Marxist theory Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are works in philosophy that are strongly influenced by Karl Marx's materialist approach to theory, or works written by Marxists. Marxist philosophy may be broadly divided into Western Marxism, which drew f ...

, the ''Lumpenproletariat'' (; ) is the

underclass The underclass is the segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a social class, class hierarchy, below the core body of the working class. This group is usually considered cut off from the rest of the society. The g ...

devoid of

class consciousness In Marxism, class consciousness is the set of beliefs that persons hold regarding their social class or economic rank in society, the structure of their class, and their common class interests. According to Karl Marx, class consciousness is an awa ...

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.reactionary In politics, a reactionary is a person who favors a return to a previous state of society which they believe possessed positive characteristics absent from contemporary.''The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought'' Third Edition, (1999) p. 729. ...

and

counter-revolutionary A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution has occurred, in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "c ...

forces, particularly in the context of the

revolutions of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

. They dismissed the revolutionary potential of the ''Lumpenproletariat'' and contrasted it with the

proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a . Marxist ph ...

. Among other groups, criminals, vagabonds, and

prostitutes Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-p ...

are usually included in this category. The

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

made wide use of the term by the turn of the 20th century.

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

and

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

followed Marx's arguments and dismissed the revolutionary potential of the group, while

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

argued that proper

leadership Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

could utilize it. The word ''Lumpenproletariat'', popularized in the West by

Frantz Fanon Frantz Omar Fanon (, ; ; 20 July 1925 – 6 December 1961) was a French West Indian psychiatrist, political philosopher, and Marxist from the French colony of Martinique (today a French department). His works have become influential in the ...

's '' The Wretched of the Earth'' in the 1960s, has been adopted as a sociological term. However, what some consider to be its vagueness and its history as a term of abuse has led to some criticism. Some revolutionary groups, most notably the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...

and the Young Lords, have sought to mobilize the ''Lumpenproletariat''.

Overview

Etymology

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.German word , which is usually translated as "ragged" and '' prolétariat'', a French word adopted as a common Marxist term for the class of wage earners in a capitalist system.

Hal Draper Hal Draper (born Harold Dubinsky; September 19, 1914 – January 26, 1990) was an American socialist activist and author who played a significant role in the Berkeley, California, Free Speech Movement. He is known for his extensive scholarship on ...

argued that the root is ''lump'' ("knave"), not ''lumpen''. Bussard noted that the meaning of ''lump'' shifted from being a person dressed in rags in the 17th century to knavery in the 19th century.

Definition

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (''AHD'') is a dictionary of American English published by HarperCollins. It is currently in its fifth edition (since 2011). Before HarperCollins acquired certain business lines from H ...

'' defines it as "the lowest stratum of the proletariat. Used originally in Marxist theory to describe those members of the proletariat, especially criminals, vagrants, and the unemployed, who lacked awareness of their collective interest as an oppressed class." In modern usage, it is commonly defined to include the chronically unemployed, the homeless, and career criminals. In English translations of Marx and Engels, ''lumpenproletariat'' has sometimes been rendered as "social scum", "dangerous classes", "ragamuffin", and "ragged-proletariat". It has been described by some scholars and theorists, as well as the Soviet

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...

, as a declassed ( déclassé) group. The term "

" is considered to be the modern synonym of ''lumpenproleteriat''. Scholars note its negative connotations. Economist Richard McGahey, writing for the ''New York Times'' in 1982, noted that it is one of the older terms in a "long line of labels that stigmatize poor people for their poverty by focusing exclusively on individual characteristics." He listed the following synonyms: "underclass", "undeserving poor", and "

culture of poverty Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, attitudes, and habits of the individuals in these gro ...

". Another synonym is " riff-raff". The word is used in some languages as a pejorative. In English it may be used in an informal disapproving manner to "describe people who are not clever or well educated, and who are not interested in changing or improving their situation."

