OMNIA SUNT COMMUNIA

“A story of beauty and disgrace”

A brief post- a recommendation to listen to yesterday’s Novara show from Resonance FM, featuring Federico Campagna of Through Europe giving a fascinating history and analysis of the Italian workerist movement, Autonomia and its continued relevance and resonance within anti-austerity movements today- more so than the insurrections of France in 1968. We really cannot recommend this enough- following our recent post on Antonio Negri, this programme provides a wonderful introduction to the subject.

Listen here- Workerism, Autonomia and Lessons from the Italian Left; What can 2011 learn from Italy in the 1970s

We’ve also provided some links to further reading and ideas touched upon in the programme-

Background
When Insurrections Die (Gilles Dauvé)- an analysis of the failure of workers movements throughout the 20th Century

The Workerists and the Unions in Italy’s Hot Autumn (Steve Wright)- chapter from “Storming Heaven” on the industrial unrest of 1969

The birth of Italian Workerism (Steve Wright)

Autonomia and Workerist theory
Franco “Bifo” Berardi– Selected Berardi texts

Mario Tronti– Selected Tronti texts

Antonio Negri– Selected Negri texts

The Grundrisse (Marx) From the late 60′s, new translations of Marx’s earlier writings became available across Europe, and formed the basis of a new critique of political economy, aimed equally at the Soviet system as the burgeoning consumer democracies of the West. Marx’s “Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie” (Outlines of the Critique of Political Economy) was highly influential within Autonomist currents- not least the section…

Fragment on the Machines (pdf)(Marx), which continues to inform ideas and critiques of the General Intellect and post-fordist labour today

Domination and Sabotage (PDF) (Antonio Negri)– fascinating Negri text

Fighting for Feminism- Letters from Lotta Continua regarding Women and revolutionary struggle in Italy

Automia: Post-Political Politics (amazon link) (poor quality pdf)- collections of texts and interesting documents from the Autonomia movement, released by Semiotext(e)

Feminism, Workerism and Autonomy (Patrick Cuninghame)– Overview of the struggle against unpaid reproductive labour

Let’s Spit on Hegel – Rivolta Femminile manifesto

Auto-Reductionism in Turin, 1974 (Cherki and Wieviorka)– Account the auto-reduction of prices, collectively bargaining for reduced living costs in everyday life

Cultural manifestations / Mao-Dadaism
Radio Alice– An interview with Franco Berardi on Radio Alice

Transcript of Radio Alice broadcast during a police raid

A Laughter That Will Bury You All (Patrick Cuninghame)- a survey of the creative and cultural aspects within Autonomia

Il Trasloco (Federico Campagna)- Article about Bifo’s wonderful film

Legacy / Side Notes
The aftermath- Armed Struggle in Italy, 1976-78
The Walsall Anarchists (John Quail)– an account of the conspiracy against the Walsall Anarchists, 1892

Aufheben archive – British libertarian communist group influenced by autonomist movements. They even have a myspace omg.

Wu-Ming Foundation blog– Italian collective, author of Luther Blissett’s “Q”

The Free Association– British affinity group influenced by autonomist ideas

For further reading, libcom.org has an indispensable library of material

And lastly- the incredible youtube video of the funeral of Enrico Berlinguer, PCI General Secretary, that Federico mentioned…

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Originally appeared: July 6, 2011 at Deterritorial Support Group