The 9th-15th century kingdom of Kambuja stretched from the Burmese border in the west to the South China Sea in the east--including what is now southern Vietnam. Invasions of the kingdom by the Thais and Vietnamese weakened this ancient civilization and eroded its territory. In the late 19th century, the French imperialists established a "protectorate" over Kampuchea and, in 1887, merged their colonial conquests of Tonkin (North Vietnam), Annam (Central Vietnam), Laos, Cochin China (South Vietnam) and Kampuchea into the Union of Indochina--an artificial entity consisting of three entirely different nations. Through this Union of Indochina, the French colonialists ruthlessly exploited the peoples of Vietnam, Laos and Kampuchea, who fought the imperialist plunderers continuously and won great victories by 1954. North Vietnam was liberated, Kampuchea was given formal independence, but South Vietnam came under the heel of the American imperialists.

Throughout the period of the liberation struggle, the question of how the war should be fought-whether it should be led by a single organization or by three separate national organizations-was debated. In 1930, under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, the Indochinese Communist Party was formed to lead the struggle against French colonialism. This was a big step forward.

However, the ICP visualized the creation of an Indochinese federation composed of the three different nations. The official newspaper Bolshevik wrote: "Cambodia has no right to a separate Communist Party... We cannot imagine a separate Cambodian revolution." The ICP was dominated by Vietnamese cadres who were committed to denying the national rights of the Kampuchean and Laotian people.

SEPARATE PARTIES FORMED

By the late 1930s and early 1940s, however, Ho Chi Minh concluded that such an arrangement would not work, and in 1941 the ICP decided to solve the national problem within the framework of each national state. The ICP was dissolved in 1951.

Three national communist parties were to emerge from it. Throughout the 1950s, underground communist circles gradually came to grips with the concrete situation in Kampuchea, and in 1960 a genuine nationally based Marxist-Leninist organization was formed - the Communist Party of Kampuchea. The new party organized its forces mainly in the countryside, doing political work among the peasantry. Following a spontaneous peasant uprising in Battambang in 1967, the CPK launched its armed struggle, and the guerrilla army soon established itself throughout Kampuchea.

THE BORDER ISSUE

During the struggle against U.S. imperialism, the Vietnamese National Liberation Front opened relations with Prince Sihanouk, who then ruled Kampuchea. A 1967 agreement between Kampuchea, the DRV (North Vietnam) and the NLF stated that all three parties recognized the border between Kampuchea and Vietnam, which had been drawn by the French colonialists.

Through this and other agreements, Vietnam also recognized the territorial integrity of Kampuchea and its right to exist as an independent nation. However, it continued to interfere in Kampuchea in many ways, and on several occasions asked the Kampuchean revolutionaries to lay down their arms so that the Vietnamese could remain on good terms with Sihanouk. The Vietnamese also explained that the Kampucheans did not need to liberate themselves because Vietnamese troops could easily do it once South Vietnam was liberated. In this and other ways, the Vietnamese Party demonstrated that it still did not respect the national rights of the Kampuchean people.

PHNOM PENH LIBERATED

The CPK refused to lay down its arms and in fact liberated Phnom Penh before the Vietnamese liberated Salgon. This prevented the Vietnamese from entering Kampuchea under the pretext of providing "brotherly assistance" to the Kampuchean revolutionaries. It was clear to the CPK that Vietnam did not want an independent neighbor, but rather a neighbor that would bow to Vietnam's demands,

THE PHONEY "BORDER DISPUTE"

Immediately after the liberation of the three pe o ples of Indochina in 1975, reports of clashes between Vietnam and Kampuchea began to trickle in. The Vietnamese occupied a large Kampuchean island, Koh Way, and began encroaching on Kampuchean territory. The two countries broke off diplomatic relations in 1977.

WHAT WAS THE BASIS OF THE "BORDER DISPUTE"?

During the latter stages of the war, Vietnamese troops had invaded Kampuchea, attacked the liberation forces, and attempted to establish a puppet Communist Party. This treacherous plan was defeated. Having failed to undermine the liberation struggle, the Vietnamese continued to try to undermine it. They hid their aggression under the guise of a "border dispute. Vietnam began to claim large areas of Kampuchea, tearing up the agreements signed with Sihanouk in 1967. In 1977, they demanded that Kampuchea sign a "special treaty of friendship and solidarity" with Vietnam.

The Kampuchean government refused. A treaty of "special friendship" had already been signed by Vietnam and Laos, which agreed to the stationing of 50,000 Vietnamese troops in that country. The "special friendship" Vietnam meant was nothing more than subjugation.

VIETNAM REVIVES "INDOCHINA FEDERATION"

It was clear that the Vietnamese had not given up the idea of an Indochina Federation ruled from Hanoi. Vietnam sent spies into Kampuchea and used old CIA agents to infiltrate the CPK. They tried to overthrow the party leadership and increased their military maneuvers. The new government of Democratic Kampuchea denounced these activities and broke off diplomatic relations in 1977. The Vietnamese attempted to carry out aerial bombardments of the eastern provinces of Kampuchea, but the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea repulsed all of these attacks. Finally, in December 1978, Vietnam launched its blitzkrieg invasion. Vietnam's occupation of Kampuchea is the final attempt to establish a Vietnam-led Indochina Federation. The original idea of an Indochina Federation never died.

The pressure, the sabotage of Kampuchea-s independent struggle, the false border clairvoyance, the military incursions failed to make the Kampuchean revolutionaries voluntarily submit to the Vietnamese authorities. The invasion to colonize Kampuchea by military force is the last desperate measure to establish an Indochina federation. The Vietnamese expansionists are finding it harder than they thought.

Nov. 1979