Usage by Marx and Engels

According to historian Robert Bussard,

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.Hal Draper Hal Draper (born Harold Dubinsky; September 19, 1914 – January 26, 1990) was an American socialist activist and author who played a significant role in the Berkeley, California, Free Speech Movement. He is known for his extensive scholarship on ...

suggested that the concept has its roots in

Young Hegelian The Young Hegelians (), or Left Hegelians (''Linkshegelianer''), or the Hegelian Left (''die Hegelsche Linke''), were a group of German intellectuals who, in the decade or so after the death of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in 1831, reacted to an ...

thought and possibly in G.W.F. Hegel's ''

Elements of the Philosophy of Right ''Elements of the Philosophy of Right'' (or ''Outlines of the Philosophy of Right''; ) is a work by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel published in 1820, though the book's original title page dates it to 1821. Hegel's most mature statement of his l ...

''. While Bussard believes that the idea was "at one and the same time, a hybrid of new social attitudes which crystallised in France, England and Germany, as well as an extension of more traditional, pre-nineteenth-century views of the lower classes." Bussard noted that they often used the term as a "kind of sociological profanity" and contrasted between it and "working and thinking"

. According to Michael Denning by identifying the ''lumpenproletariat'', "Marx was combating the established view that the entire working class was a dangerous and immoral element. He drew a line between the proletariat and the ''lumpenproletariat'' to defend the moral character of the former."

In early writings

The first collaborative work by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to feature the term ''lumpenproletariat'' is ''

The German Ideology ''The German Ideology'' (German: ''Die deutsche Ideologie''), also known as ''A Critique of the German Ideology'', is a set of manuscripts written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels around April or early May 1846. Marx and Engels did not find a p ...

'', written in 1845–46. They used it to describe the

plebs In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the gro ...

(plebeians) of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

who were midway between freemen and

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

, never becoming more than a "proletarian rabble 'lumpenproletariat'' and

Max Stirner Johann Kaspar Schmidt (; 25 October 1806 – 26 June 1856), known professionally as Max Stirner (; ), was a German post-Hegelian philosopher, dealing mainly with the Hegelian notion of social alienation and self-consciousness. Stirner is oft ...

's "self-professed radical constituency of the Lumpen or ragamuffin." The first work written solely by Marx to mention the term was an article published in the ''

Neue Rheinische Zeitung The ''Neue Rheinische Zeitung: Organ der Demokratie'' ("New Rhenish Newspaper: Organ of Democracy") was a German daily newspaper, published by Karl Marx in Cologne between 1 June 1848 and 19 May 1849. It is recognised by historians as one of the ...

'' in November 1848 which described the ''lumpenproletariat'' as a "tool of reaction" in the

and as a "significant counterrevolutionary force throughout Europe." Engels wrote in ''

The Peasant War in Germany ''The Peasant War in Germany'' () by Friedrich Engels is a short account of the early-16th-century uprisings known as the German Peasants' War (1524–1525). It was written by Engels in London during the summer of 1850, following the revolution ...

'' (1850) that the ''lumpenproletariat'' is a "phenomenon that occurs in a more or less developed form in all the so far known phases of society". In ''

The Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'' (), originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (), is a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London in 1848. The ...

'' (1848), where ''lumpenproletariat'' is commonly translated in English editions as the "dangerous class" and the "social scum", Marx and Engels wrote:

In writings on France

In an article analyzing the June 1848 events in Paris Engels wrote of the ''gardes mobiles'', a militia which suppressed the workers' uprising: "The organized ''lumpenproletariat'' had given battle to the working proletariat. It had, as was to be expected, put itself at the disposal of the bourgeoisie." Thoburn notes that Marx makes his most detailed descriptions of the ''lumpenproletariat'' in his writings of the revolutionary turmoil in France between 1848 and 1852: '' The Class Struggles in France, 1848–1850'' (1850) and '' The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon'' (1852). In ''The Class Struggles'' he describes the finance aristocracy of

Louis Philippe I Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his throne ...

and his

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...

