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ESTEVE MORERA
York University
Introduction
It is widely accepted that Antonio Gramsci's Quaderni del Carcere
contains a novel theory of politics whose central concept is that of
hegemony. The importance of this concept for political activity lies in its
having placed on the agenda the concept of democracy and the
possibility of a democratic road to socialism.l Although the political
importance of Gramsci as a critic of economism and a precursor of
democratic socialism is generally accepted, the theoretical approach to
his thought is by no means clear.
There are many different approaches to the way in which Gramsci
should be interpreted or appropriated. On the one hand, his remarks on
historicism have given rise to an idealist interpretation of the Quaderni
del Carcere, following either Hegelian or Crocean versions, although
some have also seen Husserlian themes in them.2 Laclau and Mouffe, on
the other hand, have emphasized the possibility of a non-essentialist
discourse deriving from the concept of hegemony.3 I believe that many
of these approaches have misconstrued Gramsci's conception of
historicism and have often, and rather simplistically, based their
analyses on the principle that similarity of terms means similarity of
concepts.4 I shall not discuss these issues here; my purpose in this article
1 Frank Cunningham, Democratic Theory and Socialism (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1987), 8-9.
2 See, for instance, Thomas Nemeth, Gramsci's Philosophy: A Critical Study (Atlantic
City: Humanities Press, 1980); Jose Nun, "Elementos para una Teoria de la
Democracia: Gramsci y el Sentido Comun," Revista Mexicana de Sociologia 49
(1987), 21-54.
3 Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, trans. by
Winston Moore and Paul Cammack (London: Verso, 1985).
4 See Esteve Morera, Gramzsci's Historicism (London: Routledge, 1990), especially
chaps. 1 and 2, for a discussion of the relevant literature and an interpretation of
Gramsci's thought in the Qliade-rni.
Esteve Morera, Department of Political Science. York University, North York, Ontario
M3J 1P3
Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique, XXIII:1 (March/mars
1990). Printed in Canada / Imprime au Canada
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MORERA
Abstract. In the Quaderni del Carcere, Antonio Gramsci provided the foundations for a
socialist theory of democracy. This theory can be drawn from some of Gramsci's most
important concepts: his views of intellectual activity on the one hand, and the conceptions
of hegemony and civil society on the other. The former provides a general conception
of a non-bureaucratic relationship between leaders and the led, the latter points to a
participatory model of political activity. This thesis, however, is formulated within the
framework of a realist epistemology in which the class structure is conceived as the
long-term determinant of the general historical process. Hence, although Gramsci's
thought sheds new light on a non-class domain of political activity, it is constrained by both
socio-economic conditions and the realism of available knowledge.
Resume. Dans les Quaderni del Carcere, Antonio Gramsci apporte, fondement, pour
une theorie socialiste de la democratie. Cette theorie peut se deduire de certains concepts
les plus importants de Gramsci: celui, d'une part, de l'activite intellectuelle, et, de l'autre,
ceux de l'hegemonie et de la societe civile. Le premier offre une conception generale des
rapports non-bureaucratiques entre les dirigeants et la base; les derniers prefigurent un
modele de participation a l'activite politique. Cette these pourtant se formule dans le cadre
d'une epistemologie realiste dans laquelle la structure de classes est consid6ere comme
determinant h long terme le processus historique gen6ral. Par consequent, bien que la
pensee de Gramsci jette une lumiere nouvelle sur un domaine d'activite politique sans
caractere de classe, ce domaine est circonscrit a la fois par les conditions socioeconomiques, et le realisme des donnees disponibles.
impart the truth to the masses. This leads easily to elitism and to the
familiar situation where the so-called truth does not matter at all; it is not
regarded as relevant by anyone except the few converted intellectuals.
The second alternative engages both masses and intellectuals in a
process of learning.
