What do you think?
Rate this book
A Thousand Little Machines: A/traverso and the Movement of ‘77
In 1977 youth revolts spectacular in their intensity, creativity and violence would send shockwaves throughout Italian society. These rebellions, belonging to the autonomia movement, were characterised by a mass refusal of wage-labour and powered by novel experiments in communication, in particular the printed word. Hundreds of revolutionary newspapers known as ‘movement sheets’ would circulate Italy during those years, acting as little machines to produce political subjectivity. This book contains the recollections of the autonomist militant, philosopher and media theorist Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi on autonomia and the tumultuous events of ’77, told through the pages of A/traverso, the Bolognese movement sheet he produced with others between 1975 - 1981. In texts translated into English for the first time, presented alongside extensive archival material and stunning photographs, this book explores the subversion, exuberance and joy of the movement of ’77, while raising important questions about the role of creative collectivity and experimental communication for militants today.
232 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2024
35 people want to read
About the author
Franco "Bifo" Berardi
128 books461 followersFranco "Bifo" Berardi (born 2 November 1948 in Bologna, Italy) is an Italian Marxist theorist and activist in the autonomist tradition, whose work mainly focuses on the role of the media and information technology within post-industrial capitalism. Berardi has written over two dozen published books, as well as a more extensive number of essays and speeches.
Unlike orthodox Marxists, Berardi's autonomist theories draw on psychoanalysis, schizoanalysis and communication theory to show how subjectivity and desire are bound up with the functioning of the capitalism system, rather than portraying events such as the financial crisis of 2008 merely as an example of the inherently contradictory logic of capitalist accumulation. Thus, he argues against privileging labour in critique and says that "the solution to the economic difficulty of the situation cannot be solved with economic means: the solution is not economic." Human emotions and embodied communication becomes increasingly central to the production and consumption patterns that sustain capital flows in post-industrial society, and as such Berardi uses the concepts of "cognitariat" and "info labour" to analyze this psycho-social process. Among Berardi's other concerns are cultural representations and expectations about the future — from proto-Fascist Futurism to post-modern cyberpunk (1993). This represents a greater concern with ideas and cultural expectations than the determinist-materialist expression of a Marxism which is often confined to purely economic or systemic analysis.
(via Wikipedia)
Unlike orthodox Marxists, Berardi's autonomist theories draw on psychoanalysis, schizoanalysis and communication theory to show how subjectivity and desire are bound up with the functioning of the capitalism system, rather than portraying events such as the financial crisis of 2008 merely as an example of the inherently contradictory logic of capitalist accumulation. Thus, he argues against privileging labour in critique and says that "the solution to the economic difficulty of the situation cannot be solved with economic means: the solution is not economic." Human emotions and embodied communication becomes increasingly central to the production and consumption patterns that sustain capital flows in post-industrial society, and as such Berardi uses the concepts of "cognitariat" and "info labour" to analyze this psycho-social process. Among Berardi's other concerns are cultural representations and expectations about the future — from proto-Fascist Futurism to post-modern cyberpunk (1993). This represents a greater concern with ideas and cultural expectations than the determinist-materialist expression of a Marxism which is often confined to purely economic or systemic analysis.
(via Wikipedia)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 6, 2024
Wonderfully designed, excellent introductions to help the reader understand what is being discussed. First book from an exciting new publisher.
March 8, 2025
1977. The year David Bowie's Low came out. Punk. It's a good year for stuff. Maybe it's because of those two sevens. Something occultic in that.
Having at least an armchair enthusiast's knowledge of punk, I'm also aware of how much it has been fetishized. Working in a tangentially related industry, the world is inundated with punk retrospectives, punk photo books, punk flyer collections, and, of course, punk zines. I have been to a punk zine shop (you needed an appointment). It is all very nostalgic.
But of course, the true punk is politics. That Bifo ran a political zine in Italy during the punk time I was unaware of but am not surprised. Makes sense. He ran a pirate radio station, too.
As a reader of Bifo since being turned on to his book The Uprising (2012) I can say with a little authority that already his style is evident here, in terms of you getting to read some of the stuff he wrote for the zines way back when. Except it maybe is a little more poetic and elliptical. He was young, after all. This book also, though not entirely clearly, explains what was going on politically in Italy at the time to warrant such a zine. This is all rather fun in the same way reading about old punk is fun: revolutionary politics is chic, after all, or at least, it should be.
When Bifo talks about the movement itself, it reminds me of the Occupy movement. Rather formless, without a clear desire other than feeling. Bifo talks about how part of this mutation in 77, in terms of revolutionary politics, was to a degree a rejection of former, now stratified and seemingly inert and thus impotent revolutionary politics. And part of that was a revolt against form into formlessness. I think Bifo describes this as desires. It makes sense but does not provide much in terms of a way forward. But, then again, this is not that book.
In the end, the editors attempt briefly to try and reconcile the modern digital age of political missives with perhaps a return to print media. Like perhaps there is lessons to be learned from this that can be used now. I thought of e-flux, where Bifo occasionally writes now. I'm not sure if I'm convinced that these thousand little machines can escape the chic of a fetishized past attempt (and failed) revolution to inspire the present, but it is cool. Punk politics remains cool. I believe that at least.
Having at least an armchair enthusiast's knowledge of punk, I'm also aware of how much it has been fetishized. Working in a tangentially related industry, the world is inundated with punk retrospectives, punk photo books, punk flyer collections, and, of course, punk zines. I have been to a punk zine shop (you needed an appointment). It is all very nostalgic.
But of course, the true punk is politics. That Bifo ran a political zine in Italy during the punk time I was unaware of but am not surprised. Makes sense. He ran a pirate radio station, too.
As a reader of Bifo since being turned on to his book The Uprising (2012) I can say with a little authority that already his style is evident here, in terms of you getting to read some of the stuff he wrote for the zines way back when. Except it maybe is a little more poetic and elliptical. He was young, after all. This book also, though not entirely clearly, explains what was going on politically in Italy at the time to warrant such a zine. This is all rather fun in the same way reading about old punk is fun: revolutionary politics is chic, after all, or at least, it should be.
When Bifo talks about the movement itself, it reminds me of the Occupy movement. Rather formless, without a clear desire other than feeling. Bifo talks about how part of this mutation in 77, in terms of revolutionary politics, was to a degree a rejection of former, now stratified and seemingly inert and thus impotent revolutionary politics. And part of that was a revolt against form into formlessness. I think Bifo describes this as desires. It makes sense but does not provide much in terms of a way forward. But, then again, this is not that book.
In the end, the editors attempt briefly to try and reconcile the modern digital age of political missives with perhaps a return to print media. Like perhaps there is lessons to be learned from this that can be used now. I thought of e-flux, where Bifo occasionally writes now. I'm not sure if I'm convinced that these thousand little machines can escape the chic of a fetishized past attempt (and failed) revolution to inspire the present, but it is cool. Punk politics remains cool. I believe that at least.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews