Lumpenproletariat
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The lumpenproletariat (German Lumpenproletariat, "rabble-proletariat"; "raggedy proletariat") is a term originally defined by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in The German Ideology (1845), their famous second joint work, and later expounded upon in subsequent works by Marx. In Marx's The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (1852), the term refers to the 'refuse of all classes,' including 'swindlers, confidence tricksters, brothel-keepers, rag-and-bone merchants, beggars, and other flotsam of society.'
In the Eighteenth Brumaire, Marx describes the lumpenproletariat as a 'class fraction' that constituted the political power base for Louis Bonaparte of France in 1848. In this sense, Marx argued that Bonaparte was able to place himself above the two main classes, the proletariat and bourgeoisie, by resorting to the 'lumpenproletariat' as an apparently independent base of power, while in fact advancing the material interests of the bourgeoisie.
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Engels wrote about Swiss mercenaries during the end of the 1848 July monarchy rule of revolutionary Naples: "This action of the Neapolitan lumpenproletariat decided the defeat of the revolution. Swiss guardsmen, Neapolitan soldiers and lazzaroni combined pounced upon the defenders of the barricades."[1]
In his ancillary writings Marx also saw little potential in these sections of society. When speaking of those working in arguably the most unsafe, alienating work environment - the battlefield, he said: "A motley crew of mutineering soldiers who have murdered their officers, torn asunder the ties of discipline, and not succeeded in discovering a man on whom to bestow supreme command are certainly the body least likely to organise a serious and protracted resistance." [2]. In Marx's time, some of the most vocal and anti-establishment voices were the terroristic Nihilists, who revelled in crime, adventurism and apparent sociopathy, and did not seem to get any closer to their aims or widespread working-class adaptation of their methods or objectives. The Nihilists wanted to provoke the state and championed the propaganda by the deed using "terroristic" methods such as bombing and assassination.
Marx's description of mutineers as being unreliable could be argued upon at length. Russian Army mutineers and their soldiers committees were critical to the overturning of the Tsarist regime during the Russian Revolution of 1917. Yet there is a clear difference in the fact that the Russian Revolution was a general uprising of most of Russia's popular classes, not just a military mutiny.
According to Marx, the lumpenproletariat had no real motive for participating in revolution, and might have in fact an interest in preserving the current class structure, because the members of the lumpenproletariat usually depend on the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy for their day-to-day existence. In that sense, Marx saw the lumpenproletariat as a counter-revolutionary force.
Leon Trotsky elaborated this view, perceiving the lumpenproletariat as especially vulnerable to reactionary thought. In his collection of essays "Fascism: What it is and how to fight it", he describes Mussolini's capture of power: Through the fascist agency, capitalism sets in motion the masses of the crazed petty bourgeoisie and the bands of declassed and demoralized lumpenproletariat -- all the countless human beings whom finance capital itself has brought to desperation and frenzy. [3]
Marx's definition has influenced contemporary sociologists, who are concerned with many of the marginalized elements of society characterized by Marx under this label. Marxian and even some non-Marxist sociologists now use the term to refer to those they see as the victims of modern society, who exist outside the wage-labor system, such as beggars, or people who make their living through disreputable means: police informants, prostitutes and pimps, swindlers, drug dealers, bootleggers, and operators of illegal gambling enterprises), but depend on the formal economy for their day-to-day existence.
The term has been used also to describe welfare recipients and homeless people, but this, it should be noted, is a very different use from that proposed by Marx, and can be considered inaccurate within Marxist theory.
However in some societies the class of people without formal employment have, at times anyway, taken the lead in issuing a progressive challenge to society. One example is Abahlali baseMjondolo in the KwaZulu region of contemporary South Africa.
[edit] Used as a pejorative
In modern Russian,[4] Turkish,[5], Persian, and Spanish, lumpen, the shortened form of lumpenproletariat, is sometimes used to refer to lower classes of society. The meaning of the term is roughly analogous to chav, scanger, hoi polloi, white trash, bogan, or yobbo.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 1 June 1848
- ^ K.Marx, The First Indian War of Independence 1855-59. Moscow, 1960, p. 42
- ^ LEON TROTSKY: Fascism: What it is and how to fight it
- ^ Over 30 000 children get lost in Russia annually - Pravda.Ru
- ^ Türk Dil Kurumu
[edit] Further reading
- Eric Hobsbawm, Bandits. London, New Press, 2002.
- Friedrich Engels, Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 Oxford Paperbacks, 1999.
[edit] See also
- Chav
- Informal Sector
- Black Market
- Social Class
- Underclass
- Frantz Fanon
- Lumpen magazine
- Lumpenbourgeoisie
