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).
The problem of lumpenproletariat is that it is not a class but basically a very diverse social strata that are among the most victimized in society. So creating an all around solution for the lumpen will always fail, because their needs are diverse, depending on their activity.
So, here is my very shallow analysis of their situation. I think there are many comrades who have actually dealt with lumpen groups have more experience on the actual harms and ways to deal with them. But here it is:
Criminals are the easiest to antagonize the working class. They usually control areas where workers live, and usually band together to form groups that act like a usual capitalist business but with the twist that they have absolutely no rules. So, if a worker does not want to subscribe to their internet service, then this worker will be killed and serve to the others as an example. They also introduce narcotics and constant violence in areas where workers live. They also feed their gains into the financial system, as their organization grow and become funders of politicians and fiscal havens.
Unemployed and informal workers: these are the people with great potential of breaking strikes of lower skilled workers. Employers will always use the unemployed to fill out the vacant workers roles. However I think the best way to deal with them is to actually provide a safety network for them and maybe create job opportunities for them so they join back the workforce.
Drug addicts: these would be part of the unemployed workers, but with the twist that they are usually in the hands of criminals. The problem is that they can be easily manipulated by criminals or reactionary aid networks into betraying the working class. I see no effective way to deal with them unless creating policies and aid networks to take them away from their addiction and re-habilitate them into working class.
Sex workers: They could be seen as just other workers which should be organised, with the problem that their bosses are usually criminals. I wouldn’t worry much with their potential to directly harm the working class. Their actual issue is that they contribute to increasing capital of criminal factions, which then use their power to coerce and terrorize the working class.