Toni Negri
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Antonio Negri (; ; 1 August 1933 – 16 December 2023) was an Italian
political philosopher Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and legitimacy of political institutions, such as states. This field investigates different forms of government, ranging from de ...
known as one of the most prominent theorists of
autonomism Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist ...
, as well as for his co-authorship of ''
Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
'' with
Michael Hardt Michael Hardt (born 1960) is an American political philosopher and literary theorist. Hardt is best known for his 2000 book ''Empire'', which was co-written with Antonio Negri. Hardt and Negri suggest that several forces which they see as do ...
. Born in
Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
, Italy, Negri became a professor of political philosophy at the
University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...
, where he taught state and constitutional theory. Negri founded the
Potere Operaio Potere Operaio (English: "Workers' Power") was a radical left-wing Italian political group, active between 1967 and 1973. Among the group's leaders were Antonio ('Toni') Negri, Nanni Balestrini, Franco Piperno, Oreste Scalzone and Valerio ...
(Worker Power) group in 1969 and was a leading member of
Autonomia Operaia Autonomia Operaia ( Italian for "Workers' Autonomy") was an Italian far-left movement particularly active from 1973 to 1979. It played an important role in the Italian autonomist movement in the 1970s, alongside earlier organisations such as Po ...
, and published highly influential books, including ''Empire'' and '' Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire'', urging "revolutionary consciousness." Negri was accused in the late 1970s of being the mastermind of the left-wing
urban guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrorism, ...
organization
Red Brigades The Red Brigades ( , often abbreviated BR) were an Italian far-left Marxist–Leninist militant group. It was responsible for numerous violent incidents during Italy's Years of Lead, including the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro in 1978, ...
(Brigate Rosse or BR), which was involved in the May 1978 kidnapping and murder of former Italian prime minister
Aldo Moro Aldo Moro (; 23 September 1916 – 9 May 1978) was an Italian statesman and prominent member of Christian Democracy (Italy), Christian Democracy (DC) and its centre-left wing. He served as prime minister of Italy in five terms from December 1963 ...
. On 7 April 1979, Negri was arrested and charged with a number of crimes including the Moro murder. Most charges were quickly dropped, but in 1984, having fled to France, he was sentenced ''in absentia'' to 30 years in prison. He was given an additional four years on the charge of being
morally responsible In philosophy, moral responsibility is the status of morally deserving praise, blame, reward, or punishment for an act or omission in accordance with one's moral obligations. Deciding what (if anything) counts as "morally obligatory" is a pri ...
for the violence of political activists in the 1960s and 1970s. The question of Negri's involvement with
left-wing extremism Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...
is a controversial subject.Drake, Richard. "The Red and the Black: Terrorism in Contemporary Italy", International Political Science Review, Vol. 5, No. 3, Political Crises (1984), pp. 279–298. Quote: "The debate over Toni Negri's complicity in left-wing extremism has already resulted in the publication of several thick polemical volumes, as well as a huge number of op-ed pieces." He was indicted on a number of charges, including "association and insurrection against the state" (a charge which was later dropped), and sentenced for involvement in two murders. Negri fled to France where, protected by the
Mitterrand doctrine The Mitterrand doctrine ( French: ''Doctrine Mitterrand'') is a policy established in 1985 by French President François Mitterrand, of the Socialist Party, concerning Italian far-left terrorists who fled to France: those convicted for violent a ...
, he taught at the Paris VIII (Vincennes) and the
Collège international de philosophie The Collège international de philosophie (; CIPh), located in Paris' 5th arrondissement, is a tertiary education institute placed under the trusteeship of the French government department of research and chartered under the French 1901 Law on asso ...
, along with
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...
,
Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...
, and
Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...
. In 1997, after a plea-bargain that reduced his prison time from 30 to 13 years,Windschuttle, Keith
"Tutorials in Terrorism"
''The Australian'', 16 March 2005.
he returned to Italy to serve the end of his sentence. Many of his most influential books were published while he was behind bars. After his release he lived in Venice and Paris with his partner, the French philosopher Judith Revel. He was the father of film director Anna Negri.


Early years

Antonio Negri was born in
Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
, in the Northeastern Italian region of
Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...
, in 1933. His father was an active communist
militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...
from the city of
Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
(in the Northeastern
Italian region The regions of Italy () are the first-level administrative divisions of the Italian Republic, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, five of which are autonomous regions with special status. Under the Con ...
of
Emilia-Romagna Emilia-Romagna (, , both , ; or ; ) is an Regions of Italy, administrative region of northern Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia (region), Emilia and Romagna. Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of , and a population of 4.4 m ...
), and although he died when Negri was two years old, his political engagement made Negri familiar with
Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
from an early age, while his mother was a teacher from the town of
Poggio Rusco Poggio Rusco ( Lower Mantovano: ) is a small town and ''comune'' in the Province of Mantua, whose inhabitants number 6,474 as of August 31, 2020. It is from the provincial capital. The town lies in the southeast of the Oltrepò Mantovano area, f ...
(in the
province of Mantua The province of Mantua (; Emilian language#Dialects, Mantuan, Emilian language#Dialects, Lower Mantuan: ; Emilian language#Dialects, Upper Mantuan: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of M ...
, Lombardy). He began his career as a militant in the 1950s with the activist Roman Catholic youth organization Gioventú Italiana di Azione Cattolica (GIAC). Negri became a
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
in 1953–54 when he worked at a
kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
in Israel for a year. The kibbutz was organised according to ideas of
Zionist socialism Labor Zionism () or socialist Zionism () is the left-wing, socialist variant of Zionism. For many years, it was the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizations, and was seen as the Zionist faction of the historic Jewish ...
and all the members were Jewish communists. He joined the
Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...
in 1956 and remained a member until 1963, while at the same time becoming more and more engaged throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s in Marxist movements. Negri studied philosophy and was hired as a professor at the
University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...
, soon after receiving his doctorate in 1956. There, he taught ''dottrina dello Stato'' ("state doctrine"), an Italian field similar to the
philosophy of law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
, covering state and constitutional theory. In the early 1960s, Negri joined the editorial group of ''
Quaderni Rossi ''Quaderni Rossi'' (Italian for "Red Notebooks") was an Italian political journal founded in 1961 which became one of the primary sources of autonomist Marxism. The journal had a pro-Chinese stance. Its first issue appeared on 30 September 1961. ...
'', a journal that represented the intellectual rebirth of Marxism in Italy outside the realm of the Communist party. In 1969, together with Oreste Scalzone and Franco Piperno, Negri was one of the founders of the group
Potere Operaio Potere Operaio (English: "Workers' Power") was a radical left-wing Italian political group, active between 1967 and 1973. Among the group's leaders were Antonio ('Toni') Negri, Nanni Balestrini, Franco Piperno, Oreste Scalzone and Valerio ...
(Workers' Power) and the ''
operaismo Workerism is a Political philosophy, political theory that emphasizes the importance of or glorifies the working class. Workerism, or , was of particular significance in Italy, Italian left-wing politics, being largely embraced in Italian polit ...
'' () movement.