(1830–1848) as lumpenproletarian: "In the way it acquires wealth and enjoys it the financial aristocracy is nothing but the lumpenproletariat reborn at the pinnacle of bourgeois society." He distinguished the finance aristocracy from the industrial bourgeoisie as the former became rich "not by production, but by pocketing the already available wealth of others." He further suggests that the ''lumpenproletariat'' is a component of the proletariat, unlike his earlier works. He claimed that the ''gardes mobiles'' were set up "to set one segment of the proletariat against the other": In ''The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon'' Marx identified

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

as the "Chief of the ''Lumpenproletariat''", a claim he made repeatedly. He argued that he bought his supporters with "gifts and loans, these were the limits of the financial science of the ''lumpenproletariat'', both the low and the exalted. Never had a President speculated more stupidly on the stupidity of the masses." For Marx, the ''lumpenproletariat'' represented those who were "corrupt, reactionary and without a clear sense of class-consciousness." He wrote in ''The Eighteenth Brumaire'':

''Capital''

In ''

Capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

'' (1867) Marx claimed legislation which turned soldiers and peasants "en masse into beggars, robbers, vagabonds, partly from inclination, in most cases from stress of circumstances." By this he deviated from his focus on the vicious and degenerate behavior of the ''lumpenproletariat'' in his writings on France. Instead he described the ''lumpenproletariat'' as part of the what he called an " industrial reserve army", which capitalists used as times required. Thus "vagabonds, criminals, prostitutes" and other ''lumpenproletariat'' formed an element within the "surplus population" in a capitalist system.

Left-wing views

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The

(SPD) was one of the first to use ''lumpenproletariat'' in their rhetoric, particularly to indicate the scope of their view of a "desirable" working class and exclude the non-respectable poor. By the early 20th century, the German Marxist tradition saw workers outside the SPD and/or labor unions as members of the ''lumpenproletariat''. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, rioting and violence was often attributed by the SPD and its newspaper '' Vorwärts'' to the ''lumpenproletariat'' working in collusion with the secret police. Historian Richard J. Evans argued that the SPD, thus, lost touch with the "militancy of the classes which it claimed to represent, a militancy which found expression in frequent outbursts of spontaneous collective protest, both political and industrial, at moments of high social and political tension." For many German socialists in the imperial period the ''lumpenproletariat''—especially prostitutes and pimps—was not only a "political-moral problem, but also an objective, biological danger to the health of society."

Karl Kautsky Karl Johann Kautsky (; ; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was a Czech-Austrian Marxism, Marxist theorist. A leading theorist of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Second International, Kautsky advocated orthodox Marxism, a ...

argued in 1890 that it is the ''lumpenproletariat'' and not the "militant industrial proletariat" that mostly suffer from

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

August Bebel Ferdinand August Bebel (; 22 February 1840 – 13 August 1913) was a German socialist activist and politician. He was one of the principal founders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Bebel, a woodworker by trade, co-founded the Sa ...

, pre-World War I leader of the SPD, linked

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

proletarians to the ''lumpenproletariat'' as the former failed to develop class consciousness, which led to a racial, and not social, explanation of economic inequality.

Bolsheviks and the Soviet Union

called socialist attempts to recruit ''lumpenproletariat'' elements "

opportunism 300px, ''Opportunity Seized, Opportunity Missed'', engraving by Theodoor Galle, 1605 Opportunism is the practice of taking advantage of circumstances — with little regard for principles or with what the consequences are for others. Opport ...

