A Rebel's Guide to Gramsci

Bookmarks Rebel's Guides

by Chris Bambery

Gramsci was the intellectual driving force of early Italian Communism. Jailed by Mussolini and with collapsing health, he laboured to produce his famous prison notebooks under the eye of the censor. His ideas - particularly his concept of hegemony - are still highly influential today. Chris Bambery provides an accessible and lively introduction to the man, his world and his ideas.

Genres: Politics, Biography, Nonfiction

64 pages

First published October 6, 2006

About the author

Chris Bambery is a Scottish political activist, socialist, author, journalist, and TV presenter and producer.

Reviews

[Kevin Tole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good place to start. Given to my local Labour MP. I doubt if he will read it.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

More a potted biography of Gramsci than anything else - and a very slight one at that - only the last quarter of this book gets stuck into his actual ideas. The basic concepts of his work are explored in a nicely accessible way, but anyone looking for an introduction to Gramsci will be better served elsewhere.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Annoying. I wrote a review for this book twice, and both times it disappeared hours after posting. This will be my third attempt.

This book is just okay. Frankly, the title is entirely misleading.
The first 3/5 of the book deal exclusively with the history of Italy. The history is told primarily from the point of view of left-wing radicalism, generally around Southern Italy, and covers momentous events like WWI, impacts of the Russian Revolution, and the rise of Fascism. Gramsci is one of many names mentioned – and barely mentioned more than others. Mussolini – who was a former Socialist - comes up quite a bit, about as often as Gramsci. The history aspect of the book ends around 1935 at the same time Gramsci dies, after being released from a Fascist prison, in order to prevent his mind from promulgating propaganda. Most of Gramsci’s life he was a sickly man, with a rotting spine, so after a decade in prison, death was expected.

The next 1/5 of the book actually deals with what Gramsci thought. This section is rather underwhelming, because it fails to mention his theory of Hegemony and his thoughts on the Organic Intellectual. Hegemony is mentioned passively, meaning the author expects the reader to already know Gramsci’s theory, without him having to go over it. The only fruitful discussion to be had was between Gramsci’s theory of common sense (historical ideology, often reactionary), and good sense (the actual interest of the working class), and how most proletarians are walking contradictions, filled with bits of both. Gramsci wanted to establish a theory that could shift the proletariat to good sense, with a stable transition that would not cause overload from cognitive dissonance surfacing. This is done through organizing, propaganda spreading, teaching, and establishing of good sense institutions, when the working class is ready.

The next 1/5 of the book deals exclusively with contemporary British matters, and how the left is slowly dying out. The author believes left-wing intellectuals and activist must learn from Gramsci’s approach to good sense, to help rid the working class of common sense, which people like Tony Blair prey upon. Moreover, he hopes the contemporary British reader can also read Gramsci to learn what good sense is.

Thus, 4/5 of the book having nothing to do with that Gramsci thought, and the majority of history dealt with in this book does not focus exclusively, and only partially, on Gramsci.
Despite the false advertising of the title, the book still deserves 3 stars because the history is interesting, and well documented. Overall though I would not recommend this book to anyone looking to learn about Gramsci. His Wikipedia page is more informative.

[Marco Puttolu · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s always important to put things in context. It will be daunting to understand Gramsci’s writings if you don’t know where he was coming from.

Gramsci’s prison writings were written in coded language, and his texts were dense, fragmented and always implicit.

I tried to read some primary sources myself. The result? I was over in my head.

The book in the picture clearly explains Gramsci's advocacy for grassroots democracy and equality.

Read it and you’ll learn his real motivations and intentions. He dreamt (and nearly succeeded) of unifying the underrepresented rural population with the metropolitan working classes.

He fiercely opposed the idea of a centralised, authoritarian Communist regime.

This book reveals how Gramsci’s beliefs stood in contrast to those far-left dictators who loved to oppress any form of dissent.

In fact, unlike Amedeo Bordiga, another key socialist figure, Gramsci believed in the power of small collectives, unions, and communities.

Bordiga, on the other hand, believed that collective power could be easily corrupted or fragmented, so he was a staunch proponent of the “vanguard party model” inspired by Lenin.

Unfortunately, it was too late when Gramsci took charge of the communist party.

Mussolini’s power, Bordiga and any other anti-fascist organisation underestimated, was already entrenched in the Italian society.

It helped the capitalist class eradicate the opposition and appealed to the proletariat, which felt abandoned by Bodriga’s policies and the centrist-leaning socialist party.


But can you imagine a different scenario? What if Gramsci’s worries about the Fascists' actions had been addressed? What if their intimidatory acts were promptly punished and suppressed?

Probably, the Fascist ideologies would have been discredited and always remembered as flawed and delusional.


This could have sent a strong message to the other far-right European movements, creating a global ripple effect.

The society we live in today could have been very different: more equal, more just, more representative.

Well…

[oskar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, short introduction mainly to his life and the context in which he was active... not so much about his work in particular though which might be disappointing for some.

[James Renaghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The briefest of overview, provides context on Gramsci’s writings.