The Sans-culottes were one of the most influential political groups ever to take part in the French Revolution. The Sans-culottes (whose name came from their humble style of dress) were comprised of members of the nation’s working class, including factory workers, tradespeople, artisans, and shopkeepers. Their marginalized political status under the Old Regime, in addition to their low social caliber and poor economic position, made the Sans-culottes very politically radical. As such, they were one of the most vehement supporters of the Revolution. Their primary goals included putting an end to the nation’s chronic food shortages, instituting price controls, ending social inequality, cutting off the influence of the aristocracy and the monarchy, increasing the property-owning sector of the population, and allowing the common citizenry to directly influence as many political decisions as possible.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, a small number of powerful people with Western connections both understood the concept of private property better than their compatriots and had the resources to act upon their knowledge, purchasing large companies for pennies on the dollar.

For the rest of society, the fall of the Soviet Union did not have an economically positive effect; quality of life diminished for the vast majority, including the middle class.

The collapse of the Soviet Union had an enormous effect on socioeconomic class in the region; essentially the gulf between the rich and the poor became larger.

Mao Zedong was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party and the founder of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Mao drew much of his support from the peasantry, something of a curiosity amongst Communist movements, as usually the greatest Communist support base is the industrial working class.

The kulaks were independent farmers who gained some measurement of prosperity after the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861. As such, they were considered to be class enemies of the poor peasants by Lenin, Stalin, and other Bolsheviks.

The caste system has existed in India for thousands of years, as a means of dividing the population and establishing who has power over whom. It was once quite fluid, but a series of invading people (including the British) found it incumbent to reinforce the caste system to keep the population in line. Following Indian independence, and the framing of the constitution, discrimination on the basis of caste was made illegal. However, in India caste discrimination remains extremely common, particularly in rural areas.

Russia suffered immensely during the First World War. Casualties on the frontline were catastrophic and Russian soldiers and workers suffered terribly. This contributed heavily to the exacerbation of class tensions in Russian society and led directly to the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917.

The Three Principles of the People were developed by Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-Sen. Sun Yat-Sen was the leader of the Chinese revolutionaries who overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. The three principles can be loosely translated to “nationalism, self-determination, and social welfare.”

China’s Cultural Revolution was aimed primarily at purging China of all forces associated with capitalism or with traditional Chinese culture. This involved a concentrated and prolonged assault on Chinese intellectuals and academics - many of whom were imprisoned, tortured, or executed.

The Kulaks had been Russia’s landowning peasants and the collectivization of farms essentially took away all their economic, political, and social power.

Mao Zedong, as the Chairman (aka top leader) of the Communist Party of China, dictatorially governed the nation from 1949 until 1976. A fervent believer in Chinese Communism, which he described as a mix of Marx-Lenin style communism and his own take on socialism, Mao created the operating principle for the CPC known as “mass line.” According to Mao, the CPC’s leaders and top-tier officials could only truly achieve their Party’s authentic communist goals so long as they avoided becoming tainted by the powers of their government positions. Therefore, in order to avoid such isolation, these leaders should engage in “mass line” communication with China’s most socially-inferior but most numerous social group: the rural peasantry. Only by regularly visiting, talking, and engaging in activities with these peasants, or so Mao believed, could CPC officials truly understand Chinese communism’s most important edicts and aims. Often, Mao enforced the “mass line” principle as a sort of disciplinary punishment, in which insubordinate, under-performing, or otherwise objectionable CPC leaders were forced into lengthy sojourns in the remote countryside, far away from the Party seat of power.