Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: June 30, 2021 at 1:27:04 PM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Italy]: Griffith on Dainotto and Jameson, 'Gramsci > in the World' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Roberto M. Dainotto, Fredric Jameson, eds. Gramsci in the World. > Durham Duke University Press, 2020. Illustrations. xiv + 266 pp. > $26. 95 (paper), ISBN 978-1-4780-0849-1; $99.95 (cloth), ISBN > 978-1-4780-0799-9. > > Reviewed by Brian Griffith (UCLA) > Published on H-Italy (June, 2021) > Commissioned by Matteo Pretelli > > On July 19, 1928, Antonio Gramsci--a rabble-rousing factory organizer > originally from Sardinia and, perhaps most important, the founder of > the Communist Party of Italy (CPI)--walked through the gates of Turi > Prison on the outskirts of the southern Italian city of Bari to begin > serving a twenty-year sentence. Hunched and disfigured from a > life-long struggle with arteriosclerosis, the then > thirty-seven-year-old Gramsci was not being incarcerated by Benito > Mussolini's dictatorship for any violent offenses. Indeed, Grasmci's > only "crime" had been his influential role as Italy's--and, > increasingly so, Europe's--preeminent Marxist intellectual. As one of > the regime's prosecutors in Gramsci's case phrased it, illustrating > the fascist regime's anxieties with respect to the middle-aged > Sardinian's revolutionary program in Italy, "for twenty years we must > stop this brain from functioning."[1] > > Despite the efforts put forth by Il Duce's regime in silencing him, > however, Gramsci's mind, unencumbered by his increasingly poor > health, would go on to produce some of the most brilliant and deeply > influential political philosophy of the twentieth century. Beginning > in 1929--the year after his arrival at Turi Prison--and ending in > 1935, Gramsci produced over thirty notebooks consisting of some three > thousand pages of short essays, notes, and conceptual fragments on a > wide variety of topics and themes, ranging from the many roles played > by "organic intellectuals" in forging bourgeois modernity (as well as > in sharpening the industrial proletariat's revolutionary potential in > overcoming capitalism) to, perhaps Gramsci's most lastingly > influential concept, the significance of "cultural hegemony" in > manufacturing and controlling any given society's collective beliefs, > values, and practices. > > Volumes of historiographical and political scientific literature have > been written on Gramsci's life and work in Italy. But what about the > Italian revolutionary's various posthumous, global influences in > places well beyond Europe's geopolitical boundaries? When and in > which sociopolitical contexts did Gramsci's writings gain traction > among the global Marxist Left? And what were the factors behind > Gramsci's presences, as well as absences, among Marxist thinkers > during the eighty-four years since the CPI founder's untimely > passing? > > Such are some of the questions taken up by the various studies > featured in Roberto M. Dainotto and Fredric Jameson's rich and > intellectually ambitious edited volume, _Gramsci in the World_. "The > philosopher of the 'Southern Question,' the theorist of 'subaltern > groups,' the factory organizer of the north of Italy, who always > carries Sardinia and Sicily, Naples, and the world of the peasants > and great landlords in his mind," Jameson writes in his excellent > preface to the anthology, "turns out to be perfectly at home > everywhere in the world today, from India to the Andes, from China > and Brazil to the Caribbean and the American South and its > pan-African emanation" (p. xiii). The volume's primary objective, > therefore, is to "return to [Gramsci's] texts in order to bring into > relief possibilities and limits of Gramscian thought in cultural > politics and political culture within a global context" (p. 14). > > The volume is organized, although not explicitly so, into three broad > thematic groupings. The first of these provides a handful of close > readings--or perhaps reevaluations--of some of the key theoretical > concepts that appear in the _Prison Notebooks_. In "Toward the Modern > Prince," for instance, Peter D. Thomas contends that "the development > of the figure of the modern Prince"--a sociopolitical concept > inspired by the younger Gramsci's engagement with Niccolò > Machiavelli's sixteenth-century political science treatise, _The > Prince_--constituted a "decisive phase" in Gramsci's