Book review: Autonomy: Capitalism, Class and Politics, by David Eden

Abstract

David Eden Autonomy: Capitalism, Class and Politics, Ashgate: Farnham, 2012; 283 pp: 1409411741, 60 [pounds sterling] (hbk) Early on in this highly impressive survey of contemporary autonomist thought, David Eden makes the claim that anarchism has come to function as 'the hegemonic ideology of anti-capitalism in the North', with communism--equated with state control--commonly perceived to be 'covered in blood and filth' (p. 7). Around 2011, this claim certainly seemed to be true, with Occupy's non-hierarchical and prefigurative model the spectacularly dominant form of organization, and David Graeber coming to rival Slavoj Zizek as the mainstream media's go-to leftist of choice. Fast-forward a couple of years, however, and the landscape seems to have changed somewhat. Now, the term 'communism' has accrued a viral power in anticapitalist circles--as evidenced quite gloriously by an enormous banner at the anti-privatisation protests at the University of Sussex, demanding (or perhaps announcing) 'COMMUNISM'; and by the memetic power of the phrase 'FULL COMMUNISM' in certain corners of the internet. As Huw Lemmey has pointed out, however, communism-as-meme 'is essentially contentless ... To actually begin to define the ambition would cause the fragmentation of the community' (2012, online at ). Yet defining ambitions is precisely the task facing those who seek communism, and this fragmentation can easily be seen in the differing paths taken by those mobilising around the term. On one hand, thinkers such as Zizek (2009) and Jodi Dean (2012) argue that communism must entail a return to vanguardism and the primacy of the party as organisational form (initially, at least, retaining the link with state control). For many others, communist practice should maintain a critical distance from the state-and hierarchical organisation more broadly. Situated firmly within the latter approach, Eden's book offers a useful commentary on three dominant 'tendencies' within what he calls 'the perspective of autonomy' (p. 1): those of Antonio Negri and Paolo Virno; the Midnight Notes Collective (MNC); and John Holloway. It offers no easy answers, but aptly demonstrates why engaging with class, capitalism and attendant concepts central to Marxian analysis is a necessity for those on the radical left. Building on Marx and Engels's famous claim that communism constitutes 'the real movement which abolishes the present state of things' (p. 8), Eden's central thesis is that this immanent movement functions differently in the three tendencies of autonomy he outlines. For Negri and Virno, it is a movement beyond capitalism; for the MNC it is a movement outside capitalism; whilst for Holloway, it is a movement against capitalism. Bound up with these understandings are differing visions on the nature and agency of the proletariat. To explicate these differences further, Eden affords each of the tendencies three chapters: one in which to outline the theory, one to consider how it might function in practice, and one for sympathetic (but rigorous) critique. The theory chapters are commendably well researched, with lesser-known and coauthored texts drawn upon extensively alongside each author's better-known texts. Concepts such as 'multitude' and 'commons' are explicated, as are the ways in which Negri, Virno, MNC and Holloway (re)think more traditional Marxist concepts such as subsumption, primitive accumulation and value. Though Eden's explanations are largely clear, the scarcity of examples means that the book may be a struggle for readers lacking previous engagement with the autonomist tradition. Eden also engages with autonomism's non-Marxist influences--Spinoza, Deleuze, Foucault and St. Francis of Assisi all feature--though the focus remains firmly in the tradition of Marxist critique of political economy. Seasoned readers will undoubtedly find minor areas with which to take issue --I would like to see more on Virno's relative pessimism vis-a-vis Negri, and I feel that Eden takes the MNC member p. …