The term proletariat refers to a political, social, and historical idea used to describe the class of people who do not own any means of production, and who sell their labor power to capitalists—or the bourgeoisie—in order to earn enough money to provide for their families' immediate material needs. Although the term itself predates the work of the German communist Karl Marx, communists and socialists have used it predominantly since Marx's time to describe the industrial working class in modern capitalism. [Source: The Encyclopedia of Political Science; Proletariat]
proletariat
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