proletarian, a. and n.
(prəʊlɪˈtɛərɪən, prɒl-)
[f. L. prōlētāri-us a proletaire + -an.]
A. adj. Of or pertaining to the lowest class of the people. † a. In hostile use: Vile, low, vulgar. Obs.
| 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 720 We that are wisely mounted higher..Like Speculators should foresee.., Portended Mischiefs farther then Low Proletarian Tithing men. 1676 Doctrine of Devils 96 Much wiser (not only than the Proletarian rabble, but than they too, who profess themselves to be the great Philosophers). a 1734 North Exam. i. ii. §155 (1740) 117 To have let in the rest of the Proletarian Rout of Villains, that waited without to be employed as Witnesses. |
b. Of ancient Romans: cf. proletariat 1.
| 1839 De Quincey Casuistry Rom. Meals Misc. I. 250 Every citizen, if he were not a mere proletarian animal kept at the public cost, with a view to his proles or offspring, held himself a soldier-elect. |
c. Of or pertaining to the proletariat in the modern sense. proletarian revolution: the stage of political development predicted by Marx when the proletarians would overthrow capitalism.
| 1851 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. I. 49 The proletarian populace of the great cities. 1874 L. Carr Jud. Gwynne I. iii. 72 A she-costermonger, or other female of the proletarian classes. 1885 Manch. Exam. 17 Jan. 5/5 Typically the proletarian and suffering part of the metropolis. 1903 G. B. Shaw Man & Superman v. 196 We have been driven to Proletarian Democracy by the failure of all the alternative systems. 1925 tr. Lenin's Proletarian Revolution i. 11 Almost a third of this pamphlet..is devoted by this windbag to a twaddle which must be very agreeable to the bourgeoisie, as it..obscures the question of the proletarian revolution. 1934 C. Lambert Music Ho! iv. 248 The sleeves themselves are rolled up in the most approved proletarian fashion. 1935 W. Empson Some Versions of Pastoral 3 It is hard for an Englishman to talk definitely about proletarian art. 1966 Guardian 13 Dec. 8/2 [China] The example of the great proletarian cultural revolution. 1973 C. D. Kernig Marxism, Communism & Western Society VII. 238/1 The proletarian revolution becomes an act of human emancipation or the self-realization of man after his self-alienation. 1975 Chinese Econ. Stud. VIII. iv. 3 Countless proletarian heroes have suddenly emerged. 1976 Times 28 Sept. (China Suppl.) 10/3 Under the banner of ‘proletarian internationalism’ ideological motives seem to be distinguishable features of Chinese aid. 1977 China Now June 4/1 Tachai is an expression of the proletarian revolution China is in the midst of today (in contrast to the democratic revolution between 1949 and 1966). 1978 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Dec. 1402/5 Sociologists and realistic novelists—including proletarian novelists—find it difficult if not impossible to describe the texture of this world. |
B. n. A member of the poorest class of a community; esp. one who is without capital or regular employment; one of the proletariat.
| 1658 W. Burton Itin. Anton. Ded. 1 The happinesse I enjoy by my Interest in our Nationall Rights (though a poor Proletarian). 1838–42 Arnold Hist. Rome II. xxxvii. 486 Even the proletarians, or the poorest class of citizens..were now called out and embodied. 1870 On the War (Internat. Working-Men's Assoc.) 4 Mindful of the watchword of the International Working-men's Association: Proletarians of all countries unite, we shall never forget that the workmen of all countries are our friends and the despots of all countries our enemies. 1879 Contemp. Rev. XXXVI. 290 It is almost impossible for any but a born proletarian to understand the needs, the wants, and daily lives of the proletarian. 1898 Bodley France I. ii. ii. 298 Counting as proletarians politicians who utilise the blouse as a lucrative symbol. 1966 D. Wilson Quarter of Mankind i. 7 The peasant, not the urban proletarian, is the central character in China's drama. 1969 A. G. Frank Latin Amer. (1970) xxiii. 360 The rural and slum proletarians..tend to be quite near-sighted and to see only the land and the jobs which they want but don't have. |