enemy of the people

English

Etymology

Calque of Latin hostis publicus (compare public enemy). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. What's the origination point and rationale for this collocation?

Noun

enemy of the people (plural enemies of the people)

1. (typically socialism or communism) A political or class opponent of the subgroup in power within a larger group.
   • 1968, Robert Conquest, quoting Wladislaw Gomulka, “The Foreign Element”, in The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties‎^[1], Macmillan Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 427:

     The NKVD organs . . . could extend the category of ‘enemy of the people’ to everyone who dared to utter a word of criticism.

Translations

a political or class opponent of the subgroup in power within a larger group

• Arabic: عَدُوُّ الشَّعْبِ m (ʕaduwwu aš-šaʕbi)
• Armenian: ժողովրդի թշնամի (žoġovrdi tʻšnami)
• Azerbaijani: xalq düşməni
• Belarusian: во́раг наро́да m (vórah naróda)
• Bulgarian: враг на наро́да m (vrag na naróda)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 人民公敵 / 人民公敌 (rénmín gōngdí)

• Czech: nepřítel lidu m, nepřítelkyně lidu f
• Dutch: volksvijand (nl) m
• Finnish: kansanvihollinen (fi)
• French: ennemi du peuple (fr) m, ennemie du peuple (fr) f
• Georgian: ხალხის მტერი (xalxis mṭeri)
• German: Volksfeind (de) m, Volksfeindin f
• Greek: εχθρός του λαού m (echthrós tou laoú)
• Japanese: 人民の敵 (じんみ​んのてき, jinmin no teki), 民衆の敵 (みんしゅうのてき, minshū no teki)
• Korean: 인민의 적 (inmin-ui jeok), 민중의 적 (minjung-ui jeok)
• Lithuanian: liaudies priešas m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: folkefiende m

• Persian: دشمن خلق (došman-e xalq)
• Polish: wróg ludu m
• Romanian: inamic al poporului m, dușman al poporului m
• Russian: враг народа (ru) m (vrag naroda)
• Slovak: nepriateľ ľudu m, nepriateľka ľudu f, nepriateľkyňa ľudu f
• Spanish: enemigo del pueblo m, enemiga del pueblo f
• Swedish: folkfiende c
• Tatar: халык дошманы (xalıq doşmanı)
• Turkish: halk düşmanı
• Ukrainian: во́рог наро́ду m (vóroh naródu)
• Uzbek: xalq dushmani

See also

• enemy of the state