Mario Tronti in Negri’s Empire

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2025/93224

By stating that “the struggles, within and against the capitalist command, are what make history”, Antonio Negri offers a perfect synthesis of one of the most notable aspects of the works he published with Michael Hardt, especially Empire (2000): the recovery of politics, in a broad and substantive sense, and the determining role of struggles not only in transformation but in the very constitution of the social being. This strong thesis has its roots in the work of Mario Tronti, especially in the essay “Lenin in England” (1964). Our intention is to investigate the context of the Trontian thesis to better understand how it can serve as a major reference for Negri's work. Just as Tronti once stated that it was essential to bring Lenin to the heart of capitalism, Negri considers indispensable to place Tronti at the core of the Empire that emerged with globalization.