Gramsci and Marxist Theory

Gramsci and Marxist Theory

Edited

by

Chantal Mouffe

Routledge & Kegan Paul London, Boston and Henley

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First published in 1979

by Rout/edge & Kegan Paul Lld

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19 Store Street, London WCl E 7DD. Broadway HOllse. Newtown Road. Henley�on� Thames. Oxon RG9 IEN and 9 Park Slreel, Basion, Ma..., 02108, USA Set in Time.� by CompmQcomp (UK) Ltd, Fort William. Scotland and printed in Great Britain by Wlll/Mable Litllo Ltd, Whitstable, Kent Cl Cllama/ MOl{ffe 1979

No part of IhL� book may be reproduced in any form without permi.�sion /rol1J- the publi.�lIer. except Jar the quotation oJ brief passages in criticism

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British Library Cataloguing in Publicatioll Data Gram�cI and Marxist theory.

I. Gram.�ci, AflIonio

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1, Moufe f . Cllal/lal 335.4'092'4

HX288 G7

79--40935

ISBN 0 7100 0357 9 ISBN 0 7100 0358 7 Pbk , •

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Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction: Gramsci today

VII

I

Chall1al MOI!ffe Part

I

I Structure, superstructure and civil society

Gramsci and the conception of civil society

19 21

Norberfo Bobbio 2

Gramsci, theoretician of the superstructures

48

Jacque.'i Texier 3

Gramsci and the problem of the revolution

80

Nicola Radaloni ParI

4

II Hegemony. philosophy and ideology

Gramsci's general theory of marxism

III

113

Leonardo Paggi 5

Hegemony and ideology in Gramsci

168

Chall1al MOllff_ Part III State. politics and revolutionary strategy

6

State, transition and passive revolution

205 207

Christine Buci-Gluck'Smallll 7

Gramsci and the PC]; two conceptions of hegemony

237

Massimo Salvador; 8

Lenin and Gramsci, state, politics and party

259

Biagio de Giovanni

V

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Acknowledgments

For kind permission to reprint several of the essays contained in this reader the editor and publishers wish to thank Blitori Riuniti, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Blitore, Mondoperaio, Telos and Dialectiques.

They also wish to thank Lawrence & Wishart, Publishers, London, for

permission to Quote from the following works by A. Gramsci, SelectiolL'

from the Prison Notebook, (1971), edited and translated by Q. Hoare and G. NoweU Smith; Selection, from Political Writings 192/-26 (J 978), edited and trans1ated by Q. Hoare; and Selections/ram Political WrWngs 1910-20 (] 977), edited by Q. Hoare.

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Introduction: Gramsci today Chantal Mau lie

If the history of marxist theory during the 1960s can be characterised by the reign of 'althusserianism', then we have now, without a doubt, entered a new phase: that of 'gramscism'.- For some years now we have been witnessing an unprecedented development of interest in the work of Antonio Gramsci and tbe influence of his thought is already very

marxist enquiry. This phenomenon, which has developed -in the wake of the events of 1968 is certainly linked to a

extensive in several areas of renewal

of

interest

amongst

intellectuals

in

the

possibilities

of

revolutionary transformations in the countries of advanced capitalism.

Following a period of pessimism which had caused intellectuals to turn to the countries of the Third World, seeing these as the weakest link in the imperialist chain and the natural starting point for the reVOlutionary process, there is now emerging some sort of consideration of the specific conditions in' the West. More recently, the rise of 'eurocommunism' has played a very important role in the extension of this phenomenon, though we have to acknowledge that opinions are very divided on the legitimacy of attributing the theoretical paternity of this movement to Gramsci, as the debate currently taking place in Italy on hegemony and pluralism would suggest. This divergence concerning the political significance of Gramsci's work is by no means the first to arise. In facl, since his death in 1937, Gramsci has been subject to multiple and contradictory interpretalions, ultimately linked to lhe political line of those who claimed or disclaimed him. So we have had the libertarian Gramsci, the stalinist Gramsci, the social

democratic

Gramsci,

the togliattian Gramsci,

the trotskyist

Gramsci and so on. For an analysis of the way in whi