[1][2] Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tendencies became significant,[3] after influence from the Situationists, the failure of Italian far-left movements in the 1970s, and the emergence of a number of important theorists including Antonio Negri,[4] who had contributed to the 1969 founding of Potere Operaio, as well as Mario Tronti, Paolo Virno, and Franco Berardi.
[5] George Katsiaficas summarizes the forms of autonomous movements by saying that "[i]n contrast to the centralized decisions and hierarchical authority structures of modern institutions, autonomous social movements involve people directly in decisions affecting their everyday lives, seeking to expand democracy and help individuals break free of political structures and behavior patterns imposed from the outside.
[8] Autonomism influenced the German and Dutch Autonomen/Autonomen, the worldwide social centre movement and remains influential in Italy, France, and to a lesser extent the English-speaking countries.
[16] The Italian operaismo movement also influenced Marxist academics, including Harry Cleaver, John Holloway, Steve Wright,[17] and Nick Dyer-Witheford.
[18] In Denmark and Sweden, the word is used as a catch-all phrase for anarchists and the extra-parliamentary left in general, as was seen in the media coverage of the eviction of the squatting of Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen in March 2007.