GRAMSCI’S POLITICAL THOUGHT Hegemony, Consciousness, and the Revolutionary Process JOSEPH V. FEMIA CLARENDON FRESS OXFORD ftity os Wi Sa, ao it eno“ Maa Ra Ea” Samer tog Te ep Ps Ait mre ef pain rr ‘Aroma nia! Sang on ste ‘prima ied Oey Bar i ey a Pini De msi Sane eas am ree th MY MOTHER, and othe memory of MY FATHERPreface “Translations of passages fom Grassi quoed in the course of this bok are my owe This des nor py serous daisiac thon with existing English transations which are generally feliable "The problem is that mo of his wigs have nox yet teem ranted, For reasons of orsteny he rendering ot Gramacr cerms and syle, it was best decided, woo a the Telian orginal even when an English ansaion wae {Dailble, Nevertheless have consulted, and in may cases Benefted from, the English wandatons mentoned ip the ibbogeaphy. My debt tothe ie here eaetlly recorded As regards terminelogy in the Oude the reade shoul be oe {CStned that Gramac (probably Bete of pron censonhip) tended to use the neutral word soup when he apparent neat ‘las ints Marsist ene, Te omer word however tovalteaysmeantava caper free ater Whencoer they “ppetrina quotation fromthe Nelo, uarslate ge and ship literally and eave tuo teseadertovrtout Gramsers Jeding nthe particular instance. “Tn primary esearch for thi sty was complete before the appearance of Valentino Cerrtann’s ent eon ofthe ‘Gere Caen 75, Cason inthe ext are cone {Teeny given with referee tthe orignal Bina eon, thick should be abserved-has in po way been supersede by thenew one: Byproupingtogeber ote on related suet theeleion ha ihe mer ofmpasngatbenacestmetaer Gramsci ragmentary and disordered work. To so ding, co foure obscure the subtle development eis thought beeen Sono and 195, the period when he peated the Quien. But Se ignition was this development No one has managed 0 Show that Gramects eas changed any para or elvan ‘ways daring tse years. Gevrataa presents the auc the Seder in which the) were writen and ot according 1 opie Readings, Indeed his eon even reprotucs peiminaryvi Price Arafis which Gramsci himself deleted! While sie meticulous ‘chronological approach certainly allows us ofllow the hy this fof Geamset's thought processes. hardy enhances out compre henson oC ideas hamseles. And it sete ron the disadvan tage of rendering the reading of the entire work mich more slficult and disorienting. For all these reasons the original ‘divin will think, remain the standard one, (Details the ‘works cited in his Preface may be found inthe Hiioeraphy ) Turning now to acknowedgements I should frst point out tha cis study isa revised version of my Doctoral hes, writen for Oxford University and completed in the spring of 1976. ‘wish to express my deep gratitude to Lesatk Kilakowsht. my friend and academic supervisor, who—over a peti of seven years~patientiy read the thesis in drat form and prowied invaluable advice. encouragement and etcism. Steven Lakes and Charles Taslor were serupulous and senerous examiners ‘whose acute abservations stimulated me t amend parts ofthe ‘manuscript, My deb to them is considerable. My thanks are also due fo Sir Isaiah Bern, cho first prompted me to write about Gramsci and was kind enough to commient oft some preliminary chapters—even though he had no frmal respons bility for my supervision. At early stages in my’ reat 1 benefited from the evtictims and suggestions of a number of scholars who have themselves written om Gramsct~Marta Glock, Giuliano Preeti Alisair Davidson, snd Alesana Pizzonno. The asc two were expecially Belpli as they read my “exploratory” papers and kept me fom traveling down sone blind alleys, Trust also thank the offidals of the Gramsc Institute in Rome for allowing me {during the summers of 1973 andl 1974) 10 use the exellent ibrary housed there Siguors Elsa Fubini vas particularly kind i supping me with ex hhaustive and up-to-date bibligeaphical information. Taine debted to Nuffieid College. whieh, by award me a student Ship and travel grants, made this stay posible. Final. a profoundly grateful o my wile, Josephine. For her assistance and infinite pasience—and fer putting yp with Gras fr 0 Earlier versions of some of che