goal is to create a society with no

rich or poor, a fair society where

everyone is equal.

The Khmer Rouge, led by a mysterious

figure called Pol Pot, took this idea to

its absolute extreme. They believed

cities, money, education, and even

modern technology were corrupt and had

to be wiped out to create a pure farming

society.

They had a utopian notion that they

could return to the jungles and the

countryside to live a harmonious

existence.

In 1975, after years of civil war, the

Khmer Rouge captured Cambodia's capital,

Phnom Penh.

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>> Initially, crowds were cheering as they

rolled in because they thought this

meant the war was over.

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>> But the true horror was only beginning.

The Khmer Rouge emptied entire cities at

gunpoint, and millions of people were

forced to walk into the countryside.

The very idea of a city was suddenly

banned. Hospitals were cleared, and sick

patients were forced to join the march.

This was the start of their plan to

reset society to what they called Year

Zero.

Everyone was forced to wear plain black

clothing. The idea was to remove signs

of wealth, personality, or [music]

status, so everyone looked the same.

Personal possessions were confiscated,

and the only thing you were allowed to

own was a spoon for eating.

Banks were abandoned, currency meant

nothing, and there were no shops or

trade at all.

The concept of buying itself had been

erased. People were made to work

extremely long hours in agricultural

collectives, often from dawn till night,

with little rest and very little food.

Many survivors recall eating thin rice

soup once or twice a day

while doing physically exhausting labor

for 12 to 16 hours.

Language was also tightly controlled.

Instead of normal names or family roles,

people were told to refer to the regime

as Angkar, meaning the organization.

People avoided using personal names, and

instead had to refer to each other as

comrade, even parents to the children

and children to the parents.

Education, books, and expertise were

seen as threats, rather than strengths,

which is why things like wearing glasses

became symbolic of being an enemy.

Thousands of people were executed just

because they wore glasses. Being tired,

complaining about food, or even just

seeming unenthusiastic about work could

get you labeled an enemy.

This created a constant sense of

paranoia. There was no clear idea

between safe and unsafe behavior. Even

marriage was controlled by the state.

Couples were often paired up by

officials in mass ceremonies,

sometimes with people they had never

met.

It's estimated that the Khmer Rouge

regime resulted in between 1.5 and 3

million people losing their lives, a

quarter of the population.

Lives were lost due to mass executions,

starvation, overwork, and lack of

medical care.

Executions were often carried out with

blunt tools to save bullets.

So, why were the Khmer Rouge so brutal?

It was largely because its leaders,

especially Pol Pot, embraced an

unusually extreme and rigid version of

revolutionary communism that aimed to

completely clear out the existing

society and rebuild Cambodia from year

zero.

Their ideology combined elements of

Marxism with a radical rejection of

urban life, foreign influence, and

intellectual culture.

Their beliefs were shaped in part by

anti-colonial resemblance and the

stabilizing effects of war in the

region.

After decades of chaos, they believed

that only a pure, self-sufficient

farming society of peasants could be

truly equal. Their worldview left no

room for compromise or gradual change.

It encouraged the idea that violence was

not only justified, but necessary in

order to cleanse society.

At the same time, the leadership became

intensely paranoid, convinced that

hidden traitors and foreign agents were

everywhere, which led to constant

purges, torture, and executions. If one

person was accused of being an enemy of

the regime, their relatives were also

detained and killed to prevent future

revenge.

The combination of utopianism,

ideology, and fear [music]

created a system where mass suffering

was seen as an acceptable tool for

achieving the utopian vision.

The story of the Khmer Rouge serves as a

cautionary tale about the dangers of

communism.

At first, communism can sound like a

good idea.

A world where everyone is equal,

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>> where no one is rich and no one is poor.

But the problem isn't the idea, it's how

it works in reality. In order to make

everyone equal,

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>> a communist system has to take control

of everything.

Land, businesses, money, jobs, all of

it. And if the government controls

everything, [music]

then it also controls everyone.

Because if the state decides where you

work, what [music] you eat, and where

you live,

you don't really have freedom anymore.

That's where things start to go wrong.

To keep control, they have to limit

freedom.

To enforce equality, they have to use

power.

And to stay in charge, they often have

to rule through fear. In a free society,

people [music] can make their own

choices. They can start businesses, earn

money, own property, and speak out if

they disagree with the government.

>> [music]

>> But in a communist system, disagreement

is seen as a threat. The Khmer Rouge is

one of the most extreme examples of

this. They believed they were creating a

perfect society,

But to get there, they had to eliminate

anything that didn't fit their vision.

The Khmer Rouge removed from power in

1979 when Vietnamese forces invaded

Cambodia and overthrew their government.

The Vietnamese army captured the

capital, Phnom Penh, forcing the Khmer

Rouge leadership to flee.

But remnants of the Khmer Rouge

continued operating as a guerrilla

movement in remote areas for many years

after.

Pol Pot survived and was last

interviewed on camera as late as April

1997.

He died in 1998.

Their legacy still shapes Cambodia today

with lasting impacts on the country's

population, economy, and collective

memory. You can watch this video to the

left of me if you want [music] to

understand more about capitalism,

communism, and the systems that might

come to replace them in the near future.

Thanks for watching. See you on the next

one.