Proletarian Order: Antonio Gramsci, Factory Councils and the Origins of Italian Communism, 1911 - 1921

by Gwyn Alfred Williams

Proletrian Order is a study of the crisis in Italian Socialism between 1911 and 1921. It focuses on Antonio Gramsci and the factory council movement in Turin during the red two years of 1919 – 1920 (the biennio rosso), and ends with the foundation of the Communist Party of Italy.

Genres: History, Italy, Nonfiction

368 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 1975

About the author

Gwyn Alfred "Alf" Williams was a Welsh historian particularly known for his work on Antonio Gramsci and Francisco Goya as well as on Welsh history.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a long time to finish this study of Gramsci, the factory councils, and the creation of a revolutionary party in Italy, but I really enjoyed the book. I still cannot pronounce "Gramsci" to save my life.

The book is a great history of the huge mass movement in Turin that created factory councils and nearly ushered in a revolution after World War I.

Unlike other revolutionaries in Italy, Gramsci saw the creation of factory councils as the beginnings of a revolutionary, democratic workers' government in Italy.

(I was pleasantly surprised to see that Gramsci got a little inspiration from Daniel DeLeon. I got my first taste of politics reading old pamplets from DeLeon back in high school).

The author was a radio broadcaster and historian in Wales, and he writes with a stronger style than I expected.