2026-02-01_R Alquati’s hypotheses

“[Alquati] created a theory and proposal for political action that wasn’t founded in separateness, but began from that which, in the specific situation, could have strength in a process of the accumulation and valorization of opposition. His was an attitude and method that based the creation of theory on the necessity of political action. But his research was always hypothetical; his proposals, elaborations, and analyses were never given definitively. Even when he came to conclusions, they always served as the basis for another leap forward. This is a good way of looking at things, because certainties are refused a priori. It runs contrary to the way in which political analysis and political proposals are often used, as a tool to compete with other individuals or groups. Even when you are competing with the enemy class, if you don’t have the capacity to go further, to increase your power in the long term, you soon find yourself in a position of weakness. The theoretical weapons and the practical organizational forms we have to create are always provisional. Some are taken from the enemy and others are built by us, but they are never definitive. Alquati hypothesized a process of collective liberation from capitalist civilization, a process of rupture able to accumulate power rather than simply engage in self-representation.”

• Guido Borio, Italian Operaismo