Keynes and the Capitalist Theory of the State
John M. Keynes e a teoria capitalista do Estado em 1929
Résumé
This essay was written by Antonio Negri in 1967 and it served in subsequent years as a fundamental reference point for the various political groups in Italy and elsewhere in Europe that adopted "workerism" as the theory of the revolutionary movement.) The economic, institutional, and political analyses of these groups all flowed from one central claim: that the developments of capital are determined by and follow behind the struggles of the working class. This analytical claim carried with it an
ontological affirmation of the power of collective subjectivity a,s the key not only to the development of history but also - and this is the most important element - to the
determinate functioning of the institutions. Politics was seen as the product of social
activity, or better, social struggles. The institutions and social structures could thus be read from below, from the point of view of the revolution. This position was obviouslyat variance with the positions maintained by the "official " workers' movements. especially in their most extreme institutional attachments, such as the claim that it was necessary to act through parliamentary means to achieve reforms. The analysis of Keynes's thought and the politics of the New Deal demonstrated that, well beyond the ludicrous claims of bourgeois representation, reforms could indeed be attained, but in order to achieve them it is necessary to struggle for revolution.