There Is No Unhappy Revolution : The Communism of Destitution

“In There Is No Unhappy Revolution, as if revolution were the only happiness we might pursue, Marcello Tarì makes a powerful case for the persistent questioning and existential interruption that accompanies that pursuit, and fuels it, and constitutes and ruptures its vagrant, open end.” —Fred Moten, author of In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition Can we afford our collective unhappiness any longer? There Is No Unhappy Revolution gives expression to the age of revolution unfolding before us. With equal parts sophistication and raw urgency, Marcello Tarì identifies the original moments as well as the powerful disruptive and creative content haunting our times like a specter. One hundred years after the October Revolution, amidst our current civilizational crisis, is it still possible to think and build communism? Yes, Tarì responds, provided we radically rethink the tradition of revolutionary movements that have followed one century to another. Offering both a militant philosophy and a philosophy of militancy, he deftly confronts the different contemporary movements from the Argentinean insurrection of 2001 to Occupy Wall Street, the Spanish Indignados, the French movement against the labor law, and the Arab spring, resurrecting and renewing a destituent lineage of revolutionary thought, from Walter Benjamin to Giorgio Agamben, that promises to make life livable. Marcello Tarì is a “barefoot” researcher of contemporary struggles and movements. He is author of numerous essays and books in French and Italian including Il ghiaccio era sottile: Per una storia dell’autonomia and Autonomie!: Italie, les années 1970, and is the translator of The Invisible Committee’s The Coming Insurrection. Marcello Tarì has lived in the last few years between France and Italy. There Is No Unhappy Revolution is his first book published in English. “It is hard today to escape the perception that financial violence and fascism are suffocating every possibility of happiness in a plural world. There is No Unhappy Revolution shows a possible way out from this despair, though an important line of escape: friendship. Indeed, friends are those who have nothing and nevertheless own everything. The revolution to which Marcello Tarì refers urgently names the ‘plurality of worlds’ in joy and in common.” —Franco “Bifo” Berardi, author of Futurability: The Age of Impotence and the Horizon of Possibility “A bold and inquisitive attempt to rethink militancy and revolution through the paradigm of destituent power, outside of any progressive investment in governing the present. Beyond the end of communism, Tarì sketches the figure of a communism of the end, threading its way through contemporary insurgencies and unmanageable forms of life.” —Alberto Toscano, author of Fanaticism: On the Uses of an Idea “A longtime militant, fellow traveler of the Invisible Committee, and author of one of the best books on Autonomia, Tarì’s work offers the fullest exploration to date of the concept of destitution.” — Ill Will Editions https://illwill.com/ "A powerful case for the persistent questioning and existential interruption that accompanies that pursuit of [happiness and revolution], and fuels it, and constitutes and ruptures its vagrant, open end."— Fred Moten, author of In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition "It is hard today to escape the perception that financial violence and fascism are suffocating every possibility of happiness...There Is No Unhappy Revolution shows a possible way out from this despair."— Franco "Bifo" Berardi, author of Futurability: The Age of Impotence and the Horizon of Possibility. In a time of ongoing political, economic, and climate crisis can we afford our collective unhappiness any longer? There Is No Unhappy Revolution gives expression to the age of revolution unfolding before us. With equal parts sophistication and raw urgency, Marcello Tarì identifies the original moments as well as the powerful disruptive and creative content haunting our times like a specter. The age of revolution is back, and with it, instability and uncertainty as major markers of our times. There is a renewed faith in popular rebellion as a means to enact sorely needed systemic change. At the heart of these dynamics rests a new theory of social change and societal well-being. Happiness is collective, not individual, as Marcello Tarì explains, and our collective desire for happiness is a revolutionary force that cannot and should not be contained. One hundred years after the October Revolution, amidst our current civilizational crisis, is it still possible to think and build communism? Yes, Tarì responds, provided we radically rethink the tradition of revolutionary movements that have followed one century to another. Offering both a militant philosophy and a philosophy of militancy, he deftly confronts the different contemporary movements from the Argentinean insurrection of 2001 to Occupy Wall Street, the Spanish Indignados, the French movement against the labor law, and the Arab Spring, resurrecting and renewing a lineage of revolutionary thought, from Walter Benjamin to Giorgio Agamben, that promises to make life livable. In a time of ongoing political, economic, and climate crisis can we afford our collective unhappiness any longer? There Is No Unhappy Revolution gives expression to the age of revolution unfolding before us. With equal parts sophistication and raw urgency, Marcello Tari identifies the original moments as well as the powerful disruptive and creative content haunting our times like a specter. The age of revolution is back, and with it, instability and uncertainty as major markers of our times. There is a renewed faith in popular rebellion as a means to enact sorely needed systemic change. At the heart of these dynamics rests a new theory of social change and societal well-being. Happiness is collective, not individual, as Marcello Tari explains, and our collective desire for happiness is a revolutionary force that cannot and should not be contained. One hundred years after the October Revolution, amidst our current civilizational crisis, is it still possible to think and build communism? Yes, Tari responds, provided we radically rethink the tradition of revolutionary movements that have followed one century to another. Offering both a militant philosophy and a philosophy of militancy, he deftly confronts the different contemporary movements from the Argentinean insurrection of 2001 to Occupy Wall Street, the Spanish Indignados, the French movement against the labor law, and the Arab Spring, resurrecting and renewing a lineage of revolutionary thought, from Walter Benjamin to Giorgio Agamben, that promises to make life livable Cover Halftitle Page Title Page Copyright Contents Translator’s note 01. Preamble 02. The World or Nothing at All 03. Another Thought About War 04. Destituent Strike I: Justice vs. Law 05. Destituent Strike II: “No Future for Us” 06. Destituent Strike III: Revolt Against the Metropolis 07. Destituent Strike IV: The Nomos of the Commune 08. The Byt Front (Destituent Bolshevism) 09. Interruption I: “There Is No Unhappy Love” 10. Interruption II: To Save Tradition, We Must Interrupt It 11. Interruption III: Destitute Everything, Including the Revolution 12. Interruption IV: The Heroic Cessation: An Epic for the Revolution 13. The Destituent Insurrection 14. An Enchanting Horror About the Author About Common Notions Become a Monthly Sustainer More From Common Notions More From Common Notions More From Common Notions In a time of political, economic, and climate crisis Marcello Tarì reclaims the revolutionary task of making life worth living.