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dictatorship of the proletariat

(19th century- )

Theory of course of revolution, coined by German social theorist Karl Marx (1818-83) but used most frequently by Russian revolutionary Vladimir I. Lenin (1870-1924).

The capitalist state would be destroyed and replaced by a temporary dictatorship of the whole proletariat which, in abolishing capitalism, would itself then either away and be replaced by communism in which there would be neither coercive state nor class division.

Also see: withering away of the state

Source:
David Miller et al., eds, The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought (Oxford, 1987)

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