Autonomism
Encyclopedia
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
. As an identifiable theoretical system it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s
History of Italy as a Republic
After World War II and the overthrow of Mussolini's fascist regime, Italy's history was dominated by the Christian Democracy political party for 50 years, while the opposition was led by the Italian Communist Party ; this situation prevailed until the crisis of the Soviet Union and the...
from workerist (operaismo) communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. Later, post-Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
and anarchist tendencies became significant after influence from the Situationists, the failure of Italian far-left movements in the 1970s, and the emergence of a number of important theorists including Antonio Negri
Antonio Negri
Antonio Negri is an Italian Marxist sociologist and political philosopher.Negri is best-known for his co-authorship of Empire, and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political philosophy professor in his hometown university...
, who had contributed to the 1969 founding of Potere Operaio
Potere Operaio
Potere Operaio was a radical left-wing Italian political group, active between 1968 and 1973. Among the group's leaders were Antonio Negri, Franco Piperno, Oreste Scalzone and Valerio Morucci, who led its clandestine...
, Mario Tronti, Paolo Virno
Paolo Virno
-In Castilian:* * * * * * * * * * * -Other languages:* * * * *...
, etc.
It influenced the German and Dutch Autonomen, the worldwide social centre movement, and today is influential in Italy, France, and to a lesser extent the English-speaking countries. Those who describe themselves as autonomists now vary from Marxists to post-structuralists
Post-structuralism
Post-structuralism is a label formulated by American academics to denote the heterogeneous works of a series of French intellectuals who came to international prominence in the 1960s and '70s...
and anarchists.
Etymology
The term autonomia/Autonome was first used in 1620, having been composed out of two GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
words, "auto–nomos", referring to someone or something which lives by his/her own rule. Autonomy, in this sense, is not independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
. While independence refers to an autarcic
Autarky
Autarky is the quality of being self-sufficient. Usually the term is applied to political states or their economic policies. Autarky exists whenever an entity can survive or continue its activities without external assistance. Autarky is not necessarily economic. For example, a military autarky...
kind of life, separated from the community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
, autonomy refers to life in society but by one's own rule. Though the notion of autonomism was alien to the ancient Greeks, whose society was not an all-inclusive one, the concept is indirectly endorsed by Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, who stated that only beasts or gods could be independent and live apart from the polis
Polis
Polis , plural poleis , literally means city in Greek. It could also mean citizenship and body of citizens. In modern historiography "polis" is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, so polis is often translated as "city-state."The...
("community"), while Kant
KANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
defined the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
by autonomy of thought and the famous "Sapere aude" ("dare to know").
The Marxist Autonomist theory
Unlike other forms of MarxismMarxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, autonomist Marxism emphasises the ability of the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
to force changes to the organization of the capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
system independent of the state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
, trade unions or political parties
Political Parties
Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...
. Autonomists are less concerned with party political organization than are other Marxists, focusing instead on self-organized action outside of traditional organizational structures. Autonomist Marxism is thus a "bottom-up" theory: it draws attention to activities that autonomists see as everyday working-class resistance to capitalism, for example absenteeism
Absenteeism
Absenteeism is a habitual pattern of absence from a duty or obligation. Traditionally, absenteeism has been viewed as an indicator of poor individual performance, as well as a breach of an implicit contract between employee and employer; it was seen as a management problem, and framed in economic...
, slow working, and socialization in the workplace.
Like other Marxists, autonomists see class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
as being of central importance. However, autonomists have a broader definition of the working class than do other Marxists: as well as wage-earning workers (both white collar
White-collar worker
The term white-collar worker refers to a person who performs professional, managerial, or administrative work, in contrast with a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor...
and blue collar
Blue-collar worker
A blue-collar worker is a member of the working class who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled, manufacturing, mining, construction, mechanical, maintenance, technical installation and many other types of physical work...
), autonomists also include in this category the unwaged (students, the unemployed, homemakers, etc.), who are traditionally deprived of any form of union representation.
