Proletariat

The proletariat (; from Latin proletarius 'producing offspring') is the socioeconomic class of wage laborers, members of a capitalist society whose most significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a worker. Marxist philosophy regards the proletariat under conditions of capitalism as an exploited class,⁠ deprived of the means of production and thereby forced to operate means of production held as private property by the capitalist class (the bourgeoisie), receiving wages which represent less than the value their labour produced, the remainder appropriated by the bourgeoisie as profits. Karl Marx argued that the inherently irreconcilable interests between workers and capitalists gives the workers common economic and political interests that transcend national boundaries, impelling them to unite internationally and assert their sovereignty over the capitalist class, and eventually to create a communist society free from class distinctions.