The Antonio Gramsci Reader: Selected Writings 1916-1935

223 Pages·2000·21.6 MB·English

by  Eric J. Hobsbawm

THE GRAMSCI READER

Selected Writings 1916-1935

edited by
DAVID FORGACS
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NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

Washington Square

New York, NY 10003

Contents
First NYU Press edition published in 2000

Introduction 10
Note on the Text 14
Chronological Outline 17
PART ONE: WRITINGS 1916-1926
I Socialism and Marxism 1917-1918 29
1 Discipline
2 The Revolution against Capital
3 Our Marx
4 Class Intransigence and Italian History
5 Utopia
II Working-Class Education and Culture 53
1 Socialism and Culture
2 Schools of Labour
3 Men or Machines?
4 The Popular University
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
5 Illiteracy
Grarnsci,Antonio,1891-1937.
[Selections. English, 6 The Problem of the School
The Antonio Grarnsci reader: selected writings, 1916-1935 I edited by 7 [Questions of Culture]
David Forgacs; with a new introduction by Eric J. Hobsbawm. 8 Marinetti the Revolutionary?
p. cm.

Originally published: New York: Schocken Books, 1988. With new introd.
III Factory Councils and Socialist Democracy 76
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1 Workers' Democracy
ISBN 0-8147-2710-7 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN 0-8147-2701-8

2 Conquest of the State
(paper: alk. paper)

3 To the Workshop Delegates of the Fiat Centro and
1. Communism. 2. Communism-Italy 1. Forgacs, David. II. Title.

Brevetti Plants
HX289.7.G73 A25 2000 99-088243
4 Unions and Councils
335.43-dc21
5 Red Sunday
6 Political Capacity
7 Those Mainly Responsible
8 Once again on the Organic Capacities of the
Printed and bound in United States of America
Working Class
10 9 8 7 6 5
IV Communism 1919-24 110 4 [Internationalism and National Policy]

1 The War in the Colonies 5 Question of the 'Collective Man' or 'Social Conformism'

2 Workers and Peasants 6 Concept of State

3 The Livorno Congress 7 Ethical or Cultural State

4 Parties and Masses 8 State as Gendarme-Nightwatchman, etc.

5 What the Relations Should Be Between the PCdI 9 The State as Veilleur de Nuit

and the Comintern 10 Economic-Corporate Phase of the State
6 [Letter to Togliatti, Terracini and Others] 11 Statolatry
12 [The Political Party as Modern 'Prince']
V Fascist Reaction and Communist Strategy 1924-1926 135 13 Fetishism
1 The Crisis of the Middle Classes
VIII Passive Revolution, Caesarism, Fascism 246
2 The Italian Situtation and the Tasks of the
1 The Problem of Political Leadership in the Formation and
PCdI (Lyons Theses)
Development of the Modern State in Italy
3 Letter to the Central Committee of the Soviet
2 Notes on French National Life
Communist Party
3 The Concept of 'Passive Revolution' [i]
4 Some Aspects of the Southern Question
4 [The Concept of Passive Revolution ii]
5 [The Concept of Passive Revolution iii]
6 [Fascism as Passive Revolution: First Version]
PART TWO: PRISON WRITINGS 1929-1935
7 [Fascism as Passive Revolution: Second Version]
8 Agitation and Propaganda
VI Hegemony, Relations ofForce, Historical Bloc 189
9 Caesarism
1 Structure and Superstructure [i]
10 Caesarism and 'Catastrophic' Equilibrium of Politico-Social
2 [Structure and Superstructure ii]
Forces
3 Structure and Superstructures [iii]
4 [The Concept of 'Historical Bloc'] IX Americanism and Fordism 275
5 [Ethico-Political History] 1 Rationalization of the Demographic Composition of Europe
6 [Ethico-Political History and Hegemony] 2 Some Aspects of the Sexual Question
7 [Political Ideologies] 3 Financial Autarky and Industry
8 Ideologies 4 'Animality' and Industrialism
9 Validity of Ideologies 5 Rationalization of Production and Work
10 Analysis of Situations: Relations of Force 6 Taylorism and the Mechanization of the Worker
11 Some Theoretical and Practical Aspects of 'Economism' 7 [Babbitt]

