Radical Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics

by Paolo Virno (Editor), Michael Hardt (Editor), Cesare Casarino (Contributor)

Over the past several decades, Italian revolutionary politics has offered a model for new forms of political thinking. Radical Thought in Italy continues that tradition by providing an original view of the potential for a radical democratic politics today that speaks not only to the Italian situation but also to a broadly international context. First, the essays settle accounts with the culture of cynicism, opportunism, and fear that has come to permeate the Left. They then proceed to analyze the new difficulties and possibilities opened by current economic conditions and the crisis of the welfare state. Finally, the authors propose a series of new concepts that are helpful in rethinking revolution for our times. Contributors: Giorgio Agamben, U of Verona and Collège Internationale de Philosophie, Paris; Massimo De Carolis, U of Salerno; Alisa Del Re, U of Padua; Augusto Illuminati, U of Urbino; Maurizio Lazzarato; Antonio Negri, U of Paris VIII; Franco Piperno, U of Calabria; Marco Revelli, U of Turin; Rossana Rossanda; Carlo Vercellone; Adelino Zanini. Paolo Virno is the author of several books, including the recently translated A Grammar of the Multitude. Michael Hardt is professor of literature and romance studies at Duke University.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Theory, History, Italy

280 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

Paolo Virno (1952–2025) was 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, accused of belonging to the Red Brigades. He spent several years in prison before finally being acquitted, after which he organized the publication Luogo Comune (Italian for "commonplace") in order to vocalize the political ideas he developed during his imprisonment. At the time of his death, Virno was teaching philosophy at the University of Rome.

Reviews

[Leonardo]

Para un análisis excelente de la distinción entre multitud y pueblo, ver: Paolo Virno, “Virtuosity and Revolution: The Political Theory of Exodus”, en Paolo Virno y Michael Hardt, eds., Radical Thought in Italy (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996), pp. 189-210.

Imperio Pág.81


Acerca de una definición y análisis del trabajo inmaterial, ver Maurucio Lazzarato, “Inmaterial Labor”, en Paolo Virno y Michael Hardt, eds., Radical Thought in Italy (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996), pp. 133-147.

Imperio Pág.219

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great anthology for those interested in learning more about Workerism. Of course, feminism is given short-shrift.

[Redpoet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good essays, some not so good, some worth skipping entirely.