Arrest and flight

On 16 March 1978,
Aldo Moro Aldo Moro (; 23 September 1916 – 9 May 1978) was an Italian statesman and prominent member of Christian Democracy (Italy), Christian Democracy (DC) and its centre-left wing. He served as prime minister of Italy in five terms from December 1963 ...
, the party leader of
Christian Democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...
and the former Italian prime minister, was kidnapped in Rome by the
Red Brigades The Red Brigades ( , often abbreviated BR) were an Italian far-left Marxist–Leninist militant group. It was responsible for numerous violent incidents during Italy's Years of Lead, including the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro in 1978, ...
. Forty-five days after the kidnapping and nine days before Moro's death, the Red Brigades called his family and informed Moro's wife of his impending death. The conversation was recorded and later broadcast. While a number of people who knew Negri at the time identified him as the probable author of the call, the caller was later revealed to be Valerio Morucci. On 7 April 1979 Negri and other activists were charged with kidnapping, assassination and insurrection. Padua's Public Prosecutor Pietro Calogero accused them of being involved in the political wing of the Red Brigades, and thus behind
left-wing terrorism Left-wing terrorism is a form of terrorism, terrorist political violence motivated by Far-left politics, far-left ideologies, committed with the aim of overthrowing current Capitalism, capitalist systems and replacing them with Communism, comm ...
in Italy. Negri was charged with a number of offences, including leadership of the Red Brigades, masterminding the 1978 kidnapping and murder of the President of the Christian Democratic Party Aldo Moro, and plotting to overthrow the government. At the time, Negri was a political science professor at the University of Padua and visiting lecturer at Paris'
École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...
. The Italian public was shocked that an academic could be involved in such events. A year later a leader of the BR, having decided to cooperate with the prosecution, testified that Negri "had nothing to do with the Red Brigades." The charge of 'armed insurrection against the State' against Negri was dropped and he consequently did not receive the 30-year plus life sentence requested by the prosecutor, but did receive 30 years for being the instigator of political activist Carlo Saronio's murder and having 'morally concurred' with the murder of Andrea Lombardini, a ''carabiniere'', during a failed bank robbery. Some of his peers found little fault with Negri's activities.
Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...
commented, "Isn't he in jail simply for being an intellectual?" French philosophers
Félix Guattari Pierre-Félix Guattari ( ; ; 30 March 1930 – 29 August 1992) was a French psychoanalyst, political philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, social activist, and screenwriter. He co-founded schizoanalysis with Gilles Deleuze, and created ecosophy ...
and
Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...
also signed in November 1977 ''L'Appel des intellectuels français contre la répression en Italie'' (The Call of French Intellectuals Against Repression in Italy) in protest against Negri's imprisonment and Italian
anti-terrorism legislation Anti-terrorism legislation are laws aimed at fighting terrorism. They usually, if not always, follow specific bombings or assassinations. Anti-terrorism legislation usually includes specific amendments allowing the state to bypass its own l ...
. On the other hand, in the late 1980s Italian President
Francesco Cossiga Francesco Maurizio Cossiga (; , ; 1928 – 2010)
.
was an Italian politician who served as President of ...
described Antonio Negri as "a psychopath" who "poisoned the minds of an entire generation of Italy's youth." In 1983, four years after his arrest and while he was still in prison awaiting trial, Negri was elected to the Italian legislature as a member for the Radical Party. He was freed from prison claiming parliamentary immunity and was released, fleeing to France with the help of Félix Guattari and
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
. His release was later revoked when the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
voted to strip him of his immunity. Negri remained in exile in France for the next 14 years, where he was protected from extradition by the
Mitterrand doctrine The Mitterrand doctrine ( French: ''Doctrine Mitterrand'') is a policy established in 1985 by French President François Mitterrand, of the Socialist Party, concerning Italian far-left terrorists who fled to France: those convicted for violent a ...
. In France, Negri began teaching at the Paris VIII (Vincennes), and also at the
Collège international de philosophie The Collège international de philosophie (; CIPh), located in Paris' 5th arrondissement, is a tertiary education institute placed under the trusteeship of the French government department of research and chartered under the French 1901 Law on asso ...
founded by
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...
. Although the conditions of his residence in France prevented him from engaging in political activities, he wrote prolifically and was active in a broad coalition of left-wing intellectuals. In 1997, he returned to Italy to serve out his sentence hoping to raise awareness of the status of hundreds of other political exiles from Italy. His sentence was commuted and he was released from prison in 2003, having written some of his most influential works while behind bars.


Political thought and writing

Negri was one of the central theorists of
autonomist Marxism Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist an ...
,Negri, Antonio: ''L'anomalia selvaggia. Saggio su potere e potenza in Baruch Spinoza''. (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1981)Negri, Antonio: ''Spinoza sovversivo. Variazioni (in)attuali''. (Roma: Antonio Pellicani Editore, 1992)Negri, Antonio: ''Spinoza et nous'' a philosophie en effet (Paris: Éditions Galilée, 2010)Negri, Antonio: ''Spinoza e noi''. (Milano: Mimesis, 2012) and was a prominent philosopher within
libertarian socialism Libertarian socialism is an anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist political current that emphasises self-governance and workers' self-management. It is contrasted from other forms of socialism by its rejection of state ownership and from other ...
,
communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
, and
Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
. He also wrote various works on
imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...
,
radical democracy Radical democracy is a type of democracy that advocates the radical extension of equality and liberty. Radical democracy is concerned with a radical extension of equality and freedom, following the idea that democracy is an unfinished, inclusive, ...
, and political praxis.


