autonomists

Autonomists are activists and theorists associated with autonomism, a left-wing political tendency that emerged in Italy during the 1960s and 1970s. They advocate for autonomy from the state and capitalist institutions, arguing that power is exercised through wage relations, legal norms, and bureaucratic structures. Autonomists emphasize organizing outside traditional political parties and reformist unions, seeking to create self-managed, bottom-up forms of social and economic activity.

Origins and development

Autonomism has its roots in the Italian operaismo or workerist currents of the 1960s and 1970s. It matured into the Autonomia movement, a loose network of worker and student groups that organized around direct action, workplace militancy, and social autonomy. Theoretical influences include Antonio Negri, Mario Tronti, and later writers such as Paolo Virno and Michael Hardt, who analyzed the changing nature of labor, power, and resistance in advanced capitalism. The movement influenced anti-globalization protests in the late 1990s and 2000s and contributed to broader discussions about prefigurative politics and the autonomy of social movements.

Key ideas and practices

Autonomists stress prefigurative politics—building practices that embody desired social relations in the present, not only in the future. They emphasize worker self-management, occupations, strikes, and the creation of autonomous social centers and mutual aid networks. Theorizations often focus on immaterial labor, the social constitution of value, and the dissolution of rigid wage-based control. They critique traditional parliamentary politics and centralized unions as insufficient to challenge capitalist power.

Criticism and legacy

Critics argue that autonomist approaches can be vague about organizational strategy or risk tolerating militancy without clear pathways to durable change. Despite divergence within the current, autonomists influenced later post-operaism and reformulated leftist debates about authority, autonomy, and the role of social movements in challenging capitalism.