Antonio Gramsci Selections From The Prison Notebooks PDF book





Antonio Francesco Gramsci was an Italian Marxist philosopher and communist politician. He wrote on political theory, sociology and linguistics. He attempted to break from the economic determinism of traditional Marxist thought and so is considered a key neo-Marxist.A previous English translation of some of the works of Gramsci contained in this volume, together with one or two of the earlier writings, translated and edited by Louis Marks, was published by Lawrence and Wishart in 1957, under the title The Modern Prince and other Essays. There also exist a number of Italian anthologies and of translations of Gramsci's works into other languages. For a selective bibliography of works of and about Gramsci, we refer the reader to the note at the end of the English translation of Giuseppe Fiori's biography of Gramsci [Antonio Gramsci, Life of a Revolutionary, translated by Tom Nairn, New Left Books, London 1970).Content of the bookI. PROBLEMS OF HISTORY AND CULTURE 1. THE INTELLECTUALS Introduction 3 The Formation of the Intellectuals 5 The Different Position of Urban and Rural-Type Intellectuals 14 Introduction 24 The Organisation of Education and Culture 26 In Search of the Educational Principle33 3. NOTES ON ITALIAN HISTORY History of the Subaltern Classes: Methodological Criteria 52 The Problem of Political Leadership in the Formation and Development of the Nation and the Modern State in Italy 55 The City-Countryside Relationship go The Moderates and the Intellectuals 102 The Function of Piedmont 104 The Concept of Passive Revolution 106 First Epilogue 114 Material for a Critical Essay on Croce's Two Histories 114 The History of Europe seen as "Passive Revolution" 118II. NOTES ON POLITICS I. THE MODERN PRINCE Brief Notes on Machiavelli's Politics 1 25 Machiavelli and Marx 133 Politics as an Autonomous Science 1 36 Elements of Politics 144 The Political Party 147 Conceptions of the World and Practical Stances 157 Some Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Econcmism 158 Prediction and Perspective 169 Economic-Corporate Phase of the State 173 Analysis of Situations. Relations of Force 175 On Bureaucracy 185 The Theorem of Fixed Proportions 190 Number and Quality in Representative Systems of Government 19 2 Continuity and Tradition 193 Spontaneity and Conscious Leadership 196 Against Byzantinism 200 The Collective Worker 201 Voluntarism and Social Masses 202 2.STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY Introduction 206 Political Parties in Periods of Organic Crisis 210 Caesarism 219 The Fable of the Beaver 223 Agitation and Propaganda 227 The "Philosophy of the Epoch" 228 Political Struggle and Military War 229 The Transition from the War of Manoeuvre (Frontal Attack) to the War of Position 238 Politics and Military Science 239 Internationalism and National Policy 240 The problem of the "Collective Man" or of "Social Conformism" 242 Sociology and Political Science 243 Hegemony (Civil Society) and Separation of Powers 245 The Conception of Law 246 Politics and Constitutional Law 247 Parliament and the State 253 Self-criticism and the Hypocrisy of Self-criticism 254 The State 257 The organization of National Societies 264 Who is a Legislator? 265 Religion, State, Party 266 State and Parties 267 Stationary 268 "Merits" of the Ruling Classes 269 Historical Belles-Lettres 270 "Subversive" 272 "Wave of Materialism" and "Crisis of Authority" 275 3.AMERICANISM AND FORDISM Introduction 277 Americanism and Fordism 279 Rationalization of the Demographic Composition of Europe 280 Super-City and Super-Country 287 Financial Autarky of Industry 289 Some Aspects of Sexual Question 294 Feminism and "Masculinism" 297 "Animality" and Industrialism 298 Rationalization of Production and Work 301 Taylor and Americanism 306 Quantity and Quality 307 Taylorism and the Mechanisation of the Worker 308 High Wages 310 Shares, Debentures and Government Bonds 313 American and European Civilisation 316 III.THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRAXIS 1. THE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHY Introduction 321 Some Preliminary Points of Reference 323 Problems of Philosophy and History 34.3 2. PROBLEMS OF MARXISM Introduction 378 Some Problems in the Study of the Philosophy of Praxis 381 Critical Notes on an Attempt at Popular Sociology 419