''Labor of Dionysus: A Critique of the State-Form'' (1994)

Written together with Michael Hardt, the authors ask themselves in this book, "How is it, then, that labour, with all its life-affirming potential, has become the means of capitalist discipline, exploitation, and domination in modern society?" The authors expose and pursue this paradox through a systematic analysis of the role of labour in the processes of capitalist production and in the establishment of capitalist legal and social institutions. Critiquing liberal and socialist notions of labor and institutional reform from a radical democratic perspective, Hardt and Negri challenge the state-form itself.


''Insurgencies: Constituent Power and the Modern State'' (1999)

This book, written solely by Negri, "explores the drama of modern revolutions-from Machiavelli's Florence and Harrington's England to the American, French, and Russian revolutions-and puts forward a new notion of how power and action must be understood if we are to achieve a radically democratic future."


''Empire'' (2000)

In general, the book theorizes an ongoing transition from a "modern" phenomenon of
imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...
, centered around individual
nation-states A nation state, or nation-state, is a political entity in which the state (a centralized political organization ruling over a population within a territory) and the nation (a community based on a common identity) are (broadly or ideally) con ...
, to an emergent
postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...
construct created among ruling powers which the authors call "Empire", with different forms of warfare:
According to Hardt and Negri's ''Empire'', the rise of Empire is the end of national conflict, the "enemy" now, whoever he is, can no longer be ideological or national. The enemy now must be understood as a kind of criminal, as someone who represents a threat not to a political system or a nation but to the law. This is the enemy as a terrorist ... In the "new order that envelops the entire space of ... civilization", where conflict between nations has been made irrelevant, the "enemy" is simultaneously "banalized" (reduced to an object of routine police repression) and absolutized (like the Enemy, an absolute threat to the ethical order").
''Empire'' elaborates a variety of ideas surrounding constitutions, global war, and class. Hence, the Empire is constituted by a monarchy (the United States and the G8, and
international organizations An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty or other type of instrument governed by international law and possesses its own leg ...
such as
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
, the
International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...
or the
World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...
), an
oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or t ...
(the
multinational corporations A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...
and other nation-states) and a democracy (the various
non-government organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
s and the United Nations). Part of the book's analysis deals with "imagin ng/nowiki> resistance", but "the point of Empire is that it, too, is "total" and that resistance to it can only take the form of negation – "the will to be against". The Empire is total, but economic inequality persists, and as all identities are wiped out and replaced with a universal one, the identity of the poor persists.


''Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire'' (2004)

''Multitude'' addresses these issues and picks up the thread where ''Empire'' leaves off. In order to do so, Hardt and Negri argue, one must first analyze the present configuration of war and its contradictions. This analysis is performed in the first chapter, after which chapters two and three focus on multitude and democracy, respectively. ''Multitude'' is not so much a sequel as it is a reiteration from a new point of view in a new, relatively accessible style that is distinct from the predominantly
academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
prose style of ''Empire''. Multitude remains, the authors insist, despite its ubiquitous subject matter and its almost casual tone, a book of philosophy which aims to shape a conceptual ground for a political process of democratization rather than present an answer to the question 'what to do?' or offer a programme for concrete action.


''Commonwealth'' (2009)

