David Camfield

The Multitude and the Kangaroo: A Critique of Hardt and Negri's Theory of Immaterial Labour

Hardt and Negris theory of immaterial labour provides a socio-economic foundation in the contemporary world for the philosophical and political elements of their thought. Although there has been considerable engagement with Hardt and Negris work, the socio-economic dimension of their thought has received little sustained attention. This is certainly true of their theory of immaterial labour. This article aims to remedy this oversight. It presents and scrutinises Hardt and Negris concept of immaterial labour and its putative hegemony. It then examines the depiction of the world of paid work in advanced capitalist societies with which the theory is associated and looks at three alleged consequences of the rise of immaterial labour. It concludes that this dimension of Hardt and Negris thought is profoundly flawed, that immaterial labour cannot play the role they wish to assign it in their theory, and that this failure suggests the importance of a different method of developing theory from that employed by Hardt and Negri, along with so many other contemporary writers.

Elements of a Historical-Materialist Theory of Racism

This article aims to advance the historical-materialist understanding of racism by addressing some central theoretical questions. It argues that racism should be understood as a social relation of oppression rather than as solely or primarily an ideology, and suggests that a historical-materialist concept of race is necessary in order to capture features of societies shaped by historically specific racisms. A carefully conceived concept of privilege is also required if we are to grasp the contradictory ways in which members of dominant racial groups are affected by social relations of racial oppression. The persistence of racism today should be explained as a consequence of two dimensions of the capitalist mode of production – imperialism and the contribution of racism to profitability – and of a social property emergent from racism: the efforts of members of dominant groups to preserve their advantages relative to the racially oppressed.

Sympathy for the teacher: Labour law and transgressive workers’ collective action in British Columbia, 2005

Since the 1940s, unions in Canada have been shaped by a distinctive mode of legal and administrative regulation, one of whose features is the prohibition of sympathy strikes. In October 2005, the British Columbia Teachers Federation struck and, unusually, was supported by sympathy strike action. This article conceptualises Canadian labour law theoretically in terms of the political administration of society by capitalist state power and then examines the sympathy strikes, the conditions that made them possible, and their effects, significance and implications for the working-class movement in Canada and beyond.

The ‘Great Recession,’ the Employers’ Offensive and Canadian Public Sector Unions

The global economic crisis and its effects have changed the context for public sector unions in Canada. There is evidence that an intensified offensive against public sector unions is beginning. Few public sector unions are prepared to respond adequately to such an offensive, as the important 2009 strike by Toronto municipal workers illustrates. In this more difficult context, change within public sector unions is increasingly urgent. The most promising direction for union renewal lies in the praxis of social movement unionism. However, there are very few signs of moves to promote this approach within Canadian public sector unions. La crise economique globale et ses effets ont change le contexte pour les syndicats du secteur public au Canada. Il y a des signes qu’une attaque violente contre les syndicats du secteur public a commence. Peu de syndicats du secteur public sont prets a repondre dans une maniere satisfaisante a cette attaque, comme le montre la greve importante des travailleurs municipaux a Toronto en 2009. Dans ce contexte plus difficile, des changements au sein des syndicats du secteur public sont de plus en plus urgents. La direction la plus prometteuse pour une renaissance syndicale est la pratique d’un syndicalisme de mouvement social. Toutefois, il y a tres peu d’indices que les syndicats du secteur public au Canada s’inscrivent dans une telle approche.

Renewing the Study of Public Sector Unions in Canada.

A renewal of the study of public sector unionism in Canada is long overdue. This article explains why public sector unions deserve more attention from researchers than they have received of late and proposes that studies of public sector unions would benefit from adopting a new theoretical framework that conceptualizes contemporary unions as not only labour relations institutions but also as particular kinds of working-class movement organizations within a historically-specific class formation. It also identifies two obstacles to the production of accounts of contemporary public sector unions from this perspective.