Private Property and Proletariat

In his Introduction to his Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, Marx champions the Proletariat, explaining that they share an interest in the abolition of private property. Now, while his own advocacy of the latter is implicit in his preceding targeting of Democritus' Mechanistic Atomism, his ascription of the interest to the Proletariat is based on his analysis that, upon the assumption of power, the attributes of the new ruling class become ruling values, e. g. the property-lessness of the Proletariat. However, that analysis assumes that the Proletariat value and not merely have endured that attribute. In contrast, his later argument that the Proletariat are exploited as a consequence of the institution of private property entails a more plausible interest in its abolition. So, his attempt to align himself with them in the Hegel Introduction, as heartfelt as it might be, bears a trace of if not condescension, at least romanticization.