Abstract: In the field of contemporary leftwing radical politics, the “Empire” trilogy (Empire, Multitude and Commonwealth) coauthored by Michael Hardt from the United States and Antonio Negri from Italy has aroused widespread attention and discussions since the new millennium. Empire in particular is deemed as a landmark work of the revival of literary theories renaissance in the 21st century as the “Empire Study” it spawned has refreshed many concepts in contemporary western literary theories including those in semiotics and postcolonial criticism. Multitude, focused on new subjects fighting against the empire, is of special significance to the cyberspace game in the era of globalization and digitalization. Commonwealth conceives a democratic politics against imperial rule. Contemporary leftwing politics and Marxist literary aesthetics share rich and complicated ideological continuity or interact in spatial dialogues, as is typically exemplified in the “Empire” trilogy. The trilogy embodies the power of aesthetic Utopia and inspires reflections on the contemporary world system and new forms of literary aesthetics.

Key words: leftwing politics, Empire Study, Multitude, Commonwealth, literary aesthetics, Marxism