As Gramsci is a product of his time, there are things he refers to that may not be too well known to modern readers. Here I will some of these that are referred to. People Benedetto Croce: Croce was a prominent liberal thinker in Italy who had a profound impact on academic thought in Italy at the turn of the century, including Gramsci as a youth. Croce was an idealist philosopher who took motivation from the German school of Idealists, mainly Hegel, Fichte, and Kant. Croce had briefly toyed with Marxist thought in the late 1800s but later broke with it. He briefly served as a Minister of Education before Mussolini's fascist party took over and became an anti-Fascist as Mussolini's goals came into existence. He died in 1952. Giovanni Gentile: Gentile was another prominent thinker of pre-WWI Italy, and like Croce occupied a high position in Italian academic circles. He also took inspiration from German Idealists, though he applied them in a different manner than Croce did. He became a supporter of Mussolini's fascists and was rewarded with the position of Minister of Education where he instituted a number of reforms of Italy's educational system, which Gramsci criticizes in his writings. Gentile would also fashion himself as providing the philosophical backing for fascism, and in fact ghostwrote Mussolini's "A Doctrine of Fascism". He remained loyal to Mussolini into the Salo Republic, and was killed by Italian partisans in 1944. Angelo Tasca: Tasca was at first one of Gramsci's closest associates and collaborators, and was one of the main contributors with Gramsci in L'Ordine Nuovo. A dispute broke out between Gramsci and Tasca over the role of trade unions in factory councils, with Tasca arguing that trade unions should have control over them with Gramsci opposing this. This led to an opening of further theoretical rifts and eventually turned Gramsci and Tasca into rivals. Tasca would become the leader of the PCd'I "right", which rallied immediately to the Comintern's policy of the United Front. Tasca was accused of holding a liquidation stance that would see the PCd'I reabsorbed into the PSI. Tasca's "right" became obsolete following Serrati and other communists defecting from the PSI to the PCd'I, and the centre of Gramsci opening up to a united front policy. Tasca continued holding party positions. He was on and off arrested like other Italian communists during the 1920s, and was ultimately expelled from the party for backing Bukharin during his downfall. Tasca fled to France where he joined the SFIO and was active in socialist circles there. Tasca participated in the resistance against Vichy and the Nazi occupation. Following WW II, Tasca became more and more aligned with social democratic positions and critical of Communism. He died in 1960. Amadeo Bordiga: Bordiga was a prominent Marxist in Italy, and was one of the major leaders of Marxists during the early years of the PSI. He took a firm anti-war stance on Italy's intervention in WW I and was acknowledged as the leader of the PSI's "intransigent" and later abstentionist wing. He was instrumental in forming the Partido Comunista d'Italia (PCd'I) in 1921 at Livorno, taking Marxists who were angry with the PSI's lack of iniative towards the revolutionary situation that briefly emerged after WW I. During Gramsci's early years in the PSI and later the PCd'I, the two were on good terms with one another. Bordiga led the internal party struggle during the Comintern's attempts to impose its United Front policy on the party, and was instrumental in allowing the PCd'I to have the level of autonomy it did have. Following Tasca's defeat in party discussions, Bordiga came into conflict with Gramsci's formation of a party "centre" that was aligning itself towards the Soviet Union and the Stalin/ Bukharin bloc. Bordiga for his party took his role as the leader of the party's "left", and defended Trotsky in the Soviet Union's power struggles. In time through political manuevers, Gramsci's centre was able to isolate Bordiga and his left. Bordiga was arrested in 1924 and during his brief absence, Gramsci became the party's new General-Secretary. Conflicts continued, culminating in the Lyons Congress of 1926 which saw heated debate between Gramsci and Bordiga, and their respective supporters. In the voting that followed, 90% approved the theses laid out by Gramsci's centre, and Bordiga found himself isolated in party decision making. Following the Lyons Congress Bordiga was on a PCd'I delegation to Moscow during a meeting of the Comintern. A notable event that occured was his verbal and heated argument with Stalin, which intensified already high tensions between Bordiga and the power that was forming in Moscow. Bordiga was arrested again in 1926 and crossed paths with Gramsci again at the Utica prison where the two collaborated and arranged classes for other prisoners for six weeks until Gramsci was transferred again. Bordiga was imprisoned for three years. In 1930 Bordiga and his supporters were expelled from the PCd'I on charges of "Trotskyism". Bordiga would remain underground due to fascist repression until the fall of the fascist regime. Refusing to join with the the restructured PCd'I, the Partido Comunista Italiano (PCI), Bordiga joined the "International Communist Party" (which was in turn founded by his supporters in