Autonomism Explained

Autonomism, also known as Autonomist Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (Italian: operaismo).[1] Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tendencies became significant[2] after influence from the Situationists, the failure of Italian far-left movements in the 1970s, and the emergence of a number of important theorists including Antonio Negri, who had contributed to the 1969 founding of Italian: [[Potere Operaio]] as well as Mario Tronti, Paolo Virno and Franco "Bifo" Berardi.[3]

George Katsiaficas summarizes the forms of autonomous movements saying that "In contrast to the centralized decisions and hierarchical authority structures of modern institutions, autonomous social movements involve people directly in decisions affecting their everyday lives, seeking to expand democracy and help individuals break free of political structures and behavior patterns imposed from the outside". This has involved a call for the independence of social movements from political parties in a revolutionary perspective which seeks to create a practical political alternative to both authoritarian/state socialism and contemporary representative democracy.

Autonomism influenced the German and Dutch German: Autonomen/Dutch; Flemish: Autonomen, the worldwide social centre movement and today is influential in Italy, France and to a lesser extent the English-speaking countries. Those who describe themselves as autonomists now vary from Marxists to anarchists.[4]

Theory

Early theorists such as Mario Tronti, Antonio Negri, Sergio Bologna and Paolo Virno developed notions of "immaterial" and "social labour" that extended the Marxist concept of labour to all society. They suggested that modern society's wealth was produced by unaccountable collective work, and that only a little of this was redistributed to the workers in the form of wages. Other Italian autonomists—particularly feminists, such as Mariarosa Dalla Costa and Silvia Federici—emphasised the importance of feminism and the value of unpaid female labour to capitalist society.[5] [6] Michael Ryan, a scholar of the movement, writes:

Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt argue that network power constructs are the most effective methods of organization against the neoliberal regime of accumulation and predict a massive shift in the dynamics of capital into a 21st century empire.[7]

Thinkers

By country

West Germany

In West Germany, German: Autonome was used during the late 1970s to depict the most radical part of the political left.[9]

Italy

On 11 March 1977, riots took place in Bologna following the killing of student Francesco Lorusso by police. Beginning in 1979, the state effectively prosecuted the autonomist movement, accusing it of protecting the Red Brigades, which had kidnapped and assassinated Aldo Moro. 12,000 far-left activists were detained; 600 fled the country, including 300 to France and 200 to South America.[10]

Criticism

Other Marxists have criticised Autonomist Marxism or post-operaismo of having a theoretically weak understanding of value in capitalist economies.[11] It has also been criticised by other Marxists for being anti-humanist / anti-hegelian.[12]

Influence

The autonomist Marxist and German: Autonomen movements provided inspiration to some on the revolutionary left in English-speaking countries, particularly among anarchists, many of whom have adopted autonomist tactics.[13] The Italian Italian: [[operaismo]] movement also influenced Marxist academics such as Harry Cleaver, John Holloway, Steve Wright[14] and Nick Dyer-Witheford.[15] In Denmark and Sweden, the word is used as a catch-all phrase for anarchists and the extra-parliamentary left in general, as was seen in the media coverage of the eviction of the Danish: [[Ungdomshuset]] squat in Copenhagen in March 2007.[16] [17]

Movements and organizations

Publications

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Cuninghame . Patrick . December 2010 . Autonomism as a global social movement . WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society . 13 . 4 . 451–464 . 10.1111/j.1743-4580.2010.00305.x . 1089-7011.
  2. Gray . Neil . Clare . Nick . October 2022 . From autonomous to autonomist geographies . Progress in Human Geography . en . 46 . 5 . 1185–1206 . 10.1177/03091325221114347 . 0309-1325. free .
  3. Book: Autonomia: post-political politics . 2007 . . El Kholti . Hedi . Hedi El Kholti . Lotringer . Sylvère . Sylvère Lotringer . Marazzi . Christian . 978-1-58435-053-8 . 2nd . Los Angeles . 159669900.
  4. Web site: Autonomism: cutting the ground from under Marxism . 6 July 2020 . libcom.org . en.
  5. Web site: Silvia Frederici biography . Interactivist . https://web.archive.org/web/20070928000811/http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid=05%2F10%2F06%2F1324235&mode=nested&tid=9 . 28 September 2007.
  6. Book: Wright, Steve . Storming Heaven: Class composition and struggle in Italian Autonomist Marxism . 2002 . . 0-7453-1607-7 . London . 654106755 . 134.
  7. Book: Michael . Hardt . Michael Hardt . Antonio . Negri . Antonio Negri . Empire . Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England . . 2000.
  8. Book: Cleaver, Harry . Reading Capital Politically . 2 June 2000 . . 978-1902593296 . Harry Cleaver.
  9. Book: Fire and Flames: A History of the German Autonomist Movement . Geronimo . . 2012 . 9781604860979.
  10. Web site: L'Autonomie Italienne . fr . Italian Autonomism . https://web.archive.org/web/20210308070142/http://sebastien.schifres.free.fr/italie.htm . 8 March 2021.
  11. Web site: Critiquing Capitalism Today: New Ways to Read Marx . 2023-12-10 . Frederick Harry Pitts . en-US.
  12. Web site: Going in the Wrong Direction – John Holloway . 2023-12-10 . es.
  13. Web site: Wayne . Price . Libertarian Marxism's Relation to Anarchism . 21 June 2020 . The Anarchist Library . en.
  14. Book: Wright . Steve . Storming Heaven: Class composition and struggle in Italian Autonomist Marxism . 2002 . . 0-7453-1607-7 . London . 654106755.
  15. Autonomist Marxism and the Information Society . Nick . Dyer-Witheford . Treason pamphlet . 21 June 2020 . en.
  16. Web site: CrimethInc Ex-Workers Collective . CrimethInc.: The Battle for Ungdomshuset: The Defense of a Squatted Social Center and the Strategy of Autonomy . 21 June 2020 . CrimethInc. . March 2019 . en.
  17. News: Illeborg . Jakob . 5 March 2007 . Anarchy in the DK . en-GB . . 21 June 2020 . 0261-3077.

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