Seriously, I am unable to really find much about them outside of short lines from Marx and Mao about their potential destructiveness among other things, but I still do not really know what that “class” is. It seems to refer to the poorest members of society that includes unemployed, criminals, homeless, etc… And are they really so incapable of being utilized in revolutionary activities as they are portrayed?
Edit: By “destructiveness”, I refer to how Marx and Mao portrayed them as people that are not considered reliable allies in any proletarian revolution (though even this understanding might be wrong because I think the explanations about them are vague).
Many of what can be considered lumpenproletariat today, imo, do hold a regular job, whether forced into it to keep government benefits, or who lost them due to rulechanges, or didn’t qualify because they earn too much to qualify, yet not enough to survive. Furthermore, the government, if not municipal because they’re already corrupted or simply don’t have the resources to do anything even if they notice, starts asking questions at some point and level, about how you’re paying for living expenses, transportation, clothing, etc. So holding official gainful employment while also working an “on the books” job becomes not only wise, but also imperative, if only for the purpose of plausible deniability, should the state and federal IRS decide to audit.