Abstract
This volume brings together all the writings published in 1918 currently attributable to Antonio Gramsci. It is the product of painstaking philological research. Gramsci, ever faithful to the admonition of Giacinto Menotti Serrati (editor of Avanti! when Gramsci was cutting his teeth as a journalist at the socialist daily)—to wit, “un giornale proletario deve essere anonimo e non deve servire da vetrina a nessuno”—rarely signed his interventions. Hence, a broad selection of writings—of varying lengths ranging from short notes to brief essays, many of which with no evidence of authorship—were put through a tight filter of stylistic, biographical, and historical cross-references prior to inclusion.
For example, one hears resonate in Ordine e disciplina (pp. 743–745), a new attribution, the importance assigned by Gramsci to these two concepts, order and discipline, in La città futura (a special edition written and compiled single-handedly by Gramsci for the Federazione Italiana Giovanile Socialista Piemontese in Feburary 1917). In addition to the ideas discussed in Ordine e disciplina, the editors see similarities between the discursive structure of this intervention and that of others of sure attribution. Moreover, the title and the lexicon are also reminiscent of other Gramscian writings (p. XXIII). Here, ordine and disciplina are presented as “indizi di maturità; […] prove di senno e di padronanza di se stessi” (p. 309). In La città futura, Gramsci had cast into relief the importance of self-discipline as a necessary means for exiting from under a condition of subjection (or obedience to the ‘top-down’ system of authority characteristic of bourgeois society) and for achieving personal autonomy and citizenship. Socialists, he argued, freely contribute, ‘bottom up,’ to the elaboration of the line of their party, then accept the will of the majority. In the brief note “Il ‘foot-ball’ e lo scopone” (p. 618), he implies socialists integrate their individual spontaneity into a collective framework just as a footballer freely accepts the rules and hierarchy implicit in participation in a team sport: Osservate una partita di foot-ball: essa è un modello della società individualistica: vi si esercita l’iniziativa, ma essa è definita dalla legge; le personalità vi si distinguono gerarchicamente […], ma la distinzione avviene […] per capacità specifica; c’è il movimento, la gara, la lotta, ma esse sono regulate da una legge non scritta, che si chiama “lealtà”, e viene continuamente ricordata dalla presenza dell’arbitro. (p. 618)
Significantly, the availability of preserved page proofs of many of the writings allowed for the restoration of passages censored from published writings already known to scholars. Furthermore, page proofs enabled the editors to bring to light articles heretofore unpublished (because suppressed in their entirety by government censors).
The substantial number of writings dated 1918 (there are a total of 344, arranged in chronological order) is result of Gramsci's intense collaboration with the Socialist Party press in 1918 as sole editor of Il Grido del popolo, the weekly organ of the Turinese Federation of the Italian Socialist Party, and as a member of the provincial editorial board of Avanti! which was tasked by Party leadership with, primarily, publishing a daily page of local news.
In December 1918, the success of this Pagina torinese led to the launching of a Piedmontese edition of Avanti! Consequently, the Party shuttered Il Grido del popolo, the platform that had served as the main venue for the development of Gramsci's thought subsequent to his signing on with the review in November 1915 (p. XII). Gramsci, made to shift his efforts exclusively to Avanti!, took the opportunity to “trattare direttamente […] temi di ordine politico generale” (p. XII), which elevated his status as a journalist at the same time as his contributions began to find space in the Milanese and Roman editions of the newspaper.
Each entry (as is the case with the two collections of Scritti already in print as part of the Edizione nazionale) makes known the original venue in which the specific opinion piece appeared, along with the collections of earlier Gramscian anthologies in which the essay or note in question was re-published. The “Apparati” section that concludes the volume provides, in addition to indices of periodicals and names mentioned in the writings, a list of “Voci biografiche” (pp. 829–957) that succinctly but clearly summarizes the lives and significance of the individuals with whom Gramsci interacts.
The year 1918 is an important one in Gramsci's biography for various reasons. Politically, his name begins to make itself known in halls of the Prefettura di Torino: in February he is charged with desertion and with circulating anti-war propaganda. Intellectually, in 1918 he comes forth with the essay “Il nostro Marx” (pp. 368–371) and then, in June, with “Per conoscere la rivoluzione russa” (pp. 491–497). Indeed, because of the War and because of the October Revolution, Gramsci's writings begin to take on an international dimension (the League of Nations is a frequent topic). Also notable is “Utopia” (pp. 555–561), an essay in defense of Lenin and the Bolshevik Revolution. Here, Gramsci argues against any ‘end to history’, that is to say, he avers that within socialism there inhere no pre-established goals. Rather, he presents socialism as a project that continuously perfects itself in time, revisiting itself as societies and the world move forward.
Indeed, many aspects of Gramsci's more mature personality and views come clearly into view in 1918. Perhaps one of the most noteworthy, enduring perspectives is his linking of socialism and personal freedom (and consequent demonstration of the limits and constrictions placed on liberty by capitalism). As he writes in “La tua eredità” (pp. 365–367), freedom “è il sommo bene” (p. 365) because it enables individuals to realize their full potential. Workers are willing to make any sacrifice to “diventare proprietari di libertà, di libertà garantita, di libertà trasmissibile” (p. 365), that is, to be able to live secure in and to be able to bequeath their personal freedom to their progeny. Thus, he lays bare a fundamental contradiction of capitalism. Since freedom—of choice, of action—in capitalism is directly proportionate to personal wealth, economic status pre-conditions the individual's capability for self-realization: freedom is a privilege, not a right enjoyed by all. “I pochi sono liberi nel possesso dei beni,” he avers, “e trasmettono questa libertà ad altri pochi” (p. 366). It follows, as he writes in “L’utopia russa,” that the dictatorship of the proletariat, for Gramsci, was a “garanzia di libertà”: not because it was “un metodo a perpetuare,” but because it would allow for the creation and solidification of “gli organismi permanenti in cui la dittatura si dissolverà, dopo aver compiuto la sua missione” (p. 559).
In sum, this collection is of particular value to students of Gramsci and also to all those interested in the political and cultural polemics and climate in Italy after four years of world war. This volume (and, for that matter, all the volumes) of the Edizione nazionale degli scritti di Antonio Gramsci is a vital tool for scholars and a necessary acquisition for all research libraries.