In 2009 Negri completed the book ''Commonwealth'', the final in a trilogy that began in 2000 with ''Empire'' and continued with ''Multitude'' in 2004, co-authored with Michael Hardt. In this book, the authors introduce the concept of "the republic of property": "What is central for our purposes here is that the concept of property and the defence of property remain the foundation of every modern political constitution. This is the sense in which the republic, from the great bourgeois revolutions to today, is a republic of property". Part 2 of the book deals with the relationship between modernity and anti-modernity and proposes altermodernity. Altermodernity "involves not only insertion in the long history of antimodern struggles but also rupture with any fixed dialectic between modern sovereignty and antimodern resistance. In the passage from antimodernity to altermodernity, just as tradition and identity are transformed, so too resistance takes on a new meaning, dedicated now to the constitution of alternatives. The freedom that forms the base of resistance, as we explained earlier, comes to the fore and constitutes an event to announce a new political project." For
Alex Callinicos Alexander Theodore Callinicos (born 24 July 1950) is a Rhodesian-born British political theorist and activist. An adherent of Trotskyism, he is a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and serves as its Internatio ...
in a review "What is newest in ''Commonwealth'' is its take on the fashionable idea of the common. Hardt and Negri mean by this not merely the natural resources that capital seeks to appropriate, but also "the languages we create, the social practices we establish, the modes of sociality that define our relationships", which are both the means and the result of biopolitical production. Communism, they argue, is defined by the common, just as capitalism is by the private and socialism (which they identify in effect with statism) with the public." For
David Harvey David William Harvey (born 31 October 1935) is a British-American academic best known for Marxist analyses that focus on urban geography as well as the economy more broadly. He is a Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at t ...
Negri and Hardt "in the search of an altermodernity – something that is outside the dialectical opposition between modernity and anti-modernity – they need a means of escape. The choice between capitalism and socialism, they suggest, is all wrong. We need to identify something entirely different, communism – working within a different set of dimensions." Harvey also notes that "Revolutionary thought, Hardt and Negri argue, must find a way to contest capitalism and 'the republic of property.' It 'should not shun identity politics but instead must work through it and learn from it,' because it is the 'primary vehicle for struggle within and against the republic of property since identity itself is based on property and sovereignty.'" In the same exchange in
Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...
between Harvey and Micheal Hardt and Antonio Negri, Hardt and Negri attempt to correct Harvey in a concept that is important within the argument of ''Commonwealth''. As such, they state that "We instead define the concept of singularity, contrasting it to the figure of the individual on the one hand and forms of identity on the other, by focusing on three aspects of its relationship to multiplicity: Singularity refers externally to a multiplicity of others; is internally divided or multiple; and constitutes a multiplicity over time – that is, a process of becoming." After ''Commonwealth'', he wrote multiple notable articles on the
Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...
and Occupy movements along with other social issues.Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri
Arabs are democracy's new pioneers
, The Guardian, 24 February 2011.
Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri
The Fight for 'Real Democracy' at the Heart of Occupy Wall Street
, Foreign Affairs, 11 October 2011.


Occupy movements of 2011–2012 and ''Declaration''

In May 2012 Negri self-published (with Michael Hardt) an electronic pamphlet on the occupy and encampment movements of 2011–2012 called '' Declaration'' that argues the movement explores new forms of democracy. The introduction was published at ''
Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...
'' under the title "Take Up the Baton". He also published an article with Hardt in ''Foreign Affairs'' in October 2011 stating "The Encampment in Lower Manhattan Speaks to a Failure of Representation."


''Assembly'' and essay collections (2013–2023)