". In 1925

Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (; rus, Николай Иванович Бухарин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ bʊˈxarʲɪn; – 15 March 1938) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and Marxist theorist. A prominent Bolshevik ...

described the ''lumpenproletariat'' as being characterized by "shiftlessness, lack of discipline, hatred of the old, but impotence to construct anything new, an individualistic declassed 'personality' whose actions are based only on foolish caprices." In a 1932 article on "How Mussolini Triumphed"

described the "declassed and demoralized" ''lumpenproletariat'' as "the countless human beings whom finance capital itself has brought to desperation and frenzy." He argued that capitalism used them through fascism. The ''

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

'', written from the Marxist-Leninist perspective, defined ''lumpenproletariat'' as: The term was rarely used in the Soviet Union to describe any portion of the Soviet society because, Hemmerle argues, following the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

of 1917 "millions of people passed through economic conditions that bore a resemblance to the traditional meaning of ''lumpenproletariat''". However, it was used to label labor movements in capitalist countries which were not pro-Soviet. Soviet authorities and scholars instead reserved other terms for their own ''lumpenproletariat'' groups, especially "déclassé elements" (деклассированные элементы, ''deklassirovannye elementy''), and viewed them, like Marx, as "social degenerates, isolated from the forces of production and incapable of having a working-class consciousness." Svetlana Stephenson notes that the Soviet state "for all its ideology of assistance, cooperation and social responsibility, was ready to descend on them with all its might."

China

argued in 1939 that the ''lumpenproletariat'' ( zh, 游民无产者,

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ''yóumín wúchǎnzhě'') in China is a legacy of the country's "colonial and semi-colonial status" which forced a vast number of people in urban and rural areas into illegitimate occupations and activities. Earlier, in 1928, he asserted that "the only way" to win over these wayward proletarians was to carry out intensive thought reform "so as to effect qualitative changes in these elements." He argued that the ''lumpenproletariat'' had a dual nature. Simultaneously, they were "victimized members of the laboring masses and untrustworthy elements with 'parasitic inclinations, which made them waver between revolution and counterrevolution. He believed that ''lumpenproletariat'' elements, such as triads, the organized crime syndicates, "can become revolutionary given proper leadership". According to

Luo Ruiqing Luo Ruiqing (; May 31, 1906 – August 3, 1978), formerly romanized as Lo Jui-ch'ing, was a People's Republic of China, Chinese army officer and politician, general of the People's Liberation Army. As the first Ministry of Public Security ...

, the Minister of Public Security, the ''lumpenproletariat'' population consisted of sex workers, vagrant gangs, and theft rings and were political problems that threatened the internal security of China. Following the Communist victory in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

and the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ''lumpenproletariat'' were interned into government-run reeducation centers. Some 500,000 people were interned into 920 such centers by 1953. Historian Aminda Smith notes that the "case of ''lumpenproletariat'' reformatories suggests that anti-state resistance from members of the oppressed masses was essential to early-PRC rhetoric because it validated claims about the devastating effects of the old society and the transformative power of socialist 'truth'."

Views on its revolutionary potential

By the early 1970s some radicals deviated from the orthodox Marxist viewpoint that the ''lumpenproletariat'' lacks significant revolutionary potential.

Herbert Marcuse Herbert Marcuse ( ; ; July 19, 1898 – July 29, 1979) was a German–American philosopher, social critic, and Political philosophy, political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Born in Berlin, Marcuse studied at ...

, an American philosopher and sociologist of the

Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School is a school of thought in sociology and critical theory. It is associated with the University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, Institute for Social Research founded in 1923 at the University of Frankfurt am Main ...

, believed that the working class in the US "having been bought up by the consumer society, has lost all class consciousness" and lay the hopes for revolution on the ''lumpenproletariat''—the social outcasts—led by intellectuals. Marcuse, along with Afro-Caribbean philosopher

and other radical intellectuals, proposed that elements of the ''lumpenproletariat'' are potentially leading forces in a revolutionary movement. According to Michael Denning Fanon revived the term, long having been disappeared from left-wing discourse, in this book '' The Wretched of the Earth'' (1961). He defined the ''lumpenproletariat'' as the peasantry in colonial societies of the

Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...

