Classicide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of a social class through persecution and violence. The term was coined by the physician Fred Schwarz in 1972 and was later popularized by the sociologist Michael Mann. Mann distinguished classicide from genocide by defining it as violence directed at a group because of its class position rather than its ethnicity or nationality, placing it conceptually between genocide and politicide, which targets people for their political allegiance. The Soviet Union's dekulakization campaign against prosperous peasants is commonly cited as an example of the concept.
Facts
Elements of OffenseClassicide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of a social class through persecution and violence 1 Notable ExampleThe Chinese Communist Party's land reform campaign against landlords and rich peasants: of the ten to fifteen million members of these classes counted nationwide in 1949, only ten to fifteen percent remained alive by the end of the 1970s 1 Jurisdiction VariationScholars differ on terminology for this pattern: Courtois and Margolin describe it as class genocide, while Michael Mann rejects the word genocide for crimes committed under communism and instead coined the terms fratricide and classicide 1 Classification
Offense GradeSerious or Indictable Offense 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. Classicide (Wikipedia)
Lead section
The deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of a social class through persecution and violence.
Chinese Land Reform section
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.
Terminology section
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.
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