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lumpen- +3 fo weg es But this is all very confusing, because in the Manifesto the paragraph which, immediatel, follows the sentence condemning the lumpenproletariat describes the pauperization of the proletariat in these terms" 3 ‘In the conditions of the proletariat, those of the old society are already - * swamped, The proletarian is without property; his relation to his wife and children has no longer anything in common with the bourgeois family-relation, ... law, morality, religion, are to him so many bourgeois prejudices, behind whic] lurk in ambush just as many bourgeois intcrests. (Selected Works, I, 44) A few paracraphs later, it states that "the modern laborer ,,, sinks deeper aud decper below the conditions of his own class"; “He becomes a pauper, and pauperism develops mere rapidly than population and vealth," Well, then, if this is true, what happens to the pauperized proletariat? How do they manage to live? Why is a knife grinder or a tinker or a porter or a beggar or a discharged soldier or even a discharged jailbird a member of some other class, the lumpenprolctariat, "sharply differentiated from the industria] proletariat"? It cannot be just a question of valucs, because to the true. proletarian "lawy morality, religion" are just "bourgeois prejudices ." And it cannot be a question of personal relation to the means of production, because in that case any worker who becomes unemployed would autonatically Lecome a member of the lumpen- prolctariat and the industrial reserve army would be @ lumpen army, “I would like to draw the following working conclusions: Marx and Engels, perceiving the existence of an important but ill-defined social class and angered by the treacheror role often played Uy that class, tended to make an ethical judgment rather than a Marnie annlysis ef its iole in capitalist society and revolutionary struggle, This clees may be definad as follows: It does not engage in productive labor, and is therefore not ; exploited in industry, (The bourgeoisic, hovever, does utilize it as police, army or ‘ agents.) Its principel means of support is the labor of the productive class, and its relationship to the proletariat is therefore inherently parasitic, [ts members have come from all classes, and they have ceased to be members of Chose other classes because of a combination of two conditions, one objective, the other subjective--they no longer have the same relationship to the means of production and they no longer have any leyalty to their former class, From this it follows that the lumpenproletariat 2 will coutuin more varied forms of consciousness than any other class in society, for the previcus experience of the individuals within it will be most varied and their present precarious means of existence will throw them into many different forms of contact with all the ether classes (the prostitute providing the most striking example of this). So the role of the lumpenproletariat is inherently unpredictable beth strategically and at each and cvery moment, If this ic true, we should be keenly aware of the unreliability of the luwpenproletariat A but we musi reject Engels’ condecmation of them as completely worthless and werely dangerous, Marx provides a key insight in a passage which foreshadovs the analysis of Mao and Fanon end relates directly to the devclopaent of the Revolutionary Youth Moveman At a “youthful age,“ he scys in The Class Struegles in France, the lwapenpvoletariat is "thoroughly mallechle, as capable of the most heroic deeds and the most exalted sacrifices as of the basest bauditry and the foulest corruption,” (Seiected Works, WI, 155.) If so, at least the youth of the luupenproletariat shou.: be abie ty play Pen extremely important role in revolutionary struggle, because they are the only greup to combine this potentiality for heroiem with an intimate daily knowledge ef how to cepe with the potice and to enguge in unterprouud activities as a way of life, And remember that in What Is To Ba Bone? Lenin makes the mastery of these skills the primary requircnent of the professional revelutioncry and of the revolutionary party as a whole, : primary because these skills are needed ta survive, ® kh 7 s " 1 # “ eres a a Sa Tet Fee atte, + tg Te Seth TO . cf vA. . ° i : he ‘4 . “- ral | ne or eee * ja m . . 7 aa ; 7 -_ ES Ot can la ne MISS eee owe tne a a epee a ee See a ee oa nis ee i fins iE ee oo va . - re