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Factory of Strategy is the last of Antonio Negri¿s major political works to be translated into English. Rigorous and accessible, it is both a systematic inquiry into the development of Lenin¿s thought and an encapsulation of a critical shift in Negri¿s theoretical trajectory. Negri champions Leninism¿s ability to adapt to different working-class compositions in Russia, China, Latin America, and elsewhere. He argues that Lenin developed a new political figure in and beyond modernity and an effective organization capable of absorbing different historical conditions. Negri ultimately urges readers to recognize the universal application of Leninism today and its potential to institutionally¿not anarchically¿dismantle centralized power.
List of contents
Preface to the English TranslationPreface to the Second EditionTranslator's NotePart I. Lenin and Our Generation1. Toward a Marxist Reading of Lenin's Marxism2. From the Theory of Capital to the Theory of Organization (1): Economic Struggle and Political Struggle: Class Struggle3. From the Theory of Capital to the Theory of Organization (2): The Working-Class Character of Organization: The Party as Factory4. In Lenin's Footsteps from the Theory of Capital to the Theory of Organization: Annotations5. From the Theory of Organization to the Strategy of Revolution (1): Proletarian Independence6. From the Theory of Organization to the Strategy of Revolution (2): The Factory of Strategy7. From the Theory of Organization to the Strategy of Revolution (3): Organization Toward Communism8. In Lenin's Footsteps from the Theory of Organization to the Strategy of Revolution: Annotations9. Insurrection as Art and Practice of the MassesPart II. Lenin and the Soviets in the Russian Revolution and Some Remarks on Sovietism10. The Soviets Between Spontaneity and Theory11. Lenin and the Soviets Between 1905 and 191712. The Soviets and the Leninist Inversion of Praxis13. The Reformist Change of Praxis: Soviets Today?14. Verifying the Question of Whether the Soviet Is an Organ of Power15. The Soviet Form of Masses and the Urgency of Workers' StrugglePart III. Interregnum on the Dialectic: The Notebooks of 1914--191616. Dialectics as the Recovered Form of Lenin's Thought17. Lenin Reads Hegel18. Between Philosophy and Politics: The Weapon of DialecticsPart IV. The Economic Foundations of the Withering-Away of the State: Introduction to the Reading of The State and Revolution19. "Where to begin?"20. The Concept of the State in General Can and Must Be Destroyed21. Opportunist and Revolutionary Conceptions of the Withering-Away of the State22. The Question of the "Withering-Away" of the State: Against Equality23. First Approach to a Definition of the Material Bases of the "Withering-Away": Against Work, Against Socialism24. Marx's Anticipation of the Problem of "Withering-Away": Against the Law of Value25. Toward a Problematic View of Transition: Impossible Socialism and the Coming Communism26. On the Question of Transition Again: The Word to the Masses27. Transition and Proletarian Dictatorship: The Particular Interests of the Workers28. Transition, Material Basis, and Expansiveness of the Working-Class Government29. A Provisional Conclusion: Lenin and UsPart V. Appendix on "Left-Wing" Communism: A Conclusion and a Beginning30. A Difficult Balance31. A Definition of "Left-Wing" Communism, and Some (Adequate?) Examples32. Toward a New Cycle of Struggles33. From "Left-Wing" Communism to What Is to Be Done?
About the author
Antonio Negri has taught political philosophy at the University of Padua, University of Vincennes, and College Internationale de Philosophie. His books include The Politics of Subversion and Negri on Negri. Arianna Bove has translated many texts from Italian and French into English. Her work can be found at www.generation-online.org.
Summary
A renewed engagement with Lenin's revolutionary politics and a persuasive case for his contemporary relevance.
