What did Gramsci really mean by "the long march through the institutions"?

[heiss93]

Antonio Gramsci's phrase "the long march through the institutions" has become very popular among far-right tinhat conspiracy theorists, in explaining the way in which cultural Marxists (pointy-headed intellectuals as a thinly disguised reference to Jews) have taken over the schools, church, colleges, government, civil service, democratic party and rotary clubs.

This is a pretty typical article from the Hoover institution http://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review/article/7809

To the best of my knowledge Gramsci really did talk about cultural hegemony, and the quote is not a fraudulent one like many Communist quotes are. So how was Gramsci's real concept of the Long March different from the conservative caricature? I'm pretty sure writing in the dungeons of Fascist Italy, Gramsci wasn't secretly crafting the way a cabal of Berkley professors could force the local schoolboard to teach 4 year olds about condoms.

[KC]

This quote doesn't come from Gramsci, it's from Rudy Dutschke, who was influenced by Maoism, Gramsci and the Frankfurt School.

[Sasha]

^ this, thats what you get with Maoist-Autonomism :D

[Red Commissar]

As KC said that particular line is not found in Gramsci's writings but from Rudi Dutchske. It's often attributed to him but not originating from him, but we've had many instances of popular quotations that are misattributed.

As far as I can garner from what I read of his writings and my interpretation, the issue comes from Gramsci's discussions of hegemony and the relation between the civil society and state. My interpretation is his call for the proletarians to lead a counter-hegemonic block to the bourgeoisie. For people like Dutschke (and some Eurocommunists) they interpreted his writings as a green light to work within existing structures to affect change from within.

"Cultural Marxism" has been a scare phrase American far-right has used for a while now. It's pretty typical for them to use vague or foreboding sounding terms to red bait their opponents. Mind you these people would be scrounging around to find evidence of Obama being a socialist and being reared by the same devious conspiracy.

"Cultural Marxism" as a school refers to those "theorists" who analyze and critique from the social sphere, analyzing societies, norms, and the general interplay between the society and state. They do not however posit "subverting" existing structures to their own advantage- there might be some but it's not what "Cultural Marxism" is- as I mentioned earlier it's just using big, scary words for their readers. Any more than the same bunch might claim that certain taxation schemes and intervention in the economy is the road to socialism.

We've had those nutters since the days of FDR being called a socialist. It's best to take those with a pinch of salt.