Classicide

Classicide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of a social class through persecution and violence.[1][2] The term "classicide" was termed by sociologist Michael Mann as a term that is similar but distinct from the term genocide.[3] An example includes Joseph Stalin's mass killing of the affluent middle-class peasant Kulaks who were identified as "class enemies" by the Soviet Union.[4] Similar classicide has been was committed by China during the Great Leap Forward, by North Vietnam as part of Land reform and by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.[5]

References

  1. Martin Shaw. What Is Genocide? Cambridge, England, UK; Malden, Massachusetts, USA: Polity Press, 2007. Pp. 72.
  2. Jacques Semelin, Stanley (INT) Hoffman. Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacre and Genocide. New York, New York, USA: Columbia University Press, 2007. Pp. 37.
  3. Martin Shaw. What Is Genocide? Cambridge, England, UK; Malden, Massachusetts, USA: Polity Press, 2007. Pp. 72.
  4. Jacques Semelin, Stanley (INT) Hoffman. Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacre and Genocide. New York, New York, USA: Columbia University Press, 2007. Pp. 37.
  5. Martin Shaw. What Is Genocide? Cambridge, England, UK; Malden, Massachusetts, USA: Polity Press, 2007. Pp. 72.