Abstract:
The Lumpen-Proletarian emerges as a historical phenomenon under capitalism’s erosion of pre-capitalist traditions. Marx distinguishes it from the industrial proletariat: while both are embedded within capitalist systems, the former exists outside productive norms, characterized by social parasitism and historical regressiveness, whereas the latter embodies class progressiveness. Capitalist structuralization not only necessitates the Lumpen-Proletarian as systemic redundancy but also instrumentalizes the ongoing "proletarian lumpenization" to neutralize revolutionary potential by converting anti-establishment forces into tools that undermine proletarian solidarity. In the contemporary context of financial virtualization and populist politicization, this group's reproduction mechanisms are strategically exploited by ruling elites—serving both as a pressure valve to divert social contradictions and as an ideological apparatus to erode the proletariat’s civilizational legitimacy. This dialectic exposes capitalism's governance tactics: by structurally marginalizing certain groups, the system rationalizes its own perpetuation, transforming class antagonisms into internal fractures to dull revolutionary momentum. Thus, analyzing the Lumpen-Proletarian's regeneration is crucial both for dissecting the alienated nature of capitalist society and for decoding the evolving techniques of modern statecraft, wherein the management of such "structured informality" becomes a linchpin of neoliberal governance.