not involved in industrial production who are unaware of the dominant colonial ideology and are therefore, "ready, capable and willing to revolt against the colonial status quo for liberation." He described them as "one of the most spontaneous and the most radically revolutionary forces of a colonized people." He was not uncritical of the ''lumpenproletariat'' due to their supposed unpredictability due to "their ignorance and incomprehension." Colonial forces could make a use of them as hired soldiers. Fanon's use of the term prompted debates and studies, including by

Pierre Bourdieu Pierre Bourdieu (, ; ; ; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influ ...

and Charles van Onselen. The African revolutionary Amílcar Cabral was skeptical about the ''lumpen'' being used in anti-colonialist liberation revolution. His African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde recruited ''déclassé'', but not ''lumpenproletariat'', groups as the latter were supportive of the Portuguese colonial police, while the former, in the absence of a developed proletariat in Guinea and Cape Verde, played a dynamic role in anti-colonialist struggle. Historian Martin Meredith wrote that Ethiopian ruler

Mengistu Haile Mariam Mengistu Haile Mariam (, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian former politician, revolutionary, and military officer who served as the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. He was General Secretary of the Workers' Party o ...

used "the lumpen-proletariat of the slums" to help with his

Red Terror The Red Terror () was a campaign of political repression and Mass killing, executions in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia which was carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police ...

Black Panther Party

Laura Pulido argues that, historically, the ''lumpenproletariat'' in the US has mostly been African American due to the nation being racially constituted. It is primarily indicated by the high unemployment and incarceration rates among African Americans. The

, most prominent revolutionary socialists in post-war US, "thought of much of their following as ''lumpenproletarian''." They adopted Fanon's viewpoint regarding the revolutionary potential of the group. Pulido claims the emphasis the Black Panthers put on the ''lumpenproletariat'' was the party's hallmark. Its co-founders Bobby Seale and

Huey P. Newton Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989) was an African American revolutionary and political activist who co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966. He ran the party as its first leader and crafted its ten-point manifesto with ...

viewed the African-American ''lumpenproletariat'' as a potential organized threat if the party did not mobilize them. Seale included "the brother who's pimping, the brother who's hustling, the unemployed, the downtrodden, the brother who's robbing banks, who's not politically conscious" in his definition of the ''lumpenproletariat''. Newton called them "street brothers", alienated from the system of oppression in the US, and sought to recruit them into the party. Their strategy was a controversial one. Chris Booker and Errol Henderson argued that problems such as "a lack of discipline, a tendency toward violence, the importation of street culture, including crime, and the use of weapons" by Black Panthers was caused by the disproportionately high membership of the ''lumpenproletariat'' in their ranks.

Young Lords Party

The Young Lords Party adopted similar views to the Black Panther Party, believing in the potential of the lumpen. They developed a Lumpen Organization within their larger organization with the goal of enlisting the people considered the lumpenproletariat, or "lumpen", in the struggle; they considered the lumpen to be "the class in our nation which for years and years have not been able to find jobs, and are forced to be drug addicts, prostitutes, etc." (p. 20) in the face of the capitalist system the Party considered an enemy.Enck-Wanzer, Darrel. ''The Young Lords a Reader''. New York: New York UP, 2010. Web. Crucial to the party's view on the lumpen is that, unlike criticisms of the lumpenproletariat around a perceived lack of productivity and organization, the Young Lords Party stated that "it's a law of revolution that the most oppressed group takes the leadership position" (p. 42) and that the lumpen would be the immediate focus of the party's organizing efforts in liberating all oppressed peoples.

Criticism

Ernesto Laclau Ernesto Laclau (; 6 October 1935 – 13 April 2014) was an Argentine political theorist and philosopher. He is often described as an 'inventor' of post-Marxist political theory. He is well known for his collaborations with his long-term partner, ...

argued that Marx's dismissal of the ''lumpenproletariat'' showed the limitations of his theory of

economic determinism Economic determinism is a socioeconomic theory that economic relationships (such as being an owner or capitalist or being a worker or proletarian) are the foundation upon which all other societal and political arrangements in society are based. T ...

and argued that the group and "its possible integration into the politics of populism as an 'absolute outside' that threatens the coherence of ideological identifications." Mark Cowling argues that the "concept is being used for its political impact rather than because it provides good explanations" and that its political impact is "pernicious" and an "obstacle to clear analysis." Laura Pulido argues that there is a diversity in the ''lumpen'' population, especially in terms of consciousness.

