The Science and Passion of Communism : Selected Writings of Amadeo Bordiga

Historical Materialism #209

by Amadeo Bordiga, Pietro Basso (Editor), Giacomo Donis (Translator)

The Science and Passion of Communism presents the battles of the brilliant Italian communist Amadeo Bordiga in the revolutionary cycle of the post-WWI period, through his writings against reformism and war, for Soviet power and internationalism, and then against fascism, on one side, Stalinism and the degeneration of the International, on the other.

Equally important was his sharp critique of triumphant U.S. capitalism in the post-WWII period, and his original re-presentation of Marxist critique of political economy, which includes the capital-nature and capital-species relationships, and the programme of social transformations for the revolution to come.

Without any form of canonization, we can say that Bordiga’s huge workshop is a veritable goldmine, and anyone who decides to enter it will not be disappointed. He will guide you through a series of instructive, energizing and often highly topical excursions into the near and distant past, into the present that he largely foresaw, and into the future that he sketched with devouring passion.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Politics, History

658 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2021

About the author

Amadeo Bordiga was an Italian Marxist, a contributor to Communist theory, the founder of the Communist Party of Italy, a leader of the Communist International and, after World War II, leading figure of the International Communist Party.

Reviews

[logan]

Bordiga was truly the most coherent and intelligent communist I have ever had the pleasure of coming across. strong in his convictions, committed to Marxism, and always with an eye to effective (not adventurist) action. an endless font of knowledge.

[Steve]

Nice to see a big, mostly well translated collection of Bordiga's writings. The actual selection is a bit disappointing, as it includes many articles already translated and published. It is also is not the most interesting selection. I would have liked to see a lot more of the 'thread of time' articles.

[Alvaro]

The goat of Marxism and lasagna

[Ben]

While I struggle with some of Bordiga's theses, specifically those relating to organisational form of the party (as in organic centralism) and the semi-rejection of the united front tactic, his analysis of post-war capitalism is as valuable as the excerpts of his pre-war work in the 3rd International. Bordiga expertly exposes Stalinism, a critique so sharp it has rendered my own view of post 1923 Russia far more critical.

In his post-war works, his writing becomes more and more eccentric in style, but I got used to it after a while and got quite a few chuckles out of his caustic polemic.

Besso should've elaborated more on the fate of the organisations Bordiga later joined. Instead of a personal biography, a deeper exploration of the Italian Left would've been more interesting to me, personally. But I won't hold that against this book, since it sets out with the intention of focusing on Bordiga explicitly.

Bordiga's greatest contribution to the movement has to be his iron will in relating all current tactical decisions to the ultimate goal of a communist party. By constantly repeating that communism is the objective and capital the enemy, he does away with many opportunist illusions (e.g. peaceful coexistence with the West). As he analyzed correctly himself, what we need is a return to the classics. And he (poetically and gently, one might add) beats the reader over the head with them until they submit to marxism.

[Cesar Baez]

“Capitalism insists on madly dissipating the labour of the living, and makes the labour of the dead its inhuman property. In the communist economy we shall reverse the terms, and call enlivening that which its technicians term 'depreciation' of 'dead' capital (that is, the [cost of] replacement of fixed capital).the antithesis between property and usufruct is directly related to the antithesis between dead and living labour. We are on the side of the eternal life of the species; our enemies are on the sinister side of eternal death. Life will sweep them away, synthesizing these opposites in the reality of communism. But we shall give yet another formulation of that same antithesis: monetary
exchange, and physical use. Mercantile exchange value versus use value. The communist revolution is the killing of mercantilism… the communist and revolutionary militant, is someone who has been able to forget, renounce, free his spirit and soul from the classification in which the civil state of this putrefying society has placed him. The comrade is someone who sees himself and integrates himself into the age old perspective that unites our tribal ancestors fighting against wild animals with the members of the future community, living in the fraternity and joyful harmony of social humanity.”

[lena ∵]

Great collection of Bordiga's work, divided both chronologically and thematically. Though I don't agree with everything Bordiga is saying, he is a great writer that, in his fight against revisionism and opportunism, never lets his foot off the gas; his writing is always clear and striking. His post-war writings seem a little more eccentric and poetic, but the subjects he writes and how he writes about them is no less important.
It seems only fitting that the last chapter of the book is concerned with the Party's activity when the historical situation is unfavourable. It puts into opposition the pre-war Bordiga that, from his writings, seemed a practical, quick thinker, with the post-war Bordiga, that seemed more concerned with repeating of Marx's words, constantly battling to hammer home the point that everything he is saying had been already said.

[emily rae]

I'm reviewing this book available on Lulu bookstore:

Amadeo Bordiga Selected Works II (1926-52)

[https://www.lulu.com/shop/amadeo-bord...]

The free PDFs for this text can be found on marxists.org.

Dialogue with Stalin is an excellent defence of Marxism against Stalinist deviations. The other texts are good (I particularly liked his ecological texts).

4*.

[C. Varn]

I am not necessarily a Bordigist, but the historical introduction is one of the better bits of Bordigists scholarship that exist. One also gets a good sample of Bordiga's writing in its historical context with clearer translations than that which is often available or in the Radical Reprints editions. That said, there is still a lot of Bordiga's work that is not in here.

[Erwan Moysan]

See what I have to say here: https://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/revi...