"Lumpenproletariat" is exactly the kind of idea an educated German theorist would come up with in the wreckage of the industrial revolution and it's ridiculous to try to carry that notion forward to the age of cell phones and heavily armed maoist prostitutes and if anyone can't understand that you should throw grass at them until they stop being dorks because they're too far gone to touch it themselves.

Like ffs read even one anthro text about black market and grey market economies and stop treating The Man's legal system like anything but a criminal organization.

  • iByteABit [comrade/them]
    ·
    5 months ago

    Depends, there are piss poor people out there, especially in rural uneducated areas, that are drawn to fascism like moths to light and hate communism without having ever understood what the hell they're talking about.

    They usually can't be reasoned with at all, they are proles but will never realize who are their allies and who will betray them as soon as they get in power. They will even actively work for fascists, if that isn't lumpenproletariat I don't know what else to describe them as.

    There's a big defining difference between them and the petty bourgeoisie who have actual material benefits from fascism.

    • tamagotchicowboy [he/him]
      ·
      5 months ago

      They need to attain some sort of social means first, these are people so bad off they fully know the futility of their situation a lot of time, in such straits with 0 framework, and what little knowledge they have and cherish (because that's the only knowledge they are allowed to attain, and they know this) paints their very own liberation as the worst thing possible but not apocalyptic, they're going to hope it all burns down, even if it takes them. They're opportunistic and will work for whoever gives them some means of survival or hope of that, fascists have been playing carrot and stick with lumpen for a while, even illusionary carrots they'll sadly fall for. There is little left in the core and even an afterschool babysitting or meal program which would super appeal to them is hosed. In some super poor places gangs are the defacto police and are unofficial deputies of whatever official law enforcement there is.

      Gotta do for above all else to appeal lumpen unless its strong fasc vibe words they were told all their lives to trust by their limited big bourgeois approved education (its better to feel better for 3s), it reminds me in some ways of the actual bourgeois mindset where one must say the prettiest words, give off the most aesthetic vibes and do little meaningful to appeal to, though they like token gesture, lost causes and the likes quite a lot. They're also both opportunist factors to be regarded quite cautiously, a serious movement will work to proletarianize the lumpen since that will be some material improvement generally, while the bourgeois are taking large economic loss of interests, something more dangerous I'd say.