| Autonomism |
Articles about Autonomism |
Information AboutAutonomism |
|
protest symbol of ''Autonome'' at the Ernst-Kirchweger-Haus in Vienna , Austria]] Autonomism refers to a set of Left-wing political and social movements and theories close to the Socialist Movement . Autonomism (''autonomia'') emerged in Italy In The 1960s from Workerist ('' Operaismo '') Communism . Later, post- Marxist and Anarchist tendencies became significant after influence from the Situationists , the failure of the Italian far-left movements in the 1970s and the emergence of a number of important theorists including Antonio Negri , who had contributed to the 1969 founding of '' Potere Operaio '' marxist group, Mario Tronti , Paolo Virno , etc. It influenced the German and Dutch '''Autonomen''', the worldwide Social Center Movement , and today is influential in Italy, France, the United States and some other English-speaking countries. Those who describe themselves as autonomists now vary from workerist Marxists to Post-structuralists and (some) anarchists. MEANING OF AUTONOMY The term ''autonomia''/''Autonome'' is derived from the , in this sense, is not Independence . While independence refers to an Autarcic kind of life, separated from the Community , autonomy refers to life in society but by one own's rule. Aristotle thus considered that only beasts or gods could be independent and live apart from the '' Polis '' ("community"), while Kant defined the Enlightenment by autonomy of thought and the famous ''" Sapere Aude "'' ("dare to know"). AUTONOMIST THEORY Unlike other forms of Marxism, autonomist Marxism emphasises the ability of the , slow working, and socialisation in the workplace. Like other Marxists, autonomists see and Blue Collar ), autonomists also include the unwaged (students, the unemployed, homemakers etc), who are traditionally deprived of any form of union representation. Early theorists (such as Mario Tronti , Antonio Negri , Sergio Bologna and Paolo Virno ) 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 . They emphasised the importance of Feminism 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 Turin with their union, which reached an agreement with FIAT . The disillusionment of these workers with their organised representation, along with the resultant riots, were critical factors in the development of a theory of self-organised labour representation outside the scope of traditional representatives such as Trade Union s. In '', led by Adriano Sofri (which had a very important Roman Catholic cultural matrix) and '' Potere Operaio '', led by Antonio Negri , Franco Piperno , Oreste Scalzone , and Valerio Morucci . Mario Capanna was an important leader of the Milan student movement, who had a more classical Marxist-Leninist approach. Important influences on Italian autonomism 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 Tendency and in France by the group Socialisme Ou Barbarie (see below). 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 Committemen 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"), along with its successor '' Classe Operaia '' ("Working Class"), were also influential in the development of early autonomism. Both of these were founded by Antonio Negri and Mario Tronti - Quaderni Rossi was produced between 1961 and 1965, and Classe Operaia between 1963 and 1966. Pirate Radio stations also were an important factor in spreading autonomist ideas and theory. Bologna 's Radio Alice was an example of such a station. Autonomist action in Italy The Italian Student Movement , starting from 1966 (murder by Neo-fascists of student Paolo Rossi in Rome University ) engaged itself in various Direct Action operations, including Riot s and University 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 the students ("Movimento studentesco") and the police, during the occupations of Universities in the winter 1967-1968, during the Fiat occupations, in March 1968 in Rome during the " Battle Of Valle Giulia ". The Piazza Fontana bombing and its legacy See Also: Piazza Fontana bombing In December 1969, four bombings struck in Rome the Monument Of Vittorio Emanuele II (''Altare della Patria''), the '' Banca Nazionale Del Lavoro '', and in Milan the '' Banca Commerciale '' and the ''Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura''. The later bombing, known as the Piazza Fontana Bombing of 12 December 1969, killed 16 and injured 90, marking the beginning of the "strategia della tensione" ( Strategy Of Tension ) in Italy. After the bombing, some 4,000 members of left-wing groups - including anarchists - were detained by the police. Giuseppe Pinelli , an anarchist, was accused at the time of having carried out the bombing. Giuseppe Pinelli was held and interrogated for three days, longer than Italian law specified that people could be held without seeing a judge. On December 15 , he died after falling out of a window. Luigi Calabresi , the police officer who had directed his interrogation, as well as other officers were accused of pushing him out of the window, and put under investigation in 1971 for murder, but charges were dropped because of lack of evidence. The next year, Calabresi was murdered by two shots from a revolver outside his home. Another anarchist, Pietro Valpreda , was then arrested, sentenced for the crime, before being cleared sixteen years later. In the 1980s, the Neo-fascist terrorist Vincenzo Vinciguerra confessed to magistrate Felice Casson that the bombing had in fact been carried out by the far-right organisation '' Ordine Nuovo '', supported by Gladio , NATO 's Stay-behind anti-Communist network, in an attempt to push the state into declaring a State Of Emergency . Despite these confessions, all Defendants were Acquitted by the Court Of Cassation on May 3 , 2005 , during the seventh trial for the Piazza Fontana bombing. The victim's relatives were condemned to refund trial expenses. This attack has been widely considered part of the Strategy Of Tension (''strategia della tensione''), which allegedly aimed at destabilizing the country through a campaign of " False Flags " terrorist attacks - attacks blamed on left-wing groups. The strategy aimed to promote an authoritatian government and (in later years) to sabotage the possibilities for a Historic Compromise (''compromesso storico'') between the Christian Democracy (DC) and the Communist Party (PCI). In 1988 , former '' Lotta Continua '' member Adriano Sofri was arrested, along with