Malcolm Caldwell

James Alexander Malcolm Caldwell (27 September 1931 – 23 December 1978)[1] was a British academic and a prolific Marxist writer. He was a consistent critic of American imperialism, a campaigner for Asian communist liberation and socialist movements, and a strong supporter of Pol Pot. Despite his vocal support for the Kampuchean revolution and Pol Pot's regime, support which only increased after visiting the country, Malcolm Caldwell was murdered, supposedly on the orders of Pol Pot, a few hours after meeting him, in 1978.[2]

Malcolm Caldwell was born in Scotland, the son of a coal miner.[3] He obtained degrees from University of Nottingham and University of Edinburgh. He did two years' national service in the British army, becoming a sergeant in the Army Education Corps. In 1959 he joined the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London as a Research Fellow. Although he met with conservative opposition within the School, he remained on its faculty throughout his life. As well as being an academic, he was an energetic and committed radical political activist. He was dedicated to criticising Western imperialism and American capitalist imperialism in particular.[3] He was a founding editor of the Journal of Contemporary Asia, a journal concerned with revolutionary movements in Asia. In 1978 Caldwell was one of the Labour Party candidates in St Mary's ward in local elections in Sidcup, Bexley.[4]

Caldwell was sympathetic to the Khmer Rouge. Along with Elizabeth Becker and Richard Dudman, he was part of the first group of Westerners invited to visit Cambodia since the Khmer Rouge closed the country. They were given 10-day structured tours of the country and a private audience with Pol Pot, experiences that apparently only intensified Caldwell's support for the regime. He was murdered on the orders of Pol Pot, in circumstances that remain unexplained,[5][6] on the eve of the Vietnamese invasion in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 1978.[7] He was one of two British people who were killed in Cambodia alongside John Dawson Dewhirst.

Works

Preceded by
Sheila Oakes		 Chair of CND
1968–1970		 Succeeded by
April Carter

References

  1. ^ London Gazette: no. 47754. p. 1147. 25 January 1979.
  2. ^ "Pol Pot murdered Scot in Cambodia", The Herald, 23 February 2008
  3. ^ a b Peter F. Bell, Mark Selden Extract from a biography of Malcolm Caldwell, Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars vol. 11, 1979
  4. ^ "London Borough Council Elections, 4 May 1978", GLC Intelligence Department, p. 20.
  5. ^ Milton Osborne, Sihanouk, Prince of Light, Prince of Darkness. Silkworm 1994
  6. ^ Attack by Vietnamese commando, to discredit the Pol Pot regime, is argued by Philip Short in his book as the more likely explanation.
  7. ^ Philip Short Pol Pot The History of a Nightmare. London: John Murray, 2004; New York: Owl Books, p.393-4

External links