From: "Rowan Wilson" <wilson_rowan-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: AUT: Re 'Hardt-Negri "Empire": a critique by someone who purports to be marx
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 13:19:37 -0000


Hi Louis, Adam and all

Louis wrote:
>Basically they question the centrality of the working class.

Where!? You'll find it again and again in Empire, and in all their other 
writings, that it's the exploited workers who are the revolutionary subject. 
This is why I rejected your characterisation of them as post-marxists inan 
earlier post.

Part of this
>involves creating a caricature of the Marxism in which the industrial
>working class has some kind of "leading role" in both economic analysis and
>political movements. In reality Marxists have a much more dialectical
>understanding of the working class, which is of course necessary given the
>objective reality of post-WWII society in Europe, Japan and the USA.

Their 'caricature' seems like a fair generalisation of much of the 
understanding by western european marxists as to where the locus of struggle 
has been. The tricky thing about N&H is that they don't seem to disagree 
with this analysis - that is, unless I've read them wrong, the particular 
modes of organisation that developed over history were appropriate to the 
times. They'd probly say "well, that's just the way it was, we're not 
moralising - it's just that forms of organisation are thrown up until they 
are superceded - we may want everyone to be libertarians throughout history 
but things weren't right [historical conditions? ugh - but that's kind of 
where they're heading] for it". This ignores the 'unorthodox' forms of 
communist organisation, such as council commies, that were also strong 
traditions during these periods.

Also poor is that their eurocentric model of the development of working 
class struggle does ignore peasant struggles, etc.

But the fact that they have this model, it makes no sense to say that this 
means they question the centrality of the working class.

I pretty much concur with Adam's comments re- the quote thing. I'd already 
explained the context of the actual quote and in no way did it suggest what 
Louis says it does.

Adam, I'd be v. keen on seeing Harry's critique of N&H that  you mention. It 
does seem odd that they can say that the Chiapas struggle hasn't 
communicated to other struggles.

Cheers
Rowan


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