Malcolm Caldwell was was a Scottish academic and a prolific Marxist writer. He was known to be one of the most famous Western sympathizers of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge movement in Cambodia.
Caldwell is one of the finest examples of a “useful idiot” one could ever think of — a man of books dedicated fiercely to the people’s revolution.
This bookish academic professor was one of the staunchest defenders of the Pol Pot regime. He tried to downplay reports of mass executions by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and was widely criticized by his own country and other academics.
He would eventually, in 1978, fly to Cambodia to meet with his hero, Pol Pot, in person.
On 22 December 1978, Caldwell had a private audience with Pol Pot. Just a few hours later, one hour past midnight, the Scottish intellectual was shot dead in his room.
What did he say to Pol Pot, who did he insult, what terrible faux-pas did the Khmer Rouge’s biggest Western fanboy make? We’ll never know. But it definitely a happy ending to this story!