Aproletarian revolution orproletariat revolution is asocial revolution in which theworking class attempts to overthrow thebourgeoisie and change the previous political system.[1][2] Proletarian revolutions are generally advocated bysocialists,communists andanarchists.[3]
The concept of a revolutionaryproletariat was first put forward by the Frenchrevolutionary socialist and radicalAuguste Blanqui.[4] TheParis Commune, contemporary to Blanqui andKarl Marx, being viewed by some as the first attempt at a proletarian revolution.[5]
Marx wrote of theclass conscious proletariat being the active agent of revolution, which distinguished him from Blanqui who viewed a selective revolutionary conspiracy among all the lower classes as being the driving force of a proletarian revolution.[6] This was also in contrast to the views of the communistWilliam Weitling and the anarchistMikhail Bakunin who viewed thelumpenproletariat as the driver of the proletarian revolution.[6][7] Through Marx andFriedrich Engels' work they write that if the proletariat does not make up a majority, it must at least occupy an important position among the popular mass to achieve a proletarian revolution.[8] Some laterMarxists, such asGeorgi Plekhanov, emphasized the need for a majority of the population to be proletarianized for a proletarian revolution to occur.[9]
Marxists believe proletarian revolutions can and will likely happen in allcapitalist countries,[6][10] related to the concept ofworld revolution.[11][12] The objective of a proletarian revolution, according to Marxists, is to transform the bourgeois state into aworkers' state.[13][14] A traditional Marxist belief was that a proletarian revolution could only occur in a country where capitalism had fully developed,[15][16] though this changed withRussian Revolution.
TheLeninist branch of Marxism argues that a proletarian revolution must be led by avanguard of "professional revolutionaries", men and women who are fully dedicated to the communist cause and who form the nucleus of the communist revolutionary movement. This vanguard is meant to provide leadership and organization to the working class before and during the revolution, which aims to prevent the government from successfully ending it.[17]Vladimir Lenin believed that it was imperative to arm the working class to secure their leverage over the bourgeoisie. Lenin's words were printed in an article in German on the nature of pacifism and said "In every class society, whether based on slavery, serfdom, or, as at present, on wage-labour, the oppressor class is always armed."[18][19] It was under such conditions that the first successful proletarian revolution, theRussian Revolution, occurred.[20][18][21]
Other Marxists, such asLuxemburgists[22][23] andleft communists,[24][25][26] disagree with the Leninist idea of a vanguard and insist that the entire working class—or at least a large part of it—must be deeply involved and equally committed to the socialist or communist cause for a proletarian revolution to be successful. To this end, they seek to build mass working class movements with a very large membership. TheSituationists' view is that as well as the standard proletariat being a driving force for revolution, other oppressed classes would also act as drivers.[27]
Finally, there aresocialist anarchists andlibertarian socialists. Their view is that the revolution must be a bottom-upsocial revolution which seeks to transform all aspects of society and the individuals which make up the society (seeRevolutionary Catalonia). The anarchist view also holds that the proletarian revolution must abolish all aspects of the state, and that a "workers' state" should not be formed.[14]Alexander Berkman said "there are revolutions and revolutions. Some revolutions change only the governmental form by putting a new set of rulers in place of the old. These arepolitical revolutions, and as such they often meet with little resistance. But a revolution that aims to abolish the entire system ofwage slavery must also do away with the power ofone class to oppress another. That is, it is not any more a mere change of rulers, of government, not a political revolution, but one that seeks to alter the whole character of society. That would be a social revolution."[28]
One criticism of the Marxist theory about proletarian revolutions is that the theory does not comply with the historical reality. According to the Marxist theory, the revolution would happen in countries with a highly developed capitalist economic system. However, in reality the revolutions happened in countries where capitalism was in its infancy, namely the Russian Empire and China.[29][full citation needed][verification needed] Marx and Engels thought that the revolution would be dominated by the industrial working class. In reality, theRussian Empire was mainly a country of peasants, namely 80% of the population consisted of farmers at the beginning of the Russian Revolution.[30]
Further, it has co-ordinated the social development of the civilized countries to such an extent that, in all of them, bourgeoisie and proletariat have become the decisive classes, and the struggle between them the great struggle of the day. It follows that the communist revolution will not merely be a national phenomenon but must take place simultaneously in all civilized countries – that is to say, at least in England, America, France, and Germany.
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