The proletariat ( /ˌproʊlɪˈtɛəriːət/ from Latin proletarius, a citizen of the lowest class) is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian. Originally it was identified as those people who had no wealth other than their children.
Read more about Proletariat: Usage in Roman Law, Usage in Marxist Theory
Famous quotes containing the word proletariat:
“Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle. The modern industrial proletariat does not belong to the category of such classes.”
—Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924)
“Historically and politically, the petit-bourgeois is the key to the century.... The bourgeois and proletariat classes have become abstractions: the petite-bourgeoisie, in contrast, is everywhere, you can see it everywhere, even in the areas of the bourgeois and the proletariat, what’s left of them.”
—Roland Barthes (1915–1980)