Early theorists (such as Mario Tronti
Mario Tronti
Mario Tronti is an Italian philosopher and politician, considered as one of the founders of the theory of operaismo in the 1960s.-Biography:...
, Antonio Negri
Antonio Negri
Antonio Negri is an Italian Marxist sociologist and political philosopher.Negri is best-known for his co-authorship of Empire, and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political philosophy professor in his hometown university...
, Sergio Bologna, and Paolo Virno
Paolo Virno
-In Castilian:* * * * * * * * * * * -Other languages:* * * * *...
) developed notions of "immaterial" and "social labour" that extended the Marxist concept of labour to all society. They suggested that modern society's wealth was produced by unaccountable collective work, and that only a little of this was redistributed to the workers in the form of wages. Other Italian autonomists—particularly feminists, such as Mariarosa Dalla Costa and Silvia Federici
Silvia Federici
Silvia Federici is a scholar, teacher, and activist from the radical autonomist feminist Marxist tradition. She is a professor emerita and Teaching Fellow at Hofstra University, where she was a social science professor...
—emphasised the importance of feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
and the value of unpaid female labour to capitalist society.
Italian autonomism
Autonomist Marxism—referred to in Italy as operaismo, which translates literally as "workerism"—first appeared in Italy in the early 1960s. Arguably, the emergence of early autonomism can be traced to the dissatisfaction of automotive workers in TurinTurin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
with their union, which reached an agreement with FIAT
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
. The disillusionment of these workers with their organised representation, along with the resultant riots (in particular the 1962 riots by FIAT workers in Turin, "fatti di Piazza Statuto"), were critical factors in the development of a theory of self-organised labour representation outside the scope of traditional representatives such as trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s.
In 1969, the operaismo approach was active mainly in two different groups: Lotta Continua
Lotta Continua
Lotta Continua was a far left extra-parliamentary organization in Italy. It was founded in autumn 1969 by a split in the student-worker movement of Turin, which had started militant activity at the universities and factories such as Fiat...
, led by Adriano Sofri
Adriano Sofri
Adriano Sofri is an Italian intellectual, a journalist and a writer.Former leader of the autonomist movement Lotta Continua in the 1960s, he was arrested in 1988 and convicted to 22 years of prison, having been found guilty of being the instigator of the murder of Luigi Calabresi, a police...
(which had a very significant Roman Catholic cultural matrix), and Potere Operaio
Potere Operaio
Potere Operaio was a radical left-wing Italian political group, active between 1968 and 1973. Among the group's leaders were Antonio Negri, Franco Piperno, Oreste Scalzone and Valerio Morucci, who led its clandestine...
, led by Antonio Negri
Antonio Negri
Antonio Negri is an Italian Marxist sociologist and political philosopher.Negri is best-known for his co-authorship of Empire, and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political philosophy professor in his hometown university...
, Franco Piperno
Franco Piperno
Franco Piperno is an Italian former communist militant. He is currently an associated professor of Condensed Matter Physics in the University of Calabria..-Biography:Piperno was born at Catanzaro....
, Oreste Scalzone
Oreste Scalzone
Oreste Scalzone is an Italian Marxist intellectual and one of the founders of the communist organization Potere Operaio....
, and Valerio Morucci
Valerio Morucci
Valerio Morucci is an Italian former terrorist, who was a member of the Red Brigades and who took part in the kidnapping and assassination of Aldo Moro in 1978.-Biography:...
. Mario Capanna
Mario Capanna
Mario Capanna is an Italian politician and writer.-Biography:Born in Città di Castello, he studied Philosophy at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, and was the leader of the Italian students' movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s...
was the charismatic leader of the Milan student movement, which had a more classical Marxist-Leninist approach.
Influences
Through translations made available by Danilo Montaldi and others, the Italian autonomists drew upon previous activist research in the United States by the Johnson-Forest TendencyJohnson-Forest Tendency
The Johnson–Forest tendency, sometimes called the Johnsonites, refers to a radical left tendency in the United States associated with Marxist theorists C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya, who used the pseudonyms J.R. Johnson and Freddie Forest respectively...
and in France by the group Socialisme ou Barbarie
Socialisme ou Barbarie
Socialisme ou Barbarie was a French-based radical libertarian socialist group of the post-World War II period . It existed from 1948 until 1965...