Anarchist criticism

Post-anarchist Saul Newman wrote in 2010 that classical anarchists argue that the ''lumpenproletariat'' should be designated as a revolutionary class. According to Tom Brass, individualist anarchist

"celebrated the lumpenproletariat as authentic rebels." Anarchist thinker

Mikhail Bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin. Sometimes anglicized to Michael Bakunin. ( ; – 1 July 1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist. He is among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major figure in the revolutionary socialist, s ...

, who was dubbed "the lumpen prince" by Engels, wrote that only in the ''lumpenproletariat'' and "and not in the bourgeois strata of workers, are there crystallised the entire intelligence and power of the coming

Social Revolution Social revolutions are sudden changes in the structure and nature of society. These revolutions are usually recognized as having transformed society, economy, culture, philosophy, and technology along with but more than just the political system ...

." Thoburn writes that for him, the ''lumpenproletariat'' represented a "kind of actually existing anarchism." Ann Robertson notes that Bakunin believed that "inherent in humanity is a natural essence which can be suppressed but never entirely extinguished. Those in society who are more distant from the State apparatus (the peasants are scattered throughout the countryside, the ''lumpenproletariat'' simply refuses to obey the laws) are accordingly natural leaders". Bakunin stated:

Other uses

Robert Ritter Robert Ritter (14 May 1901 – 15 April 1951) was a German Scientific racism, racial scientist doctor of psychology and medicine, with a background in child psychiatry and the biology of criminality. In 1936, Ritter was appointed head of the Ra ...

, the head of Nazi Germany's efforts to track the genealogies of the Romani, considered them a "highly inferior ''Lumpenproletariat''" as they were "parasites who lacked ambition and many of them had become habitual criminals." The Romani were seen in post-World War II communist-ruled eastern and central Europe as an example of the ''lumpenproletariat'' and were, therefore, subject to an aggressive policy of assimilation. Ken Gelder noted that in cultural studies,

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture, cultural society that differentiates itself from the values of the conservative, standard or dominant culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures ...

s are "often positioned ''outside'' of class, closer in kind to Marx's ''lumpenproletariat'', lacking social consciousness, self-absorbed or self-interested, at a distance from organised or sanctioned forms of labour, and so on." In Ukraine, '' titushky'', pro-

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of t ...

thugs active during the

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

protests in 2013–14, were characterized as lumpen elements.

In American political discourse

The 1979 report of the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education warned that the US is in danger of creating "a permanent underclass, a self‐perpetuating culture of poverty, a substantial 'lumpen proletariat'."

Eleanor Holmes Norton Eleanor Holmes Norton (born June 13, 1937) is an American politician, lawyer, and human rights activist. Norton is a congressional delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she has represented the District of Columbia since 1991 as ...

wrote in 1985: "An American version of a lumpenproletariat (the so-called underclass), without work and without hope, existing at the margins of society, could bring down the great cities, sap resources and strength from the entire society and, lacking the usual means to survive, prey upon those who possess them." According to political scientist

Marie Gottschalk Marie Gottschalk (born December 17, 1958) is an American political scientist and professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, known for her work on mass incarceration in the United States. Gottschalk is the author of ''The Pri ...

the tough-on-crime stance on African Americans has been caused by political manipulation of public fears of a lumpen underclass threatening the majority as African Americans were perceived to have turned to crime due to losing in the

deindustrialization Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry. There are different interpr ...

of the country. Mark Cowling argued that there is considerable similarity in both definition and function between the ''lumpenproletariat'', as proposed by Marx, and the contemporary theory of the underclass by Charles Murray, an American conservative political scientist. Although Murray and

Richard Herrnstein Richard Julius Herrnstein (May 20, 1930 – September 13, 1994) was an American psychologist at Harvard University. He was an active researcher in animal learning in the Skinnerian tradition. Herrnstein was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psycho ...

did not use the term in their 1994 book ''

The Bell Curve ''The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life'' is a 1994 book by the psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and the political scientist Charles Murray in which the authors argue that human intelligence is substantially influe ...

