PRISON NOTEBOOKS

VOLUME I

European Perspectives

EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES

A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism Lawrence D. Kritzman, Editor

European Perspectives presents outstanding books by leading European thinkers. With both classic and contemporary works, the series aims to shape the major intellectual controversies of our day and to facilitate the tasks of historical understanding.

For a complete list of books in the series, see pages 609 610

The Quaderni del carcere of Antonio Gramsci were kept by Raffaele Mattioli in the vaults of the Banca Commerciale Italiana from July 6, 1937, after Gramsci's death that spring, until they were safely transported abroad a year later. Known and respected by Gramsci, Mattioli was chief executive officer of the Banca Commerciale Italiana from 1933 to 1960, when he became chairman of the board until his retirement in r 972. Columbia University Press is grateful to the Banca Commerciale Italiana for its gift in support of the costs of publishing the Quaderni del carcere in English.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

New York Chichester, West Sussex

Copyright © 1975 Giulio Einaudi Editore, S.p.a., Torino, Seconda edizione.

Copyright© 1992 Columbia University Press

Paperback edition, 20 II

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gramsci, Antonio, 1891 1937.

[Quaderni del carcere. English]

Prison notebooks J Antonio Gramsci.

p. cm.-(European perspectives)

Translation of: Quaderni del carccrc.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978 0 231 o6o82-o (val. I, cloth)-ISBN 978-0 23I o6o83-7

(val. I, paper)

I. Title. II. Series.

DG575.G69A5 1991

335-43'092-dC20

[B]

91 22910

CIP

Casebound editions of Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid free paper.

Book design by fennifer Dossin

Printed in the United States of America

C 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 IJ 12 II

pi0987654J21

In memory of

Tatiana Schucht

and for

Valentino Gerratana

- they helped preserve Gramsci's legacy

CONTENTS

Preface

ix

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . xxi Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5

.

Prison Notebooks

Notebook I ( I 929- I 9 3 o ) : First Notebook

99

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Notebook 2 ( I 929- I 9 3 J ) : Miscellaneous I .

. . .

2 3 9

. . . . .

. . . . . . .

Notes

Notebook 1: Description of the Manuscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6 5

Notes t o the Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 7 3

Notebook 2 : Description of the Manuscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2 5

Notes to the Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3 3

Illustrations follow page 262.

PREFACE

ANTONIO GRAMSCI's prison writings (excluding letters) comprise thirty-three notebooks, several of which are only partially filled.

Twenty nine of these notebooks contain the results of Gramsci's research and reflections on a broad range of political, cultural, philosophical, historical, literary and other topics. The remaining four notebooks are -devoted almost entirely to translations of Ger man texts. Thanks to Gramsci's tidy and clear, though miniscule, calligraphy, the manuscripts are relatively easy to read; they pre sent few problems of decipherment. With a handful of exceptions, the symbol § marks the beginning of each individual note, thus eliminating the difficulty not simply of separating one entry or fragment from another, but also of distinguishing the notes themselves from certain extraneous materials found in some pages of the notebooks. Transcribing Gramsci's manuscript in order to transfer it onto the printed page, therefore, is a rather straightforward task. At the same time the question of how to arrange the contents of the Prison Notebooks for presentation in book form is quite complicated.

Gramsci's notebooks possess all the intricacies and perplexities of a textual labyrinth. Some of them contain an assemblage of notes and jottings on miscellaneous topics. Others are internally divided into sections in such a way that a part of a given notebook is devoted to a series of notes on a designated topic, while the rest of it is utilized for miscellaneous topics or for translation exercises or for both. There also exists a set of notebooks in which all the

X

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entries are related to a specific theme or topic inscribed, in almost all cases, on the opening page. The notebooks were not written sequentially- during any given period of time Gramsci was making entries in several different notebooks, although he did not always have access to more than one or two or, sometimes, three (depending on what the prison authorities would allow him) of them at a time. To further complicate matters, numerous notes appear in two different versions in separate notebooks. In many instances the differences between the two versions are quite signif icant; but even when the variations are minimal the reordering of materials in itself merits close examination. Whenever Gramsci elaborated, adapted, or simply transcribed a note, he crossed out its earlier version. (He also crossed out a few notes which he never used again after the initial draft. ) The cancellations are executed with characteristic neatness so that the text remains perfectly le gible. Still, nothing in any of the notebooks enjoys definitive status; all the notes remain provisional, including those that appear in a second draft. Although a close reading of the text might yield a sketchy sense of what form Gramsci's work would have taken had any of it been completed, it is nonetheless obvious that no parts of the notebooks were intended (much less deemed ready) for publication by their author. Only by doing violence to the text of the Prison Notebooks could one conceal their fragmentariness and reconstruct them into a conventional, more or less unified format.

Admittedly, a certain degree of ordering and rearrangement is unavoidable, no matter how faithfully one seeks to reproduce, in publishable form, Gramsci's Prison Notebooks "just as he wrote them." Yet, in editing and translating the text for this edition of the Prison Notebooks, every effort has been expended to acquaint the interested reader as thoroughly as possible not only with the contents but also with the material character of Gramsci's original manuscript.

Italian Editions of Gramsci's Writings

Felice Platone, the first editor to confront the problems of how to prepare Gramsci's Prison Notebooks for publication, opted to orga nize their contents around certain general themes which occupy a

Preface

xi

central position in Gramsci's overall inquiry. He also decided to leave out almost entirely the canceled drafts of those notes which appear in two versions, and to omit a few other brief notes along with all the translations. Platone's six volume edition of the Quaderni del carcere, which lacks a critical apparatus, was published by Einaudi (Turin) as follows :

II materialismo storico e la filosofia di Benedetto Croce I I 948 ) Gli in telletuali e l organizza

'

zione della cultura ( I 949l

I1 Risorgimen to (1949 )

Note sul Machiavelli, sulla politica e sullo Stato moderno ( 1 9491

Letteratura e vita nazionale ( 1 9 5 0)

Passato e presen te I I 9 5 I J.

The ground for the broadly favorable reception of this multi-vol ume edition of the Prison Notebooks had been prepared by the prior publication of Gramsci's letters from prison Lettere dal

-

carcere (Turin: Einaudi, I 947)-which generated widespread interest among Italian readers of all political stripes in the immediate postwar period.

The awareness of Gramsci's importance as an original political theorist and cultural critic, and the appreciation of his stature as one of the most extraordinary figures in the turbulent history of early twentieth-century Italy, grew rapidly. This led to the ambitious project of preparing a complete edition of his pre-prison writings which, in fact, were collected in five volumes published, again by Einaudi, over a period of seventeen years :

L 'Ordine Nuovo: 1919-1920 ( 1 9 5 4)

Scritti giovanili: 1914-1918 ( I 9 5 8 )

Sotto la Mole: 1916-1920 ( 1 960)

Socialismo e fascismo. L 'Ordine Nuovo: 1921-1922 ( 1 966 ) La costruzione del Partito communista: 1923-1926 ( 1 97 1 ) .

Several selections of Gramsci's pre-prison writings were also published during the same period; the most important among them are: 2000 pagine di Gramsci, ed. Giansiro Ferrata and Niccolo Gallo (Milan: 11 Saggiatore, 1 964); and Scritti politici, ed. Paolo Spriano ( Rome: Riuniti, 1 967).

These various editions of Gramsci's collected and selected writings belong, one might say, to a first phase of the publication of

xii

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Gramsci's opus. The second phase consists in the preparation of philologically rigorous and carefully annotated critical editions of Gramsci's work. A textually reliable and complete version of Gramsci's prison letters, accompanied by a useful critical apparatus appeared in 1 9 6 5 : Lettere dal carcere, ed. Sergio Caprioglio and Elsa Fubini !Turin: Einaudi). Ten years later, the single most important event in the publication· history of Gramsci's works occurred when the critical edition of the Prison Notebooks was brought out : Quaderni del carcere, 4 vols., ed. Valentino Gerratana

!Turin: Einaudi, 1 9 7 5 ). Subsequently, the critical edition of Gramsci 's writings preceding his arrest and imprisonment was launched; the first five volumes, all published by Einaudi, appeared in the following order:

Cronache torinesi: I9IJ-I9I7, ed. Sergio Caprioglio ( 1 980) La citta futura: I9I7-I9IB, ed. Sergio Caprioglio ( 1 9 8 2 ) 11 nostro Marx: 1918-1919, ed. Sergio Caprioglio (1 984) L 'Ordine Nuovo: 1919-1920, ed. Valentino Gerratana and Antonio Santucci ( 1 9 8 7 )

Lettere: 1908-I926, ed. Antonio Santucci ( 1 99 1 ) Some additional work needs to be carried out before the entire Gramscian corpus is authoritatively established. In the last few years some previously unpublished letters have come to light. A two volume paperback edition of the prison letters prepared by Antonio Santucci and issued as a supplement to L'Unita of 1 4

February 1 98 8 contained twenty-eight previously unpublished letters. Quite possibly a few other items written by Gramsci have yet to be attributed to him. Still, anyone who reads Italian now has access to all that is necessary for the comprehensive and thorough study of Gramsci's work and thought.

English Translations of Gramsci's Writings

A considerable portion of Gramsci's writings has been translated into English. Carl Marzani, in his slim volume The Open Marxism of An tonio Gramsci !New York: Cameron, 1 9 5 7 ), reproduced a few illustrative passages from the Prison Notebooks. Much more useful is the small selection edited and translated by Louis Marks, The

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xiii

Modern Prince and Other Writings !New York: International Publishers, 1 9 5 7 ), which in addition to some segments from the notebooks contains the very important essay "Some Aspects of the Southern Question" drafted by Gramsci just prior to his arrest. By far the most valuable selected edition of Gramsci's work in English appeared on the the eightieth anniversary of his birth: Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ed. and trans. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith !New York: International Publishers, 1 97 1 ).

Although Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith had to rely basically on Platone's original edition of the Quaderni del carcere, they took pains to familiarize themselves with the original manuscripts and were able to include some previously unpublished notes in their Selections. This volume has contributed more than any other publication to the broad dissemination of Gramsci's thought across the English speaking world.

Since its appearance, the growth of Gramscian studies in English has been truly remarkable. The widespread presence of Gramsci in anglophone countries is evinced not only by the large number of printed books and essays dealing with various aspects of his thought but also by the manner in which his influence cuts across all the disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences. Selections from the Prison Notebooks has been supplemented by another volume, Selections from the Cultural Writings, ed. David Forgacs and Geoffrey Nowell Smith ! Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard Univer sity Press, 1 9 8 5 ), a carefully annotated and well organized edition.

In several respects, Selections from the Cultural Writings (which also contains important essays and theater reviews written by Gramsci before his imprisonment) resembles the volume Letteratura e vita nazionale in Platone's first thematic edition of the Quaderni. However, Forgacs and Smith make intelligent use of Gerratana's critical edition of the notebooks and of Caprioglio's critical editions of Gramsci's earlier writings.

There exist in English other translations of selected writings by Gramsci. The most important and reliable of these are the two volumes edited by Quintin Hoare : Selections from Political Writings: 1910-1920 !New York: International Publishers, 1 97 7 ), and Selections from Political Writings: 192 1-1926 (New York: International Publishers, 1 97 8 ) . In both volumes, the reader is provided with helpful notes. Another selection of Gramsci's earlier writings is History, Philosophy and Culture in the Young Gramsci, ed.

xiv

Preface

Peter Cavalcanti and Paul Piccone 1St. Louis: Telos Press, 1 97 5 ) .

Some of Gramsci's most interesting articles and a substantial num ber of crucial passages from the Prison Notebooks are gathered together very felicitously in An Antonio Gramsci Reader, ed. David Forgacs jNew York: Schocken, 1 98 8 ) . Furthermore, English trans lations from Gramsci's prison letters are available in two separate editions. The fuller of the two, Gramsci 's Prison Letters, trans. and introd. Hamish Henderson !London : Zwan, 1 98 8 ) is based on the 1 947 edition of Lettere dal carcere, whereas Letters from Prison, ed. and trans. Lynne Lawner (New York: Harper and Row, 1 9 7 3 ) consists of a selection extracted from Caprioglio and Fubini's critical edition of 1 96 5 . In both cases the editors-translators supply brief annotations to the text. A complete annotated translation of Gramsci's prison letters is being prepared under the editorship of Frank Rosengarten and will be published by Columbia University Press.

A useful companion to Gramsci's work, Giuseppe Fiori's biography Vita di Antonio Gramsci jBari : Laterza, 1 9 6 6 ), has been ably translated into English by Tom Nairn: Antonio Gramsci: Life of a Revolutionary !London : NLB, 1 970). An indispensable tool for the Gramscian scholar is the comprehensive international bibliography (with valuable indexes) prepared by John M. Cammett, Bibliografia Gramsciana !Rome : Riuniti, 1 99 1 ).

This Edition of the Prison Notebooks

The present complete edition of the Prison Notebooks in English is modeled on the critical edition of the Quaderni del carcere prepared by Valentino Gerratana under the auspices of the Istituto Gramsci. In preparing the text for this translation I closely examined Gramsci's manuscripts, which confirmed that Gerratana's transcription is faithful and reliable. My own reading of the manuscripts differs from Gerratana's only rarely and in minor ways.

Following Gerratana's scrupulous procedures, square brackets, [ ], have been used to integrate into the printed text all the interlinear and marginal variants and additions which Gramsci inserted into his own manuscript. All relevant information concerning these insertions and other matters pertaining to the text itself-namely,

Preface

XV

the corrections and cancellations made by Gramsci and the few instances where his rare slips of the pen are editorially rectifiedis provided in brief notes at the foot of the pertinent pages in the main body of the translated version of the notebooks. Angular brackets, ( ), on the other hand, enclose all editorial intrusions into the text. Such intrusions have been kept to an absolute minimum : on a few occasions it was deemed necessary to insert a missing word or to supply a complete name where Gramsci wrote only initials. In the interests of a consistent presentation of the contents of the notebooks, the symbol § has been supplied at the start of those few notes which Gramsci uncharacteristically failed to mark in his usual manner- in all such instances it is enclosed in angular brackets. Moreover, each individual note has been numbered in order to facilitate its location and to simplify the system of crossreferences provided in the critical apparatus. Within the main body of the text the number assigned to each note is also enclosed in angular brackets, thus indicating that it is an editorial addition.

Whenever ordinary parentheses, I ), appear in the main body of the text, they are Gramsci's. lit should be noted that the system of brackets just described applies only to the main text. In the introductory materials and in the critical apparatus, parentheses are used in the conventional manner. )

In the present edition, as in Gerratana's, two different type sizes are used in printing the text of the Prison Notebooks. The notes which Gramsci crossed out lso neatly that they remain quite legible) are printed in smaller type. Almost all of these canceled notes

-which, following Gerratana, are designated as "A texts" for descriptive purposes- reappear with minor or major modifications in later notebooks. At the end of each of these canceled notes, the reader is provided with the number of the notebookls) and notels) containing the later version-in some cases different parts of the same note reappear in separate places, while in other cases various notes are recomposed into a single note. The notes existing only in a single version and not canceled by Gramsci- designated as "B

texts" - are printed in larger type. The same larger size type is also used for those notes which consist, partly or wholly, of material derived from previously drafted notes- these are designated as "C

texts. " In a reverse of the procedure employed with "A texts, " at the end of each "C text" the reader is provided with the location lby notebook and note number) of its earlier version.

xvi

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As already mentioned, one of the thorniest problems facing any editor of Gramsci's Prison Notebooks concerns the order in which their contents could or should be arranged. Gerratana devised a sensible solution to this problem. First, he established the temporal order in which the individual notebooks were started, and then he numbered them progressively according to this criterion. Thus, for example, Notebook 2 precedes Notebook 3 because all the evidence suggests that the first entry in the former predates the composition of the first note in the latter, even though the last page of Notebook 3 was filled while Notebook 2 was still in use. Second, in the case of some notebooks, Gerratana did not adhere to the sequence in which certain blocks of notes actually appear in the manuscript; instead, he rearranged them in such a way as to reflect what he believed to be the chronological order of the initiation of their composition. For example, the first few manuscript pages of Notebook 4 contain a series of notes under the heading "Canto Ten of the Inferno." However, Gerratana believed (for reasons which, in this instance, are debatable) that the notes gathered under the title "Notes on Philosophy. Materialism and Idealism. First Series, "

which occupy pages 4 r r-8ov of the manuscript, were started before the notes on Dante. ( Gramsci sometimes divided a notebook into sections with the intention of devoting each section to a different purpose. ) In the critical edition of the Quaderni del carcere, there fore, Notebook 4 opens with "Notes on Philosophy. "

Some o f Gerratana's editorial decisions have been questioned by Gianni Francioni in his detailed analysis of Gramsci's manuscripts, L 'officina gramsciana: Ipotesi sulla struttura dei "Quaderni del carcere" (Naples : Bibliopolis, 1 9 84). Francioni's scrutiny of the original led him to different conclusions from Gerratana's about the date of composition of certain notebooks and the sections within them. Francioni makes a strong case for his alternative dating and some of the results of his inquiry are convincing. If the Prison Notebooks were edited on the basis of Francioni's chronology, the sequential order would have been somewhat (though by no means completely) different from the one presented by Gerratana. Yet, the results of Francioni's inquiry, important and interesting though they are, by no means vitiate the reliability of Gerra tana's edition of the Quaderni. This is because Gerratana's edito rial decisions are totally transparent and he has taken care to

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provide the reader with all the information necessary to grasp in the smallest detail every aspect of the original manuscript. In the critical apparatus of his edition, Gerratana accounts for every single page of the manuscripts, thus giving the readers the possibility of reconstructing for themselves the chronology of Gramsci's composition of the notebooks and making independent judgments about the significance of the disposition of materials within them.

In the present edition, the ordering of the contents as well as the enumeration of both the notebooks and the individual notes corre spond exactly to those in Gerratana's critical edition of the Quaderni del carcere. (This should make it easy for the reader to locate any segment of the translated version in the Italian original, and vice versa. ) Gerratana's descriptions of the individual notebooks and his analysis of their contents are incorporated in the "Descrip tion of the Manuscript" provided for each notebook in the "Notes"

section of this edition. These have been supplemented with a sche matic rendition of the alternative chronology of the composition of the notebooks hypothesized by Francioni. All extraneous materials found in the manuscript (Gramsci's lists of books and periodicals he received or returned, drafts of letters, and other sundry items ) are also included in the sections headed "Description of the Manu script. " The descriptions of the four translation notebooks- which Gerratana labeled "A/' "B/' "C/' and "D"-and a detailed listing of their contents are placed in an appendix in the final volume of this edition. However, the translation exercises which occupy parts of Notebooks 7 and 9 are discussed in the "Description of the Manuscript" pertaining to the respective notebook. For obvious reasons, Gramsci's translations are not themselves translated in this edition.

Gramsci was seriously interested in various linguistic, cultural, ideological and hermeneutical aspects of translation, as can be seen from a number of observations he made in his notebooks and letters. His views on the subject were obviously kept in mind during the process of translating his text for this edition. The guiding principle of this translation, however, has been to remain as close as possible to the original. Long, convoluted constructions, sentence fragments, and other stylistic idiosyncracies were not smoothed out, unless they threatened to obscure meaning com pletely. The tendency toward literal translation may have resulted

xviii

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in some loss of elegance. Still, the main goal of the effort will be attained if the readers of this translation can gain from it a good sense of the basic character and general flavor of the original.

In designing the critical apparatus for this edition an attempt has been made to address the needs of nonspecialist readers without sacrificing any of the special requirements of the research scholar.

The bibliographical information, already provided in Gerratana's edition, about the publications cited, used, analyzed, paraphrased or sometimes transcribed without attribution by Gramsci when composing his notebooks is all retained (with corrections where necessary) and in several instances amplified. In addition, passages are reproduced selectively from works which seem to have been of some importance to Gramsci, or which could shed light on his observations. Special attention is given to Gramsci's earlier writ ings and his prison letters whenever they have a bearing on the contents of the notebooks; substantial (and, in many cases, previously untranslated) extracts from them appear in the annotations.

Brief biographical sketches and other basic information are sup plied for numerous individuals whose names appear in the note books. This information almost always accompanies the first appearance of a given name in the text. (The name index should help locate the first annotation on any particular individual rather easily. ) Some figures mentioned by Gramsci are, of course, widely known and information about them is readily available from a variety of sources. For this reason, in the cases of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Croce, Bukharin, Hegel, Trotsky, Garibaldi, Mazzini, Cavour, and others of similar importance, the annotations are limited to those specific writings or actions of theirs which are directly or indirectly alluded to in Gramsci's text. Similar criteria are applied to historical events. It would have been impossible, for example, to reconstruct all the aspects of the Italian Risorgimento or the French Revolution discussed by Gramsci without doubling the size of the critical apparatus. However, brief explanatory notes are provided in those instances where Gramsci refers to quite specific events which are only recorded in highly specialized history books. As for Gramsci's own actions and his participation in the political develop ments of his time, the reader should find much relevant information in the Chronology (which is adapted from Gerratana's edition) placed in the introductory section of this volume.

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xix

The main purpose of this complete edition of the Prison Notebooks in English translation is to make available to anglophone readers as fully as possible and in accessible form the contents of the notebooks composed by Antonio Gramsci during his years of imprisonment by the Fascist regime. The text reproduced in these pages contains much more than a treatment of those themes hegemony, civil society, intellectuals, war of position, passive revolution, historical bloc-with which Gramsci's name is most often linked and for which he is best known. Interspersed among the notes touching upon the familiar motifs are several items which consist chiefly land sometimes even wholly) of transcriptions or paraphrases of newspaper and journal articles on disparate topics; bibliographical entries bearing minimal information; names listed with hardly any explanation; epigrammatic quotations; and so on.

These materials, which might seem appealing only to the most scrupulous readers and assiduous researchers, are retained in this edition not solely, or even primarily, out of scholarly respect for the integrity of Gramsci's text. Through these apparently recondite materials and in them one can see Gramsci at work; for the notebooks taken as a whole constitute simultaneously Gramsci's workshop and the unfinished products of the labors he carried out within that physically straitened but intellectually expansive workshop.

By taking a close look inside Gramsci's workshop, by examining what he discarded as well as what he used, what he adopted and what he refashioned, one can begin to trace the complex genealogy of those Gramscian concepts which have acquired such widespread currency in our times.

Referring to Gramsci, Michel Foucault lin a private letter, 20

April 1 984) made the following acute observation: "C'est un auteur plus souvent cite que reellement connu. " As references to Gramsci continue to multiply in books and articles on the most disparate subjects, it has become necessary to gain a more concrete knowledge and understanding of his work. The notebooks he composed in prison are an excellent place to start.

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

IN PREPARING this edition of Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks, I have incurred great debts to numerous friends, colleagues, and students. Were it not for the persuasive prodding and encouragement of Paul A. Bove and Edward W. Said, I would never have ventured beyond my original plans for an annotated anthology of Gramsci's writings on cultural politics. Once the project got under way, the collaboration of Antonio Callari proved invaluable-his patience, selflessness and hard work helped surmount many problems.

Most of the basic research for this edition took place at the lstituto Gramsci in Rome. During all my visits there I benefited from the hospitality and kind assistance of the director, Giuseppe Vacca, Elsa Fubini, the late Paolo Spriano, the archivists, the librarians, and other members of the staff. Special thanks are due to Antonio Santucci for being so generous with his time and expert advice, and above all for his warm friendship. To Valentino Gerratana I owe more than I can adequately describe- by dedicating this edition to him I hoped to convey the depth of my esteem and gratitude.

My trips to Rome were subsidized by the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, the Jesse H. Jones Faculty Research Fund and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, and by a modest Travel to Collections Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The congenial atmosphere at the University of Notre Dame, and

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Acknowledgments

particularly its English Department, where I did most of the work on this project, is due to the collegiality and intellectual sympathy of many faculty members, students, and administrators; from them, especially Michael Loux, David Ruccio, John Matthias, Gerald Bruns, and Chris Vanden Bossche, I have received constant support, both professional and personal.

In all my work I have relied heavily on the keen interest and judicious criticism of a close group of professional and personal friends who make up the editorial collective of boundary 2: Jonathan Arac, Paul A. Bove, Margaret Ferguson, Nancy Fraser, Michael Hays, Daniel O'Hara, Donald Pease, William V. Spanos, and Cornel West. Paul Bove was particularly helpful with the introductory essay, parts of which appeared in somewhat different form in boundary 2.

Strong support has also been extended to me over the years and in different contexts by Peter Serracino Inglott, Giorgio Baratta, Anne Showstack Sassoon, Brita Bock, Domenico Iervolino, Terry Cochran, Marcia Landy and Wlad Godzich. Several other individuals, including Lucia Bortoli Wilson, Gabriele Poole, Troy Thibo deux and Augusto Ioppolo, alleviated some of the burdens of translation and annotation.

Nila Gerhold employed her uncommon sense and computer mastery to impose order on the mass of notes, documents and other materials accumulated for the project, and to transform a complicated and messy manuscript into a presentable text. At Columbia University Press I always found understanding and courteous assistance, especially from the director, John Moore, Jennifer Crewe and her predecessor William Germano, Joan McQuary, and Donna Walsh.

More Gramscian scholars than I could possibly enumerate have contributed, in some cases unknowingly, to the preparation of this edition. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith I know only through their publications, but like many other readers of Gramsci I am greatly obligated to them. Through his scholarship and his informative responses to my queries, Sergio Caprioglio enabled me to appreciate more fully the significance of Gramsci's writings and political activities prior to his imprisonment. William Hartley, an unusually attentive reader of Gramsci's texts, helped me clarify some very important aspects of Gramsci's thought; he also read the manuscript and offered many useful suggestions. John Cam-

Acknowledgments

xxiii

mett has been an irreplacable source of information and his exhaustive bibliographical research saved me untold amounts of time.

During the final stage of preparation, Frank Rosengarten and David Forgacs kindly agreed to read the manuscript. They did so with the utmost care and attention. Their extensive comments and advice, informed by their extraordinary knowledge of Gramsci's texts and of Italian history, enabled me to improve my work significantly. I am extremely grateful to them. For the flaws that remain, however, I alone am responsible.

I would never have been able to undertake this work, much less complete it, were it not for two special persons : J. Anne Montgomery and Peter Paul Buttigieg. To them I owe the greatest debt of all.

PRISON NOTEBOOKS

VOLUME I

Introduction and Chronology

INTRODUCTION

ANTONIO GRAM SCI died quietly before daybreak on 2 7 April I 9 3 7

at the Quisisana clinic in Rome; he was forty-six years old. His sister-in-law, Tatiana Schucht, sat alone at his bedside. The funeral took place hastily the following day under the vigilant eyes of the police whose provincial chief recorded the event: "I report that the transportation of the body known as Gramsci Antonio, accompanied only by relatives, took place this evening at 19.30. The hearse proceeded at a trot from the clinic to the Verano cemetery where the body was deposited to await cremation. " The police guards and the state security agents, in fact, greatly outnumbered the two mourners present, Tatiana Schucht and Gramsci's younger brother, Carlo. All the other relatives were far away: his wife, Julia Schucht, and two sons, Delio and Giuliano (who never saw his father), lived in Moscow; his elder brother, Gennaro, was in Spain fighting against Franco; his younger brother, Mario, was with the Italian army in Africa; while the rest of the Sardinian side of the family had not, for the most part, ventured far from the relatively isolated interior of their native island. Piero Sraffa, a faithful and generous friend, who had provided Gramsci with a virtually unlimited supply of books and periodicals, had maintained close contact with him through regular communication with Tatiana Schucht, and had visited him occasionally in jail, was settled more or less perma nently in Cambridge, England. Those of Gramsci's political allies and Communist Party comrades who had not already been perse cuted to their deaths or imprisoned by the Fascist regime, were

2

In troduction

widely scattered in exile or in hiding. Within Italy itself, very probably, most people failed to notice Gramsci's disappearance; the major newspapers and the radio reported it uniformly on 29

April in a curt statement supplied to them by the Fascist wire service, Agenzia Stefani : "The former Communist deputy Gramsci died at the Quisisana clinic in Rome where he had been a patient for a long time. 11

Like Giacomo Matteotti, Giovanni Amendola, and Piero Gobetti more than a decade before him and Carlo Rosselli very soon after him, Gramsci became an anti-Fascist martyr; but so did many others whose names remain largely unknown or are rarely remembered. Unlike Matteotti and Rosselli, whose gruesome assassina tions drew widespread public attention and revealed fully the ruth lessness of Mussolini's cohorts, Gramsci expired silently and without commotion in his sickbed after more than a decade of excruciating physical deterioration, devastating loneliness, and profound anguish. He had been almost totally sequestered from the

"great and terrible world, 11 as he sometimes called it, since his arrest on 8 November 1 92 6 . Gramsci's death, it must have seemed at the time, had quite simply brought to its inevitable end a painful life of selfless commitment to the socialist vision; of great expenditure of energy on behalf of the Italian Communist Party ( PCd'I) he helped found; of brave, unyielding, and very costly defiance of the Fascist dictatorship; and of failure and defeat.

There was hardly any reason to believe in 1937 that Gramsci had left behind him a lasting legacy. Nevertheless, those who had known him well and worked closely with him- and they were not all communists -valued him as an exemplary figure and perceived the importance of preserving his memory. Mario Montagnana, for example, who obtained his political education at Gramsci's side in Turin, wrote to Palmiro Togliatti from Paris the day he learned of his mentor's death:

. . . I am sure that few can fully comprehend, as deeply as the two of us do, the seriousness of the loss which the Party and, therefore, our whole country has suffered. The reason for this is that Antonio revealed his greatness, his enormous political, intellectual and moral gifts primarily in conversation, in ordinary everyday life. Still, I was struck when a young comrade who did not even know Antonio told me that the most tragic and painful aspect of Antonio's death is the

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3

fact that his genius has been largely-how does one put it? -unused and thus unknown.a

In order to prevent Gramsci's "genius" from going to waste, Montagnana felt a pressing need to arrange for the quick publication of Gramsci's writings. Montagnana was obviously thinking of the articles and, perhaps, of some other political documents which Gramsci had composed prior to his arrest, for when he wrote the grief stricken letter to Togliatti he could not have known about the immense scholarly operation Gramsci had carried out during his years in prison.

Togliatti hardly needed any prompting from Montagnana; he was just as keen to see Gramsci's writings in print. On 20 May 1 9 3 7 he wrote to Sraffa from Moscow asking whether Gramsci had left any instructions regarding the disposition of his papers. In his letter, Togliatti stressed the importance of preserving Gramsci's

"political and literary legacy, " while admitting that he had no idea at all what Gramsci's prison writings consisted in. Sraffa, on his part, was quite aware that during his incarceration Gramsci had devoted all the energy he could muster to intellectual labor, and he knew enough about the notebooks to be anxious about their sur vival. Through his contacts and by means of his advice he helped Tatiana Schucht protect the notebooks in Italy and get them past the cordon of surveillance into reliable hands.

At the time of Gramsci's death nobody understood and appreciated more fully than Tatiana Schucht the value of the thirty-three notebooks that he left behind him. With her gentle prodding and constant encouragement she had played a crucial (though still un derrated) role in their composition; and, no sooner had Gramsci died, than she started making the necessary plans and arrangements to salvage and preserve them. Two weeks after the funeral she wrote Piero Sraffa at King's College, Cambridge a long letter narrating the details of Gramsci's final collapse, his death, the funeral, and so on. Uppermost in her mind, however, were Gramsci's prison notebooks; they were the very first thing she brought up in her letter after the opening epistolary formalities: Dearest friend,

please do not be angry at me for having taken so long to answer or rather to write to you with the details of the great misfortune.

•Quoted in Paolo Spriano, Storia del Partito communista italiano (Turin: Einaudi, 1970), vol 3, p. 151

4

Introduction

But, first of all, I want you to write to me whether you think it is worthwhile, indeed absolutely necessary that you should put Nino's manuscripts in order. Undoubtedly, this work must be carried out only by a competent person. On the other hand, it was also Nino's wish that I pass on everything to Julia, to entrust everything to her until he gave further instructions. I thought it best to postpone sending anything until I hear from you whether you want to handle these materials yourself with the help of one of us in the family.

Then I want to let Julia know of my intention to send her all the writings so that she will retrieve them and ensure that nothing gets lost and that nobody interferes . . . b

Sraffa thought that Gramsci's papers had better be entrusted to the leaders of the PCd'l. Tatiana Schucht placed the manuscripts in a bank vault in Rome while she set out to determine a safe way to send them to Moscow. In the meantime, she numbered the notebooks and started preparing a catalogue of their contents. The manuscripts eventually reached Moscow in the summer of 1 9 3 8

and were entrusted to the care of Vincenzo Bianco, a close personal friend of Gramsci 's and Italian representative to the Comintem.

After the war, the notebooks together with Gramsci's books and letters were returned to Italy and eventually housed at the Gramsci Institute in Rome. Somehow, they escaped the censorious eyes of both Mussolini's and Stalin's security apparatuses.

Gramsci's most lasting legacy would never have become available to anyone were it not for Tatiana Schucht's efforts. As Valentino Gerratana points out in the introduction to his critical edition of the Quaderni del carcere:

Much is owed to the selflessness and the spirit of sacrifice of this woman: through her silent and discreet activity she thwarted the earliest and most serious dangers that threatened the survival of Gramsci's work. If these manuscripts had not been saved, Gramsci would have been remembered largely as a legend. c

Instead of a Gramscian legend there now exists Gramsci's legacy in the form of books - even though he never actually wrote any books.

b Antonio Gramsci, Lettere dal carcere, ed. Sergio Caprioglio and Elsa Fubini (Turin: Einaudi, 196 5 ), p. 91 5; hereafter cited as LC.

<Antonio Gramsci, Quaderni del carcere ed. Valentino Gerratana (Turin: Einaudi, 1975), vol1, p. xxix.

Introduction

5

Gramsci's Political Praxis: Studying in Prison and the Early Plans for the Notebooks

Gramsci himself seemed unaware that he was leaving behind him what Togliatti would later call a "literary legacy." Indeed, prior to his imprisonment, Gramsci positively shunned suggestions, invitations, and opportunities to publish his writings in book form. On at least three occasions he turned down offers of publication from different sources. The details, together with a self-effacing retrospective assessment of his earlier voluminous output, are found in an extraordinarily illuminating letter he wrote to Tatiana Schucht in 193 1 when he had already drafted some of the most important passages in the notebooks.

During ten years of journalism, I wrote enough pages to fill some 1 5

or 20 volumes of 400 pp. each; however, they were written for the day and, in my view, they should have died once the day was over. I have always refused to compile even small anthologies. In 1 9 1 8 Prof.

Cosmo asked my permission to put together a selection of some columns which I was writing daily for a Turin newspaper. He would have published them with a very favorable and laudatory preface, but I did not let him. In November 1 920 Giuseppe Prezzolini persuaded me to allow his publishing house to bring out a collection of articles which, in fact, had been written according to an organic design; but in January 1 9 2 1 I decided to pay the costs of"the part already printed and withdrew the manuscript. Again, in 1 924, the Hon. Franco Ciarlantini proposed that I write a book about the Ordine Nuovo movement which he would have published in a series that already included books by [ J. Ramsay] MacDonald, [Samuel]

Gompers, etc. He pledged not to change even a comma and not to add any preface or polemical gloss to my book. It was very enticing to publish a book with a Fascist publisher under these conditions, and yet I refused. Now I think that perhaps I would have done better to accept. (LC, 48 1 )

Gramsci's evocation of his past work, in this instance, is part of an effort to explain to Tatiana Schucht and, indirectly, to Sraffa as well why he could not be expected to produce a satisfactory study on the history of intellectuals. Imprisonment limited his access to the sources he considered essential for his research and thus rendered it impossible for him to conduct his studies with the rigor

6

Introduction

and thoroughness which he deemed necessary if they were to have any lasting value. Gramsci was as severe and demanding a critic of his own work as he was of others'. Although he applied himself to his studies with great diligence and composed his notes with meticulous attention to accuracy, he nonetheless regarded his prison writings as little more than provisional preparations for possible future projects. This does not mean that one should equate or conflate his prison writings with his earlier hastily composed con tributions to the socialist and communist press. There are, to be sure, many important connections between the two bodies of writings; but the specific circumstances that motivated them, not to mention their distinctive formal and rhetorical characteristics, make them quite different. Gramsci believed that he could transform the enforced vacuity of his isolated prison life into an advantageous occasion for systematic study and reflection on a series of topics that had long interested him. The notebooks, then, constitute a record of an intellectual endeavour which journalistic deadlines, party duties, and incessant organizational work had prevented him from undertaking while he still enjoyed his freedom. Whereas the journalistic writings did not merit publication in book form because they were only "written for the day, " the material in the prison notebooks could not be presumed to be publishable because it was too incomplete and tentative to have scholarly validitythat, at least, was Gramsci's view.

It is tempting to ascribe Gramsci's views concerning the merits of publishing his writings simply to a sense of caution or excessive modesty. To do so, however, would obscure a very important as pect of Gramsci's approach to intellectual and scholarly work; namely, his repeated insistence on rigorous thinking, disciplined study, thorough scholarship, and uncompromising critical evalua tion. Gramsci approached his studies with the utmost seriousness, governed not so much by the impulse to produce a finished "study"

on any given topic but rather by a deeply felt desire and need to continue studying and exploring a broad variety of themes and subjects which interested him and which he somehow considered (at first intuitively and later much more clearly) to be interrelated.

Paradoxically, what prevented Gramsci from completing his "study, "

what held him back from giving a definitive final shape to his research and theoretical projects, what made him defer the possibility of gathering his materials into a book or a series of mono-

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graphs, what restrained him from bringing his open-ended explorations to a conclusive closure was his unswerving adherence to the demands of intellectual discipline, critical rigor, and scholarly thoroughness.

Gramsci's intellectual curiosity appears to have been insatiable, his critical energies inexhaustible, his penchant for analysis and argumentation boundless. These qualities, along with an unyield ing adherence to his socialist principles, helped save him from indolence and despair during the miserable years of internal exile and imprisonment. Almost immediately after his arrest he started asking for books and communicating his

plans. In his very

first letter from prison-which the police

and so never

reached its destination- he requested his landlady to send him three books :

r . the German Grammar which was in the bookshelf next to the entryway;

2. the Breviario di linguistica [Handbook of Linguistics] by Bertoni and Bartoli which was in the cabinet in front of the bed; 3 . I would be most grateful if you would send me an inexpensive copy of the Divine Comedy because I have loaned my copy.

(LC, 3 )

On 9 December 1926, two days after his arrival on the island of Ustica, he wrote his first letter to Tatiana Schucht describing his experiences and travels as a prisoner and announcing his plans: "r.

to stay well in order to be always in good health; 2. to study German and Russian systematically and regularly; 3· to study eco nomics and history. " He had been reading mostly illustrated magazines and sports papers but he had also started to "set up a library"

for himself ; and so, besides some personal necessities, he asked her to send him books.

Send me soon, if you can, the German grammar and a Russian grammar, the small Ger.-Ital. and Ital.-Ger. dictionary, and some books (Max und Moritz-and the history of Ital. literature by Vossler, if you can find it among the books). Send me that large volume of articles and studies on the Italian Risorgimento which, I believe, is entitled Storia politica del secolo XIX [Political History of the Nineteenth Century], and a book by R. Ciasca called La formazione del programma dell'unita nazionale [The Development of the Plan for National Unity] or something like that. (LC, 11-12)

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Further, a couple of days after writing to his sister-in-law, Gramsci once again voiced his need for reading material, this time in a brief letter to Piero Sraffa: "I would like to have a good treatise on economics and finance to study: a basic book which you may choose using your judgment. When you can, send me some books and journals of general culture which you think would interest me"

(LC, I 5 ). Similar requests for books and journal subscriptions abound throughout the letters from prison.

Apart from a seemingly insatiable appetite for reading material, Gramsci's letters also reveal that from the start he intended to read purposively and coherently. He sought to achieve this by drawing plans and programs of study for himself, and in most cases his book requests were closely related to these plans. His first letter to Tatiana Schucht is a good example: he informs her of his decision to study German and Russian as well as economics and history, and a few lines later he asks for grammar books, a dictionary, and two volumes on nineteenth-century history. For books in economics and finance he turned to Sraffa. Behind Gramsci's efforts to acquire books there lay an anxiety deeper than the immediate urge to ward off boredom. He confessed to Sraffa: "Believe me, I would not have dared bother you with this [request for books] were I not driven by the need to solve this problem of intellectual degradation which is a special concern of mine"(LC, I 5 ). Initially, Gramsci devised his study plans, at least partly, out of a sense of selfdiscipline, to guard against the wastefulness of aimless reading and to prevent his intellect from falling into desuetude. However, even though he may not have been fully conscious of it at the time, he was already preparing the ground for that wide-ranging inquiry which yielded the prison notebooks. In fact, going through the notebooks one encounters all the topics (together with many others) adumbrated in these first letters from prison. Dante, linguistics, history, the Risorgimento, Italian literature- each one of them receives extensive treatment. Questions of economics and finance (which many commentators erroneously assume Gramsci ignored) occupy a substantial place in the notebooks, most visibly in Notebook 2 but elsewhere as well. Whole notebooks are given over to translation exercises.

Gramsci's voluminous reading became more focused and purposeful as he modified and refined his study and research plans, enlarging the ground he wished to cover and articulating elaborate

Introduction

9

designs for systematically addressing the issues that most concerned him. While still in Milan awaiting trial, and more than two years before his work on the notebooks began in earnest, Gramsci wrote a letter to Tatiana Schucht, which has since become famous because in it he announced his desire to produce something "fiir ewig" (i.e. "for eternity"). The phrase "fiir ewig" appears three times in the letter of r 9 March r 92 7 wherein Gramsci tells his sister in law that in response to the monotony of prison life he needed to undertake a project of such weight and magnitude that it would provide a stable focus to his life. Gramsci is here thinking of embarking on a relatively well-defined, multifaceted intellectual project that would function as the mental armour with which to counter the dispiriting regimen of incarceration. He justifiably feared mental collapse since, by this time, he had good reason to believe that he would be receiving a long prison sentence. By setting down his study plans, Gramsci was preparing his defensive strategy against the psychological siege which he fully expected the Fascist judicial and penal system to lay on him :

My life goes on with the same unrelieved monotony. Even studying is much more difficult than it might seem. I received some books and I really read a great deal (more than a book a day besides the newspapers); but this is not what I'm talking about, I mean something else. I am haunted by this idea (a common phenomenon among prisoners, I believe) : one must produce something "f iir ewig" in the sense of a complex notion of Goethe's which, I recall, greatly tormented the Italian [poet] Pascali. In short, I should like, by way of a pre-established plan, to occupy myself intensely and systematically with some subject that would absorb me and provide a center for my inner life. (LC, 5 8 )

Gramsci then proceeds to sketch four projects into which he resolved, at least provisionally, to channel his energies : (a) "a research project on the formation of the public spirit in Italy during the last century; that is, research on Italian intellectuals, their origins, their groupings in relation to cultural currents, their various modes of thinking, etc. "; (b) "a study of comparative linguistics"; (c) "a sudy of Pirandello's plays and the transformation of theatrical taste in Italy which Pirandello represented and helped bring about"; (d) "an essay on serialized fiction and popular taste in literature" (LC, 5 8- 5 9 ). These four lines of inquiry were held

10

Introduction

together, in Gramsci's mind, by an overarching theme or common motif, namely, the "creative spirit of the people in its various phases and stages of development. " Gramsci had long been interested in these subjects. The study of nineteenth-century history and linguistics had already been part of his original study plan announced in the earlier letter from Ustica. Gramsci had also written extensively on many facets of these topics before his arrest, but he had never had the time or the opportunity to treat them systematically, much less exhaustively. Immersion in political activity had compelled him to abandon the study of linguistics at the University of Turin; the relatively brief theater column which he wrote hastily against constraining deadlines for A van ti! was an inadequate vehicle for expounding his views on Pirandello; his arrest truncated the sustained exposition of his theories on the function of Italian intellectuals started in the draft of an essay on the "Southern Question. " Now he was proposing to pick up the threads of his unfinished work, as it were; only, this time his treatment and approach would be different because he would be working from the vantage point of the fiir ewig.

Although he culled the phrase "fiir ewig" from Goethe, there can be little doubt that Gramsci conceived of his project in terms which bear only an ironic resemblance to Goethe's. Gramsci had no intention of producing an aesthetic monument that would serve as both a legacy and a memorial; rather, he envisaged studying and writing in a thorough and sustained manner on topics of special intertest to him. Since it was not possible for him to address any audience, since he could not be directly engaged in polemic or in public exchange of any kind, and since he had no deadlines to meet and no particular political activity to which he could directly con tribute- since, in other words, he was totally cut off from the immediate requirements and obligations of political, social, and cultural struggle, Gramsci channeled his energies into the rigors and discipline of scholarly investigation. For this reason he uses the word "disinterested" in conjunction with the phrase "fiir ewig"

when explaining to Tatiana Schucht the nature of his proposed study on the intellectuals. "Do you remember that very hasty and superficial essay I wrote on southern Italy and the importance of B.

Croce ? Well, I would like to develop extensively the thesis I had sketched there, from a 'disinterested' point of view, fiir ewig. " He employs exactly the same vocabulary two sentences later when he

Introduction

I I

rhetorically asks Tatiana Schucht, apropos of his intention to study comparative linguistics, "What could be more 'disinterested' and fiir ewig than that ? " (LC, 5 8 ).

The word "disinterested, " which Gramsci both times encloses within quotation marks, has nothing to do in these instances with the notion of detachment normally associated with a posture of aesthetic distance, philosophical indifference, or positivistic objectivity. Gramsci's philosophy of praxis demanded a criticism full of passionate intensity, a criticism that takes sides- not only could he not have endorsed, much less adopted, the cultivation of

"Olympian serenity, " but he actually berated Croce for affecting it.

In order to be "disinterested" in the common sense of the term, Gramsci would have had to conduct his studies in an apolitical key; this he could never do. What he could do, though, was conduct his research and writing on the topics that concerned him in a broader context and over a more expansive terrain than he could previously afford to do when writing for the papers and journals of a fractious Socialist Party and, later, an embattled Communist Party while simultaneously combatting fascism on a number of fronts. For instance, when he wrote about the Italian intellectuals in "Some Aspects of the Southern Question, " Gramsci was intervening in a very specific debate about the relationship of his Party to the peasants and he was also arguing for the forging of a political alliance between the peasants and the proletariat. His analysis of the function of the intellectuals in that essay, then, is framed by other issues. Once he found himself exiled from the political arena, Gramsci wanted to pursue the same topic on a much larger scale, unconstrained by the tactical needs of the moment-hence the plans to examine the role played by the intellectuals in Italian history, their contribution to the formation of social groups and classes, their solidarity with each other, their function in sustaining the existing hegemony, their various types, and their changing status in an industrialized society. An inquiry of these dimensions requires a very broad perspective, a virtually limitless investigative range, a special vantage point -in these respects, then, a "disinter ested" point of view.

Around the same time that he announced his long range plans, Gramsci reassured his younger sister, Teresina: "I view everything with a cold eye and with tranquillity and although I do not entertain any childish illusions, I am firmly convinced that I am not

I 2

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destined to rot in jail" jLC, 66). The same tone of quiet defiance emerges in many other letters, such as when he tells Julia that "I have convinced myself that I will never become a complete philistine" (LC, 1 8 1 ). Gramsci was living up to the motto he had adopted

&om Romain Rolland and used on the masthead of L'Ordine Nuovo, the review he helped found: "Pessimism of the intelligence, optimism of the will. " Through a dispassionate assessment of his situation he dismissed all false hopes for a quick release, but by dint of willpower he convinced himself that he would not be re duced to a futile existence. In this connection it is appropriate to recall an observation he entered in Notebook 9 ( § 1 30) some time in 193 2 :

Optimism and pessimism. I t should b e noted that very often optimism is nothing more than a defense of one's laziness, one's irresponsibility, the will to do nothing. It is also a form of fatalism and mechanicism. One relies on factors extraneous to one's will and activity, exalts them, and appears to bum with sacred enthusiasm.

And enthusiasm is nothing more than the external adoration of fetishes. A reaction [is) necessary which must have the intelligence for its point of departure. The only justifiable enthusiasm is that which accompanies the intelligent will, intelligent activity, the inventive richness of concrete initiatives which change existing reality.

Gramsci's study plans, one might say, were the "concrete initiative" of his "intelligent will" and inventiveness; but before he could implement them he needed to surmount many obstacles which he eventually did through the most dogged perseverance.

In order to start working on his project, Gramsci first had to solve a very practical problem: how to put his ideas on paper. He had to obtain a pen, ink, and paper along with permission to write in his ceiL Accordingly, he submitted a formal petition in March 192 7 but was turned down in spite of a favorable recommendation by the examining magistrate. Gramsci reported the disappointing outcome to his sister in-law about a month later.

I thought I could obtain the permanent use of a pen and I planned to write the works which I had mentioned to you. However, I did not obtain permission and I'm loath to insist. Therefore, I write only during the two and a half or three hours set aside for dashing off one's weekly correspondence (two letters); naturally, I cannot take

Introduction

1 3

notes which means that in reality I cannot study in an orderly and fruitful manner. I read listlessly. (LC, ? I )

Gramsci dropped the matter for a while; he had many other preoccupations, among them his upcoming trial, the well being of his distant family, and his inner struggle to adjust to prison life. He tried to reassure his loved ones and his friends that he was coping reasonably well with his situation, that he had no regrets about his predicament, that they had no cause to be alarmed about his condition, that he had attained a certain measure of equanimity. To his brother Carlo he wrote: "My moral state is excellent. There are those who think I'm a devil and those who almost think I'm a saint. I have no desire to play either the martyr or the hero. I simply consider myself an average man who possesses deep convictions which he would not trade for anything in the world" ILC, 1 26 ) .

One o f the letters t o his wife, i n which h e explained how through the spirit of irony he was learning to gain control over his surroundings, contains a striking comparison of the prison cell with an aquarium. Through irony and intellectual curiosity, even life in the aquarium could be interesting, Gramsci maintained. "You should not think . . . that my life goes on as monotonously and uniformly as might appear at first sight. Once one gets used to living in an aquarium and adapts one's senses to receive the dim and crepuscu lar impressions that flow by (while always maintaining a somewhat ironic perspective), a whole world begins to swarm around, a world with its own brightness, its own peculiar laws, and its own fundamental course"ILC, I 82 ) . In other letters he referred to his keen powers of observation and his ability to detect interesting elements in the most unexceptional things- these qualities, he pointed out, kept his mind engaged. "I possess the quite fortunate capacity to find something interesting even in the lowliest of intel lectual productions, such as serial novels, for example" ILC, I I I ), he wrote to his friend and fellow communist Giuseppe Berti. In similar vein, he told his mother, "I am always curious like a ferret, and I value even small things" (LC, 1 84).

In spite of his conscious effort to adapt himself to the deprivations of prison life, Gramsci continued to bemoan his inability to embark on a systematic course of study. He persevered in his study of German and Russian while complaining, as he did to Julia, that

"contrary to what I always believed, in prison one studies poorly

I4

Introduction

for many reasons, technical and psychological" (LC, 8 8 ) . If only he were allowed to write, he lamented to Berti, he could fill "hundreds and thousands of index-cards" (LC, I I I ) with observations and reflections prompted by his otherwise disorderly reading. At the same time, however, one notices from the prison letters that Gramsci's thinking and reading were not as scattered and haphazard as he made them seem. If one were to take a close look at the books and journals he was requesting, for example, one would notice certain patterns -patterns which stand out clearly when placed in the context of his plans for and actual composition of the notebooks. He scoured the newspapers and periodicals which came his way for information about new books that touched on topics germane to his interests, and also clipped articles from them for future reference. Already, he was compiling materials that would eventually be incorporated into the notebooks. Furthermore, many of the comments, observations, and ideas sketchily expressed in the prison letters prior to I 929 foreshadow several of the major themes which receive elaborate treatment in the notebooks. So, while he was venting his exasperation at the fact that, because of the ban on writing, "I am not doing any work" (LC, I I I ) and "I can read but cannot study" (LC, 1 7 6 ), in reality Gramsci kept his intellect hard at work through whatever limited sources of stimulation he had available. The way he managed to do so is fully revealed in one of his most fascinating letters.

In the spring of I 929 Gramsci received a couple of notes from Malvina Sanna whose husband was serving a long prison sentence for anti-Fascist activity. She wanted Gramsci to tell her what books she should obtain for her husband so that he could occupy his time in prison with serious study. Since the restrictions imposed on his correpondence prohibited him from responding directly, Gramsci composed a careful message for her in a letter to Tatiana Schucht on 22 April 1 929-a message which he asked his sister-in-law to transcribe and send on to Malvina Sanna, and which he obviously intended for the latter to pass on to her husband. Gramsci's message deserves to be quoted in its entirety not just because it is a succinct, illuminating manual on how to study in prison, or because it is a so�rce of interesting biographical information about the devices employed by Gramsci in his struggle against intellec tual paralysis, but also- and especially- because it offers valuable insights into how Gramsci worked, how he interrogated texts,

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I S

interpreted them, and used them in his singular examination of culture and in his novel account of social political history. This letter allows one to witness first-hand, as it were, the processes of reflection and analysis which generated many of the entries in the notebooks; entries which have for their point of departure some ordinary book, commonplace article, passing observation, fortuitous remark, casual observation, or incidental detail. For even though, in this letter, Gramsci is describing his mode of study before he was allowed to write in his cell, it is a mode he never abandoned: he never ceased to scrutinize texts with the thorough ness and, simultaneously, with the open-mindedness which, in this instance, he prescribes for his comrade, Antonio Sanna: Today I will reply to a question which I was not asked directly but implicitly and which I understand to be of general concern to whomever is imprisoned: "How does one avoid wasting time in prison and somehow manage to go on studying? " It seems to me that, first of all, one must get rid of the "scholastic mentality" and banish any thought of pursuing a regular and in-depth course of study- this is out of the question even in the best of circumstances. Modem languages are certainly the most rewarding things to study: all one needs is a grammar which can be obtained for a few cents at a used book stall, and some book (maybe a used one too) in the chosen language. This does not allow one to learn the correct pronunciation, it is true, but one learns how to read and this is certainly an important achievement. Furthermore, many prisoners underestimate the prison library. To be sure, prison libraries are for the most part disjointed; the books have been put together haphazardly out of gifts by patrons who receive remainders from publishers, and volumes left behind by released prisoners. There is an abundance of devotional books and third-rate novels. Nonetheless, I believe that a political prisoner must extract blood from a stone. It is all a matter of investing one's reading with a purpose, and of knowing how to take notes (if one has permission to write). I will give you two examples. In Milan I read a certain number of books of all kinds, especially popular novels, until the warden allowed me to go to the library myself and to choose from among the books which had not yet been put in circulation or which, because of some particular political or moral bias, were not made available to everybody. Well, I found that even Sue, Montepin, Ponson du Terrail, etc. were sufficiently interesting if read from the following viewpoint: "Why is this always the most read and most published literature? What needs

1 6

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does it satisfy ? What aspirations does it respond to? What sentiments and views are represented in these awful books that have such broad appeal? " Why is Eugene Sue different from Montepin? And does not Victor Hugo also belong to this group of writers by virtue of the topics he deals with ? And aren't Daria Niccodemi's Scampolo

[Remnant], Aigrette [Egret], or Volata [A Flight] also direct descendants of this late romanticism of 1 848 ?, etc., etc., etc. The second example is the following. A German historian, Groethuysen, has recently published a large volume in which he studies the links between French Catholicism and the bourgeoisie during the two centuries before 1 789. He has examined all the devotional literature of those two centuries: collections of sermons, catechisms from the different dioceses, etc., etc., and has put together a magnificent volume. It seems to me that this is enough to show that one can extract blood even from stones, if there were any stones. Every book, especially if it deals with history, can be worth reading. In every awful book one can find something useful . . . especially when one is in our condition where time cannot be measured with the usual yardstick. (LC, 269-7 1 ) Frustrated and irritated though he was by his inability to write, Gramsci spent his days of confinement on the island of Ustica and in the prison cells of Rome and Milan extracting blood from what ever stones happened to be available to him. Much of what he

"extracted" can be detected not only in his letters but also in his notebooks where the results of his early inquiries (including those he mentioned in his message to Malvina Sanna) are recorded and, in most cases, amplified. For this reason, Gramsci's early prison letters constitute a fundamentally important preamble to his note books, while the later letters are a virtually indispensable compan ion volume to the same notebooks.

After his trial in Rome, Gramsci was sent to a special prison for prisoners in ill health at Turi di Bari where he arrived on 1 9 July 1 928. With the words of the prosecutor still fresh in his memory

"We must prevent this brain from functioning for twenty years"he almost immediately started taking steps to establish for himself the conditions and to acquire the wherewithal that would enable him to defy the Fascist regime's stratagems to render him politically ineffectual. Gramsci and the prosecutor at his trial under stood one another very well; they both appreciated, each in his own fashion, the extreme political efficacy of intellectual labor.

Introduction

1 7

The prosecutor knew enough about Gramsci to realize that i t was in the capacity of an intellectual that the leader of the Italian Communist Party posed the greatest threat to Mussolini's stranglehold over the nation. In other words, the prosecutor was sensitive to the view which Gramsci had campaigned so strenuously to inculcate among his comrades, namely that militant oppositional politics entail much more than straightforward, frontal confrontation with the institutions of established power. By putting Gramsci behind bars, the state judiciary system could deprive the PCd'I of one of its most formidable leaders and strategists; but the prosecutor implied that it could not eliminate him entirely as an oppositional force unless it succeeded in also paralyzing his intelligence.

Gramsci, for his part, knew that he could deny the Fascist regime a total victory over him if he practiced what he had always preached, that is, if he persevered in the painstaking intellectual work which he believed to be an important preparation and basis for effective political action. Gramsci's anxiety to set down an agenda which would direct his studies in prison was fueled by something else besides the genuine need to fill a psychological void. He was impelled by his commitment to the costly cause he had embraced to continue his political activity in the only way that remained open to him- by deepening his understanding of the society he had been fighting to change, by clarifying his views on the theories of Marx and on the Marxist tradition, by analyzing the complex and frequently hidden mechanisms of power, by reflecting on the charac ter of his own political party, by formulating possible strategies for future action, and so on. In his letters Gramsci had to refrain from openly declaring the political nature and inspiration of his studies; he couched his goals and motivations in psychological terms which would not alarm the prison censor. To anyone familiar with Gramsci's earlier writings, however, it is evident that his scholarly designs signaled his intention to carry on with his political work under the eyes of his jailers. For surely it is no coincidence that most of the themes and issues Gramsci chose to concentrate on in his prison studies bear a close affinity to topics he had broached in his journalistic articles. Those early writings, which constitute, as it were, the pre-history of the prison notebooks, convey unmistakably Gramsci's conviction that intellectual activity is itself a form of political praxis.

1 8

In troduction

From his earliest articles to the essay he was drafting on the eve of his arrest, Gramsci consistently and repeatedly drew attention to the overwhelming importance of intense intellectual activity for the socialist struggle against oppression. In an article entitled "So cialismo e cultura" ( Socialism and Culture) published in II Grido del Popolo, 29 January r 9 r 6, the twenty-five year old Gramsci took a socialist trade union leader to task for extolling the proletariat as a class "of calloused hands and a brain uncontaminated by culture and scholastic disease. " d Without culture, Gramsci retorted, the exploited classes can never hope to arrive at an understanding of their role in history, or of their rights and their duties. He went on to explain that the impulse for freedom and social change stems from a process of "intelligent reflection, " which is why "every revolution has been preceded by an intense labor of criticism, of cultural penetration, of the spreading of ideas . . . " ( CT, 10 1). By the end of the following year Gramsci was vigorously urging the Socialist Party to establish in Turin a proletarian cultural association, one of many initiatives proposed by Gramsci throughout his political career to engage his comrades in "the organization of culture, " as he frequently called it, and to foster the political edu cation of workers. The idea roused considerable opposition and failed to take hold, but the polemic which ensued provided Gramsci with an opportunity to further expound his views on the ineluc table relation of socialism (and, indeed, of all politics) to culture.

One of the most typical objections to Gramsci's plan was put forward by a trade union official who, writing under the nom de plume "L'umilissimo" (The Most Humble), maintained that so cialists and workers are under no obligation to become cultured persons - they could acquire culture if they were so inclined, but they should be left to do it on their own by taking advantage of the means already available to everyone with similar propensities.

Gramsci responded with an article, "Filantropia, buona volonta e organizzazione" (Philanthropy, Good Will and Organization), in the Turin edition of A van ti!, 24 December I 9 I ? . Culture, he as-d Antonio Gramsci, Cronache torinesi: 1913 1917, ed. Sergio Caprioglio !Turin: Einaudi, 1 980}, p. 1 03 note I; hereafter cited as CT. References to other texts by Gramsci predating his imprison ment are provided in my text as follows: La CittiJ futura: 1917 1918, ed. S. Caprioglio !Turin: Einaudi, 1 982.}, cited as CF; and La costruzione del Partito communista: 1923-1926 jTurin: Einaudi, 1 97 1 }, cited as CP. Gramsci's essay, "Aicuni temi della questione meridionale" !Some Aspects of the Southern Question} is collected in CP, pp. 1 3 7 5 8 for an English translation see Antonio Gramsci, Selections from Political Writings: 192 1 1926, ed. Quintin Hoare jNew York : International Publish ers, 1 978}, pp. 44 1 -46 2.

Introduction

1 9

serted, is not something a socialist may choose to acquire or to ignore; it is not a mere appendage to economic and industrial struggles. His adversary, Gramsci argued, held a false concept of culture, he falsely thought that culture meant "knowing a little something about everything, " whereas "I have a Socratic concept of culture: I believe it to be good thinking, whatever one thinks about, and therefore it is to perform well, whatever one does. "

Furthermore, "culture is a fundamental concept of socialism because it integrates and concretizes the vague concept of freedom of thought. " It is incumbent upon socialists to put as much energy into cultural organization as they do in organizing all their other practical activities. The element of organization, according to Gramsci, gives the socialist approach to culture its distinctive character, differentiating it from the bourgeoisie's : The bourgeois have philanthropically come up with the idea of providing popular universities for the proletariat. We contrast philanthropy with solidarity and organization. We supply the means which good will requires if it is not to remain sterile and fruitless. One should not attach importance to lectures but rather to the detailed work of discussion and the investigation of problems, in which everybody participates, everybody contributes, and in which everybody is simultaneously teacher and student. ( CF, 5 1 9 ) Gramsci was also largely responsible for making the emphasis on culture and education one of the salient characteristics of the

"Ordine Nuovo" (New Order) group- so-called after the name of the periodical the group launched on 1 May 1 9 1 9 . L 'Ordine Nuovo styled itself as a "weekly review of socialist culture" and its front page carried the slogan: "Educate yourselves because we will need all your intelligence. Rouse yourselves because we will need all your enthusiasm. Organize yourselves because we will need all your strength. " As Martin Clark observes in his study of Gramsci's pre prison political career: L 'Ordine Nuovo "could be attackedand was attacked- as a dilettante journal run by caf e intellectuals, young men with academic minds, good at journalism but with no experience whatsoever of industry or administration. " e Such attacks, however, hardly daunted Gramsci. Through his intense par ticipation in the factory council movement he developed close

• Martin Clark, Gramsci and the Revolution that Failed !New Haven: Yale University Press, 1 977 ), p. 5 4·

20

Introduction

contacts with workers and gained valuable experience in the field of industrial labor. His adminsitrative skills were honed over the years as he served the Italian Communist Party in various official capacities before he was chosen to be its leader. At all times, in different forums (newspaper articles, Party meetings, speeches, reports, etc.), and in a variety of ways Gramsci continued to promote education, cultural preparation, critical analysis, and theoretical elaboration not only among his comrades but also among all workers and everyone else sympathetic to their cause.

In 1 92 5 , when violent Fascist persecution had reduced the PCd'I to a virtually clandestine organization, Gramsci, who by then was the Party's general secretary, set up a "Party School" with the aim of disseminating the study of Marxist theory by means of correspondence courses. He explained the purposes of the "Party School, "

as well as the type of study expected of a Communist Party member, in an article which appeared in L 'Ordine Nuovo on r April 1 9 2 5 . As always, he took pains to distinguish his views from bourgeois notions about education. "Obj ective study" and "disinterested culture, " which are inculcated by "humanistic, bourgeois"

schooling, should have no place among militant workers, Gramsci insisted; rather, workers must take their studies seriously in order to raise their theoretical consciousness and thus acquire the necessary weapon for confronting the enemy effectively. Since the Com munist movement is geared toward struggle, "in our ranks one studies in order to improve, to sharpen the fighting ability of indi vidual members and of the organization as a whole, to better understand the positions of our enemy as well as our own so that we are better able to adapt our day-to-day action to these positions. Study and culture, for us, are nothing other than theoretical knowledge of our immediate and ultimate goals, and of the manner in which we can succeed to translate them into deeds" ( CP, 49- 5 0). The

"Party School" lasted long enough for two batches of study materials to be mailed out, both of which included long introductory essays written by Gramsci. The venture collapsed because of the logistical impossibility of distributing the materials through the mail without attracting the attention of the security services and providing them with an easy method for tracking down dissidents.

As police repression and state-sanctioned terrorism took their toll on all the political parties opposed to Mussolini, dispersing their cadres and breeding among them a general sense of defeatism,

In troduction

2 1

Gramsci's writing focused increasingly on two principal topics : the social, political, economic, and cultural conditions in Italy which contributed to the emergence of fascism as a political force and enabled it to become firmly entrenched as a dictatorship; and the pressing need for the PCd'I to organize itself into an effective oppositional movement by producing intelligent and thorough crit ical analyses of fascism, by heightening the political consciousness of workers, by forging alliances with other exploited groups ( the peasants, in particular), and by strengthening Party unity through a coherent articulation of its theoretical position, its strategies, and its goals. In dealing with these topics Gramsci returned repeatedly to the question of the role of intellectuals in society-a question which, he seemed convinced, had to be investigated closely if one wished, first, to fully comprehend the character of fascism, the long history which led to its rise, and the complex factors which made it possible for it to remain in power; and, second, to arrive at a useful understanding of the qualities of leadership, the types of organizational structures, the level of political awareness, the forms of militant action, the modes of cultural intervention, and the kind of mass base which the PCd'l needed to develop before it could successfully combat fascism and realistically aspire to assume power.

The centrality of the question of the intellectuals in Gramsci's analysis of the Italian sociopolitical scene, in his discussion of Party strategy, and in his description of the present and future tasks of socialism is nowhere more evident than in the unfinished essay

"Some Aspects of the Southern Question, " which he drafted just before his arrest. It is an essay of enormous sweep which simultaneously opens up and links together issues of great magnitude and which is indicative of at least the general contours of Gramsci's views on the intricate network of relations that bind political and economic power with cultural authority to produce a social order sustained in large measure by the legitimacy conferred upon it by the manufacturers of consent, that is, by the intellectuals. "Some Aspects of the Southern Question" contains embryonically the most crucial elements of Gramsci's thought which he later devel oped in the prison writings and for which he is best known, most notably his theory on the role of intellectuals in society and his concept of hegemony (even though the term "hegemony, " as such, appears only once in the essay). Gramsci was fully aware of the importance of the insights he arrived at in his incomplete last

22

In troduction

essay; so much so that he described his "fii.r ewig" project to Tatiana Schucht as an extension and elaboration of what he had originally sketched in it. It is safe to say that "Some Aspects of the Southern Question, " apart from being an extremely valuable contribution to sociopolitical theory in its own right, is also a prolego menon to the prison notebooks. Still, a tremendous amount of detailed work and patient reflection needed to be carried out before the ideas first touched upon in the "Southern Question" essay could acquire the weight and the power of conviction of a major breakthrough. Gramsci knew this and for that reason he was very anxious to get back to work.

The Composition and Organization of the

Prison Notebooks

Within days of his arrival at Turi di Bari, physically exhausted by the miserably slow and debilitating journey from Rome, he began to enquire about what permissions he should obtain and from whom in order to have a cell to himself and to be able to write. He had yet to complete a month in his new prison when he wrote to his brother Carlo on 1 3 August 1 928, instructing him to "petition the appropriate ministry, in the name of my family (in mother's name and yours), to take steps so that I may be placed in a cell on my own . . . . In your request add that my past work as an intellectual makes the difficulty of studying and reading in a room full of sick people terribly hard on me; and ask that, since I'll be alone, I be permitted to have paper and ink so that I can devote myself to some work of a literary nature and to the study of languages" ILC, 2 2 1 -2 2 ) . Before long he was moved to a single cell. In his letters he continued to urge Carlo to attend to the business of obtaining for him the permission to write in his cell. Meanwhile, he was making arrangements to start gathering his scattered books and to have the journals to which he subscribed redirected to his new address in Turi. Finally, on 1 4 January 1 929 he informed Tatiana Schucht that

"soon I will also be able to have the means necessary for writing in my cell and thus my greatest yearning as a prisoner will have been satisfied" (LC, 248 ). In his next letter he told his sister in law to stop sending him books because "now that I will be able to write, I

Introduction

23

will make a study plan and I myself will ask you for the books I need. For the time being I do not need any"(LC, 2 5 1 ). Gramsci was about to fulfill the wish he had expressed since his earliest letters from prison: to start working and studying instead of just reading.

Gramsci outlined something resembling a study plan on the opening two pages of an ordinary exercise book. On the top of the first page he inscribed and underlined the title "First Notebook"

followed by the date of its inception, "8 February 1 9 2 9 . " The study plan consists of sixteen numbered items (the last one of which was probably added a little later) listed under the heading "Main Topics." It incorporates three out of the four areas of research Gramsci had outlined in his "fur ewig" letter of 1 9 March 1 9 27, namely the history of the intellectuals, comparative linguistics, and popular culture; absent from it is any reference to Pirandello's drama. Still, what Gramsci put down in this initial notebook entry was not so much a study plan as a series of themes or motifs around which to cluster his diverse interests and which would give some direction to his reading. All the topics listed on the opening pages are explored, some in greater depth than others, in the notebooks, with the exception of "8) Experiences of prison life. " (Gramsci's prison notebooks, as opposed to his letters, are almost totally devoid of what one would normally consider as autobiographical material. ) However, this list i s only minimally indicative of the kind of study Gramsci was about to embark on. Missing from it, for example, are a number of topics that occupy some of the most important pages of the notebooks - including the "First Notebook" itself- such as the philosophy of Benedetto Croce, Lorianism, the critique of Bukharin's positivistic sociology, Marxist philosophy, Machiavelli's politics, and so on. Nor does the list fully prepare the reader for the fragmentary character and the seemingly disjointed arrangement of many of the entries which follow it, or, conversely for the complex web of relationships which in the course of the notebooks is established among the diverse topics it enumerates and others introduced along the way. What this initial list makes obvious, instead, is Gramsci's special interest in history and culture, as well as the vastness of the terrain encompassed by his concept of culture. In this regard, the opening pages of the first notebook point to one of the most salient features of Gramsci's prison writings. They also draw attention in advance to certain topics to which Gramsci gave special attention and, at a later date, specifically dedicated entire

24

In troduction

notebooks, including the intellectuals (Notebook 1 2 ), popular lit erature (Notebook 2 1 ), Catholic Action (Notebook 20), folklore (Notebook 2 7 ), Americanism and Fordism (Notebook 22), journalism (Notebook 24), and grammar (Notebook 29).

The fact that the connections between Gramsci 's cultural interests and his politics are not immediately evident in the opening listing of "Main Topics" II say "immediately" because upon reflec tion one can see that the items devoted to popular culture, for example, reflect Gramsci's political orientation), indeed the notable absence of any overtly political topic from the whole list may strike one as odd. It is an oddity, however, which rather than perplex readers should remind them of the conditions under which Gramsci wrote. His jailers kept vigilant watch over everything he did and wrote. The prison seal and the warden's signature on the notebooks he filled during his years at Turi greeted Gramsci's eyes every time he prepared to set pen to paper. This did not inhibit him from studying and writing on whatever issues he deemed important, but he had to exercise caution. Thus, for example, he referred to Lenin as Ilyich and to Trotsky as Bronstein; in other instances he veiled his real intent by means of inventive circumlocutions and similar rhetorical strategies of disguise.

The day after he inaugurated his first notebook by entering in it the list of "Main Topics, " Gramsci wrote to Tatiana Schucht:

"Since I can now write in my cell, I will jot down the books that are useful to me and every so often send the list to the bookstore.

Now that I can keep a notebook, I want to read according to a plan and delve deeper into certain topics, and no longer 'devour' books .

. . . Do you realize ? I am actually writing in my cell. For the time being I am only doing translations to get back into practice; meanwhile I am putting my thoughts in order" (LC, 2 5 3 ). For several months Gramsci worked exclusively on translations from Russian and German texts for which he used different notebooks; he informed his wife, Julia, that this calmed his nerves and made him feel better. Meanwhile the pages following the list of "Main Topics" in the "First Notebook" remained blank. Gramsci, in no great rush to start writing, was still formulating in his mind a plan or a program that would focus his thoughts. On 2 5 March 1 929 he wrote to his sister-in-law: "I have decided to concentrate primarily and to take notes on the following topics : - r ) nineteenth-century Italian history with special attention to the formation and devel-

In troduction

opment of intellectual groups; 2 ) the theory of history and of historiography; 3 ) Americanism and Fordism" (LC, 264). The sixteen items which make up the list of "Main Topics" were now reduced to three, but Gramsci had not yet started writing his notes. Once he did start writing, some time in June 1 929, his intellectual horizons proved to be much too broad to be delimited even by his own ambitious pre conceived plans.

