Proletariat

Also known as the “working class”. It refers to the class of wage-laborers who are deprived of the instruments and means of production in capitalist society, compelled to sell their labor-power to make a living and exploited by the bourgeoisie.

The proletariat as a social class was born simultaneously with the bourgeoisie, it first appeared in the period of manufacture in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, grew up in the industrial revolution of the 18th century, and became the modern industrial proletariat with the development of modern mechanical industry. Marx and Engels pointed out that not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to itself; it has also called into existence the men who are to wield those weapons—the modern working class—the proletarians. In capitalist society, on the one hand, the proletariat, like other commodities, is exposed to the vicissitudes of competition and the fluctuations of the market, and the price of labor-power is, almost entirely, the price of the means of life that the laborer requires for maintenance and for the propagation of his race. On the other hand, the proletariat is a tool to create surplus-value for capitalists.

From the day of its birth, the proletariat has begun its struggle against the bourgeoisie. The proletariat continues to grow and progress in the practice of struggle. At first, the proletarians’ understanding of capitalism was one-sided and superficial, and they could not correctly understand the real root cause of their exploitation and oppression. Therefore, the first stage of proletarian struggle was spontaneous and low-level, mainly manifesting itself as a small scale of struggle, a loose organization of struggle, the means of struggle consisting mainly of attacking the instruments of production, destroying the machines and equipment, burning down the factories and smashing commodities, mainly struggling with the individual capitalists who directly exploited them, and the struggle was still at the stage of blind, unorganized and spontaneous struggle. With the development of capitalist large-scale industry, the world has become more closely linked, and the proletarians in all parts of the world have strengthened their ties. The local struggles have gradually developed into a world proletarian struggle, and the proletarian struggle has begun to shift to the stage of conscious struggle. By the 1830s and 1840s, the proletariat had become an independent political actor on the arena of history. Especially after the emergence of Marxism, the proletariat launched a broader and more organized struggle under the guidance of Marxism. At this time, the proletariat had already possessed class consciousness, and the struggle began to move towards unity, no longer confined to economic struggle, and began to shift to political struggle. Moreover, the proletariat has established its own political party in the struggle. The proletariat no longer targeted individual capitalists, but directed its struggle against the bourgeoisie and the capitalist system.

Deeply oppressed by the three mountains of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism, the Chinese proletariat was filled with revolutionary firmness and thoroughness. Moreover, when the Chinese proletariat bestrode the arena of revolution at the outset, it became the most conscious class in Chinese society under the leadership of the vanguard of its own class, i.e., the Communist Party of China. Since the majority of them came from bankrupt peasants, the Chinese proletariat had a natural connection with the broad masses of peasants, which furthered a close alliance with them.

The proletariat is the greatest class in human history; itself a product of large-scale industry, representing the requirements of the development of productive forces and new relations of production, and represents the direction of historical development. The proletariat has the most consistent revolutionary spirit. Whereas all previous class struggles have involved the replacement of one kind of private property by another, the historical mission of the proletariat is to overthrow the bourgeoisie, overthrow the capitalist system, abolish private property, establish its own power, liberate the productive forces, liberate all mankind, and ultimately realize communism. Therefore, the proletarians are the “born representatives of revolutionary socialism”. The proletariat can fulfill its historical mission by overthrowing the rule of the bourgeoisie by means of violent revolution. The fall of the bourgeoisie and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable. In socialist society, the proletariat has got rid of being exploited and oppressed, become the master of the country, the leading class of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the leading force of socialist revolution and socialist construction. With the continuous advancement of socialist construction and development, the proletariat must, under the strong leadership of proletarian parties, unite all forces that can be united, constantly deepen reforms, constantly promote economic and social development and the full development of mankind, so as to ultimately realize communism.