The Dictatorship of the Proletariat

The term ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ is one of the most enigmatic and powerful concepts of the 20th century. The authors assembled in this volume therefore not only trace the different interpretations of the term, but also the fascination of certain patterns of interpretation and their functionalization in the political sphere. Individual important pioneers and thinkers are introduced, the early statehood of the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ is discussed using case studies, and conceptual shifts and revisions are analysed. Long before 1989, the term ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ had congealed into a legitimizing concept of Marxism-Leninism, and today it is itself only part of history.