This article examines the main lines of argument developed within the autonomist or Open Marxist tradition, focusing especially on the work of Holloway and Negri. Referring to the experience of workers in the film industry, its author finds that some themes, including the concept of class composition, have much to offer. But he criticizes Negri’s overall schema, including his categories of social labour and immaterial labour. He suggests a different interpretation of key passages in the Grundrisse to argue instead for continuity with Marx’s analysis, and for the continuing relevance of trade unions in the struggle around class composition.
Anderson P. ( 2009) Italy’s invertebrate leftLondon Review of Books31/5.
2.
Barbrook R. ( 2007) The Class of the New. London: Openmute.
3.
Bell D. ( 1973) The Coming of the Post-Industrial Society. New York: Basic Books.
4.
Bonefeld W., Gunn R., Psychopedis K. ( 1992a) Introduction. In Bonefeld W, Gunn R, Psychopedis K (eds.) Open Marxism, Vol. 1. London: Pluto Press.
5.
Bonefeld W, Gunn R, Psychopedis K (eds.) (1992b) Open Marxism, Vol. 2. London: Pluto Press.
6.
Bowring F. ( 2004) From the mass worker to the multitude: A theoretical contextualisation of Hardt & Negri’s Empire. Capital & Class83: 101-132.
7.
Callinicos A. ( 2005) Sympathy for the devil? John Holloway’s Mephistophelian Marxism. Capital & Class85.
8.
Cleaver H. ( 1992) The inversion of class theory in Marxian perspective: From valorisation to self-valorisation. In Bonefeld W, Gunn R, Psychopedis K (eds.) (1992b).
9.
De Angelis M. ( 1995) Beyond the technological and social paradigms: A political reading of abstract labour as the substance of value. Capital & Class57: 107-134.
10.
Debord G. ( 2005) The Society of the Spectacle. London : Rebel Press.
11.
Dunayevskaya R. ( 1958) Marxism and Freedom. New York: Bookman Associates.
12.
Fine B., Saad-Filho A. ( 2004) Marx’s Capital. London: Pluto Press.
13.
Florida R. ( 2002) The Rise of the Creative Class. New York: Basic Books.
14.
Hardt M., Negri A. ( 2000) Empire. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.
15.
Harvey D. ( 1990) The Condition of Postmodernity. Oxford : Blackwell.
16.
Holloway J. ( 1992) Crisis, fetishism, class composition. In Bonefeld W, Gunn R, Psychopedis K (eds.) (1992b).
17.
Holloway J. ( 1993) The freeing of Marx. Common Sense14.
18.
Holloway J. ( 2005) Change the World Without Taking Power. London: Pluto Press.
19.
Holloway J. ( 2005) Change the world without taking power. Capital & Class85.
20.
Jameson F. ( 1991) Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism . London: Verso.
21.
Marcuse H. ( 1958) Preface. In Dunayevskaya ( 1958).
22.
Marx K. ( 1954 [1867]) Capital, Vol. 1. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
23.
Marx K. ( 1973[1857]) Grundrisse. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
24.
Miege B. ( 1989) The Capitalization of Cultural Production. New York: International General.
25.
Negri A. ( 1988) Revolution Retrieved. London: Red Notes.
26.
Negri A. ( 1991) Marx beyond Marx. London: Pluto Press.
27.
Negri A. ( 1992) Interpretation of the class situation today: Methodological aspects. In Bonefeld W, Gunn R, Psychopedis K (eds.) (1992b).
28.
Thompson P. ( 2005) Foundation and Empire: A critique of Hardt and Negri. Capital & Class86: 73-98.
29.
Tronti M. ( 1962) Extract from ‘La fabbrica e la societa’, in Cleaver H (1992) The inversion of class theory in Marxian perspective: From valorisation to self-valorisation In Bonefeld W, Gunn R, Psychopedis K (eds.) (1992b).
30.
Work Foundation (2007) Staying Ahead: The Economic Performance of the UK’s Creative Industries. London: Work Foundation. Available at www.theworkfoundation.com .
