proletariat
nounUK /ˌpɹəʊ.lɪˈtɛə.ɹɪ.ət/ · US /ˌpɹoʊ.lɪˈtɛɚ.i.ət/
Etymology Borrowed from French prolétariat, from prolétaire + -at, from Latin proletārius, from prōlēt- (“offspring”) + -ārius, from stem of prōlēs, from pro- + *olēs (“growth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”). By surface analysis, Latin prōlēt- + -ary + -at.
Also, Derogatory, Figuratively, Often The lowest class of society; also, the lower classes of society generally; the masses.
Marxism Wage earners collectively; people who own no capital and depend on their labour for survival; the working class, especially when seen as engaged in a class struggle with the bourgeoisie (“the capital-owning class”).
- Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie to-day, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of modern industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product.1848 February, Karl Marx; Frederick Engels [i.e., Friedrich Engels], “Bourgeois and Proletarians”, in Samuel Moore, transl., Manifesto of the Communist Party. […], 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: National Executive Committee of the Socialist Labor Party, published 1898, →OCLC, page 27:
Ancient Rome, Historical The lowest class of citizens, who had no property and few rights, and were regarded as contributing only their offspring to the state.
- Derived terms
- cognitariat, commentariat, cyberproletariat, cybertariat, dictatorship of the proletariat, militariat, neo-proletariat, precariat, prole, proprietariat, protoproletariat, semiproletariat, subproletariat, welfariat
- Related terms
- proles, proletaire, proletairism, proletarian, proletarianisation, proletarianization, proletarianise, proletarianize, proletarianism, proletarianly, proletarisation, proletarization, proletarised, proletarized, proletarise, proletarize, proletary, proletkult, prolicidal, prolicide