'', Malcolm Browne noted in a ''New York Times'' review that the authors argue that the United States is being "split between an isolated caste of ruling meritocrats on one hand and a vast, powerless Lumpenproletariat on the other. Society, the authors predict, will have little use for this underclass in a world dominated by sophisticated machines and the bright human beings who tend them." Several commentators and researchers have analyzed

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's political base as modern American ''lumpenproletariat''. ''Trumpen Proletariat'' was coined by Jonah Goldberg in 2015 to describe Trump's "biggest fans", who he believed "are not to be relied upon in the conservative cause" in the same way the ''lumpenproletariat'' was not to be relied upon for a socialist revolution.

Daniel Henninger Daniel Henninger is an American commentator. He serves as the deputy editorial page director of ''The Wall Street Journal'', and is a Fox News contributor. Early life Henninger was born in Cleveland, Ohio to David R. Henninger and Aileen M. Henn ...

used the term as well in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''. Francis Levy compared " basket of deplorables",

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

's phrase to characterize some Trump supporters during the 2016 presidential election campaign, to Marx's rhetoric of the ''lumpenproletariat''. In 2020

Ryan Lizza Ryan Christopher Lizza ( ; born July 12, 1974) is an American journalist. His 2017 interview with White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci resulted in Scaramucci's dismissal. He was a senior political analyst for CNN and formerly t ...

coined ''Biden Proletariat'' to describe an underclass of campaign workers and supporters—"veterans of the Biden campaign"—who were cast aside during post-election White House staffing, thus carrying on a tradition in Democratic politics of abandoning loyal political workers in favor of well-connected political elites.

Usage in India

Ranjit Gupta, the Inspector General of the West Bengal Police, claimed in 1973 that the Maoist

Naxalite Naxalism is the communist ideology of the Naxalites or Naxals, a grouping of political and insurgent groups from India. It is influenced by Maoist political sentiment and ideology. Inspired by Maoism, Charu Majumdar wrote the Historic Eight ...

rebels in India were made of "some intellectuals and lumpen proletariat. Their main target was policemen—and they thought that if the police force could be torn apart, so could society." Political scientist Atul Kohli claimed in his 2001 book that "variety of lumpen groups, especially unemployed youth in northern India, have joined right-wing proto-fascist movements in recent years", especially the Hindu nationalist

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,, ) is an Indian right-wing politics, right-wing, Hindutva, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar ( ...

(RSS). In 2010s, cow vigilantism in India has been linked by Pavan Varma to "lumpen Hindu fanaticism" and to "lumpen and self-appointed '' gau rakshaks''" by Bhalchandra Mungekar.

Genocides and crimes against humanity

Due to a desire to keep clean the hands of the larger public, paramilitary groups are often used to commit atrocities and they often recruit mainly among criminals, said to be used to violence and brutality and wanting to enjoy an occasion to loot. The lumpenproletariat has been described as being more likely to adhere to doctrines calling for ethnic cleansing and to organize in militias. During the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

, prisoners were pardoned and released from prison to serve in bands, or ''çetes''. Criminals and other elements of the ''lumpenproletariat'' hoped to gain respectability and wealth through their participation in genocide. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the German

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

Dirlewanger Brigade recruited poachers and criminals to guard the ghetto in Lublin and later wage the ''

Bandenbekämpfung In Military history of Germany, German military history, (), also referred to as Nazi security warfare during World War II, refers to the concept and military doctrine of Counterinsurgency, countering Resistance movement, resistance or insurrec ...

