The term proletariat refers to which group?

• A. The growing class of factory and railroad workers, miners, and urban wage earners.
• B. The land-owning aristocracy
• C. The peasantry as a collective
• D. The military officers

Answer: (A)

The term refers to the class of people who sell their labor for wages and do not own the means of production. In industrial society, this is the growing group of factory and railroad workers, miners, and urban wage earners who work for someone else to earn their living. This definition captures why they’re described as the working class in Marxist and revolutionary contexts.

The other groups don’t fit because the land-owning aristocracy are those who own property and privilege rather than selling their labor; the peasantry, while numerous, are typically associated with owning or working small plots of land rather than the urban, wage-earning labor force; and military officers represent a separate elite focused on command and governance rather than wage-l labor in factories and cities.