Antonio Gramsci

Antonio Gramsci
Gramsci in 1916
Born	Antonio Francesco Gramsci (1891-01-22)22 January 1891 Ales, Kingdom of Italy
Died	27 April 1937 (aged 46) Rome, Italy
Alma mater	University of Turin
Notable work	Prison Notebooks
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Continental philosophy Western Marxism neo-Marxism Marxist humanism[1]
Main interests	Politics Economics ideology culture
Notable ideas	Cultural hegemony Americanism as Fordist bourgeoisie as the hegemonic group Organic crisis Passive revolution the subaltern building a counter-hegemony to challenge capitalist power Articulation war of position the distinction between traditional and organic intellectuals
Secretary of the Communist Party of Italy
In office 14 August 1924 – 8 November 1926
Preceded by	Amadeo Bordiga
Succeeded by	Palmiro Togliatti
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 24 May 1924 – 9 November 1926
Constituency	Venice
Personal details
Political party	PSI (1913–1921) PCd'I (1921–1937)
Signature

Antonio Francesco Gramsci (UK: /ˈɡræmʃi/ GRAM-shee;^[2] US: /ˈɡrɑːmʃi/ GRAHM-shee,^[3] Italian: [anˈtɔːnjo franˈtʃesko ˈɡramʃi] ^ⓘ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher, linguist, journalist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a founding member and one-time leader of the Italian Communist Party. A vocal critic of Benito Mussolini and fascism, he was imprisoned in 1926, where he remained until shortly before his death in 1937.

During his imprisonment, Gramsci wrote more than 30 notebooks and 3,000 pages of history and analysis. His Prison Notebooks are considered a highly original contribution to 20th-century political theory.^[4] Gramsci drew insights from varying sources — not only other Marxists but also thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Vilfredo Pareto, Georges Sorel, and Benedetto Croce. The notebooks cover a wide range of topics, including the history of Italy and Italian nationalism, the French Revolution, fascism, Taylorism and Fordism, civil society, the state, historical materialism, folklore, religion, and high and popular culture.

Gramsci is best known for his theory of cultural hegemony, which describes how the state and ruling capitalist class — the bourgeoisie — use cultural institutions to maintain wealth and power in capitalist societies. In Gramsci's view, the bourgeoisie develops a hegemonic culture using ideology rather than violence, economic force, or coercion. He also attempted to break from the economic determinism of orthodox Marxist thought, and so is sometimes described as a neo-Marxist.^[5] He held a humanistic understanding of Marxism, seeing it as a philosophy of praxis and an absolute historicism that transcends traditional materialism and traditional idealism.