Pol Pot

=== Paris: 1949–1953 ===
[[File:Entrée Abbesses originelle.jpg|thumb|upright|Sâr arrived in Paris on 1 October 1949. Paris pictured in 1950.]]

Access to further education abroad made Sâr part of a tiny elite in Cambodia.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=43}} He and the 21 other selected students sailed from [[Saigon]] aboard the SS ''Jamaïque'', stopping at [[Singapore]], [[Colombo]], and [[Djibouti]] en route to [[Marseille]].{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1pp=25, 27|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2p=45}} In January 1950, Sâr enrolled at the [[EFREI|École française de radioélectricité]] to study [[radio electronics]].{{sfn|Short|2004|p=49}} He took a room in the [[Cité Universitaire]]'s Indochinese Pavilion,{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=28}} then lodgings on the rue Amyot,{{sfn|Short|2004|p=49}} and eventually a [[bedsit]] on the corner of the rue de Commerce and the rue Letellier.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=51}} Sâr earned good marks during his first year. He failed his first end-of-year exams but was allowed to retake them and narrowly passed, enabling him to continue his studies.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=53}}

Sâr spent three years in Paris.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=28}} In summer 1950, he was one of 18 Cambodian students who joined French counterparts in traveling to the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|FPR Yugoslavia]] to volunteer in a labour battalion building a motorway in [[Zagreb]].{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1p=30|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2p=50}} He returned to Yugoslavia the following year for a camping holiday.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=51}} Sâr made little or no attempt to assimilate into French culture{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=30}} and was never completely at ease in the French language.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=49}} He nevertheless became familiar with French literature; one of his favorite authors being [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]].{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=34}} His most significant friendships in the country were with Ieng Sary, who had joined him there, Thiounn Mumm and [[Keng Vannsak]].{{sfn|Chandler|1992|pp=28–29}} He was a member of Vannsak's discussion circle, whose ideologically diverse membership discussed ways to achieve Cambodian independence.{{sfn|Short|2004|pp=52, 59}}

In Paris, Ieng Sary and two others established the Cercle Marxiste ("Marxist Circle"), an organisation arranged in a [[clandestine cell system]].{{sfn|Short|2004|p=63}} The cells met to read Marxist texts and hold [[Self-criticism (Marxism–Leninism)|self-criticism]] sessions.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=64}} Sâr joined a cell that met on the rue Lacepède; his cell comrades included Hou Yuon, Sien Ary, and Sok Knaol.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=63}} He helped to duplicate the Cercle's newspaper, ''Reaksmei'' ("The Spark"), named after [[Iskra|a former Russian paper]].{{sfn|Short|2004|p=68}} In October 1951, Yuon was elected head of the Khmer Student Association (AEK; ''l'Association des Etudiants Khmers''), establishing close links between the organisation and the leftist [[Union Nationale des Étudiants de France]].{{sfn|Short|2004|p=62}} The Cercle Marxiste manipulated the AEK and its successor organisations for the next 19 years.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=63}} Several months after the Cercle Marxiste's formation, Sâr and Sary joined the [[French Communist Party]] (PCF).{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1pp=22–28|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2p=66}} Sâr attended party meetings, including those of its Cambodian group, and read its magazine, ''Les Cahiers Internationaux''.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=66}} To many young people in France and Cambodia, communism seemed to be the future; the [[Chinese Communist Party]] won the [[Chinese Civil War]] and the French Communist Party was one of the country's largest,<ref>{{harvnb|Chandler|1992|p=27} "'They became Communists when it was the popular thing to do—during the early 1950s under the unstable Fourth Republic in France when a Communist-controlled resistance movement in Cambodia bravely confronted the French colonial rulers. This period marked the heyday of the Communist party of France. The Khmer students' time in Paris coincided with the last years of Stalin's life and the apotheosis of the cult of personality surrounding him. The Communist party, one of the strongest in France, was considered the most Stalinist party outside eastern Europe. The years 1949-1953 also marked the victory of communism in China and the confrontation between Communist and anticommunist armies in the Korean War. To many young Khmer and millions of young people in France, communism seemed to be the wave of the future.'"}}</ref> attracting the votes of around 25% of the French electorate.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=69 }}

[[File:Mao, Bulganin, Stalin, Ulbricht Tsedenbal.jpeg|thumb|left|In Paris, Pol Pot was inspired by the writings of [[Mao Zedong]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] (pictured together in 1949) on how to conduct a revolution]]
Sâr found many of [[Karl Marx]]'s denser texts difficult, later saying he "didn't really understand" them.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=66}} But he became familiar with the writings of [[Soviet leader]] [[Joseph Stalin]],{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1p=34|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2p=67}} including ''[[The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)]]''.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=66}} Sâr also read Mao's work, especially ''[[On New Democracy]]'', a text outlining a [[New Democracy|framework for carrying out a revolution in colonial and semi-colonial, semi-feudal societies]].{{sfn|Short|2004|p=70}} Alongside these texts, Sâr read the [[anarchism|anarchist]] [[Peter Kropotkin]]'s book on the [[French Revolution]], ''The Great Revolution''.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=72}} From Kropotkin he took the idea that an alliance between intellectuals and the peasantry was necessary for revolution; that a revolution had to be carried out without compromise to its conclusion to succeed; and that egalitarianism was the basis of a [[communist society]].{{sfn|Short|2004|p=74}}

In Cambodia, growing internal strife resulted in King Sihanouk dismissing the government and declaring himself prime minister.{{sfn|Short|2004|pp=76–77}} In response, Sâr wrote an article, "Monarchy or Democracy?", published in the student magazine ''Khmer Nisut'' under the pseudonym "Khmer daom" ("Original Khmer").{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1p=39|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2p=79}} In it, he referred positively to Buddhism, portraying Buddhist monks as an anti-monarchist force on the side of the peasantry.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=80}} At a meeting, the Cercle decided to send someone to Cambodia to assess the situation and determine which rebel group they should support; Sâr volunteered for the role.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=83}} His decision to leave may also have been because he had failed his second-year exams two years in a row and thus lost his scholarship.{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1p=28|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2pp=65, 82}} In December, he boarded the ''SS Jamaïque'',{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1p=42|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2p=82}} returning to Cambodia without a degree.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|pp=28, 42}}