Striking Back Against Empire: Autonomist Professor Verity Burgmann
Verity Burgman Striking Back Against Empire: Autonomist Professor Refereed paper presented to the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference University of Adelaide 29 September – 1 October 2004
Autonomist marxism offers a way of looking at the world outside a dominant academic paradigm which emphasises the shaping force of capital, instead autonomist marxism emphasises the creative force of labour.
The working class, according to Antonio Negri, is a ‘dynamic subject, an antagonistic force tending toward its own independent identity’ (Negri 1988, 209).
"Far from being a passive object of capitalist designs, the worker is in fact the active subject
of production, the wellspring of the skills, innovation, and cooperation on which capital
depends . . . Labor is for capital always a problematic ‘other’ that must constantly be
controlled and subdued, and that, as persistently, circumvents or challenges this
command. Rather than being organized by capital, workers struggle against it (Dyer-
Witheford 1999, 65)."
a post war labour movement had regulated and restrained the ability of capitalism to extract profit, since the late 1970s neo-liberal restructuruing had circumnavigated and subdued this tendency. the language of neo-liberalism conceals the class struggle beneath it with talk of "market imperfections" and externalities
the autonomist marxist tradition as being able to challenge the forces of globalisation as it recognises the core area shaped by it, the social democratic and traditional marxist traditions expressed in the third way as accepting the boredom of it all.
"For example, a powerful weapon for capital in its globalization project has been its actual or threatened locational freedom, used to good corporate effect against both governments and workforces. Other policies associated with globalization—such as privatization, decreased public sector spending and antiunion industrial relations legislation— weaken workers’ power and rights in myriad ways. These developments are part of the explanation for declining levels of union membership—until very recently (Robinson 2001; Frege & Kelly 2003, 16; Heery et al
2003, 79; Leisink 1999, 19). As Richard Hyman observed in 1999, for over a decade academic writers had reflected upon ‘a crisis of trade unionism’ (Hyman 1999, 98). Economy and society have been deliberately restructured in ways detrimental to employee interests." pp 2-3
globalisation has forced workers to respond in ways traditionally not analysed by industrial relations studies or formal class organisations
Labour revitalisation studies focusses on unions acting with a political subjectivity that extend beyond corporate bargaining practices (Baccaro et al 2003, 127).
the ideas that summon up the spectre of empire also allow us to envisage a counter empire, the multitude
‘The organization of the multitude as political subject, as posse, thus begins to appear on the world scene’ (Hardt and Negri 2000, 411).
mention how you want to use this thesis to futher understand how social movement actvists form a core part of this potential new dynamic subject in the context of labour in globalisation, as trade unions have throughout their history often relied on the support of radicalised minorities in their recruitment drives and solidarity campaigns, especially at the international level.
(Frege & Kelly 2003, 20) look at the enhanced efforts at recruitment at a global level.
as a whole this paper explores the worth of autonomist marxist thought through the questions of
labour transnationalism v. capital mobility
social-movement unionism v. workforce fragmentation
community unionism v. marketisation
the cybertariat v. corporate control of new technology
anti-capitalism v. corporate summits.
"A climate of labour-force vulnerability encourages self-policing of wage demands (Leisink 1999, 16). As Leo Panitch puts it: ‘the very purpose of globalization, from the perspective of business and the capitalist state, has been to bring about competition among workers … at a higher level’ (2001, 376)."
despite the mobility of capital new forms of organisation enable footloose capitalism to be chased around the globe to answer to its responsibilities
Lee 1996, Hymann 1999, Waterman 1998 all describe how the informatisation of capitalism allows a sharing of solidarity through the networks it has created..
Moody 1997, 249-275 does the rank and file aspect of this internationalism
COMMUNITY UNIONISATION VERSUS MARKETISATION
The French movement of 1995 received overwhelming support, according to Pierre Bourdieu, because it was seen as a necessary defence of the social advances of the whole society, concerning work, public education, public transport—everything which is public: ‘In a rough and confused form it outlined a genuine project for a society, collectively affirmed and capable of being put forward against what is being imposed by the dominant politics’ (Bourdieu 1998, 52–53).
A classic of the literature on this topic is Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello’s 1990
edited collection, Building Bridges: The Emerging Grassroots Coalition of Labor and
Community (Nissen 2004, 68).
''The autonomist Marxist notion of ‘cycles of struggle’ is helpful for interpreting the current moment (Negri 1988; 1989). The process of Verity Burgmann: Striking Back Against Empire composition, then decomposition, then recomposition of the working class constitutes a cycle of struggle. Within the working class, occupational groupings come and go; and the locus of struggle goes with groupings whose time has come rather than passed. This concept is important because it permits recognition that from one cycle to another the leading role of certain sectors of labour may decline, become archaic and be surpassed, without equating such changes with the
disappearance of class conflict; for each capitalist restructuring must recruit new and different types of labour, and thus yield the possibility of working-class recomposition, involving different strata of workers with fresh capacities of resistance and counter-initiative (Dyer-Witheford 1999, 66, 71).'' pp 10-11
In her study of IT workers around the globe, Ursula Huws concludes that ‘a new cybertariat is in the making’, but ‘whether it will perceive itself as such is another matter’ (Huws 2001, 20).
