Gramsci's Thought

by E.M.S. Namboodiripad, P. Govinda Pillai, M.G. Radhakrishnan (Translator)

Genres: Nonfiction

119 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad (13 June 1909 – 19 March 1998), popularly EMS, was an Indian communist politician and theorist, who served as the first Chief Minister of Kerala state in 1957–59 and then again in 1967–69. As a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI), he became the first non-Indian National Congress chief minister in the Indian republic. In 1964, he led a faction of the CPI that broke away to form the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM).
As chief minister, Namboodiripad pioneered radical land and educational reforms in Kerala, which helped it become the country's leader in social indicators. It is largely due to his commitment and guidance that the CPM, of which he was Politburo member and general secretary for 14 years, has become such a domineering political force, playing a vital role in India's new era of coalition politics.
EMS, Kesari Balakrishna Pillai, Joseph Mundassery, M. P. Paul and K. Damodaran were architects of 'Jeevat Sahitya Prastanam', which later came to known as Purogamana Sahitya Prastanam (Progressive Association for Arts and Letters). Though Kesari was considered to be one of the visionaries of the Progressive Movement for Arts and Letters in Kerala, serious difference of opinion emerged later between full-time Communist Party activists and other personalities, namely Kesari and Joseph Mundassery. In this context, EMS famously accused Kesari of being a "Petit-Bourgeois intellectual", an appellation he later retracked. EMS also acknowledged some of the earlier misconceptions of the Communist Party with respect to the Progressive Literature and Arts Movement. This debate is known as 'Rupa Bhadrata Vivadam', an important milestone in the growth of Modern Malayalam Literature.

Reviews

[V 🐈‍⬛ · Rating 5 out of 5]

woohoo my first book of 2025. don't you love when you read theory and are like damn i was incorrect on this or that thing.. or i didn't consider this aspect.. what i love about marxism. you're gonna make mistakes and you gotta learn how to identify and correct them. anyways i'll probably do my review tomorrow

[Mark Surya · Rating 4 out of 5]

An introduction in Malayalam (here translated) by the Chief Minister of Kerala, EMS Namboodiripad, to the work of Antonio Gramsci. Vijay Prashad, in his introduction, takes it’s date of publication—-97—-and frames it as a response, in its way, to the destruction of the Babri Masjid, the first major act of Hindutva supremacist violence that occurred in my lifetime.

The framing makes sense—-the text begins with recounting Gramsci’s life, a little harmless hagiography, before going through every chapter in the selected Prison Notebooks and summarizing it’s major points and ideas. The major theme—-not of the summary, but of the overview—-what is the Left to do in a time of, not simply rising facism, but when the fascists are in power? In his notebooks Gramsci told us: “Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.” His work is a testament to that: but in 2023, Namboodiripad’s patient reminder to (comparatively, not entirely) lay low and prepare rings a little timid.

And of course, the other problem, one Gramsci couldn’t have had in mind—-in India, and in the US, the fascists have studied Gramsci. They understand hegemony. What then?

[Chuy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lended my book to an org, and they never gave it back to me. I am bitter, to this day.

anyways, this book is a great read for understanding Gramsci, and it doesn't feel overwhelming at all.