Workerism is a

political theory 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 d ...

that emphasizes the importance of or glorifies the

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

. 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, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

, being largely embraced in Italian political groups ranging from Italian

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 ...

s to

Italian anarchists Italian anarchism as a movement began primarily from the influence of Mikhail Bakunin, Giuseppe Fanelli, Carlo Cafiero, and Errico Malatesta. Rooted in collectivist anarchism and social anarchism, social or socialist anarchism, it expanded to inc ...

As revolutionary praxis

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

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 ...

, 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 2000 book ''Empire'', which was co-written with Antonio Negri. Hardt and Negri suggest that several forces which they see as do ...

and

Antonio Negri Antonio Negri (; ; 1 August 1933 – 16 December 2023) was an Italian political philosopher known as one of the most prominent theorists of autonomism, as well as for his co-authorship of ''Empire (Hardt and Negri book), Empire'' with Michae ...

, known as operaist and autonomist writers, offer a definition of , quoting from

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

as they do so: : builds on Marx's claim that

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

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

Socialisme ou Barbarie Socialisme ou Barbarie (SouB; "Socialism or Barbarism") was a French-based radical libertarian socialist group of the post-World War II period whose name comes from a phrase which was misattributed to Friedrich Engels by Rosa Luxemburg in the ...

. The Johnson–Forest Tendency had studied working class life and struggles within the

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

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 Socialisme ou Barbarie 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 fai ...

based on workplace organising, most notably by

Lotta Continua Lotta Continua (LC; ) was a Far-left politics, far-left militant organization in Italy, during the historical period of social turmoil and political violence in the country known as the "Years of Lead (Italy), Years of Lead". Its leaders Adria ...

. This reached its peak in the Italian "

Hot Autumn The Hot Autumn () of 1969–70 is a term used for a series of large Strike action, 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 ...

" of 1969. By the mid-1970s, however, the emphasis shifted from the factory to "the social factory"—the everyday lives of working people in their communities. The ''operaist'' and ''post-operaist'' movement was increasingly known as the

autonomist Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose ...

movement.

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 Workerism Autonomism Economic ideologies Labor Marxist theory Syndicalism

As revolutionary praxis

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Workerism as revolutionary movement

Workerism as pejorative