By May 1 9 3 0 Gramsci had filled all the pages of the "First Notebook" with one hundred and fifty-eight notes of varying length on a wide range of topics. The great majority of these notes deal with issues that acquire increasing resonance in the subsequent notebooks. In fact, fully two thirds of the entries in the "First Notebook" were eventually crossed out by Gramsci because he incorporated them (often in modified form) in later notebooks.

Several notes in this notebook stem from ideas and views which Gramsci had expounded in his earlier writings. The notes on Achille Loria are a case in point. Similarly, one encounters notes which bring to mind certain passages in "Some Aspects of the Southern Question." While they connect the prison notebooks with Gramsci's previous work, however, these kinds of notes do not look backward; rather, they cull information and insights gained in the past to open the ground for a new, more far reaching, and much broader inquiry into Italian culture, history, and sociopolitical configurations, and into the role played by the intellectuals in all those spheres. Its fragmentariness and heterogeneity notwithstanding, the "First Notebook" conveys the sense of an intellect teeming with ideas. In it one also finds the first stages of the process which led to the formulation of some of Gramsci's most important and best known concepts, such as hegemony and passive revolution.

By the time he completed the "First Notebook" Gramsci had become totally immersed in his studies; his work was proceeding at an astonishing pace.

As soon as, or just before, he ran out of pages in the first note book, Gramsci started working on three new notebooks more or less simultaneously. From this point onward Gramsci worked on several notebooks at once, often starting new ones before running out of space and while still continuing to make entries in the ones he was already using. Some notebooks were completely filled within a very short time while others contain notes written over a span of two years or more. Gramsci filled the one hundred and fifty-eight

In troduction

pages of Notebook 3 in the course of six months or less. When he completed it in October 1930 he was still writing in Notebooks 2

and 4 and would continue doing so for well over another year. That same month he also started Notebook 5 . Notebooks 6 and 7 (a substantial part of which was already occupied by Gramsci's own translation from German into Italian of selected texts by Karl Marx) were put into use during the following two months while notes were still being entered into Notebooks 2, 4, and 5 · The concurrent compilation of multiple notebooks, which ceased only when Gramsci abandoned his project altogether out of physical exhaustion, makes it extremely difficult to establish clearly the chronological sequence not just of the individual notes but even of the notebooks themselves. Arranging and reproducing the notes strictly according to their temporal order of composition is practi cally impossible. At the same time, however, one cannot simply ignore the temporal relationships among the notes and notebooks, for Gramsci's prison writings are the product and the record of a complicated process of reflection and elaboration which unfolded over a period of time. This open-ended process is important in itself. Gramsci's insights are not the result of a linear argument with an identifiable beginning, middle, and end; but neither are they isolated or isolable epiphanic moments. Gramsci's own fluctuating arrangement and rearrangement of the various elements which make up the notebooks constitutes an important aspect of his overall project; it is one of his principal modes of elaboration which lends depth to his insights and enriches his concepts. The manuscripts of the prison notebooks are, in many respects, a labyrinth. The orderly arrangement of the manuscripts for the purposes of publication naturally renders them- to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the principles of organization chosen-a little less confusing to the reader, but that is merely a superficial gain which might even prove to be a serious disadvantage if it induced the reader to glide over the intricacies of the labyrinth.

Gramsci's concurrent use of multiple notebooks is a reflection of the rapid evolution of his project, of the numerous ramifications and implications of the questions he set out to examine, and of the difficult material conditions under which he worked. The factors involved in the procedures he adopted were many and complicated.

His interests were broad and multifaceted, but the various aspects of his inquiry became increasingly interrelated as his work pro-

Introduction

27

gressed. His project as a whole and his general way of approaching it were not quite systematic, yet his reading, studying, and notetaking were governed by a sense of discipline and orderliness. Over a period of many months Gramsci spent a great amount of his time going over back issues of periodicals he had received and read in prison before he obtained permission to write in his cell. As he surveyed the stacks of periodicals he took notes on or from some of the articles, book reviews, anouncements and other items which he found interesting, or on which he wished to register a comment, or which he thought could be of use to him at some later date. He carried out the same operation with periodicals he received when already working on the notebooks. The notes generated by his reading of periodicals are to be found in several different notebooks and it is not always possible to determine why they are located in one place and not in another. In many instances, different notes, which have their source in a single issue of, say, Nuova An tologia, can be found in both Notebook 2 and Notebook 3, neither one of which is devoted specifically to a particular topic. There are several other similar overlaps of notes taken from other periodicals in different notebooks as well. It is possible that Gramsci was placing certain materials in certain notebooks for organizational reasons which are not readily decipherable externally. It could also be that at any given moment Gramsci was using whichever notebook was immediately available to him at the time. At the Turi prison Gramsci did not have access to all his notebooks at all times- they were kept together with his books in a storeroom and he was allowed to request only a limited number of them on each occasion.

Gramsci's collocation of materials in his various notebooks did not always conform to an obvious logic, but it was by no means haphazard. The general design in his mind was certainly complex, it lacked fixity, and its boundaries shifted constantly, especially in the early stages. However, at about the same time or very soon after he finished his first notebook Gramsci started thinking of setting aside certain notebooks or parts of notebooks for notes on specific subjects. So, while he entitled Notebook 2 "Miscellaneous"

and used it, as well as the untitled Notebook 3 (which unlike Notebook 2 bears a close resemblance to the "First Notebook"), for notes that touch upon a number of unrelated or loosely related topics, Gramsci started off Notebook 4 by dividing it in half with the clear intention of dedicating at least the latter section to notes

28

In troduction

that could be clustered together under a particular rubric. It is difficult to determine with absolute confidence the exact sequence of composition of every note in Notebook 4 and whether both its halves were started at the same time. What cannot be doubted is that in Notebook 4 the majority of pages are thematically organized, that from its inception the entire second part (arid perhaps the first fifteen or twenty pages, too) was reserved for a special purpose, and that Gramsci was deliberately choosing to assign certain notes to its pages rather than to the miscellaneous collection in the other notebooks available to him. Sometime in late April or early May 1 9 30, Gramsci wrote on top of the middle page of Notebook 4: "Notes on Philosophy. Materialism and Idealism, "

and underneath it, "First Series. " The pages that follow, through to the end of the notebook manuscript, are all related directly or indirectly to different interpretations of and approaches to Marxist theory. The individual notes are not closely tied to one another; they do not comprise a systematic exposition. However, they all get incorporated into later notebooks where they become part of more extensive treatments of philosophical, critical, and theoreti cal issues. The opening pages of Notebook 4 contain a series of notes on a single topic, too. Under the heading "Canto Ten of the Inferno, " Gramsci collected notes over a period of time on a question of textual interpretation which, as the letters from prison and the list of "Main Topics" in the first notebook testify, held a special interest for him. He made a virtually independent, selfcontained project out of his conviction-both well-founded and correct, as it turned out- that he could offer an original interpretation of Canto X of Dante's "Inferno, " and through it challenge an important feature of Crocean aesthetics. The space which, in the manuscript, separates the notes belonging to "Canto Ten of the Inferno" from the page headed "Notes on Philosophy. Materialism and Idealism. First Series" is filled by a miscellany of notes including some especially important long ones on intellectuals, educa tion, and Americanism and Fordism.

Philosophy and Marxist theory are not among the "Main Topics"

listed on the opening page of the "First Notebook" and yet from the earliest stages of the composition of the notebooks they emerge together as a field of special interest to Gramsci. To be sure, the early notebooks also contain an abundance of material germane to such topics as the intellectuals, popular culture, and ninteenth-

Introduction

29

century Italian history which Gramsci had explicitly declared that he planned to study well before he started writing. It is also the case that the notes on philosophy are connected in many ways to those that deal with other topics. For example, the extensive treatment of Croce in the philosophical notes cannot be totally dissociated from the discussions on the intellectuals and on Italian culture. Likewise, the theoretical critique of Bukharin's sociologism, also in the "Notes on Philosophy, " has many links with the sustained attack on postivism carried out elsewhere in the note books. Still, it is hardly of minor significance that Gramsci's first, albeit partial, effort to organize the notes thematically should con sist in setting aside blocks of pages wherein he could put together his fragmentary philosophical reflections on historical materialism.

The importance he attached to these reflections is further highlighted in Notebooks 7 and 8, substantial segments of which Grarnsci reserved once again for his "Notes on Philosophy. Materialism and Idealism"- "Second Series" and "Third Series" respectively.

Gramsci's decision to place the philosophical reflections together under a single general rubric was also necessitated by the scale his study had assumed in a remarkably short time, and by the multiplicity of directions in which his researches were leading him. He was trying to explore different avenues simultaneously while at the same time retaining control over his proliferous proj ect. The study of the question of the intellectuals, in particular, was causing him a great deal of trouble: on the one hand, the deeper he delved into the subject, the more aware he became of its multifarious ramifications and their crucial importance to almost every other aspect of his total study plan; on the other hand, he started to doubt whether, given the limitations of his situation, he would ever be able to explore the question with the thoroughness it demanded. While Gramsci never doubted the centrality of the study on the intellectuals to almost everything else he wanted to do, his letters reveal that for a time he oscillated between making plans for prosecuting the study in a more or less systematic, organized way, and despairing of ever being able to proceed much further with what he had already started. On I7 November 1930

he wrote to Tatiana Schucht :

I have settled on three or four main topics, one of which is the cosmopolitan role played by the Italian intellectuals up to the eigh-

30

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teenth century; this can be divided up into several sections: the Renaissance and Machiavelli, etc. If I had the chance to consult the necessary material, I believe that a really interesting and unprecedented book could be produced. I say a book when I only mean an introduction to a certain number of monographs, because the problem presents itself differently in different periods, and in my view one needs to go back to the time of the Roman Empire. (LC, 3 7 8 ) Eight months later ( 3 August I 9 3 I ) when his notes on the intellectuals, scattered in different notebooks, had become even more extensive and were leading to fascinating new considerations such as a theory of the state, Gramsci despondently confided to Tatiana Schucht:

It is safe to say that now I no longer have a real program of study and work; and naturally this was bound to happen. I had intended to reflect on a certain set of questions, but it was inevitable that at some point these reflections would lead to a phase of documentation, and thus to a phase of work and of elaboration for which great libraries are needed. This does not mean that I'm completely wasting my time, but I no longer have the great curiosity to proceed in any given general direction, at least for the time being. I want to give you an example. One of my greatest interests during the past few years has been to pinpoint certain characteristic features in the history of Italian intellectuals. This interest arose from the desire, on the one hand, to probe the concept of the state, and on the other, to understand certain aspects of the historical development of the Italian people. Even if narrowed to its essential limits, this inquiry still remains formidable. It is necessary to go back to the Roman Empire and to the first concentration of "cosmopolitan" ( "imperial") intellectuals it produced. Then one has to study the formation of the Christian-Papal organization of clerks which shaped the legacy of imperial intellectual cosmoplitanism into the form of a European caste, etc., etc. Only in this way, I believe, can one explain why it is not possible to speak of "national" Italian intellectuals before the eighteenth century, that, is before the first struggles between Church and State over jurisdiction. Until then the Italian intellectuals were cosmopolitan, they exercised a universalistic, a-national function (either for the Church or for the Empire) ; as technicians and specialists they helped organize other national states, they proffered "managing personnel" to all of Europe, they did not become concentrated as a national category, or as a specialized group of national classes.

-As you can see, this topic could lead to a whole series of essays,

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3 1

but that would require a complete scholarly project. -The same is true of my other studies. You must also remember that the habit of rigorous philological discipline acquired during my years at the university has imbued me, perhaps excessively, with methodological scruples. (LC, 4 5 9-60)

Apart from revealing the difficulties confronting Gramsci as he pursued his studies, these two letters shed light on some of the most important aspects of his work and contribute greatly to an understanding of the factors that helped shape the notebooks. In the first place, these letters provide a succinct account of Gram sci's general approach to the question of the intellectuals, and of its broad historical scope. Second, they enable one to see, even if only summarily, how closely many of the seemingly disparate notes in the first seven notebooks are in fact related to the projected study on the intellectuals -many of the notes on Machiavelli, the Renaissance and humanism, Church State relations, the effects of the enlightenment and the rise of nationalism, and so on are parts of the same huge mosaic. Third, they make explicit the connection Gramsci perceived between his concept of the state and his views on the function of intellectuals in society; out of this connection emanate most of Gramsci's innovative analyses of the nexus between political and civil society, and of hegemony. Fur thermore, they help clarify Gramsci's definition of intellectuals, their various categories, and their attributes. Above all, these let ters make obvious the privileged, even central position which the question of intellectuals in its manifold aspects occupies in the overall scheme of Gramsci's political-scholarly project. Finally, these two letters demonstrate what a daunting task Gramsci faced and why he sometimes despaired of ever being able to execute it.

In the second letter quoted above, Gramsci adduces two factors that led him to abandon his project, "at least for the time being. "

He could not make any more headway with his work before and unless he had access to the kinds of materials housed in major libraries and archives; and, in any case, his adherence to philological integrity forbade him from proceeding further without substantiating his views by documentary evidence. However, a third factor was involved : Gramsci was passing through an exceedingly difficult phase of psychological stress and physical exhaustion. The night after he composed the letter of 3 August 1 9 3 1 , he suffered an

3 2

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internal hemorrhage. His work rate, naturally, slowed down some what- although, "slowed down" must be understood in relative terms, especially when one considers that by the end of 1 9 3 1

Gramsci had all but completed seven notebooks and was well into Notebook 8. In reality, the thought of giving up the study on the intellectuals that constituted the core of virtually all his studies was little more than a momentary effect of his poor health. This is not to say that Gramsci was not deeply frustrated by the conditions that prevented him from seriously conducting the study that prom ised to open up for him such exciting historical and theoretical vistas; but rather that his resilience prevailed over the miserable circumstances of which he was captive. He confronted his difficulties in the same way he had done since the beginning of his incar ceration: he marshalled his intellectual resources and self disci pline in order to gather his thoughts and to plot a new strategy that would enable him to proceed with his work, "extracting blood from stones" all constrictions notwithstanding. The main elements of his new strategy are signaled in the two quoted letters : in the former letter he mentions the possibility of preparing "an intro duction to a certain number of monographs, " while in the latter he suggests that given the opportunity he would produce "a whole series of essays . " The kind of essays he had in mind is schematically laid out on the first page of Notebook 8 . Also on the same page Gramsci addresses the philological and methodological scru ples which he cited to Tatiana Schucht as an impediment to further progress in his studies.

Notebook 8 represents a highly significant moment, one might even say a turning point, in the general configuration of the prison notebooks. It seems that Gramsci originally intended to use this notebook for two separate blocks of thematically organized notes.

The final one third of its pages are devoted, as has been pointed out, to the third series of notes under the heading "Notes on Philosophy. Materialism and Idealism. " The first page of the notebook also carries a title : "Loose Notes and Jottings For a History of Italian Intellectuals. " Under the title, however, one does not encounter the symbol ( § ) with which Gramsci customarily marks the beginning of each note. Instead, the title is followed by a body of material which can only be described as a cryptic record of Gramsci's appraisal and reformulation of his project, at least as far as the study on the intellectuals is concerned. The first half of the open

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3 3

ing page consists of a series of affirmations about the nature of the notes, emphasizing their provisional character, their limitations, and the possibility that some of them may be erroneous. The notes, Gramsci writes, "may result in independent essays, but not in a comprehensive organic work." He also adds, however, that he has no intention to just put together a jumbled miscellany on the intellectuals or "an encyclopedic compilation aimed at filling all possible and imaginable 'lacunae. ' " This is the second time in the notebooks that Gramsci remarks at some length on the provisional character of his notes and on the possibility that they may contain errors. The first occurrence is a parenthetical comment at the end of a note on Bukharin's Historical Materialism in the midst of the first series of the "Notes on Philosophy" in Notebook 4 ( § I 6 ) :

"(Look over this argument carefully. I n general, remember that all these notes are provisional and written as they flow from the pen : they must be reviewed and checked in detail because they un doubtedly contain imprecisions, anachronisms, wrong approaches, etc. which do not imply wrongdoing because the notes have solely the function of quick memoranda. ) " What differentiates the opening paragraph of Notebook 8 from the earlier remark in Notebook 4, first of all, is its placement as a prefatory warning or cautionary statement about everything that is to follow it and, second, its description of the treatment of a specific topic- in this case the question of the intellectuals - as neither a hodgepodge miscellany nor a complete or unified work. A similar "warning" is also prominently displayed on the first page of Notebook I I-its wording is taken almost verbatim from the parenthetical comment in Note book 4; and, of course, it is no coincidence that the main body of Notebook I I comprises an arrangement and integration of a substantial portion of the materials originally drafted in the three series of "Notes on Philosophy." (Most of the remaining notes drafted in the three series are collected in Notebook Io.) In Notebook I I these notes appear under the general heading: "Notes for an Introduction and a Beginning to the Study of Philosophy and the Study of Culture. " Because of its collocation, however, the cautionary statement on the first page of Notebook I I is homologous to the opening paragraph of Notebook 8; and the effect as well as the motivation of both are quite different from those of the observation in Notebook 4 which has more the character of an aside. Besides, there are numerous instances throughout the note-

3 4

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books when Gramsci explicitly mentions the need to verify, review, and re-examine what he has written; but their function is different.

The emphatic declarations about the provisional character and incompleteness of the notes which introduce Notebooks 8 and r r strongly suggest that Gramsci was addressing a very specific anxiety of his. This anxiety stemmed from his decision to start organizing at least some of the notebooks along thematic lines. He wanted to give some order to his notes, to maintain some control over the proliferation of ideas and materials scattered through several notebooks. At the same time, though, he was genuinely concerned lest the thematically organized notebooks, by giving a semblance of order or coherence to their contents, be mistaken for accomplished or quasi complete works. It is certainly no accident that this preoccupation of Gramsci's should manifest itself so openly at the time when he was reconsidering his note-taking procedures, reappraising the overall shape, current status, and future direction of his inquiries, and when he was about to start organizing certain materials in some notebooks with special thematic designations. His philological scruples were undoubtedly the prime source of this preoccupation. However, he had also encountered the pitfalls of mishandling texts that were never intended for publication in his study of Marx, and this was probably another reason for his guardedness with regard to his own writings. ( On the other hand, it could well be the case that Gramsci's own experiences in compos ing the notebooks made him acutely aware of the problematic character of Marx's unpublished or posthumous texts. ) The first note in the opening series of the "Notes on Philosophy, " in fact, is about the importance of distinguishing those works that Marx published during his lifetime and those that were edited or assembled from his manuscripts and published after his death. In this note, which reappears in somewhat modified form in Notebook r6

(§2) as an entry entitled "Questions of Method, " Gramsci comments at some length on the rigorous procedures that must be employed when dealing with unpublished materials :

Moreover, among the works o f the same author, one must distinguish those which he completed and published from those which were not published because unfinished. The content of the latter must be treated with great discretion and caution: it must be re-

Introduction

3 5

garded as not definitive, at least in that given form; it must be regarded as material still in the process of elaboration, still provisional. (4, § r ) The introductory declarations about the provisional character of the notes on the first page of Notebook 8 are immediately followed by a long list of the "Principal Essays" which could come out of the notes on the intellectuals. The list consists of a broad range of topics, twenty in all, representing the manifold aspects of the question of the intellectuals as Gramsci had conceived and developed it up to that point. Certain items on the list correspond, though not always precisely, to several of the "Main Topics" enumerated in Notebook I i for example, "The development of Italian intellec tuals up to 1 8 7o, " "The popular literature of serial novels, " "Folk lore and common sense, " "Father Bresciani's progeny, " "The history of Catholic Action. " Other items in the list of "Principal Essays, " such as "Reformation and Renaissance, " "Machiavelli, "

"School and national education, " "B. Croce's position in Italian culture up to the World War, " "The Risorgimento and the Action Party, " "The medieval Commune : the economic-corporative phase of the State, " "Lorianism, " and so on, correspond to the titles or at least the main themes of many of the notes spread through the first seven notebooks. By preparing this list Gramsci was effectively deciding which of his myriad notes belonged to and could be gath ered into a notebook (or notebooks) devoted specifically to the general topic of the intellectuals. The catalogue of "Principal Es says" by no means encompasses all the subjects treated in the notes already composed by Gramsci, but it fully illustrates how wide ranging Gramsci's inquiry into the question of the intellectuals had become and, therefore, how important it was for him to take stock, as it were, of his work and to devise a way that would enable him to proceed with it.

At the end of the list of "Principal Essays, " on top of the second page of the notebook manuscript, Gramsci wrote: "Appendices : Americanism and Fordism. " He must have intended to add other topics related to but not directly a part of his study on the intellectuals. Another list, which in all probability was composed some what later than that of "Principal Essays, " is on the third page of the manuscript of Notebook 8. This list, headed "Groupings of Subjects, " is made up of ten items, all of them underlined:

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r . Intellectuals. Scholarly issues. ·

2. Machiavelli.

3 · Encyclopedic notions and cultural topics.

4· In troduction to the study of philosophy and critical notes on a Popular Manual of Sociology [i.e. Bukharin's Historical Materialism ].

5. History of Catholic Action. Catholic integralists-fesuits

-Modernists.

6. A miscellany of various scholarly notes (Past and Presen t).

7. The Italian Risorgimen to (in the sense of Omodeo's Eta del Risorgimento italiano [The Age of the Italian Risorgimentol but emphasizing the more strictly Italian motifs) .

8. Father Bresciani's progeny. Popular literature. (Notes on literature. )

9 · Lorianism.

r o. Notes on journalism .

As can be seen, several items in this list coincide with items listed among the "Main Topics" of Notebook r, or else appear just two pages earlier in the manuscript of Notebook 8 as part of the enumeration of "Principal Essays" on the intellectuals. It is not necessary to establish the precise relations among these different lists.

What transpires in the construction of this latest listing is an effort by Gramsci to outline another way for organizing his materials.

Interestingly, it is followed by a block of one hundred and sixtyfour pages of miscellaneous notes. For some reason Gramsci abandoned the idea of dedicating the first section of Notebook 8 to the

"Loose Notes and Jottings for a History of the Italian Intellectuals"

announced in the heading on top of the opening page of the notebook. This does not mean, however, that he did not follow through with the idea of establishing some order among his notes, or of devoting certain notebooks to specific themes. The reorganization of the materials in the notebooks was something he both wanted and needed to do in order to prevent his entire project from getting out of hand. He said as much to Tatiana Schucht in a letter dated 2 2 February 1 9 3 2 :

As for the brief notes I have written on the Italian intellectuals, I just don't know from where to start: they are scattered in a series of

Introduction

3 7

notebooks mixed with other various notes, and I should first gather them together to put them in order. This work weighs heavily on me because very frequently I get migraines which deprive me of the necessary concentration. Also from a practical point of view, the task is very difficult because of the conditions and the restrictions under which I must work. If you can, send me some notebooks, but not like the ones you sent me some time ago which are too large and unwieldy; you should choose notebooks of normal size like the ones used at school, with not too many pages-40-5 0 at the most-so that they do not turn into increasingly jumbled, hodgepodge miscellanies. I would like to have these small notebooks precisely for the purpose of rearranging these notes, dividing them by topic and thus systematizing them. This will make me pass the time and will help me personally to attain a certain intellectual order. (LC, 576) He proceeded accordingly.

Most o f the notebooks that follow Notebook 8, i n fact, have quite a distinctive physiognomy. Between the beginning of 1 9 3 2

and his departure from Turi toward the end of 1 9 3 3 , Gramsci started work on nine separate new notebooks while still entering notes in Notebook 8 and in some earlier notebooks as well. Four of these nine notebooks -Notebooks 9, 1 4, 1 5 , and 1 7-contain miscellaneous notes. However, Notebook 9 also contains a block of notes grouped under the heading "Notes on the Italian Risorgimento. " Notebook 1 7 is explicitly designated " 1 9 3 3 Miscellaneous, " whereas Notebook r s opens with the following statement :

"Notebook started in 1 9 3 3 and written without regard to the divisions of subjects and to the groupings of notes in special notebooks. " All the other notebooks initiated during Gramsci's final two years at Turi are, as Gramsci called them, "special notebooks"

- that is, each one of them is dedicated to a specific topic, as follows :

Notebook r o : "The Philosophy of Benedetto Croce. "

Notebook r r : "Introduction t o the Study of Philosophy. " The title is not inscribed on the notebook itself, but Gramsci referrred to this notebook explicitly by this title in Notebook ro (II, §6o).

Notebook 1 2 : "Notes and Loose Jottings For a Group of Essays on the History of the Intellectuals. "

Notebook 1 3 : "Brief Notes on the Politics of Machiavelli. "

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Notebook r 6 : "Cultural Topics. I." lit is very likely that most, if not all, of this notebook's contents were composed in 1 9 3 4, after Gramsci had moved to Formia. )

A good deal of the material contained in these notebooks is derived from earlier notes. In the process of elaboration and reorganization, however, Gramsci's work acquires additional depth, the general contours of his overall projects, though never stable, gain clearer definition, and the political as well as the theoretical significance of his scholarly method becomes increasingly evident.

While he was working on this first batch of special notebooks Gramsci's health deteriorated almost to the point of utter physical and nervous collapse. On 29 August 1 9 3 2 he confessed to Tatiana Schucht: "I have reached a point at which my powers of resistance are about to collapse completely, and I do not know what the consequences will be" ILC, 66 5 ). In the meantime various efforts were under way to obtain his release, but the Fascist authorities were not about to relent unless Gramsci himself conceded defeat and submitted a petition for clemency on his own behalf. No matter how dreadful his condition, Gramsci steadfastly refused to bend. On 7 March 1 9 3 3 he suffered a near total collapse. A doctor who visited him two weeks later declared that Gramsci's survival was at risk as long as he remained subject to the conditions at the Turi prison. The campaign for Gramsci's release was intensified, chiefly through initiatives undertaken by Sraffa and French leftist intellectuals. Gramsci himself asked to be transferred and, finally, was told that he could move to the Quisisana clinic in Formia. He left Turi in October and, after spending a few weeks in the infirmary of the Civitavecchia prison, arrived at Formia lstill a prisoner under constant police guard) in the first week of December 1 9 3 3 .

Within two months h e resumed his work on the notebooks.

During his time at Formia, Gramsci started the following twelve notebooks, all of them on topics he had previously enumerated in his various plans:

Notebook r 8 : "Niccolo Machiavelli. II. "

Notebook 1 9 : This notebook is not given a title by Gramsci but its first note starts thus : "Two sets of studies. One on the Age of the Risorgimento, and a second one on the previous history of the Italian peninsula. " Its contents deal almost exclusively with the Italian Risorgimento.

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3 9

Notebook 20: "Catholic Action - Catholic integralists -Jesuits -Modernists. "

Notebook 2 1 : "Problems of Italian National Culture. I: Pop ular Literature. "

Notebook 2 2 : "Americanism and Fordism. "

Notebook 2 3 : "Literary Criticism. "

Notebook 24: "Journalism."

Notebook 2 5 : "On the Margins of History. History of Subal tern Groups. "

Notebook 2 6 : "Cultural Topics. II. "

Notebook 2 7 : "Observations on 'Folklore . ' "

Notebook 2 8 : "Lorianism. "

Notebook 2 9 : "Notes for an Introduction to the Study of Grammar. "

All but one of this final group o f notebooks are constructed almost entirely from notes orginally drafted at Turi, but as with the pre vious special notebooks the textual additions, elaborations, and reconfigurations are highly significant. The one exception is Note book 29-its nine notes are completely original. Gramsci had in tended from the very first days following his arrest to attend to the study of language. He reiterated his intention in the list of

"Main Topics" but he never seemed to find the time to enter deeply into the subject. Finally, at Formia he returned to the study of one of his earliest intellectual passions - linguistics. Notebook 29 and all the other Formia notebooks are only partially used; many of them, in fact, contain just a few pages of notes. During the same period Gramsci was also still adding entries to notebooks he had started earlier; Notebook r 6 is the most obvious case since most (and maybe all) of it was composed while Gramsci was at Formia.

Although his living conditions in Formia were decidedly more comfortable than they had been at the Turi prison, Gramsci's health remained extremely precarious. In June 1 9 3 5 he suffered a very severe setback and not long afterward he transferred to the Cusumano clinic in Rome. Mter Formia Gramsci added nothing to his notebooks. The enormous project was abandoned-incomplete and fragmented; Gramsci had exhausted almost all his energies and could go no further. His brain did not stop functioning, as his prosecutor would have liked; but he had been brutally reduced to a

40

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physical wreck. Gramsci's final two years were not silent, how ever. The letters he wrote to his family during this period are extraordinarily poignant documents, bringing into sharp relief as pects of Gramsci's character which, naturally, are not readily visi ble in the notebooks, especially his affection for his children and his interest in their intellectual and moral development.

After Gramsci's death little was heard about him for quite a long while. The exiled leaders of the Italian Communist Party recognized the importance of the prison writings the moment they saw them after their consignment to Moscow. Still, there was little they could do as long as fascism maintained its grip over Italy or while war devastated Europe. Between 1 9 3 9 and 1 943 only a hand ful of brief articles appeared on Gramsci; one of them was written by Mario Montagnana and published in Lo Stato Operaio ( 1 942) which at that time was brought out in New York. Montagnana's short article contains the first public indication of the existence of Gramsci's prison notebooks.£ Once the PCd'I leaders returned to Italy and even before the end of the war, plans to publish Gramsci's prison writings proceeded quite rapidly, although much editorial work needed to be done. On 30 April r 944, the seventh anniversary of Gramsci's death, Palmira Togliatti, who was by then established as the leader of the PCd'l, provided the readers of L ' Unita with a general description of "Gramsci's literary legacy" and announced that preparations for the publication of the notebooks were well under way.g Two years later, in April 1 946, Felice Platone, the editor in charge of the first edition of Gramsci's manuscripts, gave a more detailed account of the prison notebooks in Rinascita, the periodical founded by Togliatti. Platone, like Togliatti, referred to the notebooks as Gramsci's literary legacy. The subtitle of Piatone's article alluded to an aspect of Gramsci's notes that later was to attract special attention - "Per una storia degli intelletuali italiani" (Toward a History of Italian Intellectuals).h The publication of the first book bearing Gramsci's authorship

- the first edition of the Lettere dal carcere ( Prison Letters) coincided with the tenth anniversary of his death. A year later, the 1 Mario Montagnana,"Gli scritti inediti di Antonio Gramsci, " Lo Stato Operaio, I1, 3 4 l 1 94l), pp.

So 82.

·

•An unsigned article by Palmira Togliatti, "L'eredita letteraria di Gramsci, " L'Unitii, 30 April 1 944·

h Felice Platone, "Relazione sui quademi del carcere I L'eredita letteraria di Gramsci . Per una storia degli intelletuali italiani), "Rinascita II1,4 I I 946), pp. 8 1 -90.

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4 1

first of six volumes that make up the original edition of the Quaderni del carcere was brought out. The final volume appeared in I 9 s I . For the original edition of the notebooks, the materials found in the manuscripts were grouped thematically along lines sug gested by Gramsci's own arrangement of the special notebooks.

The titles of the six volumes, in order of publication, were : "Historical Materialism and the Philosophy of Benedetto Croce" ( 1 948);

"The Intellectuals and the Organization of Culture" ( 1 949); "Notes on Machiavelli, Politics, and the Modern State" ( 1 949); "Literature and National Life" ( 1 9 5 0); "Past and Present" ( 1 9 5 1 ) . In preparing the prison writings for publication the original editorial team opted to use only the later versions of those notes which exist in two drafts in the manuscript. The chronological order of composition was largely ignored for the obvious reason that the primary crite rion of organization was thematic. Also, some notes were omitted.

These editorial decisions made Gramsci's prison writings much easier to read and rendered them accessible to nonspecialist read ers. However, from both a philological and a political standpoint the original editors left themselves open to attack. The accuracy of their methods was brought into question, as was their political motivation in omitting certain notes from the published version.

Many of those who attacked the way in which the Communist Party handled the first edition of the prison notebooks had their own political axes to grind. One of the most frequent charges leveled was that the materials in Gramsci's manuscripts were ma nipulated in such as a way as to make him appear more Leninist than he actually was. Of course, the critics were arguing blindly since at that time they did not have first hand knowledge of or direct access to the originals. As it turns out, however, the accusations that the Italian Communist Party concealed or deleted impor tant materials in preparing the edition of Gramsci's prison writings were grossly exaggerated and not particularly well founded. In any case, most of the politically motivated polemics and philological debates surrounding the text itself were finally brought to rest by the meticulous edition of the Quaderni del carcere prepared by Valentino Gerratana for the Gramsci Institute and published in 1 9 7 5 ·

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Gramsci's Method

The question that remains to be answered, political and philological controversies aside, is: What is to be gained by reading Gramsci's prison notebooks in an edition that reproduces as closely as possible the contents of the original manuscripts ? In the remaining part of this introductory essay I shall address this question. My purpose is to reveal the importance of attending carefully to the rhythms of Gramsci's thinking, to the chronological sequence of his notebook entries, to his procedures and methods of analysis and composition, to the shifts and turns that his project undergoes, to the details he introduces, to the minuscule as much as to the major revisions he makes, to his arrangement and rearrangement of materiais, and even to the fragmentariness itself of his whole effort. I will try to do this by focusing on the trajectory of a set of ideas which appear for the first time rather innocuously in a small cluster of seemingly unimportant notes very early in Notebook r .

Sometime between July and October 1 929, Gramsci entered the following remark among the miscellaneous ideas and materials he was recording and collecting in his first prison notebook:

§ Cuvier's little bone. An observation linked to the preceding note.

The Lombroso case. From the little bone of a mouse sometimes a sea serpent was reconstructed. ( 1 , §26)

Upon encountering this somewhat cryptic entry, the reader of the complete edition of the Prison Notebooks is likely to give it a quick glance and move on. For although it occurs quite early in the text- twenty-eight pages into the manuscript-several of the items which precede it in the same notebook are made up of one-liners, catalogs of names, brief asides or comments, a transcribed aphorism from Rivarol, and other assorted materials. The reader is, therefore, fully aware that a number of these disconnected fragments amount to little more than quick memoranda which might acquire significance later on in the text when they are elaborated upon, or become parts of more determinate contexts which would reveal how they "fit" within the overall design, structure, or development of Gramsci's project. Given the peculiar character of the prison notebooks, a reader, even an attentive reader, is not likely to feel especially compelled to account for the significance of every

Introduction

43

little fragment they contain; after all, one is not dealing here with a novel or a well wrought "scientific" exposition in which one presupposes that each element may be attributable to a more or less precise ordering intention. At the same time, however, readers come to the complete text of the notebooks, in all probability, with at least a general sense of the grand themes, the major motifs which are woven into them; they are, therefore, inclined to assign (even if only provisionally) each of these floating fragments a place within some capacious category, such as "hegemony, " "culture, "

"theory of intellectuals, " and so on.

However, the phrase "linked to the previous note" may induce one to pause for a moment since the "previous note, " in this case, contains a sketch of some of the more bizarre writings of Achille Loria. To be sure, the name of Achille Loria probably does not mean much or even anything at all to most contemporary readers; unless, perhaps, some of them happen to remember the virulent diatribes launched against him by Engels in the "Preface" and the

"Supplement" to the third volume of Capital. Still, a reader who already has some familiarity with Gramsci's work would know that one of the late notebooks is devoted to "Lorianism" which, like "Brescianism, " is a category invented by Gramsci as a device that enabled him to group certain types of Italian intellectuals together. So, even though neither Loria nor Lorianism is mentioned in the list of "Main Topics" inscribed on the opening page of the first notebook, one should have little difficulty spotting the link between the note entitled "Achille Loria" and two of the topics which are listed at the very start of the notebook; namely, "The formation of Italian intellectual groups : development, attitudes, "

and "Father Bresciani's progeny. " For just as "Brescianism" serves as a useful label for a group of literary intellectuals whose reactionary posturings, ideological confusion, nostalgia for a lost order, and populism made them latter-day versions of the repressively orthodox, extremely conservative Jesuit, popular historical novelist and polemicist, Antonio Bresciani, so "Lorianism" is made to stand for a cluster of intellectuals from the social sciences whose crude positivism, opportunism, perverse thinking, and careless scholarship are superbly (and hilariously, were it not for their widespread influence) exemplified in the work and career of the professor of economics Achille Loria. It can hardly be a mere coincidence that the "Achille Loria" note immediately follows the first in a series

44

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of notes on "Father Bresciani's progeny" which are scattered throughout the Prison Notebooks.

The main body of the note consists in a listing and a brief description of some publications that document Loria's penchant for crackpot theories. This is followed by some remarks about Benedetto Croce's comments on Loria. The note concludes with the observation that Loria should not be considered a unique, aber rant phenomenon and that the analysis of his idiosyncrasies could be fruitfully extended to include many other intellectuals : Loria is not a teratological individual case: he is the most complete and perfect exemplar of a series of representatives of a certain stratum of intellectuals from a certain period; in general, of those positivist intellectuals who deal with the question of workers and who believe, more or less, that they are deepening, correcting, or surpassing Marxism. [ . . . ] In general terms, then, Lorianism is a characteristic of a certain type of literary and scientific production in our country lit is amply documented in Croce's Critica, Prezzolini's Voce, in Salvemini's Unita l and is related to the poor organization of culture and, hence, to the absence of restraint and criticism. ( 1 ,

§2 5 )

The brief note on "Cuvier's little bone, " then, supplements the longer note on "Achille Loria" in two ways: it proposes the addition of Cesare Lombroso to the list of intellectuals to be treated under the rubric of "Lorianism, " and it suggests that the "scien tific" methods of "Lorians" resemble those of some misguided paleontologist whose misuse of empirical evidence leads to erroneous, even bizarre conclusions. Such a suggestion may be regarded as entirely in keeping with Gramsci's well known intense dislike for anything tinged with positivism. However, should one pause to ponder further on "Cuvier's little bone" and the notes which surround it, one would discover more than just a broadside at positivism and its intellectual exponents.

One can notice, even at this very early stage in the notebooks, that distinctions are being drawn between different types of Italian intellectuals. The Brescianists are j ournalists, novelists, essayists, critics; in short, literati of various kinds. The Lorians are, generally speaking, social scientists. Still, they differ for another and much more important reason. Fr. Bresciani's progeny are reactionaries whether they set themselves up as protectors of high culture or as

Introduction

4 S

exponents of a nationalistic and nostalgic populism. The Lorians, by contrast, regard themselves as progressive; many of them (including the founder of Italian socialism, Filippo Turati) actively espouse the socialist cause; they often presume to be building upon or ameliorating Marxist thought. As it turns out, of course, many of the figures associated with both Brescianism and Lorianism contributed to the intellectual, or better the cultural atmosphere which prepared the ground for and helped sustain fascism. Nevertheless, there remains a particular aspect of the Lorians that calls for separate and special analysis; an analysis that would reveal how, to what extent and with what consequences positivism or scientism came to infect leftist thought in general, and Marxism in particular. The note which directly follows "Cuvier's little bone"

confirms the preoccupation with this issue:

§ Residues of late roman ticism t The tendency of leftist sociology in Italy to concern itself with criminality. Linked to the fact that Lombroso and others who at the time seemed to be the supreme expression of science were part of this tendency? Or a residue of the late romanticism of 1 848 (Sue, etc. ) ? Or linked to the fact that, in Italy, these men were struck by the large number of bloody crimes and believed that they could not proceed further without first "scientifically" explaining this phenomenon ? ( r, §27) While it is evident that the notes on Brescianism and Lorianism all belong to the general topic of "The formation of Italian intellectual groups : development, attitudes, " it is also clear that already in the opening pages of the first notebook the term "intellectual groups" starts to acquire sharper focus and greater specificity. One notices that the three notes on "Achille Loria, " "Cuvier's little bone" and "Residues of late romanticism ? " form a small cluster distinguishable from the materials that precede and follow them.

(The next two notes are on "Natural law" and "Sarcasm as an expression of transition among the historicists." They are fol lowed, in turn, by two other notes dealing with Lorians. ) At the same time, within this cluster of notes itself one detects a move ment away from the specific to the more general. What starts as a documentation of some of Achille Loria's most bizarre theories leads to the coinage of the expression "Lorianism" to denote the activity or mentality of certain (putatively leftist or progressive) types of intellectuals; next, the work of these intellectuals is lik-

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ened to Cuvier's scientific method gone awry and, finally, the whole question of the relationship (and its history) between Italian leftist sociology and positivist science is opened up.

Having considered these fragments in some detail, the reader of the Prison Notebooks, presumably, would then proceed to see how the topics and issues sketched in the early pages of the notebooks are elaborated, woven with others that are raised and discussed in subsequent entries, and in many cases gathered and rearranged more or less systematically in the later, thematically organized

"special" notebooks. The three notes I have quoted above reappear, in fact, in somewhat modified form toward the end of the complete text of the Prison Notebooks -but not all three in the same notebook. Neither the changes made in the body of these notes, nor their new collocation may appear terribly significant at first sight.

Or, rather, they might seem to be of relatively minor importance to someone who simply jumps from the earlier to the later versions for the purposes of straightforward comparison. However, to the attentive reader of this enormous collection of fragments who has traversed the hundreds of pages separating the first from the final versions of these three notes, the differences between them have great resonance- not because some great resolution is achieved, not because things fall into place, but because the revised notes resonate with the multi directional, multi-perspectival complexity of the necessarily inconclusive project of which they are a small part.

The third note in the cluster I have been discussing retains its interrogative form (except for its title) when it reappears in Notebook 2 5 , toward the end of the Prison Notebooks:

§ Scien tism and the residues of late romanticism . One should examine the tendency of leftist sociology in Italy to concern itself with criminality. Is this linked to the fact that Lombroso and many of his most "brilliant" followers, who at the time seemed to be the supreme expression of science, were part of the leftist tendency and were influential with all their professional distortions and their specific problems ? Or does it have to do with a residue of the late romanticism of 1 848 (Sue and his lucubrations on romanticized criminal law)? Or is it linked to the fact that in Italy certain intellectual groups were struck by the large number of bloody crimes and believed that they could not proceed further without first explaining

"scientifically" (that is, naturalistically) this phenomenon of "barbarity"? ( 2 5 , §8 )

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47

The changes seem to be minimal - the note still addresses the same nexus of problems as before, namely the relationship between leftist sociology and scientific positivism as it manifests itself in the scholarly discourse of criminology. Yet, a shift of focus has occurred because the revised version of this note is now detached from the other two notes and placed within a new context in a thematically organized notebook entitled "On the Margins of History (History of Subaltern Social Groups). "

Actually, it is not quite correct to state that the relocation of the note on "Scientism and the residues of late romanticism" represents a shift of focus. What takes place, rather, is an extension and a thickening of the network of connections among the various issues raised in the multitudinous fragments packed inside the notebooks. For the note on scientism and late romanticism in its later as much as in its earlier formulation still invites an inquiry into the genealogy of an aspect of Italian leftist sociological discourse - an inquiry aimed not at determining the precise origin of this discourse but rather at historicizing it and at amplifying one's understanding of the formation of intellectual groups, their development and their attitudes; and such an inquiry must remain a necessary component of the study of the phenomenon of Lorianism

-not so much of its most bizarre aspects as of its amalgam of seemingly progressive or leftist politics and ahistorical scientific positivism. However, this inquiry does not limit itself to a study of discursive formations as such; it also deals with the impact which this discourse and the individuals empowered by it have had on the material political, social, and cultural history of Italy. Cesare Lombroso ( I 8 3 5 - I 909 ) is generally remembered for the improvement which his "scientific" research in criminology helped to bring about in the treatment of convicts. In the few instances when his name is mentioned in Gramsci's notes, however, he is associated with the influential school of social scientists (and their names are scattered throughout the notebooks, frequently in conjunction with Lorianism) whose positivist views and theories had a serious deleterious and regressive effect on Italian political culture: among other things, they gave "scientific" legitimacy and contributed to the perpetuation of the deterministic (and fatalistic) belief that certain individuals (criminals, for instance) as well as certain groups (in particular the Southerners) are "barbaric" or primitive by nature, that is, biologically. One important consequence of this kind

Introduction

of sociology is that it blocks the possibility of constructing an account of the history of repression- biology replaces the politics of power and domination as an explanation of the condition of the underprivileged. In other words, by attributing the nonconformity of the "criminal, " the refractoriness of the "Southerner, " the disturbing behavior of the "depraved" or "irrational" masses, to the biologically determined laws of ahistorical nature, the positivist school of sociologists denies subaltern groups a history of their own.

It is entirely appropriate, then, that Cesare Lombroso, the exemplar of these sociologists and the eminence grise behind many Lorians, should make an appearance not only in the final entry of Notebook 2 5 , "On the Margins of History (The History of Subaltern Social Groups), " but also in its opening paragraph. In that first note the topic is Davide Lazzaretti, a charismatic leader of a dissident religious sect which flourished in Tuscany in r 8 7o, a period of extreme economic difficulty and popular unrest. Cesare Lombroso's treatment of Lazzaretti in his book Pazzi e anormali !The Mad and the Abnormal) elicits the following parenthetical comment :

. . . (this was the cultural custom of the time: instead of studying the origins of a collective movement and the reasons why it was widespread, why it was collective, one isolated the protagonist and limited oneself to producing his pathological biography, all too often using points of departure which are unverified or can be interpreted differently. To a social elite, the components of subaltern groups always have something barbaric or pathological about them). ( 2 5 , § 1 ) One cannot help noticing how, once again, a remark occasioned by a very specific, very concrete detail -i.e., Lombroso's characterization of Lazzaretti as abnormal or insane- is the starting point for much broader considerations about cultural history, elitist dis cursive practices, the marginalization of subaltern groups. This movement from the particular to the general characterizes countless notes in the Quademi. Rarely is the opposite the case-namely, that a generalization is postulated and then employed to absorb the particular. Indeed, when fragments, or particular pieces of information or specific observations lead to some general or general izing insight, the generalization does not acquire the status of an overarching theory which endows the particulars with a stable meaning while remaining itself autonomous. The generalizations

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49

or concepts are themselves never complete or completed, they are always in a fluid, increasingly complex relation to other generalizations or concepts; they always point to different synthetic combinations but without ever settling into a final definitive synthesis, and they always call for a return to the particular details, the fragments which retain their historical specificity even as they induce new and more complex concepts that are linked to one another in an increasingly denser and ever more extensive shifting network of relations.

Some extremely important aspects of the relationship between the particular and the general in the notebooks may be brought to the fore by comparing the first note devoted to "Achille Loria"

with its later version which occupies the first few pages of a "special" notebook entitled "Lorianism. " As in its earlier version, the long opening section of this note provides bibliographic information about and descriptions of Loria's most bizarre publications.

However, during the years separating the first ( 1 92 9 ) from the second ( 1 9 3 5 ) draft of the note, a bibliography of Loria's work had been compiled and published by Luigi Einaudi- an extremely prominent economist, intellectual and political figure. Data gleaned from the bibliography now supplement and modify some of the information recorded in the earlier note for which Gramsci was obviously relying on memory. (The care and attention with which even minute bibliographic details get rigorously recorded are quite striking. ) Einaudi's bibliography, however, is more than an instrument for checking and controlling bibliographic details; it elicits a general comment which becomes a preamble to the rest of the note:

§ I record some of the principal "documents" in which one finds the main "bizarrenesses" of Achille Loria. !Recalled by memory: now there is the "Bibliografia di Achille Loria" compiled by Luigi Einaudi, supplement to Riforma Sociale, n. s, September-October 1 932; lmy] list is obviously incomplete and may be missing "bizarrenesses"

which may be more important than the ones recorded. Einaudi's labor is itself significant, as well, since it enhances Loria's scientific

"dignity, " and it inevitably places before the contemporary young reader all of Loria's writings on the same "level" thus impressing the imagination with the mass of "work" carried out by Loria: 884

items in this age of quantitative culture. For this "labor, " Einaudi deserves honorary membership in the list of Lorians. Besides, it

s o

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should be noted that as an organizer of cultural movements Einaudi is responsible for the "bizarrenesses" of Loria and a note should be written specifically on this point.) (28, § 1 )

There i s no need to explicate how this addition to the initial version of the note extends the terrain of Lorianism to include the mechanisms of its diffusion and legitimation and how it connects this whole phenomenon to the reflections on the role of intellectuals in the organization of culture in many other sections of the Prison Notebooks. Yet, it may not be superfluous to draw attention to the fact that Einaudi's bibliography, a scholarly instrument that would ordinarily be regarded as ideologically "neutral" and judged by objective criteria of verification (Is it complete ? Does it transmit all the necessary information accurately? ), does not escape critical scrutiny even while it is being employed as a "useful" tool. And this critical scrutiny reveals precisely the absence of critical seriousness or rigor that marks the compilation of such a seemingly

"innocent" tool as a bibliography. This "absence" and this "innocence" are shown to be elements of complicity- by abandoning his critical role, by pretending to stand outside the object of his

"scientific" compilation, the authoritative scholar (Einaudi) valorizes and promotes the diffusion of a body of work (Loria's and the Lorians') which is itself characterized by scholarly carelessness and a lack of critical rigor. The consequences of the intellectual attitudes from which this type of activity is begotten are enormous and by no means limited to the Italian scene, as becomes clear in the concluding section of this same note.

The final two paragraphs of the revised version of the note on

"Achille Loria" repeat the move from the particular to the general which takes place in the original version, but with a significant difference. The manifestations and the effects of Lorianism and, more importantly, the absence of critical restraint in a culture that makes Lorianism possible are now seen as a European problem and not just as an Italian peculiarity. The concluding paragraphs of the

"Achille Loria" note undergo extensive revision and elaboration as they take into account the momentous developments that occurred during the five years that had elapsed since they were first drafted.

Loria is not a teratological individual case: he is, rather, the most complete and perfect exemplar of a series of representatives of a certain intellectual stratum of a certain period; in general, of that

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5 1

stratum of positivist intellectuals who dealt with the question of workers and who were more or less convinced that they were deepening, revising, and surpassing the philosophy of praxis. But it should be pointed out that every period has its own more or less accomplished and perfected Lorianism, and each country has its own : Hitlerism has shown that in Germany underneath the apparent domain of a serious intellectual group there smouldered a monstrous Lorianism which has cracked the official crust and has become widespread as the scientific concept and method of a new "officialism. "

That Loria could exist, write, lucubrate, publish books and tomes at his own expense is not at all strange: there are always discoverers of perpetual motion and parish priests who publish sequels of Gerusalemme Liberata. But the fact that he became a pillar of culture, a

"master, " and that he "spontaneously" found an enormous audience

- this is what makes one reflect on the weakness of the bulwarks of criticism which existed even during periods of normality. One should consider how easy it is during abnormal times of uncontrolled passion for individuals like Loria, supported by interested powers, to overwhelm every bulwark and to transform an environment of intellectual culture which is still weak and frail into a swamp for decades to come.

Only today ( 1 9 3 5 ) after the displays of brutality and unprecedented infamy of German "culture" dominated by Hitlerism, some intellectuals have become aware of the fragility of modern civilization (in all its necessarily contradictory expressions) which grew out of the early Renaissance (after the year woo) and gained dominance through the French revolution and the movement of ideas known as

"classical German philosophy" and as "English classical economics. "

Hence, the impassioned criticism o f intellectuals like Georges Sorel, like Spengler, etc. who fill cultural life with suffocating and sterilizing gasses. (28, § r ) If one were to produce a detailed commentary on this passage, one would certainly end up touching on most of the major motifs that are intertwined in the notebooks, the most obvious being the role of the intellectuals in society, the relation between culture and politics and the critique of positivism. One could also connect this and other notes on Lorianism with the notes on Brescianism and with certain other notes on leading Italian intellectuals (the

"high priests" of culture) in order to reconstruct out of the fragments of the prison notebooks a detailed study on the cultural conditions which contributed to the rise of fascism and helped

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sustain it. However, on this occasion I wish to draw attention only to the two observations recorded in this passage which were already present in its earlier land much shorter) version but which now can be seen to have more far reaching implications: Ia) the positivism of a significant stratum of intellectuals ( labeled Lorian for convenience) who concern themselves with the problems of the working class and believe that they somehow improve upon Marx; lb) the Lorians' scholarly carelessness and confusion which is symptomatic of the lack of critical rigor and seriousness in the culture at large. This lack of seriousness and rigor is camouflaged by a facade of scientificity while at the same time it somehow escapes lor, at the very least, it is not totally marginalized by) the strictures of the upper echelons of leading intellectuals - the supposedly ultimate protectors of civilization. One of the major concerns expressed in the notes on Lorianism land elsewhere as well) is that shoddy thinking, crackpot theories, critical carelessness, and general intellectual irresponsibility are not the exclusive characteristics of right wing, reactionary, conservative, or liberal exponents of culture; they have also seriously infected progressive, leftist, and even Marxist thought.

From the detailed and concrete analysis of culture carried out in the notebooks one discovers that it is impossible to blame solely reactionary elements for the rise of fascism. More importantly one also comes to realize that the socialist and even specifically Marxist antagonists of the dominant culture did not, indeed could not in many cases, offer a coherent and persuasive alternative -i.e., they could not effectively articulate a counter culture -because they themselves were lacking in rigor and uncritically adopted methods and paradigms from the dominant culture. The clearest evidence of this is found in the pseudo scientific "sociologism, "

the unexamined positivism to which many notes attribute the debilitating distortions that vulgarized Marxism and rendered its most widespread versions ineffectual. Two interrelated major problems with positivist sociology are identified explicitly in the revised version of the note on "Cuvier's little bone" which comes very shortly after the extended note on Achille Loria in Notebook 2 8 :

§ Cuvier's little bone. Exposition of Cuvier's principle. But not everyone is Cuvier, and "sociology, " in particular, cannot be com-

Introduction

5 3

pared to the natural sciences. In it, arbitrary and "bizarre" generalizations are much more possible (and more harmful to practical life).

(28, § 3 )

In one respect this version of the note makes explicit what was already hinted, albeit cryptically, in its earlier formulation; namely, that pseudo scientific Lorianism leads to conclusions as bizarre as those produced by the misapplication of scientific methods. How ever, there is also another point being made here which does not appear (at least not explicitly) in the earlier evocation of Cuvier's principle but which is expressed repeatedly in numerous variations throughout the notebook- that is, one of the most fundamental errors of "sociology" consists in its wholesale and uncritical adop tion of a methodology borrowed directly from the natural sciences.

The overwhelming importance of this point would be evident to the reader who has attended seriously to the extensive, detailed and scathing critique of Bukharin's Historical Materialism: A System of Sociology which occupies a substantial portion of the notebooks. (In its Russian edition, Bukharin's book was subtitled A Popular Textbook of Marxist Sociology and Gramsci refers to it constantly as the Saggio Popolare-i.e., "Popular Manual.") It is also important to pay attention to the quotation marks that enclose the term "sociology" in the revised version of "Cuvier's little bone." By this stage in the notebooks the term "sociology" has acquired special meaning and has become associated with the theories and methodologies of both the Lorians and Bukharin. While Bukharin is never made a member (not even an honorary one like Luigi Einaudi) of the company of Lorians, his ideas are nonetheless directly likened to Loria's in a couple of instances in the note books. ( See, for example, Notebook r r, §2 1 and § 29 . ) So, although

"Cuvier's little bone" is placed in the "Lorianism" notebook, the critical inquiry it sketchily proposes has ramifications that go far beyond the peculiarities of the group of intellectuals discussed under the rubric of Lorianism. In fact, what is at stake in the issues and problems obliquely evoked by the allusion to "Cuvier's principle" is the very definition of Marxism or historical materialism or, as Gramsci calls it, the "philosophy of praxis. "

In Historical Materialism, Bukharin equates historical materialism with sociology and describes the relation between history and sociology in such a way as to privilege sociology-a "sociology"

5 4

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which is scientific in an unmistakably positivistic or mechanistic sense. Outlining the relation between science and history schematically in the introduction, Bukharin writes : Among the social sciences there are two important branches which consider not only a single field of social life, but the entire social life in its fullness; in other words, they are concerned not with any single set of phenomena . . . but take up the entire life of society, as a whole, concerning themselves with all the groups of social phenomena. One of these sciences is history, the other is sociology . . .

History investigates and describes how the current of social life flowed at a certain time and in a certain place . . . Sociology takes up the answer to general questions, such as : what is society? What is the relation of the various groups of social phenomena (economic, legal, scientific, etc.) with each other; how is their evolution to be explained; what are the historical forms of society; how shall we explain the fact that one such form follows upon another, etc., etc. ?

Sociology is the most general (abstract) of the social sciences. It is often referred to under other names, such as : "the philosophy of history, " the "theory of the historical process, " etc.; This is not an equal relationship, however. Bukharin does not simply define the spheres of discourse, the separate tasks of two sciences - "history" and "sociology. " According to his scheme, sociology sets the agenda for history; that is, the procedures and goals of historical research are predetermined by sociology. This is made clear in the next paragraph:

Since sociology explains the general laws of human evolution, it serves as a method for history. If, for example, sociology establishes the general doctrine that the forms of government depend on the forms of the economy, the historian must seek and find, in any given epoch, precisely what are the relations, and must show what is their concrete, specific expression. (HM, 14)

The issue becomes somewhat clouded in the subsequent sentence which seems to imply that sociology is dependent on the information supplied by historical research : "History furnishes the mate rial for drawing sociological conclusions and making sociological generalizations, for these conclusions are not made up of whole cloth, but are derived from the actual facts of history. " However,

' Nikolai Bukharin, Historical Materialism: A System of Sociology (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1 969), pp. 1 3 - 1 4; hereafter cited as HM

Introduction

5 5

the final sentence of the paragraph makes it quite clear that it is sociology that guides history and not vice versa : "Sociology in its tum formulates a definite point of view, a means of investigation or, as we now say, a method for history. " What this means, in effect, is that sociology already knows, even before it receives its material from history, that there are laws that govern history; according to this scheme, then, history as a discipline always embarks on its investigations with a scientific method already provided by sociology, a method which ensures that history will always lead to the discovery or confirmation of general laws. This view is further reinforced in Bukharin's conclusion to his introduction:

. . . the theory of historical materialism has a definite place, it is not political economy, nor is it history; it is the general theory of society and the laws of its evolution, i.e., sociology . . . . the fact that the theory of historical materialism is a method of history, by no means destroys its significance as a sociological theory. Very often a more abstract science may furnish a point of view (method) for the less abstract sciences. This is the case here also . . (HM, 1 s l

.

The principal objection leveled against Bukharin in the Prison Notebooks is that while purporting to expound the "true" theory of the "philosophy of praxis" he never offers "a coherent and logical presentation of the philosophical concepts generally known under the heading of philosophy of praxis (many of which are spurious, come from extraneous sources, and as such must be criticized and exposed) . " Instead, he makes out of "sociology" itself a philosophy- the philosophy of praxis. Sociology, however, "presupposes a philosophy, a world view, of which it is a subordinate part. " And Bukharin's sociology is no exception; his sociology, in fact, is founded upon a materialistic philosophy. Rather than affirming historical materialism as an independent, truly revolutionary, alternative concept of the world, Bukharin subordinates it to a pre existing philosophy (i.e., positivistic materialism), a philoso phy emanating from the hegemonic culture.

Sociology has been an attempt to create a method of historicalpolitical science dependent upon an already elaborated philosophical system, evolutionist positivism, against which sociology has reacted, but only partially. Sociology has therefore become a tendency on its own, it has become the philosophy of non-philosophers, an

Introduction

attempt to describe and classify schematically historical and political facts according to criteria constructed on the model of the natural sciences. Sociology, therefore, is an attempt to extract "experimentally" the laws of evolution of human society in such a way as to "predict" the future with the same certainty with which one predicts that an oak tree will develop out of an acorn. Vulgar evolutionism is at the foundation of sociology which cannot know the dialectical principle with its passage from quantity to quality.

( 1 1 , §26)

Bukharin's error resembles the error of the Lorians: he falls under the thrall of the natural sciences. (Interestingly, in Historical Materialism Bukharin even turns to the natural sciences for evidence that revolutionary occurrences of "sudden changes" or "vio lent alterations" do not contradict evolutionary theory and he mentions Cuvier's catastrophic theory- which he describes as

"naive"-in this context. ) The observations made in the note on

"Cuvier's little bone" can be read as admonitions against Bukharin's whole approach. First of all, "sociology cannot be compared to the natural sciences" and, therefore, one cannot describe the development of society in the same way as the growth of an oak out of an acorn, nor can one construct history in the way a paleontologist using Cuvier's principle reconstructs a dinosaur out of one of its bones. Second, the misapplication of the principles of natural sciences to sociology lead to "bizarre" conclusions which have harmful practical consequences. The notes on Loria and the Lorians provide numerous examples of the results of positivist sociology.

In the anti-Bukharin sequence of notes, however, one also finds some very illuminating remarks on the terrible effects of positivist sociology on the political effectiveness of Marxism. One of these notes is entitled "The reduction of the philosophy of praxis to a sociology" -a rather long and extremely important note which touches upon a variety of crucial issues. First, I will quote a passage from it which deals most directly with the harm caused by sociological scientism : Moreover, the extension of the law of statistics to the science and art of politics can have very serious consequences in so far as it is employed to formulate prospects and programs of action. Whereas in the natural sciences !statistical] law can only produce errors and blunders which can be easily corrected by further research and which, in any case, make only the individual scientist who used them look

Introduction

5 7

ridiculous, in the science and art of politics one may end up with real catastrophes which cause irreparable harm. In fact, in politics the adoption of the law of statistics as an essential law, inevitably at work, is not only a scientific error but becomes a practical error in action; furthermore, it fosters mental laziness and systemic superficiality. It should be pointed out that political action aims, precisely, at rousing the multitudes out of passivity; that is, at destroying the laws of large numbers. How can this law, then, be considered a sociological law? ( I I, §25 )

The note goes o n t o explain how positivist sociology is incompatible with the political program of Marxism. Deterministic philoso phy (i.e., philosophical materialism) is a recipe for passivity, it renders the masses susceptible to the charismatic lures of individ ual leaders who perpetuate the mechanical standardization of pop ular sentiment. By contrast, the task of the "party of the masses"

is to overthrow the old "naturalistic" order by promoting critical awareness. In other words, historical materialism envisages the masses as the makers of history not as unconscious actors in a mechanistic drama that unfolds according to unalterable natural laws- laws, moreover, that set apart, privilege and empower those who claim to have discovered them and who on the basis of their

"scientific" knowledge arrogate to themselves the rights of leadership.

From this fragment alone one can see how the critique of Bukharin is continuous with not only the attacks on positivism that pervade all of Gramsci's writings but also with his concept of socialism as a separate culture, his insistence on the need to edu cate the masses so that they could acquire a critical consciousness, his anti-dogmatism and fundamental democratism, and above all his extensive discussions on the character and role of the Communist Party, the "modern prince" (and, hence, also with his treat ment of Machiavelli) . This particular note also confirms the abiding preoccupation with history manifested throughout the notebooks. It readily brings to mind the comments on the Lombroso school of sociologists whose "scientific" explanations of aberrant behavior eschew the possibility of a history of subaltern groups.

Indeed, this note contributes to a fuller understanding of the wellknown affirmation (which is also found in the anti-Bukharin pages of the Prison Notebooks) that with the phrase "historical materialism" one should remember "to put the accent on the first term,

5 8

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'historical, ' and not on the second which is of metaphysical origin. "

( I I , §27)

In fact, the opening section of the note on "The reduction of the philosophy of praxis to a sociology" strongly suggests that the reductive sociologistic version of historical materialism stems from the failure to appreciate the importance and complexity of historyi a failure which is responsible for the deformation of Marxism and for the oddities produced by its supposedly orthodox (e.g., Bukharin) and not so orthodox (e.g., the Lorians) adherents.

This reduction [of the philosophy of praxis to a sociology] has represented the crystallization of the degenerate tendency already criticized by Engels (in the letters to two students [ Joseph Bloch and Heinz Starkenburg, on 2 1 September I 890 and 25 January I 894]

published in the Sozialistiche Akademiker [I and I 5 October I 89 5 ] ) and consists in reducing a conception of the world to a mechanical set of formulas which gives one the impression of holding the entirety of history in one's pocket. This has been the major incentive for the facile journalistic improvisations of harebrained "geniuses. "

( I I , §2 5 )

In other words, the "sociologists" approach history in the way Cuvier approaches single bones. Armed with a set of methodologi cal principles they place each item in its proper place within the predetermined totality. Since they mistake their mechanistic formulas for history itself, there is no historical experience, no event to which they attend in its specificity. Every item unearthed by historical research serves only to fill in the details and to confirm the accuracy of the general picture. This is what happens when philosophy and social science are governed by the same kind of

"naturalism" embodied in Cuvier's principle. (Gramsci does not object to Cuvier's theory as suchi rather, the abuse and misappli cation of scientific concepts arouse his critical ire. ) The next few sentences of the same note set forth an alternative version of historical materialism. According to this version, the philosophy of praxis is not a sociology but history, and the methodology appropriate to it should be derived not from the natural sciences but from the field of criticism and interpretation, that is

"philology. "

The experience upon which the philosophy of praxis is based cannot be schematizedi it is history itself in its infinite variety and multi-

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5 9

plicity, the study of which can give rise to "philology" as a method of scholarship for ascertaining particular facts and to philosophy understood as a general methodology of history. This is, perhaps, what was meant by those writers who, as is mentioned very briefly in the first chapter [in fact, the "Introduction"] of [Bukharin's] Manual, deny the possibility of constructing a sociology from the philosophy of praxis and assert that the philosophy of praxis lives only in particular historical essays ( the assertion, so boldly and crudely put, is certainly erroneous and seems like a strange new form of nominalism and philosophical skepticism). To deny that one can construct a sociology, understood as a science of society, that is as a science of history and politics, which is not identical with the philosophy of praxis, does not mean that one cannot produce an empirical compilation of practical observations which would extend the sphere of philology as traditionally understood. While philology is the methodological expression of the importance of ascertaining and specifying particular facts in their unique "individuality, " one cannot exclude the practical utility of identifying certain more general "laws of tendency" which in politics correspond to the laws of statistics or large numbers which have helped the advance of some natural sciences. But it has not been emphasized that statistical law can be used only as long as the great masses of the population remain or are assumed to remain passive with regard to the issues which interest the historian and the politician. ( I I, §25 )

In the first version of this same note the relations among Marxism, history, and philology are described even more succinctly: "the

'experience' of historical materialism is history itself, the study of particular facts, 'philology' . . . 'Philology' is the methodological expression of the importance of particular facts understood as definite and specific 'individualities' " ( 7, § 6 ) .

According t o Bukharin, history i s a n activity, a field of research guided by sociological laws; as a mode of inquiry it is the handmaiden of sociology. By contrast, in Gramsci's notes, the relation between history and sociology is almost totally ruptured : positivist sociology deals with general abstract laws which are divorced from the lived experience of history and, furthermore, it is the task of historical materialism to break those very laws, to surpass them, to ensure that humans have the possibility of forging their own history. Hence, the same note goes on to assert that the political party ( "the collective organism") envisaged by historical material ism does not obtain its knowledge of "popular sentiment" from

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the statistical laws generated by quantitative sociology; rather, it comes to this knowledge "through 'active and conscious co-participation, ' through 'compassionality, ' through experience of immediate particulars, through a system which one could call 'living philology' " ( I I , §25 ) .

This does not mean that sociology i s useless; only that its claims need to be held in check, its totalizing power has to be delegitimized, its uses should be carefully circumscribed, and its "scientific" results must always be subjected to historical criticism and not the other way round. The usefulness of sociology is discussed in a separate context in a note entitled "Cultural arguments. Cu vier's little bone. " In this note sociology is viewed in a positive light but only because it is considered as just a tool for the con struction of hypotheses and not for the formulation of universal truths. Its methods, derived from the natural sciences, are deemed fallible- and not just when they are applied to the social sciences but also when applied to natural phenomena. Moreover, it is firmly placed in a subordinate position to history which it may supple ment but never supplant.

Cuvier's principle of the correlation of the individual organic parts of a body, according to which one can reconstruct the whole body from one of its particles (provided that it is complete in itself )-still, one should carefully re-examine Cuvier's doctrine in order to expound his thought accurately-should certainly be included within the tradition of French thought, within French "logic" and should be linked to the animal-machine principle. It is not necessary to check whether in biology the principle can be said to be completely valid; this does not seem possible (for example, one should recall the duckbilled platypus, the structure of which has no "logic, " etc. ). One should examine whether, metaphor aside, the principle of correlation is useful, correct and fruitful in sociology. It seems that the answer is clearly yes. But one must be clear: in the case of past history, the principle of correlation (like the principle of analogy) cannot replace the document, that is it cannot provide anything other than hypothetical history, probable but hypothetical. However, it is a different case when it comes to political action and to the principle of correlation (like that of analogy) applied to what is foreseeable, to the construction of possible hypotheses and prospects. The principle is useful, correct, and fruitful precisely in the field of hypothesis, and it is a question of finding out which hypothesis is most probable . . . It is certain that when the principle of

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correlation is applied to the actions of an individual or even of a group, there is always the danger of falling into the arbitrary: individuals as well as groups do not always act "logically, " "coherently, "

"consequentially, " etc., but it is always useful to start with the premise that they act in this way. It serves no purpose to posit the premise of the "irrationality" of the motives of action; it can only have a polemical purport, enabling one to say as the Scholastic philosophers do: "ex absurdo sequitur quodlibet. " ( 1 4, §29) Considered in this way and approached with all these caveats, the methods of sociology can be seen to be politically useful. By confining Cuvier's principle to the sphere of the hypothetical within a clearly delimited context, one guards against the danger (and the temptation) of elevating it to the status of a world view, a philosophy. For, ultimately, the critique of positivism and the anti Buk harin pages in the Prison Notebooks, much like the anti-Croce sections, are motivated by an urgent sense of the need to protect historical materialism from the incursions (and the appropriations) of metaphysics. The emphasis on history-in the sense of difference, multiplicity, the specificity of the particular- constitutes nothing more or less than the defense against and the active resis tance to metaphysics in its various guises, and especially philosophical materialism and idealism. Whereas the metaphysical impulse carelessly absorbs the particular into the general, instantly subjecting individual actuality to the requirement of the totality, history as conceived in the notebooks searches for ways to retrieve the fragment, to ascertain its specificity and to dwell on its differ ence. History achieves this by forgoing the privileged vantage point of contemplation and by engaging, instead, in the practical and worldly activities of philology and criticism. For just as the absence of critical rigor and the lack of philological attention to the partic ular led to the vulgarizations and distortions of Marxism, so also criticism and philology are needed to preserve the unique, that is the revolutionary, quality of historical materialism. An entry which was originally entitled "Machiavelli and Marx" and the revised version of which was placed in a notebook devoted to "Notes on Machiavelli's politics, " contains the following assertion: The basic innovation introduced by the philosophy of praxis into the science of politics and history is the demonstration that there is no abstract "human nature, " fixed and immobile (a concept derived

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from religious thought and from transcendentalism) but that human nature is the ensemble of historically determined social relations; that is, it is a historical fact which can be ascertained, within certain limits, by the methods of philology and criticism. ( 1 3, §2o) The methods of philology and criticism are everywhere visibly at work in Gramsci's prison notebooks. The sustained and painstaking critical analyses of Croce which occupy a substantial portion of the Prison Notebooks are well known and their importance has been remarked on by countless critics. Less well known, although equally substantial, is the detailed critique of Bukharin.

Similarly, it is widely known that numerous notes are devoted to the critical analysis of Italian culture, especially literature. What has been insufficiently appreciated and largely ignored, however, is the massive amount of detailed factual information recorded in the notebooks- somehow, the "philological" method at work in the notebooks has not attracted much attention. It is not very hard to understand why this is the case. Virtually every description and discussion of Gramsci's text contains an observation about its fragmentariness and its incomplete character. Such observations are frequently accompanied by the assumption that it is the task of the Gramscian scholar to reconstruct out of these fragments a coherent whole. Implicitly or explicitly, the fragmentary nature of the notebooks is customarily attributed to the brutal conditions under which they were composed. Fragmentation, in other words, is taken to be an unfortunate obstacle that stands in the way of understanding what Gramsci meant to say or would have said if he only had had the time and the means to produce a "normal" book, or series of books. Hence the efforts to "organize" the notebooks, to collect the fragments around certain themes or under certain rubrics. Frequently these themes or rubrics are derived from the titles which are inscribed on many of the notebooks themselves :

"The Philosophy of Benedetto Croce, " "Niccolo Machiavelli, "

"Notes and Jottings for a Group of Essays on the History of the Intellectuals, " "Americanism and Fordism, " "Literary Criticism, "

and so on. To some extent, this makes sense given the sheer size of the notebooks themselves, the need to present them in "readable" form, and the apparen t relative unimportance or irrelevance of many of the minutiae to the development of the major motifs treated in the notebooks. The Gramscian editor, scholar or com

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mentator, then, feels compelled to gather the pieces together and, like a latter-day literary Cuvier, to stitch them together. Some times this operation of reconstruction is carried out responsibly, that is, with a critical awareness of its limitations. At other times, however, this operation is carried out with the misguided belief that one can actually reconstruct not just Gramsci's thought but Gramsci himself. This latter kind of operation is what yields such products as the "Leninist Gramsci, " or the "Crocean idealist Gramsci, " or any number of Gramscis. Even the calls for "liberating Gramsci" from various appropriations of him are frequently inspired by the conviction that one can go back to the fragmentary notebooks and reconstruct from them the one and only "real"

Gramsci. Whenever this takes place, the notebooks become a happy hunting ground from which one picks what is "important" and discards what is deemed "incidental" - and, of course, everyone accuses everyone else of not having identified the "right" frag ments and the "correct" relations between them, or of having highlighted the importance of certain details at the expense of other elements.

