Description
The Concept of the Lumpenproletariat is the first comprehensive analysis of the concept of the lumpenproletariat in Marxist political theory. Clyde Barrow excavates and analyzes the use of this term from its introduction by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in The German Ideology (1846) and The Communist Manifesto (1848) through the central role of the relative surplus population in Post-Marxist political theory. He argues that when organized by a strong man-whether a Bonaparte, a Mussolini, or a Trump-the lumpenproletariat gravitates toward a parasitic and violent lumpen-state created in its own image, and such a state primarily serves the interests of the equally parasitic finance aristocracy. Thus, Barrow updates historical discussions of the lumpenproletariat in the context of contemporary American politics and suggests that all post-industrial capitalist societies now confront the choice between communism or dystopia.
About the Author
Clyde W. Barrow is Professor & Chair in the Department of Political Science at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Book Information
ISBN 9780472132249
Author Clyde Barrow
Format Hardback
Page Count 208
Imprint The University of Michigan Press
Publisher The University of Michigan Press
Weight(grams) 415g