The creation of the International Gramsci Society was animated by a desire to bring individuals studying the life and thought of Antonio Gramsci in different countries and from diverse perspectives in direct or indirect contact with each other. From the start, members of the IGS wanted to learn more about the interpretations and uses of Gramsci that were taking place in countries and in disciplines other than their own. In this issue of the IGS Newsletter we have made a special effort to stress the international dimensions of Gramscian studies with information from countries as diverse as Colombia, India, and Japan. The bibliographical section, on the other hand, is quite illustrative of the wide range of approaches and applications that Gramsci's thought continues to elicit--and this is further confirmed by the innovative exploration of certain ideas of Gramsci's within the framework of social psychology about which we offer some general information (that we hope to amplify in the next issue).
One measure of the perdurable interest in Gramsci's work is the felt need to make his texts increasingly available to a wider readership. In the anglophone world two new important editions will serve this purpose and are bound to have a strong impact. The first of these is Frank Rosengarten's complete critical edition of the Letters from Prison, translated by Raymond Rosenthal and published in two handsome values by Columbia University Press earlier this year. (See the description in the "Gramsci Bibliography" section in this issue of the IGS Newsletter.) This edition is designed to attract both specialists and general readers. Its critical apparatus is thorough without being cumbersome or pedantic while the translation renders Gramsci's prose faithfully and, at the same time, stylishly and lucidly. The other important work is Derek Boothman's edition and translation of Further Selections from the Prison Notebooks that is about to be published in London by Lawrence & Wishart. This edition brings into relief many important aspects of Gramsci's thought hitherto unknown to anglophone readers who lack a knowledge of Italian. Boothman also supplies copious textual annotations that are of great value even to the finest Gramsci experts. (We are grateful to Derek Boothman for providing us with the discussion of his edition which we are reproducing in this issue of the Newsletter.) In the meantime, work is proceeding well on the German and English language complete critical editions of the Quaderni.
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In order to assess the status of Gramsci in the current political and cultural scene Giorgio Baratta, in the name of the International Gramsci Society, invited a number of intellectuals from different countries to reflect briefly on the relevance of Gramsci to their work and to the contemporary world in general. The results of that inquiry, together with two short introductory articles by Baratta himself and by Fabio Frosini, were published in the Italian literary monthly L'Indice of February 1993. Obviously, the question that comes most readily to mind is whether Gramsci has anything to say in what is now being described as a post-marxist world--and if he still does have something to say, what is it? Eric Hobsbawm confronts the question directly in his response:
The question: "What is left of Gramsci?", like the question "What is left of Marx?" is largely rhetorical. It implies the answer: "After the collapse of the Soviet systems, and the Leninist type of communist party, very little can be left." At any other time than the present, it would sound faintly ridiculous, rather like the proposition that Machiavelli must be dismissed as a thinker, because The Prince did not achieve the political object its author desired, and gained practical influence for quite different purposes. Gramsci knew better.
Hobsbawm then goes on to specify the aspects of Gramsci's thought that remain indispensable, not just for our time but, like Machiavelli's for all times. Among these aspects he singles out Gramsi'c concern with subalternity: Gramsci remains essential reading for anyone concerned with the relationships between rulers and ruled, leaders and led, in democratic movements and political systems. Those who, for most of history and even today, are subaltern, are his subject; and, incidentally, his pages on the history of the subaltern classes remain as brilliant and fruitful today as ever, and should continue to inspire social historians. Moreover, he shares with Machiavelli the rare combination of moral passion, practical, indeed professional, political experience, sharp observation and theoretical intellect.
Edward W. Said, too, mentions Gramsci's concern with "disadvantaged" in his response, and he links this concern with what he descibes as Gramsci's "worldliness": " . . . Gramsci's work is always worldly in the best sense of the word. In other words, it is never not anchored in the lives of human beings, in the historical experiences of classes and individuals at the same time. And he has an extraordinarily lively sense of the role of culture in the lives of even the most disadvantaged human beings."
The other respondents dwelt on other aspects of Gramsci's thought. For Étienne Balibar Gramsci compels us to "think differently"--something desperately needed in the current state of political and cultural disorder or confusion. Peter Glotz laments the fact that [END PAGE 2] the European left has not yet learned to follow in Gramsci's footsteps and therefore it has failed to create a "cultural front" capable of playing a leading role in the critique of the fashions of the "culture industry" or of today's fashionable "lay popes." Romano Luperini likewise stresses the value of Gramsci as a cultural critic--a cultural critic who provides us with the instruments for conducting an analysis and a critique of power, and who also shows us by his example how to remain grounded in history, in the realm of the particular, and thus avoid the dogmatism of totalization. According to Irina Gregorieva the current efforts in Russia to arrive at a better understanding of the relation between State and civil society should lead to a better appreciation of Gramsci's ideas; unfortunately, however, "the cultural climate in Russia today is definitely 'anti-gramscian.'" For Valentino Gerratana, the main problem is not so much "anti-gramscianism" as the de-politicization of Gramsci and, worse still, the moral and intellectual disorder of our times. Gramsci was a revolutionary who, as Gerratana points out, was convinced that "one cannot have a revolution with intellectual and moral disorder." One might add that, perhaps, this is an appropriate time to take a close look at certain pages of the Quaderni that have so far received scant attention-- namely, Gramsci's attacks on Lorianism; for Gramsci's anti-Loria notes are precisely an attack on the lack of intellectual rigor, on the poverty of critical thought which left the fragile civilization of Europe defenceless and at the mercy of Fascism and Nazism.
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This issue of the IGS Newsletter should have been published several months ago. The extremely long delay was unavoidable, for production of the Newsletter is entirely dependent on the volunteer work of individuals whose many institutional and scholalry commitments often deprive them of any spare time. Once again, the Newsletter is only being published in English--not because we attach less importance to providing an Italian language version, but because at the present time the resources that would enable us to do so are lacking. The same lack of resources has also forced us, once again, to postpone plans for an international conference, but we keep hoping that an institutional sponsor will be found to help us organize it.
The Newsletter has been expanded and we hope that the next issue will have as many pages or even more--this will make it possible to publish more articles along with the other items of information. Much depends on the materials sent us by IGS members--so we encourage everyone to send us not only information about their activities (you may wish to use the forms provided at the back of this issue), but also articles on topics of interest to the other members. Those members who have access to electronic mail may also contact us via computer at the following e-mail address: Joseph.A.Buttigieg.1@nd.edu