Re: Negri's Marxism

["Bryan A. Alexander" <bnalexan@xxxxxxxxx>]

This thread is more lively than I thought.  I hope we can keep it up.


Bryan Alexander                                 Department of English
email: bnalexan@xxxxxxxxx                       University of Michigan
phone: (313) 764-0418                           Ann Arbor, MI  USA    48103
fax: (313) 763-3128                             http://www.umich.edu/~bnalexan

On Mon, 19 Feb 1996, Marcus Strom wrote:

>...
> > Wait - can you develop what you find useful?  You trash Negri in the
> > following lines - so why is he worth studying? to destroy and learn from
> > the ashes?
>
> What I find useful is what you mention below. This initial work is
> clearly focussed on working class political independence. This in the
> period of 'eurocommunism' which had abandoned the working class. It treats
> *class compostion* as a *process* and part of the struggle, and not a
> given. The work challenges what I call the "productivists", those
> so-called marxists (maoists, stalinists and most trotskyists) who put
> production as the prime indicator of progress. They don't subordinate
> production to humanity and its needs and wants.

Yes, i think the opposition of Negri to maoists and trotskii is correct,
and he's certainly antieurocommunist.  And I can see the appeal of
"working class political independence" to one advocating party
organizations.  This would be a good point for us to seize on and develop.

> ...
> > > *ever* read. It is the sort of book you read and keep laughing,
> > > underlying the funniest/ridiculous pieces and then reading them to
> > > your mates for a good laugh.
> >
> > We can use MIMNotes for the same purpose.  Chacun a son gout.
>
> What does "chacun a son gout" mean?

"To each his/her own," is the usual English.
> ...
> > >...
> > > So, in the autonomia stuff, we have an overemphasis of the boycott of
> > > work, absenteesim and the like as a form of conscious class war. It
> > > is unconscious for most people.
> >
> > And so...? your point?  Consciousness is a prime topic for our study, right?
>
> My point is the difference between work and labour and the way we
> develop slogans around these issues in relation to changing class
> consciousness of workers.

Isn't systemic absenteeism, sabotage, the occcasional fragging of
supervisors a)expressive of modern working-class consciousness? and b)a
potential part of strategy?  Negri takes these together to argue for a
new twist on proletarian subjectivity - perhaps you won't push such an
aggressive synthesis.

> ...
> I have in no way dismissed Negri.

Sure sounded like it.
  What you call the fetishisation of
> work is the result of the productivist 'marxists'. We should be
> trying to make work enjoyable, even under capitalism, but not through
> tying the hands of the workers to capital.

Your last point is excellent.  And your first is a good clarification.
But "...making work enjoyable..." is the basis for a larger critique,
like that of the Zerowork folks.

>
> We must abolish labour and the wages system to *begin* to do this
> properly. Alienation, consciousness, work, relationship to the state...
>  the nexus of these issues is raised directly by Negri's work and is
> why it is so valuable.
>
> While I certainly do not agree with all his conclusions, and strongly
> oppose the 'abolish work' slogan which he and others like the
> ZEROwork, Semiotext... types propogate, that he develops these issues
> taps into a rich vein of marxist theory
>
> Marcus
>
This is much more useful.  I identified the political independence point
earlier - are there any other veins you want to formally open up or
identify (to push the metaphor too far...)?
        Thanks for the good dialogue.


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