Lumpenproletariat

Homeless man begging for money "for sprite / alc", according to his sign.

In Marxism, the Lumpenproletariat ("rag-proletariat" in German) refers to a class of people at the lowest level of society who do not have class consciousness but tend to be criminals or unemployable.

Public views

Some left-wing activists believe that the lumpenproletariat the "most exploited" class of people and therefore the most revolutionary, but others think that they cannot be organized into revolutionary forces and are more likely to be paid agents who are hired to stop revolution.