It would be futile to think that one can put an end to this game.

Even the most conscientiously accurate and complete reproduction of Gramsci's manuscript will not settle the polemics, or still the urge to reconstruct the "true" Gramsci. However, it is only by going to and through the complete text of the notebooks that one can gain a thorough appreciation of what it means to place the accent on history "in its infinite variety and multiplicity." The fragmentary character of the notebooks is due, at least in part, to the "philological " method governing their composition. "Philol ogy" requires minute attention to detail, it seeks to ascertain the specificity of the particular. Many of the items that make up the notebooks do precisely this- they record history in its infinite variety and multiplicity. To be sure, complex networks of relations are established among these details and they, in tum, give rise to general concepts and theories - the most famous of which is "he gemony. " However, if the detailed record of the particular were allowed to vanish, if the relationship among the fragments were permanently fixed, then the concepts and theories would run the danger of becoming crystallized into dogmas. In order to stabilize the relationships among the fragments that make up the Prison Notebooks one would have to abandon "philology" in favor of

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Cuvier's principle. One would have to place each piece in a necessary and fixed relation to other pieces in such a way as to produce a total structure which one could contemplate in its wholeness.

But history is presented in the notebooks as "experience" not as contemplation; and the "experience upon which the philosophy of praxis is based cannot be schematized. "

The allusion t o Cuvier in the early pages of the first notebook contains an implicit warning and an invitation. It warns against the danger of rushing to conclusions, and it invites attention to the particular. Gramsci repeats the warning and the invitation on countless occasions - the manuscript is full of phrases such as

"this needs to be checked, " "this calls for further study, " "one needs to ascertain this fact, " and so on. The opening paragraphs of Notebooks 8 and I I forcefully emphasize the provisional character of the notes and the possibility that certain conclusions expressed in them may be completely erroneous. On 30 December 1 929, a few months after he wrote the short note on "Cuvier's little bone, "

Gramsci concluded a letter to his wife, Julia Schucht, with the

·

following observation:

It may be, indeed it is very likely, that some of my judgments are exaggerated and even unfair. To reconstruct a megathere or a mastodon out of a tiny bone was fine for Cuvier, but it could happen that from a piece of a mouse's tail one would end up constructing a sea serpent instead. (LC, 3 1 4)

The way to avoid making such blunders, the prison notebooks suggest, is to remain true to the methods of criticism and philology. These methods, as they are employed in the notebooks, also function simultaneously as a weapon and a shield against all forms of dogmatism and mystification. The theory and practice of philological criticism found in the notebooks constitute in themselves a most important contribution to the elaboration of an anti-dog matic philosophy of praxis.

CHRONOLOGY

1 8 9 1 22 January. Antonio Gramsci was hom a t Ales i n the province of Cagliari in Sardinia. His father, Francesco, the son of a colonel in the Bourbon gendarmerie, was hom in Gaeta in 1 86o into a family of Albanian origins that had moved to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies after the Greek revolution of I 82 I .

Francesco Gramsci obtained his lycee certificate and in I 8 8 I left the Italian mainland for Sardinia to take u p employment as a civil servant in Ghilarza. In 1 88 3 he married Giuseppina Marcias, a Sardinian, hom in Ghilarza in I 86 I . They subsequently moved to Ales. Gramsci was the fourth of seven children: Gennaro, Grazietta, Emma, Antonio, Mario, Teresina, and Carlo.

I 8 94-96 Gramsci and his sisters attended a kindergarten run by nuns in the vicinity of Nuoro where the family had moved to from Ales. Gramsci was a frail child. When he was about four he fell from the arms of a servant. The family later attributed Gramsci's physical deformity to that fall.

I 897-98 Gramsci's father was suspended from his job, arrested, and given a prison sentence for alleged administrative abuses. The mother moved back to Ghilarza with all seven children. Antonio (known as "Nino") was attending elementary school.

I 903-S Upon completing elementary school in the summer of I 902, Gramsci had to work for two years at the tax office in Ghilarza in order to help his financially strapped family. In the meantime he continued studying privately.

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I 90 5 -8 Supported by his mother and sisters, Gramsci was able to resume his studies. He attended the last three years of secondary school in Santu Lussurgiu, about I 5 kilometers from Ghilarza. During the school year he stayed at a peasant's house in Santu Lussurgiu. In the early years Gramsci manifested a bent for mathematics and science. Around I 905 he began to read the socialist publications, including Avanti! which his older brother, Gennaro, used to send him from Turin where he was performing his military service.

I 908- I I After graduating from secondary school, Gramsci entered the Dettori Lyceum in Cagliari. He lived with his brother Gennaro who worked as a bookkeeper for an ice factory, then as treasurer at the local Chamber of Labor, and later became secretary of the Socialist Party branch. Gramsci began frequenting socialist circles and participated actively in discussions among young groups on the economic and social problems of Sardinia. Sardinian nationalism and a rebellious attitude toward the rich were the main features of Gramsci's early political views. In I 9 IO he published his first article in L'Unione Sarda, a daily newspaper edited by Raffa Garzia. He became the newspaper's correspondent from Aidomaggiore, a small town near Ghilarza. As a regular reader of II Viandante, a periodical edited by Tommaso Monicelli, he closely followed the articles contributed by Salvemini, Croce, Prezzolini, Cecchi, and other leading intellectuals of the time. In this period he also started reading, for the first time and "out of intellectual curiosity, "

some works by Marx. During his vacations he worked as a bookkeeper and gave private lessons to defray some of his school expenses.

I 9 I I Summer. Gramsci graduated from the lycee. Since he wished to attend university, he applied for a scholarship of 70 lire a month, for ten months a year, offered by the Carlo Alberto College in Turin for poor students from the provinces of the former Kingdom of Sardinia. He spent some weeks in Oristano with his uncle Serafino as the tutor of his son Delio. Toward the end of the summer he left for Turin. He spent some time in Pisa as a guest of relatives of his mother's.

October. Gramsci was awarded the scholarship to attend university. Palmira Togliatti also competed for the same scholarship.

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November. He enrolled as a student of Letters at the university of Turin. For a short time he lived with Angelo Tasca, a fellow student and leader of the Socialist youth movement.

He later rented a small room in an apartment occupied by a widow on the top floor of a building close to the university.

1 9 1 2 During his first few months as a student Gramsci was lonely, faced serious financial difficulties, and suffered from nervous exhaustion. He was interested primarily in the study of linguistics, and he started doing some research on the Sardinian dialect under the guidance of Professor Matteo Bartoli. He also took a course in Italian literature taught by Umberto Cosmo.

He renewed his acquaintance with Palmiro Togliatti when both were taking the same course on Roman law; they became friends and before long were doing joint research on the social structure of Sardinia.

Gramsci spent his summer holidays with his family in Ghilarza. In the autumn term he passed his exams in geography, linguistics (cum laude), and Greek and Latin grammar.

1 9 1 3 During the 1 9 1 2- 1 3 academic year Gramsci took several courses, taught by Arturo Farinelli, Pietro Toesca, Luigi Einaudi, Francesco Ruffini, and others, in the departments of literature and law. His poor health, however, prevented him from sitting for any exams.

October. From Ghilarza, Gramsci declared his support for an association (Gruppo di Azione e Propaganda Antiprotezionista) organized in Sardinia by Attilio Deffenu and Nicolo Fancello to actively oppose protectionist trade laws. Gramsci's support was publicly recorded in the 9 October issue of La Voce, the journal edited by Giuseppe Prezzolini. While in Sardinia he witnessed the political campaign preceding the first elections held under universal suffrage (26 October-2 November). He was impressed by the changes that came about as a result of the mass participation of the peasants in political life, and he wrote about it to his friend Tasca. In the following months, according to Tasca, Gramsci established his first contacts with the socialist movement in Turin, in particular with the youth section. Probably Gramsci became a member of the Socialist Party in Turin during this period.

1 9 1 4 In the spring Gramsci passed his university exams in moral philosophy, modern history, and Greek literature.

He was a regular and attentive reader of Prezzolini's La Voce

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and Salvemini's L'Unita. Together with some friends, he explored the idea of founding a socialist periodical. He supported an initiative to nominate Gaetano Salvemini as a candidate for election to parliament from a district in Turin. Gramsci drew close to the workers' and student groups (socialists, libertarians, etc. ) which made up the leftist revolutionary faction in Turin and which played an active role in the workers' demonstration of 9 June, during what came to be known a the "red week. "

October. Gramsci intervened in the debate about the position of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) toward the war with an article, "Neutralita attiva e operante" (Active and Meaningful Neutrality) in Il Grido del Popolo of 3 I October, in which he opposed Tasca's call for "absolute neutrality. "

On I I November he passed the exam in the literatures of Romance languages. In December Professor Bartoli reported to the scholarship board that Gramsci "suffers periodic nervous crises which prevent him from carrying out his studies with the proper alacrity. " His scholarship was withdrawn for four months.

I 9 I 5 In the winter of I 9 I 4- I 5 he took a course in philosophy taught by Professor Annibale Pastore who also gave him some private lessons. On 1 2 April he sat for an Italian literature exam.

It turned out to be his last exam for he discontinued his university studies.

In November he resumed writing for I1 Grido del Popolo, edited by Giuseppe Bianchi, and on I O December he joined the editorial staff of A van til in Turin.

I 9 I 6 Gramsci devoted most of his energy to journalism. He wrote theater reviews, social and political commentary, and the "Sotto la Mole" column in the Turin edition of A van til Nationalists and warmongering interventionists were among his frequent targets. Many of his articles were severely critical of the intellectual and social climate of the time. He gave talks at workers' study-circles in Turin on various topics, including Romain Rolland, the Paris Commune, the French Revolution, and Marx.

I 9 1 7 February. Gramsci edited the single issue of La Citta Futura ( 1 1 February), published by the Young Socialist Federation of Piedmont. The whole issue consisted of four articles by Gramsci- "Tre principi, tre ordini" (Three Principles, Three

Chronology

Orders), "Indifferenti" (The Indifferent), "La disciplina" (Discipline), "Margini" (Margins)-and of brief selections from texts by Croce, Salvemini, and Armando Carlini (a follower of Giovanni Gentile). It amply reflects the influence of idealism on the young Gramsci. Looking back on this period in his life, Gramsci would later observe: "My tendency was still rather Crocean. "

April-July. Writing for I1 Grido del Popolo, Gramsci praised Lenin and emphasized the socialist goals of the Russian revolution.

August. Together with other members of the Italian Socialist Party ( PSI) in Turin, Gramsci prepared for a visit to the city by a delegation from Russia. The visit culminated on 1 3 August with a large workers' demonstration in support of Lenin and the Russian Revolution.

September. The government had crushed the popular uprising which broke out in Turin on 23 August, leaving over fifty people dead and arresting virtually all the leaders of the workers' movement in the city. Gramsci became secretary of the Turin section of the PSI and the editor of Il Grido del Popolo to which he dedicated much of his time until October 1 9 1 8 .

20 October. H e devoted a n entire issue o f I1 Grido del Popolo to the problem of free trade, with articles by Togliatti, U. G.

Mondolfo, U. Cosmo, B. Buozzi.

1 8- 1 9 November. As the representative of the provisional executive committee of the Turin section of the PSI and as the editor of II Grido del Popolo, Gramsci participated in a clandestine meeting held in Florence, by the party's "intransigent revolutionary faction" which had been formed in August.

Among those attending the meeting were C. Lazzari, G. M.

Serrati, N. Bombacci, and A. Bordiga. Gramsci shared Bordiga's views on the need for the workers' movement to intervene actively in the crisis precipitated by the war. (In October-November the Italian army suffered a disastrous defeat near Caporetto. )

December. Insisting o n the need t o integrate political and economic action with organized cultural activity, Grarnsci sought to establish a proletarian cultural association in Turin. Together with Carlo Boccardo, Attilio Carena, and Andrea Vig-

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longo, he formed a small discussion circle which called itself the "Club of Moral Life."

On 24 December the national edition of A van til published Gramsci's article on the significance of the Bolshevik revolution, "La rivoluzione contro il Capitale" (The Revolution Against Capital). During the following months he spearheaded a campaign through the pages of Il Grido del Popolo for the ideological and cultural renewal of the socialist movement. During the same period he published (with the help of his Polish friend Aron Wizner) commentary, news, and documents on the revolutionary developments in Russia.

1 9 1 8 January. Accused of "voluntarism, " Gramsci responded with an article, "La critica critica" ( Critical Criticism) in Il Grido del Popolo of 1 2 January.

May-June. Police reports made frequent reference to Gramsci as one of the leaders of the intransigent revolutionary faction of the Socialist Party in Turin. He commemorated Marx's birth in II Grido del Popolo (4 May) with the article "II nostro Marx"

(Our Marx), reprinted in L 'Avanguardia ( 26 May).

22 June. He published the article "Per conoscere la rivoluzione russa" (Toward Understanding the Russian Revolution) in Il Grido del Popolo.

July. Gramsci testified in favor of Maria Giudice, the former editor in chief of Il Grido del Popolo, in the trial stemming from the Turin uprising of August 1 9 1 7.

1 9 October. Il Grido del Popolo ceased publication and was replaced by the Turin edition of the A vanti!.

s December. The first issue of the Turin edition of Avanti!

was published. Ottavio Pastore was the editor in chief ; Gramsci, Togliatti, Alfonso Leonetti, Leo Galetto made up the editorial staff. Within a few months, the circulation of the newspaper rose from 1 6,ooo to s o,ooo.

1 9 1 9 February. In Piero Gobetti's fortnightly Energie Nove (n. 7-8), Gramsci published the article "Stato e sovranita" (State and Sovereignty), responding to Baldino Giuliano's "Perche sono un uomo d'onore" (Why I Am a Man of Honor).

April. Gramsci endeavored to disseminate socialist ideas among the peasant-soldiers of the Sassari Brigade, sent to Turin to assist in public security.

Chronology

7 1

Gramsci, Tasca, Umberto Terracini, and Togliatti founded L'Ordine Nuovo: Rassegna Settimanale di Cultura Socialista (The New Order: A Review of Socialist Culture). Gramsci was the editorial secretary, Tasca supported the journal financially (6,ooo lire), while Pia Carena took care of the administrative work. Initially, the engineer Pietro Mosso (who used the pseudonym Carlo Petri), a Communist anarchist, was a member of the editorial board.

1 May. The inaugural issue of L'Ordine Nuovo appeared. On its front page, alongside its title, it displayed the slogan: "Educate yourselves because we'll need all your intelligence. Rouse yourselves because we'll need all your enthusiasm. Organize yourselves because we'll need all your strength. " In 1 9 1 9 the journal had about 300 subscribers and 3,ooo readers; the following year it had 1 , 1 00 subscribers and printed about s ,ooo copies. It was mostly circulated in Turin and the rest of Piedmont.

Also in May, Gramsci was elected a member of the executive committee of the Turin section of the PSI led by the abstentionist G. Boero.

June. In "Democrazia operaia" (Workers' Democracy) in L'Ordine Nuovo ( 2 1 June), Gramsci discussed internal commissions in factories as "centers of proletarian life" and "organs of workers' democracy. " He translated documents and reports on factory life and workers' councils from Russian, French, British and other pro-labor publications. He published texts by Lenin, Zinoviev, Bela Kun, and others. At the same time the journal was introducing its readers to the views of Henri Barbusse, Anatoly Lunacharsky, Romain Rolland, Max Eastman, Marcel Martinet, Maxim Gorky, and other revolutionary figures prominent in the cultural world.

July. During a political strike of solidarity with the Communist Republics of Russia and Hungary, Gramsci was arrested and imprisoned for a few days at the Carceri Nuove in Turin.

On 26 July L 'Ordine Nuovo reprinted "11 programma della frazione comunista" (Program of the Communist Faction), the first official document of the Communist abstensionist faction of PSI which was inspired by Bordiga. The program was originally published in Bordiga's 11 Soviet.

1 3 September. L'Ordine Nuovo published the manifesto "Ai commissari di reparto delle officine Fiat-Centro e Brevetti" (To

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the Workshop Commissars of the FIAT-Centro and Brevetti Factories).

In discussions preceding the PSI congress in Bologna (October s -8 ), the Ordine Nuovo group decided to support Serrati's "electoral maximalism" which, in fact, obtained the majority of the votes. The Bologna congress decided that the PSI should join the Communist International.

October. Gramsci met Sylvia Pankhurst in Turin. L 'Ordine Nuovo published a series of her "Lettere dall'Inghilterra" (Letters from England), translated by Togliatti.

I November. At its annual meetiD& the Turin section of FIOM

(Federation of Metalworkers) elected the Workshop Commissars on the basis of a program which provided the foundation for the establishment of factory councils. "Il programma dei commissari di reparto" (The Program of Workshop Commissars) was published by L'Ordine Nuovo on 8 November.

6 December. The Turin section of the PSI voted its approval of the factory council movement and established a "study committee" chaired by Togliatti. (Others on the committee included Viglongo, Boero, Tasca, Matta, and Montagnana. ) I S - I ? December. At a special session, the Chamber of Labor in Turin voted in favor of a call to establish factory councils throughout Italy.

The question of factory councils was vigorously debated within socialist circles and in the leftist press.

Sorel, who kept himself informed about the council movement, considered "the small sheet from Turin, L'Ordine Nuovo, much more interesting than Critica Social e. "

I 920 January-February. In L 'Ordine Nuovo (24-3 I January) Gramsci published the "Programma d'azione della sezione socialista torinese" (Program of Action of the Turin Socialist Section). Gramsci and Togliatti were reelected to the executive committee of the PSI in Turin. Participating in the activities of the "school of culture, " promoted by the Ordine Nuovo, he gave talks on the Russian Revolution. He delivered an oppositional speech at a meeting of the "Giovane Sardegna" (Young Sardinia) association. Later, he and Pietro Ciuffo formed a Sardinian socialist circle in Turin.

27 March. The front page of L 'Ordine Nuovo issued a call for a national congress of factory councils. It was addressed to

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7 3

"all Italian workers and peasants" and i t was signed b y the executive committee of the PSI section in Turin, the Factory Council Study Committee, the Ordine Nuovo, and the Turin Anarchist Group.

28 March. Reacting to a strike at a FIAT plant, the Turin industrialists proclaimed a general lockout of metallurgical factories and made demands which, in effect, would have led to the dissolution of the factory councils.

1 3 April. In Turin over 2oo,ooo workers responded to a call for a general strike. All the factories were shut down, transportation came to a halt, and the whole city was paralyzed.

Little support was forthcoming from the rest of the country, however.

24 April. The general strike ended with a substantial victory for the industrialists. Management regained control of internal factory discipline. The strike, supported by Gramsci and the Ordine Nuovo group, was repudiated by the CGL (General Confederation of Labor) and by the PSI leadership.

8 May. L'Ordine Nuovo published "Per un rinnovamento del Partito socialista" (For a Renewal of the Socialist Party) which Gramsci had written during the early stages of the metalworkers' struggle and which had been presented by the representatives of the Turin section at the meeting of the PSI national council in Milan on 1 8-22 April.

8-9 May. Bordiga's Communist abstentionist faction held its congress in Florence. Gramsci was invited as an observer; he argued that one could not establish a Communist Party simply on the basis of abstentionism.

23 -28 May. The Turin Chamber of Labor held a meeting at which it approved a plan by Tasca that effectively subordinated the council movement to trade union control. Gramsci, who attended the meeting, sharply disagreed with Tasca's position.

June-July. The rift between Gramsci and Tasca on the issue of the role and the autonomy of the factory councils became increasingly open and bitter. Gramsci and L'Ordine Nuovo supported the initiative to create "communist factory groups" in Turin which were to constitute the base of the future Communist Party. Gramsci expounded his views on this question

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in an article, "I gruppi comunisti" (The Communist Groups) in L 'Ordine Nuovo ( I ? July).

Gramsci sent a report on "Il movimento torinese dei Consigh di fabbrica" (The Factory Council Movement in Turin) to the executive committee of the Communist International. This report was later published in the Russian, German, and French editions of the Communist International (November 1920) and in L 'Ordine Nuovo ( 1 4 March 1 9 2 1 ).

The Second Congress of the Third International ( 1 9 July 7

-

August) set down the conditions (known as the 2 1 points) for the admission of socialist parties to the Comintern. The congress called upon its parties (including the PSI) to expel reformists. Bordiga's refusal to participate in parliamentary elections was also denounced. The Ordine Nuovo group was not represented at the congress, but Lenin stated that the position articulated by the Ordine Nuovo militants corresponded with the principles of the Comintern.

August. Distancing himself from Togliatti and Terracini, Gramsci declined to join the communist electionist faction of the PSI section in Turin. He gathered around him a small

"Communist Education" group which leaned toward Bordiga's abstentionists.

Gramsci published "Il programma dell'Ordine Nuovo" (The Program of L 'Ordine Nuovo) in L'Ordine Nuovo ( 1 4 and 28

August).

September. Gramsci was active in the movement promoting the occupation of factories by workers and he visited some plants in Milan. In a series of articles in the Piedmont edition of A vanti! he warned workers to beware of the illusion that the simple occupation of factories by itself would resolve the problem of power, and he underlined the need to establish a workers' defense militia.

October. Gramsci advocated a fusion of the different groups (abstentionists, Communist electionists, and "Communist Education") within the PSI section of Turin. He published two articles on "II partito comunista" (The Communist Party) in L 'Ordine Nuovo (4 September and 9 October). During the first two weeks of October he participated at the meeting, in Milan, of the different groups (abstentionists, the Ortine Nuovo group, leftist elements of the PSI) which favored acceptance of the

"2 1 points" laid down by the Communist International. The

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Communist faction attending the meeting prepared a "Manifesto-Program" which was signed by N. Bombacci, A. Bordiga, B. Fortichiari, Gramsci, F. Misiano, L. Polano, L. Repossi, and U. Terracini, and published in L 'Ordine Nuovo ( 3 0 October).

28-29 November. Gramsci attended a meeting at Imola where the Communist faction of the PSI (known as the Imola faction) was formally constituted.

December. Gramsci met Henri Barbusse who delivered a lecture on the "Clarte" movement at the Casa del Popolo in Turin.

Gramsci's sister, Emma, died in Ghilarza and Gramsci went to Sardinia to visit his family.

On 24 December L 'Ordine Nuovo published its last issue as a weekly. The following year Piero Gobetti compiled an anthology of articles which Gramsci had written for the journal-but it was never published.

The Piedmont edition of Avanti! adopted the title L'Ordine Nuovo. Gramsci was given editorial control of the new paper which became the organ of the Turin Communists.

1 9 2 1 1 January. The first issue of the daily L 'Ordine Nuovo appeared in Turin with Lassalle's motto on the first page: "To tell the truth is revolutionary. " Togliatti, Leonetti, 0. Pastore, Mario Montagnana, Giovanni Amoretti were among the members of the editorial board. Gramsci invited Piero Gobetti to contribute theater reviews and other articles to the paper.

Umberto Calosso (Sarmati) also wrote for the paper.

14 January. Gramsci, Zino Zini, and others founded the Institute of Proletarian Culture (a section of the Proletkult of Moscow) with an Ordine Nuovo staff member, Giovanni Casale, as its secretary.

1 5 -2 1 January. Gramsci attended the Seventeenth Congress of the PSI, held in Livorno. Terracini, Bordiga, Bombacci and the representatives of the Communist International, Kabakcev and Rakosi, spoke in favor of the Imola ( "pure Communist") motion. The motion obtained 5 8, 7 8 3 votes. The Florence motion (a "unitarian Communist" motion presented by Serrati) obtained the majority of the votes (98,028). The Reggio Emilia reformist motion received 1 4, 6 9 5 votes. On 2 1 January the delegates of the Communist faction met separately and constituted the new " Italian Communist Party: A Section of the Third International. " Gramsci was a member of

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the central committee. The executive committee consisted of Bordiga, Fortichiari, R. Grieco, L. Repossi, and Terracini.

28 January. Gramsci published an article on the Livorno split,

"Caporetto e Vittorio Veneto" (Caporetto and Vittorio Veneto) in L 'Ordine Nuovo. In his journalistic writings of this period, Gramsci attacked the trade union and reformist "mandarins" as well as the maximalist PSI centrists. He also started writing a series of articles analyzing the class content of the Fascist movement.

27 February. Gramsci met Giuseppe Prezzolini and attended one of his lectures on "Intellectuals and Workers" at the Casa del Popolo in Turin.

20 March. Gramsci attended and spoke at the first congress of the Ligurian regional federation of the Italian Communist Party (PCd'IJ held in Savona.

May. Gramsci wrote "Uomini di carne e ossa" (Men of Flesh and Bones), in L 'Ordine Nuovo (8 May) on the unsuccessful outcome of a long strike by the FIAT workers.

In the elections of 1 5 May, Gramsci was included, for the first time, in the PCd'l's list of candidates from Turin. He did not get elected.

Accompanied by Mario Giordano, a Fiume legionnaire, Gramsci travelled to Gardone in the spring expecting to meet Gabriele D' Annunzio. The meeting, however, never took place.

October. On the eve of the Eighteenth Congress of the PSI, Gramsci published the article "11 congresso socialista" (The Socialist Congress) in L 'Ordine Nuovo (9 October). At the congress, Serrati's maximalist wing reaffirmed its membership in the Communist International.

December. The executive of the Communist International published a series of 25 theses elaborating on the call (first issued at the Third Comintern Congress earlier in the year) for a united front of working-class parties.

Gramsci participated in the meeting of the PCd'I central committee, held in Rome on 1 8-20 December. Along with Bordiga, Graziadei, Sanna, Tasca, and Terracini, he discussed the party's positions on the agrarian question, the trade unions, and political tactics in preparation for the upcoming second national congress of the PCd'l.

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L 'Ordine Nuovo ( 3 1 December) published the Comintern executive's call for a "common front. "

1 922 16 February. Addressing a meeting of the Turin section of the PCd'I, Gramsci talked about the guiding principles and tactical course of the party.

20-24 March. He attended the Second Congress of the PCd'I, in Rome. The congress approved, by a great majority ( 3 1 ,089

to 4, 1 5 1 votes), the so-called "Rome theses" which, in effect, rejected the Comintern's call for a "common front. " Gramsci considered the "common front" tactics feasible at the trade union level, but like others at the congress he seemed opposed to forging alliances with other political parties. A right wing minority which included Tasca, Graziadei, and Vota emerged at the congress. Gramsci was chosen to represent the party on the executive committee of the Communist International in Moscow.

27-29 March. Gramsci spoke at the congress of the Young Communist Federation in Rome.

April. In early April Gramsci gave a talk to the Turin section of the PCd'I on the party's Rome congress. He published the article "L'Italie et la conf erence de Genes" in Correspondance Internationale ( 1 2 April ). He was in Genoa during the conference held by the great powers to discuss the resumption of political and economic relations with the Soviet Union.

Piero Gobetti published an essay on Gramsci and the Turin communist movement in Rivoluzione Liberale (2 April).

26 May. Gramsci, who was in poor health, left for Moscow together with Graziadei and Bordiga.

23 June. He arrived in Moscow by way of the Latvian border.

June. Gramsci attended the second meeting of the Enlarged Executive of the Communist International. He also became part of the Comintern's executive committee.

At Zinoviev's suggestion he went to recuperate from his state of exhaustion at the Serebranyi Bor sanatorium on the outskirts of Moscow. During his stay at the sanatorium he met Julia Schucht.

September. In response to Trotsky's request, Gramsci wrote a note on the futurist movement in Italy. Trotsky published it as an appendix in his book Literature and Revolution ( 1 923 ).

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1 -4 October. At its Nineteenth Congress the PSI decided to expel the reformists and renew its membership in the Communist International.

28 October. "The March on Rome": the Fascists came into power as Mussolini was named prime minister. As fascism consolidated its grip, the PCd'I was compelled to operate increasingly as a clandestine organization. At that time, as Trotsky recalled in 1 93 2, no one in the party "except for Gramsci"

thought that a Fascist dictatorship was possible.

November-December. Gramsci attended the Fourth Congress of the Communist International ( 5 November - 5 December) at which the "Italian question" and, particularly, the fusion of the PCd'l and the PSI, promoted by Zinoviev, was discussed. The majority of the PCd'I opposed the fusion and agreed to discuss it only because of the pressure exerted by the Comintern. A joint committee was set up to oversee the process of merging the two parties: the Communists were represented by Gramsci (in place of Bordiga who refused to participate), Scoccimarro and Tasca; and the Socialists by Serrati, Tonetti and Maffi. The whole effort fell apart within a few months; the leading members of both parties could hardly function as they faced arrest, exile, or constant harassment by the Fascists.

Gramsci published an article on "Les origines du cabinet Mussolini" in Correspondance Internationale (20 November).

December. Fascist squads in collusion with the security forces violently assaulted communists and socialists in Turin. The Ordine Nuovo was shut down and its editorial staff (including Gramsci's brother, Gennaro, who at that time worked for the paper) were charged with subversion and possession of arms and explosions- they were later acquitted.

1 923 February. While Gramsci was still in Moscow, the police in Italy arrested some members of the PCd'l's executive committee (Bordiga and Grieco among them) and several local leaders. The police also issued a warrant for Gramsci's arrest.

Terracini took charge of the party's organization.

March. Following the arrests of the previous month, the executive committee of the PCd'l started reorganizing its leadership and named Scoccimarro, Tasca, Graziadei, and C. Rav-

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era to the central committee. Scoccimarro and Togliatti entered the executive committee.

April-May. From prison, Bordiga issued "an appeal to the PCd'I comrades, " in which he criticized the position of the Comintem executive, particularly regarding the relationship with the PSI. The appeal, initially accepted with some hesitation by Togliatti, Terracini, Scoccimarro and others, was rejected by Gramsci who refused to sign it.

Terracini went to Moscow and Togliatti was entrusted with running the party in Italy.

1 2-2 3 June. Along with Scoccimarro, Tasca, Terracini, and Vota, Gramsci took part in a meeting of the Comintern's enlarged executive and made a speech on the "Italian question."

The enlarged executive appointed a new PCd'l executive committee which included representatives of the right wing minority. It was made up of Togliatti, Scoccimarro, Tasca, Vota, and Fortichiari (replaced by Gennari).

August. Bordiga and Grieco resigned from the central committee of the PCd'I.

1 2 September. In a letter to the executive committee of the PCd'l, Gramsci communicated the decision of the Comintem executive to start publishing a new workers' daily with the collaboration of the group of "Third Internationalists." He proposed L ' Unita for a title. In the letter, Gramsci dwelt for the first time on the issue of an alliance between the poorest strata of the working class in the North and the peasant masses in the South.

2 1 September. The members of the new PCd'l executive committee were arrested together near Milan. They were accused of conspiracy against the state, but were acquitted and freed after three months in prison.

1 8-26 October. The trial of Bordiga, Grieco, Fortichiari and other communist leaders ended with a general acquittal.

November. Gramsci was given an assignment in Vienna. (Terracini replaced him in Moscow.) He had the task of maintaining contact between the Italian party and the other Communist parties in Europe.

3 December. Gramsci arrived in Vienna. Until he found lodgings he was the guest of Josef Frei, the general secretary of the

Bo

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Austrian Communist Party. He kept in close contact by mail with Terracini, Togliatti, Leonetti, Scoccimarro, and Tresso.

Between the end of 1923 and the beginning of 1924 he wrote some articles (under the pseudonym G. Masci) for the Correspondance lnternationale on the Italian domestic situation and fascism.

1 924. January. He planned to establish a new quarterly of Marxist studies and political culture, entitled Critica Proletaria. He also wanted to revive L'Ordine Nuovo with the collaboration of Piero Sraffa and Zino Zini. He tried to persuade Zini to translate a selection of writings by Marx and Engels on historical materialism.

February. He made the acquaintance of Victor Serge, whom he met several times afterward.

9 February. Gramsci wrote a letter to Togliatti and Terracini in which he expounded his conception of the party within the national and international framework, and expressed the need to form a new group to lead the PCd'l. He criticized the party's drift toward centralization, sectarianism, and detachment from the masses. He also reiterated his refutation of Bordiga's position.

1 2 February. The first issue of L'Unita appeared in Milan. The paper was originally subtitled "Workers' and Peasants' Daily, "

but on 1 2 August (that is, once the "Third Internationalists"

joined the party) it became "The Organ of the PCd'I. " The editorial group included 0. Pastore, A. Leonetti, G. Amoretti, F. Platone, M. Montagnana, F. Buffoni, G. Li Causi, L. Repaci (a literary and drama critic). The circulation of the paper oscillated between a high of 6o-7o,ooo copies and a low of 2o-3 o,ooo copies.

The February issue carried the article "11 problema di Milano" (The Problem of Milan) in which Gramsci laid out the

"national problem" of the conquest of Milanese social-democratic proletariat.

1 March. The first issue of the new fortnightly series of L'Ordine Nuov�A Review of Working Class Politics and Culture-was published in Rome. It declared its purpose on the title page: "L'Ordine Nuovo intends to stir up among the working and peasant masses a revolutionary vanguard capable of creating the state of the workers' and peasants' councils, and to establish the conditions for the arrival and the stability

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8 1

of communist society." Gramsci's editorial, "Capo" (Chief ), commemorated Lenin. In the second issue I 1 s March), he published "Contra il pessimismo" (Against Pessimism).

Gramsci wrote an article on "Le Vatican" for Correspondonce Internationale I 12 March).

6 April. Gramsci was elected to parliament by a constituency of the Veneto region.

12 May. Gramsci returned to Italy after an absence of two years-his immunity as parliamentary deputy protected him from arrest. A few days later he attended the PCd'I national conference, held secretly near Como. Gramsci criticized Bordiga's political line which, however, received the support of the majority. Gramsci became a member of the party's executive committee.

June. He moved to Rome and lodged with the Passarge family, who considered him "a very serious professor. "

Togliatti took Gramsci's place as delegate to Moscow for the Fifth Congress of the Communist International.

1 0 June. The Fascists murdered Giacomo Matteotti ( Reformist Socialist Party) who had made a speech in parliament attacking Mussolini and denouncing Fascist violence. Gramsci attended the meetings held by the parliamentary opposition parties. (The joint executive of these parties was called the Committee of Sixteen, and their decision to withdraw in protest from parliament became known as the Aventine Secession.) Gramsci proposed an appeal to the masses and a political general strike. During the following weeks he campaigned against the passivity and the legalistic maneuvering of the Aventine group; he wanted to rally the workers into a unified oppositional force. He took charge of the political operations of L ' Unita and the propaganda section of the party.

At the Fifth Congress of the Comintern in Moscow I 1 7 June

S July), a campaign was under way to Bolshevize the member parties, and to reaffirm the common front strategy with its call for a "workers' and peasants' government. "

Togliatti and Bordiga were elected to the executive committee of the Communist International.

July. At the PCd'I's central committee meetings, Gramsci spoke on the response to the Fascist crisis by his party and other anti-Fascists.

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August. The "Third Internationalist" faction of the PSI dissolved itself and entered the PCd'l. G. M. Serrati, F. Maffi and A. Marabini, among others, became members of the central committee.

On 10 August, in Moscow, Gramsci's wife Julia gave birth to their first son, Delio.

On 1 3- 14 August Gramsci, as general secretary of the party, gave a report to the central committee on "I compiti del Partito comunista di fronte alia crisi della societa capitalistica italiana" (The Tasks of the Communist Party in the Face of the Crisis of Italian Capitalist society), later published in L 'Ordine Nuovo ( 1 September) under the title "La crisi italiana" (The Italian Crisis). He also attended party meetings in Turin and Milan.

September. Gramsci started the transformation of the organizational structure of the party on the basis of "cells. " He attended the clandestine meeting of the party near Como. He also appeared at the provincial congress in Naples, where he talked in the name of the central committee opposing Bordiga.

October. He attended several provincial party congresses where the new party policies were discussed. On 1 9-22 October, at a meeting of the party's central committee in Rome, he spoke on the Italian political situation in view of the reopening of parliament.

On 20 October the Communist parliamentary group proposed the transformation of the Aventine Secession into a permanent "anti-parliament. " When the other parties rejected the proposal, the Communist deputies abandoned the Aventine group and decided to return to parliament.

Toward the end of October, Gramsci visited Sardinia. He attended a clandestine regional party congress near Cagliari and spent some days with his family in Ghilarza.

1 2 November. At the reopening of parliament, the Communist deputy Luigi Repossi entered the chamber and read an anti-Fascist declaration. The entire Communist group returned to parliament two weeks later.

December. Gramsci spent a few weeks in Milan.

1 9 2 5 January. I n early January, Gramsci attended the clandestine meeting of the party's executive committee, held once again near Como.

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Toward the end of January he met his sister-in-law Tatiana (Tanya) Schucht for the first time, in Rome.

February. Gramsci helped set up the PCd'I's correspondence school and undertook to prepare the study materials.

March-April. Gramsci traveled to Moscow for the fifth enlarged executive meeting of the Comintern (21 March - 6 April).

He spoke on the work of agitation and propaganda carried on by the PCd'l.

April-May. The first batches of study notes for the party's correspondence school were printed and distributed.

May. On 1 1 - 1 2 May the central committee of the PCd'I met to start preparations for the party's third national congress.

Gramsci opened the discussions with a report, "La situazione interna del nostro partito ed i compiti del prossimo congresso" (The Internal Situation in Our Party and the Tasks of the Forthcoming Congress) which was later published in L'Unita ( 3 July).

Gramsci made his only speech in parliament on 16 May, attacking proposed legislation banning secret organizations.

June. Bordiga's followers published a letter in L ' Unita announcing the formation of the "Comitato d'Intesa tra gli elementi della Sinistra" ( Committee of Accord Between Components of the Left). This led to a heated controversy in the pages of the paper; Gramsci took the lead in attacking Bordiga's factionalism.

July. The PCd'I central committee held a meeting to discuss the Bordigian current. The Communist International defined the Comitato d'Intesa as factionalist and called for its dissolution. During July and August, Gramsci attended numerous meetings in various parts of Italy to discuss the internal situation of the party. In August he met Bordiga in Naples and held a lorig discussion with him in the presence of other Communist Party members from the region. The Comitato d'Intesa was dissolved following discussions which involved Jules Humbert-Droz, a Comintern representative.

August-September. In collaboration with Togliatti, Gramsci formulated the theses to be presented at the Third National Congress of the PCd'I.

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Fall. Julia and Delio !accompanied by Julia's sister Eugenie) joined Gramsci in Rome. Julia worked at the Soviet embassy.

24 October. The police searched Gramsci's room at the Passarge residence.

December. Gramsci spoke at the party's regional congress in Milan, held secretly in the open countryside.

1 926 January. Gramsci crossed the border into France clandestinely to attend the Third National Congress of the PCd'I in Lyon j2o-26 January). The congress overwhelmingly approved the theses presented by Gramsci and his supporters within the party's leadership-they received 90. 8 percent of the votes while Bordiga's faction mustered only 9 . 2 percent. Gramsci, Togliatti, Scoccimarro, Camilla Ravera and P. Ravazzoli were among the members of the newly elected executive committee.

February. At a meeting of the party's leadership, on 6 February, Gramsci talked about workers' and peasants' committees and about the need to transform the trade unions from organizations made up of individual members into mass organisms.

He dictated to Riccardo Ravagnan a report on the Lyon congress, "Cinque anni di vita del partito" IThe Party's First Five Years) for publication in L'Unita j24 February).

May. Gramsci wrote an article for L'Unita j 1 4 May) to commemorate G. M. Serrati who had died suddenly four days earlier.

L ' Unita launched a campaign, inspired by Gramsci, to raise funds in support of the British miners' strike.

August. At a meeting of the PCd'l's executive committee held on 2-3 August, Gramsci delivered a report dealing with the Italian economic crisis and with the party's approach toward the working masses and the middle classes. The first part of the report, "Un esame della situazione italiana" lA Study of the Italian Situation) was later published in Stato Operaio

!March 1928).

Gramsci spent a brief vacation with his son Delio in Balzano. His wife, Julia, who was expecting their second child, returned to Moscow where Giuliano was born on 30 August.

September. The agrarian congress of the PCd'l, held clandestinely in Bari, approved the "theses on peasant labor" directly inspired by Gramsci.

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Bs

October. Gramsci, on behalf of the political bureau of the PCd'I, sent a letter to the central committee of the Soviet Communist Party on 1 4 October expressing his concerns about the threat to Bolshevik unity which was being posed by the internal struggles between the Stalin-Bukharin majority and the Trotsky-Zinoviev-Kamenev bloc. Gramsci warned his Russian comrades that "today you risk destroying your own handiwork, you are degrading and may even annul completely the leading position which the CPSU acquired under Lenin's leadership. It seems that your absorption with Russian questions is making you lose sight of the international implications of these questions . . . " Appealing for unity, Gramsci stated in his conclusion that "we would like to be sure that the majority of the CPSU central committee does not intend to go too far, that it does not intend to abuse its victory and take excessive measures. " Togliatti, the PCd'I representative in Moscow, considered the letter inappropriate and withheld it. He wrote back to Gramsci, arguing that it was necessary to support the correct position of the majority rather than dwell on the split itself and its consequences. Gramsci, in turn, responded with a note rejecting Togliatti's arguments. By the end of the month, Trotsky and Kamenev were expelled from the CPSU executive, while Zinoviev was removed from the presidency of the Comintern.

Gramsci drafted his long essay on "Alcuni temi della quistione meridionale" (Some Aspects of the Southern Question), but never completed it.

A new attempt on Mussolini's life on 3 r October sparked widespread Fascist violence and repressive measures against all oppositional elements.

November. J. Humbert-Droz was sent to Italy by the Comintern to explain the controversy going on within the Bolshevik Party to the executive committee of the PCd'I at a secret meeting held near Genoa on 1 -3 November. Gramsci was traveling from Rome on his way to the meeting when he was detained by the police in Milan and compelled to return immediately to Rome.

8 November. The Fascist government had just issued its "Exceptional Decrees" and Gramsci was arrested, together with other Communist Party deputies-even though they were supposed to be protected by the rules of parliamentary im-

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munity. He was placed in solitary confinement at the Regina Coeli prison in Rome. The following day the Fascist majority in the Chamber of Deputies declared that all the parliamentary members who belonged to the Aventine Secession and the Communist Party had forfeited their seats. Also on the same day (9 November) the Chamber of Deputies approved a bill presented by Mussolini which created the Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State.

18 November. Gramsci was charged under article 1 84 of the newly enacted Single Text of Laws on Public Security and was sentenced to five years of internment. He learned of his sentence the following day. At first it seemed that he would be sent to Somalia, but he was soon told that he was being assigned to one of the Italian islands.

2 5 November. Gramsci left the Regina Coeli prison. After two nights at the Carmine prison in Naples, he was transported further south to Palermo, where he remained for eight days and was told that his final destination was the island of Ustica.

7 December. Gramsci arrived in Ustica. During his stay on the island he lived with five other political prisoners : Bordiga, two other Communists from Aquila, and two former Socialist deputies, Paolo Conca and Giuseppe Sbaraglini. He helped organize a school among the prisoners-Bordiga was in charge of science while Gramsci taught history and studied German.

Gramsci was able to obtain books thanks to an open account established for him at a Milan bookshop by his friend the economist Piero Sraffa, who at that time was a professor of economics at the University of Cagliari.

1 927 1 4 January. The military court in Milan issued a warrant for Gramsci's arrest, signed by Judge Enrico Macis. The Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State began functioning soon afterward, on 1 February.

20 January. Gramsci left Ustica for the prison in Milan. The journey lasted nineteen days, with stops in the prisons of Palermo, Naples, Cajanello, lsernia, Sulmona, Castellammare Adriatico, Ancona, and Bologna.

7 February. Gramsci arrived at the prison of San Vittore in Milan. For a while he was kept in isolation. On 9 February he was interrogated by the examining magistrate Macis. He ob-

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tained permission to read some newspapers and applied for a double subscription to the prison library so that he could borrow eight books a week. He also received books and journals from outside prison. He was allowed to write two letters a week.

March. Gramsci wrote to Tatiana Schucht about his study plans and listed four topics which especially interested him : the history of Italian intellectuals, comparative linguistics, Pirandello's drama, and serial fiction. He was refused permission to write in his cell. He decided to resume his study of languages.

Another interrogation by Macis took place on 20 March.

April. Gramsci moved to a new cell. He suffered from insomnia and was unable to sleep more than three hours a night.

During the exercise period he met Ezio Riboldi, a Communist deputy and former "Third Internationalist."

May. Tatiana Schucht moved from Rome to Milan in order to be better able to help Gramsci.

2 June. Gramsci was interrogated once again by the magistrate Macis.

August-September. In August, Gramsci received a visit from his brother Mario. ( Mario Gramsci was a Fascist sympathizer. ) Some time later Piero Sraffa also went t o see him. Tatiana Schucht paid him frequent visits between September and January.

October. Gramsci requested journals and books about Sardinia. He asked his mother and Tatiana Schucht to send him his copy of Breviario di neolinguistica (Handbook of Neolinguistics) by Bertoni and Bartoli. He learned of his wife Julia's health problems.

November. Gramsci shared a cell with Enrico Tulli, the former editor of L'Unita. He asked for Machiavelli's works. It appeared that his trial would take place in late January or early February. Toward the end of the year Gramsci was visited by the chief health officer of the prison.

1 928 13 February. Gramsci sent a letter to the examining magistrate Macis, denouncing the intrigues of a certain Corrado Melani, a police agent who was posing as a dissident in the hopes of entrapping Gramsci.

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I 9 March. Gramsci received the order (issued by the prosecutor's office of the Special Tribunal) to stand trial. He named Giovanni Ariis from Milan as his personal lawyer.

April. Toward the end of the month, Gramsci was informed that his trial was scheduled to start on 28 May. He anticipated a prison sentence of between fourteen and seventeen years.

May. Gramsci and a group of other Communist prisoners were transported to Rome on I I May. The following day he was placed in a cell at Regina Coeli with Terracini and Scoccimarro.

The show trial against Gramsci and twenty-one other PCd'I leaders by the Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State took place in Rome between 28 May and 4 June. Referring to Gramsci, the prosecutor Michele Isgro declared: "We must prevent this brain from functioning for twenty years. "

June. On 4 June, Gramsci received one of the heaviest sentences handed down at the trial: 20 years, 4 months and 5

days.

Gramsci was supposed to be sent to the prison of Portolongone. However, a medical examination confirmed that he was in poor health, suffering from a uremic disorder and nervous exhaustion. He was sent, instead, to the prison at Turi, near Bari- a supposedly "special" penal institution because infirm prisoners were assigned to it.

July. He left Rome for Turi on 8 June. The journey lasted twelve days with long stops in Caserta, Benevento, and Foggia.

On I 9 July, Gramsci arrived in Turi, where he received his prisoner's identification number, 7047, and was placed in a cell with five other political prisoners. He was allowed to write to his relatives every fifteen days. Carlo Gramsci initiated a petition to obtain for his brother a single cell and permission to write in it.

August. Gramsci was placed in a single cell, next door to the guardroom-he was under constant surveillance and the noise often prevented him from sleeping.

December. Severely handicapped by his uremic disorder, Gramsci had great difficulty walking. For a long time he remained seated during the exercise period, or else had to be propped up by fellow prisoners.

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Tatiana Schucht traveled from Milan to Turi and was able to have a few visits with Gramsci.

I 929 January. Gramsci obtained permission to write in his cell. He planned to read systematically and to concentrate on certain topics. His book requests reflected these plans. At first he did some translations.

February. Gramsci made a list of "Main Topics/' dated 8 February I 929, on the first page of an exercise book which he entitled "First Notebook. "

March. Gramsci wrote t o Tatiana Schucht about his plans to focus his studies on: nineteenth-century Italian history with special attention to the formation and development of intellectual groups; the theory of history and historiography; Americanism and Fordism.

April. He received a visit from Tatiana Schucht.

July. Gramsci asked Tatiana Schucht for information about Terracini's appeal of the Special Tribunal sentence. He also requested a copy of the Acts of Parliament which contained a transcript of the debate on the government's Concordat with the Vatican !signed on I I February I 929).

November. Gramsci received a visit from his brother Carlo.

December. Tatiana Schucht moved to Turi, where she remained until July I 930.

I 9 30. February. Gramsci asked his brother Carlo to obtain a copy of the sentence handed down by the Special Tribunal on 4 June I 928.

April. He received a copy of the Special Tribunal sentence.

June. Gramsci's brother Gennaro visited him in prison. He told Gramsci's about the bitter divisions which had split the PCd'I leadership and culminated in the expulsion of Leonetti, Tresso and Ravazzoli.

July. Gramsci's sentence was reduced by one year, 4 months, and s days. He learned that his wife was not doing well and had to spend time convalescing in a clinic. His brother Gennaro paid him another visit.

August. Gramsci wrote to his brother Carlo, asking him to initiate a petition to allow Gramsci to read certain books he

Chronology

was prohibited from having, including works written by Trotsky after his expulsion from the Soviet Union. The letter was withheld by the prison authorities.

September. Gramsci himself submitted a petition in order to obtain certain books which he had mentioned in the earlier letter to his brother. The petition was accepted. Sometime between late September and early October he received another visit from his brother Carlo.

November. Gramsci was suffering from insomnia, caused partly by the prison conditions.

November-December. Toward the end of the year, some other Communist prisoners (among them E. Tulli, E. Riboldi, A. Lisa, G. Lay, A. Scucchia) were brought to Turi. Gramsci, who had already started a series of political conversations with fellow prisoners during the exercise period, organized a cycle of discussions on such topics as the role of intellectuals in the party, the relation of the party to the military, the formation of a constituent assembly. In 1 928-29 the Comintern abandoned its common front policy, declared that capitalism had become unstable, and defined social democracy as reactionary (theory of "social fascism"). The PCd'I accepted these views, and foresaw the radicalization of the class struggle and an imminent crisis in the Fascist regime. Gramsci, however, predicted that the country first had to pass through a "democratic" phase, and he suggested that the party employ the phrase "Constituent Assembly" as a slogan. His position provoked strong negative reactions among some of the other Communist prisoners, and Gramsci discontinued the discussions.

I 9 3 1 March. Gramsci received a visit from his brother Carlo.

April-May. In April the PCd'I held its fourth congress in Germany. In a conversation with his fellow Communist prisoners about the likelihood of a Communist revolution in Italy, Gramsci reiterated his view that the country first had to go through a "democratic" phase.

June. Gramsci received some of the works of Karl Marx in the French edition published by Castes. He also obtained a report by the Economist on the first Soviet five-year plan.

July. Gramsci received permission to correspond with his relatives weekly, rather than twice a month.

Chronology

9 1

August. Gramsci became severely ill. His brother Carlo went to see him. His friend Sraffa also traveled to Turi but was denied permission to visit Gramsci.

September. He sent to Tatiana Schucht the sketch of an essay on Canto X of Dante's Inferno, and asked her to forward it to Professor Cosmo.

October. He petitioned Mussolini for permission to continue reading the periodicals to which he subscribed. Permission was partially granted in December.

1 9 3 2 During the year, the possibility o f a n exchange of political prisoners between Italy and the Soviet Union was explored.

Gramsci would have been a beneficiary, but nothing came of the initiative.

May. Gramsci received a visit from his brother Carlo.

August. Tatiana Schucht suggested that Gramsci should be examined by a trustworthy doctor. Gramsci wrote to Tatiana (29 August) that his health had become extremely precarious.

1 5 September. Without informing Gramsci, Tatiana Schucht submitted a formal petition to Mussolini asking that a private doctor be allowed to examine Gramsci. In October, Gramsci was visited by the prison doctor.

November. Amnesties were granted on the tenth anniversary of Fascist rule. Gramsci's sentence was reduced to 1 2 years and 4 months. In the following months Piero Sraffa tried to persuade the authorities that Gramsci was entitled to conditional freedom. The Fascist government insisted on obtaining from Gramsci himself a petition for clemency-a condition that Gramsci found unacceptable.

Following orders from the Ministry of the Interior, the political prisoners at Turi were placed in solitary confinement.

With the complicity of some guards, Gramsci was still able to converse with a few other political prisoners, among them S.

Pertini (a Socialist who much later became President of Italy), A. Fontana, and G. Trombetti.

3 0 December. Gramsci's mother died in Ghilarza. His family withheld the information from him for a very long time.

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Chronology

1 9 3 3 January. Tatiana Schucht moved to Turi where she remained, except for short intervals, until the summer. She visited Gramsci frequently.

February. The government finally granted perm1ss10n for Gramsci to be examined by a doctor of his choice.

7 March. Gramsci suffered another health crisis. For about two weeks, a young Communist fellow prisoner, Gustavo Trombetti, spent his nights and days at Gramsci's bedside to help nurse him back to health.

Gramsci told Tatiana Schucht that he would seek a transfer to the infirmary of some other prison.

G. Trombetti was allowed to move permanently into Gramsci's cell in order to help him and look after him. However, Gramsci's permission to write in his cell was temporarily revoked.

On 20 March, Professor Umberto Arcangeli, an independent doctor, examined Gramsci in prison. Arcangeli declared that "Gramsci cannot survive for long under the present conditions; I consider it necessary to transfer him to a hospital or clinic, unless he can be granted conditional freedom. " Gramsci, once again, refused to ask for a pardon which would have allowed him to leave prison and seek treatment under better conditions.

April. Professor Filippo Saporito, the prison doctor, visited Gramsci.

May-June. Professor Arcangeli's statement was published in Humanite (May) and in Soccorso Rosso ( June). In Paris a committee was set up to campaign for the release of Gramsci and other victims of the Fascist regime. Romain Rolland and Henri Barbusse were members of the committee. Azione Antifascista devoted most of its June issue to Gramsci. The Notebooks of Giustizia e LibertiJ (August) published an essay on Gramsci and the Ordine Nuovo signed "Fabrizio" (U. Calosso).

July. Gramsci and Trombetti were moved to a quieter cell.

August. Gramsci had several visits from his brother Carlo and Tatiana Schucht. Carlo took charge of the request to have Gramsci transferred from the Turi prison.

October. Gramsci received the authorization to leave the Turi prison and enter Giuseppe Cusumano's clinic in Formia.

Chronology

9 3

The Special Tribunal rejected the claim that the amnesty decree of November I 9 3 2 entitled Gramsci to freedom.

I9 November. Gramsci left the Turi prison. He stopped for about two weeks in the infirmary of the prison at Civitavecchia. Tatiana Schucht visited him during his stay there.

December. Gramsci arrived at the Cusumano clinic in Formia on 7 December. He was still a prisoner; the police guarded his room and watched the area surrounding the clinic very closely.

While Gramsci was in Formia, Tatiana Schucht visited him weekly. His brother Carlo and his friend Sraffa also went to see him. Gramsci started reading again and after a while he resumed writing in his notebooks.

I 9 3 4 July. O n I 2 July, Gramsci was examined b y Professor Vittorio Puccinelli, a doctor from the Quisisana clinic in Rome. On I 5

July, Gramsci asked to be transferred to another clinic, especially since he needed a hernia operation.

September. Outside Italy, the campaign for Gramsci's release gained intensity. Romain Rolland published a pamphlet on him.

October. Gramsci based a new petition for conditional freedom on certain clauses in the penal code and in prison regulations which deal with the rights of sick prisoners. On 2 5

October h e was granted conditional freedom.

On a few occasions he left the clinic for a few brief outings with his brother Carlo, Tatiana Schucht, and Piero Sraffa. The police, suspecting that he might flee, watched and recorded all his movements.

I 9 3 5

April. Gramsci renewed his request for transfer to another clinic.

June. Gramsci's health suffered another serious setback and, once again, he asked to leave the Cusumano clinic.

24 August. Gramsci left the Cusumano clinic accompanied by Professor Puccinelli, and entered the Quisisana clinic in Rome.

In the following months Tatiana Schucht was almost always with him. His brother Carlo saw him frequently. Piero Sraffa also paid him a visit.

I 9 3 6 Gramsci resumed regular correspondence with his wife and two sons in Moscow.

I 9 3 7 April. Gramsci's sentence expired on 2 I April. He had planned to move to Sardinia, but he was still a patient at the Quisi-

94

Chronology

sana clinic when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on the evening of 2 5 April. Tatiana Schucht stayed at his bedside.

Gramsci died early in the morning on 27 April. The funeral took place on 28 April under police surveillance. His ashes were buried in a common grave at the Verano cemetery; after the war they were transferred to their final resting place in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.

Antonio Gramsci

P R I S O N N O T E B O O K S

VOLUME I

N O T E B O O K I

1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 0

First Notebook

F I R S T NOTEBOOK ( 8 February I 9 2 9 ) Notes and jottings

Main topics :

I ) Theory of history and of historiography.

2 ) Development of the Italian bourgeoisie up to IB7o.

3 ) Formation of Italian in tellectual groups: development, attitudes.

4) The popular literature of "serial novels " and the reasons for its con tinued success.

5 ) Cavalcan te Cavalcan ti: his position in the structurea and art of the Divine Comedy. 1

6 ) Origins and developmen t of Catholic Action in Italy and in Europe. 2

7 ) The concept of folklore.

8 ) Experiences of prison life.

9 ) The "southern question " and the question of the islands.3

10) Observations on the Italian population : its composition, function of emigration.

I I ) Americanism and Fordism.

1 2 ) The question of the language in Italy: Manzoni and G. I.

Ascoli.4

1 3 ) "Common sense" (cf. y).

I 4 ) Types of periodicals: theoretical, critical-historical, of general culture (dissemination).

I S ) Neo-grammarians and neo-linguists ( "this round table is square" ). 5

I 6 ) Father Bresciani's progeny.6

"In t h e manuscript, "structure" replaces the canceled word "economy."

r oo

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0)

§( r). On poverty, Catholicism and the papacy. Remember the answer given by a French Catholic worker to the author of a booklet on Ouvriers et Patrons which received a prize from the Paris Academy of Moral and Political Sciences in 1 906. The answer was an epigrammatic response to the objection which had been raised against him that, according to the affirmation of Jesus Christ, there would always be rich and poor: "we will then leave at least two poor persons, so that Jesus Christ will not be proved wrong. " 1 This general question should be examined within the whole tradition and doctrine of the Catholic Church. The principal assertions made in the encyclicals of the more recent popes, that is, the most important ones since the question assumed historical significance: r l private property, especially "landed property, " is a "natural right" which may not be violated, not even through high taxes (the programs of "Christian democratic" tendency for the redistribution-with indemnity- of land to poor peasants, as well as their financial doctrines are derived from these assertions!; 2) the poor must accept their lot, since class distinctions and the distribution of wealth are ordained by God and it would be impious to try to eliminate them; 3 ) alms-giving is a Christian duty and implies the existence of poverty; 4) the social question is primarily moral and religious, not economic, and it must be resolved through Christian charity, the dictates of morality, and the decree of religion. ( See Codice Sociale and Sillaboj.2

Cf. Notebook 20, §3.

§(2). Faccia a faccia col nemico, by Luigi Galleani, printed in the United States (Boston ? ) circa 1 9 1 0 by Cronache Sovversive. It is a miscellaneous compilation of the court proceedings against the individualists (Ravachol, Henry, etc.) which, basically, is of little use. 1 Some observations: In his speech at Livomo, Abbo repeated the introduction to Etievant's declaration of principles, which is reprinted as an appendix in the book; the sentence on "linguistics" which made everybody laugh is taken literally-Abba had certainly memorized the first part of the declaration.2

This point may be used to show how these men acquired their culture and how widespread and popular this type of literature is.

All the declarations of the accused indicate that one of the basic reasons for their actions is the "right to well-being" which they (namely the French, who occupy the greater part of the book) consider a natural right.

Several of the accused repeat the phrase that "one orgy of the upper class consumes what would suffice for a thousand families of workers. "

There is not a single reference to the relations of production. Etievant's declaration, fully reproduced in the appendix, is typical because it at-

First Notebook. §4

1 0 1

tempts t o construct a justificatory system for the individualists of action; naturally, the same justifications apply to everybody, to the judges, the jurors, the executioner. Every social element is enclosed within the net of its sensations, like a pig trapped in an iron barrel and unable to escape from it; the individualist hurls the "petard, " the judge condemns, the executioner beheads. There is no escape. It is a voluntarism which, in order to justify itself morally, negates itself in a tragicomic manner.

The analysis of this declaration reveals how these individual "deeds"

were the result of a moral disorder in French society that lasted from 1 870

right up to the time of Dreyfusism, in which it finds its collective outburst.

With respect to Henry, the book contains a letter by a certain Galtey (I think, but one must check) concerning Henry's repressed love for Galtey's wife.3 This woman, upon learning that Henry had been in love with her (it seems that she had been unaware of it), declares to a journalist that had she known she would have, perhaps, given herself to him. In the letter, the husband writes that he has no complaints about his wife's declarations and explains: if a man has failed to embody his woman's romantic dream of a Prince Charming (or something of the sort), so much the worse for him; he must accept another replacing him. This mixture of Prince Charming and materialistic rationalism is typical.

In his declaration at the Lyons trial of 1 894 (check), Kropotkin asserts with conviction that the final upheaval will occur within ten years: the tone of certainty is noteworthy.4

Cf. Notebook r6, § 2 3 .

§(3). Church-State relations. Vorwiirts of 1 4 June 1 929, in an article on the Concordat between the Vatican City and Prussia, says that "following the political changes that have occurred in Germany, Rome considers (the previous legislation which in fact already constituted a concordat) defunct." 1 This could be a very important precedent and should be remembered.

Cf. Notebook r 6, § r r .

§(4). Natural law and Catholicism. The current polemicists against natural law carefully avoid recalling that it is an integral part of Catholicism and its doctrine. A study that demonstrated the close relationship between religion and the "immortal principles" would be interesting. The Catholics themselves admit these relationships when they assert the French Revolution gave rise to a "heresy"; that is, they recognize that it is a question of a doctrinal split within one and the same mentality and

102

NOTE B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0 )

general conception. One could say, therefore, that it is not the principles of the French Revolution that transcend religion, but the doctrines that transcend these principles, namely the doctrines of force as opposed to natural law.

Cf. Notebook 27, §2.

§(5). Church-State relations. In the Vossische Zeitung of 18 June 1 929, Hoepker-Aschoff, Prussian Democratic Minister of Finance, posed the question, noted above in Vorwiirts, thus: "It is equally impossible not to recognize the soundness of the Roman thesis which, in the face of the many political and territorial changes that have occurred, demanded that the accords be adopted to the new circumstances. " In the same article, HoepkerAschoff recalls that the Prussian state "had always maintained that the accords of 1 8 2 1 were still in force. " 1 (And the Kulturkampf period? )2

Cf. Notebook 1 6, § 1 1 .

§(6). "In order to praise a book, i t is not at all necessary to open it; if one has decided to criticize it, however, it is always prudent to read it. At least, while the author is still alive. " Rivarol. 1

Cf. Notebook 23, §4.

§(7). Margherita Sarfatti and the ";ousts. " In Goffredo Bellonci's review lltalia Letteraria, 23 June 1 929] of Margherita Sarfatti's Palazzone, one reads: "how very realistic is the virgin's bashfulness as she stands demurely in front of the matrimonial bed while sensing nonetheless that

'it is benign and welcoming for the coming jousts . ' " 1 This demureness she feels with the technical expressions of licentious story-tellers is priceless: she will also have anticipated "many a long romp" and a "good mount. "

Cf. Notebook 23, §9.

§(8). The old and the new generation. The old generation of intellectuals has failed, but it has had a youth ( Papini, Prezzolini, Soffici, etc.).

Today's young generation does not even have this period of brilliant promise: they were grey-haired even as youngsters (Titta Rosa, Angioletti, Malaparte, etc. ) . 1

Cf. Notebook 2 3 , § 1 0.

First Notebook. § I I

103

§(9). Soffici. A boor with no candor and spontaneity.

§( 1 0). On Machiavelli. All too often Machiavelli is considered as the

"politician in general, " good for all seasons: this is certainly an error in politics. Machiavelli linked to his times: 1 ) internal struggles within the republic of Florence; 2) struggles among the Italian states for a reciprocal balance of power; 3 ) struggles of the Italian states for a European balance of power.

Machiavelli is influenced by the examples of France and Spain which have attained strong national unity.1 He makes an "elliptical comparison, "

as Croce would put it, 2 and deduces the rules for a strong state in general and an Italian one in particular. Machiavelli is wholly a man of his times and his art of politics represents the philosophy of the time that leans toward absolute national monarchy, the structure which permits bourgeois development and organization. In Machiavelli, one finds in nuce the separation of powers and parliamentarianism; his "ferocity" is directed at the residues of feudalism, not the progressive classes. The prince must put an end to feudal anarchy and this is what Valentino3 does in Romagna, relying on the support of the productive classes, peasants and merchants.

Given the military character of the h�ad of state, as is required in a period of struggle for the formation and the consolidation of power, the class references contained in the Art of War must be understood as referring to the general structure of the state: if the urban bourgeoisie wants to put an end to internal disorder and external anarchy, it must have the support of peasants as a mass, and create a secure and loyal armed force.4 One may say that this essentially political conception is so dominant in Machiavelli that it leads him into errors of a military character: he thinks primarily of the infantry whose ranks can be filled through political action and thus misjudges the value of the artillery. In short, he should be regarded as a politician who must concern himself with military craft insofar as this is necessary for his political designs, but he does so in a one-sided manner since the center of his thought lies elsewhere.

Cf. Notebook 1 3, § 1 3 .

§( u ). On originality in science. Einaudi: "A theory is not to be attributed to the person who intuited it, or accidentally enunciated it, or expounded a principle from which it could have been deduced, or recounted in a disconnected manner the various notions which were aspiring to be recomposed in a unity. " Missing is the positive aspect mentioned later in the sentence: "in which other book was the following proposition taken up as the 'intentional' object of a 'particular' treatment, etc. ? " Croce: "It

1 04

NOTEBO O K I ( 1 9 2 9- 1 9 3 0 )

i s one thing t o put forth a n incidental observation which i s then dropped without development, and another thing to establish a principle whose fruitful consequences have been discerned; it is one thing to enunciate a general and abstract idea and quite another to think it in real and concrete terms; finally, it is one thing to invent and quite another to repeat at second or third hand. " The statement by Einaudi is seriously flawed and full of odd linguistic inaccuracies, but it is derived from Croce (Einaudi, Riforma Sociale, 1 929, p. 227; Croce, Materialismo storico, 4th ed., p.

26). 1

Cf. Notebook r o, II, § r 8 .

§( u). Giovanni Papini. The "pious author" of the Civilta Cattolica. 1

Cf. Notebook 2 3 , § r r .

§( 1 3). Alfredo Panzini. In L 'Italia che Scrive ( June 1 929), F . Palazzi writes about I giorni del sole e del grana: "Above all, he examines and is concerned with agrarian life in the same way as a landowner who wants to assure himself of the productive abilities of the working animals he owns-the four-legged as well as the two-legged ones-and who upon seeing a tilled field immediately wonders whether the harvest will live up to his hopes. " In short, Panzini the slave driver. 1

Cf. Notebook 23, § 1 2.

§( r 4). Fortunato Rizzi, a or the petty Italian. Louis Reynaud, who must be a disciple of Maurras, has written a book- Le Rom an tisme ILes origines anglo-germaniques. Influences etrangeres et traditions nationales. Le reveil du genie fran11ais), Paris, Colinto prove and fully support a thesis that belongs to integral nationalism : that romanticism is alien to the French genius and is a foreign importation, Germanic and Anglo-German. 1 In this proposition, for Maurras and undoubtedly for Reynaud as well, Italy is and must be grouped with France; indeed, Catholic nations in general - Catholicism- are united against Protestant nations, Latinism against Germanicism. Romanticism is an infection .of German origin, an infection for Latin culture, for France which has been its great victim : in its countries of origin, England and Germany, romanticism will be or has been inconsequential, but in

• In the manscript: "Giovanni Rizzi . "

First Notebook. § 14

105

France it has become the spirit of successive revolutions since 1 7 89, it has destroyed or devastated tradition etc. etc.

Now, this is how Prof. Fortunato Rizzi, b author of an apparently very mediocre (not surprisingly, judging from the way he treats currents of thought and opinion) book on the sixteenth century, views Reynaud's book in an article ( "II Romanticismo francese e l'Italia") published in the Libri del Giorno of June 1 929.2 Rizzi ignores the "background, " he ignores the fact that Reynaud's book is more political than literary, he ignores the propositions of Maurras's integral nationalism in the cultural field, and sets out with his petty Italian's little lantern in search of traces of Italy in the book. By Jove! Italy is not to be found; therefore, Italy is neglected, unrecognized! "The almost absolute silence about Italy is truly remarkable. One could say that for him ( Reynaud) Italy does not exist and has never existed : and yet he should have found her staring him in the face at every turn. " Reynaud recalls that in the seventeenth century European civilization was French. And Rizzi :

"Would it really have required a heroic effort to point out, at least in passing, how much seventeenth-century France owed to sixteenth century Italy? But Italy does not exist for our good brethren from across the Alps. " How sad!

Reynaud writes : "les anglais, puis les allemands, nous communiquent leur superstition de !'antique. " And Rizzi : "Oh, look from where France gets her worship of the ancients ! From England and from Germany! And what about the Italian Renaissance with its marvellous power to spread all over Europe including-yes, indeed

-France ? Erased from history . . . " Other examples are equally amusing. "Vaunted or unconscious indifference or ignorance regarding Italy, " which, according to Rizzi, adds no merit to the book but, rather, "in certain respects greatly weakens and diminishes it. "

Conclusion : '1but w e who are the first born, or better (as Balbo thought) the unique offspring of Rome, we are of lordly race and do not indulge in petty vendettas, etc. etc. " and, therefore, he acknowledges that Reynaud's work is well ordered, acute, learned, very lucid, etc. etc ..

Laugh or weep. I remember the following episode: writing about someone or another, a columnist recalled that one of this hero's ancestors had been mentioned by Dante in The Divine Comedy, bin the manuscript : "Giovanni Rizzi. "

I 06

NOTEB O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

"this golden book of the Italian nobility. " He was indeed men tioned, but in one of the lower circles of Hell : it does not matter to the petty Italian who, blinded by a fallen nobleman's mania for grandeur, fails to notice that Reynaud, from his point of view, wanted to pay Italy the greatest homage by not mentioning it in his book. What matters to Rizzi, however, is that Manzoni was only mentioned in a little footnote.

§( I s ). On Italian universities. Why do they not exercise in this country the same guiding influence on cultural life that they exercise in other countries ?

One of the reasons must be sought in the fact that in the universities the contact between teachers and students is not organized.

The professor lectures to the mass of listeners from the podium, that is, he delivers his lesson and leaves. Only at the time of writing his dissertation does the student approach the professor, ask for a topic and for specific advice on how to carry out scholarly research. To the mass of students courses are nothing but a series of lectures, heard more or less attentively, wholly or only in part: the student relies on hand-outs, on the book which the teacher himself wrote on the subject, or on the bibliography he suggested.

Greater contact exists between individual teachers and individual students who want to specialize in a particular discipline; this contact comes about, most often, casually and is of enormous importance for academic continuity and for the success of the various disciplines. It comes about, for example, because of religion, politics or family friendships. A student becomes a regular follower of a particular professor who meets him in the library, invites him home, advises him on books to read and on research to pursue. Every teacher tends to form his own "school, " has his own particular points of view (called "theories") on specific areas of his subject, which he would like to see upheld by "his followers and pupils. " Every professor wants his university, in competition with other universities, to produce young men who could make "serious" contributions to his discipline. Therefore, within the same faculty, professors of related disciplines compete for certain young men who may already have distinguished themselves through a book review, or a short article, or in classroom discussions (where these are held) . Then, the professor really guides his student; he

First Notebook. § r6

1 07

suggests a topic, advises him on how to tackle it, facilitates his research, hastens his scholarly growth by frequent conversation, ensures the publication of his first essays in specialized journals, puts him in contact with other specialists, and monopolizes him completely.

Except for sporadic mafia-type cases, this custom is beneficial because it integrates the function of the university. It ought to be changed from something personal, due to personal initiative, into an organic function: it seems to me (although I do not know to what extent) that the German type of seminars represent this function or seek to perform it. Certain professors are surrounded by a throng of aspirants, who hope to clamber more readily on to a university chair. Many young persons, however, especially those coming from provincial lycees, feel out of place both in the social milieu of the university and in the academic setting. The first six months of the course are used up getting one's bearings as to the specific nature of university studies, and personal relations between teacher and student are inevitably timid. In seminars, this would not happen, or at least not to the same degree.