. The Johnson-Forest Tendency had studied working-class life and struggles within the US auto industry, publishing pamphlets such as "The American Worker" (1947), "Punching Out" (1952), and "Union Committeemen and Wildcat Strikes" (1955). That work was translated into French by Socialisme ou Barbarie and published, serially, in their journal. They too began investigating and writing about what was going on inside workplaces, in their case inside both auto factories and insurance offices.
The journal Quaderni Rossi ("Red Notebooks"), produced between 1961 and 1965, and its successor Classe Operaia ("Working Class"), produced between 1963 and 1966, were also influential in the development of early autonomism. Both were founded by Antonio Negri and Mario Tronti.
Pirate radio
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
stations also were a factor in spreading autonomist ideas. Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
's Radio Alice
Radio Alice
Radio Alice was an Italian free radio broadcasting from Bologna at the end of the 1970s. It started transmitting on February 9, 1976 using an ex-military transmitter on a frequency of 100.6 MHz. The station was closed by the carabinieri on March 12, 1977. Radio Alice then re-opened again for two...
was an example of such a station.
Direct action
The Italian student movement, including the Indiani MetropolitaniIndiani Metropolitani
Indiani Metropolitani were a small faction active in the Italian far-left protest movement during 1976 and 1977, in the so called "Years Of Lead".- Background :...
, starting from 1966 with the murder of student Paolo Rossi by neo-fascists at Rome University, engaged in various direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
operations, including riot
Riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...
s and occupations, along with more peaceful activities such as self-reduction, in which individuals refused to pay for such services and goods as public transport, electricity, gas, rent, and food. Several clashes occurred between students and the police during the occupations of universities in the winter of 1967–68, during the Fiat
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
occupations, and in March 1968 in Rome during the Battle of Valle Giulia
Battle of Valle Giulia
The Battle of Valle Giulia is the conventional name for a clash between Italian left-wing militants and the Italian police at Valle Giulia, Rome, on March 1, 1968...
.
On March 11, 1977, riots took place in Bologna following the killing of student Francesco Lorusso by police.
Beginning in 1979, the state effectively prosecuted the autonomist movement, accusing it of protecting the Red Brigades
Red Brigades
The Red Brigades was a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation, based in Italy, which was responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead"...
, which had kidnapped and assassinated Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro was an Italian politician and the 39th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. He was one of Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than six years....
. 12,000 far-left activists were detained; 600 fled the country, including 300 to France and 200 to South America.. This was during the period known as the Years of lead.
The French autonome movement
In France, the Marxist group Socialisme ou BarbarieSocialisme ou Barbarie
Socialisme ou Barbarie was a French-based radical libertarian socialist group of the post-World War II period . It existed from 1948 until 1965...
, led by philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis was a Greek philosopher, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, author of The Imaginary Institution of Society, and co-founder of the Socialisme ou Barbarie group.-Early life in Athens:...
, could be said to be one of the first autonomist groups, as well as having importance in the council communist tradition. Socialisme ou Barbarie drew upon the activist research of the American Johnson-Forest Tendency inside US auto plants and carried out their own investigations into rank-and-file workers struggles, struggles that were autonomous of union or party leadership.
Also parallel to the work of the Johnson-Forest Tendency, Socialisme ou Barbarie harshly criticised the Communist regime in the USSR, which it considered a form of "bureaucratic capitalism
Bureaucratic collectivism
Bureaucratic collectivism is a theory of class society. It is used by some Trotskyists to describe the nature of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, and other similar states in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere .- Theory :...
" and not at all the socialism
State socialism
State socialism is an economic system with limited socialist characteristics, such as public ownership of major industries, remedial measures to benefit the working class, and a gradual process of developing socialism through government policy...
it claimed to be. Philosopher Jean-François Lyotard
Jean-François Lyotard
Jean-François Lyotard was a French philosopher and literary theorist. He is well known for his articulation of postmodernism after the late 1970s and the analysis of the impact of postmodernity on the human condition...
was also part of this movement.
