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.
[1][2] Although it was first used by physician and anti-communist activist Fred Schwarz in 1972,[3] classicide was popularized by Mann as a term that is similar to but distinct from genocide[2] because it means the "intended mass killing of entire social classes.
"[6] According to Mann, examples of classicide include the dekulakization policy during the forced collectivization in the Soviet Union under the Stalin era of the better off peasants, who were labelled as kulaks and identified as "class enemies" by the Soviet regime,[7] and the Cambodian genocide by the Khmer Rouge regime in Democratic Kampuchea,[8] before being stopped by Vietnam.
[10] 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.
"[11] According to Wu, this ideology included dividing people into five class categories depending on their possession of land, capital, property, and income.