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(From the Patreon Archives) From Operaismo to Autonomy: Italian Radical Thought with P.H. Higgins

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Manage episode 513370468 series 2926241
Content provided by C. Derick Varn. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by C. Derick Varn or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

This episode was released patreon's only in 2021. Mario Tronti and Antonio Negri stand as towering figures in the forgotten history of Italian radical Marxism. Their theoretical frameworks - operaismo and autonomia - emerged from the unique contradictions of post-war Italy: a strong Communist Party trapped in parliamentary politics while workers sought more direct forms of resistance.
What made these movements revolutionary wasn't just their militancy but their methodological breakthrough. Rather than lecturing workers about theory, intellectuals like Raniero Panzieri entered factories to listen and learn through "co-research." From this engagement came Tronti's profound insight: contrary to orthodox Marxism, workers' struggles drive capitalist development, not vice versa. Capital constantly recomposes itself in response to labor's resistance - a perspective that brilliantly anticipated neoliberalism's fragmentation of the working class decades before it became obvious to others.
The movements diverged when Tronti returned to parliamentary politics while Negri pursued increasingly militant autonomia, arguing that capitalism had shifted from development to pure control, requiring immediate resistance rather than long-term organization. This split reflected broader tensions within radical movements worldwide: reform versus revolution, patience versus urgency, institutions versus direct action. Their theoretical extensions were equally significant - connecting factory struggles to unwaged domestic labor and laying groundwork for social reproduction theory.
Whether you're interested in Italian political history, Marxist theory, or the roots of contemporary social movements, this discussion illuminates how these forgotten radical thinkers anticipated our present predicaments with uncanny accuracy. Their legacy reminds us that revolutionary theory emerges not from abstract philosophizing but from genuine engagement with workers' lived experiences.

Send us a text

Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to Bitterlake

Support the show

Crew:
Host: C. Derick Varn
Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.
Intro Video Design: Jason Myles
Art Design: Corn and C. Derick Varn
Links and Social Media:
twitter: @varnvlog
blue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.social
You can find the additional streams on Youtube
Current Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic

  continue reading

Chapters

1. (From the Patreon Archives) From Operaismo to Autonomy: Italian Radical Thought with P.H. Higgins (00:00:00)

2. Introduction to Italian Post-Togliatti Communism (00:01:35)

3. Understanding Operaismo and Autonomia (00:15:39)

4. The PCI's Parliamentary Dilemma (00:30:58)

5. Tronti's Revolutionary Worker Theory (00:44:05)

6. Class Composition vs. Class Consciousness (01:02:23)

7. Volume 2 and the Centrality of Labor (01:21:59)

8. Negri's Break with Tronti (01:37:12)

364 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 513370468 series 2926241
Content provided by C. Derick Varn. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by C. Derick Varn or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

This episode was released patreon's only in 2021. Mario Tronti and Antonio Negri stand as towering figures in the forgotten history of Italian radical Marxism. Their theoretical frameworks - operaismo and autonomia - emerged from the unique contradictions of post-war Italy: a strong Communist Party trapped in parliamentary politics while workers sought more direct forms of resistance.
What made these movements revolutionary wasn't just their militancy but their methodological breakthrough. Rather than lecturing workers about theory, intellectuals like Raniero Panzieri entered factories to listen and learn through "co-research." From this engagement came Tronti's profound insight: contrary to orthodox Marxism, workers' struggles drive capitalist development, not vice versa. Capital constantly recomposes itself in response to labor's resistance - a perspective that brilliantly anticipated neoliberalism's fragmentation of the working class decades before it became obvious to others.
The movements diverged when Tronti returned to parliamentary politics while Negri pursued increasingly militant autonomia, arguing that capitalism had shifted from development to pure control, requiring immediate resistance rather than long-term organization. This split reflected broader tensions within radical movements worldwide: reform versus revolution, patience versus urgency, institutions versus direct action. Their theoretical extensions were equally significant - connecting factory struggles to unwaged domestic labor and laying groundwork for social reproduction theory.
Whether you're interested in Italian political history, Marxist theory, or the roots of contemporary social movements, this discussion illuminates how these forgotten radical thinkers anticipated our present predicaments with uncanny accuracy. Their legacy reminds us that revolutionary theory emerges not from abstract philosophizing but from genuine engagement with workers' lived experiences.

Send us a text

Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to Bitterlake

Support the show

Crew:
Host: C. Derick Varn
Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.
Intro Video Design: Jason Myles
Art Design: Corn and C. Derick Varn
Links and Social Media:
twitter: @varnvlog
blue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.social
You can find the additional streams on Youtube
Current Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic

  continue reading

Chapters

1. (From the Patreon Archives) From Operaismo to Autonomy: Italian Radical Thought with P.H. Higgins (00:00:00)

2. Introduction to Italian Post-Togliatti Communism (00:01:35)

3. Understanding Operaismo and Autonomia (00:15:39)

4. The PCI's Parliamentary Dilemma (00:30:58)

5. Tronti's Revolutionary Worker Theory (00:44:05)

6. Class Composition vs. Class Consciousness (01:02:23)

7. Volume 2 and the Centrality of Labor (01:21:59)

8. Negri's Break with Tronti (01:37:12)

364 episodes

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