[lbo-talk] Hardt/Negri's Commonwealth as reviewed in WSJ

[wrobert at uci.edu]

It was a very important book for me when it came out.  It allowed me to
break out of a very limited concept of militancy, and synthesize a number
of disparate ideas together.  It also returned the conversation back to
the revolutionary possibility contained in communism, in a way that I find
far more committed to historical materialism than say Badiou.  At the same
time, it definitely has some limitations, and one of my greater
disappointments has been Hardt's real refusal to think about those limits
and push them further (in the way that it seems that Virno is willing.)
robert wood

(As to limits, their world system evidently doesn't include the continents
of Africa and China, and their are some limitations to their concept of
affective labor as pointed out by Sylvia Federici... that's what comes to
mind.  Also, Hardt tends to slip into a fairly banal progressive
dialectical schema when explaining the transition to the current means of
production)


> From: Asad Haider <noswine at gmail.com>
> .....
>     >If the WSJ thinks the book is "evil," maybe it's worth rethinking the
>     >knee-jerk anti-"pomo" positions?
>
>     >(I don't know what to make of the odd implication that Lenin and Mao
> are not
>     >part of the 20th century...)
>
>     >Asad
>
> Thank you.
>
> And don't forget so many on the left's other major, substantive critique
> of Negri and Hardt: "it's too hard to read." It would be great if instead
> of taking such jabs folks actually engaged ideas at their strengths as
> opposed to simply reacting and dismissing.
>
> Similarly, it might be more helpful if broad stroke and useless comments
> lke "there is so much wrong with Hardt and Negri it's not even funny" were
> simply not stated, particularly without substantial qualification. There's
> much to be critiqued in any work, really that goes without saying, so why
> say it? I haven't read the volume yet but look forward to doing so, even
> if Empire is no longer in fashion.
>
> Craig.
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