The hydra of multitude and commoner's communism in the era of biopolitical capitalism

Abstract

The article is an attempt to situate the main Peter Linebaugh's works in the context of modern theories of the common, especially in juxtaposition with Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt's biopolitical paradigm. American historian's oeuvre is still not well known in Poland, although his works in the field of social history, labour history, colonial Atlantic or global enclosures can inspire not only historians, but social theory as well. Linebaugh in his research on subaltern groups in the eve of capitalism introduces new ways, in which concepts such as working class, class struggle, commoning or the commons can be regarded and he draws ambitious, transmodern genealogy of global capitalism. The article tries to show the actuality of Linebaugh's research perspective in the era of biopolitical capitalism.