Marx referred to such delinquents as the lumpenproletariat, an: "essentially parasitical group [that] was largely the remains of older, obsolete stages of socia

Marx referred to such delinquents as the lumpenproletariat, an: "essentially parasitical group [that] was largely the remains of older, obsolete stages of social development, and that it could not normally play a progressive role in history. Indeed, because it acted only out of socially ignorant self-interest, the lumpenproletariat was easily bribed by reactionary forces and could be used to combat the true proletariat in its efforts to bring about the end of bourgeois society. Without a clear class-consciousness, the lumpenproletariat could not play a positive role in society. Instead, it exploited society for its own ends, and was in turn exploited as a tool of destruction and reaction."