Proletariat Meaning
/ˌpɹəʊ.lɪˈtɛə.ɹɪ.ət/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe lowest class of society; also, the lower classes of society generally; the masses.
nounWage 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”).
Sentence Examples
Respect is due to the proletariat.
I am vehemently opposed to all dictatorships, whether of the proletariat or otherwise.
The proletariat has nothing to lose but its chains.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The revolution was driven by the ____, the class of industrial wage earners.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Marx argued that the ____ would eventually overthrow the capitalist class and seize the means of production.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The revolution was driven by the ____, the class of industrial wage earners.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Marx argued that the ____ would eventually overthrow the capitalist class and seize the means of production.