Why Did Max Considder the Proletarians to Be the Only True...

Why did Karl Marx regard the working class to be the only revolutionary class under capitalism? By Kevin O Connor Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of all countries, unite!- Communist Manifesto Chapter 4 (Ref. 1) In the communist manifesto, Marx divides society into two main classes, the bourgeoisie, who are the owners of the means of production and employers of wage labourers, and the wage labourers themselves, the proletariat working class. The bourgeoisie, he claims, by their very capitalist nature, exploit the proletariat workers by unfairly controlling the wealth and means of production, thus forcing the†¦show more content†¦5) Should a revolution occur, this class would most certainly not be the catalyst for such an event, they would merely join the revolution as a response to what was occurring around them at the time, not realising that the revolution is in their best interest, in fact this class would benefit as much, if not more, from the revolution as the proletarians. After the revolution, they would have a second chance to join civilised society, the new equal society. Although some within this class would see the revolution merely as a chance to take advantage of the l ack of law and order due to the transition into the new society and use this opportunity to commit crimes and other malicious acts, thus hindering the revolution. Perhaps if this class, who are predominantly made up of social outcasts and misfits, realised that their position in society is merely a product of the capitalist regime, then they would be the driving force behind the revolution but they possess neither the means nor the organisation that the proletarians do and therefore this must mean that the proletarians are the only revolutionary class. It may seem that I have come to this conclusion, that the proletarians are the only revolutionary class, merely through the process of elimination, ruling out every other class, but logically Marx is right, the proletarians have the most to gain and almost nothing to lose through revolution. The proletarians, who are forced to sell their labour to the