Proletar
Definition & Context
Noun
A word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.
A social class composed of industrial workers or laborers who do not own the means of production and rely entirely on wages for their livelihood; commonly contrasted with the “bourgeoisie” or capitalist class.
Synonyms & Variants
buruh
A more general and neutral term for workers, especially in industrial contexts, without the strong ideological connotations of 'proletar'.
kaum marhaen
A term popularized by Sukarno referring to the common people, farmers, and laborers living in poverty and oppression, yet possessing class consciousness.
kuli
A manual laborer who relies on physical strength, often with daily wages.
pekerja
A person who performs a job or activity to earn income; a laborer.
wong cilik
A Javanese term literally meaning 'small people', referring to common folk or economically disadvantaged laborers/farmers.
kaum pekerja
A more neutral descriptive phrase often used in non-ideological formal discourse to refer to the same group.
pekerja upahan
A variant with the same level of formality, but more explicitly emphasizes the aspect of dependence on wages as stated in the definition of 'proletar'.
rakyat jelata
A more general variant sometimes used in political or literary discourse to refer to the common masses, overlapping in meaning with 'proletar' but broader in scope.
Usage Notes or Etymology
The word proletar is borrowed from Dutch proletariër or directly from Latin proletarius, referring to the lowest class of citizens in ancient Roman society, considered to contribute only through offspring (proles), not property. The term was globally popularized through the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in Das Kapital (1867) and The Communist Manifesto (1848), where the proletariat is defined as the class exploited under capitalism. In Indonesia, the term entered and developed alongside labor movements and the national awakening in the early 20th century, widely used in left-wing political discourse and trade union rhetoric.
Real-world Usage
Partai itu lantang memperjuangkan hak-hak kaum proletar di pabrik-pabrik besar.
English Translation
Representative of real-world usage and contextual accuracy.
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