The Weight of the Printed Word

Steve Wright is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University. He has written widely on operaismo, including Storming Heaven: Class Composition and Struggle in Italian Autonomist Marxism (Pluto, second edition, 2017).

Preface

Acknowledgements


Introduction: Print, Document Work, and Class Politics


1 What Are Militants? Ceto politico and ceto operaio


2 Texts Have Bodies Too: Towards a Materialist Approach to Document Work and Genre


3 Genre, Document Work and Militancy amongst the Operaisti: Some Preliminary Reflections


Part 1 The Workers’ Enquiry and Co-research




Introduction to Part 1


4 The Fiat Workers’ Enquiry of 1960–61: Setting the Scene


5 The Fiat Workers’ Enquiry of 1960–61: What Actually Happened?


6 The Meaning of the Workers’ Enquiry and Co-research in the Early 1960s


Part 2 Essays and Their Contexts




Introduction to Part 2


7 Cultural Production in the Italy of the ‘Economic Miracle’


8 The Essay and Its Discontents


9 The Role of the Review in Classical Workerism


10 The Book Trade and Academia


Part 3 Leaflets and Sundries




Introduction to Part 3


11 The Emergence of the Assemblea operai e studenti


12 The Assemblea’s Document Work


13 A Short Addendum on Pamphlets


Part 4 Potere Operaio




Introduction to Part 4


14 Debating Organisation in Print: Potop 1969–71


15 Other Elements of Potere Operaio’s Genre Repertoire


16 Two Brief Interludes: ‘In Praise of Illegal Work’ and ‘Sotto la Mole’


17 A Gamble That Failed: Potere Operaio del lunedì


Part 5 Internal Documents and Perspectives Papers




Introduction to Part 5


18 Internal Communication Concerning Potere Operaio’s Press and Organisation


19 ‘The Measures Taken’


20 Position Papers and Discussion Documents


Part 6 ‘Dites-le avec des pavés!’ Autonomist Newspapers and the Challenge of Radio




Introduction to Part 6


21 The Best Re(a)d Paper in Autonomia?


22 Senza Tregua – A Brief and Unhappy Existence?


23 ‘A Paper That Speaks, a Radio That Writes’: I Volsci and the Impact of Radio on the Printed Word


Part 7 Journals in a Minor Key




Introduction to Part 7


24 ‘The Firebrands of Porto Marghera’


25 ‘There Is No Housework in Marx’


Conclusion: Print, Document Work, and Class Politics


Glossary

References

Index