In 1984 , the proles are the huge, poor working class of Oceania—about 85% of the population—who live outside the Party system and are kept ignorant, distracted, and politically powerless, yet paradoxically are the only group with the potential to overthrow the regime.

Who the proles are in 1984

  • “Proles” is short for “proletariat,” the working class, a term Orwell borrows from Marxist language.
  • They form the lowest social class beneath the Inner Party and Outer Party, doing manual labor jobs like factory work, cleaning, laundry, and other menial tasks.
  • They live in rundown slums, often in overcrowded, dirty conditions, with little comfort or security.

In Winston’s world, the proles are “those swarming disregarded masses” who keep everything running but are treated as if they don’t matter.

How the proles live

  • They are largely excluded from intense Party control: few telescreens in their homes, less constant surveillance, and more leeway in their private lives.
  • They spend their time working hard, then escaping into distractions: cheap entertainment, gambling (the lottery), drinking, songs, sports, and pornographic material.
  • The Party allows them small freedoms—like a bit of a black market and more relaxed rules about sex and relationships—as long as they stay politically passive.

Why the Party doesn’t fear them

  • The proles are considered too ignorant and disorganized to pose a threat; anyone who shows unusual intelligence or leadership is quietly removed by the Thought Police.
  • Because they are focused on survival and petty pleasures, they rarely think about politics or the structure of power around them.
  • The Party’s strategy is to control them indirectly: not by teaching ideology, but by drowning them in distractions and poverty so they never organize.

What the proles symbolize

  • They symbolize the working class that is strong in numbers but vulnerable if kept uneducated, misinformed, and busy with trivial entertainment.
  • Orwell uses them as a warning: when ordinary people stay politically uninvolved and accept bread-and-circuses distractions, authoritarian control becomes easier.
  • At the same time, they represent a kind of humanity that Party members have lost: they still speak ordinary language, feel strong emotions, form families, and have richer inner lives.

Winston’s hope in the proles

  • Winston famously thinks: “If there was hope, it must lie in the proles,” because only their huge numbers could ever generate the force needed to destroy the Party.
  • Yet this hope is tragic and ironic—the proles never awaken or rebel in the novel, remaining absorbed in their daily struggles and amusements.
  • That tension (mass potential vs. actual passivity) is central to the book’s grim view of how hard it is to resist a modern, manipulative dictatorship.

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Curious what the proles are in 1984? They’re the massive working class of Oceania—poor, distracted, and politically powerless, yet the only group with real potential to overthrow the Party.

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