Workerism is a political theory that emphasizes the importance of or glorifies the

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...

. Workerism, or , was of particular significance in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional It ...

left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in so ...

As revolutionary praxis

Workerism (or ) is a political analysis, whose main elements were to merge into

autonomism Autonomism, also known as autonomist Marxism is an anti-capitalist left-wing political and social movement and theory. As a theoretical system, it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tendenc ...

, that starts out from the power of the working class.

Michael Hardt Michael Hardt (born 1960) is an American political philosopher and literary theorist. Hardt is best known for his book ''Empire'', which was co-written with Antonio Negri. Hardt and Negri suggest that several forces which they see as dominat ...

and

Antonio Negri Antonio "Toni" Negri (born 1 August 1933) is an Italian Spinozistic- Marxist sociologist and political philosopher, best known for his co-authorship of ''Empire'' and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political ...

, known as operaist and autonomist writers, offer a definition of , quoting from Marx as they do so: : builds on Marx's claim that capital reacts to the struggles of the working class; the working class is active and capital reactive. :Technological development: Where there are strikes, machines will follow. "It would be possible to write a whole history of the inventions made since 1830 for the sole purpose of providing capital with weapons against working-class revolt." (''Capital'', Vol. 1, Chapter 15, Section 5) :Political development: The factory legislation in England was a response to the working class struggle over the length of the working day. "Their formulation, official recognition and proclamation by the State were the result of a long class struggle." (''Capital'', Vol. 1, Chapter 10, Section 6) : takes this as its fundamental axiom: the struggles of the working class ''precede'' and ''prefigure'' the successive re-structurations of capital. The workerists followed Marx in seeking to base their politics on an investigation of working class life and struggle. Through translations made available by Danilo Montaldi and others, they drew upon previous activist research in the United States by the Johnson-Forest Tendency and in France by the group . The Johnson-Forest Tendency had studied working class life and struggles within the

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

auto industry, publishing pamphlets such as "The American Worker" (1947), "Punching Out" (1952) and "Union Committeemen and Wildcat Strikes" (1955). That work was translated into French by and published, serially, in their journal. They too began investigating and writing about what was going on inside workplaces, in their case inside both auto factories and insurance offices. The journal ("Red Notebooks", 1961–5), along with its successor ("Working Class", 1963–6), both founded by Negri and Tronti, developed workerist theory, focusing on the struggles of proletarians. Associated with this theoretical development was a

praxis Praxis may refer to: Philosophy and religion *Praxis (process), the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, practised, embodied, or realised * Praxis model, a way of doing theology * Praxis (Byzantine Rite), the practice of fait ...

based on workplace organising, most notably by

Lotta Continua Lotta Continua (LC; en, Continuous Struggle) was a far-left paramilitary organization in Italy. It was founded in autumn 1969 by a split in the student-worker movement of Turin, which had started militant activity at the universities and factor ...

. This reached its peak in the Italian "

Hot Autumn The Hot Autumn ( it, Autunno caldo) of 1969–70 is a term used for a series of large strikes in the factories and industrial centers of Northern Italy, in which workers demanded better pay and better conditions. During 1969 and 1970 there were o ...

" of 1969. By the mid-1970s, however, the emphasis shifted from the factory to "the

social factory The Social factory is a concept developed in the 1960s to help analyse how capitalist social relations had expanded outside the sphere of production to that of society as a whole. Mario Tronti was one of the first theorists to develop the term in hi ...

"—the everyday lives of working people in their communities. The ''operaist'' movement was increasingly known as

autonomist Autonomism, also known as autonomist Marxism is an anti-capitalist left-wing political and social movement and theory. As a theoretical system, it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tendenc ...

References

External links

Workerism as revolutionary movement

Sergio Bologna, Workerism Beyond Fordism: On the Lineage of Italian Workerism
at Viewpoint Magazine
A critique of autonomism, which grew from ''operaismo'', published by a Trotskyist group

Interviews of members of the ''operaismo'' movement

Workerism as pejorative

* A critique of "workerism" with a Marxian definition of proletariat.
(Antagonism) Seems broken -->

It differentiates three types of workerism. {{Syndicalism Autonomism Marxist theory Syndicalism Labor Economic ideologies

As revolutionary praxis

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Workerism as revolutionary movement

Workerism as pejorative