◆ SpookStack

; lunpen--2 = In the Communist Manifesto, they refer to the lempenproletariat as "the ‘dangerous = -‘elass, the social scum, that passively rotting mass thrown off by the lowest layers of old society," and claim that although it "may, here and there, be swept into the movement by a proletarian revolution, its conditions of life prepare it far more for the part of a bribed tool of reactionary intrigue." (Selected Works, I, 443, In The Gless Strupgles in France, 1848-1850, Marx says that the lumpenproleteriat "in all b. big * touns forma a mass sharply differentiated from the industrial proletariat," and e analyzcs it as “a reeruiting ground for thieves and criminals of all kinds, living on the crumbs of society, people without a definite trade, vagabonds, gens sans feu et sans aveu, varying according to the degree of civilisation ef the nation to to which they belong, but never renoureing their Jsezaverd character." (Selected Works, 1,155) The most savaze passage comes in Evusels’ "Prefatory Note te The Peasant War in Germany” The lurpenproletariat, this scum of the depraved elements of all classes, which estebliched headquarters in the big cities, is the worst of all possible allies, This rabyle is absolutely venal and absolutely brazen, If the French workers, in every revolution, jnscribed on the houses: Mort aux voleurs! Death to thieves! ay! myer sot some, they did it, not out of enthusiasm for property, but because thoy isactily considered it necessary above ali to keep that gang at a distance, Er heater of the workers who uscs these scoundrels as guards or rejics on then roe Support proves himself by this action alone a traitor to the movement, (Fo inshed Norks, 1, 646), Yel eve. his passage, taken with the contexts of the others, presents some apparent contr: | ons, First :" all, what do Harn and Engels sea as the class background of the luircpen- prols.-:int?) This is not an jdte or acadewiz question, Class background should cert: y have semething te co with determining consctourness, both actual ana potential, And recently it has become feshoinable in some quarters to write off the streat people zs not even luspenproletariat but "lumpenbourgevisie," or fake luupenu- proletariat, In Lhe previous passage from [ngels he claims thet they come from "the depraved elcments of all classes," But the Hanifesto says that they come only frem "ihe lowest layers of old society," And in the very passage in which Narx says that the lumpenproletariat is “sharply differentiated from the industrial proletariat," he alisc indicates that it cores directly from only one class, thet same proletariat, ("and so the Paris proletariet was confronted with an army, drevn frem its own micst,.. Yet dn The Elehtcents Bruwatye of Touts Napoleon, Marx is quite explicit in stating that the luapenproletariat cones from all classes: Alongside decayed routs vith dubious means of, subsistence and of dubious origin, alongside ruined and adventurcus offshoots of the bourgeoisie, were vag2zbonds, discharged suldiers, discaarged jailbirds, escaped galley slaves, suindlers, mouncebanks, Jazzaront, pitlperkets, tricksters, ganblers, maqueresus (pirps), brethe] keepers, porters, Jiterati, organ-prinders, rag-pickers, knife grinders, linkers, Fegsars--in shert, the whele indefinite, disintegrated miss, throvn hither aad thither, which the French term la tbob@ne from this kindred element Loneparte forsed the core of the Society of December LO, A “benevolent socinty"'-- in fo for ae, like Bonaparte, all its menhers felt the necd of benefiting thein- selves at Che expense of the lebouricg nation, This Bonaparte, who constitutes himeeis chief of the Temmenproleatariat, 2. bere elone discovers in mass fori the interests which ke personally pursucs, ,., recognizes in this scum, offal, refuec of all clarses the only class upon which he can base himse)£ uncondithou- ally... (icdoctice Botks, 1, 295). 45 & te Py at oe _, 7 ; een a a > ” + nC taatiOe Fy atten id a a, ee agi Fs 7 pa 7 am we a aR aa) ee ON ae eas we ae re EE oa . - ~ 4 tie ’ a oe