In 2013, Negri published ''Spinoza: Politics and Postmodernity'', a collections of essays on Spinoza and his contemporary relevance to philosophy and political theory, translated into English by William McCuaig. In 2017, Negri and Michael Hardt published ''Assembly''. The book provides a series of reflections on the nature of contemporary capitalism and social movements, drawing together the concepts and ideas explored previously in their ''Empire'' 'trilogy' such as the common, the multitude, and globalisation. It also introduces a new political concept of 'assembly', which draws on Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's concept of an 'assemblage' (French: ''agencements'') as a way of thinking about mass movements and the role of constituent power. It also provides analyses of events that occurred in the years since ''Commonwealth'' was published in 2009, such as the rise of
right-wing populism Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establis ...
,
Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a left-wing populist movement against economic inequality, capitalism, corporate greed, big finance, and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial ...
, the
automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...
of work, and the
digital economy The digital economy is a portmanteau of digital computing and economy, and is an umbrella term that describes how traditional Brick and mortar, brick-and-mortar economic activities (production, distribution, trade) are being transformed by the ...
. It continues their reflections on the character and goals of leaderless movements, and especially focuses on the ways in which these movements can seek to self-organise in radically democratic and egalitarian ways. They propose that instead of the usual model of leadership and movement in which leadership serves to articulate the long-term and 'large scale' programme of the multitude, this relationship should instead be inverted: leadership instead comes to serve specific, tactical, and short-term ends (such as the organisation of specific moblisations, protests, direct action, strikes, etc.), while the multitude (or collective) serves to "articulate the long-term goals and objectives" to which the leadership must submit and facilitate. The book received generally positive reviews. Writing for ''
Critical Inquiry ''Critical Inquiry'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal in the humanities published by the University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Department of English Language and Literature (University of Chicago). While the topics and historica ...
'', Kyle Perry argues that the central claim of the book is that "advocates for a truly democratic world must no longer refuse the demands of leading, strategizing, decision making, and institution building that can otherwise remain variously secondary, absent, or anathema amid left, liberatory, and progressive causes." It also rejects as a false binary the idea that liberal-democratic institutions should either be occupied or destroyed; instead, "The better move is to get creative about inventing new, effective, and crucially 'nonsovereign' institutions. Such institutions are not meant to 'rule over us' but to 'foster continuity and organization" and to "help organize our practices, manage our relationships, and together make decisions'." Writing for the ''
Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 201 ...
'', Terence Renaud argues that "Given how much the political terrain has changed since ''Empire'' appeared in 2000, much of Hardt and Negri's project appears dead. It has said all that it's going to say. Even so, the authors do an excellent job of highlighting the internal challenges that a resurgent left will face. Every new left risks degenerating into sectarian conflict, heavy-handed leadership, and complacency about its own righteousness. Hardt and Negri insist on a self-critical and internally democratic left that never ceases to call its own assumptions into question. In order to transform society, the left must first transform itself." Between 2016 and 2019, Negri published a three-volume collection of essays written in various years, but translated, collected and published together in English in these volumes. The first volume was titled ''Marx and Foucault'', and published on 16 December 2016. In this first volume, Negri aims to show "how the thinking of Marx and Foucault were brought together to create an original theoretical synthesis – particularly in the context of Italy from May '68 onwards." The second volume was titled ''From the Factory to the Metropolis'', and was published in February 2018. This second volume turns towards an analysis of the passage from the traditional proletarian 'mass worker' of industrial capitalism (especially as found in Marx's writing) to the contemporary 'socialised worker', as well as of the modern 'metropolis', which Negri describes as "a space of antagonisms between forms of life produced, on the one hand, by finance capital (the capital that operates around rents), and on the other by the 'cognitive proletariat'. The central question is then how 'the common' of the latter can be mobilised for the destruction of capitalism." The third and final volume of this 'trilogy' was titled ''Spinoza: Then and Now'', which was published in February 2020. In this third volume, Negri "examines how Spinoza's thought constitutes a radical break with past ideas and an essential tool for envisaging a form of politics beyond capitalism." On 29 October 2021, Negri published the first volume of a new trilogy of books. This first volume is titled ''Marx in Movement: Operaismo in Context'', and seeks to provide an account and examination of the history of Italian Autonomist (or '
Autonomist Marxist Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist an ...
') thought, particularly in terms of Negri's theoretical development of the concept of the 'social worker' as an attempt to update Marxism in light of the changes since the factory-based industrial labour of Marx's time.


Personal life and death

Negri married Paola Meo in 1962. They had two children (Anna and Francesco) and later divorced. He has another daughter, Nina Negri, from a separate relationship. He met the philosopher Judith Revel in 1996; they married in 2016. Negri died in Paris on 16 December 2023, at the age of 90.


Bibliography

Listed in order of their first publication in English. *Antonio Negri, ''Revolution Retrieved: Selected Writings on Marx, Keynes, Capitalist Crisis and New Social Subjects, 1967–83.'' Translated by Ed Emery and John Merrington. London: Red Notes, 1988. *Antonio Negri, ''The Politics of Subversion: A Manifesto for the Twenty-First Century.'' Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989. *
Félix Guattari Pierre-Félix Guattari ( ; ; 30 March 1930 – 29 August 1992) was a French psychoanalyst, political philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, social activist, and screenwriter. He co-founded schizoanalysis with Gilles Deleuze, and created ecosophy ...
and Antonio Negri, ''Communists Like Us.'' Cambridge, Mass.: Semiotext(e) Press, 1990. *Antonio Negri, ''The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza's Metaphysics and Politics.'' Translated by Michael Hardt. Minneapolis
University of Minnesota Press
1991. *Antonio Negri, ''Marx Beyond Marx: Lessons on the Grundrisse.'' New York: Autonomedia, 1991. *Antonio Negri, ''Insurgencies: Constituent Power and the Modern State.'' Translated by Maurizia Boscagli. Minneapolis