Ovidio Bompressi and Giorgio Pietrostefani, for the murder of Luigi Calabresi, the police officer who was suspected of having killed Giuseppe Pinelli. The charges against them were based on testimony provided, sixteen years later, by a "collaboratore di giustizia"- an ex-militant who accused himself of having carried out the murder of Calabresi (under order from Sofri) and collaborated with the magistrates. Claiming his innocence, Sofri was finally sentenced 22 years after a long series of trials, in 2000. Historian Carlo Ginzburg wrote, on this case, a book in support of Sofri's innocence, entitled ''The Judge and the Historian: Marginal Notes on a Late Twentieth-Century Miscarriage of Justice''. The killing of Aldo Moro and the prosecution of the autonomists On March 11 , 1977 , riots (in which the autonomists participated) took place in Bologna following the killing of a young man by the police. Gladio , as well as the Italian Secret Services and the outlawed Propaganda Due masonic lodge (aka "P2"), were later found to be directly involved in the strategy of tension. Starting from 1979 , the state prosecuted effectively the autonomist movement, claiming it protected the Red Brigades , which had kidnapped and assassinated Aldo Moro . 12,000 far-left activists were detained, while 300 fled to France and 200 others to South America , on a total of 600 people who fled On the Autonomist movement . THE FRENCH ''AUTONOME'' MOVEMENT In France, the marxist group '' Socialisme Ou Barbarie '', led by philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis , could be said to be one of the first autonomist groups, as well as having importance in the Council Communist tradition. As mentioned above, ''Socialisme ou Barbarie'' drew upon the American Johnson-Forest Tendency 's activist research inside US auto plants and carried out their own investigations into rank and file workers struggles - struggles autonomous of union or party leadership. Also parallel to the work of the Johnson-Forest Tendency, ''Socialisme ou Barbarie'' harshly criticised the Stalinist regime in the USSR , which it considered a form of ' Bureaucratic Capitalism ' and not at all the State Socialism it pretended to be. Philosopher Jean-François Lyotard , famous for his work on Post-modernism , 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'' (1972-1973) by Yann Moulier-Boutang , a French economist close to Toni Negri. This would lead in turn to the creation of the '' Camarades '' group (1974-78) by Moulier-Boutang. Along with others, Moulier-Boutang would join the ''Centre International pour des Nouveaux Espaces de Liberté'' (CINEL), founded three years before by Félix Guattari , and would give refuge to Italian activists accused of terrorism, of whom at least 300 escaped to France. The French autonome mouvement then 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 '' (OCL - an Anarchist-communist group), 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 the Rote Armee Fraktion ("Red Army Faction" - RAF) Political Prisoners , a cause also defended by Jean-Paul Sartre . The militant group '' Action Directe '' appeared in 1979 and carried on several Direct Actions . Action Directe claimed responsability for the murders of Renault 's CEO Georges Besse and General Audran . George Besse had been CEO of nuclear company Eurodif . It was later alleged that the murder of General Audran had in fact been carried on by the Iranian Intelligence Services . ''Action Directe'' was dissolved in 1987. In the 1980s, the autonomist movement almost disappeared from Italy because of State Repression , and was stronger in Germany than in France. It remained mostly present in Parisian squats and in some Riot s (for example in 1980 near the Jussieu Campus in Paris, or in 1982 in the Ardennes Department during Anti-nuclear demonstrations). In the 1980s, the French autonomists published the periodicals ''CAT Pages'' (1981-1982), ''Rebelles'' (1981-1993), ''Tout !'' (1982-1985), ''Molotov et Confetti'' (1984), '' Les Fossoyeurs Du Vieux Monde '', ''La Chôme'' (1984-1985) and ''Contre'' (1987-1989). In the 1990s, the French autonomist movement was present in struggles led by '' (1988-1993), ''Apache'' (1990-1998), ''Tic-Tac'' (1995-1997), ''Karoshi'' (1998-1999), and ''Tiqqun'' (1999-2001). From July 19 to July 28 , 2002 , a No Borders camp was made in Strasbourg to protest against anti- Immigration policies, in particular inside the Schengen European Space . In 2003 , conflict opposed autonomists to the French Socialist Party (PS) during a demonstration that had taken place in the frame of the European Social Forum in 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 (CRS) physically opposed the unemployed people inside the shop. Autonomes rioted during the Spring 2006 Protests against the CPE , and again after the 2007 Presidential Election when right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy was elected. THE GERMAN ''AUTONOME'' MOVEMENT IN THE 1970-80S In Germany, ''Autonome'' was used during the late 1970s to depict the most radical part of the political left and supported anarchist and Anarcho-communist ideas. These individuals participated in practically all actions of the social movements at the time, especially in demonstrations against Nuclear Energy plants (Brokdorf 1981, Wackersdorf 1986) and in actions against the construction of airport runways (Frankfurt 1976-1986). The defense of Squat s against the police such as in Hamburg '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 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 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 s, Feminism . There are more militant and bigger groups still in operation, such as in Switzerland or Italy . 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 have adopted autonomist tactics. Some English-speaking anarchists even describe themselves as ''Autonomists''. The Italian ''operaismo'' movement also influenced Marxist academics such as Harry Cleaver , John Holloway , Steve Wright, and Nick Dyer-Witheford . In Denmark , the word is used as a catch-all phrase for anarchists and the extraparliamentary extreme left in general, as was seen in the media coverage of the eviction of the Ungdomshuset Squat in Copenhagen in March 2007. REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHY
SEE ALSO Autonomist Marxism thinkers
Other movements or organizations
Italian 1960-80 context
Others EXTERNAL LINKS Archives
Others
|
|
|