material in thie hock fave appeared inthe form of three articles by the autor: Hegemony ancl Consciousness inthe Thought of Antonio Grams Pll Prfae 8 States, NXIIL (Mare 1975). pp. 29-48 ‘Gramsci the Vi Taliana, andthe Classical Marsst-Leninist Approach to Revor tn Grant and Opin, Win) pp. tre" The Gramsd Pepomencs: Some Recon: Paiea Stuer. SNVI (September 1979). pp: 472-8. Josep V. Fema December rgContents Auexowarions Brier Brooratincas Seerew or Grasset INTRODUCTION AND PREVIEW THE CONCEPT OF HEGEMONY [BASE AND SUPERSTRUCTURE: THE ROLE OP CONSCIOUSNESS THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY: ARCHITECT OF THE NEW HEGEMONY PROLETARIAN HEGEMONY AND THE (QUESTION OF AUTHORSTARIANISM A PEACEFUL ROAD TO SOCIALISM? EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION Nores Basuioonar woe, 185 56 26 99Abbreviations: PCI Partito ComunistaIaliano PSI Patio Socalita Italiano From Gramsi's"Caltted Work (fll tals willbe found inthe Bibliography LO Letuse dal Carer (1947 edition) MS I materiaisns rie alfa di Beets Cree 1 Giiinulletuaie Ponenizenione dla ator R BRiareiments Mack, Note sud Machicl sulla pit sul stata moderns LEN Leteraturee we nacinle PP Fasaive presente SG Set ivan 1914-18 ON Ondine Ns, 1919-1929 SM Soto te le, 1916-1920 SP ‘Section fascism, L'Ontine Nua, 1921-22 CPC Lents del Pt on 1529-26 Brief Biographical Sketch of Gramsci 1891-—Born at Ales in Sarina, Fourth son oa minor pubic ofa rgts—Awarled scholarship at Univesity Turn nd begin ‘uals there. Spectizes i ingultcs rota Starts to contibute tothe Socal newapaper, I Gride dt Papel. sotg—Partly because of poor health, breaks off university studies 1gi6—Begine to write a reguar column for the Piedmont eiton of Asani, the main Socal Party newspaper 1o17-—Becomesaleading igurein the Tin branchel de PS 181g--Cofounder and editor ord Nu Takes an active felcin the Turin cory councll movement tge1—Becomes Central Commitee Member o sew Taian “Communist Party, founded at Livorno in January. s920—Jame, Arives in Moncowe se Talan Representative on re Comintern Execuve. Wile there, ects Gila Sind wgbecesti ae : 192g—December. Sent cist Ttezaional_ wo °° Vieana, a where he eo see he aa Party, torn by factional safe ver the ‘United Fron pai. tgaqMay. Returns to Taly alter beng ected Depry in ‘Veneta consienc. Son becomes Seretary Gene athe BCI ” 49a6—Novernber Arrested by Fascist regime 120-June, Condemned eo ewenty yer imprsoament 1335-cAugust, Transferred, reasons offal ape linen Rome 19g7—Aprl. Dies of brain BaemorageCHAPTER | Introduction and Preview Mary has not eit catechism het not 8 DMantlah who feta tring of parables laden with (ategorical imperatives, of absolte, indisputable ome outside te categories of ie and space. Te nly ategoncal imperauve, the only om 5 ‘Workers fe woe ite ‘Rnvonio Gramsci lt Nosto Maré Grd det Ppl, May 1918) 1 ‘TwouGH scARcELY available o non-Talin readers before the tabs, de writings of Antonio Gramsci have had a global Impact ‘There is now almost universal agreement that be ranks abnesf the most imovativeand important Marxist thinkers this century. In the words of an eminent Italian scholar, If we tneept the geeas protagonists ofthe Soviet revolution, sere is tho personality inthe history ofthe workers’ moverent whose peston and work have aroused greater interest chan Grams ie Sardinian’s theoretical originality revolves azound his attempts to establish human subjectivity as 2 core element of Marvin. Inthe classical Marist adition, ofcourse, objective ‘material conditions were given pride of place; consciousness (it {its manifestations) was conceptualized as the automatic feflcction of ‘deeper’ economic and socal processes, Te was ‘Gramse's intention, by contast, to accord {tan independent iad creative role within the framework of historical material ibm: he reformulated the doetrnein such a way as tallow room far both the influence of ideas and the powerfl effect of human wll The problem of consciousness comsitute his focal pimt— Tow does fselate tothe material world, what are its efets, how cam it be changed? Along with Cukées and Korsch, Gramsci tras one of the founders of lr marsime otdetal—the revolt