Blackwell Reference Online

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Operaismo (“operaism”), also known in the English-speaking world as “autonomist Marxism,” refers to a theoretical and political current of Marxist thought that emerged in Italy in the early 1960s. An original reading of Marx in the framework of the radical workers' struggles that developed in the country during the decade led to the invention of new theoretical concepts (such as technical and political class composition, the mass worker, the refusal of work) and of a new political methodology (so-called militant investigation or co-research). The development of operaism deeply influenced both the political culture and social movements of the 1960s and 1970s in Italy. The theories of Italian revolutionary operaism, which after 1968 shaped political experiences such as Potere Operaio (Workers' Power) and the multifarious movements of Autonomia Operaia (Workers' Autonomy), were widely circulated abroad as well. After the waves of repression that began on April 7, 1979 and that led to the imprisonment and exile of hundreds of militants and intellectuals of the autonomous movement in Italy, the early 1990s marked the beginning of a new theoretical and political season and the birth of what is currently referred to as “post-operaism.” Key to this new season have been such concepts as “general intellect,” “immaterial labor,” “cognitive capitalism,” the “autonomy of migration,” and ... log in or subscribe to read full text