In any case, this general structure of university life does not create, not even at the university, any permanent intellectual hierarchy between the professors and the mass of students; after university even those few ties are loosened and the country lacks any cultural structure that hinges on the university. This was a constitutive factor of the success achieved by the Croce Gentile dyad, before the war, in forming a great center of national intellectual life; 1 among other things, they also struggled against the shortcom ings of university life and the scientific and pedagogic (at times even moral) mediocrity of the official teachers.

§(1 6). Ignoble pajama. In an article in Nuova An tologia ( 1 6

June 1 929) Bruno Barilli calls the prison uniform "that species of ignoble pajama. " 1 But, perhaps, already many attitudes and ways of thinking about prison have changed. While I was in prison at Milan, I read in the Domenica del Carriere a "reader's postcard"

which said, more or less : "Two persons meet in a train, and one of them says that he has been 20 years in prison. 'Surely for political reasons, ' says the other one." But the epigrammatic point is not in this reply, as it might appear in recounting it. The "postcard"

1 08

NOTEB OOK I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0 )

reveals that having been in prison no longer rouses repulsion, because one may have been there for political reasons. And the "readers' postcards" are one of the most typical documents of Italian popular common sense. Barilli belongs to an even lower level than this common sense: philistine for the classical philistines of the Domenica del Carriere.

§( 1 7). Riccardo Balsamo-Crivelli. Regarding the "Readers'

Postcards" of the Domenico del Carriere, one should note the following aside by Mr. Domenico Claps (L 'Italia che Scrive, June 1 92 9 ) in an article on Riccardo Balsamo-Crivelli (who in the title and in the table of contents is confused with Gustavo ! ) : "who would have told him that this book ( Cammina . . . Cammina . . . ) would be adopted as a language textbook at the University of Frankfurt ? " 1 Poor fellow, given that before the war at the University of Strasbourg they were using the "Readers' Postcards" as a language textbook! Naturally, University here means only the seminar on Romance philology, where the text is chosen not by the professor but by the instructor of Italian who may be just an Italian university student; and "language text" means simply the text that provides German students with a model of the language spoken by the average Italian and not of literary or artistic language. The choice of the "Readers' Postcards" is thus very sensible and Mr. Domenico Claps is himself a "petty Italian" whom Bal samo-Crivelli should challenge to a duel.

§( 1 8). Maurras 's error. Notes on the French Monarchist Party. The monarchist party in a republican regime, like the republican party in a monarchic regime and the nationalist party in a regime of national subjection, cannot but be a party sui generis: that is, if it wants to have relatively quick success, it must be the center for a federation of parties, more than a party characterized by all the particular details of its government program. The party of a general system of government and not the party of a particular government. (Within this range of parties, however, the religious parties, such as the German Center Party and the various popular Christian-Social parties, occupy a separate space. ) Every party is founded on a class, and the monarchist party in France is founded on the remnants of the old landed gentry and on a small number of intellectuals. On what

First Notebook. § r9

109

do monarchists count in order to take power and restore the monarchy?

They count on the collapse of the bourgeois-parliamentary regime and on the inability of any other existing organized force to be the political nucleus of a military dictatorship which is expected or which they themselves prearranged. Their social class forces could not attain power in any other way. While waiting, the central leadership carries out the following activity: 1 ) a politico-military (military in the party sense) organizing action, in order to hold together, as effectively as possible, the narrow social base on which the movement historically rests. Since this base, more than any other, is constituted by elements of generally greater intelligence, culture, wealth, administrative skill, etc., it is possible to have a remarkable, even imposing, party movement but one which has no power outside of itself, that is, it has no reserves to throw into the struggle during a decisive crisis. It is noteworthy, therefore, only during normal periods when the active elements can be counted merely in the tens of thousands, but it will become (numerically) insignificant in moments of crisis, when the active elements may number hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions. (Continues) l

Cf. Notebook 1 3, § 3 7 .

§(1 9). Information on the relations between Jews and Christians during the Risorgimento. In 1 92 1 , the publisher Bocca collected in three volumes, with a preface by a certain D. Parodi, a series of Confessioni e professioni di fede di Letterati, Filosofi, Uomini politici, ecc. which had previously appeared in Bignami's Coenobium, as responses to a questionnaire on religious sentiment and its various connections. The collection, although faulty in many respects, could be of interest to those who may want to study the currents of opinion around the end of the last century and the beginning of this one. Raffaele Ottolenghi, as is characteiistic of him, instead of keeping to the questionnaire makes a lyrical-sentimental excursion into his recollections as a Piedmontese "Jew. " I extract from his contribution some information about the situation of the Jews during the Risorgimento. 1

A Jewish veteran of Napoleon's army returned to his town with a French woman: the bishop, upon learning that the woman was a Christian, had her taken away by the police against her own will. The bishop used to take possession of Jewish children who in the course of some quarrel with their parents threatened to convert to Christianity. (Brofferio recorded these facts in his history.)2

After 1 8 1 5, the Jews were expelled from the universities and thus from the liberal professions.

In 1 799, during the Austro-Russian invasion, a Jewish pogrom; at Ac-

I IO

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0)

qui, a only the bishop's intervention saved Ottolenghi's great-grandfather from the crowd's guns.3 He recalls a pogrom at Siena, where Jews were sent to the stake and the bishop refused to intervene.

In 1 848, Ottolenghi's father returned to Acqui from Turin wearing the uniform of the National Guard; irritation among the reactionaries; a rumor was spread about the ritual sacrifice of a child by Ottolenghi's father; alarm bells rung; the arrival of peasants from the countryside to sack the ghetto. The bishop refused to intervene; Ottolenghi was saved by the mayor who feigned an arrest until the troops arrived. The reactionaries and the clericals wanted to portray the liberal reforms of 1 848 as an

"invention" of the Jews. (The story of the Mortara boy. )4

Cf. Notebook r 6, §22, and Notebook 1 9, §2 5 .

§(20}. Salvator Cotta. Orem us on the altars and flatulence in the sacristy.1

Cf. Notebook 2 3 , § 9 .

§(2 1 }. The first volume of the already cited Confessioni e professioni di fede 1 contains the responses of the following Italian litterati, etc. : Angiolo Silvio Novara, Prof. Alfredo Poggi, Prof. Enrico Catellani, Raffaele Ottolenghi, Prof. Bernardino Varisco, Augusto Agabiti, Prof. A. Renda, Vittore Marchi, editor of the newspaper Dio e Popolo, Ugo Janni, a Waldensian clergyman, A. Paolo Nunzio, Pietro Ridolfi Bolognesi, Nicola Toscano Stanziale, editor of Rassegna Critica, Dr. Giuseppe Gasco, Luigi Di Mattia, Ugo Perucci, elementary school teacher, Prof. Casimiro Tosini, head of a teachers' training college, Adolfo Artioli, Prof. Giuseppe Morando, editor of Rivista Rosminiana, principal of the High School Lyceum at Voghera, Prof. Alberto Friscia, Vittorio Nardi, Luigi Marrocco, journalist, G. B. Penne, Guido Piccardi, Renato Bruni, Prof. Giuseppe Rensi.

Cf. Notebook r 6, §22.

§(22}. The second volume of Confessioni e professioni di fede contains the responses of the following Italians : Del Greco Francesco, prof.

director of a mental hospital, Alessandro Bonucci, university prof., Francesco Cosentini, university prof., Luigi Pera, physician, Filippo Abignente, editor of Carattere, Giampiero Turati, Bruno Franchi, chief editor of Scu-

• Originally in the manuscript: "At Alba (I am under the impression that Ottolengthi was from Alba, but perhaps I am mistaken! . " Subsequently, Gramsci erased these words and replaced them as in the text above.

First Notebook. §23

I I I

ola Positiva di Diritto Criminale, Manfredi Siotto-Pintor, university prof., Enrico Caporali, prof., Giovanni Lanzalone, editor of the journal Arte e Morale, Leonardo Gatto Roissard, lieutenant in the Alpine Corps, Pietro Raveggi, journalist, Widar Cesarini-Sforza, Leopolda De Angelis, Prof.

Giovanni Predieri, Orazio Bacci, Giuseppe Benetti, journalist, Prof. G.

Capra-Cordova, Costanza Palazzo, Pietro Romano, Giulio Carvaglio, Leone Luzzatto, Adolfo Faggi, university prof., Ercole Quadrelli, Carlo-Francesco Gabba, senator, university prof., Dr. Ernesto Lattes, journalist, Settimio Corti, philosophy prof., B. Villanova D'Ardenghi, journalist (Bruno Brunelli), Paolo Calvina, evangelical minister, Giuseppe Lipparini, prof., Prof.

Oreste Ferrini, Luigi Rossi Case, prof., Prof. Antioco Zucca, Vittoria Fabrizi de' Biani, Guido Falorsi, prof., Prof. Benedetto De Luca, journalist, Giacomo Levi Minzi (a bibliophile at the Biblioteca Marciana), Prof. Alessandro Arro, Bice Sacchi, Prof. Ferdinanda Belloni-Filippi, Nella Doria Cambon, Prof. Romeo Manzoni.

Cf. Notebook 1 6, §22.

§(23). In the third volume of Confessioni e professioni di fede: Romola Murri, Giovanni Vidari, university prof., Luigi Ambrosi, university prof., Salvatore Farina, Angelo Flavia Guidi, journalist, Count Alessandro D'Aquino, Baldassare Labanca, university prof. of the History of Christianity, Giannino Antona-Traversi, playwright, Mario Pilo, prof., Alessandro Sacchi, university prof., Angelo De Gubernatis, Giuseppe Sergi, university prof., Adolfo Zerboglio, university prof., Vittorio Benini, prof., Paolo Arcari, Andrea Lo Forte Randi, Arnalda Cervesato, Giuseppe Cimbali, university prof., Alfredo Melani, architect, Giovanni Preziosi, Silvio Adrasto Barbi, prof., Massimo Bontempelli, Achille Monti, university prof., Valleda Benetti, student, Achille Loria, Francesco Pietropaolo, prof., Amilcare Lauria, prof., Eugenio Bermani, writer, Ugo Fortini Del Giglio, Luigi Puccio, lawyer, Maria Nono Villari, writer, Gian Pietro Lucini, Angelo Valdarnini, university prof., Teresina Bontempi, infant school inspector in Canton Ticino, Luigi Antonio Villari, Guido Podrecca, Alfredo Panzini, Amedeo Massari, lawyer, Giuseppe Barone, prof., Giulio Caprin, Gabriele Morelli, lawyer, Riccardo Gradassi-Luzi, Torquato Zucchelli, honorary (sic) lieutenant colonel, Ricciotto Canudo, Felice Momigliano, prof., Attilio Begey, Antonino Anile, university prof., Enrico Morselli, university prof., Francesco Di Gennaro, Ezio Maria Gray, Roberto Ardigo, Arturo Graf, Pio Viazzi, Innocenzo Cappa, Duke Colonna di Cesaro, P. Villari, Antonio Cippico, Alessandro Groppali, university prof., Angelo Marzorati, ltalo Pizzi, Angelo Crespi, E. A. Marescotti, F. Belloni-Filippi, university prof., Francesco Porro, astronomer, Fortunato Rizzi, prof.

Cf. Notebook 1 6, §22.

1 1 2

NOTEBOOK I ( I 929- I 9 3 0 )

§(24). Father Bresciani 's progeny. A study of a salient feature of Italian narrative literature, especially of this last decade. The prehistory of modem Brescianism: I ) Antonio Beltramelli, with Uomini Rossi, II Cavalier Mostardo, etc. ; 1 2 ) Polifilo (Luca Beltrami), with various stories on Casate Olona;2 3 ) the fairly extensive literature, more precisely a literature of the "sacristy, " generally little known and studied, the propagandistic character of which is openly admitted. Midway between the literature of the sacristy and lay Brescianism are the novels by Giuseppe Molteni, of which I know only L 'A teo. The moral aberration of this book is typical: it echoes the Father Riva-Sister Fumagalli scandaP The author goes so far as to assert that Father Riva (who raped and corrupted some thirty young girls) must be pitied (precisely] because he was a priest bound by the vow of chastity. And he believes that this massacre can be juxtaposed to the vulgar adultery of a socialist atheist as its moral equivalent.

Molteni is a very well known man in the clerical world: he has been literary critic and columnist for a whole series of Catholic dailies and periodicals.

Lay Brescianism assumes a certain importance in the postwar period and is becoming increasingly the preeminent and official literary "school."

Ugo Ojetti. Mio figlio ferroviere. 4 General characteristics of Ojetti's literary work. His various ideological attitudes. Giovanni Ansaldo's writings on Ojetti in those periodicals where Ansaldo was a regular contributor.5 But Ugo Ojetti's most typical display is his open letter to Father Rosa, published in Pegaso and reprinted in the Civilta Cattolica with Father Rosa's comment.6 After the announcement of the conciliation between State and Church, Ojetti was not only convinced that henceforth all Italian intellectual work would be controlled by a strict clerical and Catholic conformism, but he had already resigned himself to the idea and addressed Father Rosa unctuously praising the cultural virtues of the Society of Jesus in order to plead for a "just" artistic freedom. In the light of subsequent events (speeches by the head of government)/ one cannot say whether it was more a case of abject prostration by Ojetti or of comic self-assured boldness by Father Rosa, who in any case gave Ojetti a lesson in character- in the Jesuit manner, of course. The case of Ojetti was typical, in many respects, but the man's intellectual cowardice towers above all else.

Alfredo Panzini-already part of the prehistory with some passages from the Lanterna di Diogene ( the episode of the livid blade, for example)

-Il padrone sono me, I1 mondo e rotonda, and almost all the books of the last decade.8 On the recently published I giorni del sole e del grana, see the views of F. Palazzi, noted above.9 In Vita di Cavour, a really amazing reference to Father Bresciani. 10 All of Panzini's pseudo-historical writings must be re-examined from the point of view of lay Brescianism.

First Notebook. §24

1 1 3

The Croce-Panzini episode, recently recorded in La Critica, is a case of personal as well as literary Jesuitism. 1 1

Salvator Cotta in his Ciclo dei Vela, and [generically] in all of his work, should be placed specifically within Brescianism. 12

Margherita Sarfatti and I1 Palazzone. Cf. the previous note on her

"jousts. " This could be quite amusing: remember the fictitious episode about Dante and the prostitute from Rimini ( ? ) related in the Papini (Carabba) collection of legends and anecdotes on Dante which shows that a man, but not a woman, can talk of "jousting"; remember Chesterton's expression, in The New Jerusalem, on the key and the lock referring to the battle of the sexes which shows that the "point of view" of the key cannot be the same as that of the lock.13 Remember that G. Bellonci, the

"refined" connoisseur of the arts who flirts quite happily with precious (but cheaply acquired) erudition in order to stand out among hack journalists, finds it natural that the virgin Fiorella should think about jousting.

Mario Sobrero, Pietro e Paolo, can be included in the general picture for the chiaroscuro. 14

Francesco Perri, Gli emigranti. Is this Perri not the same person as the Paolo Albatrelli of I conquistatori? At any rate, I conquistatori should be taken into account as well. 15 Gli emigran ti: the most striking characteristic is its coarseness, not the coarseness of a naive beginner-in which case the raw material might have contained the potential for subsequent development-but the opaque, material coarseness of a decadent not a primitive. A verist novel (see Perri's article in La Fiera Letteraria); but can there be a non-historicist "verism"? 16 Verism is itself a continuation of the old historical novel within the context of modem ( 1 9th century) historicism. In Gli emigranti there is no chronological reference. Is this accidental ? Apparently not. Two general points of reference: the phenomenon of Southern emigration which has had a historical course; and an attempt-which also belongs to a specific period-to invade the [usurped]

landholdings of the nobility. Historically, the phenomenon of emigration has created an ideology (the myth of America); likewise, the phenomenon of sporadic [but endemic] attempts to invade lands before the war is linked to an ideology. (The movement of 1 9 1 9-20 is completely different; it is broad based and has an implicit organization in the Southern associations of war veterans. ) In Gli emigranti, both of these phenomena are reflected in a coarse, brutal way, without any specific or general background, mechanically. It is obvious that Perri knows the popular Calabrian peasant environment not directly, through first-hand psychological and emotional experience, but through old regionalist cliches. (If he is Albatrelli, one must take his political origins into account. ) The occupation of lands at Pandure is generated by intellectuals, on a juridical basis and it ends up in nothing, as if it had not even touched the habitual ways of a patriarchical

I I 4

NOTEBOOK I ( I 929- I 9 30)

village. Pure repetition. The same with emigration. This village of Pandure, with the family of Rocco Blefasi, is (to use the words of Leonida Repaci) a lightning rod for all misfortunes.

Emphasis on errors in the spoken language is typical of Brescianism.

The pitiful "caricatures" (Galeoto, etc. ). The absence of historicity is

"affected" in order to lump together in a jumbled mass all the generic folkloristic motifs, which in reality are quite distinct temporally and spatially.

Leonida Repaci, L'ultimo cireneo. 1 7 One can see how the ficelle has been woven in.

Umberto Fracchia. I have not read anything: I think that in Angela Maria there are elements which fall within this framework. 18 Ojetti

Beltramelli-Panzini stand in the foreground of the general picture. Their Jesuitical character is more conspicuous, and they occupy a more important place in the most recent criticism (in addition to a certain official recognition: Beltramelli and Panzini in the Academy). 19 See books of popular criticism (the recent book by Camillo Pellizzi must be typical).20

(Continues)2 1

Cf. Notebook 2 3 , §9.

§(2 5 ). Achille Loria. Concerning Achille Loria, one must remember the main documents in which the principal "oddities" are to be found. 1

I ) "Sull'influenza sociale dell'aeroplano, " in Rassegna Contemporanea of 1 9 I 2, edited by Colonna di Cesaro and (Vincenzo) Picardi: in this article one comes across the theory on the emancipation of workers from the coercion of the factory through flights on airplanes greased with bird lime.

The whole article is a monstrous monument of silliness and stupidity: the collapse of fiduciary credit, the unbridling of sexual knavery (adultery, seductions), the systematic slaughter of doormen by falling binoculars, the theory about the grade of morality according to the altitude above sea level, and the practical proposal to rehabilitate delinquents by building prisons on mountains or even on immense airplanes that would remain always at high altitudes, etc.2

2 ) The lecture delivered in Turin during the war and published in Nuova An tologia (in 1 9 1 6 or 1 9 1 7 ) where the only recorded "concrete document" on "Universal Pain" (this must also be the title of the lecture) was a note about the cost of a "claque" to theater actors (from a statistic determined by Reina), and where one can find the following argument:

"provident nature has created an antidote against this universal poison of pain, giving the poor souls who are forced to sleep outdoors a thicker skin. " 3

3 ) The article published i n the Palvese o f Trieste around 1 9 1 0 o r 1 9 1 1

First Notebook. §25

1 1 5

about the science of language and entitled something like: "Perche i bergamaschi triplicano e i veneziani scempiano. " This article was sent by Loria to the committee which had been organized at Trieste to honor Attilio Hartis on the occasion of his fifty years of literary activity, and which was to put together a Festschrift (in fact published around that time) for the honoree. The committee could not publish the article because of its silliness, and yet it did not want to show a lack of respect for Loria who was an illustrious exponent of Italian scholarship. The committee got out of it by writing to Loria that the Festschrift had already been completed and that his article had been passed on to the literary weekly, Il Palvese. The article presents an aspect (the linguistic one) of Loria's theory on the influence of altimetry on civilization: mountain people, morally purer, are physically more robust and "triplicate" consonants whereas plains people (and woe to those at sea level, like the Venetians) besides being morally depraved are also physically degenerate and "halve"

consonants.4

4) The preface to the first edition of Corso di Economia Politica is also important because it contains the story of his "discovery" of historical materialism: in it he puts forth the theory of the connection between

"mysticism" and "syphilis. " 5

5 ) The piece i n the Riforma Sociale of September-October 1 929 : "Documenti ulteriori a suffraggio dell'economismo storico . " 6

These five documents are the most blatant ones that I remember, but the question is interesting precisely because we do not have in Loria a case of occasional, albeit repeated, obfuscation of intelligence. We have the case of a seam, a systemic continuity that runs through his whole literary career. Nor can one deny that Loria is a man of a certain intelligence and that he has some sense. 7 In a whole series of articles, the

"oddities" appear here and there and they are of a certain type; linked, that is, to specific modes of thought. For example, the "theory" about altimetry crops up in the discussion of the airplane as well as '{linguistics . " Thus, in a short article published in Prada (or Prora, published in Turin during the war, edited by a certain Cipri-Romano; a very small, somewhat shady journal which certainly had the most shallow speculations on the margins of the debate about war and anti-defeatism), the war protagonists were divided into mystics (the central empires) and positivists (Clemenceau and Lloyd George).8 The poem, "AI mio bastone, " published in Nuova Antologia (during the war)9 and the article on Marx's letters (also in Nuova Antologia ) 10 are full of these elements.

The "literary affectation" that Croce found in Loria1 1 is a secondary feature of his imbalance, but it has a certain relevance in that it manifests itself continuously. Another element is the pretense of intellectual "originality" at all costs. A certain base opportunism is rarely absent: I remem-

I I 6

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0)

her two articles published within a short time of each other, one in the (ultra reactionary) Gazzetta del Popolo, the other in Pippa Naldi's (pro

Nitti) Tempo, both dealing with the same topic (Russia)-an image of Macaulay's is used in one way in one of the articles and in an opposite way in the other. 12

Regarding Croce's observation about "unemployed servants" and their significance in Loria's sociology, 13 remember a leading article in the Gazzetta del Popolo in 1 9 1 9 or 1 920. This article talks of intellectuals as the steady upholders of the "golden ladder" scaled by the people, and it enjoins the people to preserve the goodwill of these intellectuals, etc. 14

Loria is not a teratological individual case; he is the most complete and perfect exemplar of a series of representatives of a certain stratum of intellectuals from a certain period; in general, of those positivist intellectuals who deal with the question of workers and who believe, more or less, that they are deepening, correcting, or surpassing Marxism. Enrico Ferri-Arturo Labriola-Turati himself could furnish a rich harvest of observations and anecdotes. 1 5

I n Luzzatti, there i s material t o b e reaped i n another field. 16

But one must not forget Guglielmo Ferrero and Corrado Barbagallo. 1 7 In Barbagallo, perhaps, the display is more occasional than in others: yet, his essay on ancient capitalism published in the Nuova Rivistu Storica of 1 929 is extremely symptomatic (as is the somewhat comic note which follows Sanna's subsequent article). 18 In general terms, then, Lorianism is a characteristic of a certain type of literary and scientific production in our country (it is amply documented in Croce's Critica, in Prezzolini's Voce, in Salvemini's Unitajl9 and is connected to the poor organization of culture and, hence, to the absence of restraint and criticism.

Cf. Notebook 28, § § 1 , 2.

§(26). Cuvier's little bone. An observation linked to the preceding note. The Lombroso case. From the little bone of a mouse sometimes a sea serpent was reconstructed. 1

Cf. Notebook 28, § 3 .

§(27). Residues of late roman ticism � The tendency of leftist sociology in Italy to concern itself with criminality. Linked to the fact that Lombroso and others, who at the time seemed to be the supreme expression of science, had moved in this direction? Or a residue of the late romanticism of 1 848 ( Sue etc. ) ? 1 Or linked to the fact that in Italy these men were impressed by the large number of bloody crimes and believed

First Notebook. §29

1 1 7

that they could not proceed further without first "scientifically" explaining this phenomenon?

Cf. Notebook 2 5 , §8.

§(28). Natural la w. See the two short notes on p. 2 and p. 3 verso. 1

There is no need to look for any scientific purpose in the current polemic against natural law. It is a case of not very brilliant journalistic exercises that have the propagandistic aim of destroying certain widespread states of mind which are considered dangerous.

On this subject, see Tilgher's pamphlet on Storia e Antistoria, 2 from which it would seem that the Enlightenment mentality which gave birth to the theory of natural law has never been as widespread as it is today.

Tilgher's pamphlet, in its own way, further proves how widespread it is, since with this work Tilgher is trying to find a little place for himself in the new order. It seems to me that Filippo Burzio is one person who (if one sets aside the forced language) has studied in some depth the psychological contradictions that emerge out of the terrain of historicism as a general conception of life and action. At least his assertion, "to be above passions and sentiments while still feeling them, " 3 seems to me rich with reverberations. In fact, this is the crux of the question of "historicism"

that Tilgher does not even touch upon: "how to be both critics and men of action at the same time, in such a way that not only does one aspect not weaken the other, but rather validates it. " 4 Tilgher separates the two aspects of every human personality very mechanically ( since a wholly critical or a wholly passionate man does not exist and has never existed), instead of trying to determine how in different historical periods the two aspects are combined in such a way that in the world of culture one tendency or the other prevails. (I must re-read Tilgher's pamphlet. ) Cf. Notebook 27, §2 and Notebook 26, § s .

§(29). Sarcasm a s an expression of transition among historicists. In an article by Bonaventura Tecchi, "Il Demiurgo di Burzio" (Italia Letteraria, October 20, 1 929), from which the above cited passage by Burzio is taken, 1 the element of "irony" is often mentioned as characteristic of this position. "Irony" is appropriate in literature to indicate the detachment of the artist from the sentimental content of his creation; but in the case of historical action, the element of "irony" would be, precisely, excessively literary (it would suffice to say simply "literary") and would indicate a form of detachment connected, rather, to a somewhat amateurish skepticism (caused by disillusion, weariness, or even a "superman" complex).

Instead, the characteristic element in this case (namely, in historical

I I 8

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 0)

action) is "sarcasm" of a certain form, that is "passionate. " In Marx we find the highest expression, even esthetically, of "passionate sarcasm. " To be distinguished from other forms, whose content is the opposite to that of Marx. In the face of popular "illusions" (belief in justice, equality, fraternity, that is, in the elements of the "religion of humanity"), Marx expresses himself with a passionately "positive sarcasm; " that is, one understands that he wants to mock not the most intimate feeling of those

"illusions" but their contingent form whic):l is linked to a particular

"perishable" world, their cadaverous smell, so to speak, that leaks from behind the painted facade. There is, on the other hand, "right-wing"

sarcasm which is rarely passionate but is always "negative, " purely destructive not only of the contingent "form" but of the "human" content of those sentiments. (For the meaning of "human" in this instance, see Marx himself, especially the Holy Family. )2 Marx tries to give new form to certain aspirations (hence he even tries to regenerate these aspirations) not to destroy them: right-wing sarcasm tries, instead, to destroy precisely the content of these aspirations and, in the end, the attack on their form is nothing but a "didactic" device.

This note on "sarcasm" should also examine some of its manifestations : there has been a "mechanical" parrot-like manifestation (or one that has assumed this character through "abuse") which has even generated a type of code or jargon and which could give rise to biting observations. (For example, when the words "civilization" or "civilized" are always accompanied by the adjective "self-styled, " the doubt could arise that one may believe in the existence of an abstract, exemplary "civilization, " or that one may, at any rate, behave as if one believed in it-one could, that is, obtain a result which is probably the exact opposite of the one intended. ) One must also analyze its meaning in Marx, as a transitional expression which seeks to establish a break from the old conceptions while waiting for the new conceptions to gain strength through historical development and become so dominant as to acquire the force of

"popular convictions. " 3 These new conceptions already exist among those who use "sarcasm, " but in a phase which is still "polemical"; were they to be expressed "without sarcasm, " they would be a "utopia" since they would belong only to individuals or small groups. Besides, historicism itself cannot conceive them in a manner that can be expressed in this apodictic or sermonic form; "historicism" creates a new "taste" and a new language. "Sarcasm" becomes the component of all these needs which may seem contradictory. But its essential element is always its "passion. "

From this point of view, it is necessary to examine Croce's closing statements about the "witch Alcina" in his 1 9 1 7 preface to Materialismo Storico. 4 Remember Einaudi's article in La Riforma Sociale5 on this pre-

First Notebook. § 32

1 1 9

face by Croce, in order to discuss the cultural importance of Marx in the resurgence of economic historiography.

Cf. Notebook 26, § 5 .

§(30). Grano and Loria. In the preceding note on Loria I forgot to recall the "oddities" of Paolo Orano. I now recall two of them: the article

"Ad metalla" in the volume Altorilievi ( Puccini pub., Milano), l typically

"Lorian"; and his little volume on Sardinia (I believe it is one of Orano's first books) where he speaks of the "fluid environment. " 2 If I remember correctly, there must be a lot of material to scrutinize in the Medaglioni, as well as in all the other publications.3

Cf. Notebook 28, §4.

§(3 1 ) . Sorel's letters to Croce. From Sorel's letters to Croce one can glean several items on "Lorism" or "Lorianism. " For example, the fact that Arturo Labriola wrote his dissertation as if he believed that Marx's Capital was based on the French and not the English economic experience. 1

Cf. Notebook 28, § 5 .

§(32). Loria and Lumbroso. Alberto Lumbroso should be placed within the Lorian series, but from a different point of view and in a different field. 1 One could write a general introduction in order to demonstrate that Loria is not a unique exception, but represents for the most part a general cultural reality that has acquired "swollen proportions" in the field of

"sociology." In fact, elements of this can be found in La Critica, La Voce, and L'Unita (Remember, for example, Tomaso Sillani's "casa dei parti"

.

and Filippo Carli's "rubber of Vallombrosa. " 2 Carli's article in La Perseveranza about the impending triumphal return of navigation by sail is also noteworthy. The old economic protectionist literature abounds in gems of this sort, an example of which can be found in Belluzzo's writings3 on the possible riches hidden in the Italian mountains. ) All these rather generic elements of "Lorianism" could be used to "agrementer" the description. Similarly one can recall as an "absurd" extreme-because it is a case that crosses over into the terrain of the ( technically) clinical

Lenzi's candidature for the fourth district of Turin, with his "swan-like airplane" and his proposal to level the obstructive Italian mountains in order to transport to Libya the necessary material to fertilize the sandy desert.4

The case of Lumbroso is very interesting, because his father (Giacomo

1 20

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0)

Lumbroso) was an erudite man of great distinction: but as far as we know the wherewithal of erudition is not transmitted by heredity, nor even through the most assiduous intellectual contact.

In the Lumbroso case, one must wonder how his two ponderous volumes on the Origini Diplomatiche e politiche della guerra could ever have become part of the series edited by Gatti.5 Here, the responsibility of the system is evident. The same is true of Loria and the Riforma Sociale, and of Luzzatti and the Corriere della Sera. 6 (Concerning Luzzatti, remember the case of the "Little Flower" of St. Francis that was printed as a previously unpublished text in the Carriere della Sera in 1 9 1 3 (I think)/

together with a most amusing economic commentary by Luzzatti himself who a little earlier had published an edition of The Little Flowers in the Notari series. The so-called "previously unpublished" text was a variant that had been sent to Luzzatti by Sabatier.8 Luzzatti's phrases are famous, among them "The tuna fish knows it, " in a brief article in the Carriere which .then became the point of departure for Bacchelli's book).9

Cf. Notebook 28, §6.

§(3 3). Freud. It seems that the diffusion of Freudian psychology has given rise to a kind of eighteenth century literature; the

"savage, '' in modem form, has been replaced by the Freudian type.

The struggle against the juridical order is carried out through Freudian psychological analysis. This, it would seem, is one aspect of the question. I have not been able to study Freud's theories and I do not know the other type of so called "Freudian" literature, Proust Svevo-Joyce. 1

§(34). American pragmatism. Could one say about American pragmatism ( James) 1 what Engels said about English agnosticism ?

(I think in the preface to the English edition of Socialism : Utopian and Scientific.j2

§(3 5). Types of periodicals. Theoretical : especially "historiography. "

Very unified, therefore the "primary" contributors, namely those who write the major part of every issue, would be few. The most common type is the ordinary periodical devoted to current events and whose articles have a popularizing, expository character. One knows from experience that even this type requires a certain homogeneity, or at least a strong

First Notebook. § 3 8

1 2 1

internal editorial organization which fixes very clearly (and in writing) the common working ground.

The first type may be [exemplified byJ Croce's Critica [ + Coppola's PoliticaJ. 1

The second type by Prezzolini's Voce in its first and second format [ +

Salvemini's UnitaJ.

A very interesting third type can be drawn from the more successful issues of Russo's Leonardo [ + Formiggini's L 'ltalia che ScriveJ.2

A unitary cultural organization that organized the three types, together with a publishing house for book series connected to the periodicals would satisfy the needs of that mass public which is intellectually more active and which it matters most to make think and to transform.

Cf. Notebook 24, § 3 .

§(36). Lorianism. Remember Prof. Alberto Magnaghi's book o n blundering geographers: this book is a model of its kind. I remember neither the exact title nor the publisher's name. I think it was never released for sale. 1

Remember the first volume on La Cultura ltaliana by Papini and Prezzolini (published by Lumachi or Ferr. Gonnelli).2

Cf. Notebook 2 8, §§7, 8 .

§(3 7). Turati and Lorianism. It seems to me that the speech on the

"earners of love's wages" should be connected to Lorianism . 1 In Turati one can find some passages in "bad taste, " such as "fawn, sovereign people, fawn but pay heed." 2

Cf. Notebook 2 8, §9.

§(3 8). Types of periodicals. Third type. Critical-historical-bibliographical. Analytical studies of books for readers who generally cannot read the books themselves.

A scholar who examines a historical phenomenon in order to construct a work of synthesis must carry out a whole series of preliminary operations of which only a small part ends up being usable in the end. Such work can be used instead for this type of journal aimed at a particular type of reader who must be shown, besides the work of synthesis, the preliminary analytical activity in its entirety. The common reader does not and cannot have a "scientific" disposition, which is only acquired through specialized work: it is, therefore, necessary to help him through a suitable literary activity. It is not enough to give him historical "concepts"; their

1 22

NOTEBOOK I ( I 9 29- 1 9 30)

concreteness escapes him: it is necessary to give him a whole series of specific, very well defined facts. A complex historical movement may be broken down in time and space and also into different levels (special problems) which can themselves be broken down in time and space. An example: Catholic Action. It has always had a central and centralized administration, but also a great variety of regional attitudes at different times. 1 The Catholic Action that came into being specifically after I 848

was very different from the present one reorganized by Pius XI. The position of C. A. immediately after I 848 can be described by the same remarks made by a historian about Louis XVIII: Louis XVIII could not persuade himself that after I 8 I s the monarchy in France needed to have a specific political party in order to sustain itsel£.2 All the arguments put forth by Catholic historians to explain the origin of C. A. and the attempts to link this new formation to previous movements and activities are totally misleading. After 1 848, the struggle against the "religious" conception of life ends in the victory of liberalism (understood as a conception of life as well as positive political action) all over Europe. (In Italy, the final crisis takes the specific form of the failure of neo-Guelphism. )3 Prior to that, more or less ephemeral parties were formed against religion; now that religion "must" have a party of its own, it can no longer speak (other than officially, since it will never acknowledge this state of affairs) as if it believed itself to be the necessary, universal premise for all ways of thinking and acting. Many today can no longer even believe that it may have been so in the past. In order to convey some idea of this fact, one could present this model : today, no one seriously thinks of forming a party against suicide (it is possible that somewhere there exists some association against suicide, but that is another matter), because there is no party that tries [to persuade! people of the need to commit mass suicide (though single individuals or even small groups have appeared who upheld similar forms of radical nihilism, apparently in Spain); "life" is obviously the necessary premise of every manifestation of life. Religion has had a similar function, and one finds abundant traces of it in the language and the ways of thinking of peasants: Christian and man mean the same thing ( "I am not a Christian"; "What are you then, an animal ? "); those in custody say:

"the Christians and confined" (in the beginning, at Ustica, I used to be astonished when, upon the ship's arrival, someone of the confined would say: "they are all Christians, there are only Christians, there isn't even one Christian"; whereas in prison it is more common to say "bourgeois and prisoners" or, jokingly, "bourgeois and soldiers, " although Southerners also say "Christians and prisoners"); it would be interesting to study the whole series of semantic changes through which, in French, one gets from "Christian" to "cretin" (whence the Italian "cretino") and even to

"gredin"; the phenomenon must be similar to that by which the term

Firs t Notebook. § 3 8

1 2 3

"villano, " from "countryman" has come to mean "rude person" and even

"rascal"; that is, the noun "Christian" used by peasants to refer to themselves as "men" has, in its more popular form, become detached from

"Christian" in the religious sense and has had the same lot as "manant. "

Perhaps even the Russian "krestianin, " "peasant, " has the same origin, while the religious "cristiano, " a more learned form, has retained the aspirate of the Greek x.

Perhaps the concept is also linked to the fact (but this must be verified) that many Russian peasants who did not personally know any Jews, used to believe that Jews had a tail or some other beastly attribute.4

The historical analysis of the C. A. movement can give rise, analytically, to various lines of research and study.

The National Congresses. How they are prepared by the central and local press. The official preparatory materials: official reports and reports from the opposition.

Catholic Action has always been a complex organism, even before the formation of the white labor union and the Popular Party, which cannot but be considered as a politically integral part of C. A., although it was officially separate.5 In the international arena, as well, matters have been and continue to be equally complex: officially, the C. A. is centralized in the person of the Pope who is an international center par excellence, but in fact there is more than one office functioning more explicitly as a political international center, such as the Malines Office which has compiled the Codice Sociale or the office in Freiburg for trade union activity.6

(check)

The proceedings at the Congresses. -What is put on the agenda and what is omitted to avoid radical dissensions. -The agenda should emerge from the concrete problems that arise between one Congress and another and that require a solution, as well as from the general doctrinal points around which currents and factions are formed. On what basis is the leadership chosen or partly changed? On the basis of a general tendency to which one gives a general vote of confidence? Or else after the Congress itself has decided upon a concrete and precise line of action ? The internal democracy of a movement (the greater or lesser degree of internal democracy, that is of the participation by the P.(arty's) base in the making of decisions and in the determination of the program) can be measured and also (perhaps especially) judged by this standard. Another important element is the social composition of the Congresses, of the speakers and of the elected leadership in relation to the social composition of the P. -The young and their relations to the adults. Do the Congresses pay attention to the youth movement which should be the major source• for recruit-

• Jn the manuscript, originally, "one of the major sources, " subsequently corrected to "the major source.''

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NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 0 )

ment and the best school for the P. itself ? -What influence do organizations that are (or should be) subordinate to the P. - the parliamentary group, or trade union organizers, etc. -have on P. Congresses ? Are the members of parliament and trade union organizers given [organically]b a special position at the Congresses ?

Cf. Notebook 24, §3, and Notebook 20, § 1 .

§(39). Repaci [Father Bresciani's progeny]. I n his (autobiographical ) short story "Crepuscolo" (Fiera Letteraria, 3 March, 1 929) he writes :

"Already, in those times, I marshalled within me, fortifying them every day on the deepest roots of instinct, those fine qualities that later, in the years to come, would make of me a center of misfortune: love for the losers, the abused, the humble; scorn for danger in the pursuit of a ;ust cause; independence of character that manifests rectitude; mad pride that swaggers even in the face of collapse, etc., etc. '1 1

Cf. Notebook 23, § 1 3 .

§(40). Leon Blum 's "saying. " Le pouvoir est tentant. Mais seule !'opposition est confortable. 1

§(4 1). Lorianism. - Luzzatti. Remember the episode in the Chamber of Deputies [or the Senate] in 1 9 1 1 or 1 9 1 2, when a special chair in the

"philosophy of history" at the University of Rome was proposed for Guglielmo Ferrero. Responding, I think, to Croce (therefore in the Senate) who had spoken against the chair, the Minister Credaro justified the "philosophy of history" on the grounds of, among other things, the importance of philosophers in the development of history (sic); example . . . Cicero.

Luzzatti solemnly agreed: "It's true, it's true! " 1

Cf. Notebook 28, § r o.

§(42). Father Bresciani 's progeny. - Curzio Malaparte-Kurt Erich Suckert. The ostentation of a foreign name in the post-war period. - His membership in Guglielmo Lucidi's Italian organization which imitated the French Clarte and the English "Democratic Control" and published La Rivista (or R assegna) Internazionale; 1 in the book series put out by this periodical, he published La rivolta dei santi maledetti which was bin the manuscript, "organically" is added in between lines as a variant of "officially, " which, however, is not erased.

First Notebook. §43

1 2 5

then corrected in the "Brescianist" mode for the subsequent edition and still later, I believe, was withdrawn from the market.2

As for the "exhibition" of a foreign name in Italy, one observes a general tendency among "moralizing" Italian "intellectuals" who were inclined to believe that "in foreign countries" people were more "honest, "

as well as more "capable, " more "intelligent, " etc. than in Italy. This

"foreign-mania" took on annoying [and at times disgusting] forms, as with GraziadeV but it was rather widespread and gave rise to a snobbish

"pose. " Remember the short conversation with Prezzolini in Rome in 1 924 and his disconsolate words : "I should have obtained English nationality for my children in time, " or something of the sort.4 This attitude has not only been typical of certain groups of Italian intellectuals, but was quite widespread, during certain periods, even in Russia, for example. A whole people is confused with certain corrupt strata of the petty bourgeoisie, which in poorly developed agricultural countries are very numerous and can be compared to the lumpenproletariat of industrial cities (such types abound in the Sicilian mafia and in Southern Camorra) : one falls into pessimism because "moralizing" sermons have no effect on the situation and one reaches the implicit conclusion that a whole people is

"inferior" and that, therefore, nothing can be done.

Cf. Notebook 2 3 , § 1 4.

§(43). Types of periodicals. Third type- Critical-historical-bibliographic - . In the examination of parties: determine the development in time and space of the most important concrete problems-The trade union question-Relations between the party and the trade unions-The agrarian question- etc., etc .. Two aspects to every question: how it has been treated theoretically and how it has been dealt with practically.

Another category is the press in its diverse aspects: daily papers, periodicals, pamphlets.

The parliamentary group. When discussing a specific parliamentary activity, one must keep in mind certain criteria of research and judgment: when a deputy of a mass party speaks in parliament, there can be three versions of his speech: 1 ) the version in the official records of parliamentary proceedings, which is usually revised and corrected and often enhanced after the fact; 2) the version in the official organ of the party to which the deputy belongs : it is arranged by the deputy in collaboration with the newspaper's correspondent so as not to irritate certain susceptibilities of the party's official majority and not to create premature obstacles to particular alliances that are under way; 3 ) the version in the newspapers of other parties, or in the so-called organs of public opinion (newspapers with a large circulation) which is arranged by the deputy in

! 2 6

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0 )

agreement with the respective correspondents so as to promote particular alliances that are under way; these newspapers change from time to time and in accordance with shifts in their respective political directions.

The same criterion can be extended to the field of trade unions, with respect to the interpretation of specific concrete movements and, also, of the general direction of a given trade union organization. Examples to remember: La Stampa, Il Resto del Carlino, Il Tempo (Naldi's) have served the Socialists and the Popular Party equally as resonance boxes and as instruments of political alliances. A Socialist or Popular parliamentary speech was presented in a certain light by one of these newspapers to its readers, while the Socialist or Popular organs presented it in a different light. The Popular newspapers actually concealed from their public certain statements by their deputies that held out the possibility of a rapprochement with the Socialists, etc., etc. -From this point of view it is essential to take into account the interviews given by deputies to other newspapers and the articles published in other newspapers. -The political homogeneity of a party can also be tested by this criterion : which directions are favored by the members of these parties in their contributions to newspapers of other parties or to the so-called newspapers of

"public opinion"; sometimes internal dissension reveals itself only in this way: the dissidents write signed and unsigned articles in other newspapers, give interviews, provoke polemical issues, do not deny opinions attributed to them, etc., etc. 1

Certain features are indispensable in periodicals of this type: -an encyclopedic political-scientific-philosophical dictionary. In this sense: every issue publishes one or more brief monographs of the sort found in encyclopedias on political, philosophical, scientific concepts which recur often in newspapers and in periodicals and which the average readers have difficulty grasping or even misinterpret. In reality, every political movement creates a language of its own, that is, it participates in the general development of a distinct language, introducing new terms, enriching existing terms with a new content, creating metaphors, using historical names to facilitate the comprehension and the assessment of particular contemporary political situations, etc., etc. The monographs should be truly practical, that is, they should adhere to genuinely felt needs and their expository form should be suited to the average reader. The compilers should, if possible, be familiar with the most widespread errors, going back to the very sources of these errors, namely the publication of scholarly trash typified by the Biblioteca Popolare Sonzogno, or dictionaries (Melzi, Premali, etc. ), or the most widely circulated popular encyclopedias. These monographs should certainly not be presented in an organic form (e.g., in alphabetical or thematic order), nor according to a predetermined arrangement of space as if a comprehensive publication were already envisaged;

First Notebook. §43

I 2 7

but, instead, they should b e related t o other articles i n the same o r in other allied periodicals that have dealt with some of the same topics: the length of the treatment should be governed in each instance not by the intrinsic significance of the topic but by its immediate interest ( this is meant only in general); in short, it must not be presented as a book published in installments but as a feature interesting in its own right, time after time, from which a book might, perhaps, ensue.

Linked to the preceding is the feature on biographies, not in the sense that the name of the biographic subject enters in the encyclopedic dictionary by way of some particular political concept but in the sense that a person's whole life may be of interest to the general culture of a certain social stratum. For example, it may be necessary to mention Lord Carson in the encyclopedic dictionary in order to refer to the crisis of the parliamentary regime which already existed prior to the World War even in England, the country with the most efficient parliamentary regime; this does not mean that one must produce the biography of Lord Carson. A person of average culture is interested in only two biographical facts : r ) Lord Carson took up arms in I 9 I 4 in Ulster to oppose the enforcement of the Irish Home Rule Act, approved by the Parliament which "can do anything except change a man into a woman"; 2) Lord Carson not only was not punished but he became a minister shortly afterward, with the outbreak of war.-On the other hand, in the case of another figure, a complete biography and hence a separate feature may be of interest.

Another feature could consist in political-intellectual autobiographies.

If done well, they can be of the utmost journalistic interest and have a great formative effect. Sincerity, simplicity. How one overcomes his environment, through what external impulses and what crises of thought and of feelings. (Few, but good.) Another feature, and this is fundamental: the historical-bibliographical analysis of regional situations. Many people would like to study local situations, which are of great interest, but do not know how to proceed, where to begin: they do not know the bibliographical material, they do not know how to conduct research in libraries, etc.

Therefore, one has to provide the general outline of a concrete problem [or of a scientific topic], indicating the books that have dealt with it, the articles in specialized journals, etc., in the form of bibliographical-critical reviews, providing access especially to uncommon or foreign language publications. This can be done, from various points of view, for regions, for general cultural problems, etc., etc.

A systematic scrutiny of newspapers and periodicals for the material that has a bearing upon the main (fundamental) features- Simple citation of authors, titles, facts with brief observations about their leanings (every issue)-Book reviews. Two types of reviews. Critical-informative: one assumes that the reader cannot read the book, but that it is interesting for

1 2 8

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0)

him to know the general content. -Theoretical-critical: one assumes that the reader has to read the book which, therefore, is not paraphrased, but the objections that should be raised against it are treated critically, or something that is omitted in it is developed, etc. This second type of review is more suitable to the other type of periodical ( Critica -Politicaj.2

A critical-bibliographical scrutiny of the literary output of those authors who are fundamental to general theory. A similar scrutiny of Italian authors or Italian translations of foreign authors; this scrutiny must be very detailed and thorough because one must bear in mind that only through this work and this elaboration can one arrive at the authentic source of a whole series of erroneous conceptions that circulate uncontrolled. One must keep in mind that in every region, especially in Italy, given the very rich variety of local traditions, there exist groups or small groups characterized by their own ideological or psychological impulses :

"every village has or has had its local saint, hence its own cult and its own chapel. " The unitary elaboration of a collective consciousness requires manifold conditions and initiatives. The diffusion from a homogeneous center of a homogeneous way of thinking and acting is the principal condition, but it must not and cannot be the only one. A very common error is that of thinking that every social stratum elaborates its consciousness and its culture in the same way, with the same methods, that is, with the methods of professional intellectuals. Even the intellectual is a "professional" who has his specialized "machines, " his "apprenticeship, " and his own Taylor system. It is illusory to attribute this "acquired, " and not innate, ability to everyone. It is illusory to think that a well propagated

"clear idea" enters diverse consciousnesses with the same "organizing"

effects of widespread clarity. It is an "enlightenment" error. The ability of the professional intellectual skillfully to combine induction and deduction, to generalize, to infer, to transport from one sphere to another a criterion of discrimination, adapting it to new conditions, etc. is a "specialty, " it is not endowed by "common sense. " Therefore, the premise of an "organic diffusion from a homogeneous center of a homogeneous way of thinking and acting" is not sufficient. The same ray of light passes through different prisms and yields different refractions of light: in order to have the same refraction, one must make a whole series of adjustments to the individual prisms. Patient and systematic "repetition" is the fundamental methodological principle. But not a mechanical, material repetition: the adaptation of each basic concept to diverse peculiarities, presenting and re-presenting it in all its positive aspects and in its traditional negations, always ordering each partial aspect in the totality. Finding the real identity underneath the apparent differentiation and contradiction and finding the substantial diversity underneath the apparent identity is the most essential quality of the critic of ideas and of the historian of

First Notebook. §43

1 2 9

social development. The educational-formative work that a homogeneous cultural center performs, the elaboration of a critical consciousness that it promotes and favors on a particular historical base which contains the material premises for this elaboration, cannot be limited to the simple theoretical enunciation of "clear" methodological principles; that would be a pure "enlightenment" action. The work required is complex and must be articulated and graduated: there has to be a combination of deduction and induction, identification and distinction, positive demonstration and the destruction of the old. Not in the abstract but concretely: on the basis of the real. But how does one know which errors are deeply rooted or most widespread? Obviously, it is impossible to have "statistics"

on ways of thinking and on single individual opinions that would give an organic and systematic picture: the only thing possible is the review of the most widely circulated and most popular literature combined with the study and criticism of previous ideological currents, each of which "may"

have left a deposit in various combinations with preceding or subsequent deposits.

A more general criterion becomes part of this same sequence of observations: changes in ways of thinking, in beliefs, in opinions do not come about through rapid and generalized "explosions, " they come about, for the most part, through "successive combinations" in accordance with the most disparate "formulas. " The illusion of "explosiveness" comes from the absence of a critical sense. Just as methods of traction did not pass directly from the animal-drawn stagecoach to modem electrical express trains but went through a series of "intermediate combinations" some of which still exist (such as animal traction on tracks, etc., etc.), and just as railway stock that has become obsolete in the United States remains in use for many years in China where it represents technical progress-so also in the cultural sphere diverse ideological strata are variously combined, and what has become "scrap iron" in the city is still an "implement" in the provinces. Indeed, in the cultural sphere, "explosions" are even less frequent and less intense than in the technical sphere.

The explosion of political "passions" that have accumulated during a period of technical transformations which are not paralleled by adequate new forms of juridical organization is confused with the substitutions of new cultural forms for the old.

The allusion to the fact that sometimes what has become "scrap iron"

in the city is still an "implement" in the provinces can be developed usefully.3 The relations between urban population and rural population are not always the same. It is necessary to determine the urban and rural

"types. " The paradox does occur that the rural type may be more progressive than the urban type. An "industrial city" is always more progressive than the countryside that depends on it. But in Italy not all cities are

1 30

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0)

"industrial" and the "typically" industrial cities are even fewer. The

"hundred" Italian cities.4 Urbanism in Italy is not solely and not even

"especially" an industrial phenomenon. The largest Italian city, Naples, is not an industrial city. Nonetheless, even in these cities there exist nuclei of a typically urban population. But what is their relative position?

They are submerged, pressured, crushed by the other part which is rural, of a rural type and constitutes the greatest majority. The cities of "silence. " 5 In this type of city there exists an "urban" ideological unity against the countryside: there is still hatred and contempt for the "country bumpkin"; reciprocally, there is a "generic" aversion of the country toward the city. This general phenomenon which is, after all, very complex and manifests itself sometimes in apparently contradictory forms, should be studied throughout the Risorgimento. A typical example of apparent contradictions is the episode of the Parthenopean Republic of 1 799 : the countryside crushed the city with the hordes of Cardinal Ruffo because the city had completely neglected the countryside.6 During the Risorgimento, the historical relationship between North and South already revealed itself embryonically as a relationship similar to that between a great city and a great countryside: since this was not, in fact, the normal organic relationship between a province and an industrial capital but assumed the aspect of an occurrence in a vast territory, the features of national conflict were accentuated.7 What is especially noteworthy during the Risorgimento is the fact that in the political crises the South took the initiative: 1 799 Naples- 1 820-2 1 Palermo- 1 847 Messina- I 847-48

Naples and Sicily.

Another noteworthy fact is the particular aspect that the movement assumes in Central Italy, as a middle way between North and South: the period of (relatively) popular initiatives extends from I S I S to I 848 and culminates in the Roman Republic (Romagna and Lunigiana must always be considered as part of the Center). These peculiarities recur later on, as well : the events of June 1 9 1 4 have had a particular form in the Center (Romagna and Marche). The crisis of I 894 in Sicily and Lunigiana, with the repercussion in Milan in I 898; I 9 I 9 in the South and 1 920 in the North.8 This relative synchronism, on the one hand, shows the existence of a (relatively) homogeneous political-economic structure, and it also shows how, in periods of crisis, it is the weakest, most peripheral segment that reacts first.

The city-country relation between North and South can be studied in different cultural forms. Benedetto Croce and Giustino Fortunato,9 at the beginning of this century, were at the head of a cultural movement that counterposed itself to the cultural movement of the North (futurism). It is noteworthy that Sicily detaches itself from the South in many respects : Crispi is the man of Northern industry; Pirandello is by and large closer

First Notebook. §43

1 3 1

to futurism; Gentile and his actual idealism are also closer to the futurist movement, understood in a broad sense, as an opposition to traditional classicism and as a form of contemporary "romanticism. " 10 The different structure of the intellectual classes: in the South, the "solemn" [or cavilling lawyer] type who establishes contact between the peasant masses and the landowners and the state apparatus is still dominant; in the North, the dominant type is the factory "technician" who functions as a link between the working mass and the capitalist classY The link between the working mass and the State used to be provided by the trade-union organizers and by the political parties, that is, by a completely new intellectual stratum. (The current corporativism, with its consequent diffusion of this social type on a national scale in a more systematic and consistent way than the old trade unionism could have achieved, is in a certain sense an instrument of moral and political unity.)

This city-country relationship is evident in the political programs put into effect before fascism; the Giolitti, or liberal democratic program was the following: - to create in the North an "urban" (capitalists-workers) bloc which would provide a base for the protectionist state to strengthen Northern industry, for which the South is a semi-colonial market. The South is "taken care of " with two systems [of measures] : I I a police system (relentless repression of every mass movement, periodic slaughter of peasants); in his commemoration of Giolitti, in Nuova Antologia,

"Spectator" is surprised that Giolitti always strenuously opposed any dissemination of socialism in the South, 12 but the thing is natural and obvious, since working-class protectionism (reformism, cooperatives, public works) is possible only if it is partial; that is, because every privilege presupposes some sacrificial lambs; 2) political measures : personal favors to the ranks of cavilling lawyers or hacksa(public jobs, permission to plunder the public administration, less rigid ecclesiastical legislation than in the North, etc., etc.); in other words, the incorporation on a "personal basis" of the most active Southern elements into the ruling classes through special "judicial, " white collar privileges, etc., so that the system which could have organized Southern discontent became an instrument of Northern politics, its "police" accessory; thus, the discontent could not take on a political aspect and since it exhibited itself only in chaotic and riotous expressions, it fell into the "sphere" of the "police." Eminent men like Croce and Fortunato supported this phenomenon of corruption, even if only passively and indirectly through the fetishism of "unity. " (The Fortunato-Salvemini episode regarding the Unita related by Prezzolini in the first edition of La cultura italiana. )13

One must not forget this moral-political element in the campaign of

• rn the manuscript Gramsci originally wrote "of lawyers" and then changed it to "of cavilling lawyers or hacks."

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NOTE B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 30)

intimidation waged against every affirmation, even the most objective, of the reasons for conflict between North and South. Remember: the conclusion of the Pais-Serra inquiry on Sardinia after the 1 894-98 crisis/4 Crispi's accusation that the Sicilian Fasci had sold themselves to the English ( treaty of Bisacquino), 15 etc.-this form of extreme unitarian intensity is especially prevalent among Sicilian intellectuals Ia consequence of the regional popularity of Crispi) and even recently it manifested itself in Natoli's attack on Croce for his remarks in Storia d'Italia lcf. Croce's answer in Critica). 16

Giolitti's program was "disturbed " by two "factors": the assertion of authority by the intransigents and Mussolini in the Socialist Party and their flirtation with the Southemists !free trade, the Molfetta election etc. ), which destroyed the "urban" bloc; and the introduction of universal suffrage which enlarged the parliamentary base of the South remarkably and made individual corruption difficult (too many to be corrupted! ).

Giolitti changed partenaire: he replaced the "urban bloc" [or better he reinforced it in order to avoid its total collapse] with the Gentiloni pact; that is, in the final analysis, a bloc of Northern industrialists and the rural members of the "organic and normal" countryside ! Catholic electoral forces especially in the North and the Center). 1 7 The consequences reached the South as well, to the degree that was immediately sufficient to

"rectify" conveniently the effects of the enlargement of the electoral mass.

The other program may be called the Carriere della Sera's or Albertini's program18 and it may be said to coincide with an alliance between the Northern industrialists !led by textile, cotton, and silk free-traders) and the rural Southerners (rural bloc); the Carriere supported Salvemini at Molfetta (Ojetti campaign), 19 it supported the Salandra government, it supported the Nitti government-that is, the first two governments formed by Southerners !the Sicilians have to be considered separately).20

In 1 9 1 3, universal suffrage had already given rise to the first signs of the phenomenon which was to have its fullest expression in 1 9 1 9-20-2 1

as a result of the political [-organizational) experience acquired by the peasant masses during the war; that is, the relative collapse of the Southem rural bloc and the separation of the peasants, led by a segment of the intellectuals (officers during the war), from the great landowners: one gets Sardism, the Sicilian Reformist party !the Bonomi group with 22 Sicilian deputies), and the efforts that came with the "renewal" movement in Southern Italy to form regional action parties (the periodical Volonta with Torraca, Popolo Romano, etc. )21 In these movements, the importance of the peasant masses declines gradationally from Sardinia, to the South, to Sicily in proportion to the organized power and the ideological pressure exercised by the great landowners, who are best organized in Sicily but are

First Notebook. §43

1 3 3

of relatively little importance in Sardinia. The relative independence of the respective intellectuals has similar gradations.

By intellectuals, one must understand not [onlyJ those ranks commonly referred to by this term, but generally the whole social mass that exercises an organizational function in the broad sense, whether it be in the field of production, or culture, or political administration: they correspond to the noncommissioned and junior officers in the army (and also to some field officers excluding the general staff in the narrowest sense of the term).

To analyze the social functions of the intellectuals, one must investigate and examine their psychological attitude toward the broad classes which they bring into contact in various fields: do they have a "paternalistic" attitude toward manual workers ? or do they "believe" that they are an organic expression of them? do they have a "servile" attitude toward the ruling classes or do they believe that they themselves are leaders, an integral part of the ruling classes ?

In the history of the Risorgimento, the so-called Action Party had a

"paternalistic" attitude, therefore it was unable-other than in a minimal way-to bring the great masses into contact with the state. So-called

"transformism" is linked to this fact: the Action Party was incorporated molecularly by the Moderates and the masses were decapitated, not absorbed into the ambit of the new state.22

The "city-country" relation must be the point of departure for the examination of the fundamental motor forces of Italian history and of the programmatic points which should inform the study of the Action Party's line during the Risorgimento: 1 ) the Northern urban force; 2.) the Southern rural force; 3 ) the North-Central rural force; 4) 5 ) the Sicilian and the

-

Sardinian rural forces.

Given that the first force continues to function as a "locomotive, " it is necessary to work out the various combinations that are "most useful"

for constructing a "train" that would progress most expeditiously in history. The first force starts off with "its own" problems of organization, of articulating its homogeneity, of political and military leadership; but the fact remains that-even "mechanically"-if this force has attained a certain degree of unity and combativeness, it exercises an "indirect" leadership function.

It appears that when, at various times during the Risorgimento, this force takes up a position of intransigence and struggle against foreign domination, it brings about the arousal of the Southern progressive forces; hence, the relative synchronism, but not simultaneity, of the movements of I 82.0-2. 1 , of 1 8 3 1 , of 1 848.23 In 1 8 5 9-6o, a reverse synchronism occurs; that is, the North gets things going, the Center joins in peacefully or almost so, and in the South the Bourbon State collapses under the relatively weak pressure of the Garibaldini. This happens because the A.(ction)

1 34

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0)

P.(arty) (Garibaldi) intervenes after the Moderates (Cavour) had organized the North and the Center; in other words, it is not the same military and political leadership (Moderates- Sardinian State or A.P. ) that organizes the relative simultaneity but the (mechanical) collaboration of the two successfully integrated leaderships.

The first force must then confront the problem of organizing around itself the urban forces of the other national sectors. This is the most difficult problem : it presents itself bristling with contradictions and underlying elements that unleash torrents of passion. But, precisely for this reason, its solution was the crucial point. The urban forces are socially homogeneous, therefore they must be in a position of perfect equality.

Theoretically this is true, but historically the question poses itself differently: the Northern urban forces are clearly at the head of their national sector, which is not the case with the Southern urban forces, [at least] not to the same extent. The Northern urban forces, therefore, had to make the Southern ones understand that their leadership function consisted necessarily in guaranteeing the leadership of the North over the South within the general city-country relation; that is, the leadership function of the Southern urban forces could not be other than a "function" of the larger leadership function of the North. The most painful contradiction was created by this set of facts : the Southern urban force could not be considered as something in and of itself, independent from the Northern ones.

To pose the question in these terms would have meant affirming prejudicially an incurable "national" split, a split so serious that not even a federalist solution could have resolved it; it would have been a case of separate nations which could have accomplished nothing more than a diplomatic-military alliance against the common enemy, Austria. (In short, the only "community" [and solidarity] would have consisted merely in having a "common" enemy.) Now, in reality, only some aspects of the national question arose, but not "all" the aspects and not even the most essential ones. The most serious aspect was the weak position of the Southern urban forces in relation to the rural forces, an unfavorable relation which at times manifested itself in the veritable subjugation of the city to the country. The linkage between the Northern and the Southern urban forces was bound to help the latter to become autonomous, to acquire a consciousness of their historical leadership function in a "concrete" and not purely theoretical or abstract manner, suggesting to them the solutions for their enormous regional problems. It was natural that there should be opposition in the South; the most serious task, however, belonged to the Northern urban forces, who not only had to convince their Southern "brothers, " but had to begin by convincing themselves of this complexity of the political system : in practice, then, the question concerned the existence of a strong center of political leadership with which

First Notebook. §43

1 3 5

strong and popular individuals from the South and from the Islands necessarily had to collaborate. Therefore, the problem of creating a North

South unity is closely linked to, and in large measure subsumed within the problem of creating an accord among all the national urban forces.

(The argument expounded above, in fact, is valid for the three Southern sectors- Naples, Sicily, Sardinia. ) The Northern-Central rural force presented a series of problems for a regional city-country relationship which the Northern urban force had to confront. It was necessary to distinguish two parts in it: the secular and the clerical. The clerical force carried most weight in the Lombardy-Veneto region; the secular one carried "most weight" in Piedmont, with greater or lesser overlapping influences on the peripheries not only between Piedmont and the Lombardy-Veneto regions, but between these two typical regions and the other regions in the North, the Center and, to a lesser extent, even the South and the Islands. By correctly resolving these immediate relations, the Northern urban forces would have set a rhythm for all similar questions on a national scale.

On this problem, the Action Party failed completely. One cannot say that the Moderate Party failed, since it wanted soldiers in the Piedmontese army and not excessively large armies of Garibaldini. Why did the Action Party not pose the agrarian problem in all its enormity? That the Moderates did not pose it was natural : the Moderates' approach to the national problem required a bloc of all the forces on the right, including the classes of big landowners. The threat by Austria to resolve the agrarian question in favor of the peasants, a threat followed by the actions in Galicia against the Polish landed gentry, not only created great confusion among those whose interests were at stake- causing, for example, all the vacilations by the aristocracy (the events of February 1 8 5 3 in Milan, and the act of homage paid to Franz Josef by the most illustrious Milanese families on the very eve of the Belfiore hangings)24 -but paralyzed the Action Party.

After February 1 8 5 3, Mazzini, notwithstanding some allusions to the issue, could not make up his mind (see his correspondence from that period).25 The conduct of the Garibaldini in Sicily in 1 8 6o: implacable crushing of the peasant movements which arose against the barons as Garibaldi was advancing-the repressive work of Nino Bixio.26 G. C.

Abba's Noterelle di uno dei mille contains elements showing that the agrarian question was the spring with which to set the great masses in motion-remember Abba's conversations with the friar who goes to meet the Garibaldini right after their landing at Marsala.27 -In some of G.

Verga's short stories, picturesque elements of these peasant uprisings28 -

formation of the National Guard to quell these riots with terror and mass shootings. (This aspect of the expedition of the Thousand has not yet been studied. )

1 3 6

NOTEBO O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0)

The failure to raise the agrarian question made it nearly impossible to resolve the question of clericalism and of the Pope's attitude. In this respect, the Moderates were much bolder than the Action Party: it is true that they did not distribute ecclesiastical properties among the peasants, but they used them to create a new class of big and medium landowners tied to the new political situation; at least, however, they did not hesitate to lay their hands on the religious Congregations. The Action Party, instead, was paralyzed by Mazzini's vain hope for a religious reform which not only was irrelevant to the great masses but made them susceptible to incitement against the new heretics. The example of France was there to prove that the Jacobins, who had been able to defeat the Girondins on the agrarian question and not only prevent a rural coalition against Paris but also increase their followers in the provinces, were damaged instead by Robespierre's attempts to launch a religious reform.

One must study in detail the agrarian policy of the Roman Republic and the true character of the repressive mission Mazzini assigned to Felice Orsini in the Romagna and the Marche:29 during this period and until 1 87o, the term "brigandage" referred generally to the peasants' movement of land seizure. (Search especially in the Correspondence and in newspaper articles, for the views of Marx and Engels on the agrarian question in Italy from 1 848 to r 86o. )30

Cf. Notebook 20, § 1 , Notebook 24, §3, Notebook 1 9, §26.

§(44). Political class leadership before and after assuming govern men t power. The whole problem of the various political currents of the Risorgimento, of their reciprocal relations, and of their relations with the homogeneous or subordinate forces of the various historical sections (or sectors) of the national territory is reducible to the following basic fact: that the Moderates represented a relatively homogeneous class, and therefore their leadership underwent relatively limited oscillations, whereas the Action Party did not found itself specifically upon any historical class and the oscillations which its leading organs underwent resolved themselves, in the final analysis, according to the interests of the Moderates; that is, historically, the Action Party was led by the Moderates. (Vittorio Emanuele II's assertion that he had the Action Party "in his pocket, " or something of the sort, 1 is correct and not only because of his personal contacts with Garibaldi; historically, the Action Party was guided by Cavour and by Vittorio Emanuele II. ) The politico-historical criterion on which our own inquiries must be grounded is this: that a class is dominant in two ways, namely it is "leading" and "dominant. " It leads the allied classes, it dominates the opposing classes. Therefore, a class can (and must) "lead" even before assuming power; when it is in power it

Firs t Notebook. §44

1 3 7

becomes dominant, but i t also continues t o "lead." The Moderates continued to lead the Action Party even after 1 870, and "transformism" is the political expression of this leadership action; all Italian politics from 1 870

to the present is characterized by "transformism, " that is, by the formation of a ruling class within the framework determined by the Moderates after 1 848, with the absorption of the active elements that arose from the allied as well as from the enemy classes. Political leadership becomes an aspect of domination, in that the absorption of the elites of the enemy classes results in their decapitation and renders them impotent. There can and there must be a "political hegemony" even before assuming government power, and in order to exercise political leadership or hegemony one must not count solely on the power and material force that is given by government. This truth is clearly demonstrated by the politics of the Moderates, and it is the solution of this problem that made the Risorgimento possible in the forms and within the limits in which it was accomplished as a revolution without revolution [or, in V. Cuoco's words,2 as a passive revolution]. a

In what forms did the Moderates succeed in establishing the apparatus of their political leadership ? In forms that can be called "liberal, " that is, through individual, "private" initiative (not through an "official" party program, according to a plan worked out and established prior to practical and organizational action). This was "normal, " given the structure and the function of the classes which the Moderates represented and of which the Moderates were the leading stratum, the "intellectuals" in an organic sense. For the Action Party the problem presented itself in another form, and different systems should have been applied. The Moderates were

"intellectuals, " already naturally "condensed" by the organic character of their relations with those classes of which they were the expression. (For a good number of them, an identity was realized between the represented and the representative, the expressed and the expressor; that is, the Moderate intellectuals were a real, organic vanguard of the upper classes because they themselves belonged economically to the upper classes: they were intellectuals and political organizers and, at the same time, heads of business, great landowners-administrators, commercial and industrial entrepreneurs, etc. ) Given this organic "condensation" or concentration, the Moderates exercised a powerful attraction, in a "spontaneous" way, over the whole mass of intellectuals who existed in the country in a "diffuse"

and "molecular" state to fulfill, albeit minimally, the needs of public education and administration. Herein is revealed the truth of a criterion of historico-political research: there does not exist an independent class of intellectuals, but every class has its intellectuals; however, the intellectuals of the historically progressive class exercise such a power of attrac-

• This phrase was added by Gramsci in the margin at a later date.

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NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0 )

tion that, in the final analysis, they end up by subordinating the intellectuals of the other classes and creating an environment of solidarity among all the intellectuals, with ties of a psychological (vanity, etc.) and often of a caste ( technico-juridical, corporate) character.

This phenomenon occurs "spontaneously" in periods during which that given class is truly progressive; that is, it pushes the whole society ahead, not only satisfying its existential needs but continuously enlarging its compass through the continual appropriation of new spheres of industrial-productive activity. Once the dominant class has exhausted its function, the ideological bloc tends to disintegrate, and then "spontaneity" is followed by "constraint" in forms which are less and less disguised and indirect, ending up in downright police measures and coups d'etat.

The Action Party could not have this power of attraction but, instead, it was itself attracted, both because of the atmosphere of intimidation that made it hesitant to incorporate certain popular demands into its program, and because some of its major figures (e.g. Garibaldi) maintained, even if only desultorily ( "oscillations"), a personal relationship of subordination with the Moderates' leaders. In order for the A. P. to become an autonomous force and, in the final analysis, for it to succeed at least in stamping the Risorgimento uprising with a more markedly popular and democratic character (it could not have done any more than that, given the fundamental premises of the uprising itself ), it would have had to counterpose to the "empirical" action of the Moderates (which was "empirical" only in a manner of speaking) an organic program of government that embraced the essential demands of the popular masses and of the peasants in the first place. In other words, to the "spontaneous" attraction of the Moderates it should have counterposed an "organized" attraction, according to a plan.

As a typical example of the Moderates' spontaneous attraction, one must recall the event of the birth of the "liberal-Catholic" movement·3

which greatly frightened the papacy and partially succeeded in paralyzing and demoralizing it, pushing it into a more right-wing position than it would have otherwise occupied and thus, in part, isolating it; the papacy has learned its lesson and, therefore, in more recent times it has been capable of magnificent maneuvering. The phenomena of Modernism and, later, of Popularism4 resemble the "liberal-Catholics" of the Risorgimento: they are in great part a result of the power of "spontaneous"

attraction exercised by the modem workers' movement. The papacy (under Pius X) attacked Modernism as a trend that would reform religion but the papacy generated Popularism, that is, the economic base of Modemism, and today, with Pius XI, is making it the fulcrum of its world politics.

The Action Party, meanwhile, should have had a program of government which it always lacked. In essence it always was, above all else, an agitation and propaganda movement for the Moderates. The internal hatred

First Notebook. §44

1 3 9

that Mazzini aroused among the most outstanding men of action ( Garibaldi himself, Felice Orsini, etc.) against himself, was due to this lack of political leadership. The internal polemics are for the most part just as abstract as Mazzini's preaching, but it is possible to derive from them useful historical indications. (This applies to all of Pisacane's writings although he also committed very serious military errors, such as his opposition to Garibaldi's military dictatorship in the Roman Republic. )5

The Action Party followed in the "rhetorical" tradition of Italian literature. It confused cultural unity with political and territorial unity. Comparison between Jacobins and Action Party: the Jacobins struggled valiantly to secure the links between city and country; they were defeated because they had to repress the unrealistic class aspirations of the workers; Napoleon was their continuator and today they are the French radical socialists.

