The term proletariat assumed a new meaning in Engels’ document on communism. The miserable working conditions which inspired him to write, …“ But there have not always been workers and poor people living under conditions as they are today; in other words, there have not always been proletarians …”; those miserable working conditions have deteriorated even more. As per the definitions advanced, a classic proletariat would be someone who lives only by his/her salary and “whose life and death, therefore, depend on the alternation of times of good and bad business; in a word, on the fluctuations of competition” (Engels, 1847). So, one could say, in today’s world, a factory worker, a bus driver, a pizza-delivery man, a professor , a multinational executive all could qualify to the sobriquet as long as they do not invest and live on its profit. No…the meanings have become more complex. Engel’s conceptualization was in a certain frame of reference and as situations change, so the interpretati...
Questions that Challenge, Voices that Change