the 1930s) and continued his role as an important figure of Left Communism. He died in 1970. Palmiro Togliatti: Gramsci first met Togliatti during his time at the Turin University, where the two became acquantinces and close associates. Along with Gramsci Togliatti was a member of the Turin branch of the PSI, and worked with Gramsci in the PSI's newspaper, Avanti!. Toglatti would join Gramsci in working on L'Ordine Nuovo and would join the PCd'I when it broke off from the PSI at the Livorno Congress. Toglatti would also support Bordiga against Tasca and the right, and would in time become with Gramsci leaders of the Party's Centre who would take al ine of support behind the Stalin/Bukharin bloc within the CPSU. Toglatti collaborated with Gramsci in formulating their proposal for the party's new platform, which was adopted in the Lyons Congress of 1926. Relations between Gramsci and Toglatti soured when Toglatti refused to send a letter written by Gramsci, on behalf of the PCd'I, to the CPSU. Toglatti read the letter's contents, which congratulated the Stalin/Bukharin majority blocks efforts and called on Trotsky, Zinoviev, and others to stand down from their arguments. However the letter also warned of the majority not to take excessive measures in victory and to subordinate the international cause to Soviet affairs. Gramsci was angry at Togliatti for not sending the letter, and sent another letter criticising Togliatti. Gramsci was arrested shortly afterwards and communication between the two stopped. Togliatti assumed the position of General-Secretary following Gramsci's death, and moved the party inline with the decisions from Moscow. As pressure increased within Italy Toglatti left the country and formally the position of General Secretary passed to Ruggero Grieco, though Togliatti was still acknowledged as the de facto leader. After the fall of the fascist regime Togliatti returned to Italy and assumed control of the restructured PCd'I, the PCI. Togliatti disarmed the armed elements of the PCI and focused the PCI's efforts in parliament and trade unions. The PCI shifted to a more gradualist as well as extensive efforts in forming a communist culture in Italy, which Togliatti said he was in line with Gramsci's thoughts on hegemony. Togliatti survived an assassination attempt in 1948. Through out the 1950s the PCI became one of the largest parties in Italy along with the Christian Democrats. He died in 1964. Giacinto Menotti Serrati: Serrati was a high ranking figure in the early days of the PSI, and through his control of Avanti! was instrumental in moving the PSI towards Marxist thought. As such he was acknowledged as the head of the party's "Maximalist" wing. He was a member of the Zimmerwald Movement and supported the Bolshevik Revolution, and led the PSI into joining the Comintern in 1917. Despite being a supporter of the Soviet Union, Serrati would come into conflict with the Comintern's directives to expel reformists from the party. Serrati did not follow through on this, and the party continued to be plagued by disputes between the reformists and Marxists. He remained head of the PSI when a considerable number of Marxists, led by Bordiga, left the party in 1921. Serrati still retained control of Avanti!, which began running increasingly critical articles against Mussolini's fascist movement. As such, Serrati and his supporters were frequently harassed by brownshirts. In the following years there were attempts, encouraged by the Comintern, to merge the PCd'I and PSI. These talks failed, though Serrati expelled reformists in 1923, after Turati violated the party's prohibition on collaboration with bougousie parties, to better faciliate this merger. Eventually disputes among the Maximalists arose over the Comintern and the Soviet Union, and for his part Serrati would lead a camp of "Third Internationalists" out of the PSI into the PCd'I, making the PCd'I the sole Marxist party in Italy at the time. Serrati died in 1926, and had a article written commemorating his life by Gramsci. Gabriele d'Annunzio: D'Annunzio focused much of his early life into literary (primarly poetry) and journalistic pursuits, and remained aloof from politics until Italy's decision to enter WWI. Here d'Annuzio let lose his fierce nationalism and defended Italy's decision to enter the war. D'Annunzio advocated for Italy to work with the Allies, and organized the "Flight over Vienna", where he led a squadron of Italian planes into dropping 50,000 propaganda leaflets over Vienna. Following WW I, d'Annunzio led a group of ultra-nationalists, a hodge-podge of war veterans, syndicalists, and anarcho-syndicalists in to the city of Fiume (Rijeka) on September of 1919, which they claimed should rightfully go to Italy in its entirety. After the small Allied occupation force was ejected, d'Annunzio formed the "Italian Regency of Carnaro", and with the syndicalist Alceste De Ambris, wrote the constitution of the state which established a corporatist framework with an authoritarian bent. D'Annunzio ignored Italy's settlement of the dispute in the Treaty of Rapallo in 1920 and declared war on Italy, leading to the Italian navy into blockading and bombarding his state until he surrendered in December of 1920. D'Annunzio's action had a significant impact on the Italian psyche, particularly among those