In French political literature, this necessity of the link between city and country was strongly felt: remember Eugene Sue's Les Mysteres du Peuple, which were also very popular in Italy around 1 8 5 0 (Fogazzaro, in Piccolo Mondo An tico, mentions that F. Maironib used to receive clandestinely from Switzerland the Mysteres du Peuple which in Vienna were burned by the public executioner, I believe) and which insist repeatedly on the necessity of linking the peasants to the city; Sue is the novelist of the Jacobin tradition and in many respects a forebear of Herriot and Daladier (Napoleonic legend in Le fuif Errant, anticlericalism in all the books but especially in Le fuif Errant, petit-bourgeois reformism in the Les Mysteres de Paris, etc., etc. ) 6 The Action Party was implicitly anti

French because of its Mazzinian ideology (see Omodeo's article "Primato francese e iniziativa italiana, " in La Critica, 1 929, p. 223)/ but it did have a tradition in Italian history to which it could connect itself. The history of the Communes is rich with experiences in this respect: the emerging bourgeoisie seeks allies among the peasants against the Empire and against its own local feudalism. (It is true that the question is made more complex by the struggle between the bourgeoisie and the landed nobility, competing for labor: the bourgeoisie needs labor which can only be furnished by the rural classes; but the nobles want the peasants tied to the land; flight of peasants to the cities, where the nobles cannot capture them. In any case, even though the circumstances were different, the leading function of the city which intensifies the internal struggles of the countryside and uses them as a politico-military instrument to demolish feudalism becomes apparent during the epoch of the Communes. )8 But even Machiavelli himself, the most classic political master of the Italian ruling classes, had posed the problem (within the terms and preoccupations of his time, bJn the manuscript "P. Marioni. "

NOTEB OOK I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0)

of course) : the need to forge links with the peasants in order to have a national militia that could eliminate mercenary companies is seen quite clearly in Machiavelli's military writings.

Pisacane, I believe, must be connected precisely to this line of thinking in Machiavelli; for Pisacane, too, the problem of satisfying popular demands is seen primarily from the military point of view. With regard to Pisacane, the contradiction of his military conception must be analyzed: Pisacane, a Neapolitan prince, had managed to acquire some military concepts derived from the experience of the French Revolution and of Napoleon's campaigns and which had been transplanted in Naples during the reigns of Joseph Bonaparte and of Joachim Murat/ but especially through the first hand experience of the Neapolitan officers who had served with Napoleon (see in the obituary of Cadorna, in Nuova Antologia, the significance that this Neapolitan military experience has assumed through Pianell, in the organization of the new Italian army).10 That is , he understood that without a democratic politics it is impossible to have national armies with compulsory conscription; but his aversion for Garibaldi's strategy and his distrust of Garibaldi are inexplicable: he has the same disdainful attitude toward Garibaldi that the old General Staff had toward Napoleon.

The personage who most needs to be studied for these problems of the Risorgimento is Giuseppe Ferrari, not so much in his so-called major works-truly confused and jumbled miscellanies-but in his topical pamphlets and letters. 1 1 Ferrari, however, was for the most part on the outside of concrete Italian reality; he had become too Frenchified. At times he seems more acute than he really was, only because he adapted for Italy French schemes which represented a situation much more advanced than the Italian. One may say that, in relation to Italy, Ferrari found himself in the position of a "latecomer": he was, in a certain sense,

"wise by hindsight. " The politician, though, must be an achiever who is

"effective and in touch with the present"; Ferrari was unable to construct a link between the Italian and the more advanced French situations, but it was just this link that needed to be forged in order to pass on to the next oneP Ferrari was not able to translate "French" into "Italian"; therefore his acuity itself became a stumbling block, it created new sects and factions but it left no mark on the real movement.

It appears that, in several respects, the difference between many Action Party members and the Moderates was more one of "temperament" than of politics. The term "Jacobins" has come to assume two meanings; one is its proper meaning, characterized historically: a particular party in the French Revolution which conceived of the revolution in a particular way, with a particular program, based on particular social forces, and which carried out its party and government activity with a particular methodical

First Notebook. §44

action characterized by extreme energy and resolve that depended on a fanatical belief in the merits of both that program and that method. In political language the two aspects of Jacobinism were separated and Jacobin became the appellation for the politician who was energetic and resolute because fanatically convinced of the thaumaturgical power of his ideas. Crispi is a "Jacobin" only in this sense. In his program, he is a Moderate pure and simple. His Jacobin "obsession" is the politico-territorial unity of the country. This principle is always his guiding compass not only during the Risorgimento but also during his subsequent period in government. A strongly passionate man, he hated the Moderates as persons; he looks upon the Moderates as last minute opportunists, heroes who show up just as the battle is being won; people who would have made peace with the old regimes had they become constitutional; people, like the Tuscan Moderates, who clung to the Grand Duke's coattails to keep him from fleeing-he had little trust in a unity constructed by nonunitarians. For this reason, he aligns himself with the monarchy which he feels will be absolutely unitarian out of dynastic interests, and he embraces the principle-fact of Piedmontese hegemony with an energy and ardor which the Piedmontese politicians themselves did not possess. Cavour had warned against placing the South under martial law; instead, Crispi immediately established martial law in Sicily because of the Fasci movement: he accused the leaders of the Fasci of conspiring with England for the secession of Sicily (treaty of Bisacquino). He aligned himself closely with the rich [Sicilian] landowners because they were the most pro-unitarian class out of fear of the peasants' demands, while at the same time his general policy tended to strengthen Northern industrialism through the tariff war against France and through customs protectionism. He did not hesitate to throw the entire South into a terrifying commercial crisis to reinforce the industry that could give the nation true independence and enlarge the dominant class : it was the politics of manufacturing the manufacturer. The government of the Moderates from 1 8 6 1 to 1 876 had created solely and diffidently the external conditions for economic development- systematization of the state apparatus, roads, railways, telegraph

-and rectified the finances overwhelmed by the debts of the Risorgimento; the leftist government tried to remedy the hatred aroused among the people by the fiscal policy of the Right, but it was unable to accomplish anything other than to be a safety valve; it was the policy of the Right with men and phrases of the Left. Crispi, instead, imparted a real forward thrust to Italian society, he was the true man of the new bourgeoisie. His figure is diminished by the disproportion between deeds and words, between the repressions and what had to be repressed, between the instrument and the blow struck: he handled a rusty culverin as if it were a modem piece of artillery. Even his policy of colonial expansion was

142

NOTEB OOK I ( 1 929- 1 9 30)

connected to his unitarian obsession. In this, he was able to understand the political innocence of the South: the Southern peasant wanted land; Crispi did not want to give it to him within Italy itself, he did not want to practice "economic Jacobinism"; he presented him with the mirage of exploitable colonial lands. Crispi's imperialism was a passionate rhetorical imperialism without a financial-economic base. Capitalist Europe, rich in capital, exported it to the colonial empires it was then creating. But Italy not only had no capital to export, it had to resort to foreign capital for its own most urgent needs. Italian imperialism lacked a [real] base, and

"passion" was substituted for the real base: castle-in-the-air imperialism, opposed by the very capitalists who would have more willingly seen the huge sums spent in Africa used in Italy. But in the South Crispi was popular because of the mirage of land.

Crispi left a strong mark, especially on Sicilian intellectuals; he created that "unitarian" fanaticism which produced a permanent atmosphere of suspicion toward anything that might smack of separatism. Naturally, this did not prevent the Sicilian rich landowners from gathering in Palermo in 1 920 and declaring a genuine ultimatum against the government, threatening secession; 13 similarly it did not prevent several of these rich landowners from continuing to hold Spanish citizenship and from making the Spanish government intervene (the case of the Duke of Bivona) to protect their interests, endangered by the agitation of the peasants. 14 The behavior of the Southern classes from 1 9 1 9 to 1 926 serves to show certain weaknesses in Crispi's "obsessively" unitarian policy and to point out certain corrections contributed to it by Giolitti (which, in reality, were few since from this point of view Giolitti follows in Crispi's wake).

The episode of the Sicilian landowners in 1 920 is not isolated and one could give it a different interpretation by invoking the precedents of the Lombard upper classes who on certain occassions threatened to "go it alone" (find the verifications and the documents), were it not for the fact that an authentic interpretation can be found in the campaigns waged by Il Mattina from 1 9 1 9 to 1 926 (until the expulsion of the Scarfoglio brothers).15 It would be simplistic to maintain that these campaigns were entirely fanciful, that they were not connected in some way to currents of public opinion and to states of mind which had remained underground, latent, potential, because of the atmosphere of intimidation created by

"obsessive unitarianism. " On two occasions Il Mattina upheld this thesis:

"that the South became part of the unitary state on a contractual basisthe Albertine Statute, 16 but that (implicitly) it continues to preserve its character and has the right to leave the unity if the contractual basis fails in any way, that is, if the constitution is changed. " This thesis was sustained in 1 9 1 9-20 against a leftist constitutional change; in 1 924-2 5-26 against a rightist constitutional change. One must bear in mind the

First Notebook. §44

1 4 3

character o f I1 Mattina which under Edoardo Scarfoglio (Scarfoglio's friendship with Carduccil 1 7 was a Crispian organ, Africanist, etc., and which always sustained an expansionist and colonialist position, setting the tone for the Southern ideology created by the hunger for land and by emigration aimed at imperialist colonization. About I1 Mattina, one should also recall its exceedingly violent campaign against the North in connection with the assault by the Lombard textile producers on the Southern cotton industries and the attempts to transport the machinery, disguised as scrap iron, to Lombardy. In this campaign (of 1 9 2 3 ) 11 Mattina went so far as to glorify the Bourbons and their economic policies. 18 Recall, furthermore, the obituary of Maria Sophia published by I1 Mattina in 1 9 25 , which caused a great scandal. 19

To be sure, one should make certain qualifications concerning this attitude of 11 Mattina: the "adventurist" character of the Scarfoglio brothers; their venality (recall that Maria Sophia was always trying to intervene in Italian internal politics out of vengeance, if not with the hope of restoring the kingdom of Naples: recall in the Unita of 1 9 1 4 or 1 9 1 5 , Salvemini's attack on Malatesta insinuating that the events of 1 9 1 4 might have been supported by the Austrian General Staff through the agency of Zita of Bourbon;20 and the episode recalled by Benedetto Croce in Uamini e case della vecchia ltalia concerning the connection between Malatesta and Maria Sophia in arranging for the escape of an anarchist who had committed a terrorist act and the diplomatic action by which the Italian government approached the French government about these activities of Maria Sophia/1 -remember the anecdotes of Mrs. ( . . . )c who used to visit Maria Sophia in 1 9 1 9 to paint her (portrait));d their ideological and political dilettantism. But one should also remember that I1 Mattina was the newspaper with the greatest circulation in the South and that the Scarfoglio brothers were born journalists, that is, they possessed that quick and

"sympathetic" intuition of the currents of popular passion which makes possible the circulation of the yellow press.

Another element for assessing the real importance of Crispi's "obsessively unitary" policy is the complex of feelings created in the North about the South. The "poverty" of the South was "historically" inexplicable to the Northern popular masses : they did not understand that unity had not been created on a basis of equality, but as a hegemony of the North over the South in a city-country territorial relation; in other words, that the North was a "parasite" which enriched itself at the expense of the South, that industrial development was dependent on the impoverishment of Southern agriculture. Instead they thought that if the South made c In the manuscript a name is canceled and rendered illegible.

d In the manuscript some words are canceled and rendered illegible; the editorial insertion is based on the later version of this note in Notebook 1 9, §2.4.

1 44

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0)

no progress after being freed from the obstacles that Bourbon rule had placed in the way of modern development, this meant that the causes of the poverty were not external but internal; moreover, given the deepseated belief in the great natural wealth of the land, there remained but one explanation: the organic incapacity of the people, their barbarity, their biological inferiority. These already widespread opinions (Neapolitan lazzaroni had long been legendary) were firmly established and even theorized by positivist sociologists (Niceforo, Ferri, Orano etc.), thus acquiring the validity of "scientific truths" at a time of scientific superstition.22

Hence there was a North-South polemic about race and about the superiority and inferiority of North and South (Colajanni's books defending the South, and the Rivista Popolare series).23 Meanwhile, the North persisted in the belief that the South represented Italy's "dead weight, " the conviction that the modem industrial civilization of the North would have made greater progress without this "dead weight, " etc., etc. At the beginning of the century there is a great Southern reaction on this issue, as well. The Sardinian Congress of 1 9 1 1 under the presidency of General Rugiu, at which an estimate was made of how many millions had been extorted from Sardinia in favor of the mainland during the first s o years of unity.24

Salvemini's campaigns culminating in the foundation of L'Unita; but already being conducted in La Voce (a special issue of La Voce on the Southern Question, also published as a pamphlet).25 In this century a certain "intellectual" bloc is formed, led by B. Croce and Giustino Fortunato, which spreads all over Italy; in every little periodical for young people with liberal-democratic tendencies who propose in general to modernize Italian culture, in all fields-art, literature, politics- there appears not only the influence of Croce and of Fortunato, but their contributions: typical example, La Voce and L'Unita, but see also the Patria of Bologna, the Azione Liberale of Milan, the "Borelli groups, " etc.26 It appears also in the Carriere della Sera and, given the new situation after the war, it ends up appearing in La Stampa (through Cosmo, Salvatorelli, Ambrosini),27 and in Giolittism, with Croce's participation in the last Giolitti government.

Nowadays, this movement is interpreted tendentiously even by G.

Prezzolini who was himself a typical embodiment of it; but there is still an authentic document, the first edition of Prezzolini's Cultura italiana in 1 923, and its "omissions. " 28 This movement extends all the way to Gobetti and his cultural initiatives and in him it reaches its point of resolution.29 Gobetti represents the destination point of this movement and the end of the bloc, that is, the beginning of its dissolution. Giovanni Ansaldo's polemic against Guido Dorso is the document that best expresses this dissolution, also because of certain comic elements in the gladiatorial intimidatory attitudes of "obsessive unitarianism. "30 This body of events and polemical thrusts provides a criterion for examining

First Notebook. §44

1 4 5

the "wisdom" of each of the various currents which vied for the political and ideological leadership of the Action Party: the joining together of the various rural classes which comes into existence as a bloc by means of the various intellectual strata can be dissolved, so that it becomes a new formation ( passage from Bourbonism to the liberal national regime in Southern Italy) only if strength is mustered from two directions-from the peasant base by accepting their demands and making them an integral part of the new government program, and from the intellectuals by emphasizing the issues most likely to interest them. The relation between these two actions is dialectical: if the peasants move, intellectuals start to waver and, reciprocally, if a group of intellectuals establishes itself on the new basis, it ends up carrying with it increasingly important segments of the masses. One may say that given the dispersal and the isolation of the rural population and thus the difficulty of concentrating it into strong organizations, it is better to begin the political work with the intellectuals; but, generally, it is the dialectical relation between the two actions that must be kept in mind.3 1 One may also say that it is almost impossible to create peasant parties in the strict sense of the term: among the peasants the party realizes itself, generally, as a strong current of opinions, not in schematic forms; but even the existence of a skeleton party is immensely useful both for a certain way of selecting individuals and for controlling the intellectuals and preventing their "caste interests" from carrying them imperceptibly onto different ground.

This criterion must be kept in mind when studying Giuseppe Ferrari who was the Action Party's ignored specialist on agrarian questions. It is also necessary to study carefully Giuseppe Ferrari's attitude toward agricultural day-labor, that is, the landless peasants on whom he bases a conspicuous part of his ideology, for which he is still sought after and studied by certain modern schools of thought. (Ferrari's works reprinted by Monanni with a preface by Luigi Fabbri. )32 One must recognize that the problem of agricultural day labor is extremely difficult and even today it is very hard to solve. In general, one must keep in mind the following criteria: even today, and much more so in the Risorgimento period, the agricultural day laborers are simple landless peasants, not the workers of an agricultural industry developed through concentration of capital. Exceptions notwithstanding, then, their psychology is the same as that of the farmer or small holder. (One must go back to the polemic between Senators Bassini and Tanari in I1 Resto del Carlino and in La Perseveranza in late 1 9 1 7 or in 1 9 1 8 concerning the implementation of the slogan, "the land to the peasants, " launched during the war: Tanari was for it, Bassini was against it on the basis of his experience as a great agricultural industrialist, an owner of agricultural concerns in which the division of labor had already progressed so far as to make the land indivisible because of

1 46

NOTEB O O K I ( I 9 29- I 9 30)

the disappearance of the self-employed peasant and the emergence of the employed laborer. )33 The question was posed in acute form not so much in the South, where the artisan-like character of peasant work is too obvious, but in the Po Valley where it is more covert. Even in recent times, though, the existence of agricultural day labor in the Po Valley was partly due to extra-economic causes: I ) overpopulation that did not find an outlet in emigration as in the South and was artificially sustained through the policy of public works; 2) the determination of the landowners who did not want to consolidate the rural population into a single class of either agricultural day laborers or sharecroppers and therefore alternated between sharecropping and tenant farming, using this alternation also as a way of selecting a group of privileged sharecroppers who would be their political allies. (In every congress of landowners from the Po region there is always a discussion on whether sharecropping or direct tenancy is more expedient, and the political motivation of the choice that is made becomes transparent. ) The problem of agricultural day labor in the Po Valley appeared during the Risorgimento in the form of a terrifying phenomenon of pauperism. This is how Tullio Martello sees it in his Storia dell'In ternazionale published in I 8 7 I -72, a work that must be kept in mind because it still reflects the political passions and the social preoccupations of the preceding period.34

Ferrari's position is further weakened by his "federalism" which especially in his case-he was living in France-appeared even more like a reflection of French national and state interests. Recall Proudhon and his pamphlets against Italian unity, 35 opposed from the avowed viewpoint of French state interest and of democracy: all the main currents of French politics opposed Italian unity. To this day the monarchists (Bainville, etc.)36 stand in opposition to the nationalistic principle of the two Napoleons for having brought about the unification of Germany and Italy, thus lowering the relative stature of France.

It is under the slogan of "unity and independence"- the concrete political content of which they ignored- that the Moderates formed the national bloc under their hegemony. How they succeeded in their intent is demonstrated also by this expression of Guerrazzi in a letter to a Sicilian student (published in Eugenio de Carlo's Archivio Storico Sicilianocorrespondence between F. D. Guerrazzi and the notary Francesco Paolo Sardofontana of Riella, also in the Marzocco of 24 November I 92 9 ) : "No matter what we want-whether it is despotism, or a republic, or anything else-let us try not to be divided; with this cardinal principle, let the world crumble, we will rediscover our way. "37 But thousands of such examples could be cited and all of Mazzini's work was concretely summed up in the propaganda for unity. (And, of course, the Moderates after I 848, when they were reorganized by Cavour around Piedmont. )

First Notebook. §44

1 47

Regarding Jacobinism and the Action Party, an element to be remembered is that the Jacobins won their function of leading party by means of struggle: they imposed themselves on the French bourgeoisie, leading it to a much more advanced position than it would have "spontaneously"

wanted and even much more advanced than the historical premises would have allowed; hence, the acts of reaction and the function of Napoleon.

This trait, characteristic of Jacobinism and therefore of the whole French Revolution, of having a group of extremely energetic and resolute men who (apparently) force the situation and produce irreversible faits accomplis, pushing the bourgeois class forward with kicks in the backside, can be "schematized" thus: the third estate was the least homogeneous of the estates; the bourgeoisie constituted its most economically and culturally advanced segment; the development of events in France demonstrates the political development of this segment, which initially poses only those questions that interest its actual physical members, its immediate "corporate" interests (corporate in the special sense of the immediate and egotistic interests of a particular restricted social group); the precursors of the revolution are moderate reformers who speak loudly but in reality demand very little. This advanced segment gradually loses its "corporate"

characteristics and becomes a hegemonic class by dint of two factors : the resistance of the old classes and the political activity of the Jacobins. The old classes do not want to give up anything, and if they do give up something they do it with the intention of gaining time and preparing the counteroffensive; the bourgeoisie would have fallen into these successive

"traps" without the energetic action of the Jacobins, who oppose every intermediate halt and send to the guillotine not only the representatives of the old classes, but also yesterday's revolutionaries who have become today's reactionaries. The Jacobins, then, represent the only party of the revolution, in that they not only perceive the immediate interests of the actual physical individuals who constitute the French bourgeoisie, but they also perceive the interests of tomorrow and not just those of particular physical individuals, but of the other social strata of the third estate which tomorrow will become bourgeois, because they are convinced of egalite and fraternite. One must remember that the Jacobins were not abstractionists, even if "today, " in a new situation and after more than a century of historical elaboration, their language appears "abstractionist."

The Jacobins' language, their ideology reflected perfectly the needs of the time, in keeping with French traditions and culture (see Marx's analysis in The Holy Family where it turns out that Jacobin phraseology corresponded perfectly to the formulas of classical German philosophy,38 which today is acknowledged to have the greatest concreteness and which has given rise to modem historicism); 1 st need: to annihilate the enemy class or at least reduce it to impotence; make counterrevolution impossible;

NOTEBOOK I ( I 929- I 9 3 0)

2d: to enlarge the class interests of the bourgeoisie, discovering the common interests it shares with the other strata of the third estate, to set these strata in motion, lead them into the struggle, obtaining two results: I ) that of setting up a wider target against the blows of the enemy class, that is, of creating a military relation favorable to the revolution; 2) that of taking away from the opposed class every zone of passivity in which it surely would have created Vendee-type armies. (Without the agrarian policy of the Jacobins, the very gates of Paris would have been besieged by the Vendee: the resistance of the Vendee, properly speaking, is linked to the national question raised among the Bretons by the formula of the "one and indivisible republic, " which the Jacobins could not renounce without suicide. The Girondins tried to use federalism in order to crush the Jacobins, but the provincial troops that had been led to Paris went over to the Jacobins; with the exception of Brittany and other small peripheral areas, the agrarian question presented itself as separate from the national question, as can be seen in this and other military episodes: the provinces accepted the hegemony of Paris; that is, the rural population understood that its interests were tied to those of the bourgeoisie.) The Jacobins, therefore, forced their hand, but always in the direction of real historical development, because they not only founded the bourgeois state and made of the bourgeoisie the "dominant" class, but they did more (in a certain sense), they made of the bourgeoisie the leading hegemonic class, that is, they provided the state with a permanent base.

That the Jacobins always remained grounded in class is demonstrated by the events which marked their end and the death of Robespierre: they would not recognize the workers' right of coalition (the Chapelier law

!and its consequences in the law of the "maximum"]e) and thus broke up the Parisian urban bloc; their assault forces which were gathered in the Commune dispersed themselves, disappointed, and the Thermidor gained the upper hand; the revolution had found its class limits: the policy of

"alliances" had given rise to new questions that could not be resolved at the time.39

We do not find this Jacobin spirit, this will to become the "leading party, " in the Action Party. One must consider the differences: in Italy the struggle presented itself as a struggle against old treaties and against the foreign power, Austria, which represented and supported them in Italy with the force of arms, occupying Lombardy-Veneto and exercising control over the rest of the territory. The problem arose in France as well, at least in a certain sense, because at one point the internal struggle became a national struggle fought at the borders, but the Jacobins were able to extract from it the ingredients for greater energy: they understood well that in order to defeat the external enemy they had to crush its allies

• Gramsci inserted these words between the lines at a later date.

First Notebook. §44

1 49

internally and they did not hesitate to carry out the September massacres. In Italy where this connection, explicit and implicit, also existed between Austria and at least a section of the aristocratic and landed upper classes, it was not denounced by the Action Party or, at least, it was not denounced with adequate vigor: in any case, it did not become an active political factor. Curiously, it became transformed into a question of greater or lesser patriotic dignity and later gave rise to a string of acrimonious but sterile polemics until 1 898 (cf. the articles by "Rerum Scriptor" in Critica Sociale and Bonfadini's book Cinquant 'anni di patriottismo) .40

On the matter, recall the question of Federico Confalonieri's "depositions"; in his book, mentioned above, Bonfadini asserts that the "depositions" were kept in the Milan State Archives: I think he refers to 8o dossiers.41 Others have always denied the existence of the "depositions"

in Italy, thus explaining why they were not published; in an article he published around 1 924 or 1 9 2 5 in Carriere della Sera, Senator Salata who was entrusted by the government with conducting research on Italian history in the Vienna Archives stated that he had discovered the "depositions. " 42 Remember the fact that during a certain period the Civiltii Ca ttolica challenged the liberals to publish them, asserting that if known they would blow Italian unity sky high, nothing less.43 The noteworthy fact about the Confalonieri question is this: that unlike other patriots who had been pardoned by Austria, Confalonieri, though he was a remarkable statesman, retired from active political life and after his liberation maintained a very reserved demeanour. The whole Confalonieri question, together with the attitude that he and his companions adopted during the trial, should be examined even on the basis of a deeper analysis of the recollections of those single individuals who set them down in writing: for the polemics which they stirred up, the memoirs of the Frenchman Alexandre Andryane1 are interesting-a very small selection was published by Rosolino Guastalla in a Barbera edition which, I believe, attacked Pallavicino for his weakness while bestowing great respect on Confalonieri. 44

Concerning the defense offered, even recently, of the attitude adopted by the Lombard aristocracy toward Austria, especially after the February 1 8 s 3 insurrection and during the vice-regency of Maximilian: recall that Alessandro Luzio, whose historical work is completely tendentious, goes so far as to justify the loyal services rendered Austria by Salvotti and Co.; some Jacobin spirit!45

The comical side of the question is provided by Panzini who, in the Vita di Cavour, produces a variation (as affected as it is tiresome and Jesuitical) on the "tiger skin" displayed from an aristocrat's window during one of Franz Josef 's visits to Milan ! !46

1The name of Alexandre Andryane was added at a later date in place of some canceled words.

NOTEBOOK I ( I 9 29 - I 9 3 0)

The views of Missiroli, Gobetti, Dorso, etc. on the Italian Risorgimento as a "royal conquest" should be considered from all these points of view.47

If a Jacobin party did not arise in Italy, the reasons should be sought in the economic field, that is, in the relative weakness of the Italian bourgeoisie and in the different historical atmosphere of Europe. The limit reached by the Jacobins, in their policy of a forced reawakening of French popular energies to be allied with the bourgeoisie, with the Chapelier law

[and the law of the "maximum"],& manifested itself in I 848 as an already threatening "specter, " 48 cleverly stirred up by Austria and by the old governments, but also by Cavour (as well as the Pope). The bourgeoisie could not further extend its hegemony over the vast strata which it had been able to embrace in France, it is true; but it was always possible to act on the peasantry. Difference between France, Germany and Italy in the process through which the bourgeoisie seizes power (and England) . In France we have the complete phenomenon, the greatest wealth of political elements. The German phenomenon resembles the Italian in certain aspects, and the English in other aspects. In Germany, I 848 fails because of the lack of bourgeois concentration (the Jacobin type of slogan was provided by Marx during the German I 848: "the revolution in permanence")49 and because the question is intertwined with the national one; the wars of I 864, I 866, and 1 870 resolve the national question and the class question in an intermediate way: the bourgeoisie gains industrialeconomic control, but the old feudal classes remain as the governing stratum with wide caste privileges in the army, in state administration, and on the land. But in Germany, at least, if these old classes retain so much importance and maintain so many privileges, they exercise a function, they are the "intellectuals" of the bourgeoisie, with a particular temperament conferred by their class origin and tradition. In England, where the bourgeois Revolution occurred earlier than in France, we have the same phenomenon as in Germany of a fusion between the old and the new, notwithstanding the extreme energy of the English "Jacobins, " that is, Cromwell's "roundheads" : the old aristocracy remains as a governing stratum, with certain privileges; it too becomes the intellectual stratum of the English bourgeoisie. ( See, in this respect, Engels' observations in the English preface, I think, to Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, 50 which must be kept in mind for this study on the intellectuals and their historical class functions. ) The explanation given by Antonio Labriola of the lasting power of the Junkers and Kaiserism in Germany notwithstanding the great capitalist development, 51 adumbrates the correct explanation: with bourgeois hegemony having reached its limit and with the position of the progressive classes having been reversed, the class relations created by industrial

• Added in the margin at a later date.

First Notebook. §45

r s r

development induce the bourgeoisie not to struggle all out against the old world but to allow that part of the facade to subsist which would serve to conceal its dominion. These diverse manifestations of the same phenomenon in different countries must be linked to various internal as well as international relations (international factors are usually undervalued in these researches). The bold, fearless Jacobin spirit is surely related to the hegemony exercised by France for such a long time. The Napoleonic wars, on the other hand, with the enormous destruction of men, from among the strongest and most adventurous, weaken not only French energies, but also those of other nations, although they also provide formidable lessons of new energy.

International factors were certainly very strong in determining the course of the Risorgimento. They were further exaggerated by the Moderate Party (Cavour) for party reasons: in this regard, it is noteworthy that Cavour, who prior to the Quarto expedition dreads Garibaldi's initiative because of the international complications it may create, 52 is later himself so carried along by the enthusiasm created by the Thousand in European public opinion as to consider a new war against Austria feasible. There existed, therefore, in Cavour a certain professional distortion of the diplomat which led him to see "too many" difficulties and induced him into conspiratorial exaggeration and into prodigies -for the most part acrobatic feats- of subtlety and intrigue. In any case, he executed his role as a party man well; whether this party represented the nation, even if only in the sense of the greatest extension of the community of interests between the bourgeoisie and other classes, is another question.

As regards the "Jacobin" slogan which Marx directed at the Germany of r 848-49, its complex fortunes should be examined. Revived, systematized, elaborated, intellectualized by the Parvus-Bronstein group, it proved inert and ineffective in 1 905 and afterward: it was an abstract thing that belonged to the scientific laboratory. The tendency which opposed it in this intellectualized form, however, without using it "intentionally, " in fact employed it in its historical, concrete, living form adapted to the time and place as something that sprang from all the pores of the society which had to be transformed, as the alliance of two classes with the hegemony of the urban class.53 In the one case, a Jacobin temperament without the adequate political content, typified by Crispi; in the second case, a Jacobin temperament and content in keeping with the new historical relations, rather than adhering to an intellectualistic label.

Cf. Notebook 1 9, §24.

§(4 5 ) . Sicilian in tellectuals. Rivalry between Palermo and Catania contending for intellectual supremacy in the island. - Ca-

NOTEBOOK I ! 1 9 29 - 1 930)

tania called the Sicilian Athens, or, rather, "Sicula Atene. " 1 -The celebrity of Catania: Domenico Tempio, licentious poet, active after the 1 69 3 earthquake that destroyed Catania (Antonio Prestinenza links the poet's licentious tone to the earthquake : death -

life destruction prolifigacy. ) -Vincenzo Bellini, contrasted to Tempio because of his romantic melancholy. 2

Mario Rapisardi is the modern glory of Catania. Garibaldi writes to him : "In the vanguard of progress we will follow you"; and Victor Hugo: "Vous etes un precurseur. "- Rapisardi-Garibaldi

Victor Hugo. -The Carducci-Rapisardi polemic. - Rapisardi-De Felice (on May first, De Felice led the procession by Rapisardi's gate) . - Socialist populism mixed with the superstitious cult of Saint Agatha; when Rapisardi was on his death bed they wanted him to rejoin the Church : "Thus lived Argante and he died as he had lived, " said RapisardP -Alongside Rapisardi: Verga, Cap uana, De Roberto, who are not, however, considered "very Sicilian, " also because they are connected to continental currents and are Carducci's friends.4 - Catania and Abruzzo in nineteenth-century Italian literature.

§(46). The Moderates and the intellectuals. The Moderates had to prevail among the intellectuals. Mazzini and Gioberti. Gioberti offered the intellectuals a seemingly national and original philosophy, such that it would put Italy on the same level as the more advanced nations and give new dignity to Italian "thought"; 1 Mazzini provided only aphorisms and philosophical allusions which must have seemed empty talk to many intellectuals, especially Southerners IGaliani had "mocked" that mode of thinking and writing).2 The school question. Activity by the Moderates to introduce the pedagogical principle of "mutual teaching" IConfalonieri, Capponi, etc.); the movement of Ferrante Aporti and of the infant schools, linked also to pauperism.3 It was the only concrete movement against the

"Jesuitic" school and it was bound to be effective not only among the laity whom it endowed with a personality of their own, but also among the pro-liberal and anti-Jesuit clergy. !Hostility toward Ferrante Aporti, etc.; sheltering and educating abandoned children was a monopoly of clericalism and these initiatives broke the monopoly. ) These scholastic activities of a liberal or pro-liberal character during the Risorgimento, have great importance for understanding the mechanism of the Moderates' hegemony over the intellectuals. Scholastic activity, at all levels, has an enormous importance even economically for

First Notebook. §47

1 5 3

intellectuals of all grades; at that time it had even greater importance given the narrowness of the social framework and the paucity of avenues open to the initiative of the intellectuals. (Today: journalism, party movements, etc., have greatly extended the intellectual scene.) The hegemony of a central leadership over the intellectuals has these two strategic lines: "a general conception of life/' a philosophy (Gioberti), which gives its adherents a "dignity" to set against the dominant ideologies as a principle of struggle; a scholastic program which interests the fraction of the intellectuals that is the most homogeneous and the most numerous (teachers, from elementary school teachers to university professors) and provides them with an appropriate activity in their technical field.

The scholars' conventions that were held repeatedly during the Risorgimento4 had a double effect: 1 ) to bring together the intellectuals of the highest level, thus multiplying their influence; 2) to obtain a more rapid concentration of lower level intellectuals who through a caste spirit normally tend to follow the university professors, the great scholars.

The study of encyclopedic and specialized journals reveals another aspect of this hegemony.5 A party, such as that of the Moderates, offered the mass of the intellectuals all the satisfactions of their general needs that could be offered by a government (by a party in government) through state services. (The Piedmontese State served this function of a "government" party perfectly after 1 848; it welcomed the exiled intellectuals and provided a model of what the future unitary state would be like. ) Cf. Notebook 1 9, §27.

§(47). Hegel and associationism . Hegel's doctrine of parties and associations as the "private" fabric of the state. It ensued historically from the political experiences of the French Revolution and was to help give greater concreteness to constitutionalism.

Government by consent of the governed, but an organized consent, not the vague and generic kind which is declared at the time of elections : the state has and demands consent, but it also "educates"

this consent through political and trade-union associations which, however, are private organisms, left to the private initiative of the ruling class. Thus, in a certain sense, Hegel already goes beyond pure constitutionalism and theorizes the parliamentary state with its regime of parties. His conception of association cannot but be still vague and primitive, in between the political and the economic, in keeping with the historical experience of the times which was quite narrow and offered only one accomplished example of

1 5 4

NOTEBO O K I j 1 929- 1 9 3 0)

organization, the "corporative" one (politics embedded in the econ omy). 1

Marx could not have historical experiences superior (or, at least, greatly superior) to Hegel's, but he had a sense of the masses through his activity as a journalist and agitator. Marx's concept of organization still remains entangled within these elements : trade organization, Jacobin clubs, secret conspiracies of small groups, journalistic organization. The French Revolution offers two preva lent types : the clubs, which are non-rigid organizations of a "town hall meeting" type, centered around single political personalities, each with its own newspaper through which it keeps alive the attention and interest of a particular, though loosely defined, clien tele which, in tum, supports the newspaper's theses during club meetings. Certainly, among the regular club members there must have been small and select groupings of people who knew each other, who met separately and prepared the atmosphere of the meetings in order to support some tendency or another according to the circumstances and the concrete interests at play. The secret societies, which later became very widespread in Italy prior to 1 848, were bound to develop after the Thermidor in France among the second line followers of Jacobinism; with great difficulty during the Napoleonic period because of sharp police vigilance, and more easily between r 8 r 5 and 1 8 30 under the Restoration which had a rather liberal base and did not harbor certain preoccupations.

It is during this period, between r 8 r s and 1 8 30, that the differentia tion had to occur within the popular political field which already seems notable during the "glorious days" of 1 8 30, when the formations that were coalescing during the preceding fifteen years come to the surface. After 1 8 30 and until 1 848, this process of differentiation is perfected and produces some quite accomplished types in Blanqui and Filippo Buonarroti. 2

It is unlikely that Hegel had intimate knowledge of these histor ical experiences which were, however, more vivid in Marx. (On this series of items, see as primary material Paul Louis' publica tions and Maurice Block's political Dictionary; for the French Revolution, Aulard in particular; see also Andler's notes to the Manifesto; for Italy, Luzio's book on freemasonry and the Risorgimento, very biased. j3

First Notebook. §48

r s s

§(48). Charles Maurras' reverse facobinism (following the § on p. 8

verso) . ' The development of Jacobinism (of content) found its formal perfection in the parliamentary regime which, in the period of the greatest abundance of "private" energies in society, brought about the hegemony of the urban class over the whole population in the Hegelian form of government with permanently organized consent (with the organization being left to private initiative and thus having a moral or ethical character since it was, in one way or another, a "voluntary" consent). The "limit"

encountered by the Jacobins with the Chapelier law [or the maximum]8 is overcome and slackened through a complex, theoretical-practical ( juridical-political economic) process by means of which political consent is

=

regained (hegemony is maintained), broadening and strengthening the economic base through industrial and commercial development up to the epoch of imperialism and the world war. During this process there is an alternation of insurrections and repressions, enlargements and restrictions of political suffrage, freedom of association and restriction or abolition of that freedom; freedom in the field of trade unionism but not in the political field, different forms of suffrage- by list or by small constituency, proportional or individual, with the various resulting combinations, the one-chamber or the two-chambers system, and the various modes of selection for each (chamber with hereditary and life tenure, or only life tenure, itself subject to election, but not the same as the lower chamber, etc.Ji with the varied balance of powers, whereby the judiciary is either a power or an Order, independent or controlled and supervised by the government, with the various attributes of the head of state, and the diverse internal equilibriums of the territorial organisms (centralism or decentralization, greater or lesser powers of prefects, of provincial councils, of municipalities); with a different equilibrium between the conscripted armed forces and professional armed corps (police, gendarmerie); with the dependence of these professional corps on one state power or another (on the judiciary, the ministry of the interior, or the war ministry); with the greater or lesser part left to custom or to the written law, whereby some consuetudinary forms develop which can be abolished by virtue of the written law; with the greater or lesser real separation between the rules and the fundamental laws, and the greater or lesser use of law decrees that are superimposed upon and on certain occasions modify normal legislation, straining the "patience" of parliament. The theoreticians-philosophers, journalists, political parties, etc. contribute to the formal part of this process while the mass movements contribute to the substantive part through reciprocal actions and reactions, through "preventive" actions before a phenomenon becomes dangerous, and through repressions when the preventions have been unsuccessful, or late, or ineffective. The "nor-

• Added between the lines at a later date.

NOTE B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 30)

mal" exercise of hegemony on the now classic terrain of the parliamentary regime is characterized by a combination of force and consent which balance each other so that force does not overwhelm consent but rather appears to be backed by the consent of the majority, expressed by the socalled organs of public opinion (which in certain situations, therefore, are artificially multiplied). Between consent and force stands corruption-fraud (which is characteristic of certain situations in which it is difficult to exercise the hegemonic function while the use of force presents too many dangers!; that is, the procurement of the antagonist's, or antagonists'

debilitation and paralysis by buying- covertly under normal circumstances, openly in the case of anticipated danger- their leaders in order to create confusion and disorder among the antagonist ranks.

During the postwar period, the hegemonic apparatus cracks and the exercise of hegemony becomes ever more difficult. The phenomenon is presented and discussed in various terms and from different points of view. The most common are: "crisis of the principle of authority, " "dissolution of the parliamentary regime. " Naturally, only the central manifestations of the phenomenon on the parliamentary or governmental level are described, and they are explained by the failure of the parliamentary

"principle, " of the democratic "principle, " etc., but not the authority

"principle" (this failure is proclaimed by others). Practically, this crisis manifests itself in the ever growing difficulty to form governments and in the ever greater instability of the governments themselves, and has its immediate origin in the multiplication of parliamentary parties and in the

!permanent] internal crisis of each of these parties ( that is, there occurs within each party the same thing that occurs in parliament: difficulties of government). The forms of this phenomenon are also, to a certain degree, forms of corruption and of moral dissolution: every little group within the party believes it has the recipe for halting the weakening of the whole party and resorts to any means to obtain its leadership or at least to participate in the leadership, just as in parliament !the party] believes itself to be the only one that must form a government in order to save the country or at least that it must, in order to support the government, participate in it in the most extensive way possible; hence the captious and detailed negotiations which are bound to be so personalized as to appear scandalous. Perhaps, in reality there is less corruption than one thinks. That those interested in the resolution of the crisis from their own point of view should feign to believe it to be a case of the "corruption"

and "dissolution" of a "principle" could even be justified: everyone can be the best judge in the choice of the ideological weapons which are most appropriate for the goals one wants to reach, and demagogy can be deemed an excellent weapon. But things become comical when the demagogue does not know that he is one; that is, when one functions in practice as if

First Notebook. §48

1 5 7

one really believed that the cowl is the monk, that the cap is the brain.

Machiavelli and Stenterello.2 The crisis in France. Its great slowness. The French parties. They were very numerous even before 1 9 1 4. Their formal multiplicity depends on the richness of political events in France from 1 789 to the Dreyfus Affair. Each of these events has left traces and aftereffects which have became consolidated into parties; but the differences being much less important than the similarities, in reality a two-party regime has ruled in parliament: liberal-democrats (the gamut of radicalism) and conservatives. The multiplicity of parties has been useful in the past: it has made possible a vast operation of selection and has created a large number of government men. Thus every movement of public opinion found an immediate reflection and composition. Bourgeois hegemony is very strong and has many reserves. The intellectuals are very concentrated (Academy, University, great Parisian newspapers and periodicals) and, although very numerous, they are very disciplined at the center of culture.

The military and civil bureaucracy has a great tradition and has attained a great homogeneity. The most dangerous internal weakness of the state (military and civil) apparatus came from clericalism allied to the monarchists. But the popular mass, although Catholic, was not clerical. The struggle to paralyze the clerical-monarchic influence on the state apparatus and to give the lay element clear-cut supremacy culminated in the Dreyfus Affair. The war has not weakened but strengthened the hegemony; there was no time to think: the country entered the war and almost immediately its territory was invaded. The transition from the old discipline to the new one did not require too great a crisis; the old military cadres were sufficiently large and sufficiently flexible: the subaltern and noncommissioned officers were possibly the world's choicest, the best trained.

Comparison with other countries. The question of the arditi.3 The crisis of the cadres, the large number of reserve officers. The arditi in other countries have represented a new army of volunteers, a select military force which had a fundamental tactical function. Contact with the enemy was sought only through the arditi, who formed a sort of curtain between the enemy and the conscripted army (like the staves of a corset). The French infantry consisted for the most part of farmers, that is, men of a certain muscular and nervous stock who were more resistant to the physical collapse caused by life in the trenches (the average Frenchman consumes about 1, s oo,ooo calories per year, whereas the Italian consumes less than a million ) - in France, the phenomenon of day labor is minimal (the landless peasant is a farm servant, that is, he lives the same life as the master and does not experience the starvation even of seasonal unemployment; real day laborers number less than one million persons); further, food in the trenches was better than in other countries and the democratic past, rich with struggles, had created the citizen, in the double sense that

N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0)

not only did the common man feel he was someone, but he was considered by his superiors to be someone, that is, he was not mocked and bullied trivially. Thus there wasn't that sedimentation of poisoned rage and of slyness that accumulated elsewhere. The internal struggles after the armistice, therefore, were not very bitter and, especially, there was no extraordinary wavering of the rural classes. The French parliamentary crisis is indicative of a widespread malaise in the country, but this malaise has not yet assumed a radical character, has not put into play "untouchable" questions. There was a broadening of the industrial base and hence an increased urbanism. Masses of rural people poured into the city, but not because there was unemployment or unsatisfied hunger for land in the countryside; because city life is better, there are more satisfactions (the price of land is low, and much good land is abandoned to the Italians).

The parliamentary crisis (up till now) reflects, rather, a normal displacement of masses (not due to an economic crisis), with a search for new party equilibriums, and a vague malaise foreboding a great crisis. The very sensibility of the political organism leads to an exaggeration of the symptoms of the malaise. For the time being it is a case of struggling over the division of state positions and state benefits, more than anything else.

Hence the crisis of the medium-sized parties and, above all, of the radical party which represents medium-sized and small cities and the more advanced peasants. The political forces prepare themselves for the great future struggles and try to position themselves better. The extra-statal forces throw their weight more heavily and impose their own men in a more brutal way.

Maurras loudly announces the collapse and prepares for the seizure of power. Maurras passes for a great statesman and a very great realist. In reality, he is only a Jacobin in reverse. The Jacobins spoke a certain language, they followed a certain ideology; in their time, that language and that ideology were ultra-realistic since they were able to set in motion the forces necessary to attain the goals of the revolution and give power to the revolutionary class. They were later cut off from their time and place and were reduced to slogans : they were a different thing, a ghost, hollow and useless words. The comical thing is that Maurras counters these slogans with some others, in a formally impeccable logico-literary system, in the purest Enlightenment fashion. Maurras represents the purest specimen of the "stupid 1 9th century, " 4 the concentration of all the mechanically inverted Masonic banalities: his relative popularity derives precisely from this, that his method is liked because it is the same as the reasoning reason which gave rise to Encyclopedism, the Enlightenment, and the whole of French Masonic culture. The men of the Enlightenment had created the myth of the savage, or some such thing; Maurras creates the myth of a French monarchic past; except that this myth has been

First Notebook. §48

1 5 9

"history" and its intellectualistic distortions can be corrected all too easily.

Maurras' fundamental formula is "politique d'abord, " but he is the first not to follow it. Before politics for him there is always "political abstraction, " the complete acceptance of a most detailed "ideological"

program which anticipates all the particulars, as in utopias, which requires a determinate conception not of history but of the history of France and Europe, that is, a determinate hermeneutics.

Leon Daudet has written that the great power of Action Fran«;aise has been the unshakable homogeneity and unity of its leadership group.5

Always in agreement, always in solidarity politically and ideologically.

Certainly this is a strength. But of a sectarian and Masonic character, not of a great government party. Political language becomes jargon, the atmosphere of a secret meeting is created: by always repeating the same formulas, by using the same rigidified mental schemes, one ends up truly thinking in the same way because one stops thinking altogether. Maurras in Paris and Daudet in Brussels, without arrangement, pronounce the same statement about the same event; but the arrangement had already existed before: they already were two sentence-machines which had been assembled for 20 years to utter the same statements at the same moment.

Maurras' group was formed by means of "co-option": in the beginning there was Maurras with his word, then Vaugeois joined, then Daudet, then Pujo, etc., etc. When Valois left there was a catastrophe of polemics and accusations. As a type of organization, the Action Franc;:aise is very interesting. Its power is constituted by the following elements: that the members of its base are intellectually selected social types, nobles, intellectuals, ex-officers, students; that is, people who are inclined to parrot Maurras' formulas and even extract a "snobbish" advantage from so doing

-being a monarchist can be a sign of distinction in a republic, and being a reactionary in a parliamentary democracy a sign of importance; they are rich and thus can contribute large funds that make possible numerous initiatives which convey the appearance of a certain vitality and activity; the wealth of means and the social status of the public and secret supporters permits the newspaper and the political center to have a mass of information and confidential documents which furnish the newspaper with the means for personal polemics-in the past, and to some extent even now, the Vatican must have been a primary source (the Vatican, as center, the State Secretariat and the higher echelons of the French clergy; many campaigns must be coded or partly coded: a partial truth which suggests that all is known, or artful allusions which the interested parties understand). The newspaper imparts a double function to these campaigns: to galvanize its own supporters by displaying a knowledge of the most secret things, which gives the impression of a great power of organi-

1 60

N O TE B O O K I ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 0)

zation and capability; and to paralyze the adversaries with the threat to dishonor them, so as to tum some of them into secret supporters. The practical view one can extract from all the activity of the Action Fran�aise is this : the republican parliamentary regime will inevitably fade away because it is a historical "monstrum" which does not correspond to the

"natural" laws of French society determined by Maurras. The integral nationalists must: 1 ) distance themselves from the real life of French politics, not recognizing its legality (abstentionism, etc. ), fighting against it as a bloc; 2) create an anti-government, always ready to install itself "in the traditional palaces, " always ready for a surprise attack; this antigovernment is already present today with all the embryonic offices, which correspond to the important national functions. There were many infractions of this rigid position: in 1 9 1 9 some candidacies were put forward; in the other elections, the Action Franc;aise supported the right-wing candidates who accepted some of its marginal principles (this means that the agreement between Maurras and the others was not perfect). In order to escape isolation, the publication of a major newspaper was planned but it seems that nothing has yet come of it (there exists only the Revue Universelle which performs this function among periodicals). The recent polemic with the Vatican has broken the Action Franc;aise's only link with large masses, a link which, at any rate, was rather aleatory. The universal suffrage introduced by the Republic brought about a situation wherein the Catholic masses politically support center and left-wing parties even though these parties are anticlerical -this has been the case in France for some time, already. The formula that religion is a "private question" has become rooted as the popular form of the separation of Church and State.

Moreover, the set of associations which constitute the French Catholic Action is controlled by the landed aristocracy (General Castelnau), even though the lower clergy does not function as a spiritual-social guide as it did in Italy (especially in the north). The French peasant resembles rather our southern peasant who readily says: "the priest is a priest on the altar, but outside he is a man like all others" (if not worse). The Action Franc;aise thought that it could dominate the entire mass apparatus of French Catholicism through the stratum of Catholic leaders. Certainly much of this was an illusion; nonetheless there had to be an element of truth because religious allegiance while slack during normal times becomes more vigorous and intense during periods of great political-moral crisis when the future seems full of storm clouds. In reality, even this fallback possibility has disappeared for Maurras. Vatican policy no longer wants to

"abstain" from French internal affairs; but the Vatican is more realistic than Maurras and has a better conception of the slogan "politique d'abord. " As long as the Catholic peasant must choose between Herriot and a hobereau, he will choose Herriot: it is necessary to create the "Catholic

First Notebook. §so

1 6 1

radical, " that is, the "popular, " political type; i t i s necessary to accept the Republic and democracy and to organize the masses on this terrain in order to eliminate ( overcome) the discord between religion and politics and make of the priest not only the spiritual guide (in the individualprivate sphere) but also the social guide in the politico-economic sphere.

Maurras' defeat is certain: it is his conception that is false because of its excessively logical perfection. Besides, Maurras sensed defeat at the very beginning of the crisis with the Vatican which coincided with the French parliamentary crisis of 1 92 5 . While the ministers succeeded each other by rotation, Action Fran�aise publicly announced that it was ready to assume power. An article was published in which they went so far as to invite the collaboration of Caillaux; Caillaux, whose execution by firing squad was always being announced.6 The episode is classic: the rigidified and rationalistic politics typified by Maurras, the politics of aprioristic abstensionism, of astral natural laws that govern society, are bound to end up in decay, in a collapse, in a surrender at the crucial moment. One can see, then, that the great masses of energies do not flow into the artificially created reservoirs but follow the paths of history, they shift together with the parties that have always been active. Apart from the foolishness of believing that the Republic could collapse in 1 9 2 5

because of a parliamentary crisis (intellectualism leads t o these monomaniacal hallucinations), there was also a moral collapse, if not of Maurras, who may well have remained in his state of apocalyptic enlightenment, then of his group which felt isolated and appealed to Caillaux.

Cf. Notebook I 3, § 3 7 .

§(49}. "Organic cen tralism " and Maurras ' doctrines. The principle of "organic centralism" is "co-optation" around a "possessor of the truth, "

someone "enlightened by reason" who has discovered the "natural" laws, etc. (The laws of mechanics and of mathematics function as an intellectual motor; the metaphor replaces historical thought. P Linked to Maurrasism.

Cf. Notebook r 3, § 3 8 .

§( s o). An A. M. M.A. documen t concerning the North -South question. Published by Turin newspapers in September 1 920. It is, I believe, a 1 9 1 6 circular from A.M.M.A. in which subsidiary industries are ordered not to employ any workers born south of Florence. 1

Compare the policy adopted by Agnelli Gualino, especially in

1 6 2

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0)

1 9 2 5 -26, of bringing around 2 5 ,000 Sicilians to Turin to place them in industry (barracks-houses, internal discipline, etc. ).2 Failure of emigration and the multiplication of crimes committed in the surrounding countryside by these Sicilians who ran away from the factories : sensational newspaper reports which certainly did not weaken the belief that Sicilians are brigands.

The special question Piedmont Sicily is linked to the intervention of Piedmontese troops in Sicily against so called brigandage from 1 8 6o to 1 8 7o. The Piedmontese soldiers returned to their home towns convinced about the barbarousness of Sicilians and, vice versa, the Sicilians were persuaded about Piedmontese ferocity. Popular (as well as military) literature helped reinforce these attitudes ( see the De Amicis' short story about the soldier whose tongue is cut off by the brigands);3 Sicilian literature is more impartial because it also describes Sicilian ferocity (a short story by Pirandello : the brigands who play bowls with skulls).4 Remember the book by a certain D' Adamo, I think, (see Unit a at the time of the Libyan warJ5 in which it is said that Sicilians and Piedmontese must make peace, since the ferocity of the one counterbalances that of the others.

Regarding popular literature on the North-South, remember Caccia Grossa by Giulio Bechi : big game hunting means "man hunting. " 6 Giulio Bechi had a few hard months; not because he operated in Sardinia as if it were a land of conquest, but because he put himself in a situation in which some Sardinian gentleman challenged him to a duel; moreover, the Sardinians did not chal lenge Bechi because he had made a jungle of Sardinia but because he wrote that Sardinian women are not beautiful.

Remember a little book of memoirs by a Ligurian officer (printed in a Ligurian town, Oneglia or Porto Maurizio) who had been in Sardinia during the disturbances of 1 906; in the book the Sardini ans are called "monkeys" or something similar, and it talks of the

"genius of the species" which rouses the author at the sight of women.7

§( s 1). The clergy as in tellectuals. Study on the various atti tudes of the clergy during the Risorgimento caused by the new religious-ecclesiastical currents. Giobertism, Rosminianism. 1 Most characteristic episode of Jansenism. As regards the doctrine of grace

First Notebook. §52

and its transformation into a motive for industrial energy, and Jemolo's objection to Anzilotti's correct thesis2 (where did Anzilotti get it from ? ) see Kurt Kaser, Riforma e Con troriforma, on the doctrine of grace in Calvinism,3 and Philip's book which cites topical documents about this transformation.4 These items contain the documentation of the process of dissolution of American reli giosity: Calvinism becomes a lay religion, the religion of the Rotary Club, just as the theism of the Enlightenment was the religion of European Freemasonry, but without the symbolic and comical apparatus of Masonry. And the religion of the Rotary is also different because it cannot become universal : it befits an elect aristocracy (chosen people, chosen class) which has had and continues to have success; a principle of selection not of generalization, of an ingenuous and primitive mysticism peculiar to those who do not think but rather act as the American industrialists do, which may contain within itself the seeds of an even very rapid dissolution.

(The history of the doctrine of grace can be interesting for examining how Catholicism and Christianity adapted to different historical epochs and different countries. ) From the American phenomena reported by Philip, i t turns out that on certain occasions the clergy of all the churches has functioned as public opinion in the absence of a normal party and a press organ of such a party.5

§( 5 2). Social origin of the clergy. The social origin of the clergy is important in assessing its political influence: in the North, the clergy has popular origins (artisans and peasants); in the South, it has closer links to "gentlemen" and the upper class. In the South and the Islands the clergy, either individually or as representative of the church, owns a considerable amount of landed property and practices usury. The peasant sees the clergy not only as a spiritual guide but often also as a landowner imposing heavy rents ( "the interests of the Church") and as a usurer with spiritual as well as temporal power at its disposal. 1 Therefore, Southern peasants want priests from their own towns (because they are known, less severe, and because their families are vulnerable and become an element of conciliation) and sometimes they claim the electoral rights of parishioners. Episodes of such claims in Sardinia. ( Remember Gennaro Avolio's article, in the special issue of La Voce, on the South

NOTE B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 01

em clergy, which refers to the fact that Southern priests openly lead a conjugal life with a woman and have claimed the right to take a wife. )2 The territorial distribution of the Popular Party shows the greater or lesser influence of the clergy, and its social activity.

In the Southa (one must also keep in mind the importance of the various parts : in the South-Naples, etc. ) the right, that is, the old conservative clericalism, prevailed. (Remember the episode of the 1 9 1 3 Oristano elections. )3

§(s 3). Maurrasianism and syndicalism. Many features of Maurras'

views resemble some formal catastrophic theories of a certain kind of syndicalism or economism. This transposition of concepts born in the economic or trade union field onto the parliamentary or political field has occurred several times. Every political abstentionism is based on this concept (political abstentionism in general, not only parliamentary!. The adversary's collapse will come about mechanically if he is boycotted intransigently in the governmental field (economic strike, political strike, or political inaction). The classical Italian example is that of the clericals after 1 870. In reality, the non expedit was tempered after 1 890, until the Gentiloni pact. The creation of the P.(opular) P.(arty) signaled a total rejection of this catastrophic mechanicism. Universal suffrage turned this plan upside down: in fact, at the time, it produced the symptoms of new formations linked to the peasantry's interest in actively entering the life of the state.

Cf. Notebook 1 3, § 3 7 .

§(5 4). The Battle of futland. Winston Churchill's treatment of this battle in his war memoirs. 1 It is noteworthy that the plan and the strategic management of the battle by the English and the German high commands stand in contrast to the traditional picture of the two peoples. The English command "organically" centralized the plan in the flagship : the other ships had to "wait for orders" every time. The German admiral, on the other hand, explained the general strategic plan to all the subaltern commanders and allowed the individual units the kind of freedom of maneuver that could be required by circumstances. The German fleet moved very well. The English fleet ran many risks, in spite of its superiority, and it was unable to attain its positive strategic goals because at a certain

' In the manuscript, originally, the words "only in 'Sicily' " followed. At a later time, these words were put in parenthesis and Gramsci added "no" in between lines.

First Notebook. § 5 8

r 6 s

point the admiral lost communication with the fighting units and they committed error upon error. See Churchill's book again.

Cf. Notebook 1 3, §38.

§(s s ) . Types of periodicals. Cozzi's Osservatore is a typical periodical, that is, of the type of moralizing eighteenth-century periodical (the type perfected in England with Addison) : 1 it had a certain importance in the dissemination of a new conception of life, functioning for the average person as a transitional link between religion and modern civilization.

Today, the type is preserved especially in the ecclesiastical camp. (But the Asino and Seme belong to this type as well. )2

Cf. Notebook 24, §4.

§(5 6). Apologue of the log and the dry twigs. The dry twigs are indispensable for making the log burn, but not in and of themselves. Only the log, by burning, changes the surroundings from cold to warm. Arditi- artillery and infantry. They are always the most admired.

§( 5 7). Reactions of the North to an ti-Southern prejudicial even ts. 1 1 st, the episode of 1 9 1 4 in Turin: proposal of candidature to Salvemini: the city in the North selects the deputy for the country in the South. Salvemini refused but he participated in the election as a speechmaker.2 (2d) The 1 9 1 9 episode of the Giovane Sardegna with all its ramifications.3 (3d) The Sassari Brigade in 1 9 1 7 and 1 9 1 9 .4 (4th) The Agnelli cooperative in 1 920 (its "moral"

significance after September; reasons for the rejection).5 ( s th) The episode of 1 9 2 1 in Reggio Emilia.6 (Zibordi carefully avoids discussing this in his pamphlet on Prampolini. V

These are the facts which struck Gobetti and thus provoked the climate surrounding Dorso's book.8 (S. B. : lambs and rabbits. Mines

Railways. )9

§( 5 8). Emigration and in tellectual movemen ts. The function of emigration in giving rise to new trends and new intellectual groupings. 1 Emigration and Libya. Ferri's speech in Parliament in

r 66

N O TE B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 30)

I 9 I I , after his return from America (class struggle does not explain emigration).2 The shift of a group of syndicalists over to the Na tionalist Party. Enrico Corradini's concept of a proletarian nation.

Pascali's speech La grande proletaria si e moss a. 3 Syndicalists nationalists of Southern origin : Forges Davanzati -Maraviglia.4

Generally, many intellectual syndicalists of Southern origin. Their episodic passing through industrial cities (like cyclones) : their more consistent success in agricultural regions, from the Novara region to the Po Valley to Apulia. Agrarian movements of the I 9oo- r o decade. Statistics show a s o percent increase o f day laborers during that period, at the expense especially of the category of indentured serfs (a I 9 I I statistic: see the overview provided by the Riforma Sociale) 5 In the Po Valley, syndicalists are followed by the duller

.

reformists, except for Parma and various other centers where synd icalism merges with the Republican movement forming the Labor Union after the I 9 I 4- I S split. The shift by many peasants to day labor is linked to the so-called "Christian Democracy" movement ( Cacciaguerra's Azione was published in Cesena)6 and to Modem ism : the sympathies of these movements for syndicalism.

Bologna is the intellectual center of these ideological move ments linked to the rural population: the original type of newspa per that the Resto del Carlino has always been could not be ex plained otherwise (Missiroli -Sorel, etc. ). 7

Oriani and the classes of Romagna : the native of Romagna as the original Italian type (many original types : Giulietti, etc. )8 at the crossing between North and South.

§(5 9). Ugo Ojetti. Search for Carducci's verdict on him. 1

Cf. Notebook 23, § 1 5 .

§(6o). Papini, Christ, fulius Caesar. In 1 9 1 2- 1 3 Papini wrote, in Lacerba, the article "Gesu peccatore, " a sophistical collection of anecdotes and forced hypotheses derived from the apocryphal Gospels; 1 it seemed that he was going to be prosecuted for this article, which scared him greatly (he had argued that the hypothesis of sexual relations between Jesus and John was plausible and probable). In his article on "Cristo Romano" (in the volume Gli operai della vigna),2 employing the same critical procedures and the same intellectual "vigor, " he maintains that

First Notebook. § 6r

Caesar is a precursor of Christ born in Rome by an act of Providence. If he were to proceed further, using Lorian procedures, he will come to the conclusion that Christianity and homosexuality are necessarily related.

Cf. Notebook 23, § r 6 .

§(6 1 ) . Americanism. Could Americanism be an intermediate phase of the current historical crisis ? Could the conglomeration of plutocratic forces give rise to a new phase of European industrialism on the model of American industry? The attempt will probably be made (rationalization, Bedaux system, Taylorism, etc. ) . 1 But can it succeed? Europe reacts, setting its cultural traditions against "virgin" America. · This reaction is interesting not because a so-called cultural tradition could prevent a revolution in industrial organization, but because it is the reaction of the European "situation" to the American "situation. " In reality, Americanism, in its most advanced form, requires a preliminary condition: "the rationalization of the population"; that is, that there do not exist numerous classes without a function in the world of production, in other words, absolutely parasitic classes. The European "tradition, " by contrast, is characterized precisely by the existence of these classes, created by the following social elements: state administration, clergy and intellectuals, landed property, commerce. The older the history of a country, the more have these elements left, over the centuries, sedimentations of lazy people who live on the "pension" left by their "ancestors." It is extremely difficult to have statistics of these social elements because it is very hard to find the "category" that could encompass them. The existence of certain forms of life provides some indications. The considerable number of large and medium-sized urban clusters without industries is one of these indications, perhaps the most important one. The so called "mystery of Naples. " Remember Goethe's observations about Naples and Giustino Fortunato's "consoling" conclusions (pamphlet recently published by the Biblioteca Editrice of Rieti in Domenico Petrini's series "Quaderni Critici"; Einaudi's review, in the Riforma Sociale, of Fortunato's work when it was first published, perhaps in 1 9 1 2).2 Goethe was right to reject the myth of the organic "lazzaronismo" of the Neapolitans and to point out that they are, rather, very active and industrious. The question, however, consists in finding out the real results of this industriousness: it is not productive, and it is not aimed at satisfying the needs of productive classes. Naples is a city where the Southern landowners spend the income from their agrarian property: a large part of the city, with its artisanal industries, its peddling trades, the incredible partitioning of the immediate supply of goods or services among the loafers who roam the streets, is structured around tens of thousands of these landowning families, of

I 68

N O T E B O O K I ( I 9 29- I 9 3 0)

greater or lesser economic importance, with their retinues of personal servants and lackeys. Another important part is made up of wholesale trade and transportation. "Productive" industry constitutes a relatively small part. This structure of Naples (it would be very useful to have precise data) explains much of the history of the city of Naples.

The phenomenon of Naples is repeated in Palermo and in a whole series of medium-sized and small cities, not only in the South and the Islands but also in Central Italy (Tuscany, Umbria, Rome) and even in Northern Italy (Bologna, to some extent, Parma, Ferrara, etc.). (When a horse shits, a hundred sparrows feed. )

Small and medium-sized rural property not i n the hands o f peasant farmers but of small-town and village bourgeois who tum it over to primitive share-cropping (that is, rent in kind) or in perpetual lease. The enormous size of this petty or middle bourgeoisie of "pensioners" and

"rentiers" has created in Italian economic literature the monstrous figure of the so-called "producer of savings"; that is, of a large class of "usurers"

which not only extracts its own sustenance from the primitive labor of a specific number of peasants, but also manages to save.

State pensions: relatively young and able-bodied men who after 2 5

years of State employment (sometimes a t age 45 and i n very good health) no longer do anything but live on their pensions of s oo or 6oo or 700 lire.

A family has a priest who becomes a canon: manual labor becomes "disgraceful. " At the most, commerce. The composition of the Italian population has already been rendered "unhealthy" by emigration and by the low rate of employment of women in productive work. The ratio between the

"potentially" active and the passive population is amongst the most unfavorable (see the study by Mortara in Prospettive Economiche of I 922,3

and perhaps later studies); it is even more unfavorable if one takes into account: I ) the endemic diseases (malaria etc. ) which reduce productive power; 2) the chronic malnutrition of many of the lower strata of the peasantry (as demonstrated by Mario Camis' analysis in the Riforma Sociale of I 926-first or second issue4 -which gives national averages that should be broken down into class averages; but the national average barely reaches the scientifically established standard and therefore one must obviously conclude that malnutrition among certain strata is chronic.

In the Senate discussion on the I 929-30 budget, the Hon. Mussolini acknowledged that in some regions the population lives exclusively on greens for entire seasons5-check); 3 ) the endemic unemployment in certain agrarian regions which does not show up in the censuses; 4) this (very considerable) mass of absolutely parasitic population which requires the employment of other poor people for its services; and the semi-parasitic mass, namely that which multiplies certain activities, such as commerce, in an abnormal way (given a particular kind of society).

First Notebook. § 61

This situation is not unique to Italy; to a large extent it is true of all of Europe, more so in southern Europe, and increasingly less so toward the North. (In India and China it must be even more abnormal than in Italy, which explains the historical stagnation. )

America without "tradition, " but also without this lead weight: this i s one o f the reasons for the formidable accumulation o f capital, even though wages are relatively higher than in Europe. The nonexistence of these viscous sedimentations from past historical phases has made possible a healthy base for industry and especially for commerce, and it makes it increasingly possible to reduce transportation and commerce to a subordinate activity of production-an activity absorbed by industry itself (see Ford and how much he "saved" on marketing and transportation by absorbing them).6 This preliminary "rationalization" of the general conditions of production which was already in place or was facilitated by history, permitted the rationalization of production, combining force (destruction of trade-unionism-) with persuasion (-wages and other benefits-), so as to base the whole life of the nation on industry. Hegemony is born in the factory and does not need so many political and ideological intermediaries. Romier's "masses" 7 are the expression of this new type of society in which the "structure" dominates the superstructures more directly and the superstructures are rationalized (simplified and reduced in number). Rotary Club and Freemasonry (the Rotary is a Freemasonry without the petit bourgeois) . Rotary-America

Freemasonry-Europe.

=

YMCA-America

Jesuits-Europe.

=

YMCA endeavours in Italy: the Agnelli episode8-Agnelli's attempts visa-vis the Ordine Nuovo which supported an "Americanism" of its own.9

In America, there is a forced development of a new human type; but this is only the initial phase and therefore (apparently) idyllic. It is still the phase of psycho-physical adaptation to the new industrial structure, there has not yet been (except sporadically, perhaps) any "superstructural" blossoming; therefore, the fundamental question of hegemony has not yet been posed: the struggle takes place with weapons picked from the European and still bastardized arsenal, hence they seem to be and are "reactionary. "

The struggle which has taken place in America (described by Philip)'0

is still for the rights of craftsmanship against "industrial freedom"; in other words, it resembles the struggle that took place in Europe in the eighteenth century, though under different conditions. The absence, in America, of the European phase typified by the French Revolution has left workers still backward.

In Italy we have had the beginnings of a Fordist fanfare (exaltation of the big city-the great Milan, etc. - capitalism is still at its beginnings, etc., and the preparation of grandiose urban plans: see La Riforma Sociale

-articles by Schiavi). 1 1

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 30)

Conversion to ruralism and to the Enlightenment's belittlement of cities: exaltation of artisanship and of patriarchy, references to the "rights of craftsmanship" and the struggle against "industrial freedom" (see the critical reference by U. Ricci in a letter to Nuovi Studi}; 1 2 in any case, not an Americanist "mentality. "

De Man's book is connected to this question. 13 It is a reaction to the world's two major historical forces.

Cf. Notebook 22, §2.

§(62). The sexual question. Obsession with the sexual question.

"Dangers" of this obsession. All the "planners" resolve the sexual question. Notice how the sexual question plays a very large, often dominant role in "utopias" (Croce's observation that Campanella's solutions in GittO. del Sole cannot be explained in terms of the sexual needs of Calabrian peasants). 1 It is the sexual instincts that have been subjected to the greatest "repression" by developing society. Their "regulation" seems most "unnatural, " hence the greater frequency of appeals to "nature" in this sphere. "Freudist" literature has created a new type of eighteenthcentury "savage" on a "sexual" basis (including the relations between fathers and children). Disjunction between the city and the country. The most frequent and most monstrous sexual crimes take place in the countryside. In the parliamentary inquiry on the South it is stated that in Abruzzo and Basilicata (greater patriarchalism and greater religious fanaticism) incest occurs in 30 percent of the families.2 Bestiality is very widespread in the countryside. Sexuality as reproductive function and as

"sport": the esthetic feminine ideal from reproducer to playthingi but it is not only in the city that sexuality has become a "sport"i popular proverbs

-man is a hunter, woman is a temptressi he who can do no better goes to bed with his wife- show how widespread the "sport" is. The "economic"

function of reproduction is not only linked to the productive economic world, it is also internali "the staff of old-age" demonstrates an instinctive consciousness of the "economic" need for there to be a certain relation between young and old, between active workers and the passive segment of the populationi the spectacle of the maltreatment of old childless men and women in the villages drives couples to want childreni old men without children are treated like "bastards. " Progress in public hygiene which has raised average life expectancy poses the sexual question more and more as a separate "economic question" which presents some related problems of a superstructural type. The increase of average life expectancy in France, with the low birth rate and the natural riches of the country, has already given rise to an aspect of a national question: the old generations are finding themselves in an abnormal relationship with the young

Firs t Notebook. § 63

1 7 1

generations of the same national origin, and the working generations are being swollen by masses of foreign immigrants who modify the base: as in America, a certain division of labor is taking place (skilled jobs as well as managerial and organizational functions for the indigenous population and unskilled labor for the immigrants). In every country the same relationship is established between the city with its low birth rate and the prolific countryside, creating a rather serious economic problem; industrial life demands a general apprenticeship, a psycho-physical adaptation to conditions of work, nutrition, housing, etc. which are not "natural": the acquired urban traits are passed on as a legacy. The low birth rate requires a continuous expenditure for apprenticeship and brings with it a continual change in the sociopolitical composition of the city, hence also raising a problem of hegemony.

The most important question is the protection of the feminine personality: until woman has truly attained independence in relation to man, the sexual question will be full of morbid characteristics and one must exercise caution in dealing with it and in drawing legislative conclusions.

The abolition of legal prostitution will bring with it many difficulties: apart from the unbridled wildness that follows every crisis of repression.

Work and sexuality. It is interesting how American industrialists take an interest in the sexual relations of their employees- the puritan mentality, however, conceals an obvious necessity: there cannot be intense productive labor without a regulation of the sexual instinct.

Cf. Notebook 22, § 3 .

§(6 3). Lorianism an d Graziadei. See i n Croce (Materialismo Storico etc. ) the note on Graziadei and the Country of Cockaigne. 1 See in Graziadei's 1 929 book, Sindacati e salari,a the rather comical response to Croce after almost thirty years.2 This response to Croce, somewhat Jesuitical as well as rather comical, was undoubtedly provoked by the article on Prezzo e sovraprezzo published in 1 926 in Un ter dem Banner des Marxismus, an article that opened precisely with a quotation of Croce's note.3 It would be interesting to search the works of Graziadei for possible references to Croce: has he really never responded, not even indirectly? And yet, the sting was powerful ! In any case, the "homage" to Croce's scientific authority, so unctously expressed after thirty years, is really comical. The motif of the Country of Cockaigne traced by Croce in Graziadei is interesting, moreover, because it strikes at a subterranean current of popular romanticism created by the "cult of science, " by the "religion of progress, "

and by the general optimism of the nineteenth century. In this regard one must consider the validity of Marx's reaction; he poured cold water over

• Jn the manuscript Gramsci erroneously wrote, Capitale e salari.

1 7 2

NOT E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0)

the enthusiasm with his "law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall"

and his "catastrophism" : one must also examine the extent to which these optimistic currents have hindered a more accurate analysis of Marx's propositions.

These observations lead back to the question of whether all the notes on Lorianism are "useful" or not. Setting aside the dispassionate "judgment" of Loria's work as a whole and the "injustice" of stressing only the eccentric manifestations of his ingenuity which can be discussed separately, one still needs a set of reasons to justify these notations. Since they lack scientific and critical habits, autodidacts are especially prone to fantasize about Cockaignes and about easy solutions to every problem. How to react? School would be the best solution, but that is a long-term solution, especially for the large masses. In the meantime, then, one must strike at "fantasy" with some forms of intellectual helotism which would create an aversion to intellectual disorder (and a sense of the ridiculous).