12 Observations on Certain Aspects of the Structure of 8 Babbitt Again

Political Parties in Periods of Organic Crisis 9 Notes on American Culture

VII The Art and Science of Politics 222 X Intellectuals and Education 300
1 [War of Position and War of Manoeuvre] 1 [Intellectuals]

2 War of Position and War of Manoeuvre or Frontal War 2 Observations on the School: In Search of the

3 Transition from the War of Manoeuvre (and from Frontal Educational Principle

Attack) to the War of Position in the Political Field as Well 3 [Intellectuals and Non-Intellectuals]
XI Philosophy, Common Sense, Language and Folklore 323 Notes 403
1 Notes for an Introduction and an Approach to the Study
of Philosophy in the History of Culture Glossary of Key Terms 420
i Some preliminary reference points
ii Observations and critical notes on an attempt at a Further Reading 432
'Popular Manual of Sociology'
2 Language, Languages, Common Sense Name Index 436
3 ['Knowledge' and 'Feeling']
4 [The Philosophy of Praxis and 'Intellectual and Subject Index 440
Moral Reformation']
5 How Many Forms of Grammar Can There Be?
6 Sources of Diffusion of Linguistic Innovations in the
Tradition and of a National Linguistic Conformism in
the Broad National Masses
7 Historical and Normative Grammars
8 Grammar and Technique
9 Observations on Folklore
XII Popular Culture 363
1 Concept of 'National-Popular'
2 Various Types of Popular Novel
3 The Operatic Conception of Life
4 Popular Literature. Operatic Taste
5 Oratory, Conversation, Culture
XUI Journalism 379
1 Ideological Material
2 Dilettantism and Discipline
3 [Integral Journalism]
4 Types of Periodical
XIV Art and the Struggle for a New Civilization 391
1 Art and the Struggle for a New Civilization
2 Art and Culture
3 Literary Criticism
4 Criteria of Literary Criticism
5 Sincerity (or Spontaneity) and Discipline
6 ['Functional' Literature]
Introduction 11
so, no one else did. Though excellent English translations were
almost immediately made, it took decades actually to find pub­
INTRODUCTION
lishers for the Lettere in Britain and the USA.
Even so, apart from a few foreigners with personal memories of
the Italian Resistance and personal friendships on the post-war
The international fortunes of Gramsci's work have fluctuated with Italian left, the Rezeptionsgeschichte of Gramsci begins with the
the changes of fashion on the intellectual left. Thus in the 1960s the twentieth Congress of the CPSu. For two decades it was part of the
vogue for Althusser in Latin America largely blocked the way for attempt by the international communist movement to emancipate
Gramsci, although in France itself Althusser's prominence also itself from the heritage both of Stalin and the Communist
gave pUblicity to the then barely known Italian, whom he both International. Within the 'socialist camp' this was reflected in the
praised and criticised. The element of fashion was particularly evi­ almost immediate official acknowledgement of Gramsci as a polit­
dent inasmuch as the reception of Gramsci coincided largely with ical thinker as well as a martyr as witness the publication of a
the heyday of the 'new lefts' of the 1960s and 1970s, whose capacity three-volume selection from his works in the USSR in 1957-1959,
to consume an eclectic mix made of mutually incompatible intel­ the Soviet presence at the first Gramsci Convegno in 1958 and the
lectual ingredients was considerable. substantial and implicitly reformist Soviet delegation to the second
The element of fashion was even more evident in the 1990s, (1967). Eventually, of course, Gramsci was to make his way into the
when former leftists transformed into neo-liberals no longer cared academic literature.
to be reminded of anything that reealled old enthusiasms. This More precisely, Gramsci attracted attention outside Italy pri­
could be witnessed in post-1991 Russia where the heritage of marily as a communist thinker who provided a marxist strategy for
marxist ideas is under a serious attack. countries in which the October Revolution might have been an
It is equally evident that Gramsci could not have become a inspiration, but could not be a model, that is to say for socialist
major figure on the world intellectual scene but for the determina­ movements in non-revolutionary environments and situations. The
tion of his comrade and admirer Palmiro Togliatti to preserve and prestige and success of the Italian Communist Party in the years
publish his writings, and to give them a central place in Italian com­ between the Yalta Memorandum and the death of Enrico
munism. Under the conditions of Stalinism this was by no means an Berlinguer naturally spread the influence of a thinker generally
inevitable choice, especially given the known heterodoxy of considered as the inspirer of its strategies. Gramsci undoubtedly
Gramsci, even though the line of the Seventh World Congress of reached the peak of his international prominence in the years of
the International made it a little less risky. Whatever the subse­ 'eurocommunism' of the 1970s, and receded somewhat in the 1980s
quent criticism of Togliatti's own views on Gramsci, his concern _ except perhaps in the German Federal republic, where he was
after Gramsci's death 'to remove him from the misfortunes of the discovered rather late, and interest in him was at its height in the
present and safeguard him for the future life of the party' (P. first half of the 1980s.
Spriano, Gramsci in carcere e if partito, Rome 1988), and his insis­ The international discussion on Gramsci, it seems, remained
tence on Gramsci's centrality from the moment of his return to largely separate from and independent of the vigorous Italian
Italy, were the foundations of Gramsci's subsequent fortunes. The debate on the country's greatest marxist thinker. This is not sur­
editorial deficiencies and omissions of the early post-war years prising. Foreigners inevitably read some national thinker, however
were the price paid for making Gramsci known; in retrospect a universal in his or her interests, in a different manner from readers
price worth paying. Thanks to Togliatti's determination, and the in their own culture, and when the thinker is, like Gramsci, so
new prestige of the PCI, at least the Lettere were published in a closely concerned with his national reality, foreign and national
number of countries, including some 'people's democracies' before readings are even more likely to diverge. In any case several of the
the death of Stalin. Where the local communist parties failed to do issues most hotly debated in Italy were not so much arguments
10