1999. Reprint b
University of Minnesota Press
2009. *Antonio Negri, ''Time for Revolution.'' Translated by Matteo Mandarini. New York: Continuum, 2003. *Antonio Negri, ''Negri on Negri: In Conversation with Anne Dufourmentelle''. London: Routledge, 2004. *Antonio Negri, ''Subversive
Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...
: (Un)Contemporary Variations.'' Edited by Timothy S. Murphy, translated by Timothy S. Murphy,
Michael Hardt Michael Hardt (born 1960) is an American political philosopher and literary theorist. Hardt is best known for his 2000 book ''Empire'', which was co-written with Antonio Negri. Hardt and Negri suggest that several forces which they see as do ...
, Ted Stolze, and Charles T. Wolfe. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004. *Antonio Negri, ''Books for Burning: Between Civil War and Democracy in 1970s Italy.'' Edited by Timothy S. Murphy, translated by Arianna Bove, Ed Emery, Timothy S. Murphy, and Francesca Novello. London and New York: Verso, 2005. *Antonio Negri, ''Political Descartes: Reason, Ideology and the Bourgeois Project.'' Translated by Matteo Mandarini and Alberto Toscano. New York: Verso, 2007.
''Goodbye Mr. Socialism''
Antonio Negri in conversation with Raf Valvola Scelsi,
Seven Stories Press Seven Stories Press is an independent American publishing company. Based in New York City, the company was founded by Dan Simon in 1995, after establishing Four Walls Eight Windows in 1984 as an imprint at Writers and Readers, and then incorpor ...
, 2008.
''The Cell (DVD of 3 interviews on captivity with Negri)''
Angela Melitopoulos, Actar, 2008. *Antonio Negri, ''The Porcelain Workshop: For a New Grammar of Politics'' Translated by Noura Wedell. California: Semiotext(e) 2008. *Antonio Negri, ''Reflections on Empire.'' Translated by Ed Emery. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008. *Antonio Negri, ''Empire and Beyond''. Translated by Ed Emery. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008. *Antonio Negri, ''The Labor of
Job Work, labor (labour in Commonwealth English), occupation or job is the intentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, or organizations. In the context of economics, work can be seen as the huma ...
: The
Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
Text as a Parable of Human Labor.'' Translated by Matteo Mandarini. Durham:
Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 ...
2009 (begun 1983). *Cesare Casarino and Antonio Negri, ''In Praise of the Common''. Minneapolis
University of Minnesota Press
2009. *Antonio Negri, ''Diary of an Escape.'' Translated by Ed Emery. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009. *Antonio Negri, ''Art and Multitude''. Translated by Ed Emery. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2011. *Antonio Negri, ''The Winter is Over: Writings on Transformation Denied, 1989–1995.'' Edited by Giuseppe Caccia. Translated by Isabelli Bertoletti, James Cascaito, and Andrea Casson. Cambridge, Mass.: Semiotext(e), 2013. *Antonio Negri, ''Pipeline: Letters from Prison.'' Translated by Ed Emery. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2014. *Antonio Negri, ''Factory of Strategy: 33 Lessons on Lenin.'' New York: Columbia University Press, 2014. *Antonio Negri, ''Marx and Foucault.'' Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016. *Antonio Negri, ''From the Factory to the Metropolis''. Translated by Ed Emery. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2018. *Antonio Negri, ''Spinoza: Then and Now''. Translated by Ed Emery. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2020. *Antonio Negri, ''Marx in Movement: Operaismo in Context''. Translated by Ed Emery. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2021. *Antonio Negri, ''The End of Sovereignty''. Translated by Ed Emery. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2022.


In collaboration with Michael Hardt

*Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, ''Labor of Dionysus: A Critique of the State-Form''. Minneapolis

1994. *Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, ''
Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
.'' Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000. *Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, '' Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire'', New York: Penguin Press, 2004. *Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, ''Commonwealth'', Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009. *Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, '' Declaration'', 2012. *Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, ''Assembly.'' Translated by Ed Emery. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.


Online articles


''Multitudes'' quarterly journal
(in French)
Archives of the journal ''Futur Antérieur''
(in French)

from Generation Online

''Le Monde Diplomatique'', August–September 1998
"Towards an Ontological Definition of Multitude"
Article published in the French journal ''Multitudes''.

at Marxists.org
"Take Up the Baton."


