Antonio Negri

born 1933

Toni Negri is one of the main intellectuals of operaismo in the sixisties, one of the leaders of Autonomia operaia and co-author with Michael Hardt of the book Empire.

His version of operaismo theorizes the advent of the social worker and extends the conflict to the sphere of social reproduction. This trend of operaismo breaks with the previous neo-leninist approach and opens to new social subjects such as students, women, the urban proletariat, the marginalized and the precarious workers of the tertiary. read more »

Theorists: 

Art and Immaterial Labour: Metamorphoses

An attempt to to situate historically the concept of plastic and figurative art in relation to the development and structure of modes of production.

To begin with, let us try, from a materialist standpoint, to situate historically the concept of plastic and figurative art in other words, the definition of its historically determinate link, if there is one, to the development and structure of modes of production. Can this be done? Obviously, once we're obliged to speak of art and immaterial labour, this is a useful thing to do; read more »

Toni Negri: an intellectual among the workers

The author recounts his experience of autonomous proletarian organisation in the period of intense working-class struggle that gripped Italy in the 60s.

I deliver here an account of my lived experience of Marghera, roughly between 1960 and 1969. Is this the story of a Bildung [education]? This notion is perhaps too charged with cultural resonances; it would be better to use the English training, which allies practical education with intellectual discipline. In reality, I do not know the appropriate manner by which to name this extraordinary apprenticeship – a decade long – in class struggle.  read more »