dJ,;,),,'
12 A Gramsci Reader Introduction 13
about Gramsci as arguments for (or more usually against) some the left, although for evident reasons those who share Gramsci's
phase of the policy of the PCl. These were not always of major objectives are most likely to look to him for guidance. Yet, while
interest to non-specialists outside. Nevertheless, it is relevant to one hopes that Gramsci may still be a guide to successful political
note that what has influenced foreign readers is the text of action for the left, it is already clear that his international influence
Gramsci's writings rather than the literature of criticism and inter­ has penetrated beyond the left, and indeed beyond the sphere of
pretation that has accumulated around them in his own country.
instrumental politics.
That is to say, it is the Gramsci of the era when the first major selec­ It may seem trivial that an Anglo-saxon reference work can - I
tions of his work became widely available in translation or, at the quote the entry in its entirety reduce him to a single word:
earliest, when the first important local 'Gramscians' appeared on 'Antonio Gramsci (Italian political thinker, 1891-1937) see under
the intellectual scene to introduce the as yet untranslated thinker. HEGEMONY' (A. Bullock and O. Stallybrass (eds), The Fontana
Essentially, we may say that the non-Italian Gramsci-reception was Dictionary of Modern Thought, London 1977). It may be absurd
that of the Gramsci of the 1960s-1970s. that an American journalist quoted by Buttigieg believes that the
The international reception of Gramsci has therefore been, and concept of 'civil society' was introduced into modern political dis­
still remains, subject to the fluctuating fortunes of the political left. course by Gramsci alone. Yet the acceptance of a thinker as a
And it will, and must, continue to be so to some extent. For permanent classic is often indicated just by such superficial refer­
Gramsci was par excellence the philosopher of political praxis. ences to him by people who patently know little more about him
Most of the luminaries of what has been called 'western marxism'
than that he is 'important'.
can be read, as it were, as academics, which many of them were or Fifty years after his death Gramsci had become 'important' in
could have been: Lukacs, Korsch, Benjamin, Althusser, Marcuse this manner even outside Italy, where his status in national history
and others. They wrote at one or two removes from the concrete and national culture was recognised almost from the beginning. It
political realities even when, like Henri Lefebvre, they were at one is now recognised in most parts of the globe. Indeed, the flourishing
time or another plunged into them as political organisers. Gramsci historical school of 'subaltern studies' centred in Calcutta suggests
cannot be separated from these realities, since even his widest gen­ that Gramsci's influence is still expanding. He has survived the
eralisations are invariably concerned with the investigation of the political conjunctures which first gave him international promi­
practical conditions for transforming the world by politics in the nence. He has survived the European communist movement itself.
specific circumstances in which he wrote. Unlike Lenin but like He has demonstrated his independence of the fluctuations of ideo­
Marx, he was a born intellectual, a man almost physically excited logical fashion. Who now expects another vogue for Althusser, any
by the sheer attraction of ideas. Not for nothing was he the only more than for Spengler? He has survived the enclosure in acad­
genuine marxist theorist who was also the leader of a marxist mass emic ghettos which looks like being the fate of so many other
party (if we leave aside the much less original Otto Bauer). One of thinkers of 'western marxism'. He has even avoided becoming an
the reasons why historians, marxist and even non-marxist, have
'ism'.
found him so rewarding is precisely his refusal to leave the terrain What the future fortunes of his writings will be, we cannot know.
of concrete historical, social and cultural realities for abstraction However, his permanence is already sufficiently sJ,lTe, and justifies
and reductionist theoretical models. the continuing study of his writings.
It is therefore likely that Gramsei will continue to be read E. J. Hobsbawm
mainly for the light his writings throw on politics, in his own words,
the 'body of practical rules for research and detailed observations
useful for awakening an interest in effective reality and for stimu­
lating more rigorous and more vigorous political insights'. I do not
believe that those looking for such insights will only be found on
~
Note on the Text 15
torinesi, 1913-1917, CF = La Citta futura, 1917-1918 and NM = II
nostro Marx, 1918-1919, all edited by Sergio Caprioglio, Einaudi,
NOTE ON THE TEXT
Turin, respectively 1980, 1982 and 1984. In Part Two an Italian
