Lumpenproletariat
The Lumpenproletariat are those whom Marx and his contemporaries viewed as not useful to establishing worldwide socialism, basically riff-raff. Those deemed the lumpenproletariat were mostly incels, criminals, or those that serviced incels. More specifically the lumpenproletariat included:[1]
vagabonds (homeless/grifters), [...] discharged convicts [...] lazzaroni (gig-working, or begging homeless), pickpockets, [...] gamblers, brothel keepers, porters, literati, organ grinders, rag-pickers (nowadays, can-collecting, and the like), knife-grinders, tinkers (blue-collar workers), and beggars
—Karl Marx
In other words the makeup of most incel forums.
Variations[edit | edit source]
There have been various other characterizations of the lower social orders, such as the Roman word "Proletarius", Burke's "mob", and Hegel's "rabble" (Pobel), and Andy Nowicki's "low-status male". What is somewhat unique about the term, "lumpenproletariat", is it attempts to separate the very lowest classes, politically, from the rest of the lower class.
Why many socialists hate incels according to Marxist theory[edit | edit source]
The accusation from traditional Marxists is that extremely poor people are dependent on things like cash handouts from the bourgeoisie for sustenance, and therefore would be traitors to those who work for a living if given the chance. Karl Marx famously referred to the support the French dictator/emperor Napoleon III received from the underclasses of French society at the time as an example of this. But what Marx and company fail to take into account is that their open hostility toward the lumpenproletarian causes a lot of this. For example, today's socialist left typically have no interest in incel issues and use them as a butt of a joke. That isn't going to propel incels to do anything but hate socialists (for good reason).
Alleged manifestation of lumpenproletariat alliance with right-wing movements[edit | edit source]
Anti-fascist socialists also claim the lumpenproletariat was instrumental to the rise of Hitler, with claims the Nazi party's paramilitary group Sturmabteilung (SA) allegedly contained many, "lumpens".[2] The Sturmabteilung engaged in street battles with the Communist Party of Germany's own paramilitary forces, which some saw as analogous to the gamer right-wing protesters at the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally engaging in street fights with left-wingers and anti-racists.
Furthermore, certain contemporary right-wing shows such as Alex Jones' Infowars are arguably have shown sympathy or pandering to lumpenproletariats, for example, when Alex Jones offered a staff position to someone who's only claim to fame was being a 30 year old NEET who became famous for refusing to leave his parents house until his parents filed a lawsuit. Marxists would probably argue the Alex Jones show is itself lumpenproletariat.