Gramsci Contested

Antonio Gramsci's work has been considered of paramount importance across the globe, but what of his influence in his native Italy?

Gramsci is one of the most widely celebrated figures of twentieth-century Italy, renowned across the globe for his contributions to philosophy, political theory, sociology, cultural studies and historiography. His work has been equally discussed, debated and contested within Italy itself, serving as a constant reference point-whether in fervent agreement or angry polemics-for parties and tendencies across the Italian left from the 1910s down to our present day.

In this foundational overview of Gramsci's reception in Italy, and his contest legacy within a range of Italian traditions, Guido Liguori provides a balanced view of the many uses to which Gramsci's thought has been put, with a particular focus on the important relationship with the Italian Communist Party leader, Palmiro Togliatti.

Publication date: January 31, 2023

Table of Contents
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition

1 Gramsci in the Writings of His Contemporaries (1922-1938)
 1 The Liberal History of a Sardinian Communist
 2 Off the 'High Road'
 3 The Sentence
 4 Prison
 5 Death
 6 'Antonio Gramsci, Leader of the Italian Working Class'
 7 'An Irreparable Loss'
 8 Between Carducci and Pascoli

2 The Identity and Tradition of the Party (1939-1947)
 1 Gramsci and Togliatti
 2 The 'New Party' and the Intellectuals
 3 'Gramsci's Politics'
 4 Politics and Culture
 5 Between Croce and Marx

3 Diamat and the Notebooks (1948-1955)
 1 The Cold War and the Prison Notebooks
 2 Gramsci's 'Anti-Fascism'
 3 Interpreting the Notebooks
 4 Dogmatic and Non-dogmatic Marxisms
 5 Dissonances
 6 The History of the Italian Communist Party
 7 A Legendary Comrade
 8 First Evaluations and New Perspectives

4 Gramsci and the Italian Road to Socialism (1956-59)
 1 1956
 2 'Too Few Gramscians'
 3 Gramsci's Relevance
 4 Gramsci and Leninism
 5 The Rome Conference
 6 The 'Return to Marx'
 7 The Future City
 8 The Debate on Italian Unification

5 From the 'New History' of the Communist Party to the Crisis of Historicism (1960-9)
 1 The Late Togliatti
 2 The 'New History' of the Italian Communist Party
 3 Three Biographies
 4 The 'Giovane Critica'
 5 The Crisis of Historicism
 6 Gramsci and Civil Society
 7 The 'Historicisation' of Gramsci
 8 Within the International Communist Movement
 9 Historicism and the Communist Party

6 The Golden Age (1970-1975)
 1 Gramsci Back on His Feet
 2 Workerism and Americanism
 3 Gramsci and the Soviets
 4 The Concept of Hegemony
 5 The Primacy of the Political
 6 Gramsci's Marxism
 7 Gramsci and the State
 8 Gramsci and the 'New Left'
 9 The 'Gerratana Edition'

7 The Apogee and Crisis of Gramscian Culture (1976-1977)
 1 The Pluralism Debate
 2 Hegemony and Democracy
 3 The Frattocchie Seminar
 4 The Florence Congress
 5 The Crisis

8 Ten Years of 'Blackout' (1978-1986)
 1 The Crisis of Marxism
 2 Gramsci and 'Organicism'
 3 Prediction and Praxis
 4 Intellectuals and Power
 5 Interpretations of Hegemony
 6 In the 'Factory' of the Notebooks
 7 Gramsci, Religion, Catholicism

9 Between Politics and Philology (1987-1996)
 1 Gramsci and the Communist Party in 1987
 2 Gramsci in the World
 3 The Fiftieth Anniversary of a 'Classic'
 4 Gramscians and Post-Gramscians
 5 Between Politics and History
 6 A Post-communist Gramsci
 7 Gramsci, Togliatti, Stalin
 8 Gramsci, Tania, Sraffa
 9 Towards a New Edition of Gramsci's Works

10 Liberal Democrat or Critical Communist? (1997-2000)
 1 National and International
 2 The Return of Civil Society
 3 Taylorism and Fordism
 4 Gramsci's Method
 5 The Story of a Prisoner
 6 Gramsci Contested at the End of the Millennium

11 Gramsci in the Twenty-First Century (2000-2008)
 1 For Gramsci
 2 Gramscian Research
 3 Gramsci's Translatability
 4 Renewed Interest
 5 Gramsci and Politics

12 Gramsci's Return (2009-2012)
 1 New Working Tools
 2 On the 'Philosophy of Praxis'
 3 Gramsci's 'Fortune'
 4 Creative Uses
 5 Stories and Histories
 6 The Political and Theoretical Journey of the Prison Years
 7 The Future Gramsci

Bibliography
Index