source in the prison notebooks is given in all cases. This takes the
form of a notebook (Q = quaderno) number and a paragraph (§)
Most of the writings included here are to be found in one of the
number, following the numbering of Quaderni del carcere edited
four existing volumes published in Britain by Lawrence and
by Valentino Gerratana, 4 volumes, Turin 1975. New translations
Wishart and in the United States by International Publishers (with
are mine, except for VI, 4, 6 and 7, which are by Derek
the exception of the last, of which th~ American imprint is by Boothman. The biographical outline in the prefatory material is
Harvard University Press): Selections from the Prison Notebooks,
based on the ones in CT and Gerratana's edition, as above.
edited and translated by Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell­
As for dates of the writings, all texts in Part One carry a date of
Smith, 1971 (henceforth abbreviated as SPN); Selections from
first publication or original composition. In Part Two I have not
Political Writings (1910-1920), selected and edited by Quintin
attempted to date individual texts, since a given draft in the prison
Hoare, translated by John Mathews, 1977 (abbreviated as SPW I);
notebooks cannot always be dated more accurately than by its year
Selections from Political Writings (1921-26), translated and edited
of composition and many of the later notes are in any case revised
by Quintin Hoare, 1978 (abbreviated as SPW II); Selections from
versions of earlier drafts. However, the following dates of
Cultural Writings, edited by David Forgacs and Geoffrey
composition of the individual notebooks drawn on in this volume
Nowell-Smith, translated by William Boelhower, 1985 (abbre­
will give readers a rough guide (the dating is that given in
viated as SCW). Although I have sought to include as many
Gerratana's critical edition): Q 3: 1930; Q 5, 6 and 7: 1930-32; Q 8:
important texts and passages as possible, with one or two
1931-32; Q 10: 1932-35; Q 11: 1932-33; Q 12: 1932; Q 13: 1932-34;
exceptions I have deliberately left out or cut passages which
Q 14: 1932-35; Q 15: 1933; Q 16: 1933-34; Q 19 and 21: 1934-35; Q
require a specialized knowledge (historical, philosophical,
22,23 and 24: 1934; Q 26, 27 and 29: 1935.
literary). Where such passages seemed indispensable I have
In most places the text given here follows exactly that of the
included them and put a note, although I have generally tried to
earlier English editions, but six kinds of variant reading will be
keep notes to a minimum and to confine detailed explanations to
found.
the introductions heading each section. I have however used a few J,
1. I have made cuts, marked by [ ... in some texts. This is
notes to cross-refer to passages in other texts. Some notes have
partly for reasons of space (in the case of a long text), partly in
been transcribed from the existing English editions; others are
order to remove specific references (e .g. to Italian political figures)
new.
that seemed dispensable in an edition of this kind. Every cut
Each item (text) in this book is identified by both an Arabic
involves an editorial judgement, and it may be that some readers
numeral and a separate title. Titles enclosed in square brackets
will disapprove of some of my judgements. Where this occurs, I
have been supplied by me where Gramsci either did not give one
can only refer them to the uncut version in the other editions. I
or where the existing one is inappropriate (for instance some of the
had originally intended to include only uncut texts in this edition,
prison notes have only general headings). At the foot of each text I
but I soon realized that if I did so I should either have had to
have indicated, using the appropriate abbreviation followed by
include many fewer texts than I wanted or else leave out for lack of
page numbers, where it is to be found in one of the four volumes
space such fundamental writings as 'The Lyons Theses', 'Some
mentioned. Where no previous translation exists the text is
Aspects of the Southern Question' and the prison notes on the
*
marked and its published Italian source is indicated. In Part One
Risorgimento and intellectuals. Some texts have been substantially
this source is given in the form of abbreviated title followed by
reduced, but in many cases the cuts are minor ones.
page numbers. The three editions cited here are: CT = Cronache 2. At a few points there are additional passages. Where these
14
16 A Gramsci Reader
run to more than few lines I have enclosed them in angled brackets
< >. In one case (1.4), the passage in question was cut from
Gramsci's original newspaper article by the press censor. It was CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE
published for the first time in NM after Caprioglio found the
original printers' proof seized by the censor in the State Archive at
Turin. Itwas therefore not available to the translator of SPW I.
1891

