• hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Also its worth noting that the based violence against the landlords also included local officials that worked with the landlords and local “law enforcements” and serifs and every kind of bootlicker. Basicaly not only the landlord class but also the “petty bourgeois” of the villages if you can say so.

    I read once that -- because it was ultimately the people on the ground who determined punishments and carried them out -- it was not a blanket "kill everyone in this class" policy. The worst offenders (of which there were many) were killed, but some were exiled, some had all lands beyond their homestead taken away, some (probably the local officials you mention) were allowed to continue on basically as before, etc., all roughly scaled to what crimes the person had actually committed.

    If I'm remembering correctly (and someone please jump in if I'm not) this makes those actions even more comprehensibly justifiable, because there was some individualized treatment baked in.