As Hardt and Negri suggest, the creative forces of the multitude that sustain global capitalism are also capable of autonomously constructing ‘an alternative political organization of global flows and exchanges’ (Hardt and Negri 2000, xv).
‘in more sporadic and anarchic forms, such as the writing of viruses or other forms of sabotage’ (Huws 2001, 20).
''The meaning of class is expanded somewhat to incorporate a wider framework of dispossession, but class is the structural principle allowing commonalities to be recognised and acted upon by the components of the movement (see Starr 2000, 164).''
Frege, C. M. and J. Kelly. 2003. ‘Union Revitalization Stategies in Comparative
Perspective.’ European Journal of Industrial Relations 9 (1):7-24.
Barnes, T. 2001. ‘The Geeks Fight Back: Class Struggle in the Information Technology
Industry.’ In Work. Organisation. Struggle. Papers from the Seventh National Labour
History Conference, ed. P. Griffiths and R. Webb. ANU, Canberra: ASSLH Canberra
Branch, 34–42.
Baccaro, L, K. Hamman and T. Lowell. 2003. ‘The Politics of Labour Movement
Revitalization: The Need for a Revitalized Perspective.’ European Journal of
Industrial Relations 9 (1):119-133.
Bourdieu, P. 1998. Acts of Resistance. Against the New Myths of Our Time (trans.
Richard Nice). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Greenfield, G. 1998. ‘The ICFTU and the Politics of Compromise.’ In Rising From the
Ashes? Labor in the Age of “Global” Capitalism, ed. E. M. Wood, P. Meiksins and M.
Yates. New York: Monthly Review Press, 180–89.
Hurd, R., R. Milkman and L. Turner. 2003. ‘Reviving the American Labour
Movement: Institutions and Mobilization.’ European Journal of Industrial Relations 9
(1): 99-118.
Kelley, R. D. G. 1997. ‘The New Urban Working Class.’ New Labor Forum 1 (1).
Kotz, D. M. and M. H. Wolfson. 2004. ‘Déjà Vu All Over Again: The “New” Economy
in Historical Perspective.’ Labor Studies Journal 28 (4):25-44.
Rising From the Ashes? Labor in the Age of “Global” Capitalism
Negri, A. 1988. Revolution Retrieved: Selected Writings on Marx, Keynes, Capitalist Crisis and New Social Subjects. London: Red Notes.
Autonomist marxism offers a way of looking at the world outside a dominant academic paradigm which emphasises the shaping force of capital, instead autonomist marxism emphasises the creative force of labour.
The working class, according to Antonio Negri, is a ‘dynamic subject, an antagonistic force tending toward its own independent identity’ (Negri 1988, 209).
"Far from being a passive object of capitalist designs, the worker is in fact the active subject
of production, the wellspring of the skills, innovation, and cooperation on which capital
depends . . . Labor is for capital always a problematic ‘other’ that must constantly be
controlled and subdued, and that, as persistently, circumvents or challenges this
command. Rather than being organized by capital, workers struggle against it (Dyer-
Witheford 1999, 65)."
a post war labour movement had regulated and restrained the ability of capitalism to extract profit, since the late 1970s neo-liberal restructuruing had circumnavigated and subdued this tendency. the language of neo-liberalism conceals the class struggle beneath it with talk of "market imperfections" and externalities
the autonomist marxist tradition as being able to challenge the forces of globalisation as it recognises the core area shaped by it, the social democratic and traditional marxist traditions expressed in the third way as accepting the boredom of it all.
"For example, a powerful weapon for capital in its globalization project has been its actual or threatened locational freedom, used to good corporate effect against both governments and workforces. Other policies associated with globalization—such as privatization, decreased public sector spending and antiunion industrial relations legislation— weaken workers’ power and rights in myriad ways. These developments are part of the explanation for declining levels of union membership—until very recently (Robinson 2001; Frege & Kelly 2003, 16; Heery et al
2003, 79; Leisink 1999, 19). As Richard Hyman observed in 1999, for over a decade academic writers had reflected upon ‘a crisis of trade unionism’ (Hyman 1999, 98). Economy and society have been deliberately restructured in ways detrimental to employee interests." pp 2-3
globalisation has forced workers to respond in ways traditionally not analysed by industrial relations studies or formal class organisations
Labour revitalisation studies focusses on unions acting with a political subjectivity that extend beyond corporate bargaining practices (Baccaro et al 2003, 127).
the ideas that summon up the spectre of empire also allow us to envisage a counter empire, the multitude
‘The organization of the multitude as political subject, as posse, thus begins to appear on the world scene’ (Hardt and Negri 2000, 411).
mention how you want to use this thesis to futher understand how social movement actvists form a core part of this potential new dynamic subject in the context of labour in globalisation, as trade unions have throughout their history often relied on the support of radicalised minorities in their recruitment drives and solidarity campaigns, especially at the international level.
