The Revolutionary Marxism of Antonio Gramsci

212 Pages·2014·0.67 MB·English

by  Frank Rosengarten

The Revolutionary Marxism of Antonio Gramsci
Historical
Materialism
Book Series
Editorial Board
Sébastien Budgen, Paris – Steve Edwards, London
Marcel van der Linden, Amsterdam – Peter Thomas, London
VOLUME 62
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hm
The Revolutionary
Marxism of
Antonio Gramsci
By
Frank Rosengarten
LEidEn • BOSTOn
2014
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To John Cammett
In Memoriam

Contents
Acknowledgments  .................................................................................................................... ix
Abbreviations  ............................................................................................................................. xi
List of Permissions  .................................................................................................................... xiii
Part One: Gramsci as Political Thinker and Activist
introduction  ............................................................................................................................... 3
1. The Gramsci-Trotsky Question  ....................................................................................... 15
2. Antonio Gramsci and the italian Communist Press in the Fascist Era  .............. 47
3. The Contemporary Relevance of Gramsci’s Views on the italian
‘Southern Question’  ............................................................................................................ 57
Part Two: Gramsci’s Prison Experience
4. Antonio Gramsci’s Letters from Prison  ........................................................................ 69
5. Gramsci’s Analysis of Canto X of dante’s Inferno  ..................................................... 93
6. Gramsci’s Path from ‘Ploughman’ to ‘Fertiliser’ of History  .................................... 111
viii • Contents
Part Three: Comparative Perspectives on Gramsci
7. Antonio Gramsci and C.L.R. James: Some intriguing Similarities  ..................... 127
8. On the Qualities of intellectuals: Antonio Gramsci, Edward Said, and
Betty Friedan  ...................................................................................................................... 135
9. Gramsci in the Caribbean  ............................................................................................... 149
Part Four: Two Protagonists of Gramsci Studies in the United States
10. Gramscian influences in Robert dombroski’s Critical Engagement with
Marxism  ................................................................................................................................ 161
11. John Cammett’s Writings on Antonio Gramsci and the PCi  ............................... 175
References  ................................................................................................................................... 191
index  ............................................................................................................................................. 195
Acknowledgments
i would like to acknowledge the special debt i owe to Peter d. Thomas, whose initiative
was primarily responsible for the publication of this book of essays on Antonio Gramsci.
i was fortunate to have Peter available to help me solve the problems that i encountered
in bringing together essays that were written over a long span of time, from 1968 to 2012.
i would also like to thank david Broder for his excellent comments, corrections and sug-
gestions concerning the text of this book.
My thanks are due to three friends and colleagues with whom i have had illuminat-
ing discussions concerning the issues that i deal with in the present volume. They are
Professors Joe Francese, Kate Crehan, and Ben Fontana, all of whom have offered me the
benefit of their expertise through the years.
Professor Roberto dainotto was indispensable to me for Chapter nine on ‘Gramsci in
the Caribbean’, which i presented at a Conference that Roberto, together with Professor
Fredric Jameson, organised at duke University in late April 2013.
Finally, it would be difficult for me to exaggerate the importance of the role that Joe
Buttigieg has played not only in my own Gramsci studies, but in the work of scholars
worldwide. Chapter Five of this book on Gramsci’s analysis of Canto X of dante’s Inferno
appeared first in the journal Boundary 2, of which Joe became an editor in the 1980s. Joe
was elected first president of the international Gramsci Society in 1989; since that time,
he has been a virtual roving ambassador of Gramsci studies, in which capacity he has
used his organisational skills to promote all kinds of worthy initiatives, especially in italy.
The first three volumes of his projected five-volume English translation of Gramsci’s
Prison Notebooks have already appeared. They feature an impressive introduction and
critical apparatus that all serious Gramsci scholars will need to consult.