Description
DO YOU REMEMBER THE REVOLUTION?
Book Summary
In this essay, Maurizio Lazzarato undertakes a critical history of revolution, beginning with a letter from Marx to Engels. The author analyzes how the framework of revolution, envisioned for the global market and Europe, has been radically transformed. Through the thought of figures such as Foucault, Deleuze, Fanon, and Carla Lonzi, the book examines the struggles of the colonized, women, and students, as well as movements like Ni Una Menos and the Arab Spring. Lazzarato argues that without revolution, resistance remains trapped in the capital/State machine, offering an implacable assessment for rethinking struggle today.
What is it about?
The book starts from an 1858 letter from Marx to Engels in which it is prophesied that the revolution would occur in the world market, Europe, and through the working class. Maurizio Lazzarato questions whether this prediction was fulfilled or if reality was completely the opposite. Throughout 360 pages, the author constructs a critical history that integrates the theories of Gramsci, Foucault, Negri, Deleuze, Guattari, and Latour, but also incorporates the perspectives of Frantz Fanon and Carla Lonzi. The analysis is enriched by adding the struggles of the colonized, women, students, and new generations of workers. The text examines recent events such as the Ni Una Menos movement, the Chilean student revolt, and the Arab Spring, arguing that without revolution, the content of struggle and the possibilities for resistance remain subordinated to the capital/State machine.
Main themes
- Critique of classical Marxism and its predictions about revolution
- Transformation of the revolutionary subject: from the working class to new social actors
- Relationship between capitalism, the State, and resistance movements
- Analysis of anticolonial, feminist, and student struggles
- Evaluation of contemporary movements: Ni Una Menos, Arab Spring, Chilean revolt
Who is it recommended for?
This book is aimed at readers interested in political theory, contemporary philosophy, and social movements. It is especially relevant for students and researchers of political science, sociology, and philosophy who are seeking a critical revision of traditional concepts of revolution. It will also be of interest to activists and people committed to social struggles who wish to understand the current challenges of political resistance.
What this book contributes
- An updated analysis of revolutionary theories from Marx to 21st-century movements
- An integration of diverse perspectives: anticolonial, feminist, labor, and student
- A critical reflection on why the revolutions of the past did not meet expectations
- Conceptual tools to rethink political resistance in the face of contemporary capitalism
Technical specifications
- Author: Maurizio Lazzarato
- Publisher: Eterna Cadencia Editora SRL
- Language: Spanish
- Topic: Prose: nonfiction, Revolutions, uprisings and rebellions, Politics and government
- Collection: Essay
- Binding: Other
- Publication date: June 2022
- Number of pages: 360
- Weight: 887 g
Editorial review
Do You Remember the Revolution? offers a necessary and rigorous revision of the foundations of revolutionary thought. The work stands out for its capacity to engage in dialogue with multiple intellectual traditions and social movements, providing a critical framework to understand the limitations of past revolutions and the possibilities of current ones. It is a dense but accessible text for those seeking to understand contemporary political challenges from a committed philosophical perspective.