dictatorship of the bourgeoisie

English

Alternative forms

• DOTB, DotB (initialism)

Etymology

Calque of German Diktatur der Bourgeoisie, which is attested earliest in Karl Marx's series The Class Struggles in France, 1848 - 1850 [1850].

Noun

dictatorship of the bourgeoisie (countable and uncountable, plural dictatorships of the bourgeoisie)

1. (Marxism) A socio-political power, as opposed to the dictatorship of the proletariat, wherein the bourgeoisie collectively holds the most influence over politics and the masses.

   Antonym: dictatorship of the proletariat

   • 1978 [1850], Marx, Karl, “The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850”, in Marx/Engels Collected Works, volume 10, translation of original in German, published 2010, page 76:

     But Cavaignac was not the dictatorship of the sabre over bourgeois society; he was the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie by the sabre.

   • 1917, Lenin, V. I., “The State and Revolution”, in Lenin Collected Works, volume 25, Moscow: Progress Publishers, translation of original in Russian, published 1964, 1974, 2011, page 418 of 381 - 492:

     Bourgeois states are most varied in form, but their essence is the same: all these states, whatever their form, in the final analysis are inevitably the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. The transition from capitalism to communism is certainly bound to yield a tremendous abundance and variety of political forms, but the essence will inevitably be the same: the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Translations

a socio-political power

• French: dictature de la bourgeoisie (fr) f
• Russian: диктату́ра буржуази́и f (diktatúra buržuazíi)
• Vietnamese: chuyên chính tư sản

See also

• bourgeois democracy, liberal democracy
• fascism