class enemy

noun

The enemy of a class, in particular the working class.

Meanings

nounclass enemy (plural class enemies)

plural class enemies

  1. MarxismThe enemy of a class, in particular the working class.
    1 more example

    Like the Communist party before it, the Front National claimed to speak for the “working class”. The class enemy was rebranded from “bourgeoisie” to “elite”, communist xenophobia about “international capital” was supplemented with xenophobia against immigrants, and the proletariat had to ally with former adversaries such as small business owners, but the essential claim of working-class dignity remained intact.

    2025 September 13, Simon Kuper, “How Maga rewrote the Little Red Book”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18

Origin

  1. GermanKlassenfeind
  2. Englishclass enemy

Calque of German Klassenfeind.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 階級敵人 /阶级敌人
  • 階級敵人 /阶级敌人 (jiējí dírén)Translations
Cite this entry
APA

class enemy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/class%20enemy

MLA

“class enemy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/class%20enemy. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “class enemy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/class%20enemy.

Source: class enemy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.