However, the Italian influence of the operaismo movement was more directly felt in the creation of the review Matériaux pour l'intervention (1972–73) by Yann Moulier-Boutang, a French economist close to Toni Negri. This led in turn to the creation of the Camarades group (1974–78). Along with others, Moulier-Boutang joined the Centre International pour des Nouveaux Espaces de Liberté (CINEL), founded three years earlier by Félix Guattari
Félix Guattari
Pierre-Félix Guattari was a French militant, an institutional psychotherapist, philosopher, and semiotician; he founded both schizoanalysis and ecosophy...
, and assisted Italian activists accused of terrorism, of whom at least 300 fled to France.
The French autonome mouvement organised itself in the AGPA (Assemblée Parisienne des Groupes Autonomes, "Parisian Assembly of Autonome Groups"; 1977–78). Many tendencies were present in it, including the Camarades group led by Moulier-Boutang, members of the Organisation communiste libertaire, some people referring themselves to the "Desiring Autonomy" of Bob Nadoulek, but also squatters and street-wise people (including the groupe Marge). French autonomes supported captured Red Army Faction
Red Army Faction
The radicalized were, like many in the New Left, influenced by:* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S...
former members. Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
also intervened on the conditions for the detention of RAF detainees.
The militant group Action Directe appeared in 1979 and carried out several violent direct actions. Action Directe claimed responsibility for the murders of Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
's CEO Georges Besse
Georges Besse
Georges Besse was a French businessman who led several large state-controlled French companies during his lifetime. He was assassinated outside his home on November 17, 1986...
and General Audran. George Besse had been CEO of nuclear company Eurodif
Eurodif
Eurodif, which means European Gaseous Diffusion Uranium Enrichment Consortium, is a subsidiary of the French company AREVA which operates a uranium enrichment plant established at the Tricastin Nuclear Power Center in Pierrelatte in Drôme...
. Action Directe was dissolved in 1987.
In the 1980s, the autonomist movement underwent a deep crisis in Italy because of effective prosecution by the State, and was stronger in Germany than in France. It remained present in Parisian squats and in some riot
Riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...
s (for example in 1980 near the Jussieu campus
Jussieu Campus
The Jussieu Campus is a higher education campus located in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France, which is the main campus of the Pierre and Marie Curie University ....
in Paris, or in 1982 in the Ardennes department
Ardennes (département)
Ardennes is a department in the northeast part of France named after the Ardennes area.- History :The department is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was named after the Ardennes hills, which are located in northeast France, southern...
during anti-nuclear
Anti-nuclear
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...
demonstrations). In the 1980s, the French autonomists published the periodicals CAT Pages (1981–82), Rebelles (1981–93), Tout ! (1982–85), Molotov et Confetti (1984), Les Fossoyeurs du Vieux Monde, La Chôme (1984–85), and Contre (1987–89).
In the 1990s, the French autonomist movement was present in struggles led by unemployed people
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
, with Travailleurs, Chômeurs, et Précaires en colère (TCP, "Angry Workers, Unemployed, and Marginalised people") and l'Assemblée générale des chômeurs de Jussieu ("General Assembly of Jussieu's unemployed people"). It was also involved in the alter-globalisation movement and above all in the solidarity with illegal foreigners (Collective Des Papiers pour tous ("Permits for all", 1996) and Collectif Anti-Expulsion (1998–2005)). Several autonomist journals date from this time: Quilombo
Quilombo
A quilombo is a Brazilian hinterland settlement founded by people of African origin, Quilombolas, or Maroons. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos were escaped slaves and, in some cases, a minority of marginalised Portuguese, Brazilian aboriginals, Jews and Arabs, and/or other non-black,...
(1988–93), Apache (1990–98), Tic-Tac (1995–97), Karoshi (1998–99), and Tiqqun (1999–2001).
