The IGS Newsletter keeps getting bigger with each issue. This reflects the continuing vitality of Gramscian studies all across the world. During the past year, numerous conferences on Gramsci were held in cities as diverse as Naples, Tokyo, Havana, Turin, Juiz de Fora (Brasil), Berlin . . . Reports on many of these meetings can be found in the pages of this Newsletter. Publications on Gramsci (and new editions in various languages of Gramsci's writings) also keep proliferating. Information on these publications is provided in different sections of this issue. The growth of the Newsletter is due also to the increasing collaboration of IGS members. Guido Liguori, in particular, has been providing a wealth of bibliographic material, reports on conferences, and book reviews. We also owe a special debt of gratitude to Stefano Azzarà and Emanuela Susca for their article on the international Gramsci conference that was organized by the Partito Rifondazione Comunista and held in Turin on 4-6 December 1997. Theirs is the longest article that we have ever published in the Newsletter. Notwithstanding the constraints on space, we have published this article in its entirety in the hope that it would serve as a model for future articles on major conferences. Articles of this nature constitute an extremely important way of keeping readers informed about the various currents in Gramscian studies.
We encourage everyone involved in the organization of conferences, colloquia, and symposiums of interest to IGS members to arrange for reports on the proceedings to be sent for publication in the Newsletter. We would also like to receive more articles about trends in Gramscian scholarship in various parts of the world. The articles, in this issue, on the circulation of Gramsci's ideas in South Korea and in Arab leftist discourse could serve as a stimulus for future contributions of a similar nature. Furthermore, we would like to publish more brief reviews of pertinent books, and for this again we rely on the initiative of IGS members.
At the IGS conference held in Naples last October, many of those present expressed the desire to improve electronic communications among members. In response, the IGS has set up its own website: this enables us to post up-to-date information about conferences, publications, and other matters of interest to the Society's members. We strongly urge all members to visit the new IGS website--at http://www.italnet.nd.edu/gramsci--and to send their suggestions, as well as pertinent information that we are now capable of disseminating rapidly through the internet. Why wait till the next issue of the Newsletter to announce a conference or the publication of a new book?
Finally, we wish to remind members who have not already done so to renew their IGS membership.