Classicide is a concept proposed by sociologist Michael Mann to describe the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of a social class through persecution and violence.
Classicide is considered a form of “premeditated mass killing”
Correct. And based.
We communists seek the total destruction of the bourgeoisie, the rich ruling class. Yes, by death if necessary. However, we absolutely do not kill mindlessly. We seek to destroy the class, not the people if we can help it. We’d prefer to reform everyone and kill no one, if they are willing to become workers as part of the dictatorship of the proletariat, they will be accepted and treated as any other worker. See the countless examples of this in socialist countries, there was even a former Chinese emperor who ended up as a communist and a fairly prominent figure in the early CPC. But, if they seek to destroy us, as kings being dethroned usually do, we will have no moral qualms in destroying them. You have no mercy, no compassion, no empathy for your fellow humans, you get none in return, it’s that simple.
“We have no compassion and we ask no compassion from you. When our turn comes, we shall not make excuses for the terror.” - Karl Marx
“We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.” - Mao Zedong
This is not unique to socialism! We didn’t invent violent political shifts. Show me one major social change that was not violent. Just one. I’ll wait. Meanwhile, here are some origin stories of your favourite peaceful vanguards of democracy and freedom:
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The US war of Independence: famously violent. The US civil war: famously violent. The US civil rights riots: famously violent.
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The path that the UK took going from an absolute monarchy to a parlimentary monarchy: famously violent.
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The path that Spain took going from an absolute monarchy to a parlimentary monarchy: famously violent.
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The path that the Netherlands took going from an absolute monarchy to a parlimentary monarchy: famously violent.
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The path that the Nordics took going from an absolute monarchy to a parlimentary monarchy: famously violent.
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The many French revolutions that led to the modern republic of France: probably the most well known violent revolution ever.
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The creation of modern Japan: bro, they had two nukes dropped on them.
the group which is targeted for classicide is killed without any concern for its political activities
I’m sorry what? A class is a political construct. Classes existing are political activities.
examples of classicide include the dekulakization policy during the forced collectivization in the Soviet Union
Sure.
Human rights activist Harry Wu has identified the killings which were carried out during the Chinese Land Reform under the leadership of Mao Zedong as classicide.
Sure.
They were a perversion of socialist theories of democracy in the same sense as ethnic cleansing is a perversion of nationalist theory of democracy.
Lol, comparing communists to Nazis again.
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.
And this is bad how?
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.”
Fun fact, Mao didn’t kill landlords because they were landlords. Mao killed murderers, rapists, terrorists, and warlords who were also landlords. They weren’t landlords like the landlord of your downtown LA apartment. China at the time was feudal, and the treatments of peasents by most landowners were disgusting. Their actions apart from being landlords would be punishable by death in any sane country.
Same with the Kulaks in Ukraine.
Personal experience time! My great grandparents are Chinese, were former landlords who got their land collectivized. They died decades after the communist revolution from old age, in a Chinese hospital being treated for the diseases that ultimately killed them. Unless Mao was reincarnated as a chronic health condition affecting the elderly, I don’t think he killed them.
My grandparents experienced it too and are still alive, they weren’t orphaned because their parents were killed, and they’ve recounted the entire land redistribution thing in first person to me. Sure they’re pretty devout anticommunists which is partly why our family moved to Canada in the 2000s, but guess what? They lived almost their entire lives in the PRC and weren’t killed even once!
And here I am, a Chinese-Canadian communist. After also being an anticommunist, anti CCP (sic) liberal for most of my (Canadian educated, so unsurprising) life. Not dead, not unborn and nonexistent, and I feel like I probably wouldn’t be writing this post if the CPC killed landlords mindlessly.
Not a single mention in “Examples” of the various Malthusian ways that rich people try and kill poor people systemically and get away with it, surprise.
Remember the rule of thumb:
Killing a fifty year old aristocrat who could have lived to eighty had you not actively killed them is a killing.
Shortening a factory worker’s life by thirty years so they die at fifty, through poverty, resource insecurity/low quality resources like cheap unhealthy food, and chronic stress and overwork, all leading to much higher risk of deadly illnesses like heart disease and cancer is an “inevetable consequence of free society!”
Hanging a millionaire landlord and snapping their neck in one second is a killing.
Letting a homeless person wither away over ten years until he dies is “he should have managed his finances better!”
Shooting an investment shark who owns a private hospital in the brain is a killing.
Denying a patient brain cancer treatment because they can’t afford it is “oh well, we can’t save everyone!”
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