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The Philosophy of Antonio Negri, Volume One: Resistance in Practice
This collection of essays is the first of its kind in English on the work of Antonio Negri, the Italian philosopher and political theorist. The spectacular success of Empire, Negri’s collaboration with Michael Hardt, has brought Negri's writing to a new, wider audience. A substantial body of his writing is now available to an English-speaking readership. Outstanding contributors – including Michael Hardt, Sergio Bologna, Kathi Weeks and Nick Dyer-Witheford – reveal the variety and complexity of Negri's thought and explore its unique relevance to modern politics. Negri is one of the most sophisticated analysts of modern political philosophy. Philosophers and critics alike find his work both difficult and exhilarating, engaging as it does with Marx, Spinoza, Deleuze, Guattari, Tronti and others. This book is ideal for readers who want to get to grips with Negri's key themes, in particular his theories on labour, capital, power, the state and revolution. It makes a great introduction to his work for students of political philosophy, as well as providing a comprehensive critical approach for Negri enthusiasts.
265 pages, Paperback
First published May 20, 2005
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February 4, 2026
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The Overall Story
This book looks at the work of Antonio Negri, an Italian thinker who moved from being a professor to a political activist. It describes how the working class changed from factory laborers in the 1960s to digital and socialized workers today.
Part 1: The Long 68 in Italy
Chapter 1 by Michael Hardt explains Negri's big shift in thinking where he stopped seeing workers as victims and started seeing them as a subject of power. He notes that the state moved from trying to keep things stable (Planner-State) to using crises and technology to break worker organization (Crisis-State).
Chapter 2 by Sergio Bologna provides a critique. He agrees capitalism is in a struggle but argues Negri's new theories about the end of traditional politics are too abstract and ignore the real power of existing political parties.
Chapter 3 by Alisa Del Re discusses feminism. She explains that the factory exists in the home too, where women do unpaid work that supports the entire economy. She also describes the difficulty of double militancy, where women fought for revolution in public but faced sexism at home.
Chapter 4 by Steve Wright looks at how the movement tried to organize. Different groups fought over whether they should have a strict party with leaders or a decentralized mass vanguard that leads from within the movement.
Part 2: How to Resist the Present
Chapter 5 by Kathi Weeks explains the refusal of work. This is a demand for shorter hours and a rejection of the idea that working hard for a boss is a moral duty. She suggests an exodus where people walk away from the work ethic to invent new ways of living.
Chapter 6 by Nick Dyer-Witheford examines the digital age. He discusses immaterial labor, which is work involving ideas and feelings, and the general intellect, which is our collective social intelligence. He shows how the internet allows people to cooperate outside of capitalist control.
Chapter 7 by Jose Rabasa connects Negri's ideas to the Zapatistas in Mexico. He defines constituent power as the creative energy of the people and constituted power as the government laws that try to tame that energy.
Chapter 8 by Kenneth Surin discusses revolution in a world where capital is everywhere, a state called real subsumption. He argues that because the system is total, we must reinvent everything about our social lives and how we work.
Key Terms
Real Subsumption: When capital spreads to all of society and reproduction, not just the factory.
The Multitude: A diverse global group of people capable of cooperating and resisting power.
Immaterial Labor: Work that produces information, culture, or feelings.
Constituent Power: The raw, creative strength of the people to build a new society.
The Overall Story
This book looks at the work of Antonio Negri, an Italian thinker who moved from being a professor to a political activist. It describes how the working class changed from factory laborers in the 1960s to digital and socialized workers today.
Part 1: The Long 68 in Italy
Chapter 1 by Michael Hardt explains Negri's big shift in thinking where he stopped seeing workers as victims and started seeing them as a subject of power. He notes that the state moved from trying to keep things stable (Planner-State) to using crises and technology to break worker organization (Crisis-State).
Chapter 2 by Sergio Bologna provides a critique. He agrees capitalism is in a struggle but argues Negri's new theories about the end of traditional politics are too abstract and ignore the real power of existing political parties.
Chapter 3 by Alisa Del Re discusses feminism. She explains that the factory exists in the home too, where women do unpaid work that supports the entire economy. She also describes the difficulty of double militancy, where women fought for revolution in public but faced sexism at home.
Chapter 4 by Steve Wright looks at how the movement tried to organize. Different groups fought over whether they should have a strict party with leaders or a decentralized mass vanguard that leads from within the movement.
Part 2: How to Resist the Present
Chapter 5 by Kathi Weeks explains the refusal of work. This is a demand for shorter hours and a rejection of the idea that working hard for a boss is a moral duty. She suggests an exodus where people walk away from the work ethic to invent new ways of living.
Chapter 6 by Nick Dyer-Witheford examines the digital age. He discusses immaterial labor, which is work involving ideas and feelings, and the general intellect, which is our collective social intelligence. He shows how the internet allows people to cooperate outside of capitalist control.
Chapter 7 by Jose Rabasa connects Negri's ideas to the Zapatistas in Mexico. He defines constituent power as the creative energy of the people and constituted power as the government laws that try to tame that energy.
Chapter 8 by Kenneth Surin discusses revolution in a world where capital is everywhere, a state called real subsumption. He argues that because the system is total, we must reinvent everything about our social lives and how we work.
Key Terms
Real Subsumption: When capital spreads to all of society and reproduction, not just the factory.
The Multitude: A diverse global group of people capable of cooperating and resisting power.
Immaterial Labor: Work that produces information, culture, or feelings.
Constituent Power: The raw, creative strength of the people to build a new society.
November 29, 2014
Excellent in parts, but rather uneven. This was my first serious engagement with the ideas of autonomist Marxism and is perhaps not the best place to start. Generally the contributions in the second part of the book I found much better (in fact all four are excellent although Rabasa's Negri by Zapata I felt got rather bogged down and ended up not saying a great deal despite touching on some thought provoking themes). Those in part one are rather too embedded in the historical context of 1970s Italy to offer great relevance to more contemporary struggles. Certainly so for one who has little prior knowledge of the period. Worth a read, although perhaps selectively.
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