Table Of ContentThePrismsofGramsci
Historical Materialism
Book Series
EditorialBoard
SébastienBudgen(Paris)
SteveEdwards(London)
JuanGrigera(London)
MarcelvanderLinden(Amsterdam)
PeterThomas(London)
volume103
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/hm
The Prisms of Gramsci
ThePoliticalFormulaoftheUnitedFront
By
MarcosDelRoio
Translationby
PedroSette-Câmara
leiden | boston
OriginallypublishedinPortuguesebyXamãeditoraas“OsprismasdeGramsci:aformulapolíticadafrente
única(1919–1926)”,SãoPaulo,2005.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
DelRoio,Marcos,author.
[PrismasdeGramsci.English]
TheprismsofGramsci:thepoliticalformulaoftheunitedfront/byMarcosDelRoio;translationby
PedroSette-Camara.
pagescm.–(Historicalmaterialismbookseries,ISSN1570-1522;103)
"OriginallypublishedinPortuguesebyXamaeditoraas"OsprismasdeGramsci:aformulapoliticada
frenteunica(1919-1926)",SaoPaulo,2005."
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-22582-4(hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-30418-5(e-book)
1.Gramsci,Antonio,1891-1937.2.Communism–Italy–History.3.Communism–History.I.Title.
HX289.7.G73D45132015
320.53'20945–dc23
2015029493
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The same ray of light passes through different prisms and yields different
refractionsoflight:inordertohavethesamerefraction,onemustmakeawhole
seriesofadjustmentstotheindividualprisms.
gramsci1975,p.33;1992,p.128
∵
Contents
Foreword:IdentityandDiversityinGramsci’sThought ix
AcronymList xiii
Introduction 1
1 War,RevolutionandtheCommunistScissioninGramsci 12
1 CommunistScissionandCommunistRefoundationinLeninand
RosaLuxemburg 12
2 Liberalism,RevisionismandtheProblemoftheScission(or
Cleavage)inGramsci 22
3 TheOrganicScissionoftheWorkers’MovementandtheFoundation
oftheCommunistPartyinItaly 38
4 TheOriginsoftheUnitedFrontPolicyintheCommunist
International 50
2 TheParadoxbetweenCommunistScissionandUnitedFront 58
1 HowtheCommunistScissioninItalyConsolidatedItselfoverthe
DisputewithintheCommunistInternationalandtheFascist
Offensive 58
2 TheUnitedFrontPolicyintheCommunistInternationalandinthe
ussr:TheoreticalWeaknessandPoliticalDefeat 68
3 GramsciinMoscowandtheSolutiontotheDisputebetweenthe
PCd’IandtheCommunistInternational 77
4 GramscibetweentheCommunistRefoundationandtheTheoretical
RegressionofBolshevism 87
3 TheCommunistRefoundationandtheUnitedFrontinGramsci 104
1 TheInfluenceoftheTheoreticalRegressiononthePoliticalActions
oftheCommunistInternational 104
2 GramsciinViennaandHisConfluencewiththeCommunist
Refoundation 112
3 GramsciinRome:TheUnitedFrontPolicyandAnti-Fascism 121
4 OntheWaytotheThirdCongressofthePCd’I 131
4 TheStrategyoftheAnti-FascistUnitedFront 140
1 The‘LyonsTheses’andtheTheoryoftheSocialistRevolutionin
Italy 140
viii contents
2 TheThirdCongressandtheNewLinesofDivision 150
3 GramsciandtheRussianQuestion 161
4 TheAgrarianQuestionasaNationalQuestion,andtheProblemof
theSouthernIntellectualsintheUnitedFront 174
Conclusion 186
References 201
Index 205
foreword
Identity and Diversity in Gramsci’s Thought*
MarcosDelRoioprovidesuswithasoberandcarefulanalysisofGramsci’spolit-
icalandintellectualactivities,butitisalsoforcefulanddetermined,proposing
astrongandradicalthesis:namely,thatthereisacontinuitybetweenpolitical
actionandphilosophicalthoughtthroughoutthewholeofGramsci.Irecalla
statementtothiseffectexpressedinnouncleartermsbyBattistaSanthià,the
workerwhowastheleadingfigureofthebienniorosso[‘tworedyears’of1919–
20],whenIcarriedoutalonginterviewwithhimathishomeinTurinin1987,a
fewyearsbeforehispassing.Santhiàwasnotanintellectualbyprofession,even
thoughhisapproachwasthatofthe‘organicintellectual’asdefinedbyGram-
sciinhisspeechtothePoliticalCommissionatthe1926CongressoftheItalian
CommunistParty[PCd’I]inLyons.Disputingthepreferencegiventointellec-
tualsbyAmadeoBordiga’sextremeleft,hesaid:‘theintellectualswerethemost
politicallyandsociallyadvancedelements,andwerethereforedestinedtobe
the organisers of the working class. Today, in our view, the organisers of the
working class must be the workers themselves’.1 It must be highlighted that,
accordingtothelanguageusedinthe PrisonNotebooks,theterm‘organisers’
referstointellectualsinabroadsense.
