The other side of life, or Who are the lumpens

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

As we remember from school history, the term lumpen-proletariat was introduced by Marx, thus designating its lowest stratum. Translated from German, the word means "rags".

Gradually, the semantic content of this concept expanded, and everyone who sank to the "bottom" of society began to be called lumpen: vagrants, criminals, beggars, prostitutes and all kinds of dependents.

Summarizing the well-known definitions, we can say that the word lumpen now unites a class of people deprived of personal property and doing odd jobs, who prefer to live on certain social benefits.

Folk Art

In the modern language, actively replenished with youth slang, this concept has expanded even more. Now, when pronouncing the word lumpen, its meaning can be understood at least in three ways:

• people from the bottom (homeless, alcoholic, drug addict);

• person outside society (marginal);

• An unprincipled person who does not comply with the norms of public morality (scum).

Thus, now a member of any class of society can be called a lumpen if his actions fit into one of three categories. Here, for example, are phrases from the mass media: “the lumpen people are growing and multiplying”, “yes, I am a lumpen intellectual” or “there is such a ruling class in Russia - the lumpen bureaucracy.”

Who are the lumpen: the roots of life philosophy

Historians have determined that the first lumpen appeared in antiquity, and the slave-owning state gave rise to this class. In ancient Roman society, the economy was based on the use of the labor of numerous slaves, and small landowners, unable to compete with large farms, quickly went bankrupt. This gave rise to a mass resettlement of peasants who lost their land in the city.

Nominally, they had all the rights as citizens of the Roman state: they could participate in elections, had the right to vote at city meetings. However, they had no property and no job, which forced them to support their existence by "selling" their votes in support of we althy clients, or to provide other small services.

The Roman government decided to provide material assistance to these people in the form of a weighty measure of grain (about one and a half kg per day), which they received according to special lists.

In Rome alone, the lumpen proletariat by the beginning of the first millennium numbered about 300 thousand. He began to take an active part in all political and military brawls. Having no constructive interests of their own, these people were ready to serve anyone - just to provide themselves with food and simple pleasures.

Marginals - "border guards" of society

Wellwhat can be said about the marginals? Translated from Latin, it means "frontier" and refers to a person who has disassociated himself from his social group, but has not been able to integrate into any other. The number of marginals increases significantly when there are too rapid changes in the social order: reforms, revolutions, etc.

In Russia, this process began with the reign of Alexander II and continued through the efforts of Witte and Stolypin. By the beginning of the 20th century, our country already had a significant stratum of outcasts of various kinds.

Trace in Russian literature

The outcasts and lumpens stand out with their special psychology, quite vividly captured in our classical literature, for example, by Maxim Gorky, who described who the lumpen are. In the play "At the Bottom" he brought together representatives of all social strata: the Baron - from the nobility, the Actor - from the people of art, Satin - from the technical intelligentsia, Bubnov - from the burghers, Luka - from the peasants, and Kleshch - from the proletarians.

But not all outcasts can be classified as lumpen. It is enough to disagree with the attitudes of one's circle, while outwardly remaining on the same social level. So, in Nekrasov's poem "Who in Russia should live well?", in fact, life is bad for everyone - from priests to lackeys.

If we consider the heroes of Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" from this position, then they all fall under the definition of outcasts: landlords who are forced by circumstances to sell their land; servants with whom they part; lackey, still experiencing the abolition of serfdom;A dropout student dreaming of a revolution.

Gorky made a psychological portrait of a representative of another variant of marginality - a person who rebelliously "breaks out" (the writer's definition) from his class environment, categorically not accepting its values, and at the same time, continuing to successfully fulfill his professional functions ("Egor Bulychev and others").

Savva Morozov is a marginal from the underground

The story of the legendary manufacturer Savva Morozov is quite in the spirit of Gorky's Bulychev: he, as expected, exploited his own workers, and spent the proceeds to support revolutionary anarchist groups, that is, he dug a hole for himself. But at the same time, he also patronized.

Such a life could not but end tragically - unable to withstand internal discord, he eventually shot himself.

Lumpen and outcasts: differences

In explanatory dictionaries, it is noted that lumpen and outcasts are a common characteristic of people who have lost touch with their social environment, who have become outcasts in society. But what is their difference?

Let's clarify who the lumpens are. By definition, these are people who have lost touch not only with their social group, but also lost the means of earning a living, having no source of income. The outcasts are always on the edge: they fought off their own, but they didn’t find anyone to stick to. However, they may have mixed features of two bordering subcultures.

In other words, lumpen do not have a permanent job, but live on casualearnings, social benefits or break the law. Outcasts are people in a borderline state who have not adapted to the changed reality.

It turns out that lumpen and outcasts are two separate groups of modern society. Marginality is rather a dissent inherent in a person who is lost in a world that does not meet his expectations.

On the other hand, who are the lumpens - this is a group of the population that is not connected by any social factors, does not create values, parasitizes on the body of society.

Marginal is not a very flattering characteristic. To call him a lumpen means to insult.