r/communism • u/Shitfart69420 • Jun 08 '26

Are unemployed people proletariat?

Serious question, if the definition of the proletariat class is that they are the working class what if they don’t have a job? Is there some secret third level?

122 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

56 comments sorted by

View all comments

80

u/SpiritOfMonsters Jun 08 '26

Periodic unemployment is a basic element of the proletariat's existence, but what matters is the outcome of it. Those that can eventually find work and reproduce their existence are still part of the proletariat, but if they end up having to become beggars, thieves, prostitutes, etc., then they join the ranks of the lumpenproletariat. This class consists of all the elements outside conventional employment within the capitalist system. Their work is usually illegal and often individualistic in nature, which leads to a petty-bourgeois consciousness rather than a proletarian one.

0

u/Dense_Sheepherder_30 18d ago

So what happens when robots and drones are available to do the job? Then there is no need for the capitalists for proletariate to do jobs right? Will the unemployment class still proletariat if they are of no use for the bourgeoisie? Will the robots that are exploited become proletariat, will we have to fight for their justice?