Proletariat
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The proletariat (from Latin proles, offspring) is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is called a proletarian. Originally it was identified as those people who have no other wealth than their sons; the term was initially used in a derogatory sense, until Karl Marx used it as a positive term to identify what he termed the working class.
The Proletariat in Marxist theory
In the Marxist theory, the proletariat is that class of society which does not have ownership of the means of production. Therefore, the only source of income for proletarians is wage labor. Proletarians are wage-workers, while some refer to those who receive salaries as the salariat. For Marx, however, wage labor may involve getting a salary rather than a wage per se.
Marxism sees the proletariat and bourgeoisie (owner class) as inherently hostile, since (for example) factory workers automatically wish wages to be as high as possible, while owners wish for wages (costs) to be as low as possible. Historically, such hostility has been the most pronounced in the lesser-developed world, particularly a small number of individuals control the majority of the wealth (see oligarchy.)
In Marxist theory, the proletariat also includes the petty bourgeoisie, who rely primarily but not exclusively on their labour, and the lumpenproletariat, who are not in legal employment. Socialist political parties have often struggled over the question of whether they should seek to organize and represent the entire proletariat, or just the historical working class.
The hostile relationship between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie exists primarilly because capitalism is a system based on private ownership and competition. For example, two opposing companies compete to turn the most profit by the end of the year. Company A will lower prices, so that it gains market share and outcompetes others. Company B, in order to match this, lowers prices, too. The profit difference is made up by cutting costs, a process which can include layoffs and wage cuts. Communism states that workers must be granted collective ownership over the means of production to end such alleged exploitation by capitalists.
Compare: Plebs
George Orwell
In George Orwell's famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, those not directly associated with The Party (either the "Inner Party" of rulers or the "Outer Party" of bureaucrats) were referred to as proles. To Orwell, this novel is a critique of Russia as it existed under Stalin, as well as a warning on the effect of trading freedom for security in future societies. George Orwell was himself a socialist, and argued that although the government of the Soviet Union claimed to be Marxist, the distinct class divide between bureaucrats and workers and the actual lack of democracy meant that it had no resemblance to the Marxist vision of communism and rejected the traditional principles of socialism.