Abstract

This article allows Toni Negri to respond to three objections proposed by Pierre Macherey to the notion of “multitude”, as it is sketched in Negri & Hardt’s second book. The author first stresses that the emphasis put on immaterial labor in no way denies the inertia, or even the exacerbation, of the relations of exploitation accurately denounced by critical thought for more than a century. He then invites us to consider communication, not as empty circulation, but as the effective ground where the materialist constitution of productive singularities takes place. Finally, he acknowledges that the transformation of the multitude from flesh to body offers no magical solution to political dilemmas, but stands rather as an open question, providing only a guiding principle in the search ahead of us: the multitude does not have the ambition of seizing power, but of managing the common