The Weight of the Printed Word: Text, Context and Militancy in Operaismo

In The Weight of the Printed Word , Steve Wright explores the creation and use of documents as a key dimension in the activities of Italian workerists during the 1960s and 1970s. From leaflets and newspapers to books, internal documents and workers' enquiries; the operaisti deployed a wide variety of printed materials in their efforts to organise among new subjectivities of mass rebellion. As Wright demonstrates, the practice of working with print was a central part of what it meant to be a workerist or autonomist militant during these one that throws light both on the meaning of political engagement, as well as the challenges posed by the use of technologies of communication and by emergent social subjects.