After emptying the cities, the revolutionary organization embarked on a program of social transformation that affected every aspect of Cambodian life. Money, markets, and private property were abolished. Schools, universities, and Buddhist monasteries were closed. No publishing was allowed; the postal system was shut down; freedom of movement, exchange of information, personal adornment, and leisure activities were curtailed. Punishments for infractions were severe, and repeat offenders were imprisoned under harsh conditions or killed. Everyone was ordered to perform tasks set for them by the revolutionary organization. For evacuee city dwellers, these tasks seldom had any relation to their training or skills. Instead, nearly all of them became peasants and were made to wear identical black cotton clothing.

The movement’s leaders and their rationale remained concealed. To the outside world Cambodia was still ostensibly ruled by the United Front government, founded in Beijing in 1970 when Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia’s chief of state, had been overthrown in a bloodless coup while he was abroad, replaced by a government that sought an alliance with the United States. The prince had been the figurehead leader of the resistance in Beijing. By 1972 the Red Khmer controlled the resistance but for the sake of international respectability continued to operate behind the facade of Sihanouk’s coalition.

The charade continued for the remainder of 1975. In January 1976 the revolutionary organization dissolved the United Front, changed the name of the country to Democratic Kampuchea (DK), and promulgated a new constitution. The document praised collective values, identified the revolutionary organization with the people’s interests, and formalized the collectivization of Cambodian life. The words socialism or communism appeared nowhere in the text. Soon after, Radio Phnom Penh announced that elections would be held for a national assembly and broadcast the names of ministers in the new regime. The elections, it seemed, were primarily for overseas consumption. Most “new people” were not allowed to vote; “base people” voted for candidates provided by the organization.

Most of the winners were unknown outside the Red Khmer movement, although some of the new ministers, such as Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, and Hu Nim, were prominent leftists who had joined the resistance against Sihanouk in the 1960s. Others elected were identified sooner or later as veteran revolutionaries.

The prime minister, a “rubber plantation worker” called Pol Pot, was impossible to identify. At the moment he took power, just when he might have been expected to step into the open, he concealed himself behind a revolutionary name.

Who was he?