Proletariat

The proletariat is a term used by communists for the working class. It describes the people in society that sell their labor/work in exchange for a wage or salary. Someone is who part of the proletariat class is called a proletarian.

The political way of thinking of communism states that the proletariat should have a revolution and take control of the means of production away from the bourgeoisie.

The proletariat is the laboring bulk of society that does most of the useful, necessary work, and pays most of the taxes. It is also perceived by capitalists as being necessary for those reasons: labor and taxes, plus being available to exploit to produce profits.

History

The word proletariat comes from the Latin word proletarius, which means "maker of offspring". In Ancient Rome, the proletarii were the people who were so poor that the only form of property that they had were their children, who could be used as soldiers.

Modern use

Karl Marx used the word proletariat to describe people who did not own the means of productions (such as factories and land) and had to work for others for a wage. He thought the proletariat class will eventually overthrow the Bourgeoisie class. He was the creator of historical materialism and scientific Communism. In Marxist theory, the lumpenproletariat ("rag-proletariat" in German) were a class of people who were not interested in revolution.

Marx believed that the bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat.

Related pages

• Bourgeoisie
• Class struggle
• Exploitation
• Marxism
• Lumpenproletariat
• The Communist Manifesto