Government housing finance groups and Mexican commercial banks have begun offering mortgages in recent years, enabling more of the proletariat to own homes.

FORBES: Stepping South Of The Border

Prokhorov introduced the car to the world last month he's now letting members of the proletariat see the car for themselves at the Yo-mobile Hybrid Pavilion, where three models of the car are being shown to the public: the microcar (wee hatchback on the right above), a coupe, and even a minitruck.

ENGADGET: Yo-mobile hybrid cars on display in Russia, run on gas, natural gas, and GLONASS

The bill to ban foxhunting has (at least in the eyes of the Labour left-wingers who promoted it) set the urban proletariat against the rural landlords.

ECONOMIST: British society

Though his dialogue, spoken with the charming hesitation of inexperienced improvisers, conveys the tensions of the postcollegiate proletariat caught between big dreams and petty realities, Swanberg most faithfully captures the sound of artistic creativity today in bursts of tapping on laptop keyboards.

NEWYORKER: Hannah Takes the Stairs

His "I am an African" speech from 1996 is rightly celebrated, but Mr Mbeki famously lacked the common touch - he would probably call it the "proletariat engagement" - and was more often mocked for his grandiloquence than praised for his eloquence.

BBC: Which African leaders can make good speeches?