3. The internal order of paragraphs within some of the notes in
Antonio Gramsci born in Ales (province of Cagliari, Sardinia) on

Part Two differs from that in SPN and passages which appeared as
22 January, fourth of seven children.

footnotes in that edition appear here integrated into the main body
of the text. In this respect I have followed the text of the critical
1897

edition, which reproduces Gramsci's manuscript notebooks more
His father, Francesco, a civil servant, is accused of administrative

exactly. For the same reason, there are a few cases where what
irregularity and suspended from office. He is subsequently tried

appears as a single note in SPN appears here as two notes or even
and sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

three, and occasionally the other way round.
4. The order of notes themselves in Part Two does not
1903·05

correspond, on the whole, to the sequences in SPN. Like the
Gramsci is obliged to work, because of the family's straitened

earlier Italian editions, SPN did not generally follow Gramsci's
circumstances, in the local tax office. Around 1905 his elder

manuscript arrangement. I have consequently felt free to regroup
brother Gennaro, doing military service in Turin, starts sending

the notes, with respect to SPN, in an order that both seemed to
him Avanti!, the organ of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI).

make more sense for the particular thematic arrangements of this
edition and to correspond as far as possible to the order of
1908-11

composition by year of their first drafts (the translations are
Moves to Cagliari to complete his school studies. Lives with

however, with one exception (VIII.6), all of second drafts or
Gennaro (now a PSI activist) and has his first contacts with the

unique drafts).
socialist movement. Also becomes involved with Sardinian

5. I have made some minor emendations to the translations in
regionalist politics. He first reads Karl Marx's writings in this

the few cases where the existing translation seemed to me either
period.

