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The proletariat ( from Latin ラテン語:''proletarius'') is a term used to describe the class of wage-earners (especially industrial workers), in a capitalist society, whose only possession of significant material value is their labor-power (their ability to work);〔(proletariat ). Accessed: 6 June 2013.〕 a member of such a class is a proletarian. ==Usage in Roman law== As defined in the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the ''proletarii'' constituted a social class of Roman citizens owning little or no property. The origin of the name is presumably linked with the census, which Roman authorities conducted every five years to produce a register of citizens and their property from which their military duties and voting privileges could be determined. For citizens with property valued 11,000 ''asses'' or less, which was below the lowest census for military service, their children—''proles'' (from Latin ''prōlēs'', "offspring")—were listed instead of their property; hence, the name ''proletarius'', "the one who produces offspring". The only contribution of a ''proletarius'' to the Roman society was seen in his ability to raise children, the future Roman citizens who can colonize new territories conquered by the Roman Republic and later by the Roman Empire. The citizens who had no property of significance were called ''capite censi'' because they were "persons registered not as to their property...but simply as to their existence as living individuals, primarily as heads (''caput'') of a family."〔Adolf Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law'' (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society 1953) at 380; 657.〕〔Arnold J. Toynbee, especially in his ''A Study of History'', uses the word Proletariat in this general sense of people without property or a stake in society. Toynbee focuses particularly on the generative spiritual life of the "internal proletariat" (those living within a given civil society). He also describes the "heroic" folk legends of the "external proletariat" (poorer groups living outside the borders of a civilization). Cf., Toynbee, ''A Study of History'' (Oxford University 1934–1961), 12 volumes, in Volume V ''Disintegration of Civilizations, part one'' (1939) at 58–194 (internal proletariat), and at 194–337 (external proletariat).〕 Although included in one of the five support ''centuriae'' of the Comitia Centuriata, ''proletarii'' were largely deprived of their voting rights due to their low social status caused by their lack of "even the minimum property required for the lowest class"〔Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law'' (1953) at 351; 657 (quote).〕 and a class-based hierarchy of the ''Comitia Centuriata''. The late Roman historians, such as Livy, not without some uncertainty, understood the ''Comitia Centuriata'' to be one of three forms of popular assembly of early Rome composed of ''centuriae'', the voting units whose members represented a class of citizens according to the value of their property. This assembly, which usually met on the Campus Martius to discuss public policy issues, was also used as a means of designating military duties demanded of Roman citizens.〔Titus Livius (c.59 BC-AD 17), ''Ab urbe condita'', 1, 43; the first five books translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt as Livy, ''The Early History of Rome'' (Penguin 1960, 1971) at 81–82.〕 One of reconstructions of the ''Comitia Centuriata'' features 18 centuriae of cavalry, and 170 centuriae of infantry divided into five classes by wealth, plus 5 centuriae of support personnel called ''adsidui''. The top infantry class assembled with full arms and armor; the next two classes brought arms and armor, but less and lesser; the fourth class only spears; the fifth slings. In voting, the cavalry and top infantry class were enough to decide an issue; as voting started at the top, an issue might be decided before the lower classes voted.〔Andrew Lintott, ''The Constitution of the Roman Republic'' (Oxford University 1999) at 55–61, re the ''Comitia Centuriata''.〕 In the last centuries of the Roman Republic (509-44 B.C.), the ''Comitia Centuriata'' became impotent as a political body, which further eroded already minuscule political power the ''proletarii'' might have had in the Roman society. Following a series of wars the Roman Republic engaged since the closing of the Second Punic War (218–201), such as the Jugurthine War and conflicts in Macedonia and Asia, the significant reduction in the number of Roman family farmers had resulted in the shortage of people whose property qualified them to perform the citizenry's military duty to Rome.〔Cf., Theodor Mommsen, ''Römisches Geschichte'' (1854–1856), 3 volumes; translated as ''History of Rome'' (1862–1866), 4 volumes; reprint (The Free Press 1957) at vol.III: 48–55 (Mommsen's Bk.III, ch.XI toward end).〕 As a result of the Marian reforms initiated in 107 B.C. by the Roman general Gaius Marius (157–86), the ''proletarii'' became the backbone of the Roman Army.〔H. H. Scullard, ''Gracchi to Nero. A History of Rome from 133 BC to AD 68'' (London: Methuen 1959, 4th ed. 1976) at 51–52.〕 Karl Marx, who studied Roman law at the University of Berlin,〔Cf., Sidney Hook, ''Marx and the Marxists'' (Princeton: Van Nostrand 1955) at 13.〕 used the term ''proletariat'' in his socio-political theory of Marxism to describe a working class unadulterated by private property and capable of a revolutionary action to topple capitalism in order to create classless society. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Proletariat」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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