This aversion is not enough but it does help establish an indispensable intellectual order. It is very important as a pedagogical device. Remember typical episodes: Rab. 's Interplanetary of I 9 I 6- I ?;4 episode of the "perpetual motion" in 1 9 2 5 , I think;5 1 9 1 9-20 types: the question of rents (Pazzoni of Como, etc.).6 The lack of sobriety and intellectual order leads to moral confusion as well. The sexual question with its daydreams causes many disorders: the scarce participation of women in collective life, the attraction of fatuous publicity seekers toward serious initiatives, etc. ( Remember the episode recounted by Cecilia De Tourmay: it could be true, because it is likely/ I have heard that in Naples there would be an immediate rush of free-lave advocates with their neo-Malthusian pamphlets, etc. whenever women's meetings were held.) All the most ridiculous daydreamers descend upon the new movements to propagate their tales of hitherto unrecognized genius, thereby casting discredit on them.

Every collapse brings along intellectual and moral disorder. It is necessary to create sober, patient people who do not despair in the face of the worst horrors and who do not become exuberant with every silliness. Pessimism of the intelligence, optimism of the will. 8

Cf. Notebook 28, § n .

§(64). Lorianism and G. Ferrero. Recall the blunders contained i n the first edition of his histories: The Persian linear measure [of distanceja confused with [believed to bela a queen of whom one could write the biography, etc. 1

Cf. Notebook 28, § 1 2 .

• variants added between lines b y Gramsci.

First Notebook. § 6 5

1 7 3

§(6 s ) . Types of periodicals: Cozzi's Osservatore. To this type belong also, in their modem forms, humor magazines which in their own way aim at being criticism of morals type of periodicals. Publications like Cri de Paris, Fan tasia, Charivari. In certain respects, the leading literary articles and the topical commentary sections in the daily newspapers belong to this type.

Baretti's Frusta Letteraria 1 was an intermediate form: universal bibliography, criticism of content, with moralizing tendencies (criticism of mores, of attitudes, of points of view). The non-"artistic" part of Papini's Lacerba also belonged to this type, with "satanic" tendencies ( "Gesu Peccatore, " "Viva il maiale, " "Contro la famiglia, " etc. by Papini; "Giornale di Bordo" by Soffici; "Elogio della prostituzione, " etc. by Tavolato).2

This general type belongs to the sphere of "good sense" or "common sense": it tries to modify the average opinion of a particular society, criticizing, suggesting, admonishing, modernizing, introducing new

"cliches. " If they are well written, with "verve, " with a certain detachment and yet with an interest in general opinion, they can have a large circulation and exercise a most important function. They must not be either scientifically or moralistically "haughty"; they must not be "philistine" and academic; in short, they must not appear to be fanatical or excessively partisan: they must position themselves within the field of

"common sense, " distancing themselves from it just enough to permit a mocking smile, but not contempt or arrogant superiority.

"La Pietra, " Dante's motto from the Pietra poems : "I want to be as hard in my speech . " a "La compagnia della Pietra."3 Every social stratum has its own "common sense" which is ultimately the most widespread conception of life and morals. Every philosophical current leaves a sedimentation of "common sense": this is the document of its historical reality. Common sense is not something rigid and static; rather, it changes continuously, enriched by scientific notions and philosophical opinions which have entered into common usage. "Common sense" is the folklore of "philosophy" and stands midway between real "folklore" (that is, as it is understood) and the philosophy, the science, the economics of the scholars. "Common sense" creates the folklore of the future, that is a more or less rigidified phase of a certain time and place. (It will be necessary to establish these concepts firmly by thinking them through in depth.) Cf. Notebook 24, § 4 .

• In the manuscript, originally, Gramsci relied o n his memory and wrote down a n approximate version of Dante's line : " 'io voglio parlar aspro come pietra, ' or something similar. " Later, Gramsci himself replaced this with an accurate rendition of this verse: "Cosi nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro."

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§(66). Italian colonies. The Diritto Ecclesiastico edited by,

-

among others, Prof. Cesare Badii of the University of Rome and State Councilor Amedeo Giannini- of March April 1 929, published an article by Prof. Arnalda Cicchitti, "La S. Sede nelle Co lonie italiane dopo il Concordato con il Regno, " in which twice, on p. 1 3 8 and on p. 1 3 9, Albania is included among the Italian colonies. 1 The author (on this issue of whether the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion should receive the same treatment as other religions in the colonies) refers to his studies published in Rivista di Diritto Pubblico, 1 92 8 (pp. 1 26-3 1 ) and 1 929 (pp. 1 4 1 - 5 7 ) and in Rivista delle Colonie Italiane, 1 92 9 : it would be interesting to see if Albania is considered a colony in these articles as welP

§(67). Concerning religious marriage and its civil validity, it is noteworthy that some passages in the above cited joumaF indicate, it seems to me, that Canon Law and the Tribunal of the Sacred Rota grant the dissolution of marriage ( if there are no children) with considerable liberality, as long as one has obliging friends who would testify and both spouses are in agreement ( besides having money to spend). The result is a situation favoring Catholics.

§(68). The sexual question and the Catholic Church. Elements of doctrine. Canon 1 0 1 3 states : "Matrimonii finis primarius est procreatio atque educatio prolis; secundarius mutuum adiutorium at remedium concupiscentiae. " Jurists discuss the "essence" of Catholic matrimony, distinguishing between the primary purpose and the (primary ? ) object: the purpose is procreation, the object copulation. Matrimony renders copulation "moral" through the mutual consent of the married couple, a mutual consent expressed without limiting conditions. The comparison with other contracts (for ex., buying and selling) does not hold, because the purpose of matrimony resides within matrimony itself : the comparison would hold if the husband or the wife were to obtain slavery rights over the other, that is he or she could dispose of the other as property (something which does happen, to some extent, because juridical equality between men and women is not recognized; still this does not apply to the physical person). Canon 1 0 1 5 indicates what "con

First Notebook. § 68

1 7 5

sumates" the matrimonial contract: i t i s the act "quo coniuges fiunt una caro" : "Matrimonium baptizatorum validum dicitur ratum, si nondum consummatione completum est; ratum et consummatum si inter coniuges locum habuerit coniugalis actus, ad quem natura sua ordinatur contractus matrimonialis et quo coniuges fiunt una caro. " The meaning of "una caro" is derived from a saying by Christ, who repeats it from Genesis: "Non legistis quia fecit hominem ab initio, masculum et feminam fecit eos et dixit: propterea dimittet homo patrem suum et matrem, et adhaerebit uxori suae et erunt duo in came una ? ltaque jam non sunt duo, sed una caro. Quod ergo Deus coniunxit, homo non separet" (Matthew, XIX, 4-7 ) . In other words, "una caro" means copulation, not the offspring (who cannot be disjoined, since he is materially one).

Genesis (II, 2 1 -24) says : "Dixitque Adam: haec vocabitur virago, quoniam de viro sumpta est. Quamobrem relinquet homo patrem suum et matrem et adhaerabit uxori suae et erunt duo in came una." ( One should find out whether these elements can be interpreted as justifying the indissolubility of matrimony, for which purpose they have been used as the contribution of the Christian religion to the introduction of monogamy; or whether they originally referred only to sexual union, that is, they were counterposed to the tendency to be "pessimistic" about "purity" through sexual abstinence. In other words, they referred in general to the sexes, which are indissoluble, and not to Peter, Paul, John united to Catherine, Mary, Serafina. ) Canon 1 082 §2: "Consensus matrimonialis est actus voluntatis quo utraque pars tradit et acceptat ius in corpus, perpetuum et exclusivum, in ordine ad actus per se aptos ad prolis generationem. " § 1 of the same Canon says : "Ut matromonialis consensus haberi possit, necesse est ut contrahentes saltern non ignorent matrimonium esse societatem permanentem inter virum et mulierem ad filios procreandos." (This ought to justify sex education and indeed make it a requirement, since the pre sumption that it is something that comes to be known, only means, in effect, that one can be sure that the environment produces this education: it is, in the end, simple hypocrisy and one ends up preferring [desultory and] "morbid" notions over "methodical" and educational notions. )

In some areas there exists [used to exist]a a trial period of sexual

• variant added between lines by Gramsci.

N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 0)

cohabitation and matrimony occurs [used to occur]a only after conception lfor example in little villages like Zuri, Soddi, etc. in the former district of Oristano) : it was considered an extremely moral custom and it did not rouse objections, because it had not produced abuses either by the families or by the clergy- in those villages there were even juvenile marriages; a fact linked to a system of parcelled property which requires more than one laborer, yet does not permit wage labor. Can. 1 0 1 3, § 2 : "essentiales matrimonii proprietates sunt unitas ac indissolubilitas, quae in matrimonio christiana peculiarem obtinent firmitatem ratione sacramen ti. "

Genesis II, 27-28 ) : "Masculum et feminam creavit eos, benedixitque illis Deus et ait: Crescite et multiplicamini et replete ter ram." 1

§(69). The Nobel Prize. In a June 1 928 issue of the Momenta (the first of the two bi-monthly issues), 1 Filippo Crispolti tells the story that in 1 906 when in Sweden they were thinking of conferring the Nobel Prize on Giosue Carducci, the doubt arose that giving such a prize to the poet of Satan might create a scandal among Catholics: they asked Crispolti to inform them about it and he responded by letter and at a meeting with the Swedish minister in Rome, De Bildt. The information was favorable.

Thus, it would seem, Carducci was given the Nobel Prize by Filippo Crispolti.

Cf. Notebook 2 3 , § 1 7 .

§(70). "Impressioni d i prigionia" by Jacques Riviere, published in Nouvelle Revue Franyaise on the third anniversary of the author's death ILa Fiera Letteraria of r April 1 928 reprints some excerpts from it). Mter a search of his cell : they took away from him matches, writing paper and a book-Goethe's conversations with Eckermann -and some prohibited food supplies. "I think about all that they have stolen from me: I am humiliated, full of shame, horribly denuded. I count the days which I still have to

'serve' and though my will is fully directed toward this goal I am no longer sure of being able to make it to the end. This slow misery is more consuming than great trials. I have the impression that it could descend upon me from all sides, enter this cell, enter inside

• variant added between lines by Gramsci.

First Notebook. § 72

I 7 7

me, at any moment, take away from me whatever I have left and leave me in a comer, once more, like something discarded, ravaged, violated. I know nothing more depressing than this waiting for the evil that can befall me, combined with my total powerlessness to escape it. To a certain degree and in various ways everyone knows this tightening of the heart, this deep absence of inner security, this sense of being incessantly exposed helplessly to all accidents, ranging from the small inconvenience of a few days in prison to death itself. There is nothing left but to offer one's back, to become as small as possible. A truly general timidity took possession of me, my imagination no longer presented to me possibilities with the vivacity that endows them in advance with an aura of reality: my initiative dried up. I believe I could have come across the most splendid occasions for escaping and not been able to take advantage of them; I would have lacked that something, I know not what, that helps fill the gap between what one sees and what one wants to do, between the circumstances and the act that allows one to master them; I would no longer have had faith in my good fortunes : fear would have stopped me. " 1

Prison tears : others sense whether the tears are "mechanical" or

"anguished. " A different reaction when someone screams : "I want to die." Rage and indignation or mere noise. One feels that every one is anguished when the tears are sincere. The tears of the younger ones. The idea of death presents itself for the first time (one becomes old all of a sudden).

§(? I ) . Father Gioacchino Ven tura. A book by Anna Cristofoli : 11 Pensiero religioso di Padre Gioacchino Ven tura, Milan, Soc. Ed.

"Vita e pensiero, " I 9 27, in 8°, pp. 1 5 8 . Reviewed very severely by Guido Zadei in Fiera Letteraria of I 5 January I 928. Ventura, a Sicilian monk, is said to have been influenced by Bonald, Lamennais, De Maistre. Zadei cites a book by Rastoul, Le Pere Ven tura, Paris, I 906, in I 6°, pp. 1 89 . 1 ( Clergy and in tellectuals. ) ( Lamennais ' Influence. )

§(72). Father Bresciani 's progeny. Catholic art. In an article, "Domande su un'arte cattolica, " published in the A vvenire d'Italia and abstracted in the Fiera Letter aria of I s January I 928, the writer, Edoardo Fenu, reprimands "almost all Catholic writers" for their apologetic tone.

N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 30)

"Now, the defense I ! ) of the faith must derive from the facts, from the critical ( ! ) and natural process of the narrative; in other words, it must be, as in Manzoni, the 'essence' of art itself. It is obvious ( ! ) that a truly Catholic writer will never beat his head against the dark walls of heresy, either moral or religious. A Catholic, just by virtue of being a Catholic, is already endowed with that simple and deep spirit which, transfused into the pages of a story or a poem, will make his ( ! ) art pure, serene, and not in the least pedantic. It is therefore ( ! ) perfectly useless to dwell over every page in order to explain that the writer is laying down a path for us to follow, that he has a light with which to illuminate us. Catholic art must I l l set out to be itself that path and that light, without getting lost in the morass of useless exhortations and idle admonitions. " (In literature, " . . .

if one excepts a few names, Papini, Giuliotti, and also to some extent Manacorda, the balance is practically in the red. Schools? . . . ne verbum quidem . Writers ? Yes; if we wanted to be generous we could pull out some names, but what great effort it would take to extract them! Unless one wants to label Gotta a Catholic, or count Gennari as a novelist, or applaud that countless horde of perfumed and gussied authors and authoresses for 'young ladies. ' "P

Many contradictions and inaccuracies; but the conclusion is correct: religion is sterility for art, at least among the religious. In other words, there are no longer any "simple and sincere souls" who are artists. This has been the case for a long time: it goes back to the Council of Trent and the Counterreformation. "To write" was dangerous, especially about religious matters and sentiments. Since that time, the Church has used a double standard: to be "Catholic" is [has become] simultaneously very easy and very difficult. It is very easy for the people who are asked only to believe in general terms and to have respect for the Church. No real struggle against pagan superstitions, against deviations, etc. In reality, there is no "religious" difference, only an "ecclesiastical" difference between a Catholic peasant, a Protestant peasant, and an Orthodox peasant.

However, it is very difficult to be an active "Catholic" intellectual and a

"Catholic" artist (especially a novelist or a poet), because one is expected to embrace a whole slew of notions on encyclicals, counter-encyclicals, papal briefs, apostolic letters, etc., and the historical deviations from the Church's line have been so numerous and so subtle that it is extremely easy to fall into heresy or a semi-heresy or a quarter heresy. Sincere religious sentiment has been desiccated: one must be a doctrinaire to write "orthodoxly. " Therefore, religion is no longer a sentiment in art, it is merely a motif, a cue. Catholic literature can only have the likes of Father Bresciani, it can no longer have a Saint Francis, Passavanti, or Thomas a Kempis. 2 It can be "militancy, " propaganda, agitation; it can no

First Notebook. § 73

1 7 9

longer be a candid effusion of sentiments. Otherwise it is not Catholic: see what happened to Fogazzaro.3

Cf. Notebook 2 3 , § 1 8 .

§(7 3 ) . Cremieux 's Modern Italian Literature. La Fiera Letteraria of 1 5 January 1 928 summarizes a rather silly and bungled article by G.

Bellonci in the Giornale d'Italia. 1 Cremieux argues that there is no modern language in Italy, and he is correct in a very precise sense: 1 l that there does not exist a unified Italian cultured class that speaks and writes a unified "living" language; 2 ) that there is a wide gap between the cultured class and the people: the language of the people remains the dialect backed by an Italianizing slang which consists, for the most part, in a mechanical translation of the dialect. The various dialects have a strong influence on the written language because even the cultured class speaks the language in certain situations and the dialect in family conversation, namely where speech is most vivid and closest to immediate reality. Thus the language is always somewhat fossilized and stilted; and, when it wishes to be familiar, it breaks up into many dialectal refractions. Besides the tone of speech (the rhythm of the sentence) which characterizes the regions, there are also the vocabulary, the morphology, and especially the syntax. Manzoni "rinsed" his lexical treasure in the Amo, less so his morphology and almost none of his syntax which is more deeply rooted in one's style and hence in one's personal artistic culture. In France, too, this phenomenon occurs between Paris and Provence, but to a lesser degree; in a comparison between A. Daudet and Zola it was found that Daudet had almost forgotten the etymological preterite for which the imperfect is substituted, something that is very rarely found in Zola.

Bellonci writes : "Until the sixteenth century linguistic forms descend from above, from the seventeenth century on they rise from below." A gross blunder caused by superficiality. It is precisely up to the sixteenth century that Florence exerts a cultural hegemony, because it exerts an economic hegemony (Pope Boniface VIII said that the Florentines were the fifth element of the world) and there is a development from below, from the people to the cultured class. After the decline of Florence, Italian is the language of an exclusive caste which has no contact with a historical spoken language. Is this not, perhaps, the question of returning to the Florentine hegemony that was posed by Manzoni and refuted by Ascoli who, being a historicist, does not believe in linguistic hegemonies decreed by law without an economic-cultural structure? 2

Bellonci's question- "Would Cremieux, perhaps, deny that there exists (he means to say, "has existed") a Greek language because there are

I 8o

N O T E B O O K I ( I 9 29- I 9 3 0 )

Doric, Ionic, and Aeolic varieties of it? "-is really comical and shows that he has not understood Cremieux.

Cf. Notebook 23, §40.

§(74). Super-city and Super-country. Items taken from La Fiera Letteraria of I 5 January I 928. By Papini : "The city does not create, but consumes. Just as it is the emporium into which flow the goods wrung out of the fields and the mines, so it is the place to which the freshest minds from the provinces and the ideas of great solitary men flock. The city is like a bonfire which emits light because it bums what was created far away from it and sometimes in opposition to it. All cities are sterile.

Proportionately few children are hom in them and almost never one of genius. There is enjoyment in the cities, but no creation; there is love but no generation, there is consumption but no production. " 1 The rest sounds even more like something out of the eighteenth century.

In the same issue of La Fiera Letteraria one comes across these other items: "our super-country dish has these characteristics: a definite aversion to all forms of civilization which are irreconcilable with ours or which are indigestible and, therefore, ruin the classical gifts of the Italians; furthermore, protection of the universal meaning of country which is, in straightforward terms, the natural and immanent relation between the individual and his land; finally, glorification of our indigenous characteristics in every field and activity of life, in other words: a Catholic foundation, a religious sense of the world, fundamental simplicity and sobriety, adherence to reality, mastery over fantasy, equilibrium between spirit and matter. " 2 And this other item by Francesco Meriano (published in L 'Assalto) : "In the philosophical field, I think I find, instead, a real antithesis: an antithesis which is over a hundred years old and reappears perennially in new forms, between the voluntarism, pragmatism and activism identifiable in Super-city and the enlightenment, rationalism and historicism identifiable in Super-country. "3

Cf. Notebook 22, §4.

§(7 5). Sicilian in tellectuals. The "Ciclope" group of Palermo is interesting. Mignosi, Pignato, Sciortino etc. Relations of this group with Piero Gobetti. 1

§(76). The crisis of the "West. " La Fiera Letteraria of 2 9 July 1 929, reprints some passages from an article by Filippo Burzio in

First Notebook. § 76

1 8 1

La Stampa. Nowadays, one talks of the West as one used to talk of

"Christianity" some centuries back. There existed a primal Western unity, the medieval Christian-Catholic unity; a primal schism or crisis, the Reformation and the religious wars. Following the Reformation, after nearly two centuries of religious wars, a second unity was in fact achieved in the West, a different kind of unity, deeply permeating life all over Europe and culminating in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries : nor did the resistances it encountered invalidate it, any more than the medieval heresies invalidated the first unity. It is this new unity which is in crisis.

(Burzio is implicitly polemicizing against Catholics, who would like to appropriate the "cure" for the crisis, as if this crisis were occurring on their terrain and as if they were its real antagonists, whereas they are the wreckage or the fossils of a historical unity which has already been definitively surpassed. ) It rests on three pillars : the spirit of criticism, the scientific spirit, the capitalist (perhaps it would be better to say "industrial") spirit. The last two are firm (for sure, if "capitalism"

"industrialism"); the first,

=

however, is no longer firm, and therefore the spiritual elites of the West suffer an imbalance and a disharmony between critical consciousness and action (it would always be the crisis of "historicism" because of the opposition between "sentiment, " "passion"

and critical consciousness). As a support to action, as an aid to life, the philosophical imperative is as gray and hollow as scientific solidarity. In this void, the soul gasps for air, and poetic inspiration, which has some notion of what is happening, has become increasingly dismal and feverish. In our times there is almost no happy day (but is this crisis not linked, rather, to the collapse of the myth of limitless progress and the optimism that depended on it; in other words, is it not linked to a form of religion rather than to the crisis of historicism and critical consciousness ? In reality, "critical consciousness" was restricted to a small circle, a hegemonic circle, to be sure, but a restricted one; the spiritual "steering apparatus" has broken down and there is a crisis, but it is also a widespread crisis which will bring about a new, more secure and stable "hegemony"). We must save the integral West; all knowledge, together with all action. Man wanted to sail, and he has sailed; he wanted to fly, and has flown; he has been thinking of God for many centuries - should that not be of some use ? The mentality of the creator dawns upon, emerges from the creature. If one cannot choose

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from among the various modes of life, since specialization would amount to mutilation, there is nothing left but to do everything. If ancient religion appears to be exhausted, nothing remains but to rejuvenate it. Universality, interiority, wizardry. If God is hidden, there remains the demiurge. Man of the West, hie res tua agitur. 1

(Note how B. Croce and F. Burzio resist the wave of the new antihistoricist "religiosity" from opposite poles. )

§(77). Clergy and in tellectuals. Commemorative issue of Vita e Pensiero on the 2 5 th anniversary of Leo XIII's death. Father Gemelli's article on "Leone XIII e il movimento intellettuale" is useful. Pope Leo is linked, in the intellectual field, to a renovation of Christian philosophy, to the trend in social studies, to the impetus given to biblical studies. The idea that inspired Leo XIII, a Thomist, was this: "To lead the world back to a fundamental doctrine by means of which the intelligence can regain the ability to show man the truth which he must acknowledge and to do so not only by preparing the path to faith, but by giving man the means to securely handle all of life's problems. Leo XIII thus offered the Christian people a philosophy, the doctrine of scholasticism, not as a narrow, static and exclusive frame of knowledge but as an organism of living thought which is open to enrichment by the thought of all the Doctors and Fathers, and which is capable of bringing the speculation of rational theology into harmony with the data of positive science, a condition for stimulating and harmonizing reason and faith, the real and the ideal, the past and the discoveries of the future, prayer and action, internal and social life, the duties of the individual and those of society, the duties toward God and the duties toward man. '1 1

Leo XIII completely renewed Catholic Action. Remember that the encyclical Rerum Novarum is almost simultaneous with the Genoa Congress, that is with the transition of the Italian labor movement from primitivism to a realistic and concrete, though still confused and uncertain, phase. [Neo] scholasticism permitted the alliance of Catholicism with positivism ( Comte, whence Maurras). Catholic Action left behind the purely mechanical post- 1 8 70

abstentionism and initiated a genuine activity which led to the dissolution of 1 8 98.2

First Notebook. § 79

§(78) Bergson, positivist materialism, pragmatism. Bergson connected to positivism; he "rebels" against its "ingenuous" dog matism. Positivism had the merit of restoring to European culture the sense of reality which the old rationalistic ideologies had wiped out, but subsequently positivism was guilty of enclosing reality within the sphere of dead nature and, therefore, also of enclosing philosophical inquiry within a kind of new materialistic theology.

Bergson's work is the documentation of this "error. " Bergson's critique . . . has penetrated all the meanderings of positivist dogmatism, desecrating idols of the absolute and reducing them to forms of fleeting contingency; it has mercilessly scrutinized the inner structure of organic species and of human personality, and has shattered all the systems of that mechanical stasis within which thought encloses the perennial flux of life and of conscious ness.

In the declaration of the principle of eternal flux and the practi cal origin of every conceptual system, even the highest ( ! ) truths were in danger of vanishing; and here, in this fatal tendency, is the limit ( ! ) of Bergsonism. (Excerpts from an article by Balbina Giuliano abstracted in La Fiera Letteraria of 25 November 1 9 2 8 . j l

§(79). Italo Chittaro, La capacita di comando. (Rome: D e Alberti). It appears, from a review by V. Varanini in La Fiera Letteraria of 4 November 1 928, that this book contains some very interesting points. The necessity of historical studies for the professional formation of officers. In order to command, good sense alone does not suffice: the ability to command is, rather, the product of deep knowledge and extensive practice. The ability to command is especially important in the infantry: whereas in other cases one specializes in particular tasks, in the infantry one specializes in the art of command, namely in a comprehensive task-hence the necessity that all officers destined for the higher ranks should have had an infantry command. Finally, it considers the need to form a General Staff that is numerous, efficacious, popular with the troops. 1 -A book to be read.

Cf. Notebook 1 3 , § 3 9 ·

NOTEB O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0)

§(So). The public and Italian literature. "One may say that for some reason or another Italian writers no longer have a public. A public, in fact, means a cluster of people that not only buys books but, above all, admires certain men. A literature can flourish only in a climate of admiration and, contrary to what one might think, admiration is not the reward but the stimulus for work. The public that admires, that really, genuinely, joyfully admires, the public that has the good fortune to admire (nothing is more harmful than conventional admiration) is the greatest animator of a literature. Many signs indicate, alas, that the public is abandoning Italian writers. " Leo Ferrero in 11 Lavoro (Fiera Letteraria of 28 October 1 9 28 ) . 1

Admiration would b e the form o f contact between a nation and its writers. Today, this contact is missing; in other words, literature is not national because it is not popular. A paradox of our times. And there is no hierarchy in literature, there is no outstanding personality. The question of why and how a literature is popular. "Beauty" is not enough: there must be a "human and moral" content which is the elaborated and perfect expression of the public's aspirations. That is to say, literature must be simultaneously an actual element of culture (civilization) and a work of art (beauty). Otherwise, preference will be given not to artistic literature but to serial literature which, in its own way, is an element of culturedegraded, perhaps, but current.

Cf. Notebook 21, §4.

§(8 1). Nino Daniele, D 'Annunzio politico (Sao Paulo, 1 928). 1 A book to be read.

Cf. Notebook 1 5 , § 5 7 .

§(82). Father Bresciani's progeny. Maddalena Santoro, L'amore ai forti.

A novel. (Bemporad, 1 92 8 . j l

Cf. Notebook 23, §2 1 .

§(8 3). Piero Pieri, 11 regno di Napoli dal luglio 1 799 al marzo r8o6 (Naples : Riccardi, 1 928); pp. 3 30, L. 2 5 (useful for understanding better the Parthenopean Republic through the policy of the Bourbons during the brief restoration period). 1

Cf. Notebook 1 9, § 3 2 .

§(84). Giovanni Maioli, Il fondatore della Societa Nazionale (Rome: Soc. Naz. per Ia Storia del Risorgimento, 1 928). (It contains 22 letters

First Notebook. §87

1 8 5

by Giorgio Pallavicino and by Felice Foresti on the 1 8 5 6-5 8 period, during which Pallavicino, president of the National Society of which La Farina was secretary, worked to establish the liberal bloc upon the dual foundation of "Italian opinion"-"Sardinian army. " One of Pallavicino's sayings: "The Italian revolutionary, an extremely strong man on the field of action, is much too often a child when it comes to thinking. ")�

Note that in current historiography on the Risorgimento, which is extremely tendentious in its own way, whatever coincides with the Piedmontese program of the Moderates is put across as a "shrewd poitical realism" : it is a rather naive judgment based on hindsight and hardly shrewd; and it corresponds, after all, to the idea of the "Gesta dei per Allobrogos" 2 refurbished and sprinkled with modern concepts.

Cf. Notebook 1 9, § 3 3 .

§(8 5 ) . Giuseppe Solitro, D u e famigerati gazzettieri dell ' Austria (Luigi Mazzoldi, Pietro Perego) (Padua: Draghi, 1927), L. 1 5 . (In the review published in the Fiera Letteraria of 1 6 December 1 928, Guido Zadei writes about some hitherto unpublished and ignored materials on Mazzoldi which are in his possession and about a strange polemic in which Filippo Ugoni accuses Mazzoldi of communist propaganda . ) '

Cf. Notebook 1 9 , § 3 4 .

§(86). Giovanni Crocioni, Problemi fondamen tali del Folklore (Bologna: Zanichelli, 1 92 8 . 1

Cf. Notebook 27, § r .

§(87). Gentile and the philosophy of Italian politics. An article by Gentile published in the Spectator of 3 November 1 928 and reprinted in Educazione Fascista. "A philosophy that is not thought but enacted and, therefore, it is enunciated and affirmed not through formulas but through action. " 1 Every state has "two" philosophies : the one that is enunciated through formulas and is merely the art of government, and the one that is affirmed through action and is the real philosophy, namely history. The problem is to find out the extent to which these two philosophies coincide or differ. Gentile's formula is really nothing more than a sophistical disguise of that "political philosophy" which is better known as opportunism and empiricism. If Bouvard and Pecuchet had known Gentile, they would have found in his philosophy the correct interpretation of their renovative

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and revolutionary (in the uncorrupted sense of the word, as they say nowadays) activity.

Cf. Notebook I 3, §40.

§(88). Gioberti. In the Preface to Letture del Risorgimento, Carducci writes: "After leaving the Giovane ltalia in 1 8 34, he turned to what Santarosa wanted and called literary conspiracy, and he did so with a certain combative philosophy of his that held the Italian tradition in very high regard, until he openly joined the struggle with his Primato. Proclaiming the league of reformist princes, with the Pontiff as leader, he attracted timorous souls and timorous minds, he attracted and enraptured the young clergy who, in tum, brought along in their wake the population of believers, including those from the countryside. " Elsewhere Carducci writes: " . . . the type of Italian cleric who like Parini was a reformist and a half-Jacobin, who with Cesarotti and Barbieri lived through the Revolution, who like Di Breme became a promoter of Romanticism and a spy with the 'carbonari' of 1 82 1 , who like Gioberti dabbled in conspiracies and promoted 11 Primato d'ltalia and 11 Rinnovamento, who like Rosmini pointed to the calamities of the Church, who like Andreoli and Tazzoli went to the gallows . . . '1 1

Cf. Notebook 1 9, § J s .

§(89). Folklore. [Giovanni] Crocioni [in Problemi fondamen tali del Folklore, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1 928] criticizes as confused and imprecise the division of folkloristic material provided by Pitre in his 1 897 introduction to the Bibliografia delle Tradizioni popolari, and he proposes his own division into four sections: art, literature, science, morality of the people. '

This division, too, is criticized as imprecise, poorly defined, and too broad.

(Raffaele) Ciampini, in the Fiera Letteraria of 30 December 1 928, asks : "Is it scientific? How, for ex., do superstitions fit into it? And what is the meaning of a morality of the people? How does one study it scientifically?

And why, then, not discuss a religion of the people, as well ? " It seems to me that until now folklore has been studied (in fact, until now, there has only been the collection of raw material) as a "picturesque" element. It ought to be studied as a "conception of the world" of particular social strata which are untouched by modem currents of thought. This conception of the world is not elaborated and systematized because the people, by definition, cannot do such a thing; and it is also multifarious, in the sense that it is a mechanical juxtaposition of various conceptions of the world, if it is not, indeed, a museum of fragments of all the conceptions of the world and of life that have followed one another throughout history.

First Notebook. §9o

Even modern thought and science furnish elements to folklore, in that certain scientific statements and certain opinions, torn from their context, fall into the popular domain and are "arranged" within the mosaic of tradition. (Pascarella's "Scoperta dell' America" shows how notions about Christopher Columbus and other figures, disseminated by elementary school textbooks, are assimilated in bizarre ways. )2 Folklore can be understood only as a reflection of the conditions of life of the people, although folklore frequently persists even after those conditions have been modified in bizarre combinations.

Certainly, there exists a "religion of the people, " especially in Catholic and Orthodox countries (much less so in Protestant countries). The morality of the people is custom and, like superstition, it is closely connected to the real religious beliefs of the people: there are certain imperatives which are much stronger and more tenacious than those of Kantian morals.

Ciampini thinks that Crocioni is quite right in upholding the necessity to teach folklore at the training schools for future teachers, but then he denies the possibility of raising the question of the usefulness of folklore (he means to say, the study of folklore). For him, folklore (that is, the study of folklore) is an end in itself and is only useful insofar as it offers to a people the elements for a deeper knowledge of itself. To study superstitions in order to eradicate them would be, for Ciampini, as if folklore were to kill itself, whereas science is nothing but disinterested knowledge, an end in itself ! ! ! But then why teach folklore in teachers' training schools?

To augment the disinterested culture of teachers? The state has its own conception of life and it strives to disseminate it: this is its task and duty.

This dissemination does not take place on a tabula rasa; it competes and clashes with, for ex., folklore and "must" overcome it. For the teacher, to know folklore means to know what other conceptions are at work in the moral and intellectual formation of the young generations. But folklore studies need a change of attitude besides greater depth: folklore must not be conceived as an oddity, a strange, ridiculous or, at best, a picturesque thing; rather, it must be conceived as something very serious and to be taken seriously. Only in this way will its teaching be more effective and better develop the culture of the great popular masses, and the separation between modern culture and popular culture or folklore will disappear.

Serious work of this kind would correspond intellectually to what the Reformation was in Protestant countries.

Cf. Notebook 27, § 1 .

§(90). La Voce and Prezzolini. The article in which Prezzolini defends La Voce and "claims by full right a role for it in the

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preparation of contemporary Italy" is cited in the Fiera Letteraria of 24 February I 9293 and therefore it must have been published some days earlier ( the ten days between 14 and 24 February) in the Lavoro Fascista. 1 The article was provoked by a series of short articles in La Tribuna against Papini, in whose work traces of the old "protestantism" of La Voce were detected because of his study

"Su questa letteratura" (published in the first issue of Pegaso). 2

The Tribuna writer, an ex-nationalist from the former Idea Nazionale, was still unable to forget his old grudges against La Voce, while Prezzolini lacked the courage to uphold his earlier position.

Prezzolini also published a letter on this subject in the Davide which appeared irregularly in Turin in 1 9 2 5 -2 6, edited by Gorgerino.3 One should also remember his 1 92 3 book on Cultura Italiana and his volume on fascism (in French).4 If Prezzolini had civil courage he would recall that his Voce certainly had a strong influ ence on some socialist elements and was a factor in revisionism.

He and Papini, as well as many other Voce associates, wrote for the Popolo d'Italia in its early days.5

§(9 1). Super-country. In La Stampa of 4 May 1 929, Mino Maccari writes: "When super-country opposes modernistic importations, its opposition aims at saving the right to choose from among them in order to prevent harmful contacts, which might be confused with those that could be beneficial, from corrupting the integrity of the nature and character of Italian civilization, distilled over the centuries and now longing after a unifying synthesis . " 1

Cf. Notebook 22, §4.

§(92). On Americanism. There is an article by Eugenio Giovannetti ( "Federico Taylor e l'americanismo, " in Pegaso, May 1 929). Among other things, he writes (excerpts given in the Italia Letteraria of 1 9 May): "In short, abstract literary energy sustained by generalizing rhetoric is no longer capable of understanding technical energy, which is increasingly individualized and intense, an exceedingly original fabric of singular will and specialized education. Energetic literature is still in its Prometheus Unbound phase; an image that is much too convenient. The hero of technical civilization is not an unchained being: he is a silent being who can carry his iron chains up to the heavens. He is not an ignorant idler: he

• In the manuscript Gramsci <

1neously wrote, "2.4 Feburary 1 92.8. "

First Notebook. §93

is studious in the best classical sense, since studium used to mean 'highest zeal. ' While technical or mechanized civilization, whatever you wish to call it, is silently elaborating its type of forceful hero, the literary cult of energy creates nothing but an airy dunce, a frantic daydreamer. " 1

It is strange that no attempt is made to apply to Americanism Gentile's little formula about "philosophy which is not articulated in formulas but is affirmed in action'? it is strange and instructive, because if the formula has any value it is precisely in Americanism that its value can be vindicated. When it is discussed, however, Americanism is found to be mechanistic, crude, brutal; that is, "pure action, " and it is contrasted with tradition, etc. But why is this tradition, etc. not taken up as a philosophical foundation, as the articulated formulaic philosophy of those movements for which, instead, "philosophy is affirmed in action"? This contradiction can explain many things: difference between true action, which modifies external reality (and therefore real culture, as well) in an essential way and which is Americanism, and stupid gladiatorial posturing which proclaims itself as action but modifies only words and not things, the external gestures and not the man inside. The former is creating a future which is intrinsic to its objective activity and which is often ignored. The latter creates flawless puppets according to a predetermined model which crumble into nothingness as soon as the strings that give them an appearance of motion and life are severed.

Cf. Notebook 22, § s .

§(9 3). Father Bresciani 's progeny. Tommaso Gallarati Scotti, Storie dell'Amor Sacra e dell'Amor Profano. 1 Remember the short story about the false body of the saint carried from the Orient by the Crusaders, and Scotti's amazing views. After Boccaccio's Fra Cipolla . . . (Remember Eca de Queiroz's La Reliquia, translated by L. Siciliani in a collection published by Rocco Carabba under Borgese's editorship: it is influenced by Boccaccio's story.)2 The Bollandists are respectable because they have, at least, eliminated some of the roots of superstition (although their research remains restricted to a very small circle and is of use primarily to intellectuals, to show intellectuals that Catholicism combats superstitionsj,3 but the folkloristic aestheticism of Scotti is disgusting. Remember W. Steed's account of the conversation between a Protestant and a Cardinal about San Gennaro,4 and Croce's note about his conversation with a Neapolitan priest about San Gennaro-a note occasioned by a letter from Sorel. 5 The figure of Scotti belongs, in foreshortened perspective, among Father Bresciani's progeny. As an appendix or as a parallel complement.

Cf. Notebook 23, § r 9 .

NOT E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 3 0)

§(94). Proudhon, fahier, and Raimondi. In L 'Italia Letteraria of 2 I July I 929, Giuseppe Raimondi writes: " . . . he talks to me about Proudbon, his greatness and his modesty, the influence of his ideas in the modern world, the importance these ideas have assumed in a world run by socially organized labor, a world where the consciousness of men keeps on evolving and perfecting itself in the name of labor and its interests.

Proudhon has made a human and living myth of these poor interests. My own admiration for Proudhon is rather sentimental, instinctual, like an affection and a respect that I have inherited, that were passed on to me at birth. Jahier's admiration is completely intellectual, derived from study, therefore very deep." 1 This Raimondi is quite a poseur with his "inherited admiration. " Later on, I will remark on a passage from another article of his, which makes this pose even more conspicuous. 2

Cf. Notebook 2 3 , § 3 4 .

§(9 5). Adriano Tilgher, Homo Faber. A history of the concept of labor in Western civilization. Rome: Libreria di Scienze e Lettere, I 929, L. I 5 . 1

Cf. Notebook 2 5 , § 3 .

§ (96). Adelchi Bara tono. In the second issue of Glossa Perenne he wrote an article on "Novecentismo" which must be full of "derisory"

remarks. Among other things : "The art and the literature of a period cannot be and must not be ( ! ) other than that which corresponds to the life and the taste of the period; lamenting the way they are would not help change their inspiration and form, and thus would also be contrary to every historical criterion and, therefore, to any correct criterion of judgment. " 1 But are the life and taste of a period monolithic things ? And so, how does this "correspondence" occur? Who "corresponded" to the Risorgimento-Berchet2 or Father Bresciani ? Moralistic and doleful laments would certainly be foolish, but one can criticize without lamenting. De Sanctis was a firm supporter of the national revolution.3 Yet he was able to criticize not only Bresciani but Guerrazzi as well. Baratono's agnosticism is nothing more than moral and civil cowardice. (He believes that lack of objectivity and universality makes value judgments about contemporaries impossible. ) Cf. Notebook 2 3 , §20.

§(97). Salvadori, Valli, and Lorianism. Valli, with his "conspiratorial" and Masonic interpretation of the dolce stil nuovo (along with the precedent of D. G. Rossetti and Pascoli), 1 and Giulio Salvadori, who dis-

First Notebook. §99

1 9 1

covered in the Promessi Sposi the drama of Enrichetta (Lucia) oppressed by Condorcet, Donna Giulia and Manzoni himself (Don Rodrigo, the Innominato, etc.), belong to a branch of Lorianism. (About Giulio Salvadori and his interpretation see an article in Arte e Vita of June 1 920, and the posthumous book Enrichetta Manzoni-Blondel e il Natale del 33, Treves, 1 929.)2

Cf. Notebook 28, § 1 3 .

§(98). Lello Gangemi, I1 problema della durata del lavoro, Florence, Vallecchi, 1 929, L. 2 5 . (From Luigi Perla's brief review in the ltalia Letteraria of 1 8 August 1 929, one extracts the following: the problem of working hours, which was relegated to the background after the improvement in economic conditions that followed the period of depression which started in 1 9 2 1 , is now being discussed again because of the current economic crisis.

Examination of current legislation regarding this matter in various countries, pointing out the difficulty of uniform regulation. The problem and Washington. From the point of view of the scientific organization of labor. The theoretical and social claims which have dominated the issue have turned out to be inapplicable in practical legislative action. In contrast to the ideologies that would abolish social injustices and end up, instead, multiplying and aggravating them, practice has confirmed that the simple reduction of working hours cannot, by itself ( ! ), reach the goal of greater productivity and greater benefits ( ! ) for the worker. What remains proven, instead, is the usefulness of establishing a limit on the intensity of labor; but this limit should not be imposed on the basis of abstract ideologies, it should be the result of a rational coordination of physiological, economic, and ethical concepts ( ! ) . ) 1

§(99). A famous bungling pra ttler is Antonio Bruers, one of the many corks that rise to the slimy surfaces of disturbed shallow waters. In the Lavoro Fascista of 23 August 1 929, he assumes it probable that in Italy a philosophy will assert itself "which, though it does not renounce any of the concrete values of idealism, is capable of understanding, in its philosophical and social fullness, the necessity of religion. This philosophy is spiritualism, a synthetic ( ! ) doctrine which does not exclude immanence, but grants

1 9 2

N O TE B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0)

logical ( ! ) primacy to transcendence, acknowledges dualism in prac tice I ! ), and therefore confers upon determinism, upon nature, a value which is compatible with the requirements of experimentalism." This doctrine would be in keeping with the "prevailing genius of the Italian race" of which Bruers, notwithstanding his exotic name, would naturally be the historical, spiritual, imma nent, transcendent, ideal, determined, practical and experimental, as well as religious, crowning-piece. 1

§( r oo). Goffredo Bellonci, Pagine e idee, Edizione Sapientia, Rome. It seems to be some kind of history of Italian literature, subverted in a novel way by triteness. This Bellonci is really a caricature of literary journalism; a Bouvard of ideas and of politics, a victim of Mario Missiroli who already was a victim of Oriani and Sorel. 1

§(ror). Piedigrotta. In an article in II Lavoro ( 8 September 1 929), Adriano Tilgher writes that Neapolitan dialect poetry is in a severe crisis and to a large extent, then, so are the prospects for the songs of Piedigrotta. Its two great sources have supposedly dried up : realism and sentimentalism. "The change in sentiment and taste has been so rapid and confusing, so dizzying and sudden, and is still so far from crystallizing into something stable and lastin�

that the dialectal poets who venture onto that quicksand to try and shape it into a solid and clear form are doomed to disappear hopelessly into it. " 1

The crisis of Piedigrotta is truly a sign of the times. The theori zation of Super-country has killed super country (in reality, there was an effort to set up a biased model of super-country, quite musty and dull) . Moreover, the modem epoch is not expansive, it is repressive. There is no longer any heartfelt laughter: there are sneers and mechanical parochial witticisms. Piedigrotta's source has not dried up by itself, it was desiccated because it had become

"official, " and the poets had become functionaries (see Libera Bovio).2

(And cf. the French fable about the cuckolded functionary. )

First Notebook. § I04

1 9 3

§( 1 02). "La Fiera Letteraria " which later became "L 'Italia Letteraria " has always been a sack of potatoes, but it is becoming even more so. It has two editors, but it is as if it did not have any and a secretary were examining the incoming mail, choosing by lot the articles to be published. The odd thing is that the two editors, Malaparte and Angioletti, do not write for their own journal but prefer other showcases. 1 The editorial stalwarts must be Titta Rosa and Enrico Falqui,2 and of the two the more comical is the latter who compiles the "Rassegna della Stampa, " hopping right and left without a compass or ideas. Titta Rosa is more pontifical and gives himself the airs of a grand disenchanted pontiff even when he writes drivel. Angioletti appears rather coy about jumping into deep waters : he lacks Malaparte's impudence. It is interesting to note how the Italia Letteraria does not venture to give its own opinions but waits until the big shots have spoken first. Such was the case with Moravia's Indifferenti, and more seriously with Nino Savarese's Malagigi, a truly delightful book which was reviewed only when it had a chance of winning the "Trenta" prize, whereas it had been ignored when it appeared in the pages of the Nuova Antologia. 3 The contradictions of this group of hacks are really amusing, but it is not worth pointing them out. They are reminiscent of the Bandar Log in The Jungle Book: "we're going to, we're going to do, " etc., etc.4

§(103). General Fascist Confederation of Italian Industry, Lo sviluppo dell' Industria Italiana, Litografia del Genio Civile, Rome, 1 929, L. 1 00 ( 7 8 colored tables which review Italian industry from 1 8 7 6 to 1 92 8 ) . 1 Indispensable.

§( 1 04). Jean Barois. He receives the religious sacraments before dying. His wife later discovers the will among his papers; it was drawn up during his years of intellectual maturity. In it she finds: "lest old age and sickness weaken me so much that I will fear death and induce me to seek the comforts of religion, I draw up my testament today, in the fullness of my faculties and of my mental stability. I do not believe in a substantial and immortal soul. I know that my personality is a mass of atoms whose disso-

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lution entails total death. I believe in universal determinism . . . "

The will is thrown into the fire. 1

§( 1 0 5 ). American philosophy. Study Josiah Royce's pos1t1on within the context of the American conception of life. What has been the importance and function of Hegelianism in this conception ? Can modem thought go beyond empiricism-pragmatism and become widespread in America without a Hegelian phase? 1

§( I o6)

Maurras ' concept of religion. The Rivista d'Italia of I s Janu

.

ary I 927, summarizes an article by J. Vialatoux published a few weeks earlier in the Chronique Sociale de France. 1 Vialatoux rejects the thesis, set forth by Jacques Maritain in Une Opinion sur Charles Maurras et le devoir des catholiques ( Paris, Plan, I 926),l that the relationship between Maurras' pagan philosophy and morality on the one hand, and his politics on the other is just accidental, so that if one were to consider his political doctrine separately from his philosophy, one might come across some pitfalls, as in all human endeavor, but there would be nothing objectionable in it. For Vialatoux, quite rightly, the political doctrine originates in (or is at least inextricably linked to-G.) the pagan world-view (concerning this paganism one must clarify and distinguish between the literary, extrinsic aspect which makes up this so called paganism of Maurras, and the essential kernel which, after all, is a naturalistic positivism taken from Comte and indirectly from Saint-Simonism, and which has something to do with paganism only because of the terminological jargon of the church). The city is man's ultimate purpose: it realizes human order solely by means of natural forces. Maurras is much more accurately characterized by his hatreds than by his loves. He hates primitive Christianity (the world-view of the Gospels, the early apologists etc., in short, the Christianity that prevailed until the edict of Milan and that believed the coming of Christ to be an announcement of the end of the world and therefore caused the dissolution of the Roman political order into a moral anarchy corrosive of every civil and state value) which, for him, is a Jewish conception.

In this sense, Maurras wants to de-Christianize modem society. For Maurras, the Catholic Church has been and will always be the instrument of this de-Christianization. He distinguishes between Christianity and Catholicism and extols the latter as the reaction of the Roman order against Jewish anarchy. The Catholic faith, its superstitious devotions, its feasts, its pomp, its ceremonies, its liturgy, its images, its formulas, its

First Notebook. § I07

1 9 5

sacramental rites, its grand hierarchy are like a salutary spell for taming Christian anarchy, for neutralizing the Jewish poison of authentic Christianity. According to Vialatoux, the nationalism of the Action Fran{:aise is no more than an episode in the religious history of our times. (One must add that Maurras' hatred toward everything that has to do with Protestantism and that has Anglo-German origins- Romanticism, the French Revolution, capitalism-is just one aspect of this hatred toward primitive Christianity; further, one should search in Auguste Comte for the sources of his attitude toward Catholicism, which is not free from the influence of the scholarly revival of Thomism and Aristotelianism. ) Cf. Notebook 1 3, § 3 7 .

§( 1 07). Filippo Meda, Statisti cattolici, Alberto Morano, Naples. 1 It contains six biographies of Daniel O'Connell, Garcia Mor eno, Ludwig Windthorst, Augusto Bernaert, Giorgio Herding, An tonio Maura. Representatives of clerical conservativism (Italian clerical moderates), that is, of the prehistory of modern Catholic popularism. It is indispensable for a reconstruction of the historical development of Catholic Action. The biography of Garcia Moreno (from Venezuela, I think)2 is also interesting for understanding some aspects of the ideological struggles in the formerly Spanish and Portuguese America that is still going through a primitive Kulturkampf phase, that is, where the modern state must still struggle against a clerical and feudal past. It is interesting to observe this contradiction that exists in South America between the modern world of the great commercial coastal cities and the primitivism of the interior, a contradiction that persists because of the presence of great masses of native people on the one hand and, on the other, of European immigrants whose assimilation is more difficult than in North America. Jesuitism is an advance when compared to idolatry, but it is an obstacle to the development of modern civilization represented by the great coastal cities: it functions as a tool of government to preserve the ruling power of small traditional oligarchies who, therefore, put up only a mild and feeble struggle. Freemasonry and the positivist Church aJe the ideologies and the lay religions of the urban petty bourgeoisie and, for the most part, of the so-called anarchic syndicalists who get their intellectual nourishment from anti clerical scientism. (The problem of the resurgence of the native masses in political and national

N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0)

life : did something similar take place in Mexico, under the impulse of Obregon and Calles ? )3

§( 1 08). On the Risorgimento. Publications by Augusto Sandona who after the armistice conducted some research in the Viennese archives in order to study official Austrian papers. 1

Cf. Notebook 1 9, § 3 6 .

§( 1 09). A ustrian informers and agen ts provocateurs. The informers who operated abroad and were employed by Vienna's State Chancellery, were not supposed to act as agents provocateurs; this is revealed by the precise instructions issued by the prince of Metternich who, in a secret dispatch of 8 February 1 844 addressed to Count Apponyi, Austrian ambassador in Paris, expressed himself in the following terms about the role that the notorious Attilio Partesotti was playing in the French capital:

"The ultimate goal of the Imperial Government is not to find guilty parties nor to provoke criminal enterprises . . . Partesotti, therefore, must regard himself as a diligent and loyal observer and he must carefully avoid being an agent provocateur" (Staatskanzlei). This is what Augusto Sandona writes in his study, "11 preludio delle cinque giornate di Milano

Nuovi documenti, " published in Rivista d'Italia (I have read only the first installment in the 1 5 January 1 927 issue), concerning the accusation made by Dr. Carlo Casati (Nuove Rivelazioni sui fatti di Milano nel r847-8, Milan, Hoepli, 1 8 8 5 ) and by the Archivio triennale delle cose d'Italia (Vol I, Capolago, Tip. Elvetica, 1 8 50) against Baron Carlo Torresani, General Director of the Milan police from 1 822 to 1 848, that he had organized a force of agents provocateurs to stage riots. 1 It should be noted, however, that notwithstanding Metternich's orders the agents provocateurs could operate all the same because of the needs of the local police and also because of the personal needs of the "observers" themselves.

Cf. Notebook 1 9, § 3 7 .

§( x 10). The contradictions of the Moderates before r848. The Customs League, promoted by Cesare Balbo and agreed upon in Turin on 3

November 1 847 by the three representatives of Piedmont, Tuscany and the Roman State, was supposed to foreshadow the formation of the political Confederation which was then canceled by Balbo himself, thus aborting the Customs League as well. The small Italian States wanted the

First Notebook. § 1 12

I 97

Confederation: the Piedmontese [reactionaries, including Balbo], believing that the territorial expansion of Piedmont was assured, did not want to jeopardize it with ties that would hinder it (Balbo had argued in Speranze d'Italia that the Confederation was impossible as long as a part of Italy remained in foreign hands) and they canceled the Confederation, arguing that Leagues are formed before or after a war (the Confederation was rejected during the first months of 1 848-check). Gioberti and others saw the political and customs confederation formed even during the war as the necessary premise that would render the slogan, "Italy will go it alone, " possible. 1

This episode, together with that of the volunteers and the Constituent Assembly is of the greatest importance to show how the I 848 movement failed because of the intrigues of reactionaries who then became the moderates of the subsequent period. They were unable to provide the revolution [before I 848] with either political or, much less, military leadership.

Cf. Notebook 1 9, § 3 8 .

§ ( u I). By A ugusto Sandona. I) Con tributo all a storia dei processi del 21 e dello Spielberg, Turin, Bocca, I 9 I I ; 2) "L'idea unit�ria ed i partiti politici alla vigilia del I 848, " Rivista d'Italia, June 1 9 1 4; 3) I1 Regno lom bardo-veneto. La costituzione e l'amministrazione, Milan, Cogliati, 1 9 1 2 . 1

Cf. Notebook 1 9, § 3 6 .

§( 1 1 2).

Father Facchinei. The Rivista d'Italia of 15 January 1 927, published an article by Adolfo Zerboglio entitled "11 ritorno di padre Facchinei"- Facchinei is the author of Note ed osservazioni sul libra in titolato "Dei delitti e delle pene, " a libelous attack on Cesare Beccaria published around 1 7 6 1 . From the passages quoted by Zerboglio (p. 2 7 of the journal) it appears that Facchinei was already familiar with the word "socialists": "I ask the most hidebound socialists : whether a man who is in a condition of primitive freedom and has not yet become part of a�y society, I ask whether a free man has the right to kill another man who, in some manner, wants to take away his life? I am sure that in this case all socialists would answer yes." 1 But, what did this word mean at that time? In Maurice Block's Political Dictionary, the word "socialisme" is assigned to a much later period, toward 1 8 3 0, if I remember correctly.2

N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- I 9 30)

§(I I 3). The revolution in criminal law and in criminal procedure and historical materialism. Marx's phrase in the preface to A Con tribution to the Critique of Political Economy (of I 8 S 9 )3- "just as one does not judge an individual by what he thinks about himself "-mayb be connected to the then relatively recent upheavals in criminal procedure and related theoretical discussions. 1 In fact, the old procedures required the confession of the accused (especially for capital crimes) before sentencing, wherefore torture. In the new procedures, the cross-examination of the accused is [only] one, at times negligible, element of a trial (an oath is not required, it is recognized that the accused may lie or be reticent), whereas the highest importance is ascribed to material evidence and the testimony of witnesses.2 Find out whether anyone has noticed this connection between the two phenomena and has studied the movement for the renewal of criminal and case law as a [suggestive] element of the innovation that Marx brought to the study of history (Sorel may have made this observation, since it is in his style).

Cf. Notebook 1 6, §2o.

§( r 1 4). The Risorgimen to. Political and military leadership. In studying the political and military leadership exercised on the national movement before and after I 848, one must make some preliminary observations on method and terminology. Military leadership should not be understood only as military leadership in the strict, technical sense, that is, as a reference to the strategy and tactics of the Piedmontese army, or of Garibaldi's troops, or of the various militias that were improvised during local uprisings (the s days of Milan, the defense of Venice, the defense of the Roman Republic, the Palermo insurrection in I 848, etc. ). Rather, it should be understood in a much broader sense, and in a sense that is more closely connected with real political leadership. The problem was that of expelling from Italy a foreign power which had one of the biggest armies in Europe at that time and which, furthermore, had supporters who were neither few nor weak in Italy itself, even in Piedmont. The military problem, then, was this: "how to succeed in mobilizing a force capable of expelling the Austrian army from Italy and of preventing it from coming back with a counteroffensive, given that the violent expulsion would endanger the Empire and, therefore, would galvanize all the essential forces for a reconquest. " Several theoretical solutions were offered, all of them contradictory. "Italy will go it alone. " This was the catchword of 1 848. But it meant defeat. The ambiguous, vague, timid policy of the

• Jn the ms. " 1 8 56. "

bThe manuscript originally read "must," which Gramsci later changed to "may." He also corrected his initial version of the quotation from Marx.

First Notebook. § I I 5

I 9 9

right-wing Piedmontese parties was the principal reason for the defeat: they evinced pathetic cunning. They caused the withdrawal of the armies of other Italian states, Neapolitan and Roman, by revealing too soon that they wanted Piedmontese expansion and not an Italian confederation; they did not favor the volunteers: in short, they wanted the Piedmontese generals to be the only military victors. The absence of a popular policy was disastrous: the Lombard and Veneto peasants enlisted by Austria were the instrument for suppressing the revolution in Vienna. They did not see any relation between the revolution in Vienna and the one in their homelands : the Lombardy-Veneto movement, like the Vienna movement, was a matter for gentlemen and students. The Italian national party, with its revolutionary policy, should have brought about or contributed to the dissolution of the Austrian Empire; instead, with its inertia, it ensured that the Italian regiments became one of the best supports of Austrian reaction. Yet its strategic goal should have been the following: not to destroy the enemy or occupy its territory, which would have been an unattainable and utopian goal, but to break it up from the inside and to help Austrian liberals gain power in order to change the internal structure of the Empire into a federation, or at least to create within it a prolonged state of internal struggles among the various nationalities. (The same error was committed during the World War by Sonnino who also acted contrary to Cadorna's advice: Sonnino did not seek the destruction of the Hapsburg Empire and he rejected every nationalistic policy; even after Caporetto, this policy was carried out in a Malthusian manner and did not yield the quick results that it could have yielded. ) ' However, after declaring that

"Italy will go it alone, " there was an effort following defeat to obtain French help,2 precisely at the time when the government in France was in the hands of the reactionaries, enemies of a strong Italian state.

Military leadership, then, is a much larger issue than the leadership of the army as such and the establishment of the strategic plan which the army has to carry out : military leadership is concerned with the mobilization of popular forces who would rebel at the enemy's back and impede his movement, it tends to create mass auxiliary and reserve forces from which new armies could be drawn and which would provide the "technical" army with an atmosphere of enthusiasm and zeal. Popular policy was not carried out even after I 848 : the help of France was sought and Austrian power was balanced with the French alliance. The policy of the Piedmontese right delayed the unity of Italy by 20 years.

Cf. Notebook 1 9, § 2 8 .

§( I I s ). Regarding continuous threats by the Viennese government against the Lombardy-Veneto nobles, that it would promulgate an agrarian

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law favorable to the peasants ( something which had been done in Galicia against the Polish nobility and to the advantage of the Ruthenian peasants), 1 there are some interesting details in an article of the Pologne Litteraire summed up in the Marzocco of I December I 929.2 Looking for the historical causes of the military spirit of the Poles, which accounts for the presence of Polish volunteers in all wars large and small, in all the insurrections and in all the revolutions of the past century, the Polish journal goes back to this fact: on I 3 July I 792, "a nation with a population of 9 million which had 70, ooo soldiers under arms was conquered without being defeated. " On 3 May I 7 9 I a constitution had been proclaimed whose broadly democratic spirit could become a danger to the neighbors, the king of Prussia, the emperor of Austria and the tsar of Russia, and many parts of which were directly connected to the Declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen approved by the French Constituent Assembly in August 1 789. Poland was conquered with the full complicity of the Polish nobility who with greater foresight than their French brothers did not wait until the enforcement of the constitutional charter to incite foreign intervention. They preferred to sell the nation to the enemy rather than surrender even a minimal portion of their properties to the peasants. They preferred to fall into servitude themselves, rather than grant freedom to the people. According to the author of the article, Z. St.

Klingsland, the 7o,ooo soldiers chose to go into exile and headed for France, which is at the very least an exaggeration. But the crux of the events is truly instructive and explains a great deal about the events leading to I 848, even in Italy.

It is interesting that a Polish journal produced for foreigners should prefer to trace the I 792 partition of Poland back to the betrayal of the nobles rather than to the military weakness of Poland, even though the nobility in Poland still plays a very important role. !Perhaps an episode of Pilsudsky's struggle against Witos. J Strange national "point of honor. "

In his A Naturalist's Voyage Around the World, I believe, Darwin tells a similar story about Spain: the Spaniards maintained that a defeat of the Franco-Spanish allied fleet had been caused by their own disloyalty, for if the Spaniards had really battled, they could not have been defeated.3 Better disloyal and traitorous than lacking an "invincible military spirit. "

Cf. Notebook 1 9, §30.

§( 1 1 6). Italian intellectuals. Comparison between the French centralization of culture, which is epitomized in the "French Institute, " and the Italian lack of coordination. Italian and French cultural journals (like Nuova Antologia - Revue des Deux Mondes).

First Notebook. § I I6

20 1

Italian daily newspapers much better done than the French: they perform two functions - that of information and general political leadership, and the function of political, literary, artistic, scientific culture that does not have a widely circulated organ of its own (the small review for average culture). In France, by contrast, even the first function has been divided between two groups of dailies : those of information and those of opinion which, in their turn, are directly dependent on the parties, or else appear to be impartial (Action Fran9aise- Temps - Debats ) . In the absence of centralized and organized parties, in Italy, one cannot ignore the newspapers: it is the newspapers, grouped in sets, that constitute the real parties. For example, in the post-war period, Giolitti had a set of newspapers that represented the various currents or factions of the democratic liberal party: La Stampa in Turin which sought to influence the workers and periodically had strong reformist ten dencies (in La Stampa all positions were periodic, intermittent depending on whether Giolitti was in or out of power, etc. ); the Tribuna in Rome, which was linked to the bureaucracy and to protected industry (whereas La Stampa was somewhat of a free trade proponent - more emphatically so when Giolitti was out of power); I1 Mattina in Naples, linked to the Southern Giolittian cliques, together with other minor organs. (Because of certain contributions and information services, La Stampa was at the head of a newspaper cartel which included, particularly, I1 Mattina, La Nazione, and also I1 Resto del Carlino. )

The Carriere della Sera established its own trend, attempting to be in Italy what the Times is in England, a custodian of national values standing above individual currents. In fact, it was linked to the textile (and rubber) export industry in Lombardy and was a more consistent proponent of free trade: in the post war period the Carriere was to the right of Nittism (after it had supported Salan dra). Nittism, too, had its own set of newspapers : the Carriere on the right, the Carlino on the center-right, [Il Mondo on the center left, ] I1 Paese on the left. Nittism had two facets: plutocratic, linked to protected industry, and leftist. The Giornale d'Italia, linked to protected industry and to the big landowners of the Emilia region, the Center and the South, occupied a separate position. It is interesting to note that from 1 9 2 1 to 1 92 5 , the large newspapers which represented the tradition of the Action Party

Il Secolo in Milan, the Gazzetta del Popolo in Turin, I1 Messaggero

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in Rome, Roma in Naples-had a different attitude from La Stampa, the Carriere, the Giornale d'Italia-Tribuna, I1 Mattina, and also I1

Resto del Carlino.

The Carriere was always anti-Giolitti, as I have explained in a previous note. 1 Even during the time of the Libyan war, the Carriere remained neutral until a few days before the declaration of war, when it published Andrea Torre's uproarious and blundering article.2

Nittism was still an embryonic political formation: but Nitti lacked some of the essential qualities of the statesmani he was physically too fearful and not sufficiently decisive. He was, how ever, very cunning, but this is a subordinate quality. The creation of the Royal Guard is Nitti's only important political act : Nitti wanted to create a French type of parliamentarism but there was the problem of the armed forces and a possible coup d'etat. (One should take note of how Giolitti was always looking for extraparliamentary crises : with this "trick, " Giolitti wanted to main tain formally intact the royal prerogative of naming ministers out side parliament or, at least, in lateral relationship to iti in any case, he wanted to prevent the government from being linked too closely or exclusively to parliament. ) Since the carabinieri were under the disciplinary and political control of the War Ministry, that is, of the General Staff (even if they were financially dependent on the Interior Ministry), Nitti created the Royal Guard as an armed force under the control of parliament, as a counterweight against all yearnings for a coup d'etat. Through a strange paradox, the Royal Guard, which was a complete professional army, that is, of a reactionary type, was supposed to have a democratic function as the armed force of the national representative body against the possible attempts of irresponsible and reactionary forces. One should note the hidden struggle that took place in 1 922 between nationalists and democrats over the carabinieri and the Royal Guard. The liberals behind Facta's mask wanted to reduce the ranks of the carabinieri or to incorporate a large part of them ( s o% ) into the Royal Guard. The nationalists reacted and General Giardino spoke in the Senate against the Royal Guard and made its cavalry dis band.3 (Remember the comical and pathetic defense of this cavalry by I1 Paese: the prestige of the horse, etc., etc. ) The main lines of Nitti's policy were very confused : in 1 9 1 8, when he was the Treasury Minister, he conducted an oratorical

First Notebook. § I I6

203

campaign supporting the rapid industrialization of Italy, and spinning tall tales about the country's mineral wealth in iron and coal.

(The iron was that of Cogne, the coal was Tuscan lignite: Nitti went so far as to argue that Italy could export these minerals in addition to meeting the needs of its own industry after it had grown tenfold- on the issue, see F. Ciccotti's Italia in rissa. )4 Before the armistice he supported an insurance policy of 1 , ooo lire for the combatants, thus gaining the sympathy of the peasants. Significance of the amnesty for deserters (Italians abroad who would no longer have sent remittances which the Banca di Sconto almost monopolized). Nitti's speech on the technical impossibility of a revolution in Italy, which had an overpowering effect within the Socialist Party ( see Nitti's speech along with Serrati's open letter of November or December 1 920).5 Southerners made up 90 percent of the Royal Guard. Nitti's program for the mountain basins in Southern Italy which produced so much enthusiasm.

The death of General Ameglio, who committed suicide after a public quarrel with General Tettoni. Tettoni had been entrusted with an administrative inspection of the management of Cyrenaica (Ameglio was the commanding officer of the Royal Guard).6 In its tragic nature, Ameglio's death should be connected to the suicide of General Pollio in 1 9 14. (In 1 9 1 2, when the Triple Alliance was renewed, Pollio had signed the military-naval pact with Germany which took effect on 6 August 1 9 1 4 : it was precisely on the basis of this pact, I believe, that the Em den and the Goschen were able to take refuge in the port of Messina. On this subject see Rerum Scriptor's articles in Rivista delle Nazioni Latine and in L'Unita of 1 9 1 7- 1 8, which I recapitulated in the Grido del Popolo. )7 In his memoirs, Salandra mentions Pollio's "sudden" death (he does not write that it was suicide): Cadorna's famous "Memorandum, " which Salandra declares not to have known about, must reflect the views of the General Staff under Pollio's administration and in line with the Pact of 1 9 1 2 .8 Salandra's declaration that he did not know about it is extremely important and full of implications about Italian politics and the real situation of the parliamentary element in the government.

In studying the function of newspapers as a political party one should take into account single individuals and their activities.

Mario Missiroli is one of these. But the two most interesting types are Pippa Naldi and Francesco Ciccoti. Naldi began as a young

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Borellian liberal9 -a contributor to small liberal journals- editor of the Resto del Carlino and I1 Tempo: he has been an extremely important agent of Giolitti and of Nitti; linked to the Perrone brothers 10 and most certainly to other big speculators; his wartime activity is among the most mysterious. Ciccotti's activity is among the most complex and difficult, even though his personal stature is mediocre. During the war he took different positions : was he always Nitti's agent or was he also Giolitti's agent for a while ? In Turin, in 1 9 1 6- 1 7, he was undoubtedly a defeatist; he called for immediate action. If one can talk of individual responsibility for the events of August 1 9 1 7, 1 1 Ciccotti should have been considered the most responsible : instead, he was hardly interrogated by the examining magistrate and there were no legal proceedings against him. I remember his speech of 1 9 1 6 or 1 9 1 7, after which some one hundred youths and adults were arrested and accused of shouting

"Long Live Austria ! " 12 I do not believe that anybody shouted this, but after Ciccotti's speech it would not have been strange if someone had shouted it. Ciccotti opened his speech by saying that the socialists were guilty of a serious error: they had asserted that the war was capitalistic. According to Ciccotti, this meant dignifying the war. With a remarkably subtle ability to rouse basic popular sentiments, he then spun out a sensational fictional tale which began roughly like this: one evening Vincenzo Morello (Rastignac), Senator Artom, and a third person whom I do not remember met at the caff e Faraglino, etc., etc.; the war was caused by the conspiracy of these three and Barrere's money. 13 I remember seeing some workers whom I knew as very calm and moderate people leave the hall after the peroration with their hair standing on end, frenzied, in an incredible state of agitation. The following day, La Stampa published an unsigned article, written by Ciccotti, in which he argued for the need to form a bloc between Giolitti and the workers before the state apparatus would fall completely into the hands of Salandra's Apulians. Some days later, La Giustizia of Reggio Emilia published the account of a speech by Ciccotti at Reggio, in which he extolled Prampolini's views, etc. I remember showing this newspaper to some of the "intransigents" who were infatuated with Ciccotti and were seeking support (certainly at Ciccotti's own instigation) for a campaign to tum Avanti! over to Ciccotti. Nobody has yet studied in depth the Turin events of August r 9 1 7 . It

First Notebook. § n6

205

is quite certain that the events were spontaneous and caused by a prolonged bread shortage, which in the ten days immediately preceding the events had caused a complete shortage of all common foodstuffs (rice, polenta, potatoes, legumes, etc. ) . But the question is precisely this: how to explain this absolute shortfall of supplies ?

(Absolute : in the house where I lived, we skipped three meals in a row, after a month during which an increasing number of meals had been skipped- and it was a centrally located house. ) Prefect Verdinois, in his self defense published in 1 92 5 , does not provide a satisfactory account. 14 Minister Orlando reprimanded Verdinois only in an administrative way and he himself came off poorly in his speech to the Chamber; meanwhile, no inquiry was set up.

Verdinois accuses the workers, but his accusation is inept: he says that the events were not caused by the shortage of bread because they continued even after bread made with flour from military warehouses was put on sale. For twenty days, the Gazzetta del Popolo had been predicting serious outbreaks stemming from bread shortage and had been issuing daily warnings to make supplies available in time : naturally, it changed its tune after the fact and spoke only of foreign money. 15 How did the bread shortage come about in a city which belongs to a province where wheat cultivation is minimal and which had become a great war factory, with a population enlarged by more than r oo,ooo munition workers ?

I was convinced that the shortage of bread was not accidental but was caused by the sabotage of Giolitti's bureaucracy and partly by the ineptitude of Canepa, who was neither competent for his office nor capable of mastering the bureaucracy controlled by his commisariat. 1 6 The Giolittians were incredibly fanatical Germanophiles : they knew that Giolitti could not yet come to power, but they wanted to create an intermediate link, Nitti or Orlando, and depose Boselli; the mechanism functioned too late, when Orlando was already in power-but the ground had been prepared to topple the Boselli government in a pool of Turin blood. 1 7 Why was Turin chosen? Because it was almost completely neutralist, because Turin had gone out on strike in 1 9 1 5 , but especially because events in Turin had special significance. Ciccotti was the principal agent of this affair; he used to go to Turin much too frequently and not always to make speeches to workers, but also to talk with people

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from La Stampa. I do not believe that the Giolittians were in touch with Germany: that was not indispensable. Because of the events in Rome in 1 9 1 5 and because they thought that the hegemony of Piedmont would have been greatly shaken or even broken, their hatred was so intense that they were capable of anything: the Portogruaro trial against Frassati and the Colonel Gamba affair1 8

only show that these people had gone out o f control. One needed to have seen the satisfaction with which the editors of La Stampa, after Caporetto, spoke of the panic that had gripped the leaders in Milan and of the Carriere's decision to transfer its whole operation, to understand what they were capable of : the Giolittians had undoubtedly feared a military dictatorship that would have backed them up against the wall. They spoke of a Cadoma Albertini plot for a coup d'etat: their frenzy to reach an agreement with the socialists was incredible.

During the war, Ciccotti served as an intermediary in order to publish articles from the English Democratic Control (Signora Chiaraviglio received the articles) in Avanti/19 I remember Serrati's account of his meeting in London with a lady who wanted to thank him in the name of the committee, and the bewilderment of the poor man who did not know what to do amid all these intrigues.