incorrect or unclear. Translations have been checked against the
critical editions, where these have now appeared.
1911

6. There are a few variants of style introduced to resolve
Wins a scholarship to University of Turin. Meets Palmiro Togliatti

inconsistencies between the four volumes: for instance the word
and Angelo Tasca, also students in Turin. Particularly interested

'state' appears here with a lower-case initial throughout,
in linguistics.

'Communist', 'Socialist' and 'Fascist' (when they refer to political
parties) have an initial capital, the forms 'II' and 'III', used as
1913

ordinals, are written out as 'Second' and 'Third', main quotations
Becomes involved in PSI activity in Turin.

are in single rather than double inverted commas and.. most
spellings in '-ise' have been amended to '-ize'.
1915

Withdraws from university courses without graduating and

devotes himself full time to working for the socialist press - the

Turin office of Avanti! and the local Socialist weekly II Grido del

17
iii
18 A Gramsci Reader Chronological Outline 19
Popolo (The People's Cry). He continues working part-time on a International (Comintern) in Petrograd sets conditions ('21

thesis in linguistics until 1918. points') for membership. Lenin praises Gramsci's motion 'For a

renewal of the Socialist Party' amid the dissent of the Italian

1917 delegation.

February. Edits single issue of La Citto. futura, newspaper of the September. Occupation of the factories. 500,000 workers involved

regional youth movement of the PSI. in northern industrial cities. Gramsci's article 'Red Sunday'. CGL

April. First articles in support of Lenin and the Russian votes against occupation being turned into revolution. Movement

revolution. collapses.

August. Food riots and anti-war protests in Turin. Many local PSI November. Participates at PSI Congress in Imola where

leaders arrested in subsequent wave of repression. communist fraction is formed.

September. Becomes secretary of provisional executive of Turin
PSI and acting editor of II Grido del Popolo.
1921

December. Publishes article 'The Revolution against Capital' in
January. Gramsci and others set up institute of Proletarian Culture

support of the Bolsheviks and against a determinist Marxism.
in Turin, affiliated to Soviet Proletkult. Livorno congress of PSI.

Motion of communist fraction wins a third of the votes. Fraction

1918
secedes to form Communist Party of Italy (PCdI). General

II Grido del Popolo ceases publication. With Togliatti and others,
secretary is Amadeo Bordiga.

launches a Turin edition of A vantil
December. Comintern launches 'united front' policy of working
­
class unity between Communists and Socialists at both party and

1919
trade union level. Policy opposed by PCdl.

May. Gramsci, Togliatti and Tasca launch the weekly L'Ordine
Nuovo (The New Order).
1922

June. Publishes in L'Ordine Nuovo the article 'Workers'
March. Second Congress ofPCdI, Rome. 'Rome Theses' opposing

Democracy' calling for the internal commissions in the workplace
united front policy approved by a large majority.

to be developed as 'organs of proletarian power, replacing the
May. Gramsci, designated PCdI representative to Comintern,

capitalist'. Translates many articles dealing with factory councils
leaves for Moscow in poor health. He will not return to Italy for

and the shop stewards' movement.
two years.

October. Meets Sylvia Pankhurst in Turin. A series of her 'Letters
June. Begins to participate in Comintern activities but is taken ill.

from England', translated by Togliatti, appears in L'Ordine
Spends several Q10nths in a Moscow sanatorium where he meets

Nuovo.
his future wife, Julia Schucht.

November-December. Factory council movement develops in
October. 'March on Rome'. Mussolini takes power.

Turin.
November-December. Fourth Congress of Comintern deals with

'Italian question' and recommends fusion of PCdI with PSI.

