Thinking through Marx: An Introduction to the Political Theory of Antonio Negri

Abstract

Our critique of the postmodern, postindustrial, and post-Fordist state is still and always a communist critique—a total, affirmative, Dionysian critique. Communism is the only Dionysian creator. (Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri) The political and social theory of Antonio Negri is now getting full attention in mainstream news media, activist circles, and academic contexts. With the publication of Empire (written with Michael Hardt) in 2000, all of a sudden this venerable radical political theorist is getting a hearing, in the process being hailed by many as the thinker of the 21st century. Yet, as many radicals and political theorists know, Negri has been around for a long time as both an important political activist (associated with the autonomia movement in the late 1970s in Italy) and an interesting, indeed heterodox, Marxist theoretician. In this issue of Strategies, we hope to give the reader a good understanding for the context from which Negri's theory arises, the important concepts and theoretical issues that are part of his theory, as well as the way in which his ideas and concepts provide provocative ways in which to understand and/or engage our current political and theoretical context. My task in this introduction is to provide a general overview of Negri's political theory, particularly as it relates to his rethinking of Marx's ideas.