In
Marxist sociopolitical thought, the
dictatorship of the proletariat refers to a state in which the
proletariat, or the working class, has control of political power. The term, coined by
Joseph Weydemeyer, was adopted by the founders of Marxism,
Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels, in the 19th century. In Marxist theory, the dictatorship of the proletariat is the intermediate system between
capitalism and communism, when the government is in the process of changing the means of ownership from
privatism to collective ownership.