in the ranks of the petit-bougousie. Mussolini imitated much of D'Annunzio's tactics, including his method of leadership and intimidation, as well as his ideas of a corporatist economy. D'Annunzio also had an impact on Italian nationalists in general. For this, D'Annunzio has often been described as an early forerunner of Fascism. However Mussolini's method of fascism was different from D'Annunzio's fascism, with D'Annunzio and his supporters claiming Mussolini's fascism was collaborating with the ruling class. He refused to run with Mussolini's fascist party in their elections. Gramsci would compare the two's stances in his article "The Two Fascisms". D'Annunzio fell out of a window in 1922, severly injuring him. This convieniently elimated Mussolini's chief rival for the fascist movement. D'Annunzio continued in his attempts to influence Italy's policies until he died in 1938. Most notably, he tried to stop Mussolini's alliance with Hitler. Umberto Terracini: A Communist who aligned himself with Gramsci and Togliatti, and one of the founders of the PCd'I. Terracini was born into an Jewish-Italian family and rejecting his family's relatively comfortable life, followed down the path of Socialism joining the youth section of the party. He took an anti-war stance to WW I and was imprisioned following a rally, and was subsequently conscripted to the front lines. In time he would come in contact with Angelo Tasca, Palmiro Toglatti, and Antonio Gramsci, and the four of them went on to found and publish L'Ordine Nuovo. Terracini would join other Marxists in the formation of the PCd'I and became a member of the party's first Executive Committee. Initially aligned towards Bordiga, he joined and became an important figure of the party's "centre", along with Gramsci and Togliatti. Along with Gramsci, Terracini was arrested in November of 1926 and sentenced to 22 years in jail. In 1939 Terracini from imprisonment voiced opposition to the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and was expelled from the party. In 1943 he was freed from imprisonment by partisans, and fled to Switzerland where he remained in exile. He accepted an invitation back into the PCd'I in 1943 and returned to Italy after the fall of the fascist regime. He would be elected vice president of the Constituent Assembly, and following the resignation of Giuseppe Saragat, he became the president of the assembly and was present in the signing of the new Italian Constitution. Terracini reacted to the secret speech with claims that a serious self-criticism and inspection was required, motivated considerably by the disappearance of his friend, Bela Kun, in the Soviet Union. He however rejected the "Historic Compromise" between the PCI and the Christian Democrats. Terracini would continue his role in the PCd'I until his death in the 1983, though the last 20 years of his life were mostly that of respect than input into Italy's direction. Giovanni Giolitti: A member of the Italian Liberal party, Giolitti was a prominent figure in Italian politics in the early 1900s. He was in government five times- 1892-1893, 1903-1905, 1906-1909, 1911-1914, and 1920-1921. Giolitti's liberalism was characterized by following the interests of northern industrialists, and an extensive use of state intervention and protectionism in order to nurture the growth of Italy's capitalism. Giolitti was often criticzed by Gramsci during his time as a journalist. Giolitti was the most important figure of Italian liberals at the time, and was prime minister during fascism's early rise. Giolitti did little to respond to this event, as he saw it as a way to take down socialism's threat to the country that manifested itself in 1919-1920. Giolitti initially supported the fascists, seeing them as a means to finally stabilize and advance Italy, but later withdrew his support in 1924. He died in 1928 in Italy. Gaetano Salvemini: A member of the PSI, his impact on Gramsci is most notable on his extensive studies of Southern Italy. Salvemini was a member of the party's reformist wing. He became opposed to Mussolini and after his arrest in 1925 left the country, going through Western Europe until settling in the USA. From 1930-1948 he lectured history at Harvard and wrote accounts of the fascist regime. He returned to Italy in 1954 and died in 1957. Filippo Turati: One of the founders of the PSI and later leader of the party's minimalist/reformist wing. Turati was often criticized by Gramsci and other Marxists for his reformist policies and betrayal of the class struggle and revolution. Following the expulsion of reformists from the PSI, Turati created the United Socialist Party, gropuing the reformists who had been expelled from the PSI in October of 1922. Turati went into exile in 1926 to France and took up the role of anti-fascism until his death in 1932. His United Socialist Party re-entered the PSI in 1930. Organizations, publications, terms and events 1919-1920 Factory Council Movements: Also known as "Biennio Rosso" (Red Biennium) After the end of WW I, a revolutionary frevor grasped much of Europe, especially due to the success of the Bolsheviks in Russia. Peasants in Southern Italy seized and took over latifundias, distributing the land among themselves. In the North industrial workers went on strike and occupied their factories, forming