project of > describing the constituent processes required for the "arrival of [a] > singular redeemer" who could "liberate the Italians from the barbaric > fascist yoke" (p. 29). This "redeemer," to Gramsci's mind, would not > by any means be an individual but, in contrast, the modern political > party as a revolutionary institution, or instrument, of historical > development. "The modern Prince, conceived as party-form," Thomas > clarifies, "represents only the tip of the iceberg of a broader > process of collective political activation of the popular classes > throughout the society, in all of its instances of deliberation and > decision making" (p. 31). Such a project, he concludes, constituted > "Gramsci's final recommendations for the forging of a new United > Front in his own time" (p. 32). > > Alberto Burgio's essay on Gramsci as a "historian of modernity," on > the other hand, analyzes the Marxist intellectual's unique > interpretation of bourgeois modernization. "The years 1870 to 1871," > Burgio explains, referring to the watersheds of the Franco-Prussian > War and the ultimately short-term Paris Commune, "marked the > beginning for Gramsci of an organic crisis of bourgeois society," > which was accompanied by a series of processes that "produced the > 'historic break' of World War I" (p. 38). With the "defeat of the > Paris Commune," Burgio contends, and climaxing in the Great War in > the summer of 1914, "the final phases of bourgeois modernity [had] > begun," which would ultimately resolve itself in the collapse of the > bourgeois sociopolitical order and the rise of Karl Marx's proverbial > "gravediggers"--the proletariat--to a position of both political and > cultural hegemony in a classless workers' society (p. 58). > > In addition to reappraisals of some of Gramsci's key concepts, a > number of the volume's chapters analyze the circuitous pathways of > Gramsci's unique political philosophy through the global Left during > the latter half of the twentieth century. Beginning his essay in > post-World War II Italy, Andrea Scapolo examines the complex > sociopolitical and, especially, socioeconomic contexts behind > Gramsci's reception and legacies during the era of Italy's "economic > miracle." "The debate on Gramsci in the 1960s and 1970s is > particularly significant," Scapolo writes, "because for the first > time, the discourse on Gramsci was liberated from the hegemonic > articulation set by the leadership of the Communist Party and was > confronted with the emergence of a new stage in the development of > the capitalist system of production" (pp. 108-9). Following the > collapse of Mussolini's Italian Social Republic in 1945, Palmiro > Togliatti--Gramsci's immediate successor as the leader of the CPI and > the self-appointed editor in chief of his collected > writings--deployed Gramsci's essays, notes, and sketches to help > reposition the CPI "in the changed political landscape" of a > post-fascist, rapidly modernizing Italy by positioning the _Prison > Notebooks_ as "the springboard for this strategy of consensus > building" among the various factions of the Italian Left (p. 98). > What ensued was a series of lively debates among members of the > country's radical Left and reformist Right over the meanings, and > contemporary applications, of Gramsci's writings. Thus, by > resurrecting--or, rather, strategically reimagining--Gramsci's legacy > at this specific moment, Scapolo argues, these debates helped > liberate the Italian Marxist's legacy from the "hegemonic reading of > Gramsci proposed by the leadership of the Italian Communist Party > after the end of World War II," guaranteeing Gramsci a longstanding > influence among Italy's left-wing intelligentsia (p. 109). > > Turning westward, and maintaining our focus on the very same decades, > Michael Denning examines Gramsci's conspicuous absence among American > left-wing movements and organizations in his essay, "Why No Gramsci > in the United States?" Whereas Gramsci was part of a "communist > reformation" in Britain during the late 1950s and early 1960s, > Denning explains, "Italian communism--and Gramsci--was less important > to the U.S. communist movement," due largely to "the reworking of its > historic link with the black liberation movement." Orbiting around a > diverse assemblage of leftist militants--including such luminaries as > Angela Davis, Harry Haywood, and Amiri Baraka--America's Black > liberation Marxists were drawn to homegrown intellectual and militant > political