Interviews

* Transcendence, Spirituality, Practices, Immanence: A Conversation with Antonio Negri by Judith Revel, ''Rethinking Marxism'', ''28''(3–4), 470–478, (2016).
From Sociological to Ontological Inquiry: An Interview with Antonio Negri
by Max Henninger, Italian Culture, Volume 23, 2005, pp. 153–166 (Article) Published by Michigan State University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/itc.2006.0013
Workerist Marxism: Interview with Antonio Negri
Crisis and Critique, Vol2, Issue2.
Antonio Negri and Danilo Zolo, Empire and the multitude: A dialogue on the new order of globalization
''Radical Philosophy'' 120, Jul/Aug 2003.
“The Revolution Will Not Be an Explosion Somewhere Down the Road”: An Interview with Antonio Negri
''Grey Room'' (2010) (41): 6–23, MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.1162/GREY_a_00010
The Paris Commune: Antonio Negri
by Niccolò Cuppini, as part of the Planetary Commune project, ''Autonomies'', April 8, 2021.


Films

* ''
Marx Reloaded ''Marx Reloaded'' is a 2011 German documentary film written and directed by the British writer and theorist Jason Barker. Featuring interviews with several well-known philosophers, the film aims to examine the relevance of Karl Marx's ideas in rel ...
'',
Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...
, April 2011. * '' Antonio Negri: A Revolt that Never Ends'',
ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...
/
Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...
, 52 min., 2004.


See also

*
Giorgio Agamben Giorgio Agamben ( ; ; born 22 April 1942) is an Italian philosopher best known for his work investigating the concepts of the state of exception, form-of-life (borrowed from Ludwig Wittgenstein) and '' homo sacer''. The concept of biopolitic ...
*
Étienne Balibar Étienne Balibar (; ; born 23 April 1942) is a French philosopher. He has taught at the University of Paris X, at the University of California, Irvine and is currently an Anniversary Chair Professor at the Centre for Research in Modern European ...
*
Paolo Virno Paolo Virno (; ; born 14 May 1952) is an Italian philosopher, semiologist and a figurehead for the Italian Marxist movement. Implicated in belonging to illegal social movements during the 1960s and 1970s, Virno was arrested and jailed in 1979, ...


References


Further reading


'' The Cell (DVD of 3 interviews on captivity with Negri)''
Angela Melitopoulos, Actar, 2008. * ''Empire and Imperialism: A Critical Reading of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri.'' Atilio Borón, London: Zed Books, 2005. ()
''Reading Capital Politically''
Harry Cleaver. 1979, second ed. 2000. * ''The Philosophy of Antonio Negri'', vol. 1: ''Resistance in Practice'', ed. Timothy S. Murphy and Abdul-Karim Mustapha. London: Pluto Press, 2005. * ''The Philosophy of Antonio Negri'', vol. 2: ''Revolution in Theory'', ed. Timothy S. Murphy and Abdul-Karim Mustapha. London: Pluto Press, 2007. * ''Dossier on Empire: a special issue of Rethinking Marxism'', ed. Abdul-karim Mustapha. London: T&F/Routledge, 2002. * ''Autonomia: Post-Political Politics'', ed. Sylvere Lotringer & Christian Marazzi. New York: Semiotext(e), 1980, 2007. (Includes transcripts of Negri's exchanges with his accusers during his trial.) ,
Available online at Semiotext(e)
* ''Antonio Negri Illustrated: Interview in Venice'', Claudio Calia, Red Quill Books, 2011.


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Negri, Antonio 1933 births 2023 deaths 20th-century Italian philosophers 21st-century Italian philosophers Academic staff of Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis Academic staff of the University of Padua Anti-globalization writers Autonomia Operaia Autonomism Critics of work and the work ethic Descartes scholars Duke University faculty Imperialism studies Italian anti-capitalists Italian atheists Italian book publishers (people) Italian communists Italian exiles Italian magazine editors Italian magazine founders Italian Marxists Italian political philosophers Italian publishers (people) Italian socialists Marxist theorists Potere Operaio Refusal of work Revolution theorists Scholars of Marxism Spinoza scholars University of Padua alumni Workerism Writers from Padua