councils in the process. L'Ordine Nuovo supported the movement eagerly, seeing them as the first step in a socialist revolution. The PSI did not act to aid or lead the movement, and reformist trade-unionist leaders aligned themselves with the state. The strikes were put down and the workers' council movement was destroyed. The event however demonstrated the weakness of the ruling class in Italy, and as such a reaction against the working class took place in the following two years in the form of Mussolini and his blackshirts. Avanti!: The PSI's official party newspaper which commented on domestic and international affairs as well as party decisions. Gramsci wrote for Avanti! as its theatre critic and later was on its editorial board following the end of Il Grido del Popolo. Il Grido del Popolo: A weekly socialist publication in Turin which Gramsci contributed to, writing on domestic and foreign affairs. It was shut down in October of 1918, and Gramsci was then placed in the editorial board of Avanti!. L'Unita: The PCd'I's official paper, with the first issue appearing in February of 1924. With collaboration from the Third Internationalists remaining in the PSI, Gramsci outlined his thoughts on an alliance between the industrial workers in northern italy, and the peasant masses of the south. Originally subtitled the "Workers’ and Peasants Daily", after the Third Internationalists of Serrati joined the PCd'I, it became in full the PCd'I official newspaper and would continue being the official organ of the PCI after WW II. L'Ordine Nuovo: Created by Antonio Gramsci, Umberto Terracini, Palmiro Toglatti, and Angelo Tasca with its first issue appearing in May of 1919. The publication dealt with socialist culture initially, but expanded and later gained a focus on factory councils. L'Ordine Nuovo endorsed Lenin and pronounced that the factory councils themselves would become the embryo of the future system of soviets in Italy. Divisions between Gramsci and Tasca emerged over the role of trade unions in the factory councils, with Gramsci saying that all workers should be able to participate with Tasca saying only members of a friendly trade union could. Bordiga too would criticize L'Ordine Nuovo, accusing the program of economism and syndicalism. Partido Socialista Italiano: Founded in 1892 out of a merger between the Italian Labour Party and the Italian Revolutionary Socialist Party. A member of the Socialist International (Second International), the PSI had two major wings. A "maximalist" wing which wanted to follow and implement the full plan of the PSI, and a minimalist/gradualist wing which followed a more reformist approach. In 1907 syndicalists were expelled from the party, and in 1912 a group of reformists were expelled from the party, led by Ivanoe Bonomi. The PSI's Maximalist wing in time became more and more powerful, first under Mussolini and later under Seratti after Mussolini's expulsion, leaving Turati and other reformists in the minority. The PSI was supportive of the Bolsheviks and joined the Comintern in 1917. The party would gain its best performance in the 1919 general elections, where it won 32% of the vote giving it 156 seats- the largest block in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Other parties in parliament formed a block against the PSI, preventing it from forming a government. The PSI was plagued by internal disputes between its factions. Bordiga led an intransigent and abstentionist wing of the PSI which was thoroughly opposed to collaboration with the bougousie parties in parliament and advocated for the adoption of a revolutionary standpoint. With Serrati's refusal to expel Turati and other reformists from the party and to conform to the Comintern's 21 points, a showdown occured at the PSI's congress at Livorno in 1921, where Communists left the party en masse and formed the PCd'I. Serrati would later expel Turati and reformists, but still undergoing disputes in the party, would lead the "Third Internationalists" to joining the PCd'I. The PSI would later remerge with its reformists and became a social democratic party until it was shut down in 1994, following the Tangentopoli scandals which rocked the Italian political scene. The Livonro Congress: The Livorno Congress of the PSI took place from January 15-21, where debates over the future of the party took place. Bordiga, Teracini, Bombacci and others who were in favor of the Comintern's 21 points, presented a "Imola" motion or pure Communist motion for the party. Set against them were Serrati and his Maximalists, who advanced the Florence Motion (Or Unitarian Communist), and finally the Reggio Emilia Motion advanced by the reformists. After debates voting took place, giving the majority to the Florence Motion with 98,028 votes, followed by the Imola Motion with 58,783, and finally the reformists gaining 14,695. On January 21st the head of the Communist faction and their supporters left the PSI's meeting to a nearby location in Livorno where the PCd'I was founded. Gramsci was a member of the Central Committee, with Terracini and Bordiga landing positions in the Executive Committee. The Rome Theses: Approved in the Second Congress of the PCd'I in 20-24 of March, 1922 by a majority (31,089 in favor to 4,151 votes against). The Rome Theses rejected the Comintern's approach to