Classicide

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Classicide is a concept proposed by sociologist

politicide because the group which is targeted for classicide is killed without any concern for its political activities.[5]

Definition

Classicide was first used by Schwarz in his 1972 book The Three Faces of Revolution.

sociologists, such as Mann[1] and Martin Shaw,[2] to describe the unique forms of genocide which pertain to the annihilation of a class through murder or displacement and the destruction of the bourgeoisie to form an equal proletariat, although Mann does not use genocide in reference to examples under Communist states.[6]

Political scientist

French historians such as Stéphane Courtois and Jean-Louis Margolin in The Black Book of Communism: they view class genocide as the equivalent to racial genocide. However, Mann refuses to use the term 'genocide' to describe the crimes which were committed under communism. He prefers to use the terms 'fratricide' and 'classicide', a word which he coined in reference to the intentional mass killings of entire social classes."[6]

Examples

According to Mann, examples of classicide include the

nationalist theory of democracy.[10]

Chinese Land Reform under the leadership of Mao Zedong as classicide. Wu writes that "in order to consolidate his power, Mao Zedong implemented a nation-wide ideology to undermine those who previously held power."[11] According to Wu, this ideology included dividing people into five class categories depending on their possession of land, capital, property, and income. The five categories were the landlord class, the rich peasant class, the middle peasant class, and the poor worker and peasant classes. Those in the lower classes were "praised for their humble way of life and work ethic", while the landlords and the wealthy were demonized and persecuted. Their property was seized, they were sent to do hard manual labor in the countryside, and many of them were killed. Wu writes that "according to research, in 1949 there were around 10 to 15 million members of the landlord and rich peasant classes nationwide. By the end of the 1970s, when the Cultural Revolution had ended, only 10 to 15 percent of them remained alive."[11]

See also

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b Mann 2002.
  2. ^ a b c Shaw 2015, p. 72.
  3. ^ a b Schwarz 1972, pp. 51–53.
  4. ^ Mann 2005, p. 17.
  5. ^ Sangar 2007, p. 1, paragraph 3.
  6. ^ a b c Jaffrelot & Sémelin 2007, p. 37.
  7. ^ Alvarez 2009, p. 25.
  8. ^ Jones 2016, p. 34.
  9. ^ Mann 2012, p. 100.
  10. ^ Mann 2005, p. 350: "Stalinist, Maoist, or Khmer Rouge atrocities were socialist versions of modern organicism, perverting socialist and class theories of democracy just as ethnically aimed atrocities perverted nationalist theories of democracy."
  11. ^ a b Wu 2012.