The Great Unwashed

I lurk every now and then and felt compelled to reply to that one.

Sorry to threadjack your unwashed discussion.

I remember the web before the great unwashed found it looks off mistily

But surely the intention of the word "great" in "great unwashed" is that they are numerous. But these days the British hoi polloi in general do mostly wash sufficiently regularly that encountering one who smells is fairly uncommon. Though of course from time to time one does encounter an example, and some of the unwashed are from the more affluent classes also. So #2's observation is out of date.

Thus today the "unwashed" are no longer "great". So I would beg to suggest there is no such thing as the "great unwashed", at least in Britain, today. If one does use the term, either for those #1 mentions, or for the hoi polloi, then it is being used inaccurately or anachronistically.

Is the phrase today still used to refer to the working class masses?

According to one dictionary, the great unwashed are -
1. A person of a lower order who is looked down upon by most of society.
2. A term to refer to anyone who is common and or stupid in their ways.
3. Can also be applied to a person who follows 'the crowd' and dosen't have a mind of their own.