Lumpen Proletariat
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Lumpen Proletariat
declassed strata in an antagonistic society (including vagrants, beggars, and criminal elements). The lumpen proletariat has become particularly widespread under capitalism. It is recruited from various classes and is incapable of organized political struggle. It constitutes, along with the petit bourgeois strata, the social basis of anarchism. The bourgeoisie makes use of the lumpen proletariat as strikebreakers, as participants in fascist pogrom bands, and in other ways. The lumpen proletariat disappears with the abolition of the capitalist system.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.