Antonio Gramsci

Who was Antonio Gramsci?

Antonio Gramsci was an Italian Marxist and philosopher who created the Communist Party of Italy. Let's take a look at his life.

Antonio Gramsci was born in Ales, Sardinia, on 22 January 1891. Gramsci's father faced financial difficulties throughout his childhood, meaning that the family often moved. As a result, Gramsci was educated at several different schools.

In 1898, his father was imprisoned for embezzlement (misappropriating assets), disrupting the entire family's lives. Gramsci had to stop studying and worked to support his family until 1904 when his father was eventually released from prison. Antonio Gramsci also struggled with his health throughout his childhood, particularly with a malformation of his spine. He continued to experience poor health throughout his life.

Fig. 1 - Photograph portrait of Antonio Gramsci, circa the early-1920s.

Antonio Gramsci attended secondary school while staying with his older brother, who had worked as a soldier in mainland Italy. Although somewhat influenced by his brother's socialist ideas, Gramsci primarily focused on the suffering of the Sardinian people and their neglect by mainland Italy. It was this sense of injustice that formed the basis of his worldview.

Gramsci gained a scholarship at the University of Turin, where he studied linguistics. Whilst he was in Turin, the city was experiencing significant political change, with the town's industrialisation leading to the growth of trade unions. This period influenced his political outlook, and he joined the Socialist Party in 1913.

Gramsci left university at the age of 24, but he continued writing for socialist publications and also made a name for himself as one of the leading socialist thinkers in Turin.

Antonio Gramsci Marxism

Gramsci lived during a period of significant political and social change, with various political movements seeking to challenge the status quo and the established political order of the time. Not long after Gramsci finished university, the Russian Revolution took place.

The revolution's impact was felt worldwide, inspiring various political movements and generating opposition to it.

Gramsci's Political Involvement

Gramsci supported the rise of Leninism and believed that such a party was needed in Italy. He went on to form the Communist Party of Italy in 1921, which separated from the Italian Socialist Party.

Like the central, transnational communist movement known as the Comintern (Communist International), the Italian Communist party was riven by conflict between factions. A major faction with which Gramsci was aligned, maintained a strong connection with Bolshevik Moscow. After representing the party at meetings in Russia, Gramsci presented his view of how a united grouping of left-wing parties in Italy could effectively oppose the Fascists.

Nevertheless, Gramsci's plan placed his own communist party at the centre of this coalition, essentially enabling the Bolsheviks in Russia to influence events in Italy. In the end, the socialist parties could not agree on a plan.

Gramsci was elected as a party representative in the Veneto region in 1924.

Rise of Mussolini and the Arrest of Gramsci

The Fascists continued to gain ground in Italy amid general political instability. Threatening to overthrow the government, fascist activists marched to Rome in uniform. The King eventually conceded, allowing Mussolini to assume power as Prime Minister.

Under Mussolini, there was a gradual crackdown on opposition parties, eventually leading to widespread political persecution. By 1925, Mussolini had established dictatorial rule. After an attempt on Mussolini's life in 1926, the government used emergency laws as an excuse to imprison many opposition politicians, including Gramsci.

Gramsci was initially sentenced to five years. But at his re-trial, the prosecutor said:

Despite facing significant mistreatment in prison, some of his best-known works were written there. In 1929, he was first allowed to write, and this freedom continued as the conditions of his imprisonment were made lighter due to his ill health. His Prison Notebooks (published in 1947) were written whilst his health deteriorated.

Nevertheless, Gramsci still had to hide the political nature of his works, disguising the real meaning of certain elements - such as referring to Marxism as "the philosophy of practice".² He wrote over 30 notebooks in total on a range of topics. His works were smuggled out of prison during the 1930s, but Gramsci never saw them published as he eventually died due to poor health and the effects of mistreatment whilst still in prison.

Antonio Gramsci Cultural Hegemony

Gramsci's most important theory presented in his Prison Notebooks is the idea of 'cultural hegemony'.

Cultural hegemony is a form of power through which the dominant elite rule by convincing wider society that their worldview is correct. Rather than using force or coercion, the elite only needs the people's support, which is gained through convincing society that their ideas are right or normal.

Gramsci's ideas around culture were a shift from Marx's focus on materialist control, with the elite controlling by having ownership of the means of production.

We can consider this through this analogy:

Yet Gramsci argued that consent is still necessary for this domination to occur, so the elite adapt to make their ideas more relevant or attractive. This relationship of agreements occurred through 'civil society'.

But how do the elite convince people?

Gramsci argued that this process occurred through elite control over the means of cultural production, key institutions that influence and shape society's information landscape:

Essentially, the ideas and values of the elite become shared by broader society, making force unnecessary.

Gramsci and Counterhegemony

However, Gramsci didn't see hegemonic power as unchallenged and described counterhegemony as the reaction to dominant control.

He claimed that the proletariat (or working class) faced an internal struggle called dual consciousness.

This awareness of their struggle may lead people to fight against hegemonic power, and establish a counter-hegemonic culture.

Fig. 2 - Mural in Orgosolo, Sardinia, depicting a young Gramsci.

Antonio Gramsci Ideology

At the centre of hegemonic control is Gramsci's idea of ideology. Ideology is the tool that the elite use to convince and control.

Previous Marxist thinkers had discussed the role and influence of ideology, and Karl Marx himself was certainly sensitive to the idea. Nevertheless, they saw ideology as being determined by the current economic system rather than as an independent entity. Previous thinkers had also stressed ideologies as being separated across classes - such as a proletariat (working-class) ideology, and a bourgeoisie ideology.

Gramsci instead argued that ideology was a "terrain" of particular ideas, concepts, and beliefs that individuals may follow. He believed it was an independent concept that could impact economic and political society and operate across classes.³ Rather than ideology being separated across classes, Gramsci emphasised that the ruling class would spread their ideas across societal boundaries through ideology.

This universally-spread ideology formed the basis of Gramsci's notion of hegemony.

Antonio Gramsci Works

Gramsci's most famous works were written during his time in prison.

Many of his earlier works are published together (posthumously) in 'Gramsci: Pre-Prison Writings.'

Before prison, Gramsci published much of his political reflections in his socialist newspaper 'L'Ordine Nuovo', meaning The New Order. Distributed in Turin, the newspaper supported the ideals of the Russian Revolution and the creation of a Communist system in Italy.

He had also written in Avanti!, another publication of the Italian Socialist Party, while at university.

His prison works, which include some of his most influential ideas like hegemony, are published together as the Prison Notebooks.

In these, he wrote about various other topics, including education, history, and industrialisation. His work is primarily associated today with Marxism, constructivism, and sociology. The Prison Notebooks were first published in 1947 and have since been translated into several languages.