dictatorship of the proletariat

Meanings

1. A socio-political power characterized by a struggle to achieve a communist society, as opposed to the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.

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].