From July 19 to July 28, 2002, a No borders camp was made in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
to protest against anti-immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
policies, in particular inside the Schengen European space
Schengen Agreement
The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed on 14 June 1985 near the town of Schengen in Luxembourg, between five of the ten member states of the European Economic Community. It was supplemented by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement 5 years later...
.
In 2003, autonomists came into conflict with the French Socialist Party
Socialist Party (France)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...
(PS) during a demonstration that took place in the frame of the European Social Forum
European Social Forum
The European Social Forum is a recurring conference held by members of the alter-globalization movement . In the first few years after it started in 2002 the conference was held every year, but later it became biannual due to difficulties with finding host countries...
in Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Saint-Denis is a sous-préfecture of the Seine-Saint-Denis département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Saint-Denis....
(Paris). At the end of December, hundreds of unemployed people helped themselves in the Bon Marché supermarket to be able to celebrate Christmas (an action called "autoréduction" (of prices) in French). French riot police
Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité
The Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité are the riot control forces and general reserve of the French National Police. The CRS were created on 8 December 1944 and the first units were organised by 31 January 1945. The CRS were reorganized in 1948...
(CRS) physically opposed the unemployed people inside the shop. Autonomes rioted during the spring 2006 protests
2006 labour protests in France
The 2006 youth protests in France occurred throughout France during February, March, and April 2006 as a result of opposition to a measure set to deregulate labour...
against the CPE
First Employment Contract
The contrat première embauche was a new form of employment contract pushed in spring 2006 in France by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin...
, and again after the 2007 presidential election
French presidential election, 2007
The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France for a five-year term.The winner, decided on 5 and 6 May 2007, was Nicolas Sarkozy...
when Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
was elected.
On November 11, 2008, the French police arrested ten people, including five living in a farmhouse on a hill overlooking Tarnac, and accused them of associating with a "terrorist enterprise" by sabotaging TGV's overhead lines. Nine out of ten were let go and only Julien Coupat
Julien Coupat
Julien Coupat is a French political activist at the centre of a controversial investigation. As one of the Tarnac Nine, he was accused of plotting the sabotage of train lines in November 2008, which the French government decided to define as terrorism, and spent over six months in jail before...
, the alleged leader, remains in custody, charged with "directing a terrorist group" by the Paris Prosecutor's office.
The German Autonome movement in the 1970s and 1980s
In Germany, Autonome was used during the late 1970s to depict the most radical part of the political left. These individuals participated in practically all actions of the social movements at the time, especially in demonstrations against nuclear energyNuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
plants (Brokdorf 1981, Wackersdorf 1986) and in actions against the construction of airport runways (Frankfurt 1976–86). The defense of squats against the police such as in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
's Hafenstraße was also a major "task" for the "autonome" movement. The Dutch anarchist Autonomen movement from the 1960s also concentrated on squatting.
Tactics of the "Autonome" were usually militant, including the construction of barricades or throwing stones or molotov cocktail
Molotov cocktail
The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...
s at the police. During their most powerful times in the early 1980s, on at least one occasion the police had to take flight.
Because of their outfit (heavy black clothing, ski masks, helmets), the "Autonome" were dubbed der schwarze Block by the German media, and in these tactics were similar to modern black bloc
Black bloc
A black bloc is a tactic for protests and marches, whereby individuals wear black clothing, scarves, ski masks, motorcycle helmets with padding, or other face-concealing items...
s. In 1989, laws regarding demonstrations in Germany were changed, prohibiting the use of so-called "passive weaponry" such as helmets or padding and covering your face.
Today, the "autonome" scene in Germany is greatly reduced and concentrates mainly on anti-fascist actions, ecology, solidarity with refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s, and feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
. There are larger and more militant groups still in operation, such as in Switzerland or Italy.
