In imitation of Mao’s “Great Leap Forward,” the Cambodian tyrant Pol Pot attempted to rationalize the inefficiencies of Cambodian agriculture. In an essay in the Black Book of Communism , Jean-Louis Margolin writes: “It was perhaps the sons of the soil who controlled operations on the ground, but their real masters were urban intellectuals who were in love with rationality and uniformity and convinced of their own omniscience. They ordered that all dikes dividing the rice fields be abolished so that all fields would measure exactly one hectare. The agricultural calendar for the whole region was regulated from the Center, regardless of local ecological conditions. Rice production was the only criterion of success. Some cadres decided that all trees, including fruit trees, should be cut down in agricultural regions to destroy the habitat of a few small birds, thus destroying a vital source of food for the starving violation.”

Hunger was a weapon of control: “The hungrier people were, the less food their bodies could store, and the less likely they were to run away. If people were permanently obsessed with food, all individual thought, all capacity to argue, even people’s sex drive, would disappear. The games that were played with the food supply made forced evacuations easier, promoted acceptance of the collective canteens, and also weakened interpersonal relationships, including those between parents and their children. Everyone, by contrast, would kiss the hand that fed them, no matter how bloody it was.”