Another anecdote recounted by Serrati : Ciccotti's article against the Banca Commerciale was passed by the censor, his article against the Banca di Sconto censored; Ciccotti's commentary on a speech by Nitti censored at first, then allowed after a telephone call by Ciccotti recalling a promise made by Nitti, but not published by Serrati, etc. But the most interesting episode is about the Jesuits who, through Ciccotti, sought to stop the campaign for the Holy Martyrs: what did the Jesuits give Ciccotti in exchange? 2° But, notwithstanding all this, Ciccotti was not expelled because he had to be given journalistic indemnity. Another one of these types was Carlo Bazzi. 21

§(1 1 7). Political and military leadership during the Risorgimen to. Political uncertainty, the continuous wavering between despotism and constitutionalism had their impact on the Piedemontese army as well. It can be said that the larger an army-that is, the more thoroughly it incorporates masses of the population- the greater the importance of political leadership as opposed to merely technical-military lead-

First Notebook. § I I 7

207

ership. The fighting spirit of the Piedmontese army was very high at the start of the 1 848 campaign: the rightists believed that this fighting spirit was an expression of a pure, abstract "military spirit" and they resorted to intrigues to restrict popular freedoms. The morale of the army declined.

This is what the polemic on "fatal Novara" is all about. At Novara the army refused to fight and therefore it was defeated. The rightists accused the leftists of having brought politics into the army, of having wrecked its unity. In reality, however, there is no need for wreckers; the army becomes aware of changes in political direction from a variety of small occurrences, each one of which seems negligible but which together create a new, suffocating atmosphere: therefore, the fault lies entirely with those who changed political direction without anticipating its military consequences, that is, with those who substituted a bad policy for a previous good policy which conformed to its goal. The problem is linked to the concept of suitability and conformity to the goal : if men were machines, the concept of conformity to the goal would be simple. But men are not a material instrument which can be used to the limits of its physical and mechanical cohesion : "conformity to the goal" must, therefore, always be qualified by "according to the given instrument. " If a wooden mallet were used to hit a nail with the same force that one would employ using a steel hammer, the nail would pierce the wooden mallet instead of the wall.

With an army of professional mercenaries, political leadership is minimal (although, in some form, it is to be found there too); with a drafted national army the problem changes : in wars of position fought by great masses who can only withstand the heavy muscular, nervous and psychic strain through great reserves of moral strength, only a very skillful political leadership which takes into account the deepest aspirations of the masses can prevent disintegration and collapse.

Military leadership must always be subordinated to political leadership, that is, army commands must always be a military expression of a particular policy. Naturally, it may be the case that the politicians are worthless, while in the army there are commanders who combine military skill with political skill. Such is the case with Caesar and Napoleon; but in Napoleon's case one can see how the change of policy together with the presumption of possessing a military instrument which was military in the abstract led to his downfall: in other words, even in these instances of political and military leadership united in the same person, politics was more important than military leadership. Caesar's books, especially De bello civili, are a classic example of the display of a wise combination of politics and military art: soldiers saw in Caesar not only a great military leader, but also a great political leader.

Remember that Bismarck upheld the primacy of politics over the military, whereas Wilhelm II, according to Ludwig's account, scribbled angrily

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o n a newspaper which had either quoted o r echoed Bismarck's views. 1

Thus the Germans won almost all of the battles brilliantly, but lost the war.

Cf. Notebook 1 9, §28.

§(I I 8). The problem of volunteers during the Risorgimento. There is a tendency to overstate the contribution of the popular classes to the Risorgimento, putting special emphasis on the phenomenon of volunteers (see, for ex., Rota's article in the Nuova Rivista Storica ). 1 Setting aside the fact that it appears from these articles that the Piedmontese authorities looked askance at the volunteers, which confirms, precisely, the bad political-military leadership of the Piedmontese; one should still point out that there is an overstatement. But this problem of the volunteers reveals more vividly the inadequacy of the political-military leadership. The Piedmontese government could draft soldiers within its state territory in proportion to the size of its population, just as Austria could within its enormously larger territory and in proportion to its enormously larger population: a full scale war under these conditions would always have been disastrous for Piedmont after a certain time. Given the principle of

"Italy goes it alone, " it was necessary either to accept the confederation of equals with the other Italian states, or to propose territorial political unity on such a popular political basis that the masses would have rebelled against the other governments and formed volunteer armies that would have rushed to join the Piedmontese. But the issue is precisely this: that one cannot expect enthusiasm, a spirit of sacrifice, etc., on the basis of an abstract program and generic trust in a distant government. This was the drama of I 848, but one cannot rail against the people: the responsibility belongs to the Moderates and perhaps even more to the Action Party; that is, it belongs, basically, to the extreme ineffectiveness of the ruling class.2

Cf. Notebook 1 9, §28.

§(1 I 9). Demagogy. The observations made about the inadequacy of political-military leadership during the Risorgimento1 might be countered by a very common and stale argument: "those men were not demagogues, they did not engage in demagogy. " One must be clear about the word and the concept of demagogy. In effect, those men were unable to lead the people, they were not able to arouse their enthusiasm and passion, if one understands demagogy in its primal sense. But did they attain the goal they had set themselves ? One should consider the following: they intended to [create] a modem state in Italy and they failed; they set out to

First Notebook. § I2 r

209

create a broad and energetic ruling class and they failedi they set out to draw the people closer to the state and they failed. The abject political life from 1 870 to 1 900, the primitive [and endemic] rebelliousness of the popular classes, the stunted and wretched creation of a skeptical and indolent ruling group are the consequences of that inadequacy. Moreover, the men of the Risorgimento were, in reality, the greatest demagogues: they turned the people-nation into an instrument, degrading it-and this is what constitutes the greatest demagogy, in the pejorative sense the word has assumed in the language of the right-wing parties' polemics against the left-wing parties, though it is the right-wing parties who have always practiced the worst demagogy.

Cf. Notebook 1 9, §28.

§(1 20). "Believe me, do not fear either the rogues or the wicked.

Fear the honest man who deceives himself ; he is honest with himself, he believes in the good, and everyone trusts him; but, unfortunately, he deceives himself about the means with which to procure the good for mankind. " 1 This line from the Abbe Galiani was aimed against the "philosophers" of the eighteenth century, against the future Jacobins, but it applies to all those bad politicians who are said to be honest.

§( 1 2 1). Novara 1849. In February 1 849, Silvio Spaventa visited D'Azeglio1 in Pisa and he recorded this conversation in a political document he wrote in 1 8 5 6 while in prison: "One of the most famous Piedmontese statesmen was telling me last month: we cannot win, but we will fight again; our defeat will be the defeat of that party which today keeps pushing us toward war; and between defeat and civil war we choose the former-it will give us internal peace as well as the freedom and independence of Piedmont, which civil war cannot give us. The predictions of that wise ( ! ) man came true. The battle of Novara was lost for the cause of independence and won for the freedom of Piedmont. And Carlo Alberto, in my view, sacrificed his crown more for the sake of the latter than the former. " (See Silvio Spaventa, Dal 1848 al r86r. Letters, essays, documents, published by B. Croce, 2d ed., p. s 8 note. )2

Cf. Notebook 1 9, §29.

2 I O

N O T E B O O K I ( I 9 29- I 9 30)

§(I 22). Suggestions and stim uli. Macaulay attributes the ease with which even the most cultured Greeks let themselves be blinded by almost puerile sophisms to the very great influence of live and spoken discourse in Greek life and education. The habit of conversation generates a certain aptitude for finding very quickly ostentatious arguments that render the adversary momentarily speechless. 1 The same observation can also be made about certain classes in modern life, as a demonstration of a weakness (workers) and a source of distrust (peasants, who upon ruminating on the things which they have heard declaimed and which momentarily impressed them with their glitter, discover the deficiencies and the superficiality of what they heard, and in the end they become habitually distrustful).

Macaulay refers to a statement by Eugene of Savoy, who said that those who became the greatest generals were the ones who were suddenly placed in charge of the army and in a situation which required them to think of large and complex maneuvers. 2 (Those who by profession attend too much to detail become bureaucratized; they see the tree but lose sight of the forest, they see the regulation but lose sight of the strategy. ) To the first observation one might add that the newspaper comes very close to conversation: newspaper articles are generally written hastily, improvised, and because of the rapidity with which they are conceived they resemble, for the most part, the speeches made at meetings. There are few newspapers that have specialized editors and even the activity of these editors is, to a great extent, improvised: specialization helps make improvisation better and quicker. In Italian newspapers there are no thoughtful and careful periodic reviews (theater, for example, economic policy, etc.; the contributors make up for this only in part and, furthermore, they are not always moving in the same direction). Therefore, the solidity of culture can be measured in three levels: I ) those who only read newspapers, 2) those who read periodicals, 3 ) those who read books- and this does not take into account a great multitude that does not even read the newspapers and forms its opinions solely through sporadic conversations with individuals of the same general level who, however, read the newspapers, and the multitude that forms its opinions by attending periodic and electoral meetings held by speakers of vastly different levels. I was particularly struck by this indifference in Milan where Il Sole was allowed in prison; nevertheless, a certain number of people, even among the political prisoners, read the Gazzetta dello Sport instead; among 2, 5 00 inmates, 11 Sole sold at most 8o copies; the Gazzetta dello Sport, the Domenica del Carriere, and the Carriere dei Piccoli had more readers.

Cf. Notebook r 6, §2 1 .

First Notebook. § 124

2 I I

§( r 2 3 ) . Search the exact historical origin of certain principles of modem pedagogy: the active school, or the friendly collaboration between teacher and student; the open school; the need to allow the spontaneous abilities of the student to develop freely under the watchful but not conspicuous control of the teacher.

Switzerland has made a great contribution to modem pedagogy (Pestalozzi, etc. ), 1 through the tradition of Rousseau in Geneva; in reality, this pedagogy is a confused form of philosophy connected to a set of empirical rules. It has been forgotten that Rousseau's ideas are a violent reaction against the school and the pedagogical methods of the Jesuits and, in this respect, represent progress : but, then, a sort of church came into being which paralyzed the study of pedagogy and gave rise to some strange involutions (in the doctrines of Gentile and Lombardo Radice).2 "Spontaneity" is one of these involutions : one almost imagines that a child's brain is like a ball of thread which the teacher helps to unwind.3 In reality, every generation educates, that is, it forms the new generation, and education is a struggle against instincts linked to rudimentary biological functions, a struggle against nature, to dominate it and to create the man who is "in touch" with his times. It is forgotten that from the time he starts "to see and to touch, " perhaps a few days after birth, the child accumulates sensations and images which multiply themselves and become complex with the acquisition of language. "Spontaneity, " if analyzed, becomes increasingly problematical. Furthermore, "school, " that is direct educational activity, is only a fraction of the life of the student who comes into contact with both human society and the societas rerum, and from these

"extra-scholastic" sources develops standards of judgment of far greater importance than is commonly believed. The commonintellectual and manual - school has the additional advantage of putting the child simultaneously in touch with human history and the history of "things" under the control of the teacher.

§( r 24). The Fu turists. A group of small schoolboys who es caped from a Jesuit college, created a small ruckus in the nearby woods, and were brought back under the rod of the forest warden. 1

2 1 2

N O TE B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0 )

§( u s ). 1919. Articles in La Stampa against factory technicians, and sensational publication of the highest wages. 1 One should find out whether the press controlled by the shipowners in Genoa conducted the same campaign against the higher ranks when they staged their agitation and were supported by the crews.

§(1 26). 1922. Articles by Senator Raffaele Garofalo, a senior judge of the Court of Cassation, 1 in the Epoca of Rome, about the dependence of the judiciary on the power of the executive, and abouf justice administered by circulars. Especially interesting, however, are the kinds of reasons Garofalo uses to argue for the immediate need to make the judiciary independent.2

§( 1 27). The question of the young. There exist many "questions" of the young. Two seem to me especially important: 1 J the

"older" generation always carries out the education of the "young"; there will be conflict, discord, etc., but these are superficial phenomena, inherent in every enterprise of education and restraint, at least in those cases which do not involve class interferences, that is when the "young" (or an unusually large number of them) of the ruling class (understood in the broader, not only economic, but also political-military sense) rebel and cross over to the progressive class which has become historically capable of taking power-but in this case one is dealing with the "young" who go from being led by the "elders" of one class to being led by the "elders" of another class; in any case, there remains a real subordination of the "young"

to the "elders" as a generation, albeit with the differences of tem perament and liveliness noted above; 2) when the phenomenon takes on a so-called national character, that is when class interference does not manifest itself openly, then the question becomes complicated and chaotic. The "young" are in a state of permanent rebellion because its deeper causes persist, while analyzing, criticizing and surmounting it (not conceptually and abstractly, but historically and in reality) are disallowed. The "elders" dominate in fact but- "apres moi le deluge" - they are unable to educate the young and prepare them to take over. Why? This means that all the conditions exist wherein the "elders" of another class m ust

First Notebook. § 128

2 1 3

lead these youths, except that they cannot do so because of extrin sic reasons of political-military suppression. The struggle, whose normal external expressions have been choked, attaches itself to the structure of the old class like a destructive gangrene, debilitating and putrefying it: it takes on morbid forms of mysticism, sensualism, moral indifference, physical and psychic pathological depravations, etc. The old structure does not contain and is un able to satisfy the new needs : the permanent or semi permanent unemployment of so-called intellectuals is one of the typical phe nomena of this insufficiency, which takes on a harsh character for the younger ones because it removes "open horizons. " More over, this situation leads to "closed ranks" of a feudal military nature, that is it exacerbates the very problems that it is unable to resolve. 1

§( 1 28). Religion as a principle and the clergy as a feudal classorder. When one praises the function performed by the Church in support of the lower classes during the Middle Ages, one simply forgets one thing: this function was not related to the Church as an exponent of a religious-moral principle, but to the Church as an organization of very concrete economic interests, which had to fight against other orders that would have liked to diminish its importance. This function, then, was subordinate and incidental, but the Church did not extort any less from the peasant than the feudal lords did. Perhaps one can say the following: the "Church"

as a community of the faithful preserved and developed particular politico moral principles in opposition to the Church as a clerical organization until the French Revolution. The principles of the French Revolution are precisely the principles of the community of the faithful in opposition to the feudal order of the clergy allied with the king and the nobles: for this reason many Catholics consider the French Revolution a schism land a heresy], that is, as a rupture between shepherd and flock, of the same type as the Reformation but historically more mature because it took place on the terrain of laicism -not priests against priests, but faithfulinfidels against priests. !The true point of rupture between democ racy and the Church, however, should be located in the Counter

Reformation, when the Church needed help from the secular arm

2 1 4

N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0)

(in grand style) against the Lutherans and surrendered its democratic function. Ia

§(1 29). The most widespread pla titude about the Risorgimento is the repetition in various ways of the view that such a historical change was brought about through the merit of the cultured classes alone. It is difficult to understand where the merit lies. The merit of a cultured class because its historical function is to lead the popular masses : if the cultured class has been unable to fulfill its function, one must certainly not speak of merit but of demerit, that is of immaturity and inner weakness.

Cf. Notebook 1 9, §28.

§( 1 30) . Real Italy and legal Italy. The formula contrived by the clericals after 1 8 70 to direct attention to the national political uneasiness: contradiction between legal Italy and real Italy. Until a year or so before the war a daily (later a weekly), L 'Italia Reale, was published in Turin, edited by the lawyer Scala and an organ of the most retrograde clericalism. 1 What was the source of this formula, who contrived it, and how was it theoretically-politically-morally justified ? It needs to be researched ( Civil til Ca ttolica, the early issues of the same I tali a Reale from Turin, etc. ). Generally speaking, it is felicitous because there existed a clear disjunction between the state (legality) and civil society (reality)- but did this civil society exist completely and exclusively within "clericalism"?

Meanwhile, this same civil society was something shapeless and chaotic and remained so for many decades; it was therefore possible for the state to dominate it, overcoming each time the contradictions that presented themselves in a sporadic, localized form, without any national nexus. Not even clericalism itself, then, was the expression of this civil society, because it was not able to organize it nationally, however much it might have been a strong and (formally) compact national organization. In the meantime, this organization was not politically homogeneous and was fearful of the same masses which, in a certain sense, it dominated. The formula of the "non expedit" was the expression of this fear and uncertainty: the parliamentary boycott which appeared to be a fiercely intransigent attitude, was in reality an expression of the weakest kind of opportunism. Political experience, especially the French experience, had shown that universal suffrage and a very broadly based plebiscite could be a most propitious instrument to the reactionary clerical tendencies (on this issue, see Jacques Bainville's ingenuous observation in his "History of France"

• Added at a later time

First Notebook. § r3 r

2 1 5

which implicitly reproaches legitimism for having had no confidence in universal suffrage, whereas Napoleon III did).2 But clericalism felt that it was not the real expression of Italian "civil society, " and that success would have been fleeting and would have produced the frontal attack by the new forces which had been avoided in 1 870. The experience of enlarged suffrage in 1 8 82 and Crispi's reaction. Nonetheless, the clerical attitude of keeping the discord between the state and civil society in stasis was objectively "subversive, " and a new organization formed by the forces that were maturing in this society could have used the situation to its advantage as a field of maneuver for attacking the state. For this reason, the reaction of the state in 1 89 8 knocked both socialism and clericalism, judging them, correctly, to be equally "subversive" and objectively allied.

Even the Vatican noticed this and, therefore, from this moment it launches its new policy, the real abandonment of the "non expedit" even in the parliamentary arena (the town council was traditionally considered civil society and not state). This makes possible the introduction of universal suffrage, and the Gentiloni pact, followed by the founding of the Popular Party in 1 9 1 9. The question (about real and legal Italy) persists, but on a higher political and historical plane-hence the events of 1 924-26 up to the suppression of all the parties and the affirmation of an achieved identity between real and legal, because "civil society" in all its forms is dominated by a single state organization, a party organization.

Cf. Notebook 1 9, § 3 1 .

§( 1 3 1 ) . Bainville and universal suffrage in France. Bainville's statement on universal suffrage which could have been (and could still be) as useful to the purposes of legitimism as it was to Napoleon III's, is ingenuous because it is based on a naive and stupidly abstract sociologism. 1

Universal suffrage is regarded as a sociological scheme, abstracted from time and space. In the reality of French history there were various "universal suffrages" as the economic-political relations changed historically.

The crises of "universal suffrage" in France are determined by the relations between Paris and the provinces. Paris wants universal suffrage in 1 848, but this is an expression of a reactionary-clerical Parliament that enables Napoleon III to make his career. In 1 8 7 1 a Paris takes a great step forward because it rebels against the National Assembly created by universal suffrage; that is, Paris implicitly "understands" that there "can be"

a contradiction between progress and universal suffrage, but this invaluable historical experience is immediately wasted because its bearers are physically suppressed: there is, therefore, no normal development. Universal suffrage and democracy go increasingly hand in hand with the

" In the manuscript, " 1 870."

2 1 6

N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 30)

ascendancy of the French Radical Party and the anti-clerical struggle: Paris loses its revolutionary unity (syndicalism is the expression of this state of affairs-electoral abstentionism and pure economism are the "intransigent" facade of this abdication by Paris of its role as the revolutionary leader of France; that is, they are also an unabashed opportunism, the aftermath of the bloodletting of 1 87 r ) and its [revolutionary] "democracy"

breaks down into classes-petit bourgeois radicals and formally intransigent factory workers are in fact linked to a radicalism-socialism which unifies the city and the countryside on an intermediate level. Development resumes after the war, but it is still uncertain.

Cf. Notebook 1 3, § 3 7 .

§( 1 3 2). Actual idealism and the ideology-philosophy connection. Actual idealism1 identifies ideology with philosophy (which, in the final analysis, is the same thing as the unity it postulates between the real and the ideal, between practice and theory etc.), in other words, it is a degradation of traditional philosophy in contrast to the heights to which Croce had lifted it with his "distinctions. " This degradation is extremely evident in the developments of actual idealism by Gentile's disciples: the Nuovi Studi, edited by Ugo Spirito and A. Volpicelli, is the most visible document of this phenomenon that I know of.l The unity of ideology and philosophy, when it occurs in this manner, leads to a new form of sociologism that is neither history nor philosophy but a set of abstract schemes held together by a tedious and parrot-like terminology. Croce's resistance against this tendency is truly "heroic": Croce, in my view, is keenly aware that all movements of modem thought lead to a triumphal revaluation of historical materialism, that is to the overthrow of the question of philosophy from its traditional position and to the death of philosophy in the traditional sense. He resists this pressure of historical reality with all his might, and with an exceptional understanding of the dangers and of the dialectic means with which to prevent them. Therefore, the study of his writings from 1 9 1 9 to the present is of the greatest value: Croce's preoccupation originates with the world war and with his assertion that it is the "war of historical materialism. " 3 His position "au dessus" is, in a certain sense, already a sign of this preoccupation and it is a warning signal (during the war "ideology and philosophy" entered into a frenetic union). Even some of his most recent positions (toward De Man's book, Zibordi's book, etc.)4 cannot be explained in any other way, because they strongly contradict his prewar "ideological" (practical) positions.

Cf. Notebook r o, II, § S 9 ·

First Notebook. § I33

2 1 7

§( 1 3 3). Military art and political art. More about the arditi}

The relationship that existed in 1 9 1 7- 1 8 between the formations of arditi and the army as a whole can lead and has indeed led political leaders to an erroneous formulation of battle plans. It is forgotten: I ) that the arditi are simple tactical formations and they definitely presuppose a rather ineffective army, but not a completely indolent one: for, if discipline and military spirit have become so relaxed as to call for a new tactical arrangement, they still exist to a certain degree; the degree, in fact, to which the new tactical formation corresponds- otherwise, defeat and flight would certainly have ensued; 2) that one must not regard arditismo as a sign of the general fighting spirit of the mass of soldiers but conversely, as a sign of their passivity and relative demoralization.

One says this while silently adhering to the general principle that comparisons between military art and politics should always be made with a grain of salt, that is, only as stimuli for thought and as terms simplified ad absurdum : in fact, in political militancy there is no implacable penal sanction for those who make mistakes or fail to follow orders exactly, and no court-martial; apart from the fact that political deployment is not even remotely comparable to military deployment. In political struggle, there exist other forms of warfare besides the war of movement and the war by siege or war of position. True arditismo, that is modem arditismo is peculiar to the war of position as became apparent in 1 9 1 4- 1 8 . The war of movement and siege warfare of earlier periods had their arditi, too, in a certain sense: fast moving forces in general- light and heavy cavalry, bersaglieri, etc.-functioned partly as arditi. In this way, the art of organizing patrols contained the germs of modem arditismo. This germ was contained in siege warfare more than in the war of movement: more extensive use of patrols and especially the art of organizing sudden sorties and sudden attacks with carefully chosen persons.

Another factor to bear in mind is this: in political struggle one should not ape the methods of struggle of the ruling classes, and avoid falling into easy ambushes. This phenomenon occurs frequently in current struggles. A weakened state organization is like an enfeebled army; the arditi, that is, private armed organizations, enter the field with a double task: to use illegality while the state appears to remain within legality, and as a means to reorganize the state itself. It is foolish to believe that an illegal private action can

2 1 8

N O TE B O O K I ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 0 )

b e countered b y another action o f a similar kind, i . e . that one can fight arditismo with arditismo; it means believing that the state would remain eternally inert, which never happens-not to mention the other circumstances that are different. Class characteris tics lead to a fundamental difference : a class which must work regular hours every day cannot have permanent and specialized assault organizations, unlike a class with abundant financial re sources whose members are not all constrained by regular job� ..

These organizations, which have become professional, can deliver decisive blows and use the element of surprise at any time of day or night. The tactics of the arditi, therefore, cannot be as important for certain classes as they are for others; for certain classes the war of movement and maneuver is necessary because it is appropriate for them, and in the case of political struggle the war of movemen t can be combined with a useful and perhaps indispensable employment of arditi tactics. But to fix one's mind on the military model is foolish : here too, politics must rank higher than the military element and only politics creates the possibility of maneuver and movement.

From all that has been said it follows that in the phenomenon of military arditismo one must distinguish between the technical function of a special force linked to the modem war of position and the political-military function. In its function as a special force!, arditismo was used by all armies in the World War. In its politicalmilitary function, arditismo could be found in countries whose weakness and lack of cohesion expressed themselves in a national army with a weak fighting spirit and a bureaucratized General Staff fossilized in their careers.

§( 1 3 4). Political struggle and military war. In military war, when the strategic goal, i.e., the destruction of the enemy's army and the occupation of its territory, is achieved, there is peaoe.

Moreover, one should point out that in order for the war to end, it is enough that the strategic goal be only potentially achieved: in other words, it is enough that there be no doubt that an army can no longer fight and that the victorious army "could" occupy the enemy's territory. Political struggle is enormously more complex: in a certain sense it can be compared to colonial wars or to olld wars of conquest when, that is, the victorious army occupies or

First Notebook. § r 34

2 1 9

intends to occupy permanently all or part of the conquered territory. In that case, the defeated army is disarmed and dispersed, but the struggle continues on the terrain of politics and of military

"preparation. " Thus India's political struggle against the English (and to some extent that of Germany against France, or of Hungary against the Little Entente) knows three forms of war: war of move ment, war of position, and underground war. Gandhi's passive resistance is a war of position, which becomes a war of movement at certain moments and an underground war at others : the boycott is a war of position, strikes are a war of movement, the clandestine gathering of arms and of assault combat groups is underground war. A kind of arditismo is present, but it is employed very cau tiously. If the English became convinced that a great insurgent movement was being planned, destined to annihilate3 their current strategic superiority (which, in a certain sense, consists of their ability to maneuver along internal lines and to concentrate their forces at the "sporadically" most dangerous place) by smothering it through mass action, that is, by obliging them to spread their forces thinly over a theatre of war which had become simulta neously widespread, then it would be to their advantage to provoke a premature sortie of the Indian fighting forces in order to identify them and decapitate the general movement. Similarly, it would be advantageous to France if the German nationalist right wing were to become involved in an adventurist coup d'etat which would oblige the suspected illegal military organization to come into the open prematurely, thus permitting an intervention which would be opportune from the French point of view. Therefore, in these mixed forms of struggle, which have a fundamentally military character but are above all political (every political struggle, how ever, always has a military substratum), the use of the arditi re quires the development of an original tactical concept for which the experience of war can provide only a stimulus, not a model.

A separate approach is needed to address the question of the Balkan comitadjis 1 which are related to the particular conditions of the region's physical geographical environment, to the rural class structure, and also to the real efficacy of the governments. The same is true of the Irish bands, whose [form of] warfare and organi zation was related to the Irish social structure.2 The comitadjis,

• An interlinear variant. Originally Gramsci wrote "to prevent . "

220

N O TE B O O K I j i 929- I 9 J O)

the Irish, and the other forms of partisan war must be separated from the question of arditismo, even though they seem to be related in some respects. These forms belong specifically to [weak but exasperated] minorities opposing well-organized majorities, whereas modem arditismo presupposes a large reserve force, immobilized for various reasons but potentially effective, which supports and sustains it with individual contributions.

§( I J S). Americanism. Carlo Pagni's article, "A proposito di un tentativo di teoria pura del corporativismo" IRiforma Sociale, September-October I 929j,l examines N. Massimo Fovel's book, Economia e corporativismo (Ferrara: S.A.T.E., I 92.9 ) and refers to another work by the same author, Rendita e salario nello Stato Sindicale ( Rome, 1 92.8 ), but fails to notice that in these works Fovel makes "corporativism" the premiss for the introduction of American industrial systems into Italy.2 It would be interesting to find out whether Fovel writes "out of his own head" or whether he is backed !practically, not only theoretically) by economic forces which support him and spur him on. Fovel is an interesting figure in a number of ways: in a certain sense, he belongs to the group of the Ciccotti-Naldi-Bazzi-Preziosi, etc., type, but he is more complex. As far as I know, Fovel started as a "radical" before the war; he wanted to rejuvenate the traditional radical movement, flirting a little with the Republicans, especially the federalists or regionalists (Oliviero Zuccarini's Critica Politica l. During the war he must have been a Giolittian. In I 9 1 9 he joins the S.(ocialist) P.(arty) in Bologna, but never writes for Avanti! In 1 9 I 9 jor earlier, in I 9 I 8 ? ) I came to know him very fleetingly in Turin. The industrialists of Turin had acquired the old and infamous Gazzetta di Torino to tum it into their own organ. I had the impression that Fovel aspired to become its new editor; he was certainly in touch with the industrial circles. However, Tomaso Borelli, a young liberal, was named editor, and he was succeeded by Italo Minunni of the Idea Nazionale.3 jLa Gazzetta di Torino became I1 Paese, but it did not catch on and was shut down.) In I 9 I 9 Fovel wrote me a strange letter, in which he said that he "felt a duty"

to contribute to the weekly Ordine Nuovo; I replied to him quite coldly and dryly defining the limits of his possible contribution and I never heard from him again.4 Fovel moved over to the Passigli-Gardenghi-Martelli group which had turned the Lavoratore of Trieste into quite a lucrative business entity and which must have had contacts with the industrial circles of Turin. In this regard, it is worth noting Passigli's attempt to move me to Trieste, as editor of the Lavoratore - the administration of Lavoratore would have managed the O. (rdine) N. (uovo) of which I would

First Notebook. § 13 5

22 1

have remained editor. ( Passigli came to Turin to talk to me and contributed 1 00 lire to the 0. N.J5 I turned him down and even refused to collaborate on 11 Lavoratore. In 1 92 1 , some papers belonging to Fovel and Gardenghi were found in the offices of the Lavoratore, 6 which revealed that they were speculating in textile shares on the Stock Exchange, and that during the textile workers' strike in the Veneto led by the trade unionists of Nicola [Vecchi]a they directed the newspaper according to the interests of their speculations.7 I do not know what Fovel did after Livorno. He emerges again in 1 92 5 in Nenni's and Gardenghi's Avan ti!8 and starts the campaign for American loans which is quickly exploited by the Gazzetta del Popolo connected with Ponti of the S.(ocieta) I.(droelettrica) P.(iemonte). In 1 92 5 -26, Fovel was a frequent contributor to La Voce Republicana. Today, he supports "corporativism" as a premise for Americanization and writes for the Carriere Padano of Ferrara.

What I find interesting in Fovel's thesis is his conception of the corporation as an autonomous industrial-productive bloc destined to resolve in a modem way the problem of the economic apparatus in an emphatically capitalistic manner, opposing the parasitic elements of society which take an excessively large cut of surplus value, and the so-called "producers of savings. " The production of savings should, therefore, be a function of the productive bloc itself, through a growth in production at lower costs and through the creation of greater surplus value which would allow higher wages and thus a larger internal market, workers' savings, and higher profits, and hence greater direct capitalization within firms-and not through the intermediary of the "producers of savings" who, in reality, devour surplus value. Pagni is right when he says that this is not a question of a new political economy but of a new economic policy; concretely, then, his objections are nothing more than the observation that the Italian conditions are backward for this type of economic upheav.al.

Fovel's error consists in his failure to take into account the economic function of the state in Italy and the fact that the corporative regime had its origins in economic policing, not economic revolution. Italian workers have never opposed, not even passively, industrial innovations aimed at lowering costs, rationalization of work, the introduction of more perfect machinery and a more perfect organization of the structure of firms; quite the contrary. This has happened in America and has led to the liquidation of free trade unions and their replacement by a system of (mutually) isolated organizations, factory by factory. A careful analysis of Italian history prior. to 1 9 22, which does not allow itself to be deceived by the external clamor but knows how to grasp the deep-rooted features of the movement, should reach the conclusion that it was precisely the workers

• Added at a later time. Gramsci had first written and then canceled : "I do not remember the surname . ' '

222

N O TE B O O K I ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 0 )

who were the bearers o f the new industrial requirements and bravely asserted them, in their own way: one could also say that some industrialists realized this and tried to take advantage of it. (Agnelli's efforts to absorb the 0. N. and its school into the Fiat organization. )9 But, such considerations apart, the question arises: the corporations now exist, they create the conditions in which industrial innovation can be introduced on a large scale, because workers can neither oppose it nor can they struggle to be themselves the bearers of this change. The question is fundamental, it is the hie Rhodus of the Italian situation: the corporations, then, will become the form of this change, through one of those "tricks of Providence" which ensures that men unwillingly obey the imperatives of history. Herein lies the essential point: can this happen? One is necessarily inclined to deny it. The condition described above is one of the conditions, not the only condition or even the most important; it is only the most important of the immediate conditions. Americanization requires a specific environment, a specific social structure, and a certain type of state.

The state is the liberal state, not in the sense of a liberalism in trade, but in the more essential sense of free initiative and economic individualism, which by spontaneous means, through its own historical development, succeeds in establishing a regime of monopolies. The disappearance of rentiers in Italy is a condition of industrial change, not a consequence; the economic-financial policy of the state is the mainspring of this disappearance: amortization of the national debt, registration of securities, direct instead of indirect taxation. This does not seem to be or about to become the direction of current policy. On the contrary. The state is increasing the number of rentiers and creating closed social formations. To this day, in fact, the corporative regime has operated to support the tottering positions of the middle classes, not to eliminate them, and through the established interests it creates, it is becoming a machine for the preservation of the status quo rather than a mainspring for forward movement. Why?

Because the corporative regime depends upon unemployment, not employment; it protects a certain minimum standard of life for the employed, which would itself collapse and provoke serious social upheavals if there were free competition. Very well: but the corporative regime, dependent from its birth on this extremely delicate situation, the essential equilibrium of which must be maintained at all costs to avoid a tremendous catastrophe, could move ahead with very small imperceptible steps which would modify the social structure without sudden shocks: even the most tightly swaddled baby develops normally. This is why one should find out whether Fovel's is the voice of a single individual or whether he is an exponent of economic forces pursuing their own course. In any case, the process would be a very long one and, in the meantime, new difficul-

First Notebook. § 139

22 3

ties, new interests will emerge which tenaciously oppose its regular development.

Cf. Notebook 22, §6.

§( I 3 6). Bontempelli 's Novecen tismo. The manifesto of Bontempelli's

'goo1 is Prezzolini's article, "Viva l'artificio, " published in I 9 I S and reprinted on p. 5 I of the collection of articles by Prezzolini, Mi pare . . .

(Fiume: Edizioni Delta, I 92 5 ).2 A number of points contained in this article have been taken up and enfeebled by Bontempelli, in whose hands they become mechanical. His I 92 5 play, Nostra Dea, 3 is a mechanical extension of Prezzolini's words on page 5 6. It is noteworthy that Prezzolini's article is very awkward and pedantic; it betrays the author's efforts to become lighter and more lively, after the experience with Lacerba; what could be expressed in an epigram is chewed and regurgitated with many tedious grimaces. Bontempelli imitates the awkwardness, compounding it. With Prezzolini an epigram becomes an article, with Bontempelli a volume.

Cf. Notebook 23, §29.

§( I 3 7). Novecen tismo and Super-countiy. The Baroque and Arcadia1

adapted to modern times.

Cf. Notebook 23, §30.

§(I 3 8). Risorgimento. If it is true that the concrete life of states is fundamentally international life, it is also true that the life of Italian states until I 87o-and therefore "Italian history"-is more "international history" than "national" history.

§( I 3 9). Catholic Action. Can one draw any comparisons between Catholic Action and such institutions as the Franciscan Third Order? I do not think so; although it may be worth pointing to the Franciscan Third Order, by way of introduction, in order to better define the characteristics of C. A. itself. Certainly, the creation of the Third Order is very interesting and has a democratic character; it illustrates better the character of the Franciscan movement as a return to the primitive Church, a community of the faithful and not just the clergy as it had increasingly become. It is, therefore, worth studying the success of this initiative, which has not been great because the Franciscan movement did not encompass the whole

224

NOTEB O O K I ( 1 929 - 1 9 3 0 )

religion, a s Francis intended, but was reduced t o one out of many existing orders. C. A. marks the beginning of a new epoch in the history of the Catholic religion: it ceases to be a totalitarian world view and becomes only one part, and must have a party. The various religious orders represent the reaction of the Church (community of the faithful or clerical community), from the bottom or from the top, against the disintegration of the world view (heresies, schisms, etc. ) : C. A. represents the reaction against the apostasy of entire masses, that is, the reaction against the abandonment of the religious world view by the masses. It is no longer the Church that defines the terrain and the means of struggles; it must accept the terrain imposed upon it from the outside, and use arms stolen from the arsenal of its adversaries (the organization of the masses). The Church is on the defensive; in other words, it has lost the autonomy of movement and initiative, it is no longer an ideological world power but only a subaltern force.

Cf. Notebook 20, §2.

§(r 4o). The Spanish constitution of IBI2 in the Risorgimento. Why was it so popular? It must be compared with the other constitutions promulgated in 1 848. It was certainly very liberal, especially in establishing the prerogatives of Parliament and parliamentarians.

Cf. Notebook 1 9, § 3 9 .

§( 1 4 1). Americanism. From Mino Maccari's Trastullo di Strapaese (Firenze: Vallecchi, 1 92 8 ) :

For a shiny trinket I Give not away your country I The foreigner i s a trafficker I To mind him is no bargain I If you were skilled and artful I You'd stay away from all concoctions: I The stranger always gains. I Your goods are worth the world I A belch from your parish priest has greater value I Than America and her conceit: I Behind the least Italian I There's ten thousand years of history I ( . . ) I

.

The nightclub and the

Charleston I Will make you rave I Oh Italian, return to your country dance I Go back to eating tripe I Italian, return to your sod I Trust not French fashions I Make sure you eat your bread and onions I And you'll set your tummy in oder. 1

Maccari, however, went on to become editor-in-chief of La Stampa in Turin and to eat onions in the greatest super-city and the industrial center of Italy.

Cf. Notebook 22, § 7 .

First Notebook. § £42

22 5

§(1 42). Giuseppe Prezzolini and the intellectuals. Il Codice della vita italiana (Firenze: Editrice Ia S. A. "La Voce, " 1 92 1 ) 1 brings to an end the first period of Prezzolini as a moralist writer who was always campaigning to renew and modernize Italian culture. Afterwards he enters a crisis with the strangest highs and lows, until he joins the herd of the traditional mainstream and starts praising what he had reviled.

A phase of this crisis is represented by the letter of 1 923 to P. Gobetti,

"Per una societa degli Apoti, " republished in the little volume Mi pare . . .

(Fiume: Edizioni Delta, 1 92 5 ).2 He feels that his position as a "spectator"

is "a little, just a little, cowardly. " "Is it not our duty to get involved?

Isn't there something tiresome, disagreeable, sad, in the spectacle of these young people ( . . .

) who (almost all of them) stay out of the struggle, looking at the combatants and asking only how and why the blows are delivered? " He finds a convenient solution: "Our duty, our usefulness, at the present time and also ( . . . ) in the ongoing divisive quarrels, in the very agony within which the world of tomorrow is taking shape, must be that to which we have committed ourselves, namely to clarify ideas, to promote values, and to save an ideal heritage beyond the struggles, so that it can become fruitful again in future times. " His view of the situation is astonishing: "The time we are going through is so credulous, fanatic, partisan, that a critical ferment, an element of thought, a nucleus of people who can look beyond their interests cannot but do some good. Do we not see many of the best people blinded? Nowadays everything is accepted by the mobs: the false document, the crude legend, the primitive superstition are accepted without scrutiny, blindly, and are offered as a material and spiritual remedy. And how many of the leaders openly have a program of spiritual enslavement as a remedy for the weary, a refuge for the destitute, a cure-all for the politicians, a sedative for the exasperated.

We could call ourselves the congregation of the Apoti, of 'those who will not drink' since the habit as well as the general willingness to be gullible is evident and widespread. "

An assertion o f rare Jesuitical sophistry: "What i s needed i s that a wellsuited minority sacrifice itself, if necessary, and renounce all material success, sacrifice even the desire for sacrifice and heroism, not just to go against the current but to establish a solid base from which the forward movement can start up again, " etc., etc.

Differences between Prezzolini and Gobetti: see if and how this letter was answered. 3

Cf. Notebook 23, § 3 1 .

226

NOTEB O O K I j 1 9 29- 1 9 30)

§(143). Quality and quantity. In the world of production this means nothing more than cheap and dear, that is, the satisfaction or lack of satisfaction of the basic needs of the popular classes and the raising or lowering of their standard of living. All the rest is an ideological serial novel. In a nation-firm which has a large supply of labor and few raw materials, the call for "Quality" means only the desire to employ a lot of labor on a small quantity of material, that is, the desire to specialize for a luxury market. But is this possible? r ) Where there is an abundance of raw materials it is possible to have both methods, the qualitative and the quantitative, but the same does not apply to poor countries. 2) Quantitative production can also be qualitative, that is, it can compete with purely qualitative industry among that segment of the class of consumers of

"distinctive" objects which is not traditionalist because it is a new formation. 3 ) Which industry will provide consumer goods for the poor classes? Will the conditions be created for an international division of labor?

In short, one is dealing with a formula for idle men of letters and demagogic politicians who bury their heads in the sand to avoid witnessing reality. Quality should be attributed to men, not to things. And human quality is raised to the extent that man satisfies a greater number of needs and thus gains independence from them. The high price of bread, stemming from a desire to keep a larger number of men tied to particular activities, leads to starvation. The policy of quality always results in its opposite: disqualified quantity.

Cf. Notebook 22, §8.

§( 1 44). Auguste Boullier, L 'ile de Sardaigne. Description, Histoire, Statistique, etat social, Paris: E. Dentu, I 86 5 . I Boullier was in Sardinia when there was talk of ceding it to France. 2 He also wrote another book, Le Dialecte et les Chan ts Populaires de la Sardaigne.3 The book is now worthless. It is interesting in some respects. Boullier tries to explain the causes of the problems that arose in Sardinia impeding the disappearance of the remnants of feudalism (collective property, etc. ), which emboldened the supporters of the ancien regime.4 Naturally, Boullier, who adopts a purely ideological point of view, does not understand anything about this issue. Besides some interesting items, he mentions the international relations of Sardinia and its importance in the Medi terranean: for ex., Nelson's insistence that the English government purchase Sardinia from the king (of Piedmont) for an annual fee of

First Notebook. § r48

227

s oo,ooo pounds sterling. According to Nelson, Sardinia is strategically superior to Malta; moreover, it could become economically profitable under English management, whereas Malta will always remain an economic liability.5

§( 145). Talent. Hofmansthal addressed these words to Strauss, concerning the musician's detractors : "We have good will, seriousness, coherence, which is worth more than the inauspicious talent with which every knave is endowed. " ! Cited by L. Beltrami in an article on the sculptor Quadrelli in the Marzocco of 2 March 1 9 30). 1

§( 1 46). In A. De Pietri Tonelli's review of Anthony M. Ludovici's book, Woman. A Vindication (2d ed., London, 1 929), in Rivista di Politica Economica (February 1 9 30), one reads: '"When things are going badly in the social structure of a nation because of the decay of the fundamental abilities of its men, ' the author asserts, 'two distinct tendencies always seem to arise: the first is to interpret as symptoms of progress changes which are purely and simply signs of the decadence and ruin of old and healthy institutions; the second, which is due to a justified loss of confidence in the governing class, is to give everyone, whether they have the desired qualities or not, the certainty of being fit to contribute toward setting things straight.' " 1 The author sees feminism as an expression of this second tendency (which is wrong, because a statement about something does not constitute a proof of what is being stated: feminism has broader and deeper causes). The author calls for a revival of "masculinity."

Cf. Notebook 2 2 , § 9 .

§( 1 47). "On a thousand occasions in my life I have really proved myself to be the prior of the confraternity of St. Simplicius. " V.

Mon ti. 1

§(1 48). Lorianism. Concerning Loria's theories about altimetry, one may recall, jocularly, that Aristotle found that "the acropolis is suitable for oligarchies and tyrannies, the plains are suitable for democratic governments. " 1

Cf. Notebook 28, § r 4.

228

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 30)

§(1 49). North and South. The hegemony of the North would have been "normal" and historically beneficial, if industrialism had been able gradually to enlarge its horizons so as to continue incorporating new assimilated economic zones. Then, this hegemony would have been the expression of a struggle between the old and the new, between progress and backwardness, between the more productive and the less productive; there would have been an economic revolution of a national character l and on a national scale) even though its driving force would have been temporarily and functionally regional. All the economic forces would have been stimulated and the conflict would have yielded greater unity. However, this did not happen. The hegemony seemed permanent; the conflict seemed to be a necessary historical condition for an inde terminate period of time and, therefore, apparently "perpetual" due to the existence of a northern industry.

Emigration. Italy is compared with Germany. It is true that, at first, industrial development in Germany gave rise to heavy emigration, but later it not only brought an end to emigration but also reabsorbed some of it and led to considerable immigration. This much may be said for the purposes of a purely mechanical compar ison of the two phenomena of emigration, the Italian and the German; but if a deeper comparison were made, other fundamental differences would emerge. In Germany, industrialism produced, at first, an excess of "industrial cadres" and they were the ones who emigrated in very special economic circumstances; a certain amount of already skilled and gifted human capital emigrated, accompanied by a certain supply of financial capital. German emigration was the effect of a certain excess of active capitalist energy that stimulated the economies of other less developed or equally developed countries which had a shortage of manpower and of managerial cadres.

In Italy, the phenomenon was more basic and passive and, what is most important, it had no resolution but persists to this day. Even though, in practice, emigration has declined and its character has changed, it is important to point out that this fact is not a consequence of the absorption of the remaining forces into an expanded industrial framework with a standard of living that has been brought up to the level of "normal" countries. The decline in emigration has been brought about by the worldwide crisis, that is, by the existence in all the industrial countries of national reserve armies larger than is economically normal. The role of Italy as a producer

First Notebook. § rso

2.2.9

of labor reserves for the entire world has come to an end, not because Italy has normalized its demographic equilibrium but because the entire world has upset its own.

Intellectuals and workers. Another fundamental difference is this: German emigration was organic, that is, industrial organizers emigrated together with the working masses. In Italy, only the working masses emigrated and they were still, for the most part, industrially as well as intellectually unformed. The corresponding intellectual elements stayed home and they too were unformed, that is, they were not changed at all by industrialism and by its civilization. This resulted in a dreadful unemployment of intellectuals, which brought about wide ranging phenomena of corruption and political and moral decay with considerable economic effects.

The state apparatus itself, in all its manifestations, was impaired by it and acquired a particular character. Thus, instead of disappearing, the conflicts were inflamed and each of these manifesta tions helped worsen the conflicts. 1

§( r s o). The conception of the state from the standpoin t of the productivity {function] of the social classes. R. Ciasca's book on the Origini del programma nazionale can yield copious materials for treating this topic. 1

The productive classes !capitalist bourgeoisie and modem proletariat) can conceive the state only as the concrete form of a specific economic world, of a specific system of production. The conquest of power and the assertion of a new productive world are inseparable : propaganda for one is also propaganda for the other; in reality, it is only in this connection that the unitary origin of the dominant class, which is simultaneously economic and political, resides. However, when the push for progress is not closely connected to a local economic development, but is the reflection of international developments which drive its ideological currents [born on the basis of the productive development of the more advanced countries] to the periphery, then the class bearing the new ideas is the class of intellectuals and the conception of the state changes aspect. The state is conceived as a thing in itself, as a rational absolute. One may put it as follows: since the state is the concrete framework of a productive world and since intellectuals are the social element that identifies itself most closely with governmental personnel, it is characteristic of the function of the intellectuals to present the state as an absolute; thus the historical function of the intellectuals is conceived as absolute, and their existence is rationalized. This motif is fundamental for philosophical idealism and is linked

2 30

NOTE B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

to the formation of modem states in Europe as "reaction-national transcendence" of the French Revolution and Bonapartism [passive revolution2].•

One may say that some criteria of historical and cultural evaluation must be turned upside down. I l The Italian currents that are "branded" as French rationalism and as "Enlightenment philosophy" are, instead, precisely the ones that adhere most closely to Italian empirical reality, insofar as they conceive of the state as the concrete form of an Italian economic development. A similar content calls for a similar political form. 2) Conversely, the really "Jacobin" currents are the ones that seem most autochthonous in that they appear to develop a traditional Italian current.

This current is "Italian" because for many centuries "culture" was the only Italian national manifestation and, therefore, whatever is a development of this older traditional manifestation appears to be more autochthonous. This, however, is a historical illusion. Where, then, was the material base of this Italian culture? It was not in Italy. This Italian "culture" is the continuation of the medieval "cosmopolitanism" linked to Church and Empire, understood as universals. Italy has an "international" intellectual concentration, it receives and elaborates theoretically the influences of the most solid and autochthonous life of the non-Italian world.

Italian intellectuals are "cosmopolitan, " not national; even Machiavelli in The Prince is more strongly influenced by France, Spain, etc. and their travail of national unification, than by ltaly.3 That is why I would call the representatives of this current time "Jacobins": they really want to apply to Italy a rational intellectual scheme, elaborated on the basis of the experience of others and not the national experience. The question is very complicated and full of contradictions; therefore, it is necessary to study it more thoroughly on a historical basis. In any case, Southern intellectuals during the Risorgimento appear clearly as the scholars of the "pure"

state, of the state in itself. And whenever intellectuals seem to "lead, " the concept of the state in itself reappears with all the "reactionary" retinue that usually accompanies it.

Cf. Notebook z o, II, § 6 1 .

§(I p). The historical relation between the modern French state created by the Revolution and the other modern European states. The question is of the greatest interest, as long as it is not resolved through abstract sociological schemes. It is the historical outcome of these elements: 1 ) Revolutionary explosion in France; 2 ) European opposition to the French Revolution and to its dissemination through class "meatuses"; 3 ) Revolutionary wars by France under both the Republic and Napoleon, and the formation of a French hegemony disposed toward a universal state; 4)

• Added in the margin at a later time.

First Notebook. § rp

2 3 1

National insurrections against French hegemony and the creation of modern European states in successive waves, but not through revolutionary explosions like the original French one. The "successive waves" are produced by a combination of social class struggles and national wars, mostly the latter. The "Restoration" is the most interesting period from this point of view: it is the political form in which the class struggle finds a flexible situation which allows the bourgeoisie to attain power without massive disturbances, without the French terrorist apparatus. The old classes are demoted from "ruling" to "governing" but they are not eliminated and much less physically suppressed; they pass from being a class to becoming a "caste" with specific psychological traits, and their economic functions cease to prevail. Can this "model" for the formation of modern states repeat itself ? This can be excluded, at least as far as its magnitude and large states are concerned. But the question is of the greatest importance because the French-European model has created a particular mentality.

Another important question connected to the above is that of the function that intellectuals believed they had in this smoldering political ferment of the Restoration. Classical German philosophy is the philosophy of this period and it enlivens the national liberal movements from 1 848 to 1 870. Consider, in this respect, how Marx reduces the French maxim "liberte, fraternite, egalite" to German philosophical concepts ( The Holy Family). 1 This reduction, it seems to me, is extremely important theoretically; it should be placed next to what I have written on the Conception of the state from the point of view of the productivity (function) of the social classes (p. 9 5 verso).2 What is "politics"

for the productive class becomes "rationality" for the intellectual class.

What is strange is that some Marxists believe "rationality" to be superior to "politics, " ideological abstraction superior to economic concreteness. Modern philosophical idealism should be explained on the basis of these historical relations.

Cf. Notebook 1 0, II, § 6 1 .

§( 1 5 2}. Marx and Hegel. In studying Marx's Hegelianism one should remember ( especially given Marx's eminently practical-critical character) that Marx participated in German university life very shortly after Hegel's death, when there must still have been a most vivid memory of Hegel's

"oral" teachings and of the passionate discussions about concrete history which these teachings generateda- that is, discussions in which the his-

" The words "participated in German university life . . . these teachings certainly generated, "

were added by Gramsci in place of some lines which he himself had canceled by pen and rendered illegible.

2 3 2

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 929- 1 9 30)

torical concreteness of Hegel's thought must have stood out much more clearly than it does in his systematic writings. Some of Marx's assertions, it seems to me, should be considered in special relation to this "conversational" vivacity: for instance, the statement that Hegel "has men walking on their heads." Hegel really does use this image when dealing with the French Revolution; he writes that at a certain time during the French Revolution (when the new state structure was organized) "it seemed" that the world was walking on its head or something of the sort (cf. ). I think that Croce asks [search the reference] from where Marx derived this image; it certainly is in one of Hegel's books (perhaps the Philosophy of Right; I don't remember). However, it seems to me that, given the persistence with which Marx returns to it (I think that Marx repeats the image; check), it seems to me that at a certain time it was a topic of conversation: it really seems to have sprung out of conversation, fresh, spontaneous, so little "bookish." 1

Cf. Notebook 1 0, II §6o.

§ (1 5 3 ). Conversa tion and culture ( see the note on p. So: Suggestions and stim uli). 1 Macaulay's observation is found in his essay "On the Athenian Orators" {check if this is the case for precise reference). The observation can be developed further. It is certain that for a long time culture developed especially in an oratorical or rhetorical form, that is, with little or no help from writing and other didactic means or from study in general.

A new tradition begins in the Middle Ages with the convents and regular schools. Scholasticism represents the most important distinguishing feature of this tradition. To the careful observer, the study of formal logic by Scholasticism is, in fact, also a reaction against the "facileness" of demonstration by the old cultural methods. Errors of logic are especially common in oral argumentation. The art of printing, then, revolutionized the whole world of culture. Implicit in this study, then, is another one about the qualitative as well as quantitative (mass extension) changes that the technical development of the organization of culture brought to the way of thinking.

Even today, ideologically, the theater and the cinema have a speed and field of action enormously greater than the book (the theater and cinema can be compared to newspapers and periodicals); but superficially, not in depth. The academies and universities as vehicles [and organizations] of culture. In the universities, oral lectures and seminars. The professor and the assistant; the professional assistant and the "Elders of Santa Zita" in Puoti's school discussed by De Sanctis, 2 namely the formation within the same class of a "vanguard, " of a spontaneous selection of students who help the teacher and continue his lectures, teaching how to study in practice.

First Notebook. § r53

2 3 3

These observations have been suggested t o m e by Bukharin's• Historical Materialism which betrays all the shortcomings of conversation.3 It would be interesting to show, by way of example, all the passages that correspond to the logical errors pointed out by the Scholastics, recalling Engels' very appropriate observation that even "modes" of thinking are acquired and not innate traits, the possession of which corresponds to a professional qualification.4 Not to possess them, not to realize that one does not possess them, not to set oneself the problem of acquiring them through an apprenticeship is like wanting to construct an automobile while knowing how to use and having access to the workshop and the tools of a village blacksmith. The study of the "old formal logic" has now fallen into disfavor, partly for good reason. But the problem of requiring an apprenticeship in logic reappears if one raises the problem of creating a new culture on a new social base which, unlike the old class of intellectuals, has no traditions. A traditional "intellectual bloc" with its complex articulations is capable of assimilating the element of "apprenticeship"

into the organic development of a science without even submitting to the need of a formal apprenticeship. But even this does not occur without difficulty and loss. The development of professional technical schools in all the post-elementary grades has reopened the problem. Recall Prof.

Peano's assertion that even in the Polytechnic and in the mathematical sciences, the students from the grammar schools turned out to be better prepared than those from the technical schools and institutes.5 This better preparation came from the comprehensive "humanistic" education (history, literature, philosophy). Why cannot mathematics yield the same results ? Mathematics has been drawn close to logic. And yet there is an enormous difference. Mathematics is essentially based on the numerical series, that is, on an infinite series of equivalencies I I I ) which can be

=

combined in a theoretically infinite number of ways. Formal logic "tends"

to do the same thing, but only up to a certain point. Its abstract nature is retained only through the early stage of learning, in its direct, bare and crude formulation, but it is put into practice concretely in the very discourse in which the abstract formulation itself is carried out. The language exercises performed in grammar school demonstrate this: in Latin

Italian, Greek-Italian translations, there is never identity between the two languages, or at least the identity which seems to exist in the early stages of learning ("rosa"

"rosa") becomes increasingly complicated as the

=

learning process progresses; in other words, it increasingly distances itself from the mathematical scheme until it reaches the historical and psychological level in which nuances, "unique and individual" expressiveness prevail. And this happens not only when comparing two languages, but also in the study of the history of the "language" itself, namely in the

" In the manuscript "Bukh."

234

NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0)

"semantic" variations of the same sound-word through time and of its altered functions during that time. ( Changes in sound, morphology, syntax, semantics. ) ( This series of observations must be continued and placed in relation with preceding notes. )

Cf. Notebook 1 6, §2 1 .

§( 1 5 4). Clergy and intellectuals. I s there an organic study of the clergy as a "class caste" ? It seems to me that it would be indispensable as a beginning and as a condition for the whole study that remains to be done on the function of religion in the historical and intellectual development of humanity. The precise juridical and de facto situation of the Church and the clergy in various periods and countries, its economic conditions and functions, its exact relations with ruling classes and with the state, etc., etc.

§(I 5 s ). Marx and Hegel ( See p. 97). 1 Antonio Labriola, in "Da un secolo all'altro": "It is befitting that the reactionary Hegel should have been the one to say, based on reason, that those men (at the Convention) were the first, after Anaxagoras, to have tried to tum the idea of the world upside down" (see A. Labriola, Da un secolo all'altro, ed. Dal Pane, p. 4 5 ).2

Cf. Notebook 1 0, II §6o.

§( 1 5 6). Past and present. How the present is a criticism of the past, besides land because of] "surpassing" it. But should the past be discarded for this reason? What should be discarded is that which the present has "intrinsically" criticized and that part of ourselves which corresponds to it. What does this mean ? That we must have an exact consciousness of this real criticism and express it not only theoretically but politically. In other words, we must stick closer to the present, which we ourselves have helped create, while conscious of the past and its continuation (and revival) .

§( I S ?). Croce and the intellectuals. What has been the significance of his book on the Storia d'Italia dal 718 al 1915 ? 1 It is interesting to observe Croce's shift from a "critical" to an "active" position. Bonomi's

• In the manuscript: "70. "

First Notebook. § ISB

2 3 5

book on Bissolati. Zibordi's book on Prampolini. Schiavi's translation of De Man's book.2 De Man's book serves as a bridge.

However, Orazio Raimondo's letter, quoted by Castellano in his book Introduzione allo studio di Benedetto Croce, is interesting.3 It demonstrates that, even earlier, Croce's influence had made itself felt through channels that remained uncontrolled: precisely through Raimondo, a thoroughgoing Mason steeped to the bone in Masonic ideology, and a democrat whose defense of (Tiepolo? ) embodies the entirety of Masonic theism in a clear and apparent form. 4

Cf. Notebook r o, II, § 5 9 .

§( r s B). "Animality" and industrialism. Industrialism is a continual victory over man's animality, an uninterrupted and painful process of subjugating the instincts to new and rigid habits of order, exactitude, precision. There is a mechanization, or the aspect of a mechanization. But does not every new way of life appear as a mechanization during the period when it is asserting itself and is struggling against the old? This happens because until now the changes have occurred through brutal coercion, that is, through the imposition of one class over another. The selection of suitable men for the new type of civilization, that is, for the new type of work, has come about through unprecedented brutality, hurling the weak and the unruly into the hell of the underclasses. There have been crises. But who was involved in this crisis? Not the working masses, but the middle classes which had themselves felt, though indirectly, the pressure on their own way of life and of work. The crises of libertinism have been many: every historical epoch has one. In order to achieve a new adaptation to the new mode of work, pressure is exerted over the whole social sphere, a puritan ideology develops which gives to the intrinsic brutal coercion the external form of persuasion and consent. Once the result has been to some extent achieved, the pressure breaks up (historically this rupture takes place in the most diverse ways, which is only natural because the pressure has assumed original, often personal forms, it has become identified with movements of religiosity, it has created its own apparatus embodied in particular strata or castes, it has taken the name of a king, etc.) and is followed by the crisis of libertinism (the French crisis after the death of Louis XIV, for example). This crisis, however, has no more than a superficial effect on the working masses, or it has an effect on their sentiments because it debases their women; these masses, in fact, have already acquired the new ways of life and remain subjected to the pressure because of the basic necessities of life. The postwar period has had a similar crisis, perhaps the most widespread in history; but the pressure had not been exerted in order to impose a new form of labor, but

N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 0)

because of the necessities of war. Life in the trenches was the main reason for the pressure. The sexual instincts, in particular, have been unleashed; they had been repressed for many years among the great masses of youngsters of both sexes and rendered formidable by the disappearance of so many males and by an imbalance between the sexes. The institutions connected with reproduction have been shaken: marriage, family, etc.; and a new form of "Enlightenment" has emerged with respect to these questions. The crisis is exacerbated by the contrast between this repercussion from the war and the necessities being imposed by the new methods of work (Taylorism, rationalization). Work demands a strict discipline of the sexual instincts, that is, a strengthening of the "family" in a broad sense (not in any particular historical form), and of the regulation [and stability] of sexual relations.

In this question, the most corrupting ideological factor is Enlightenment thought, the "libertarian" conception associated with the classes which are not engaged in manual production. This factor becomes serious if the working classes in a state are no longer subject to the violent pressure of another class, if the new habits of work must be acquired only through persuasion and conviction. A dichotomous situation develops with a "verbal" ideology which recognizes the new necessities, and an

"animal" practice which prevents the physical bodies from really acquiring the new habits. In other words, there develops a situation of great totalitarian social hypocrisy. Why totalitarian? In other situations, the working masses are compelled to be virtuous; those who preach virtue do not practice it even though they pay verbal homage to it-this is the hypocrisy of a class, not total hypocrisy; it is a transitory form, because it will burst into a crisis of libertinism but only when the masses will have already assimilated "virtue" into acquired habits. In this second case, by contrast, since there exists no class dualism, "virtue" is asserted but not practiced either through conviction or through coercion: therefore, the acquisition of new habits necessary for the new methods of work will not take place. This is a "permanent" crisis which only coercion can bring to an end, a new type of coercion- since there is only one class, it will have to be self-discipline. (Alfieri who has himself tied to the chair! ). 1 In any case, the enemy to combat is Enlightenment thought. And if self-discipline is not established, some form of Bonapartism will emerge, or there will be a foreign invasion; in other words, the condition will be created for an external force which will terminate the crisis by its authority.

Cf. Notebook 2 2, § r o.

N O T E B O O K 2

1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 3

Miscellaneous I

M I S C ELLAN E O U S I

§(r). Vittorio Giglio, Milizie ed eserciti d'Italia, in 8°, pp. 404, illustr., L. 8o, C.E. Ceschina. 1 (From the Roman period to the militias of the communes, to the Piedmontese army, to the M.V.S.N.)2 Find out why in 1 848 there was no military commander in Piedmont and it was necessary to resort to a Polish general. In the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries and even later, very good army leaders (condottieri, etc. ), a remarkable development of tactics and strategy, and yet it was not possible to create a national army because of the separation between the people and the upper classes.

§(2). Italo Raulich,

Storia

del

Risorgimen to politico

d'Italia, Zanichelli, five volumes, vol. IV, March November 1 848, L. 32i vol. V, r 849, L. 3 6 . 1

§(3). Giorgio Macaulay Trevelyan, Daniele Manin e la rivoluzione veneziana del 48. With a pre£. by P. Orsi, Zanichelli, L. 3 5 . 1

§(4). From the report read by the engineer Giacinto Motta1 at the shareholders' meeting of the Edison company on 27 March 1 9 27 : "The industry for the production and distribution of electricity has, at the end of 1 926, taken the lead in Italian industrial activity. According to the statistics of the Confederation of Banks,

240

N O TE B O O K 2 ( I 9 29 - I 9 3 3 )

the capital of the joint stock companies of the electric industry, at the end of 1 926, totaled 6,260 million lire, whereas the capital of the heavy, metallurgical, and related industries, which are ranked next in the statistics, totaled 4, 7 5 7,ooo, ooo lire. A more complete statistical study by the Unione Nazionale Industrie Elettriche (Un iel) which takes into account data from 1 , 7 8 5 private and 3 40

public corporations as well as bonds (in the strictly technical sense) shows that the total investments up to September 1 926 amount to 7, 8 5 7 million lire which correspond to about 2, 6 5 0 million gold lire. " 2

However, debt statistics are missing and one can only surmise that whereas in 1 9 2 3 -24-2 5 the electric companies preferred increases of capital, since the later part of 1 9 2 5 they turned to loans, especially dollar denominated loans, for a sum of approximately one billion paper lire; therefore, notwithstanding the smaller increment of capital, the plants were kept growing at the same pace.

Production and consumption of energy: unreliable figures. Official statistics on consumption for the fiscal years 1 92 3 -24-2 5 : from 6,488 to 7,049 and 7, 3 5 5 million Kwh; but double counting in the statements, hence lower by about 2 5 % . Statistics by Uniel based for the most part on data from 1 9 2 5 and to a small extent from 1 9 2 6 : 6, 2 1 2 million Kwh. The Edison group represents 30%

of the overall activity.

Profits: enormous investments, with a modest turnover. Annual profits about 1 / 5 or 1 /6 less than the sums needed annually for investment. The industry always starving for money; which is harmful to public corporations whose lack of means worsens in inverse proportion to the pace of development. (Monopoly conditions. Remember Aldo Finzi's questions in parliament. )3

§(5). Angiolo Gambaro, Riforma religiosa nel Carteggio inedito di Raffaello Lam bruschini, 2 vols., G.B. Paravia, 1 92 6 . Recent works by scholars on the spiritual preparation of the Risorgimento : Ruffini, Gentile, Anzilotti, Luzio. Gather a bibliography about this.

Lambruschini had personal ties with many of the protagonists (moderate liberals ) of the Risorgimento, exercising an influence which, Gambaro maintains, was of the highest order, and virtually ignored un til now (pour cause!). Gambaro draws attention to the innermost torment which the admixture of the religious and the

Miscellaneous I. § 6

political within the same problem produced i n that generation; the political vision prevailed among one part of the group, the religious among the other. Lambruschini, the principal expression of the latter group. Gambaro maintains that Lambruschini was not a follower of Saint-Simon or Lamennais, nor was he a Jansenist, but he was perfectly orthodox; his accusers were malevolent spirits or unable to understand. The principle of inner freedom in harmony with authority comes out of the evangelical conception of religion.

With a superior boldness and greater depth of thought he anticipated and went beyond the bland reformism of Rosmini and he set out to cure a fourfold order of evils which he himself summarized in the following manner j Gamb., vol. I, p. CXCIX): " r ) to multiply, fragment, materialize the external cult, and to neglect sentiment; 2) to falsify the moral concept and the concept of our relations with God; 3 ) to subjugate conscience, to abolish freedom through the abuse of priestly authority; 4) to replace reasonable faith with a stupid credulity. " ! Outline from the Nuova An tologia of r 6 April 1 9 2 7 . ) 1

!When these "heroes" of the Risorgimento are exhumed and their historical importance and influence is weighed, not enough attention is given to the fact that their activity was carried out almost entirely in the private exchange of letters and remained secret. )

§(6). An article, "Problemi finanziari, " signed Verax (Tittoni) in Nuova An tologia of r June 1927. In the Nuova An tologia of 1 9 2 5 j r 6 May), Tittoni published an article, "I problemi finanziari dell'ora" in which he discussed these points : the balance of the budget; savings; equalization of the tax system; the mania of local entities for prodigal expenditure and taxation; monetary circulation and its problems : deflation; stabilization; indebtedness to the allies; banking system; regulation of joint-stock companies; protection of national savings. 1

Attainmen t of balanced budget: the confusions, inequalities and duplications of the taxation system eliminated by the De Stefani reform;2 the debts to the allies eliminated by Volpi,3 who acted upon the rapid abolition of the autonomous section of the Securities Consortium, the consolidation of share issues, the transfer of exchange operations to the Exchange Institute under the protection

242

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

of the Bank of Italy, the supervision for the protection of national savings: the Pesaro speech on monetary policy.

New, present-day problems: consolidation of the balance in the budget; control of the increase in expenditures; sound use of budget surpluses; conditions of the treasury; need for a gradual and continued redemption of the national debt; foreign loans and the improvement of foreign exchange; protection of the tax reform from the new deviations; elimination of all useless methods of excessive taxation.

The 1 92 5 -2 6 fiscal year closed with a surplus in the authorized budget of 2,268 million lire, reduced to 468 million lire by two royal decrees. But in examining the 1 9 2 5 -2 6 fiscal year one must consider: 1 ) the greater than expected expenditures during the fiscal year; 2 ) the expenditures decreed after the close of the fiscal year, but attributed to it; 3 ) the relation between the results of the authorized budget and the cash account; 4) the accounts not included in the budget. During the fiscal year 1 92 5 -26, further expenses were decreed in addition to those projected in the budget, totaling 3 , 605 million lire, and after its close two (above mentioned) royal decrees added 1 , 8oo million lire of new expenses debited to the same fiscal year by the introduction of an additional item into the financial budget. After setting aside the movement of capital and the expenses for the Post and Telegraph Service which were transferred from the general budget to the special budget of the independent agency, and after substracting the 247 million in savings during the fiscal year, one still ends up, notwithstanding the reduction of expenditures left over from the war, with an increase of 4, 1 5 8 million lire in outlays over the estimated 1 7, 2 1 7

million lire (a 24% increase). However, revenue projected a t 1 7, 3 94

million lire also rose to 2 1 ,043 million lire; hence a surplus of 468

million lire.

A more rigorous and complete accounting of expenditures is necessary; the results of the fiscal year must diverge as little as possible from the projections, otherwise the projected budget would become useless, and this for a psychological ( ! J reason, because the announcement of large surpluses instigates expenditures. A famous economist, R. C. Adams, has gone so far as to say that he prefers a proposed budget with a slight deficit to one with an excessive surplus since the first encourages savings, while the latter leads to prodigality ( "and to an imposition of new taxes if, later

Miscellaneous I. § 6

243

on, the surplus is endangered by the new level of expenditures"

A. G.). These surpluses are based on increases in revenue which do not necessarily continue over time. The surplus of an authorized budget may fail to coincide with an equally prosperous cash account. "Therefore it is possible for excellen t budgetary conditions to correspond to cash accoun t con ditions which require exceptional measures such as those adopted by the National Govern men t last Fall. " 4 A policy of savings. If not a reduction of expenditures, at least restraint in new expenditures is desirable.

The Italian budget is not a factual account of the English sort, which enters revenues and expenditures as they actually occur, but a de jure account, of the French type, which includes assessed and matured revenues on the one hand, and on the other hand the expenditures prescribed, settled and committed in accordance with the prescriptions of the law. The authorized budget does not pro vide those who do not know how to read it with a clear picture of the country's financial condition. The major drawback of the authorized budget is the fact that no fiscal year comes to a close as such; it always leaves behind some residual credits and debts, so that the management of the specific budget of a fiscal year must also cope with residual credits and debts from the previous fiscal years which the treasury has to support. As a result, therefore, increased expenditures in the authorized budget have been accompanied normally by an increase in residuals, especially in residual debts which stand in an unfavorable relation to the credits an d which can cause an unforeseen depletion of the treasury once they mature. The residual debts stand in unfavorable relation to the residual credits because, given our mechanisms for collecting payments, the latter cannot and do not in reality amount to a considerable quantity of cash on hand which is the only thing that consti tutes true income. This is so because the residual credits generated by the flow of capital represent loans that must be contracted or sold. It would thus be a serious mistake to attach equal value to residual credits and debts when it comes to the possibility of transforming them respectively into cash revenues and payments. Add to this a usage that is starting to become widespread: art. 1 5 4 of the regulations for the management of estates and for the bookkeeping of the state totally forbids the listing among residuals from elapsed years of any revenues or expenditures which had not fallen within the legal boundaries of the previous fiscal years; but unfor-

244

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

tunately the letter of the law does not prohibit one from erasing one item in order to increase another within the same fiscal year.

This occurs, for example, when a sum is entered among the residual debts which presumably will not be spent, and since it will not be turned into a payment it would become a savings. Conversely, another item of expenditure-again, from among the residuals and, naturally, within the same fiscal year-is increased and really carried out, and thus it is converted into a payment. In this way the bookkeeping is safe, the amount of residual debt is not increased, but the state of the treasury is worsened. The management of residuals and particularly the balance of residuals is to be treated seriously, especially more so because of continuing growth; in fact, the negative differential of the residuals on 30 June 1 926 was 1 0, 5 1 3 million lire as opposed to 9,442 million lire on 30 June 1 92 5 .