The Greek Anarcho-autonomoi
In Greece, the anarcho-autonomoi (GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
αναρχο-αυτόνομοι: "anarchist-autonomists") emerged as an important trend in the youth and student movement, first during the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising
Athens Polytechnic uprising
The Athens Polytechnic uprising in 1973 was a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. The uprising began on November 14, 1973, escalated to an open anti-junta, anti-US and anti-imperialist revolt and ended in bloodshed in the early morning of November...
against the military dictatorship that ruled the country at the time. After the collapse of the dictatorship in 1974, the "anarcho-autonomoi" became considerably influential, firstly as a social trend within the youth and then as a (very loose and diverse) political trend. The definition "anarcho-autonomoi", itself, is much debated. One reason for this is that it was originally coined by opponents. However, it was also quite quickly adopted by many adherents, used as a generic term.
Before 1973, in Greece, there was very little tradition in anarchism or libertarian socialism in general. An exception to this was Agis Stinas, an early comrade of Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis was a Greek philosopher, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, author of The Imaginary Institution of Society, and co-founder of the Socialisme ou Barbarie group.-Early life in Athens:...
. Castoriadis belonged to Stinas's small Council Communist group (before he emigrated to France) and was influenced by it; later these roles were turned around. The small groups that existed were almost (physically) eliminated by the Nazis, the local establishment, and the Stalinist communist party during the Nazi occupation and the Greek Civil War that followed, with Castoriadis and Stinas, themselves, being two of the few survivors.
Thus, the radical Greek youth in the 1970s, having very little relative background to refer to, resided to an extensive "syncretism" of multiple trends originating in the respective movements in other European countries. Anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist trends converged with situationist, workerist, or other autonomist trends and even with radical (non-autonomist) Marxist trends. The "anarcho-autonomoi" made a very strong stand during the 1978–80 student movement, coming into violent confrontation with the police and the (also, of considerable influence) Stalinist communist youth (K.N.E). Such stands were repeated whenever the student, worker, and youth movements were rising (in 1987, 1990–91, 1998–99, and 2006–7). However, their intensity has been falling since 1990–91.
Parallel to such participation in social movements, a large number of social centres (many of them squatted) exist to this day around Greece, and many of them participate in social struggles on a local level. These social centres, whether they now identify as "Autonomist" or not (most use more generic terms such as "anti-authoritarian", while some identify as "anarchist" ), function in the ways that historically emerged through "Autonomia". There is also a multitude of small political groups which identify as "Autonomist", ranging from workerist to post-modernist. Most of them are still connected to the respective groups that identify as "Anarchist".
Influence
The Autonomist Marxist and Autonomen movements provided inspiration to some on the revolutionary left in English-speaking countries, particularly among anarchists, many of whom have adopted autonomist tactics. Some English-speaking anarchists even describe themselves as Autonomists. The Italian operaismo movement also influenced Marxist academics such as Harry CleaverHarry Cleaver
Harry Cleaver is Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Texas at Austin, where Cleaver teaches Marxism and Marxist economics. He is best known as the author of Reading Capital Politically, an autonomist reading of Karl Marx's Capital. Dr...
, John Holloway
John Holloway (economist)
John Holloway is a lawyer, Marxist-oriented sociologist and philosopher, whose work is closely associated with the Zapatista movement in Mexico, his home since 1991. It has also been taken up by some intellectuals associated with the piqueteros in Argentina; Abahlali baseMjondolo movement in South...
, Steve Wright, and Nick Dyer-Witheford. In Denmark, the word is used as a catch-all phrase for anarchists and the extra-parliamentary left in general, as was seen in the media coverage of the eviction of the Ungdomshuset
Ungdomshuset
Ungdomshuset was the popular name of the building formally named Folkets Hus located on Jagtvej 69 in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, which functioned as an underground scene venue for music and rendezvous point for varying autonomen and leftist groups from 1982 until 2007 when—after prolonged conflict—it...
squat
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
in March 2007.
Autonomist thinkers
- George CaffentzisGeorge CaffentzisGeorge Caffentzis is a political philosopher and an autonomist Marxist. He founded the Midnight Notes Collective, is a founder member of the co-ordinator of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa and a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern Maine.-Selected articles:*, LibCom,...
- Silvia FedericiSilvia FedericiSilvia Federici is a scholar, teacher, and activist from the radical autonomist feminist Marxist tradition. She is a professor emerita and Teaching Fellow at Hofstra University, where she was a social science professor...
