Operaismo: in search of the political economy of subjectivity

Since the 2000s, operaismo has become well known internationally. In the global university, it has even been turned into an attractive academic subject, in the form of the so-called “Italian thought” or “post-operaismo.” The risk is to reduce a matter of conflict into an academic matter. In this article, we’ll come back to the origins, or we’ll follow a Machiavellian “return to principle.” This move is not aimed at imagining a continuity between the historical context in which operaismo was born and the current one. On the contrary, in the deep changes of the context and historical discontinuity, we restart from what we call the operaista method or style. The concept of class composition, continuously forming in the relationship between technical and political composition, is a fundamental pillar of this style. To fully grasp this concept, it is crucial to understand the centrality of subjectivity. Far from being objectively determined, subjectivity is a battleground between potentially opposing forces, between capitalist formation and possible counter-formation. It is, therefore, the central element and stake of a relation of production, that is, of a relation of forces.