Atthetime,Santhià’swordsseemedtometobefilledwith‘triumphalism’.
YetasIreconsideredthem,Isawthathewasverymuchintheright.Toinsist
upontheunityofGramsci’swholeworkdoesnotimplyunderestimatingthe
change, transformation, or even the ruptures that occurred in his brief but
densely-layered existence. Conversely, today we know that it is impossible
to study the Notebooks without using the analytical tools of a genetic and
evolutionarymethodofresearch–andthisdoesnotmeanwipingawaytheir
internalunity.
As we read Gramsci, certain key ideas come forth, and they determine in
unitaryfashiontherhythmofhisthought,atleastfromthetimeofthefactory
councilstothewritingofthelastnotebooks(Gramscihimselfpointsoutthe
pathofthiscontinuityinastrategicnoteintheNotebooks).2Iamreferringto
thekeyideasthatconstitutetheidentityofhisthought,throughoutandbeyond
thediversityofitsmanifestations,thatidentitywhichistheusualhallmarkof
allgreatthinkers.
* ThisforewordwastranslatedfromItalianintoPortuguesebyAlvaroBianchi.
1 Gramsci1999a,p.430.
2 Gramsci1977,vol.4,p.328ff.
x foreword
BoththetitleandsubtitleofDelRoio’sbookreminduspreciselyofthecoun-
terpoint between identity and diversity, which Gramsci theorised in highly
imaginativetermsinNotebook1,andwhichwecan,perhapswithalittlemore
audacity,applytohisownthought:
Theunitaryelaborationofacollectiveconsciousnessrequiresmanifold
conditionsandinitiatives…Thesamerayoflightpassesthroughdifferent
prismsandyieldsdifferentrefractionsoflight…Findingtherealidentity
underneath the apparent differentiation and contradiction and finding
the substantial diversity underneath the apparent identity is the most
essential quality of the critic of the ideas and of the historian of social
development.3
The subtitle’s essential category, as well as the contents of Del Roio’s work –
the ‘united front’ – direct us to an identical problem dealt with in Gramsci’s
politicalaction,namelythatconcerningtheradicalLeninismthatguidedhim
inhisconfrontationwithBordiga.
DelRoiorecallsthebirthofthis‘politicalformula’–intheGermanyof1921–
whichwascentraltoLenin’smaturethought,showsthevariouswaysinwhichit
wasinterpreted,andanalysesGramsci’scautiousattitude.Animportantaspect
ofthislatteristhefactthatitisthepracticalnecessityimposedbytheunited
frontstrategythatexplainsthemonumentalprudenceandflexibilityGramsci
displayedtowardsBordiga,bothwhenBordigaestablishedthepartyline,and
later,whenGramsci’ssupremacybegantotakeshape.
The metaphor-image of the ray and the prism allows us to approach the
guiding thread that accompanies the transition from Gramsci’s final year at
libertytothegenesisoftheNotebooks.Inthisrespect,DelRoiopicksoutsome
importantelements,particularlyfromtheincompleteandthen-unpublished
1926essayonthe‘Southernquestion’.However,itwasboththepoliticaland
theoreticalelaborationsofGramsciinthatyearthatbrokethegroundforthe
constructionofhisthoughtasitmaturedinprison.Torecallthemainstages,
we have the Lyons Congress and the corresponding theses (21–26 January),
his letter to Togliatti on the situation within the Bolshevik Party (October),
andSomeAspectsoftheSouthernQuestion(inthemonthsbeforehisarreston
8November).
3 Gramsci1977,vol.1,p.33ff.Intheseconddraftofthispassage,inq24,§3(thespecialnotebook
dedicatedtojournalism),the‘unitaryelaboration’becomes‘thenationalunitaryelaboration’,
andthe‘qualityofthecriticofideas’becomes‘themoredelicategift,albeitmisunderstood,
butstillessential,ofthecriticofideas’,amongotherchanges.
