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lumpcn--6 iavou points to the symptoms vo. breakdown in the colonised coun ry, and we see the sane yoptous, perhaps noice proncunced, in the coloniser; to “juvenile delinquency," “stealin, telauchery and alcoholism," we can add the effects of methedrine and heroin, The constitution of a lumpen-proletarsat is a phenorenon which obeys its own logic, end neither the briuring activity of the missfonarics nor the decrees of the central governnent can check Sts growth, This luepen-proletariat is like e horde of rats; you may kick them and throw stones at them, but cespite your efforts they'll go on gnaving at the reots of the tree, «.. The Jurpen-proletarfat, once it fs constituted, brings all its forces to endonger the "security" of the town, and is the sign of the irrevocable decay, the Gangrene ever present at the heart of colonial domination, (p, 104) the other extremely {uportant part of Eanon'’s analysis has to do with the chenging value: md lige ctyle of the lumpenproletarfat in revolutionary struggle, The conditioas of life have shaped them to fight, but the fighting itself is a new condition which tranc- forms them into a new kind of people: So the pimps, the hooligans, the unerployed and the petty criminals, urged on from behind, throw.thomselves into the struggle for liberation like stont working men, These ciasslese Zdlers will be militant and decisive action discover the path that Jeads to nationhood, They von't become reforred characters to please colonial societ fitting in with the morality of its rulers; quite the contrary, they tak for grante. ths dirpossibility of entering the city save by hand-grenades and revolvers, These workicss less-then-ven exe rehabiiitated in their own eyes end in the eyes of histor: jh? prostitutes teo, ard the mat wee» @ll the hopeless dregs of humanity, all who turr in circles betuecn suicide and madness, will recover their balance, ouce were go forvard, and nerch provdly in the great precession of the awakened nation, (104) jahere are two es i rely important points te bear in mind here, jf we are to relate { orrectly te the hh penproleteriat, The first is that we must not tail after their .nisting values and life styles, but must Lleed them to en aeseryon of their own ‘iheration through revolutionary strugpte, The second is that they uust be led by onsciovs revolutionarics with - sense of the historical condition ef these peraple end reruss c& theiy weaknesses and instability, It would be a mistake, probably a fate iistake, to Chink that the only people qualified to lead them are individuals distin- guished by tutng similarly uupredictable and lacking in ideological consciousness, Students end Stroet People tudents now constituce a significant protion of the entire population, The number of ~ollege students alone new approximately equals the country's total arwed forces plus ts three largest unious (ieamsters, UA, and United Steelworkers), and the rymber in thool ds far lerger, From the students has come the bulk of both the ost militant seal political forces end street people, two overlapping grovgs, Clearly, the t and luwpenproletivianizing of students axe rot coincidences, wlarly those living avay fra home, are partially and temporarily 7 2 Mimbo Letwaen their veelthy or working-class past and whatever e iting channeled inte, Although physically and psycholegically i d childbearing, ineved more energetic and sexually metivat en omen Chem intellectually alert ard best fuformad d by cli classes cc imeature parasites, They are generally not seli thei. labor or ko oun pro ty, Although they aay work qu ard do sel tool, they do uvh prodece auything, and are tharefore not workers, No mat vecple, tty ee - > SER Vote eee hes hem phate