1920
Majority of PCdI is opposed to the recommendation but accepts it

April. Unofficial general strike in Turin (not supported by PSI or
out of discipline. Fusion however will never take place.

socialist trade union (CGL) leaders) involving over 200,000
workers.
July-August. Gramsci and L'Ordine Nuovo group approve the 1923

setting up of 'factory communist groups', later to be the local February. Bordiga and several other Communist leaders arrested.

nuclei of the Communist Party. Second Congress of Communist Togliatti enters Executive Committee.

~
Chronological Outline 21
20 A Gramsci Reader
October. Gramsci writes a letter to the Central Committee of the
April-June. Bordiga from prison launches appeal to party to

Bolshevik Party expressing anxiety about the inner-party struggle
oppose Comintern line on the issue of fusion with PSI. Gramsci

(between the Stalin-Bukharin majority and the Trotsky-Zinoviev­
refuses to sign. Nucleus of new leading group of party (Togliatti,

Kamenev Joint Opposition) and its effect on the international
Gramsci, Umberto Terracini) begins to form.

movement. He nevertheless declares his support for the majority.
December. Gramsci is transferred from Moscow to Vienna to

The letter is sent to Togliatti in Moscow, who withholds it, though
maintain links between PCdI and other European Communist

he shows it to Bukharin. Drafts 'Some Aspects of the Southern
parties.

Question'.
November. Arrested with other Communist deputies, in violation
1924

of parliamentary immunity. Imprisoned first in Rome, then
February. First issue of L'Unita appears, joint daily paper of PCdI

(December) transferred to exile on the island of Ustica (off Sicily)
and 'Third Internationalist' fraction of PSI (latter will fuse with

where he briefly shares a house with Bordiga and others. To
PCdI in August).

enable Gramsci to read during his imprisonment, his friend Piero
April. General election. Gramsci elected parliamentary deputy.

Sraffa, the Marxist economist based in Cambridge, opens an
May. Returns to Italy. Clandestine party conference in Como.

unlimited account on his behalf at a bookshop in Milan.
Gramsci elected to Executive Committee, opposes Bordiga's

policies. He subsequently becomes the new General Secretary.

1927
June. Fascists murder opposition deputy Giacomo Matteotti.

January. Transferred from Ustica to prison in Milan to await trial.
Gramsci calls for general strike and working-class anti-fascist unity

March. First plan of prison notebooks communicated in a letter to
against legalistic protest of other opposition parties.

his sister-in-law, Tatiana Schucht, acting as an intermediary, in
August. Julia Schucht gives birth to her and Gramsci's first child,

this instance, for Piero Sraffa. Four subjects outlined: history of
Delio.

Italian intellectuals, theatre of Pirandello, comparative linguistics
August-September. Comintern calls for 'Bolshevization' of

and popular literature.
Communist parties: application of united front policy, slogan of

October. A letter from Piero Sraffa publicizing Gramsci's plight
'workers' and peasants' government', restructuring of party

and attacking 'the methods of Fascism' appears in the Manchester
organization on the basis of workplace cells.

Guardian on 21 October.
1925

1928
January. Fascist 'exceptional laws' introduced.

May. Transferred to Rome. Tried with other Communist leaders
October. Julia with Delio joins Gramsci in Rome. She works at the

before Special Tribunal. The prosecuting attorney Michele Isgro
Soviet Embassy.

allegedly says of Gramsci: 'For twenty years we must stop this
1926
brain from working.'
June. Sentenced to 20 years and 8 months.
January. Third Congress of PCdI, Lyons. Drafts with Togliatti the

July. Sent to a special prison in Turi (near Bari, in the south)
main congress document ('Lyons Theses') which is overwhelmingly

because of his ill health. At first he shares a cell with five other
approved (90.8 per cent), a victory for the new leading group over

prisoners, then he obtains permission for a cell on his own.
the Bordiga opposition.

July. Julia, now expecting a second child, leaves Italy because of

1929
the deteriorating political climate.

January. Granted permission to write in his cell. He begins with
August. Second son, Giuliano, born to Julia in Moscow. Gramsci

translation exercises.
will only ever see photographs of him.