According to Gramsci, if the relations between intellectuals and
masses are not to be, as they would be in the first alternative, "relations
of purely bureaucratic order" in which intellectuals become a "caste or
a priesthood," there must be the possibility of a dialogue; that is, the
masses must contribute significantly to the elaboration of a new world
view. "The popular element 'feels' but does not always understand or
know." In contrast, "the intellectual element 'knows' but does not
always understand or in particular 'feel.'" Separated, these two
extremes are blind passion and sectarianism, on the one hand, or
pedantry and philistinism, on the other. It is only by bringing these two
elements together, that is, by realizing that one cannot know without
understanding and especially without feeling, that the elaboration of a
coherent, critical, and above all relevant world view is possible.7
Introducing science into the life of people from the outside often
leads to scepticism, sectarianism and, what is worse, tragedy. Charles
Mills, for instance, has attempted to show that part of the failure of the
New Jewel Movement in Grenada was due to this ill-conceived attempt
to introduce science from above without any regard for the local
specificities, or for the "feelings" of the people who were supposed to
learn a foreign science. As a member of the party put it, "[f]rom my own
7
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ESTEVE MORERA
street sense, I knew they was doin' shit. But you couldn't tell them
anything. They say they have the science."8
In short, the elaboration of any new conception of the world cannot
be imported into a people from outside. It must, on the contrary, be
produced out of the existing values, thought and feelings of the masses
themselves. As Gramsci puts it:
A philosophy of praxis cannot but present itself initially in a polemical and
critical manner, as supersedingthe preceding mode of thinking and of the
existingconcretethought(or existingculturalworld).Therefore,first of all as a
critique of "common sense" (after using common sense to demonstratethat
"everyone" is a philosopherand that it is not a question of introducingfrom
scratch a science into "everyone's" individual life, but of renovating and
making"critical" an alreadyexisting activity).9
Gramsci's points merit repetition. The elaboration of a critical
conception of the world must find its starting point in the problems,
beliefs, culture and mode of thought of the masses; it must emerge from
the depths of history. Intellectuals, to the extent that they are better
equipped to articulate ideas or to connect the feelings and thinking of the
masses "dialectically to the laws of history,"10 will have a major
responsibility to facilitate, but not dictate, the emergence of a new
hegemony. They will act as equal participants, not as the makers of
history.
In conclusion, on the vital question of the elaboration of a socialist
conception of the world, Gramsci calls for active and equal participation
of the masses and clearly dismisses any elitist model of intellectual
work. For these reasons he contends that
[t]he position of the philosophyof praxis is the antithesisof the Catholic:the
philosophyof praxis does not tend to maintainthe "simple" in their primitive
philosophyof commonsense, but insteadto lead themto a superiorconception
of life. If it affirmsthe need for contactbetweenintellectualsandthe simpleit is
not to limitscientificactivityandto maintainunityat the low level of the masses,
but precisely to build an intellectual-moralbloc which can make politically
possible an intellectualprogressof the masses and not only of small groups of
intellectuals.1
9
10
11
12
Charles Mills, "Getting out of the Cave: Tensions between Democracy and Elitism in
Marx's Theory of Cognitive Liberation," paper delivered at the thirteenth annual
conference of the Caribbean Studies Association, Guadeloupe, May 25-27, 1988.
Gramsci, Quaderni, Vol. 2, 1382 (330-31).
Ibid., 1505 (418).
Ibid., 1384-85 (332).
Ibid., 1331 (315). For a valuable interpretation of Gramsci's educational theory, see
Harold Entwistle, Antonio Gramsci: Conservative Schooling for Radical Politics
(London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979), especially the section on "Education and
the problem of the intellectuals," 113-29.
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of the Subject," in Sackari Hanninen and Leena Paldan (eds.), Rethinking Ideology:
A Marxist Debate (Berlin: Argument Verlag, 1984), 42.
Gramsci, Quaderni, Vol. 3, 2139-40 (279).
Ibid., Vol. 1, 73.
Ibid., Vol. 3, 2148 (295).
Ibid., 2149 (296).
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One can conclude that any social reform is faced with problems that
are set within a specific class framework but their scope and history
transcend current socio-economic relations. It is his attempt to include
these problems in a study of historical blocs that led Gramsci to develop
the concept of hegemony. The hegemony of a group depends not only on
its ability to organize consensus on problems related to the economic
structure, but also on those problems of an extra-economic, or mixed
nature. Gramsci regarded the sexual question as one of a mixed nature,
since it emerged under new circumstances or originated in the very
distant past to be later faced by society.
These brief comments suggest that Gramsci saw the need for
addressing sex and gender relations as a fundamental condition for the
development of a higher form of civilization. He also realized that
although some aspects of this issue are intrinsically economic, others
are independent of the economic structure and require solutions that
cannot simply be linked to the needs or interests of any single class.
Participation in a historical movement for social transformation, we
must conclude, can only mean equal participation in this civilizing
labour of the movement in which all forms of liberation will be equally
promoted. Although not explicitly stated, Gramsci seems to suggest that
those various interests cannot be really incompatible, although immature attitudes may view them as such.
Conclusion
The above considerations permit us to draw some general conclusions
about a possible theory of democracy to be found in Gramsci's prison
work. It must be noted, however, that Gramsci did not often write
directly about democracy; in fact, there are fewer than 15 references to
the concept of democracy in the 2,351 pages of notes that he penned
while he was in prison. In them, he offers no more than a general
definition of democracy as the degree of mass participation in the
39 Ibid. See also Vol. 1, 73.
40 Ibid., Vol. 3, 2149-50 (296). See also Vol. 1, 73.
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