Gramsci's Revolutions: Passive and Permanent (original) (raw)

The Ambiguities of Spontaneity: Gramsci's Revolutionary Politics Revisited

New Political Science, 2023

This paper revisits the revolutionary politics of Antonio Gramsci. By contextualizing his political ideas and concerns regarding spontaneity within the prolonged debates among twentieth-century revolutionaries, I aim to clarify the tension between the horizontal and vertical political relationships in Gramsci's theory. Specifically, I will investigate how this tension embodies a revolutionary energy that pertains to the fighting capacity of the revolutionary movement, which is the central question in Gramsci's revolutionary thinking. In addition, this paper introduces a new perspective on Gramsci's theory by exploring his interpretation of "inner-party struggles." This new reading will demonstrate that spontaneity, characterized by unlimited associations between political agents, affects not only the revolutionary energy of the masses but also influences the political unity of elites.

Gramsci’s ‘Non-contemporaneity’. Reflections on Peter Thomas’s The Gramscian Moment

Peter D. Thomas’s book The Gramscian Moment: Philosophy, Hegemony and Marxism draws us to reflect on a point that Gramsci’s interpreters have often neglected: the particular structure of the Prison Notebooks, i.e., the ways in which the text was constituted and, dependent on that, the fundamental methodological criteria for its interpretation. Thomas’s book is a consummate synthesis between the deep and detailed study of the Notebooks text and the need to reconstruct some order within; between close historicalphilosophical assessment and theoretical proposal within contemporary Marxist (and para-Marxist) debate. Consequently, this book confronts us – as Gramsci’s present-day readers – with a task that no-one can face alone, but that is nonetheless extraordinarily urgent: the task of intervening in the debate within the post-modern and post-Marxist Left so that the link between Marxism and philosophy is resumed, starting out from Gramsci himself. In short: a revival of Marx through Gramsci, through – in turn – a return of the philosophy of praxis as Marxism for our own day.

NO . 3 MARCH 2011 Resisting Abstraction : Gramsci ’ s Historiological Method

2017

This article argues that the writings of Antonio Gramsci should be situated in their rightful social, philosophical, political, in short, 'historical' context. This is particularly true of his prison writing which is a rich resource but one which calls for delicate archaeological handling. It appears that Gramsci’s Marxism is unapologetically eclectic but this results in an integrated and surprisingly harmonious theoretical and practical approach to history and society. This can be brought to sharp focus only by close examination of the educational properties of Gramsci’s historical environment, the suggestions it makes, the perceptible possibilities it entails, that which blocks or impedes movement and progress, and so on. That is to say, Gramsci was not an abstract thinker. His thinking is grounded in the class war of the Italy of his time and, in turn, this was attuned to the broader struggle against capitalism in and beyond Italy's borders. This is arguably the way G...

Gramsci and the State: A Topical Analysis

Gramsci and the State: A Topical Analysis, Epol On-Line Journal, April 2010.

A short introductory paper on Antonio Gramsci's approach to the State. Gramsci and the State: A Topical Analysis, Epol On-Line Journal, April 2010.

Using Gramsci: A New Approach, Pluto Press, London-New York, 2017.

2017

This is a new approach to one of the greatest political theorists, Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks are one of the most popular Marxist texts available and continue to inspire readers across the world. In Using Gramsci, Michele Filippini proposes a new approach based on the analysis of previously ignored concepts in his works, creating a book which stands apart. Including chapters on ideology, the individual, collective organisms, society, crisis and temporality, Using Gramsci offers a new pattern in Gramscian studies aimed to speak to the broader audience of social sciences scholars. The tools that are provided in this book extend the uses of Gramsci beyond the field of political theory and Marxism, while remaining firmly rooted in his writings. Working from the original Italian texts, Filippini also examines the more traditional areas of Gramsci’s thought, including hegemony, organic intellectuals and civil society.