(Frege & Kelly 2003, 20) look at the enhanced efforts at recruitment at a global level.
as a whole this paper explores the worth of autonomist marxist thought through the questions of
labour transnationalism v. capital mobility
social-movement unionism v. workforce fragmentation
community unionism v. marketisation
the cybertariat v. corporate control of new technology
anti-capitalism v. corporate summits.
"A climate of labour-force vulnerability encourages self-policing of wage demands (Leisink 1999, 16). As Leo Panitch puts it: ‘the very purpose of globalization, from the perspective of business and the capitalist state, has been to bring about competition among workers … at a higher level’ (2001, 376)."
despite the mobility of capital new forms of organisation enable footloose capitalism to be chased around the globe to answer to its responsibilities
Lee 1996, Hymann 1999, Waterman 1998 all describe how the informatisation of capitalism allows a sharing of solidarity through the networks it has created..
Moody 1997, 249-275 does the rank and file aspect of this internationalism
COMMUNITY UNIONISATION VERSUS MARKETISATION
The French movement of 1995 received overwhelming support, according to Pierre Bourdieu, because it was seen as a necessary defence of the social advances of the whole society, concerning work, public education, public transport—everything which is public: ‘In a rough and confused form it outlined a genuine project for a society, collectively affirmed and capable of being put forward against what is being imposed by the dominant politics’ (Bourdieu 1998, 52–53).
A classic of the literature on this topic is Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello’s 1990
edited collection, Building Bridges: The Emerging Grassroots Coalition of Labor and
Community (Nissen 2004, 68).
''The autonomist Marxist notion of ‘cycles of struggle’ is helpful for interpreting the current moment (Negri 1988; 1989). The process of Verity Burgmann: Striking Back Against Empire composition, then decomposition, then recomposition of the working class constitutes a cycle of struggle. Within the working class, occupational groupings come and go; and the locus of struggle goes with groupings whose time has come rather than passed. This concept is important because it permits recognition that from one cycle to another the leading role of certain sectors of labour may decline, become archaic and be surpassed, without equating such changes with the
disappearance of class conflict; for each capitalist restructuring must recruit new and different types of labour, and thus yield the possibility of working-class recomposition, involving different strata of workers with fresh capacities of resistance and counter-initiative (Dyer-Witheford 1999, 66, 71).'' pp 10-11
In her study of IT workers around the globe, Ursula Huws concludes that ‘a new cybertariat is in the making’, but ‘whether it will perceive itself as such is another matter’ (Huws 2001, 20).
As Hardt and Negri suggest, the creative forces of the multitude that sustain global capitalism are also capable of autonomously constructing ‘an alternative political organization of global flows and exchanges’ (Hardt and Negri 2000, xv).
‘in more sporadic and anarchic forms, such as the writing of viruses or other forms of sabotage’ (Huws 2001, 20).
''The meaning of class is expanded somewhat to incorporate a wider framework of dispossession, but class is the structural principle allowing commonalities to be recognised and acted upon by the components of the movement (see Starr 2000, 164).''
Frege, C. M. and J. Kelly. 2003. ‘Union Revitalization Stategies in Comparative
Perspective.’ European Journal of Industrial Relations 9 (1):7-24.
Barnes, T. 2001. ‘The Geeks Fight Back: Class Struggle in the Information Technology
Industry.’ In Work. Organisation. Struggle. Papers from the Seventh National Labour
History Conference, ed. P. Griffiths and R. Webb. ANU, Canberra: ASSLH Canberra
Branch, 34–42.
Baccaro, L, K. Hamman and T. Lowell. 2003. ‘The Politics of Labour Movement
Revitalization: The Need for a Revitalized Perspective.’ European Journal of
Industrial Relations 9 (1):119-133.
Bourdieu, P. 1998. Acts of Resistance. Against the New Myths of Our Time (trans.
Richard Nice). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Greenfield, G. 1998. ‘The ICFTU and the Politics of Compromise.’ In Rising From the
Ashes? Labor in the Age of “Global” Capitalism, ed. E. M. Wood, P. Meiksins and M.
Yates. New York: Monthly Review Press, 180–89.
Hurd, R., R. Milkman and L. Turner. 2003. ‘Reviving the American Labour
Movement: Institutions and Mobilization.’ European Journal of Industrial Relations 9
(1): 99-118.
Kelley, R. D. G. 1997. ‘The New Urban Working Class.’ New Labor Forum 1 (1).
Kotz, D. M. and M. H. Wolfson. 2004. ‘Déjà Vu All Over Again: The “New” Economy
in Historical Perspective.’ Labor Studies Journal 28 (4):25-44.
Rising From the Ashes? Labor in the Age of “Global” Capitalism
Negri, A. 1988. Revolution Retrieved: Selected Writings on Marx, Keynes, Capitalist Crisis and New Social Subjects. London: Red Notes.
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