the United Front policy which meant collaboration with reformist parties. Other matters were mostly Bordiga's own vision of the party. This would remain the party's platform until the Lyons Congress in 1926. Acerbo Law: A law passed by Mussolini's government that restructured Italy's voting system from a proportional system to a system that granted any part that gained the largest share of the votes- at least 25%- would automatically get 2/3s of seats in the Chamber of Deputies. This move was intended for Mussolini and his fascists, as well as their collaborators, to be guaranteed control of parliament and ultimately able to pass any legislation they wished. The remaining 1/3 of seats was divided up proportionally among the other parties. The Assassination of Giacomo Matteoti: Giacomo Matteoti was a reformist and follower of Filipio Turati, leading Turati's Unified Socialist Party in the Chamber of Deputies. He was fiercly critical of Mussolini and his fascists, making two notable speeches in the Chamber of Deputies condemning fascists, and later publishing a book following the same lines. On June 10th, 1924, Matteoti was beaten and then kidnapped as he walked to the Chamber of Deputies from his residence. His corpse was found on August 16th. Shortly after the kidnapping occured, five men were arrested, among them a member of the fascist secret police, Amerigo Dumini. In the following trials, Mussolini's role in the assassination was unable to be proven. Opposition parties withdrew from parliament in protest of Matteoti's murder, in an event termed the "Aventine Seccession". The event marked a crisis for fascism in Italy, as it caused a widespread anti-fascist sentiment as well as internal struggles with the Fascists, at one point a group of fascists threatening a coup against Mussolini. Indeed some observers thought the Fascists might fall from power in Italy due to these disputes. Mussolini maunevered himself politically and denounced both anti-fascists and the fascists opposing him, giving a speech that reaffirmed his role as the head of fascism and that fascism would ultimately bring order to Italy. The Aventine Seccession: Started by the PSI and later joined by other parties that were opposed to Mussolini following the kidnapping and murder of Giacomo Matteoti. Gramsci and other delagates of the PCd'I also participated, attempting to gauge the potential of united anti-fascist action. The PCd'I delegation ultimately proposed in October of that year to transform the Aventine Secession into an "anti-parliament" to oppose Mussolini's state. When this was rejected, Gramsci deemed the Aventine Secession of being an ineffective abstentionist move and led the PCd'I back into the Chamber of Deputies. Mussolini's assassination attempt: On October 31st, 1926 during a parade to celebrate the March on Rome, a shot was fired that missed Mussolini. A 15 year-old boy, Anteo Zamboni, was killed on the spot by people observing the parade, saying that he had fired the shot. Already in the midst of the formation of his police state and the consolidation of his regime, Mussolini used the event as a pretext to dissolve all other parties in parliament. It was shortly after this decision that Gramsci was arrested, along with other members of the opposition in the Chamber of Deputities, as their parliamentary immunity was no longer valid. Abstentionism: A political tactic where members of a party stand for election and win a seat, but abstain from activity in parliament. Intransigent: A term referring to opposition to compromises in the political process. Mezzogiorno: A term for "Southern Italy", encompassing the southern mainland of Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia. A consequence of the nature of the Risorgimento (Italian Unification) was that there were pronounced differences between cities and regions, though it manifested itself most strongly between the largely cosmopolitian and industrial north and the agrarian south. Gramsci would develop commentary and analysises of why the two regions developed so differently, and felt that Socialism was a way to unite the interests of the poor, agrarian farmers of the south with the urban proletariat of the north. "Philosophy of Praxis": Here Gramsci refers to Marxism. He uses this phrase constantly to avoid referring to Marxism directly in order for prison censors not to notice. The term also represents what Gramsci felt to be the most important aspect of Marxism, applying thought into action. It was also used earlier by a 19th century Italian socialist, Antonio Labriola, who used the term to describe Marxism. "Ilyich": i.e. Vladimir Lenin "Lev Bronstein" or "Leo Davidovitch": i.e. Leon Trotsky "Rosa": i.e. Rosa Luxemburg "Gottlieb": I've only seen this referred to once in my entire reading. It is roughly the German equivalent of "Amadeo", and thus referring to Bordiga. "Vissarionovich": Stalin Following this I believe it is time for us to start looking at Gramsci's works. I will start with selections from his journalist career. I will go chronologically for the most part- Gramsci's early years as a journalist, his time with L'Ordine Nuovo, his time in the PCd'I, and finally the concepts within the prison notebooks. I do this in order to observe how like anyone, Gramsci's viewpoints and interpretations changed overtime.