'' on the Eastern Front. In

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...

, during the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

, the Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi, who recruited among the poorer elements of the population, started to draw a "''lumpenproletariat'' of street boys". The various Serbian militias of the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

such as the

Serb Volunteer Guard The Serb Volunteer Guard, SDG. Also known as Arkan's Tigers () or Arkan's men (). was an elite Serbian volunteer paramilitary unit founded and led by Željko Ražnatović (better known as "Arkan"). It was recognized for its superior bearing an ...

and the

White Eagles White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wavelen ...

were described as recruiting among the lumpenproletariat. Eighty percent of the Bosnian Serb paramilitary troops were said to be criminals, and Croat and Bosnian units similarly drew criminals into their ranks. In

Darfur Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...

, some ''

Janjaweed The Janjaweed () are an Sudanese Arabs, Arab nomad militia group operating in the Sahel, Sahel region, specifically in Sudan, particularly in Darfur and eastern Chad. They have also been speculated to be active in Yemen. According to the United ...

'' were convicts recruited in prison or bandits who joined governmental forces. Marc Lavergne, author of ''Le Soudan contemporain'', described them as a "rural ''lumpenproletariat''".

Sociological research

Political leanings

Ernesto Ragionieri, an Italian Marxist historian, argued to have confirmed in his 1953 book ''Un comune socialista'' that the ''lumpenproletariat'' is essentially a conservative force based on his study of

Sesto Fiorentino Sesto Fiorentino (), known locally as just Sesto, is a commune in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, central Italy. History The oldest known human settlement in the area dates from the Mesolithic (c. 9,000 years ago). The Etruscan ...

. He found that some 450–500 members of the working class had joined the liberal-conservative party, which was led by landowners, industrialists, and professionals in hopes of getting recommendation that would allow them to join Richard-Ginori, the largest local employer, which refused to hire socialists.

Violence

In 1966 sociologist David Matza cited disorder and violence as two of the most prominent characteristics of the disreputable poor. In his 1977 book ''Class, State, and Crime'', Marxist historian Richard Quinney defined ''lumpen'' crimes (or "predatory crimes") as those intended for purely personal profit. In a 1986 study sociologist David Brownfield defined the ''lumpen-proletariat'' (or the "disreputable poor") by their unemployment and receipt of welfare benefits. He concluded that "while no significant effects of class can be found using a neo-Marxist conception of class, gradational measures of class (occupation and education) ... Measures of disreputable poverty—unemployment and welfare status ecipiency��are relatively strong correlates of violent behavior." He explained:

Derivations

Several terms have been coined in imitation of ''lumpenproletariat'' such as: *''lumpenintelligentsia'', to depreciatively describe in Britain, "a section of the

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

regarded as making no useful contribution to society, or as lacking taste, culture, etc. Also more generally: the intelligentsia collectively, regarded as worthless or powerless." *the term '' lumpenbourgeoisie'' was coined by German Socialist writers in the 1920s, in part to explain the rise of Hitler and National Socialism. It was reinvented and made popular again by sociologist

Andre Gunder Frank Andre Gunder Frank (February 24, 1929 – April 25, 2005) was a German- American sociologist and economic historian who promoted dependency theory after 1970 and world-systems theory after 1984. He employed some Marxian concepts on polit ...

in his works on

dependency theory Dependency theory is the idea that resources flow from a " periphery" of poor and exploited states to a " core" of wealthy states, enriching the latter at the expense of the former. A central contention of dependency theory is that poor states ...

, where the so described class is complicit in maintaining a flow of resources from, and at the expense of, their own poor states at the "periphery" to a "core" of wealthy states *''lumpen militariat'', coined by Ali Mazrui in 1973, to describe the newly emerging "class of semi-organized, rugged, and semi-literate soldiery which has begun to claim a share of power and influence in what would otherwise have become a heavily privileged meritocracy of the educated" in post-colonial Africa.

References

;Notes ;Citations

Bibliography

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