traditions, such as those stemming from the Harlem > Renaissance in New York City and, later on, the Black Panther > movement in the Bay Area. "Perhaps there is a good reason why the two > concepts that have been adopted into the vernacular of U.S. Leftism > and that signify Gramsci--hegemony and organic > intellectuals"--Denning concludes, "are used in ways that suggest > more the temper of American populist radicalism than any [sincere] > understanding of Gramsci's work" (p. 160). > > R. A. Judy's essay, "Gramsci on _la questione dei negri_," continues > with the topic of Gramsci and the American Left by examining the > former's understanding--or, rather, _mis_understanding--of the "Negro > Question." Tracing Gramsci's engagement with _la questione dei negri_ > to the Fourth Congress of the Third International in November 1922, > which Gramsci attended as a delegate for the CPI, Judy explains that > the Comitern "never seriously bought into the thesis that the > capitalist raciology developed and implemented in the United States > during the last quarter of the nineteenth century modeled the > organizing principle of capitalist imperialism" (p. 169). Such a > theoretical engagement, he contends, would have to come from "the > margins of Marxist thought," which, years later, would include the > contents of Gramsci's _Prison Notebooks_. And yet "Gramsci's apparent > inattentiveness to the socioeconomics of slavery," Judy concludes, > constitutes a "serious flaw in his understanding of America"--and, > one might add, returning briefly to Denning's conclusions, a > considerable stumbling stone in regard to the integration of the > Sardinian militant's political philosophy among Black radicals in > postwar America. Focusing on Gramsci's meditations on African > American intellectuals' potentially revolutionary roles in global > Black liberation struggles, above all in Africa, Judy explains that > to Gramsci's mind "the Negro intellectual is a synthesis of the > American conflict between power and intelligence, realized in the > global expansion of markets," which serves as the basis for Gramsci's > "speculation that the Negro could Americanize" what he refers to as > "the backward masses of Africa" (p. 177). Such a framing, of course, > was deeply out of sync with the philosophical orientations of Black > radicalism, which was more engaged with "a tradition of resistance, > rehumanization, and revolution" that repositioned "radical questions > in ways that challenge[d] the more predominant forms of Marxism" by > replacing the bourgeoisie-proletariat dichotomy--a subject, Judy > points out, that was largely unique to Europe's process of > modernization--with the "dehumanized subject" as the primary agent of > revolutionary change (p. 166). > > Much like the American context, Gramsci's influence was also > conspicuously absent in Maoist China. In his essay, "Gramsci and the > Chinese Left," Pu Wang explores "the time lag in China's encounter > with the Italian Marxist thinker and revolutionary" between what he > refers to as the "international interwar period" and the country's > post-Cultural Revolution decades (pp. 205, 204). Gramsci's _Prison > Notebooks_ were being published in Italy and elsewhere in Europe > during the early 1950s, just as Mao Zedong was launching his > revolutionary "Great Leap Forward" program. At this time, Wang > explains, Gramsci was largely considered "as a revolutionary martyr > rather than a political thinker" in China--a common interpretation of > the Italian Marxist's political legacy that lasted well into the > 1980s (p. 205). This changed with the translation of Perry Anderson's > _Considerations on Western Marxism_ in 1981, which reintroduced > Chinese intellectuals to Gramsci's writings. The appearance of > Anderson's book, he contends, as well as the Chinese Communist > Party's "farewell to revolution" and the "promarket party-state," > coincided with the introduction of Western Marxism to China as an > alternative discourse to "the Leninist party-state and the Maoist > social experiments," from which many Chinese intellectuals had begun > to distance themselves (pp. 205, 206). "It was only when the shocking > consequences and social costs of China's economic boom started to be > widely felt and the debates broke out against the > neoliberal-developmentalist complex of market fetishism toward the > end of the 1990s," Wang contends, "that Gramsci's work emerged as an > important point of reference in the intellectual world