Franco 'Bifo' Berardi
The soul at work
Autonomy in the age of info-labour.
Progressive AutonomistOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Autonomist hall →- Role
- Theorist & media activist
- Era
- b. 1949
- Region
- Italy
- Social band
- Progressive
- Placement
- −54 · −78 · +70
§ Where Franco 'Bifo' Berardi stands
3 axesBerardi extends autonomist Marxism to cognitive and precarious labour. The Soul at Work (2009) argues that post-Fordist capitalism exploits attention, creativity and feeling rather than muscle, and he calls for the refusal of work, shorter working time and a guaranteed income rather than nationalisation or central planning, which keeps his economics left of centre but far from state socialism.
Berardi trusts self-organised networks, not parties or states. Radio Alice (1976) opened its microphone to callers and turned listeners into broadcasters, and the Telestreet network of 2002 used cheap transmitters to challenge the concentration of Italian television in the Berlusconi era. He describes political change as the slow building of solidarity and autonomy from below rather than the seizure of power.
Berardi's progressivism comes from the counterculture of 1977, which mixed Dadaist humour, sexual liberation and rejection of the work ethic. His later books treat depression, loneliness and suicide as social and political symptoms, as in Heroes (2015), and he argues for a politics of care, friendship and slowness against competitive individualism.
How close are you to Franco 'Bifo' Berardi?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
HistoricalFranco Berardi (b. 1949), known as Bifo, is an Italian writer, media activist and theorist. Born in Bologna, he was active in the workerist group Potere Operaio, founded the magazine A/traverso in 1975 and in 1976 helped launch Radio Alice, Bologna's free radio station and a voice of the Movement of 1977. After the police closed the station in March 1977 amid the city's riots, he faced prosecution and moved to Paris, where he worked with the philosopher and psychoanalyst Félix Guattari.
Berardi became a leading theorist of what he calls semiocapitalism, in which capital puts to work the minds, language and emotions of precarious knowledge workers. In The Soul at Work (2009), After the Future (2011) and The Uprising (2012) he links financial capitalism to depression, panic and exhaustion, and in Heroes (2015) to mass murder and suicide. In 2002 he helped start the Telestreet network of pirate neighbourhood television stations, and he has taught at Milan's Brera Academy of Fine Arts.
Notable for
- 01Founded Radio Alice
- 02'The Soul at Work'
- 03Theorist of cognitive labour
Key works & moments
- 1975Founds the Bologna magazine A/traverso, a voice of creative autonomia.
- 1976Helps launch Radio Alice, Bologna's free radio station.
- 1977Police close Radio Alice during the Bologna uprising; Berardi moves to Paris.
- 2002Helps start Telestreet, a network of pirate neighbourhood television stations.
- 2009The Soul at Work: From Alienation to Autonomy appears in English.
- 2012Publishes The Uprising: On Poetry and Finance, responding to the European debt crisis.
§ Minds closest to Franco 'Bifo' Berardi
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§ Also in the Autonomist hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat is Franco Berardi's political ideology?
Franco 'Bifo' Berardi is an autonomist Marxist and media activist: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Progressive Autonomist. Economically he sits left of centre (−54), analysing the exploitation of precarious cognitive labour and calling for less work and a guaranteed income. On governance he is strongly libertarian (−78), placing his hopes in free media and self-organised networks rather than parties. Socially he is strongly progressive (+70), rooted in the counterculture of Italy's 1977 movement.
Is Franco Berardi left-wing or right-wing?
Left-wing. Berardi comes from Italy's radical autonomist movement and is a sharp critic of financial capitalism, precarious work and the culture of competition. He belongs to the libertarian, anti-party wing of the left: since the 1970s he has distrusted both the Communist Party tradition and state-led solutions, preferring free media, cultural experiment and self-organisation from below as the means of change.
What was Radio Alice?
Radio Alice was a free radio station in Bologna that broadcast from early 1976 to March 1977 and became a symbol of Italy's Movement of 1977. Founded by Berardi and fellow activists of the autonomist milieu, it mixed music, poetry, political news and open phone-ins in which listeners spoke live on air. During the riots that followed the killing of the student Francesco Lorusso by a carabiniere in March 1977, the authorities accused the station of directing the protesters, and police raided and closed it.
Which minds are closest to Franco 'Bifo' Berardi?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Franco 'Bifo' Berardi are The Refusal of Work (archetype) (98% alike), Antonio Negri (97% alike) and Harry Cleaver (95% alike). The furthest is Adam Sutler (0% alike).