Pipeline (PDF)

Four men in a cell in Rebibbia prison, Rome, awaiting trial on
serious charges of subversion. One of them, the political thinker
Antonio Negri, spends his days writing. Among his writings are
twenty letters addressed to a young friend in France letters in
which Negri reflects on his own personal development as a
philosopher, theorist and political activist and analyses the
events, activities and movements in which he has been involved. The
letters recount an existential journey that links a rigorous
philosophical education with a powerful political passion, set
against the historical backdrop of postwar Italy. Crucially, Negri
recalls the pivotal moment in 1978 when the former prime minister
of Italy, Aldo Moro, was kidnapped and killed by the Red Brigades,
and how the institutions then pinned that killing onto him and his
associates.

Published here for the first time, these letters offer a unique
and invaluable insight into the factors that shaped the thinking of
one of the most influential political theorists of our time and
they document Negri's role in the development of political
movements like Autonomia. They are a vivid testimony to one
man's journey through the political upheavals and
intellectual traditions of the late 20th century, in the course of
which he produced a body of work that has had, and continues to
have, a profound impact on radical thought and politics around the
world.