of > contemporary China" (p. 206). > > Similar to the Chinese context, the Arab world's sustained engagement > with Gramsci's political philosophy was significantly delayed, due > largely to the postcolonial upheavals and geopolitical developments > of the 1950s through 1970s. In her essay, "Antonio Gramsci in the > Arab World," Patrizia Manduchi maintains that "it is certainly not > mere chance that the 1970s were the period when Gramsci's thought > first came to be known in the Arab world" as this was a period when > "leftist, socialist, and Marxist Arab thinking enter[ed] into an > irreversible phase of decline." The emergence of new sociopolitical > ideologies, such as Nasserism, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Wahhabism, > along with the upheavals surrounding the Islamic Revolution in Iran, > contributed to a "cultural context of confusion and transition" in > the Middle East, particularly with respect to the region's left-wing > intellectuals. Gramsci's thinking, she points out, came into play > within this period of political upheaval. This burgeoning engagement > with Gramscian analysis in the Arab world stemmed largely from "the > common roots that gave rise to both his theorizations and to > 'political Islam'" (p. 225). > > The anthology's third, and final, thematic grouping departs from > sections 1 and 2 by focusing on a number of contemporary applications > of Gramscian modes of analysis. In her essay, "Reverse Hegemony?," > Maria Elisa Cevasco traces Gramsci's influence among the Brazilian > Left between the introduction of his writings in the 1940s and the > First Congress of the Workers' Party in 1991. Gramsci's writings were > first circulated in Brazil by Italian emigrants and anti-fascist > exiles, Cevasco explains, which led to a "flowering of translations > that were to turn Gramsci into a major figure in the Brazilian Left" > (p. 180). Demonstrating Gramsci's deep influence among Brazil's > left-wing intelligentsia, "the First Congress of the Workers' Party > ... stated its official policy to achieve socialism in clearly > Gramscian terms as 'the constitution of the workers as a hegemonic > and dominant class in State Power, eliminating the distinction > between cadres and mass party, and associating the construction of > power in daily struggle with the strategic moment of taking over > political power'" (p. 181). However, by the time Luiz Inácio Lula da > Silva--better known simply as "Lula"--was elected as the thirty-fifth > president of Brazil in 2003, "the members of the [Workers'] party in > power became agents of a weak reformism that took great care not to > cause the radicalization they had originally defended." Lula along > with his successor, Dilma Rousseff, gradually "conquered" a political > base of voters for the Workers' Party, consisting of "the rural and > semirural mass of workers from the largely agrarian northeast," which > had "traditionally supported right-wing candidates." Once > incorporated, this mass of voters, in turn, conquered the Workers' > Party by forcing it to moderate its language away from any previously > espoused--however tentative--radical policies and toward a new > hegemonic model of middle-class-oriented standards of living, thus > interrupting the potentially revolutionary qualities of the party in > exchange for a temporary settlement with the country's, and indeed > the world's, capitalists. Thus, to evoke the essay's title and > central argument, a kind of "hegemony in reverse" was achieved within > the country's formerly revolutionary Workers' Party (p. 186). > > In what is surely the anthology's most outlying and original essay, > Catherine E. Walsh's "Thinking Andean Abya Yala with and against > Gramsci" offers readers a scattered collection of personal, and > political, reflections on the contemporaneity of Gramsci's political > philosophy vis-à-vis contemporary South America, in particular the > Andes, or, as she refers to it, "Andean _Abya Yala_." Covering such > topics as the "indigenous question" and the role of the state in > bringing about "_buen vivir_"--or "life in plentitude or collective > well-being"--along with a handful of other topics and themes, Walsh > analyzes Gramsci's complex pathways through the South American Left > and political scenes alongside her own intellectual journeys with > Gramscian thought (p. 196). > > Taken together, the essays in this volume highlight the numerous > complexities and dimensions to Gramsci's writings, and the various > reasons why his unique approach to Marxist analysis and revolutionary > praxis influenced, or in many cases did not influence, leftist > intellectuals and militants in a variety of cultural, linguistic, > religious, and political contexts during the twentieth and > twenty-first centuries. One of the collection's key insights, to my > mind, is that Gramsci's influences--just as much in post-World War II > Italy as in 1970s South America or the Middle East--depended largely > on _which Gramsci_, or rather which passages of Gramsci's writings, > his followers were interested in promoting and pursuing politically. > To be sure, postwar Italy's Gramsci--which, as we see briefly above, > served as a convenient ideological instrument for the forging of a > postwar consensus among Italy's scattered and disorganized left > wing--was very different from the Gramsci of the Cold War-era Middle > East or, furthermore, the Gramsci of 1990s-era China and Brazil. This > is not to say that the Italian Marxist's collected writings are > somehow empty of any stable meanings but, rather, that Gramsci's > enduring influences and global wanderings should serve as testimony > to the universality of his, still today, revolutionary _Prison > Notebooks_. > > With that said, however, a number of critiques can be pointed out, > here. To begin, the anthology's chapters lack a clearly identifiable > coherence or consistency, in terms of their collective objectives, > analyses, and conclusions. Serving more as a series of loosely > connected analytical portals into Gramscian thought and the Italian > revolutionary's various influences in a variety of (inter)national > contexts between the interwar and contemporary periods, as opposed to > a collection of essays united by a singular analytical objective, the > essays in _Gramsci in the World_, although there are gems to be > found, have left me feeling somewhat confused about what the volume's > intended purposes or takeaways are supposed to be. There are also a > number of typos and factual inconsistencies throughout, such as when > Dainotto explains that Gramsci "left posterity an unwieldy mass of > thirty-three notebooks" whereas in the following chapter Thomas > explains that Gramsci wrote "twenty-nine _Prison Notebooks_" (pp. 1, > 29). Nonetheless, this collection of essays constitutes an otherwise > valuable contribution to our understanding of Gramsci's > underappreciated contributions to revolutionary Marxist thought, > especially in political and cultural milieux well beyond > twentieth-century Europe. > > In 1933, Gramsci--in increasingly failing health--was transferred to > a small, and rather ill-equipped, clinic approximately 160 kilometers > southwest of Rome. Two years later, having lost nearly all of his > teeth and suffering from periodic convulsions and severe headaches, a > dying Gramsci was transferred, once again, to the Quisisana Clinic in > Rome. And it was there, on April 21, 1937, that the > forty-six-year-old Sardinian revolutionary--bowed physically but by > no means intellectually--finally succumbed to his numerous illnesses. > Gramsci's untimely death, however, was by no means a triumph for > Mussolini's dictatorship. Indeed, in spite of the abuses that his > crippled body endured in detention, he managed to record his unique, > pathbreaking analyses for posterity--perspectives and interpretations > that, as the essays in this collection demonstrate, traveled across > oceans and continents to influence social(ist) movements throughout > the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. As Jameson aptly phrases it > in the anthology's preface: Gramsci proves relevant, and will remain > relevant, "where the peasant still exists as well as where he has > become extinct, from the old Third World to the postmodern West" (p. > xiii). > > Note > > [1]. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell, introduction to _Selections > from the Prison Notebooks_, by Antonio Gramsci, ed. Quintin Hoare and > Geoffrey Nowell (New York: International Publishers, 1971), lxxxix. > > Citation: Brian Griffith. Review of Dainotto, Roberto M.; Jameson, > Fredric, eds., _Gramsci in the World_. H-Italy, H-Net Reviews. June, > 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56717 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#9560): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/9560 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/83899728/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
