MARX, ENGELS, AND MARXISMS Antonio Gramsci An Intellectual Biography Gianni Fresu Marx, Engels, and Marxisms Series Editors Marcello Musto York University Toronto, ON, Canada Terrell Carver University of Bristol Bristol, UK The Marx renaissance is underway on a global scale. Wherever the critique of capitalism re-emerges, there is an intellectual and political demand for new, critical engagements with Marxism. The peer-reviewed series Marx, Engels and Marxisms (edited by Marcello Musto & Terrell Carver, with Babak Amini, Francesca Antonini, Paula Rauhala & Kohei Saito as Assistant Editors) publishes monographs, edited volumes, critical editions, reprints of old texts, as well as translations of books already published in other languages. Our volumes come from a wide range of political per- spectives, subject matters, academic disciplines and geographical areas, producing an eclectic and informative collection that appeals to a diverse and international audience. Our main areas of focus include: the oeuvre of Marx and Engels, Marxist authors and traditions of the 19th and 20th centuries, labour and social movements, Marxist analyses of contemporary issues, and reception of Marxism in the world. Gianni Fresu Antonio Gramsci An Intellectual Biography Gianni Fresu Universidade Federal de Uberlândia Santa Monica, Brazil ISSN 2524-7123 ISSN 2524-7131 (electronic) Marx, Engels, and Marxisms ISBN 978-3-031-15609-0 ISBN 978-3-031-15610-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15610-6 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or here- after developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: The History Collection / Alamy Stock Photo This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland C ontents Part I The Young Revolutionary 1 1 The Premises of an Uninterrupted Discourse 3 2 Dialectics Versus Positivism: The Young Gramsci’s Philosophical Background 17 3 Self-education and Autonomy of Producers 35 4 Lenin and the Topicality of Revolution 47 5 L’Ordine Nuovo 63 6 The Origin and Defeat of the Italian Revolution 73 7 The Party Problem 81 8 Revolutionary Reflux and Reactionary Offensive 95 Part II The Political Leader 107 9 The New Party 109 v vi CONTENTS 10 The Comintern and the “Italian case” 125 11 Toward a New Majority 155 12 Gramsci Leading the Party 169 13 Theoretical Maturity between 1925 and 1926 179 14 The Congress of Lyon 187 Part III The Theoretician 201 15 From Sardinia’s Contradictions to the Southern Question 203 16 The Notebooks: The Difficult Beginnings of a “Disinterested” Work 231 17 Hegemonic Relations, Productive Relations and the Subaltern 239 18 Permanent Transformism 251 19 Historical Premises and Congenital Contradictions in Italian Biography 267 20 “The Old Dies and the New Cannot be Born” 283 21 The Double Revision of Marxism and Similarity with Lukács 297 22 Translatability and Hegemony 321 23 The Philosopher Man and the Tamed Gorilla 339 24 Michels, the Intellectuals and the Issue of Organization 355 CONTENTS vii 25 The Dismantling of the Old Schemes of Political Art 371 26 Epilogue 383 References 387 Index 401 PART I The Young Revolutionary CHAPTER 1 The Premises of an Uninterrupted Discourse Antonio Gramsci was born in a context of deep crisis in the young Italian state, which was particularly serious in Sardinia as it was historically shaken after centuries of colonial rule and affected by such chronic misery and structural underdevelopment that left him no way out.1 In 1891, Italy had for a few years been plunged into a customs war with France, which was waged by Crispi2 to defend the burgeoning industry and Italy’s large agri- cultural production, but with very serious consequences for the Italian South. 1 Antonio Gramsci was born in Ales (Oristano), a small village in the interior of Sardinia, on January 22, 1891. Born to Giuseppina Marcias and Francesco Gramsci, he was the fourth of seven children. Three years later, the family moved to Sorgono, near Ghilarza, Giuseppina’s hometown, where little Antonio Gramsci spent all his childhood and adolescence. 2 After the collapse of the last right-wing government in Cavour, Agostino Depretis, the new president of the council of ministers, abandoned the policy of free exchange in favor of customs protectionism. Aimed at protecting the burgeoning national industry of the North and large-estate farming in southern Italy, and maintained by Francesco Crispi, the new prime minister, this policy led to the denouncing of old trade treaties and to a customs war with France and thus to the closure of this key market to some Italian products (citrus fruits, olive oil, cattle, wine, cereals, leather), which were particularly important to the Mezzogiorno region. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 3 Switzerland AG 2023 G. Fresu, Antonio Gramsci, Marx, Engels, and Marxisms, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15610-6_1