- Antonio NegriAntonio NegriAntonio Negri is an Italian Marxist sociologist and political philosopher.Negri is best-known for his co-authorship of Empire, and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political philosophy professor in his hometown university...
- Michael HardtMichael HardtMichael Hardt is an American literary theorist and political philosopher perhaps best known for Empire, written with Antonio Negri and published in 2000...
- Paolo VirnoPaolo Virno-In Castilian:* * * * * * * * * * * -Other languages:* * * * *...
- Franco "Bifo" BerardiFranco BerardiFranco "Bifo" Berardi is an Italian Marxist theorist and activist working in the autonomist tradition and mainly focusing on the role of the media and information technology in post-industrial capitalism...
- Mario TrontiMario TrontiMario Tronti is an Italian philosopher and politician, considered as one of the founders of the theory of operaismo in the 1960s.-Biography:...
Movements & organizations
- Disobbedienti (ex Tute BiancheTute BiancheTute Bianche was a militant Italian social movement, active from 1994 to 2001.Activists covered their bodies with padding so as to resist the blows of police, to push through police lines, and to march together in large blocks for mutual protection during demonstrations.-Name:Tute Bianche means,...
) - London AutonomistsLondon AutonomistsThe London Autonomists were a London-based autonomist collective/ commune active in the 1980s. Among other things, they helped organise the Class War newspaper in 1983 and the Wapping Autonomy Centre in Wapping Wall which was active from August 1981 - March 1982. Participants included Martin...
- The Blitz (movement) (Norway)
- UngdomshusetUngdomshusetUngdomshuset was the popular name of the building formally named Folkets Hus located on Jagtvej 69 in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, which functioned as an underground scene venue for music and rendezvous point for varying autonomen and leftist groups from 1982 until 2007 when—after prolonged conflict—it...
, Danish autonomist squat - Swedish Anarcho-syndicalist Youth FederationSwedish Anarcho-syndicalist Youth FederationSwedish Anarcho-syndicalist Youth Federation, is a youth-based group in Sweden that supports anarcho-syndicalism....
- Homeless Workers' MovementHomeless Workers' MovementThe Homeless Workers Movement is a shack-dwellers' movement in Brazil. It originated from the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra in 1997...
MTST - Kämpa tillsammans! Kämpa tillsammans!
Others
- horizontalidadHorizontalidadHorizontality or horizontalism is a social relationship that advocates the creation, development and maintenance of social structures for the equitable distribution of management power...
- Kommune 1Kommune 1Kommune 1 or K1 was the first politically-motivated commune in Germany. It was created on January 12, 1967, in West Berlin and finally dissolved in November 1969....
- Popular assemblyPopular assemblyA popular or people's assembly is a gathering called to address issues of importance to participants. Assemblies tend to be freely open to participation and operate by direct democracy...
- spontaneism
- sui iurisSui iurisSui iuris, commonly also spelled sui juris, is a Latin phrase that literally means “of one’s own laws”.-Secular law:In civil law the phrase sui juris indicates legal competence, the capacity to manage one’s own affairs...
Archives
- Libertarian Communist Library Mario Tronti Archive
- Libertarian Communist Library Sergio Bolognia Archive
- Libertarian Communist Library Mariarosa Dalla Costa Archive
- Libertarian Communist Library Nick Dyer-Witheford Archive
- Libertarian Communist Library Antonio Negri Archive
- Libertarian Communist Library Raniero Panzieri Archive
- Libertarian Communist Library Harry Cleaver Archive
Others
- Articles by members of the operaismo movement
- Aut-op-sy - Autonomist forum and texts
- Rekombinant - Autonomist forum and mailing list
- Texas Archives of Autonomist Marxism
- Affinty Project directory and chronology of Autonomous Marxism
- Libertarian Communist Library, texts on autonomism
- Wildcat
- A critique of autonomism, published by a Trotskyist group
- TIQQUN “Introduction to Civil War [fragments]"