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The Lumpenproletariat, alternatively called lumpenprole or lumpen, refers to an unthinking underclass that is (but not always) exploitable by reactionary and counter-revolutionary forces. The term was coined by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Marx defined the lumpenproletariat as a dangerous class and "passively rotting mass" thrown off the lowest layers of the old society.[1] He and Vladimir Lenin dismissed the revolutionary potential of the lumpenproletariat. However, Mao and Huey P. Newton believed that the lumpenproletariat could be revolutionary with the correct guidance.[2][3]
Etymology
Lumpen was a prefix for "rag"; therefore Lumpenproletariat literally means "rag proletariat".
Instances
- Prostitutes
- Criminals (tramps, vagabonds, homeless persons)
Unemployed workers
Unemployed workers can turn into lumpenproletarians a result of being barred from employment by capitalists.
Unemployed workers typically consist of:
- Blacklisted workers
- Disabled persons
References
- ↑ “The "dangerous class", [lumpenproletariat] the social scum, that passively rotting mass thrown off by the lowest layers of the old society, may, here and there, be swept into the movement by a proletarian revolution; its conditions of life, however, prepare it far more for the part of a bribed tool of reactionary intrigue.”
Karl Marx. Communist Manifesto: '1' (p. 15). [MIA] - ↑ Mao Zedong (1926). Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society. [MIA]
- ↑ “Essentially, what Huey did was to provide the ideology and the methodology for organizing the Black Urban Lumpenproletariat. Armed with this ideological perspective and method, Huey transformed the Black lumpenproletariat from the forgotten people at the bottom of society into the vanguard of the proletariat.”
Eldridge Cleaver (1969). "On the Ideology of the Black Panther Party" (pp. 2-11). Oakland: Black Panther Party.