Dictionary

dictatorship of the proletariat en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Calque of German Diktatur des Proletariats. Initially worded as Diktatur der Arbeiterklasse “dictatorship of the working class” and Klassendiktatur des Proletariats “class dictatorship of the proletariat”, both attested earliest in Karl Marx's series The Class Struggles in France, 1848–1850 [1850]. Two early appearances of the precise wording Diktatur des Proletariats “dictatorship of the proletariat” are in: * Joseph Weydemeyer's article “Die Diktatur des Proletariats” [1 January 1852]; and * Marx's letter to Weydemeyer [5 March 1852].

Meanings

1. (Marxism, countable, uncountable) A socio-political power characterized by a struggle to achieve a communist society, as opposed to the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.
   • Only after it was all over did I learn of their plan to seize me on board the Chungshan when I was to take it to go back to the Military Academy at Whampoa from Canton. They would then send me as a prisoner to Russia via Vladivostok, thereby removing the major obstacle to their scheme of using the National Revolution as a medium for setting up a "dictatorship of the proletariat." 1957, Chiang Chung-cheng (Kai-shek), “Beginnings”, in Soviet Russia in China: A Summing-up at Seventy, New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 39:
   • Bourgeois states are most varied in form, but their essence is the same: all these states, whatever their form, in the final analysis are inevitably the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. The transition from capitalism to communism is certainly bound to yield a tremendous abundance and variety of political forms, but the essence will inevitably be the same: the dictatorship of the proletariat. 1917, Lenin, V. I., “The State and Revolution”, in Lenin Collected Works, volume 25, Moscow: Progress Publishers, translation of original in Russian, published 1964, 1974, 2011, page 418 of 381 - 492:
   • If a revolution is to be victoriously carried through, it will require a concentrated power, a dictatorship at its head. Cromwell's dictatorship was necessary in order to establish the supremacy of the English bourgeoisie; the terrorism of the Paris Commune and of the Committee of Public Safety alone succeeded in breaking the resistance of the feudal lords on French soil. Without the dictatorship of the proletariat which is concentrated in the big cities, the bourgeois reaction will not be done away with. 1962 [1852], Joseph Weydemeyer, “The Dictatorship of the Proletariat”, in Hal Draper & Horst Duhnke, transl., Labor History, volume 3, number 2, translation of original in German, page 217 of 214 - 217:
   • Leading members of the CCP core group of Haihsi Mongol-Tibetan-Kazakh Autonomous District said: To continue the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, it is necessary to increase class feeling in the course of the struggle between the two lines. 1971 January 13 [1971 January 3], “Tsinghai Populace Studies, Implements Joint Editorial”, in Daily Report: Communist China, volume I, number 8, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Sining Tsinghai Provincial Service, translation of original in Mandarin, →OCLC, Communist China: Northwest Region, page H 2:
   • What I did that was new was to prove: (1) that the existence of classes is only bound up with particular historical phases in the development of production, (2) that the class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat, (3) that this dictatorship itself only constitutes the transition to the abolition of all classes and to a classless society. 1852, Karl Marx, “Abstract from Marx to J. Weydemeyer in New York”, in Marxists Internet Archive:

Forms

Antonyms

dictatorship of the bourgeoisie

Relateds

class struggle

Synonyms

proletarian dictatorship

Translations (55)

ko 프롤레타리아 독재 (a socio-political power) · es dictadura del proletariado (a socio-political power) · sv proletariatets diktatur (a socio-political power) · sk diktatúra proletariátu (a socio-political power) · an dictadura d'o proletariau (a socio-political power) · fi proletariaatin diktatuuri (a socio-political power) · eo diktatoreco de la proletaro (a socio-political power) · fi työväenluokan diktatuuri (a socio-political power) · ja プロレタリア独裁 (a socio-political power) · pa ਪ੍ਰੋਲਤਾਰੀ ਦੀ ਡਿਕਟੇਟਰਸ਼ਿਪ (a socio-political power) · nl dictatuur van het proletariaat (a socio-political power) · id diktator proletariat (a socio-political power) · fr dictature du prolétariat (a socio-political power) · ca dictadura del proletariat (a socio-political power) · tg диктатураи пролетариат (a socio-political power) · hi सर्वहारा की तानाशाही (a socio-political power) · cmn 無產階級專政 /无产阶级专政 (a socio-political power) · ne सर्वहारावर्गको अधिनायकत्व (a socio-political power) · ms kediktatoran proletariat (a socio-political power) · ta தொழிலாளர் சர்வாதிகாரம் (a socio-political power) · vi chuyên chính vô sản (a socio-political power) · ast dictadura del proletariáu (a socio-political power) · ro dictatura proletariatului (a socio-political power) · lv proletariāta diktatūra (a socio-political power) · ko 무산계급 독재 (a socio-political power) · uk диктату́ра пролетаріа́ту (a socio-political power) · ar دِكْتَاتُورِيَّة بْرُولِيتَارِيَا (a socio-political power) · fa دیکتاتوری پرولتاریا (a socio-political power) · pl dyktatura proletariatu (a socio-political power) · el δικτατορία του προλεταριάτου (a socio-political power) · ja 無産階級独裁 (a socio-political power) · et proletariaadi diktatuur (a socio-political power) · da proletariatets diktatur (a socio-political power) · pa ਪਰੋਲਤਾਰੀ ਦੀ ਤਾਨਾਸ਼ਾਹੀ (a socio-political power) · be дыктату́ра пралетарыя́ту (a socio-political power) · eu proletarioen diktadura (a socio-political power) · nb proletariatets diktatur (a socio-political power) · ka პროლეტარიატის დიქტატურა (a socio-political power) · lt proletariato diktatūra (a socio-political power) · az proletariat diktaturası (a socio-political power) · io diktatoreso dil proletariaro (a socio-political power) · hu proletárdiktatúra (a socio-political power) · fi työväen diktatuuri (a socio-political power) · cs diktatura proletariátu (a socio-political power) · ml തൊഴിലാളിവർഗ സർവാധിപത്യം (a socio-political power) · tr proletarya diktatörlüğü (a socio-political power) · it dittatura del proletariato (a socio-political power) · de Diktatur des Proletariats (a socio-political power) · ky пролетариат диктатурасы (a socio-political power) · he דיקטטורה של הפרולטריון (a socio-political power) · sq diktatura e proletariatit (a socio-political power) · gl ditadura do proletariado (a socio-political power) · ru диктату́ра пролетариа́та (a socio-political power) · pt ditadura do proletariado (a socio-political power) · bg диктату́ра на пролетариа́та (a socio-political power)

wikipedia: The Class Struggles in France, 1848–1850 · wikipedia: Joseph Weydemeyer