Books for Burning: Between Civil War and Democracy in 1970s Italy

Conceived as texts for debate among the members of the political movements Workers' Power (Potere Operaio) and Autonomy (Autonomia), these pieces were later misrepresented by the Italian state in its attempt to frame Negri as the assassin of former Italian president Aldo Moro, as the leader of the Red Brigades, and as the mastermind of an armed insurrection against the state. In the years since their original publication, these texts have lost none of their originality, relevance or power to shock. In a new preface, Negri demonstrates how his controversial work on Empire, biopolitics and immaterial labour developed out of concepts and strategies first outlined in this book, and an editorial introduction analyzes the role the book played in Negri's trial, and in the criminalization of the Italian radical workers' movement.