France, Belgium, Italy. The three countries, after balancing the budget, had to face a treasury crisis; the deficit, in other words, had not disappeared, but in its transferral from the budget to the treasury it had simply been displaced. They had to take measures in order to remove the danger of the unfunded debt which had become enormous after the war, since the treasuries had in effect transformed themselves into banks of deposit. ( "This is a captious comparison: they did not transform themselves into deposit banks at all, but pulled off a swindle in grand style, because the amounts received were spent as if they were normal entries in the balance sheet even though there was no likelihood that future budgets could be sufficiently increased to guarantee repayment when it came due. Widespread savings were plundered under the pressure of a national danger, in order to spare taxable wealth from shoul dering the burden; it was a disguised decimation of capital, but of the capital of the middle classes, in order to avoid really decimating overtly the capital of the wealthiest upper classes-the contrast between Latin countries and Anglo Saxon countries put this colos sal swindle, which led in part to inflation and in part to coups d'etats, into sharper relief. ") The first plan by Minister Jansens to stabilize the Belgian franc failed largely because it did not provide for the regularization of the floating debt. France took care of the floating debt through the creation of an independent fund for its consolidation and amortization. The revenue from certain taxes and from the control of tobacco were allocated to this fund-a total of 3, yoo million francs per year. These taxes could be paid

Miscellaneous I. § 6

245

through the redemption of state securities : the decrease in the number of securities reduces interest payments and the amount left over is used to augment the amortization fund. Through an amendment of the original government plan, amortization was extended to all the public debt ! "that is, the projected life of the fund was extended"). Thus, in France, not only was the rush for reimbursements halted but also new underwriters were found; the treasury was given new strength. Through normal methods the treasury was able to raise 1 4 billion francs, 9 billion of which were reimbursed to the Bank of France and 5 billion were used for the purchase of foreign currency. Belgium : they enacted a semi-compulsory conversion. The bearers of bonds were given a choice: to accede to an exchange of their bonds for shares in the Belgian national railroad company set up by the state, or else to have them stamped. Of the bonds given in exchange for railroad shares, 3/4

were destroyed; the others were converted into new bonds with the interest reduced from 7 % to 5 % and with a maturity schedule that was not fixed but dependent on the future availability of funds in the budget. Italy: compulsory conversion of treasury bonds into debentures of the consolidated debt, with a bonus for the bearers which has increased the public debt by about 3 billion lire. "This is not an operation to be disputed theoretically for it was in fact inevitable. " 5 A very recent press release which explains the state of the treasury account at the end of March, points to the existence of a cash fund, on 3 1 March ( 1 92 7 ), of 2, 3 I I million lire. The sum

"does not impress a segment of public opinion which is unable to understand how such a thriving budget and cash account could be reconciled with the recent need for very drastic measures which hit a considerable part of the population and had a deep effect on many private savings. " The treasury account can appear prosperous and really be low in funds. This has been pointed out already by the Senate Finance Committee, whose chairman, the Han. Mayer, 6

in his report on the estimates by the Finance and Budget Ministry of the income for 1 9 26-27, observed that while the monthly accounts of the treasury revealed sizable cash holdings (almost 4

billion lire on 3 1 March 1 92 6 ), the public debt also rose by more than r , Soo million lire. This happens because the cash fund shown in the above mentioned sum of 2, 3 I I million lire does not represent only money which the treasury can actually use as cash. Thus, the sum of 2, 3 1 1 million lire includes the 1 , 5 54 million lire belong

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 3 )

ing to "special accounts" which contain numerous allocations given to such agencies as the fund for religion, the pension fund for elementary school teachers, the social security fund for local authorities, the Rome hospitals, etc. - allocations which, however, represent sums distributed by the treasury or appropriated for ad ministrative costs, and therefore encumbered. A more meaningful figure is the amount of money in the cash fund at the provincial treasury, that is to say the fund from which most of the payments made within the kingdom are drawn. To be sure, it would be wrong to consider this alone, because the treasury has other liquid assets held at the central treasury and, among them, some importance should be attached to the amount of currency held by its foreign branches; but the endowment fund always represents the basic condition of the cash assets available to the treasury for coping with its current needs. Nothing could be more telling than the difference between the so-called "general cash fund" of the treasury and the condition of the state's "endowment fund" for the finances of the provincial treasury held at the Bank of Italy, that is, the real account of the treasury at the Bank of Issue: G E N E RAL CASH F U N D

Excluding special Including special Curren t accoun t at accoun ts

accoun ts

the Bank of Italy

30 September 1 9 26

42 1 , 8 6 0, 5 7 8

1 , 8 I 6, 5 0 5 ,ooo

+ 6 3 21 I 001000

3 I October

6 1 , 8 5 0, 7 6 3

I , 5 3 4, 5 6 I , ooo

I 29, 700, 000

30 November

I 09, 8 I 4, 5 6 6

8 7 5 ,004, 000

6 8 7 , 700, 000

3 1 December

7 68,467, 2 5 5

1 , 9 74, 689,000

+ 9 5 , 800,000

3 1 January 1 92 7

804,426, 9 6 7

2,22 5 , 6 6 I ,ooo

+ 5 1 ,000,000

2 8 February

990, 8 3 5 , 3 8 3

2,407, 2 I 2,000

+ 248, I 001000

3 I March

7 7 7 , 2 8 3 , 2 9 2

2, 3 I I , 8o2,ooo

+ 3 I , 400,000

As one can see, on 3 r October and 30 November, that is, prior to the receipts from the issue of the Littorio Loan, the said current account showed a deficit, as a result of which the bank had to honor treasury payments with its own notes. In the account of the treasury's debt, one's attention is drawn to the increase of promis sory notes by the treasury in 1 92 5 -26 when it paid back 7 1 , 349

million lire and took in 70,498 million lire. These huge figures call for some explanation so that the public could make sense of the

Miscellaneous I. § 6

247

transactions which they represent. In the meantime, one thing is clear about all this; namely, that the policy of the treasury has gained priority over budgetary policy, and the outcome of the latter is subordinated to that of the former.

It is therefore necessary to take measures to strengthen the treasury's fund !France and Belgium have already done so). How ?

Not by resorting to advances from the Bank of Italy, which cannot provide them without restricting commercial credit or without inflation. Not by issuing treasury bonds, because that would be impossible after the recent consolidation. Not by means of a new consolidated loan. The public debt has to be lowered, not in creased; furthermore, the consolidation and the Littorio loan have just taken place. The cash account should be replenished, rather, through budget surpluses, on which one can rely as long as there are no serious disturbances in the exchange rates and a savings policy is followed. I "But, in fact, as can be seen from the preceding discussion, there have never been real budget surpluses, but only bookkeeping maneuvers and deficits disguised as residual liabilities, a surreptitious increase of the public debt, and a reliance on uncontrollable bookkeeping entries while ignoring the depletion of local budgets all of which have frightful deficits. One needs to determine with precision the actual budget surplus, even after having established a reasonable proportion set aside to strengthen the treasury and amortize the public debt. Apart from everything else, this is what makes it possible to reduce taxes effectively and improve the conditions of employees; and especially to reduce indirect taxes which are a greater burden on the poorest segment of the population, that is, to make a higher standard of living possible.") With the Royal Decree of 3 December r 926, the propor tion of the budget surplus earmarked for the activities related to economic reconstruction and for national defense was raised to 4/5

from the 3/4 which had been established earlier by the R.(oyal) D.(ecree) of 5 June. No one disputed the urgent I ! ) reasons that induced the government to take this most exceptional measure which goes against the financial doctrine of all economists regardless of their school and has no counterpart in the financial practices of any other country. It must not become a habit; in his report to the shareholders meeting of r 927, the Governor of the Bank of Italy, "prudently reported it as a new trend to put the burden of

NOTEBOOK 2 ( 1 929- 1 9 3 3 )

future expenditures on the surpluses of the past. " 7 The chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Budget Committee, Olivetti, speaking on the bill to adopt the R. D. of 3 December 1 926 into law, objected that since the deficits registered between the fiscal years 1 9 1 1 - 1 2

and 1 92 3 -24 had been covered by the treasury and by increases in debt, it had become necessary to tum over the surpluses registered since the 1 924-25 fiscal year entirely to the reduction of prewar debts; further, the surplus could be used to give the treasury greater flexibility. However, in view of the serious contingent reasons, the committee voted to approve the bill while looking forward to a gradual amortization of the national debt in the future. (Rhetorically, everyone upholds this necessity, but still nothing is done about it. ) ( Since 1 920 the Senate has always asked for a prudent reduction of the money supply, a strict control of expenditures, a halt to indebtedness and a start in the repayment of debts, watchful care of the treasury's fund, the lowering of taxes. ) Need for clarity in financial accounts. The money must be found not only in the account books but in the cash accounts of the state.

"One must study in depth the question of extra budgetary transactions which constitute a permanent threat to positive budgetary results. Indeed, more than just a threat, we had real damage between August and November 1 926, as made clear by the progressive depletion of the cash account during those months. ' ' 8

Financial operations are those based on public credit and have an effect on the wealth of the state : the issue of a loan, the repayment of debentures should be considered as operations of this kind.

They should form part of the budget operations and should be entered directly in the books among the expenditures and the income, among receipts and payments in the budget account. On the other hand, the operations of the treasury, strictly speaking, concern the measures that address the immediate needs of the cash account and, therefore, would include the issue of common treasury bonds. Among these operations there are some that fall outside the budget, at least temporarily, but should not do so under normal circumstances. Now, the operations that fall outside the budget tend to erase the effects of budget management by absorbing the surpluses. The administration of the portfolio is so sensitive that its main transactions are recorded in minutes (art. 5 3 4 of the accounting law). The Accountant of the Portfolio is obliged to present a judicial account every year. The management of the

Miscellaneous I. § 6

249

Accountant of the Portfolio produces profits and losses. No judicial account was presented between I July 1 9 1 7 and 30 June 1 9 2 5 , and the R.(oyal) decree-law of 7 May 1 92 5 allowed for the preparation of a single judicial account for the preceding eight fiscal years which were related to the war. The government must adhere to the practice of a judicial account and restrict the administration of the portfolio to its proper specific functions.

Amortization of the national debt. England, the United States, Holland have been carrying out amortizations for more than a century. Hamilton was the first to demonstrate, in r 8 r 4, that a true amortization cannot be carried out except through a surplus of revenues over expenditures and he set down the principle that the creation of a debt must be accompanied by the plan for its gradual liquidation. From 1 9 1 9 to 1 924 England reduced its debt by 6 5 0

million pounds, that i s the entire prewar debt. The debt can be amortized: r ) with a special fund; 2 ) with budget surpluses; 3 ) with the allocation of a fixed sum. The figures for the amortization funds appropriated in the budget and for the budget surpluses from 1 9 2 1 to 1 926-27 are available. It is remarkable and significant, if true, that in 1 926-27 there was a deficit of 3 6, 694,000 pounds and yet, in that fiscal year, the budget allocation for amortization was 6o,ooo,ooo pounds, a much larger figure than in previous years : 25,ooo,ooo in 1 9 2 1 -22; 24,ooo,ooo in 1 922-23 ; 4o,ooo,ooo in 1 923-24; 45,ooo,ooo in 1 924-2 5 ; 5 o,ooo,ooo in 1 92 5 -26 (with a deficit of I 4,ooo,ooo). There is a deviation in the budget beginning in 1 924-2 5 : in 1 926-27 the deficit of 3 6 million pounds is the result of an increase in the funds allocated for propaganda against the miners; that is, the proportion of the budget favorable to the capitalists is increased to the detriment of the working class.

In connection with the history of English finance, one should remember that toward the end of the eighteenth century, Pitt adopted Price's system of a "sinking fund"-an amortization fund-which later had to be abandoned. Hamilton. Until 1 8 5 7, budget surpluses were used, first of all, to lower taxes. Subsequently, the regular amortization of debt was resumed and constituted the basic foundation of British finance. Suspended during the war, it was restarted after the armistice. Regarding the course of the budget, recall the amounts - copied from the Financial Statemen ts - ear marked for amortization from 1 9 2 1 onward. First figure amorti

=

zation funds allocated in the budget; second figure the addi-

=

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

tiona! surplus also used for amortization: 1 92 1-22: 2 S , O i o,ooo and 4 s , 6 9 3,000; 1 922-2 3 : 24, 7 1 1 ,ooo and I O I , S I 6,ooo; 1 923-24: 4o,ooo,ooo and 48, 3 29,000; 1 924-2 s : 4 s , ooo,ooo and 3 , 6 s 9,000; 1 9 2 s -26: s o,ooo,ooo, deficit 14 million 38,ooo; 1 926-27: 6o,ooo,ooo, deficit 3 6, 694,ooo. The computation of the real surplus yields the following figures: 70, 703,000; 1 26,227,ooo; 88, 329,000; 48, 6 s 9,ooo; 3 S , 9 62,ooo; 2 3 , 3 06,ooo; there is a gradual decline in the budget, but not a real deficit.

The committee for the study of the national debt, chaired by Lord Colwyn, concludes a recent report with the recommendation to accelerate the rate of amortization by raising the fund from 7 S

to 1 00 million pounds per year. One can easily understand the political significance of this proposal, given the English industrial crisis : there is an effort to avoid any real intervention by the state, putting the vast resources of the budget at the disposal of private citizens who, instead of investing these enormous sums in the crisis-stricken national industry, will probably proceed to invest them abroad, whereas the state could use these funds to reorganize the basic industries to the workers' advantage.

In the United States the administrative system is based on a conversion of consolidated debts into redeemable debts at lower interest rates.

In France, the fund is constitutionally autonomous and indepen dent of the treasury because of distrust toward the treasury which could put its hands on the amortization funds if it ran out of money.

In Belgium, the Minister Francqui increased the amortization fund.

Italy. With the R. D. of 3 March 1 92 6 a fund was created for the amortization of the English and American debt. But no fixed and inviolable annual amount has been established as in the English system (without undermining the budget surpluses, which besides furnishing the needs of the cash account and moderating excessive taxation should be allocated for the administration). s oc million lire a year have already been appropriated for the gradual reduction of the debt owed to the Bank of Italy for its advance payment of notes to the state; the 90 million dollars of the Morgan loan transferred to the Bank of Italy have decreased the monetary debt incurred by the state by 2 and a half billion lire -with the s oc million lire that have been appropriated the entire debt will be

Miscellaneous I. § 6

2 5 1

liquidated in 8 years. (This debt was liquidated when the gold reserves of the Bank of Italy were appraised according to the stabilization of the lira and the capital gains were transferred to the state . ) The latest treasury account shows a consolidated debt on 3 r March r 927 of about 44 and a half billion lire, to which should be added about 23 and a half billion lire of treasury bond obligations and about 3 and a half billion lire of the Littorio loan, as well as about 7 1 and a half billion lire of which about 10 billion lire are related to the prewar period. And this does not include the redeemable debts of 3 , 7 84 million lire entered in the register of the national debt and half of which is related to the war; or the long term bonds which add up to a grand total of 7 1/J billion lire; or the other debts, almost all redeemable, administered by the National Debt; or the monetary debt which stands at 4, 229 million lire (subsequently liquidated as mentioned above) . Ignoring the redeemable debts, which are being gradually liquidated, and setting aside the long term bonds ( ! ), there still remains the permanent debt.

Benefits of the amortization of the debt: 1 ) it relieves the pressure on the budget, even if moderately; 2) it raises the state's credit rating; 3 ) it makes it possible to obtain a new loan in serious and unforeseen circumstances; 4) it makes future conversions possible; s ) it puts the amortized funds at the disposal of production, thus creating new sources of income; 6) it maintains the high rating of state securities.

Sir Felix Schuster maintained, before the committee for the study of the national debt, that the amortization of the debt must be kept up even (and, indeed, especially) when public finance is in great difficulty, because this constitutes the best way to rescue the credit of the state and prevent the collapse of government securities. To reduce the debt means to reevaluate the consolidated debt ( "hence the practice of posting an amount of money, every once in a while, for the reduction of the national debt; in other words, the absence of fixed and inviolable allocations becomes no more than a mere convenience: the state buys its own securities, not to liquidate them gradually but as a market ploy to increase their value, possibly in order to issue more of them soon after. " A.G. ) . Amortization must of necessity be slow and cautious so as not to cause sharp movements of capital.

American loans. At first these loans were not favored. Once the war debts with America and England had been settled, the policy

N O TE B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

of the Treasury changed, and the new basic factor was the following: that more often than not the risk of fluctuating foreign exchange rates at which reimbursemen ts have to be calculated is assumed by the state rather than by the agencies con tracting the debt. In the eyes of the lenders this imparts a special character to the whole transaction. This guarantee is to be judged in relation to the centralization of foreign exchange controls, first in the treasury and now, very appropriately, in the foreign exchange bank. Debts for industry are appropriate. Debts by municipalities are dangerous, because the money is spent and no one knows how it will be repaid. The contraction of foreign debts is subject to the consent of the government.

Taxes. 1 2, 5 77 million lire of taxes in the 1 922-23 fiscal year.

1 6, 4 1 7 million lire in the 1 92 5 -2 6 fiscal year; an increase of 3, 840

million lire in three years. Furthermore, in 1 92 5 , local taxes were projected as 4, 947 million lire, so that the burden for the year amounted to 22 billion lire, that is, a burden greater than in any European and American country. In the United States, taxes were lowered by 2 million dollars in four years. In England taxes were lowered. In Italy, there should be at least no increase and an end to fiscal terror. The same holds true for the municipalities, which are afflicted by a mania for prodigality and taxation. Maintain the fundamental basis of De Stefani's reform which consolidated, simplified, and equalized the system of taxation. There have already been deviations from this reform. The new supplementary income tax had the merit of repudiating the system of tax assessment based on circumstantial evidence of income. But the new tax on the unmarried, which varies according to income, gives rise to a new assessment of tax based on circumstantial evidence, instead of an assessment based on the income ascertained for the purpose of the supplementary income tax. There are thus two assessments of income which yield different results, and since no discrepancy is allowed, it is the circumstantial procedure which prevails in the end. The purpose of this supplementary income tax, with the local bodies sharing in the proceeds, was to eliminate all the imperfect and inequitable forms of local income taxes, such as the family tax and the real estate tax. An attempt to establish a special tax on consumption was thwarted (sic) by the timely in terven tion of the Senate. Since the supplementary income tax was supposed to eliminate the family and real estate taxes when they were all paid

Miscellaneous I. § 6

together, in order to avoid a double taxation on the same income, it was only right that those who had not been enrolled in the lists of the supplementary income tax should continue to pay them because in their case there was no duplication of taxes. Instead, the municipalities were given the option of either continuing to levy the family tax on those who were not enrolled in the lists of the supplementary income tax, or levying the real estate tax even on those who were paying the supplementary income tax. Almost all the municipalities have opted for the latter, and so we have returned to double taxation. Moreover, the revenue authorities have argued and the central Board of Taxation has decreed that the old assessments for the family tax, of which everyone knew the in equalities, can be used as the basis for the assessment of the supplementary income tax. In other words, instead of being abolished, it has become overwhelmingly important. To be sure, the supplementary income tax has yielded less than was hoped for, but only because new taxes always yield less than they should during the first year, and also because for three years the supplementary income tax has suffered the impact of the very sizeable reductions granted to those who paid property taxes. Against excessive taxa tion. In the session of the Senate on 1 4 June 1 926, the chairman of the Budget Committee, the Hon. Mayer, said: "I think that it is necessary to completely reform our tax system which goes back to 1 8 62, our methods of assessment, and our obsolete and inadequate regulations, in order to ensure that the citizens need not consider the treasury representative as an implacable enemy. " The article even concludes with an allusion to Necker, who tried to liberate France from the imp6t, that is, from the corvee, from the taille, etc. -what in modern terms would be called "tax oppression"and it calls on the Finance Minister to emulate Necker.9 (This article by Tittoni must be considered as a statement of the desiderata of the governing bourgeoisie following the events of November 1 926; the language is very cautious and obscure, but the point it makes is very strong. The criticism comes through especially in the comparison between what has been done in other countries and in Italy. )

In the next issue ( 1 6 June 1 92 7 ) of Nuova Antologia, Alberto De Stefani - to whom Tittoni, in a note, had attributed a plan for a policy of higher taxes and a stricter taxation system -published a letter in which he, instead, declares his agreement with Tittoni

2 5 4

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 3 )

and his oppositiOn to the policy which had been attributed to him. 10 He states that he is only asking for rigorous obedience of the tax laws, that is, a campaign against tax evasions. Among the passages he quotes to demonstrate his agreement with Tittoni, the following one from the Carriere della Sera of 28 November I 92 6 is interesting: "It is obvious, for example, that the increase in customs tariffs and also in domestic duties could obviate monetary policy . . . It is desirable . . . that state and local finance, or anything else, do not lead to an increase in the costs of production. " In order to alleviate the tax rate, he calls for: I ) a greater universality I ! ) in the enforcement of taxes (distributive justice); 2 ) less tax evasion than currently exists, as documented by the lists of contributors which are no longer published; 3 ) savings in expenditures. General criterion : to reduce the nominal financial pressure in proportion to currency appreciation, so as not to make the real financial pressure heavier.

§(7). Articles by Luzzatti in Nuova An tologia which could be of interest : "La tutela del lavoro nelle fabbriche" (February 1 87 6 ) ;

"11 socialismo e l e quistioni sociali dinanzi a i parlamenti d'Europa"

( January and February I 8 8 3 ); "Schulze-Delitzsch" (May I 8 8 3 ); "I recenti scioperi del Belgio" (April I 8 8 6 ) ; "Le diverse tendenze sociali degli operai italiani" (October I 88 8 ); "Il Risorgimento dell'

internazionale" (December I 8 8 8 ) ; "La pace sociale all' Esposizione di Parigi" (December r 8 89-January 1 8 90); "Le classi dirigenti e gli operai in Inghilterra. A proposito della Iotta di classe" (November I 892); "La partecipazione degli operai ai profitti dell' azienda in dustriale" (May I 6, I 899); "Le riforme sociali" ( I November I 908);

"La cooperazione russa" ( I July I 9 I 9 ); "Gli ordinamenti tecnici delle industrie in relazione all' obbligo internazionale delle 8 ore di lavoro" ( I March I 92 2 ) .

In the Nuova An tologia o f I 6 April I 927, there i s a complete list of the articles published by Luzzatti in the journal : many of the articles are on cooperation, social security, etc. 1 There is probably some book on Luzzatti's activity in this regard; and he must be considered within the general framework of the Italian workers'

movement.

Miscellaneous I. § 12

2 5 5

§(8). An opinion of Manzoni 's on Victor Hugo. "Manzoni told me that Victor Hugo, with that book of his on Napoleon, resembled someone who believes himself to be a great organ player and starts to play, but does not have anyone to operate the bellows for him. " R. Bonghi, "I fatti miei e i miei pensieri, " Nuova Antologia, 16 April 1 9 27 . 1

§(9). The philosophers and the French Revolution . In the same miscellany, Bonghi writes about reading an article by Charles Louandre in Revue des Deux Mondes, which discusses a journal (diary) of Barbier, published at that time, dealing with French soci ety between 1 7 1 8 and 1 7 62. Bonghi draws from it the conclusion that French society under Louis XV was worse in every respect than the one that came after the Revolution. Religious superstition in morbid forms, while skepticism was growing in the shadows.

Louandre demonstrates that the "philosophers" produced the theory of an already established practice, they did not create the prac tice. 1

§( 1 0). A Venetian gondolier was making a great show of. doffing his cap for a nobleman while he only nodded slightly toward the churches. A nobleman asked him why he behaved in this manner, and the gondolier answered: "Because one does not fool around with saints" (Bonghi, ibidem ) . 1

§( 1 1 ) . Manzoni and Rosmini on Napoleon III. "For him (Manzoni) this Louis Napoleon is no miracle, nor is the current crisis of France anything more than a pause in the French Revolution. Ros mini, on the other hand, regards him as an arm of Providence, a Godsend-which is an avowal of his morality and Religion; and he expects so much, so very much. I am on Manzoni's side" (Bonghi, ibidem ). 1

§( 1 2). The Italian merchant marine. Extracts from L. Fontana Russo's article, "La nostra marina transatlantica, " in the Nuova Antologia of 1 6 April 1 9 27 . 1

N O T E B O O K 2 j 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

The total losses of the Italian merchant marine due to submarines and seizure during the war rose to 872, 3 4 I gross tons ( 2 3 8

steamships for 769, 4 5 0 tons and 3 9 5 sailing ships for r o2, 89 I ), that is, 49% of the entire fleet, while the English lost 4 I % and the French 46% . ( "This notwithstanding the later entry into the war, and the belated declaration of war against Germany; " A.G. : What is the explanation for this very high percentage ? ) Further, 9 more steamships for 5 7,440 tons were lost in unfortunate accidents be cause of the special conditions imposed upon navigation (running aground when escaping submarine attacks, collisions in naval con voys, etc. ). ( "What was the percentage of such cases in the other navies ? " A.G. ; the answer is relevant in order to assess our organization and the ability of the commanders; it would also be interesting to know the age of these steamships, in order to see how the lives of our sailors were endangered. ) The financial loss (ships and cargo) was L. 2, 2o2, 7 3 3 ,047, broken down as follows : fishing fleet, L. 4, 3 9 I , 706; sailing ships, L. 5 9, 792, 5 9 I ; steamships flying the national flag, L. I , 5 9 5 ,467,786; foreign steamships leased to Italy-2 ! 6 steamships sunk, 2 damaged- L. 5 43,080, 9 64. (Clearly, these foreign steamships are not counted in the preceding tonnage total.

In this case, too, it would be interesting to know if they were sunk while being piloted by Italian personnel and furthermore whether the other nations suffered losses of the same kind.) The total of lost cargo was 1,27 I , 2 5 2 tons. Italian supplies during the war were: 49 thousand tons from Gibraltar and 2 million tons from the Mediterranean and from Suez. The losses incurred during the war were immediately redressed. Worldwide, the vessels (lost) during the war totaled I 2, 8o4, 902 tons (steamships and sailing ships), that is, 2 7 % of the total tonnage. In I 9 I 3 there was a world fleet of 43,079,ooo tons; in I 9 I 9 it was 48 million tons, in I 9 2 I it was 5 8, 8 4 I,ooo tons, in I 926 it was 62, 6 7 I,ooo tons. Between I 9 I 3

and I 9 I 9 the shipyards made up for the losses and increased the tonnage by 4 million tons. The ships which had been started were continued after the armistice : this explains why the total of ships launched in I 9 I 9 reached 7 million tons. ( "This explains the crisis in the freight business after the war when an abnormally large fleet coincided with a drop in commerce. ")

Italy. On 3 I December I 9 I 4, our fleet (steamships of over 2 5 0

gross tons ) consisted o f 644 steamships for I , 9 5 8, 8 3 8 deadweight tons; as of 3 I December I 9 2 I the losses amounted to 3 5 4 steam-

Miscellaneous I. § 12

2 5 7

ships for r,270, 348 tons. Of the old fleet, 290 steamships for 688,496

tons were left. By 3 r December I 9 3 I, r22 steamships were built for 698,979 deadweight tons, and I 43 were purchased abroad for 845 ,049 tons, 6o were salvaged by the Royal Navy for r 3 r , 7 2 5 tons and 2 r o were incorporated from the Venezia-Giulia region for 763,945 tons- so there was a total increment of 5 3 5 steamships for 2, 437,698 tons, bringing the total fleet to 8 5 6 steamships for 3,297,987 tons. By the end of r 92 6 Italy had constructed an additional 3 3 ships for 2 3 9, 7 7 6 gross tons. The number of motor-ships is tending to grow in comparison to steamships. The 763,94 5 tons from Venezia-Giulia were the result of negotiations with England, France, and Yugoslavia at the Peace Conference.

The losses of liners (steamships for travelers) were less serious than those of freighters, and therefore they were not replaced promptly. So, after the war, there were too many freighters and not enough liners. Freighters were taken out of service and the price of leasing them declined whereas liners were in demand and the price of leasing them rose. As a result the companies began to specialize: some devoted themselves to cargo, others got rid of their own cargo fleets and specialized in liner service. ( "Theoretically, specialization represents progress because it leads to lower costs; but when one branch or the other has a crisis, specialization leads to bankruptcy because reciprocal counterbalance is no longer possible, "

A.G. ) The fleet of liners was faced with a fundamental problem: ships for emigrants or ships for high class travelers? The major companies decided to give preference to luxury steamships. There was an emigration crisis because of legislative restrictions. Hence the development of great luxury steamships which, given the high fares, are not constrained by limitations of space and comfort.

Tendency toward big tonnage. A result of the economic law of increasing returns. The increase in length, height, breadth results in a more than proportional increase in effective capacity, that is, in the space given to cargo. There also is an increase-more than proportional to construction and operation costs -in the shipowner's profit. Speed, on the other hand, must be held in check in order to be economical (not any faster than 24 knots at present). Warships are a different matter, their purposes are martial not economic. Maritime engines capable of generating high speeds are insatiable consumers of fuel. Velocity follows the law of decreasing returns, the reverse of the law that governs the capacity of ships.

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 3 )

Twenty years ago : a speed of I I knots cost 2 9 5 lire an hour; I 3

knots, 3 70 lire; 2 1 knots, I 8oo lire. The principle of fast travel was replaced by the principle of comfortable voyages. ( "Today the radio, and especially the airplane for those who are really in a hurry, compensate for the relatively slow speed of luxury liners; it is always possible to stay in touch by means of the radio and not interrupt business. Two consequences of the airplane : I ) in a few hours one can reliably cover short distances- Paris-London, etc.; 2 ) transatlantic liners also carry airplanes and once they reach a certain distance from their destination which ensures a safe flight they enable those who are in a great hurry to shorten the trip;'' A.

G . ) A speed of 23 knots was achieved by a change in the engines and by the use of new fuels. The turbine replaced other engines : the Diesel engine is likely to replace the turbine. Liquid fuel re places coal. Considerable savings make new speeds ( 2 3 knots) eco nomical.

New and old constructions: A new ship, which represents great progress, immediately and automatically lowers the value of all previous ships. The old fleet has to be scrapped, or transformed if possible, or else used for other kinds of transportation. The old ships yield small or no returns (even if they are partly amortized), if they are not actually losing money. Therefore, given constant technical progress, the transatlantic ships of today have to redeem their capital value in little less than a decade. ( "This is why, in valuing the real efficiency of the various national fleets, one must pay attention to the age of the fleet as well as the number of ships and the total tonnage. This also explains how fleets with a smaller tonnage can yield higher returns than fleets which are statistically larger; not to mention the greater risks- insurance-and dangers to human lives that come with old ships. " )

§( I 3 ). Eugenio Di Carlo, Un Carteggio inedito del P . L . Taparelli D ' Azeglio coi fratelli Massimo e Roberto. Rome: Anonima Romana editoriale, I 926; L. I 6 . s o. 1

An important book. Prospera Taparelli D'Azeglio, brother of Massimo and of Roberto, born in Turin on 24 October I 7 93, joined the Society of Jesus in I 8 I 4 under the name of Luigi. In his books and in the Civilta Cattolica, he was a relentless adversary of liberalism, a defender of the rights of the Church and of Catholic power

Miscellaneous I. § r6

2 5 9

against secular power. He championed Thomism when i t was a philosophy out of favor among the Jesuits. He supported Gioberti at first, but turned against him after I1 Gesuita moderno. He advocated the need for a rapprochement and an agreement between moderate liberals and Catholicism, in opposition to liberalism which called for the separation of Church and State; in favor of temporal power. Di Carlo defends him against the accusation that he was a supporter of Austrian rule in Italy and an enemy of freedom. In addition to Di Carlo's preface, 44 letters from I 82 I to I 8 62 which deal with contemporary issues.

(It seems to me that in this book, too, there is the tendency to rehabilitate the enemies of the Risorgimento, with the excuse of the "framework of the times. " But what was this "framework, "

the reaction or the Risorgimento ? )

§( I 4). Amy A . Bernardy, Forme e colori di vita regionale italiana. Piemon te, vol. I, Bologna: Zanichelli, L. 20. 1 ( Prepare bibliographies of all the collections that deal with regional life and have some merit. Bibliography connected with the question of folklore. )

§( I s ). The Albanians of Italy. When Scutari was occupied after the Balkan wars, Italy sent a battalion there which included a certain number of Albanian soldiers from Italy. Since they spoke Albanian, only with a slightly different accent, they were received cordially. (From a very silly article, "Sulle vie dell' Oriente, " by Vico Mantegazza in the Nuova Antologia of I May I 92 ? . J l

§( I 6). Francesco Tommasini, "Politica mondiale e politica eu ropea, " Nuova Antologia, I May I 6 May I 927. 1

Political hegemony of Europe before the World War. Tommasini (writes) that from the battle of Marathon until the World War, world politics have been controlled by Europe. (However, until recently, there was no "world, " and a world politics did not exist; furthermore, the Chinese and Indian civilizations must have certainly counted for something. ) At the beginning of the century there were three European world powers : England, Russia and Ger many. They were world powers because of the expanse of their

260

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

territories, because of their economic and financial power, because of their ability to pursue an absolutely independent line of action which necessarily influenced all the other powers, great and small.

(Tommasini does not consider France a world power! ) England: it had defeated three great colonial powers (Spain, the Low Countries, France) and subdued the fourth ( Portugal); it had won the Napoleonic wars, and for a century it was the arbiter of the whole world.

Two powers standard. The world's strategic points in its hands ( Gibraltar, Malta, Suez, Aden, Bahrein Islands, Singapore, Hong Kong). Industries, commerce, finance. R ussia: a threat to India, it aimed toward Constantinople. Large army. Germany: intellectual activity, industrial competitor of England, large army, a navy that posed a threat to the two powers standard. 2

Developmen t of the power of the United States. Independence in 1 7 83, recognized by England in the Versailles Treaty: at that time it was made up of I 3 states, of which IO were originally British colonies and 3 (New York, New Jersey, and Delaware) were ceded by the Low Countries to England in I 667, with about 2

million square kilometers of which only the eastern Atlantic coast was really populated. According to the census of I 7 90, the population did not reach 4 million, including 7oo,ooo slaves. On that same territory, in I 8 2o, there were 20 states with 7 1 million inhabitants. At that time, the United States had a northern border with Canada which France had ceded to England in 1 7 6 3 , after the Seven Year War. To the west was Louisiana, a French colony which was purchased in I 803 for I S million dollars (a territory of I , 7 5 o,ooo square kilometers) so that the whole Mississippi basin came under its rule and the border fell on the Sabine river along the Spanish colony of Mexico. To the south was Spanish Florida which was purchased in I 8 I 9 .

Mexico, which was then twice its present size, rose against Spain in I 8 I o and had its independence recognized by the Treaty of Cordoba in I 82 I . From that time, the United States embarked on a policy aimed at acquiring Mexico: England supported the emperor Iturbide, the United States promoted a republican movement which triumphed in I 82 3 . French intervention in Spain. Opposition by England and the United States to the Holy Alliance policy of helping Spain reconquer the American colonies. This is the cause of President Monroe's message to Congress (2 December I 82 3 ) in which the famous doctrine is announced. It opposes inter-

Miscellaneous I. § r 6

vention against those former colonies which have proclaimed their independence, preserved it and had it recognized by the United States, which could not remain an indifferent spectator in the face of such an intervention, whatever its form.

In I 8 3 5 , Texas ( 690 thousand square kilometers) declared its independence from Mexico and a decade later joined the United States. War between the United States and Mexico. With the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo ( I 848 ), Mexico had to cede the territory which now comprises the states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico ( about I , 70o,ooo square kilometers) . The United States thus reached the Pacific coast, which it later occupied all the way up to the Canadian border, and attained its present dimensions.

The Civil War from 1 8 6o to 1 8 6 5 : France and England encouraged the separatist movement in the South and Napoleon III tried to take advantage of the crisis to strengthen Mexico with Maximilian. Once the Civil War was over, the United States reminded Paris of the Monroe Doctrine and demanded the withdrawal of French troops from Mexico. The purchase of Alaska in 1 86 7 . The expansion of the United States as a great world power begins toward the end of the nineteenth century.

The main American problems : I ) regulation of emigration to ensure a greater homogeneity of the population (in reality this problem arose after the war and it is related to the national question and even more to the industrial revolution); 2) hegemony over the Caribbean Sea and the Antilles; 3 ) domination over Central America, especially the canal regions; 4) expansion in the Far East.

World War. The central empires blocked; the Entente master of the seas : the U.S. supplied the Entente, exploiting all the favorable occasions that arose. The colossal cost of the war, the severe disruptions of European production (the Russian revolution) have turned the United States into the arbiter of world finance. Hence its political assertion.

England and United States after the war. England came out of the war as a triumphant power. Germany bereft of its navy and its colonies. Russia, which could have reemerged as a rival, was relegated to secondary importance for at least some decades. (This opinion is very debatable: perhaps the English would have preferred even a victorious Czarist Russia as a rival rather than today's Russia because Russia is influential not only in imperial politics

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

but also in English domestic politics. ) It acquired about I O million additional square kilometers of possessions with about 3 5 million inhabitants. Nonetheless, England has had to recognize tacitly the supremacy of the United States, because of both economic reasons and the transformation of the Empire. The wealth of the United States which was estimated at 9 2 5 billion gold francs in I 9 I 2, had grown to I 6oo billion gold francs in I 922. The merchant marine : 7, 928, 688 tons in I 9 I 4, I 2, s oo,ooo tons in I 9 I 9 . Exports : I S billion gold francs in I 9 I 3 ; 3 7 I /2 billion in 1 9 1 9 ; decreasing to about 24

billion in I 924-2 5 . Imports : about IO billion gold francs in I 9 I 3, I 6 billion in I 9 I 9, I 9 billion in I 924-2 5 .

The wealth of Great Britain, during the decade of I 9 I 2-22, grew only from 3 8 7 billion to 445 billion gold francs. Merchant marine : 1 3 , 8 5 o,ooo tons in 1 9 1 2; 1 r , 8oo,ooo tons in 1 922. Exports : about I 5 billion gold francs in I 9 I 3; I 7 billion in I 9 I 9; 20 billion in I 924. Imports : I 9 billion gold francs in I 9 I 3 ; about 28 I/2 billion in 1 9 1 9; 27 r /2 billion in I 924. National debt: - 3 1 March 1 9 1 5 : I , I 6 2 million pounds; I 9 I 9 : 7,48 I million; I 924: 8,482 million; on the positive side of the balance sheet, after the war, there were credits for loans to Allied Powers, colonies and dominions, new states of Eastern Europe, etc., which had reached 2, 5 4 I million pounds in I 9 I 9, and 2, 1 62 million in I 924. But their collection was not completely assured. For example, the Italian debt was 5 5 3

million pounds in I 9 24 and 5 84 million in I 92 5 , but following the agreement of 27 January I 926, Italy will pay only 276, 7 5 o,ooo pounds, including interest, over a period of 62 years. In I 922 England, instead, consolidated its debt toward the United States into 4, 6oo million dollars, to be reimbursed over 62 years with 3 %

interest until I 9 3 2 and 3 I /2 % after that.

English Empire. From the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland it has become the "British Commonwealth of Nations. "

Particularistic tendencies. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in an intermediate position between England and the United States.

Increasingly close relations between the United States and Canada.

Canada, special plenipotentiary minister in Washington. In the case of a serious clash between the United States and England, the English Empire would fall apart.

Wilson. Wilson's world politics. His conflict with the dominant political forces in the United States. The failure of his global politics. Warren G. Harding becomes President on 4 March I 92 I . With

A N T O N I O G R A M S C I

A P O RT F O L I O

In 1 929, when Gram sci obtained permission to write in his prison cell, he used some notebooks for translations. The label in the middle of the front cover of this "translation notebook " (which has the same physical characteristics as Notebooks 1 and 2) shows Gramsci 's prison num ber (704 7), the num ber of sheets it contains ( "Fogli cinquanta "-fifty sheets}, the seal of the prison at Turi di Bari, and the signature of the warden, "Il direttore Parmegiani. " The label and the markings on the upper right were added after Gramsci's death by Tatiana Schucht when she was preparing a preliminary catalog of his papers.

er notebooks. The manuscript presents few problems of decipherm ent; the can celed portions of the text rem ain perfectly legible, and the writing is clear even when additions and correc tions are inserted between lines or in the margin.

Pages 70 verso and 71 recto from the manuscript of Notebook 1 . Their con ten ts correspond to the conclusion of § 1 06, all of § § 1 0 7- 1 08 and the opening lines of

§ 1 09 in the presen t edition. With very few exceptions, each en try in the note

books is preceded by the sym bol §. The majority of notes start with an underlined phrase or word indicating the topics they address.

Three pages at the start of one of the note,books which Gramsci set aside for translation contain some exercises in the English language-two of them are reproduced here. These pages are the only record of Gramsci's effort to learn

English. His study of foreign languages, to which he devoted considerable time while in prison, was directed primarily at improving his knowledge of German and Russian.

Miscellaneous I. § r 6

his note of the following April 4th, on the question of the Yap islands, Harding makes it clear that the United States has no intention of interfering with the relation between the Allies and Ger many, or of requesting a revision of the Treaty of Versailles, but it intends to retain all the claims to which it is entitled because of its intervention in the war. These principles were developed further in the April 1 2th message and led to the Washington conference that lasted from 1 2 November 1 9 2 1 to 6 February 1 922, and dealt with China, with the balance of power in the seas of the Far East, and with the limitation of naval armaments.

Population of the United States. Its national composition pro duced by immigration. Governmental policy. In r 882, Chinese workers were denied entry. At first, Japan received some consideration but in I 907 with the so-called Root Takahira gentlemen 's agreemen t Japanese immigration, while not specifically rejected, was greatly impeded by means of the restrictions on the culture, medical fitness and financial resources of immigrants. However, the great change in immigration policy came after the war: the law of 1 9 May 1 9 2 1 , which remained in effect until I July I 924, set the annual immigration quota for each single nation at 3 % of the American citizens from the respective nation as determined by the I 9 I O census. ( Subsequent changes. ) Yellow immigration defini tively excluded.

The United States in the Caribbean Sea. Spanish American War.

With the Paris peace treaty ( I o December I 8 9 8 ) Spain renounced all its rights over Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico and its other small islands to the United States. The island of Cuba, which commands the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico, was to be independent and promulgated a constitution on I 2 February I 90 I ; but the United States exacted a guarantee of its right to intervene in exchange for its recognition of independence and the withdrawal of its troops.

With the reciprocity treaty of 2 July I 903, the United States obtained commercial privileges and the lease of Guantanamo Bay as a naval base.

In I 9 I 4, the United States intervened in Haiti: by an agreement of I 6 September I 9 I 5 the United States obtained the right to have its own high commissioner in control of the administration of customs at Port au-Prince. The Dominican Republic was placed under American financial control in I 907 and during the war troops were sent in which were withdrawn in 1 924. In 1 9 1 7, the United

NOTEBOOK 2 ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 3 )

States purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark. Thus the United States dominates the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

The United States and Central America. Panama Canal and other possible canals. In a treaty signed in Washington on 1 5 December r 926, the Republic of Panama agreed to take the side of the United States in case of war. The treaty still not ratified because incompatible with the statutes of the League of Nations to which Panama belongs, but ratification not necessary. The question of Nicaragua.

China. In 1 8 99, America proclaimed its policy of territorial integrity for China and an open door policy. In 1 908, with the Root

Takahira exchange of notes, the United States and Japan renewed their solemn declarations on the integrity and the political independence of China. After the acceptance by China of Japan's cocalled "twenty-one points" ( 1 9 1 5 ultimatum), the United States declared (notes of 1 3 May 1 9 1 5 , to Peking and Tokyo) that it did not recognize the agreements reached. At the Washington Conference, the United States obtained from the European powers and Japan a renunciation of a great many of the special advantages and privileges they had secured for themselves. Japan agreed to give up Kiao-Chow. Japan maintained its position only in Manchuria. Since 1 908, the United States had foregone the indemnities it was due after the Boxer Rebellion and directed the money involved toward cultural purposes in China. In 1 9 1 7, China suspended payments.

Agreements : Japan and England, like the United States, have foregone the indemnities; France has used the funds to compensate those who had suffered losses from the bankruptcy of the Industrial Bank of China; Italy and Belgium have agreed to devote about 4/5 of the money still owed them to cultural purposes.

Far East. Possessions of the United States: the Philippines and the island of Guam (Mariana Islands); the Hawaiian islands; the island of Tutuila in the Samoa group. Prior to the Washington treaty, the situation in the Far East was controlled by the Anglo

Japanese alliance arranged by the 30 January 1 902 defense treaty of London and based on the independence of China and Korea

English interests were to prevail in China and Japanese interests in Korea. After the Russian debacle, it was replaced by the treaty of 1 2 August 1 905 : while reaffirming the integrity of China and the economic and commercial equality of all foreigners, the contracting parties reciprocally guaranteed their territorial rights and their

Miscellaneous I. § 1 6

special interests i n East Asia and India- Japanese supremacy in Korea and England's right to defend India in the neighboring Chinese regions, namely Tibet. This alliance regarded unfavorably by the United States. Frictions during the war. During the I O December I 9 2 I session of the Washington Conference, Lord Balfour announced the end of the alliance; it was replaced by the treaty of I 3

December I 92 I in which France, England, the United States, and Japan agreed for ten years to : I ) respect their possessions and island dominions in the Pacific and to submit to a conference of the same states the controversies that might arise among them over the Pacific and over the possessions and dominions in question; 2) take concerted action in case of aggressive behavior by another power.

The treaty is limited to island possessions and as far as Japan is concerned it applies to Karafuto (Southern Sakhalin), Formosa, and the Pescadores, but not to Korea and Port Arthur. A separate declaration specified that the treaty also applies to islands under a mandate in the Pacific, but that this does not imply that the United States agrees with the mandates. The reciprocal guarantee of the status quo has special significance for the Philippines, since it prevents Japan from fomenting discontent among the indigenous population.

In the treaty limiting naval armaments there is a very important provision (art. I 9 ) which enjoins France, England, the United States and Japan to maintain the status quo until 3 I December I 9 3 6 on matters regarding fortifications and naval bases in the possessions and dominions to the east of the I Io meridian of Greenwich which passes through the island of Hainan. Japan incurs a loss because its hands are tied even in the small archipelagos near the great metropolitan islands. England can fortify Singapore, and the United States the Hawaiian islands, thus dominating both entrances to the Pacific. Limitations on liner ships. The United States and England achieve naval parity.

Hegemony of the United States. Tommasini predicts an alliance between the United States and England and a revolt against that coalition which might include China, Japan, and Russia with technical-industrial assistance from Germany. His views are still based on the first phase of the Chinese nationalist movement.

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§(I ?). Guido Bustico, "Gioacchino Murat nelle memorie ine dite del generale Rossetti, " in the Nuova Antologia issues of I 6

May, I June, and I 6 June I 92 7 . 1

General Giuseppe Rossetti, Piedmontese by birth, French by choice, was a field officer first in the French army and later in Murat's Neapolitan army. He wrote four huge volumes of memoirs in French which remained unpublished- they cover the period from 20 December 1 7 96 to 6 November I 8 3 6 and are rich with information concerning Italy and France. Bustico vouches for their balance and impartiality and derives from them information on Murat's "new policy" after the Battle of Leipzig (rapprochement with Austria), on the mission assigned to a certain G. Grassi in March I B I S to go to northern Italy and see what support Murat could expect for an initiative favoring Italian independence, and on Murat's escape from Naples until his execution.2

§( 1 8). "Una politica di pace europea, " by Argus, in the Nuova Antologia of 1 June 1 927. 1 Discusses the frequent visits to England by German politicians and men of letters. These German intellec tuals, when questioned, say that whenever they get in touch with influential Anglo-Saxon individuals they are asked the following:

"What is Germany's attitude toward Russia ? "; and they add, in desperation ( ! ) : "But we cannot take part in the controversies between London and Moscow ! " At the root of the English conception of foreign policy is the conviction that conflict with Russia is not only inevitable but already under way, albeit in strange and unusual forms that make it invisible to the eyes of the great masses of the country. An ultra-anglophile article (from the same period I remember an article by Manfredi Gravina in Carriere della Sera2

so scandalously anglophile as to be amazing-it called for the open subservience of Italy to England) : the English want peace, but have demonstrated that they know how to wage war. They are sentimental and altruistic : they look after European interests; if Chamberlain has not broken with Russia, it is because such a move could harm other nations less favorably positioned than England, etc.

The English policy of mutual understanding with France is fundamental, but the English government can also help other nations : England wants to be everyone's friend. Hence the rapprochement

Miscellaneous I. §2o

with Italy and Poland. In England, a certain number of people are against the Italian regime. But English policy is faithfully friendly and will remain so even if the regime were to change, also because the Italian policy is courageous, etc., etc.

§( I 9). Roger Labonne 's article on "Italia e Asia Minore, " in the Correspondant of IO January I 927 .1 Italy becomes interested in Asia Minor for the first time in I 9oo : it sends a number of missions to study southern Anatolia, it establishes a vice-consulate, schools and a hospital in Antalya, and it subsidizes the shipping lines that carry its flag along the coast. It becomes interested, above all, in Smyrna, and makes of its harbor the center of its influence in the Near East. Articles 8 and 9 of the London Treaty2 state : "Italy will receive total sovereignty in the Dodecanese. In the case of a partial or total subdivision of Turkey, Italy will obtain the Mediterranean region which neighbors the province of Antalya and which has already made ( ! ) an agreement with England. " At San Giovanni di Mariana, Italy restates her request ( 2 I April I 9 I 7 ). Venizelos, tak ing advantage of Orlando's and Sonnino's departure from Paris, induced the Allies to award Smyrna to Greece.3 In his speech in Milan on I January I 92 6, Mussolini said: "We must have faith in the Revolution which in I 92 6 will have its Napoleonic year. "

Nothing of real importance took place in I 926, but on two occa sions events were on the verge of taking important turns. Mosul was ceded to Iraq (that is, to the English) . Facing an imminent Italian intervention, Turkey gave in after pleading in vain for Moscow's military help in the case of conflict on the Maeander and the Tigris. The London newspapers ingenuously admit that the success of Mosul is the result of Italian pressure, but the English government does not pay much attention to Italy. In jockeying over Anatolia, Italy lost its two best cards in I 926 with the agreement on Mosul and with the fall of Pangalos.4

§(20). For the relations between the German Cen ter and the Vatican, and, therefore, for a concrete study of the traditional policy of the Vatican in various countries and the forms it assumes, there is a very interesting article by Andre Lavedan in the Revue Hebdomadaire, summarized in the Rivista d' Italia of I 5 March

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I 9 2 7 . 1 Leo XIII asked the Center to vote in favor of the law on Bismarck's seven year term, having received assurances that this would have led to a favorable revision of the political-ecclesiastical laws. Frankestein and Windthorst refuse to go along with the Vati can's request. From the Center only 7 voted for the law, 8 3 ab stained.

§(2 1 ). "L'Etiopia d'oggi" (an article in the Rivista d' Italia with three asterisks for a signature). 1 Ethiopia is the only independent indigenous state (besides Liberia) in an Africa that has become completely European. Menelik was the founder of modern Ethiopian unity: Abyssinian nationalists invoke Menelik, the "great and good emperor. " Among the factors that contributed to the achieve ment of Ethiopian independence, two stand out : the geographic structure of the country and jealousy among the powerful. The geographic structure makes Ethiopia an immense, naturally entrenched territory which can be conquered only with forces and at a cost that are disproportionate to the meagre economic resources the country can offer to the eventual conqueror. The province of Shewa where Abyssinian unity was forged, is itself a fortress within the entrenched territory it completely oversees and dominates. In the last three decades an imperial army has been formed which is separate from and technically superior to the small armies of the leading chiefs; the national army is Menelik's creation. Before Menelik's death ( I 9 I 3 ), the Court, faced with the old emperor's mental breakdown, had already proclaimed Lij Eyasu emperor ( I 4

April I 9 I O) -he was the son of one of Menelik's daughters and Ras Mikael. Upon Menelik's death ( I I December I 9 I 3 ), struggles broke out : Zauditu, another daughter of Menelik's, and Ras Tafari, son of Ras Makonnen, formed a coalition and succeeded in attracting overwhelming support. Tafari had the young on his side. Ras Mikael, tutor of the minor Lij Eyasu, was unable to control the various factions and to secure public order; this was made clear by the assault on the Italian Legation on I 7 May I 9 I 6 . The European war saved Abyssinia from foreign intervention and gave Abyssinia the opportunity to overcome the crisis on its own. Zauditu and Tafari joined together to dethrone Lij Eyasu and to share power; Zauditu as nominal emperess, Tafari as heir to the throne and regent (27

September I 9 1 6 ) . Tafari, who had the support of the military lead

Miscellaneous I. §21

ers, was able to subdue the country with his energy and shrewdness. But the power sharing with Zauditu often created opportunities for palace intrigues that were not always innocuous. (Toward the end of 1 926 or early in 1 92 7 ) the Minister of War, Fitwrary Habta Giorgis, and the leader of the Church, Abune Mattheos, died within a very short time of each other.

The death of the Abune opened up the question of the national Church. The Ethiopian Church recognized the supreme authority of the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria who named an Egyptian to the high office of Abune (Mattheos was an Egyptian). Ethiopian nationalism demands an Abyssinian Abune. The Abune is extremely important in Abyssinia (more so than the Archbishop primate of all France) and the fact that he is a foreigner creates certain risks, even though his authority is counterbalanced and, in a certain sense, checked by the indigenous echege who directly controls the numerous monastic orders.2 Mattheos ' support of Tafari in the coup d'etat of 27 September 1 9 1 2 was indicative of what could happen. (When the article was published, the Patriarch of Alexandria was still resisting the Abyssinian demand: check the subse quent developments of this issue . ) (Abyssinia has a religious capi tal : Aksum. ) Tafari has tried to impart a new style to Abyssinian foreign policy. Menelik sought to restrict slavery and to introduce compulsory education, launching the state toward modern ways, but he maintained an attitude of dissentient isolation. Tafari, by contrast, has tried to participate in European life and obtained membership in the League of Nations while formally agreeing to abolish slavery as quickly as possible. In fact, he issued a proclamation requiring the gradual freeing of slaves- but so far this has not produced results. The anti abolitionists are very powerful. (Be sides, Ethiopia is still feudal. )

In the London treaty of 1 3 December 1 906, Italy, France, England, the three neighboring powers, agreed: to respect the political and territorial status quo of Ethiopia; in the case of internal conflicts or changes, to maintain the strictest neutrality and refrain from any intervention in the internal affairs of the country; if the status quo were disturbed, to try to maintain the integrity of Ethiopia and to always safeguard their respective interests. England's interests were the Nile basin and the control of the waters of the Nile and its tributaries; Italy's, the hinterland of its Eritrean and Somalian possessions and their territorial union west of Addis

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Ababa; France's, the hinterland of Djibouti and the area needed for the construction and the traffic of the Djibouti-Addis Ababa railway. The three powers undertook to help each other in protecting their respective interests.

The agreement was conceived in the full blossom of Italy's "waltz"

with the western powers; that is, at the height of the wide ranging program of Mediterranean agreements (the London treaty was mostly concluded on 6 July, three months after Algeciras) which was brought to an abrupt end a couple of years later by the blackmail I ! ) of the Austrian General Staff. Thus, the policy of cooperation gave way to a war of pin pricks; it only benefitted France which was able to extend the railroad to Addis Ababa. (Diplomatic circles maintain that the London treaty was submited in advance to Menelik and signed only when he gave his assent to the ministers from the three powers accredited to his court, so that the stipulations of the treaty would also appear to be concessions implicitly I ! ) promised by Abyssinia- something like the situation of the famous treaty of WuchalV only worse. )

After the European war, during the negotiations on colonial reparations determined by the London pact, Italy sought to revive the I 906 treaty because it wanted to resolve the problem of linking Eritrea and Somalia by rail. However, London and Paris refused.

France, after the Djibouti Addis Ababa railroad, no longer had any thing to ask of Abyssinia; England thought it could obtain every thing without having to join Italy. But England later concluded the agreement of I 92 5 (the exchange of two notes between Mussolini and the English ambassador in Rome on I4 and 20 December I 92 5 ) .

In it, Italy agreed to support England's efforts to obtain from Ethio pia the concession for the construction of a dam on Lake Tana in an area which in I 906 had been reserved for Italian influence, and the concession for a highway between the Sudan and Lake Tana.

England agreed to help Italy obtain the rights to construct and use a railroad between Eritrea and Italian Somalia to the west of Addis Ababa. England recognized Italy's exclusive I ! ) influence in the western section of Ethiopia and in the whole area which was to be traversed by the railroad, while Italy agreed to refrain from any project in the area around the sources of the Blue and the White Nile and their tributaries that would have any substantial impact on their flow into the main river. France objected vociferously to this agreement, presenting it as a threat to Abyssinian indepen-

Miscellaneous I. §22

27 1

dence. The French campaign had serious repercussions on Ethiopian nationalism. Ras Tafari has created two printing presses for publications in the Amharic language: the development of a national literature encouraged by Tafari; xenophobia. Japan is the model of Abyssinian nationalism.

The article in the Rivista d'Italia quotes passages from articles and pamphlets; a student educated in America writes : "Let our learning be profound and our understanding broad, so that no foreigners will come to rule over us ! . . . We have to study as hard as we can, because if we do not study our country is doomed. " France rouses fewer suspicions in Addis Ababa because, after the Fashoda incident, Djibouti is important to it only as a gateway to Indochina.

Moreover, the Djibouti-Addis Ababa railroad which provides all the external transport of Ethiopia gives France a monopoly it would want to protect : France can therefore pursue a seemingly disinter ested policy. But Ras Tafari wants Ethiopia to progress and therefore favors more hydraulic projects, etc.

There still remains a small problem between Ethiopia and Italy concerning the borders between Ethiopia and Somalia. After the border was defined at the Addis Ababa convention of 1 6 May 1 908, the Citerni mission laid down the border lines of the Benadir area.

The border of the sultanate of Obbia was not dealt with; the special status of the protectorate did not present an urgent problem. Today, however, Obbia is occupied by the Italian army and its border with Ethiopia needs to be drawn.

§(22). Stefano Jacini, Un conservatore rurale della n uova Italia. Two volumes with a total of 6oo pages and an index of names. Bari, Laterza. 1

It is the biography of the senior Stefano Jacini written by his nephew.2 Jacini used the family archives which include, among other things, a substantial collection of mostly unpublished letters.

It clarifies and completes the historical account of periods and episodes from 1 8 5 0 to 1 8 90. Jacini was not a figure of primary importance, but he had a distinctive character. His role in forging the economic unification of the nation cannot be ignored (integra tion of the railroads, the Gothard pass, the inquiry into agricul ture). A supporter of a national conservative (clerical) party. ( Jacini, farmer and owner of a spinning mill for silk. ) He did not participate

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in the 1 848 movement. ( "He was a man of cosmopolitan culture acquired through extensive travel which provided him with a Eu ropean perspective on the I 848 revolution, a perspective which kept him from active participation when it erupted in Italy"- this is more or less what Filippo Meda writes. )3 In short, Jacini conformed to the attitude of his class which was reactionary and pro

Austrian.

During Maximilian's rule, he played an active role. He dealt with technical and economic issues. He favored Cavour, that is, independence without revolution. When he was Cavour's minister he was attacked for his pre- I 8 5 9 past and was defended by Cattaneo.4

His book, Sulle condizioni della cosa pubblica in Italia was published in January I 870; it contains the thesis of a real Italy different from and in opposition to legal Italy (a formula later used by the clericals ) : against Parliament, which he wanted to confine to the large issues of national defense, foreign policy, and central finance; regional decentralization; indirect universal suffrage with voting rights for illiterates (that is, power to the agrarians).

In I 87 9, he published I conservatori e la evoluzione naturale dei partiti politici in ltalia. He views the political balance in the following way: the Republicans as far left; the intransigent clericals as far right (he thought that abstentionism would be abandoned soon); between them, two government parties, one decidedly national conservative, the other progressive monarchic-liberal.

Against Crispi and political megalomania. (Emanuele Greppi, Gaetano Negri, Giuseppe Colombo subscribed to his ideas : Lombard moderates. )5 Jacini perfectly exemplifies his class, the northern agrarians. His political and literary activity is interesting because it provided later movements (Popular Party, etc.) with themes and points of departure. (In I 87 I he opposed the transfer of the capital to Rome. )

§(23). The Eurasian movemen t. The movement is centered around the journal Nakanune, which leans toward a revision of the posture adopted by emigre intellectuals; it started in I 9 2 I . The first thesis of Eurasianism is that Russia is more Asiatic than Western. Russia must place itself at the head of Asia in the struggle against European ascendancy. The second thesis is that Bolshevism

Miscellaneous I. §25

27 3

has been a decisive event in Russian history: it has "stirred up" the Russian people and enhanced the international authority and influence of Russia by means of the new ideology it has disseminated.

The Eurasians are not Bolsheviks but they are enemies of Western democracy and parliamentarism. They often pose as Russian fascists, as friends of a strong state in which discipline, authority, hierarchy should reign over the masses. They support dictatorship and they welcome the current state system in Soviet Russia, however much they yearn to replace the proletarian ideology with a national ideology. Orthodoxy for them is the typical expression of the Russian popular character; it is the Christianity of the Eurasian soul. 1

§(24). World politics and European politics. They are not the same thing. A duel between Berlin and Paris or between Paris and Rome does not turn the winner into the master of the world.

Europe has lost its importance and world politics depend more on London, Washington, Moscow, Tokyo than the continent. 1

§(2 5 ) . Italian nationalism. First congress of the Nationalist Party (Nationalist Association) in Florence in December I 9 I O, chaired by Scipio Sighele : Gualtiero Castellini, Federzoni, Corradini, Paolo Arcari, Bevione, Bodrero, Gray, Rocco, Del Vecchio. 1 A group that was still indistinct, it tried to crystallize the less vulgar currents of traditional patriotism around the problems of foreign policy and emigration. (It is rarely noted that, in Italy, alongside the most superficial cosmopolitanism and apatriotism, there has always been a frenzied chauvinism which linked itself to the glories of Rome and the maritime republics, and to the flourishing of world famous individual artists, literary figures, and scientists.

Italian chauvinism is characteristic and has some types which are absolutely unique to it; it was accompanied by an equally characteristic populist xenophobia. ) At first, the nationalist movement included many democrats and liberals and even Freemasons. The movement later became more distinct and better defined through the work of a small group of intellectuals who plundered Charles Maurras' dry, imperious, arrogant, and derivative ideologies and arguments - Coppola, Forges Davanzati, Federzoni. ( Syndicalist

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importation into nationalism. ) In reality, the nationalists were antiirredentists; their basic position was anti-French. They tolerated irredentism because they did not want it to be a monopoly of the republicans and the radical Freemasons, that is, an instrument of French influence in Italy. Theoretically, the foreign policy of the nationalists did not have a clear goal : it presented itself as an abstract imperial vindication against everyone; in reality, it wanted to suppress democratic Franchophilia and gain popular support for the alliance with Germany.2

§(26). The German newspapers. Three large journalistic clusters : Ullstein, Masse, Scherl; the first two democratic, the third right wing (Hugenberg's press). 1

The Ullstein house publishes : the Vossiche Zeitung, for the educated public, with a small circulation (4o,ooo copies ? ) but important on a European scale, edited by George Bernhard (it is regarded as too Francophile); the Morgenpost, the most widely read newspaper in Berlin and maybe in all Germany (perhaps s oo,ooo copies), for the lower middle class and workers; the Berliner Allgemeine Zeitung, which deals with local issues; the Berliner Illustrierte (resembles the Domenica del Carriere), with an extremely large circulation; the Berliner Zeitung am Mittag, sensational and with a daily readership of r oo,ooo; the Uhu; the Querschnitt ( Crosswise); and Die Koralle, of the same type as the Lettura; as well as other fashion, business, technical, etc. publications. Ullstein has ties with the Telegraaf of Amsterdam, the Az Est of Budapest, the Neue Freie Presse. 2 (The Carriere della Sera relies on Ullstein for news from Berlin. )

The Rudolph Masse publishing company brings out the great democratic daily Berliner Tageblatt ( 3 oo,ooo copies), edited by Theodor Wolf, with 1 7 supplements (Beilagen) and special foreign editions in German, French, and English -its importance stretches across Europe and it is too expensive and highbrow for common folk; Berliner Morgenzeitung and Berliner Valkszeitung written in a popular style, but toeing the same political line. The Stampa of Turin relies on the Masse publishing house.

The Scherl publishing house: Lakal Anzeiger, favorite reading of shopowners and the petite bourgeoisie that remains faithful to the

Miscellaneous I. §27

27 5

old imperial Germany; the Tag, for a more select readership; the Woche; the Gartenlaube (the Bower).

Newspapers, from the right to the left: Deutsche Zeitung, ultranationalist, but small circulation; Hitler's Volkischer Beobach ter, small circulation ( 2o,ooo). Also with a small circulation ( 1o,ooo) there is the Neue Preussische Zeitung which continues to be called Kreuzzeitung: it is the classic organ of the Junkers ( Prussian own ers of large estates), former aristocratic officers, monarchists, and absolutists who have remained rich and firmly established because of their base in landed property. However, the Deutsche Tageszeitung, organ of the Bund der Landwirte (federation of agrarians) has a circulation of 1 oo,ooo; it is read by the small landowners and farmers and it helps keep public opinion in the countryside faithful to the old regime.

German national papers : the Tag ( 1 oo,ooo); Lokal Anzeiger ( 1 8o,ooo); Schlesische Zeitung; Berliner Borsen Zeitung (right-wing financial newspaper); Tiigliche Rundschau ( 3 o,ooo ) but important because it was Stresemann's unofficial organ; Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung the organ of heavy industry, it too is Germanpopular. Other German-popular newspapers, that is, moderately right-wing papers which give conditional support to the current regime and are read by industrialists, include : the Magdeburgische Zeitung; the Kolnische Zeitung ( p,ooo), known across Europe for its authoritativeness on foreign policy; the Hannoverschej Kurier; the Mii.nchner Neueste Nachrichten ( 1 3 5,000); and the Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten ( no,ooo).

Newspapers of the center: the Germani a ( 1 o,ooo); but the Catholic provincial newspapers such as the Kolnische Volkszeitung have a very large circulation.

The democratic newspapers are the best produced: Vossische Zeitung; Berliner Tageblatt; Berliner Borsen Courier; Frankfurter Zeitung. The social democrats have a humoristic paper, Lachen Links (laughter on the left).

§(27). The Correspondan t of 25 July 1 927 (see the Rivista d'

Italia of 15 July 1 92 7 : perhaps there is an error in the dates, unless Rivista d' Italia came out much later than its date) stated in an article, "La pression italienne" : "We have it from an excellent

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 3 )

source, that the Duce has wanted to go to war twice already since coming to power; purportedly, Marshall Badoglio twice refused to assume the responsibility and asked for and obtained a postponement until 1 9 3 5 in order to be safe . " 1 This speech on the crucial year is from June 1 92 7 : the Correspondant, then, would seek to explain this future determination. The Correspondant is a highly authoritative conservative-Catholic journal.

§(28). Article by Frank Simonds, "Vecchi torbidi nei nuovi Bal cani" in the American Review of Reviews. 1 Simonds draws a parallel between Mussolini and Stresemann as the most active European political figures.2 Both of them worship the spirit of opportunism (perhaps he means "of the moment, " but perhaps he is also referring to the absence of broad, long range perspectives and, therefore, the absence of principles ). Mussolini's treaties, like Stresemann's, do not represent a permanent policy. They are things done at a given moment because of contemporary conditions. And since certain events might intervene which are apt to precipitate conflict, both of them are equally anxious to avoid hostilities, acquiring for their respective countries and for themselves the prestige they need through occasional diplomatic victories.

§(29). Quintina Sella. (Article by Cesare Spellanzon in the Rivista d' Italia of r s July 1 927). 1

Quintino Sella is one of the few members of the bourgeoisie (technically industrialists) who participated very prominently in the formation of the modem state in Italy.2 He stands apart most distinctly from the other political figures of his time and his generation: because of his specialized education (he is a great engineer and a man of science as wellh he knows English and German, besides French; he traveled extensively abroad and immersed himself in the life of other countries to get to know their working habits and way of life (in other words, he did not travel as a tourist, visiting hotels and drawing rooms); he has a broad humanistic as well as a technical education; he is a man of strong moral convictions, even puritanical in a sense, and tries to retain his independence from the court which had such a degrading effect on the men in power (many statesmen behaved like pimps, as D'Azeglio); he

Miscellaneous I. §29

277

even goes so far as to disapprove openly of the king's private life and to ask him for cuts in the civil list (it is well known that the issue of the civil list and of occasional allocations was an important factor in the selection of government officers); and, in order to move closer to other more progressive movements, he dissociates himself from the so called right-wing which was more of a coterie of bureaucrats, generals and landowners than a political party (examine this question further). (Sella participated in transformism which represented an attempt to create a strong bourgeois party outside the personalistic and sectarian traditions of the formations of the Risorgimento. )

Quintina Sella, a merciless tax assessor: the tax on flour. Why was this tax chosen ? Because it was easy to collect ? Or is it because sabotage by the landowning classes was more greatly feared than the people's hatred?

Sella did not play much of a role in 1 848 (in Paris he had witnessed the fall of the July monarchy) . In Milan, he attended a meeting at which Brescia was being censured for its Piedmontese sympathies; Sella defended Brescia and was hissed. He belonged to the Right, but he became minister for the first time under Rattazzi, leader of the center left ( 1 862); he opposed the first Minghetti premiership ( 1 8 6 3-64); and, together with Lanza, he fought against Menabrea's premiership ( r 868-69).3 Decidedly in favor of the conquest of Rome. In r 8 7 r , Lamarmora wrote that Sella "is always scuttling, high and low, a little to the right, a little to the left; one never knows what side he belongs to and often he does not know himself. " 4

In r 8 6 5 , he visits the Royal Palace and asks the King to give up three million lire a year from the civil list in order to address the pressing problems of the treasury. As an industrialist, he cancels his supply contracts with the state when he joins the government.

In Parliament, "he dares to allude openly to the King, deploring certain indiscretions in his private life, in order to warn him that the people will not trust their rulers unless they provide a consistent example of morality. " 5 He opposes the bill for the state monopoly of tobacco, presented by a minister from the Right, because that huge business deal which the Menabrea government was about to approve reeked of corruption and shady intrigues. Sella resolutely opposes the alliance with France in r 870. The King was plotting to replace Lanza with Cialdini; Sella responded harshly in

NOTEB O O K 2 ( 1 929- 1 9 3 3 )

the Senate to the attack launched by Cialdini.6 (Born in 1 827, died in 1 8 84. )

§ (30). Italy and Yemen in the new Arab policy. An article by

"three asterisks" in the Rivista d'Italia of 1 5 July 1 927. 1 The 2

September 1 92 6 Treaty of Sana between Italy and Yemen. Yemen is the most fertile part of Arabia (fortunate Arabia). It has always been de facto autonomous, ruled by an imam dynasty descending from Husayn ibn Ali, the second son of the Caliph Ali and of Fatima, Mohammed's daughter. Only in 1 87 2 did the Turks establish their dominion in Yemen. The uprising of 1 903 found its leader in I 904 in the person of the new imam, the 28 year old Yahya ibn Mohammed Hamid. Defeated in 1 905, Yahya resumed the struggle in 1 9 1 1 with the help of Italy which was at war with Turkey, and he consolidated his independence. During the European war, Yahya sided with Turkey in order to oppose English policy which hinged on the aggrandizement of Sharif Husayn (who proclaimed himself King of Arabia on 6 November 1 9 1 6 ) and on the independence of Asir. With the return of peace and the end of Husayn's program for unification-he abdicated in 1 924 and was banished to Cyprus in 1 92 5 -there still remained the question of Asir. Asir is an emirate created during the war between Italy and Turkey. The famous Moroccan marabout, Ahmed ibn-Idris al Hasani al-Idrisi, had settled in Asir; his descendant Mohammed Ali, known as Sheik Idris during the Libyan war, stirred up the Asir tribes with Italy's support. Recognized as an independent emir by the English in 1 9 1 4, Mohammed collaborated with Husayn and received Tihamah and Hodeida from the English; he gave the concession for the oil fields in the Farasan Islands to an English company. Squeezed between Husayn to the north and Yahya to the south in 1 9 20, the emir allied himself with the Sultan of Najd (Ibn Saud) and in exchange for his protection ceded to him Abba, Muhail, and Beni Shahr, that is, the extreme northern part of Asir, thus providing him with an outlet to the Red Sea. The Wahhabis occupied those lands and used them to advantage in fighting Hejaz (Husayn). In 1 92 6 (8 January), the victorious Wahhabis proclaimed Ibn Saud King of Hejaz. The Wahhabis proved themselves the most capable at unifying Arabia. Yahya, with a proclamation of 1 8 June 1 92 3 , had declared his intention to be the caliph and champion of

Miscellaneous I. § 30

279

the Arab nation. By means of successful exploits he was able to gain effective control of the numerous sultanates and tribes of the so-called Hadramawt and markedly restrict the hinterland of Aden, without concealing his designs on Aden itself. He then went against the emir of Asir (whom he regarded as a usurper) and conquered the entire southern region all the way to al-Luhayya and Hodeida, coming into contact with the Wahhabis who at the emir's request had extended their occupation of Asir. The emir of Asir allowed himself to be driven by the former Sanusi into hostile acts against Italy. (The former Sanusi was a guest of Ibn Saud at Mecca after his expulsion from Damascus - December 1 924. )

The treaty between Italy and Yemen recognizes Yahya's royal title, as well as his full and absolute independence. Yemen will import its supplies from Italy, etc. (Ibn Saud concluded a treaty with England on 26 December 1 9 1 5 , and obtained possession not only of the Najd, but also of al Hasa, al-Qatif and al-Jubail, in exchange for his neutrality toward Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman which, as is well known, are English protectorates. During a debate in the House of Commons on 28 November 1 922, it was officially revealed that Ibn Saud received regular payments from the English government. With the treaties of r and 2 November 1 92 5 , follow ing the conquest of the Hejaz, Ibn Saud agreed to very unfavorable borders with Iraq and Transjordan that Husayn had refused to accept, which evinces his close ties with England. ) The treaty between Italy and Yemen caused a stir: there was talk of a secret political and military alliance; still, the Wahhabis did not attack Yemen. (There was talk of friction between Italy and England, etc. ) Rivalry between Ibn Saud and Yahya : both aspire to promote and to dominate Arabian unity.

Wahhabis: a Muslim sect founded by Abdul-Wahhab that sought expansion through the use of arms; they had many victories, but were driven back into the desert by the famous Mohammed Ali and by his son Ibrahim Pasha. The Sultan Abdullah was captured and was executed in Constantinople (December r 8 r 8 ); his son, Turki, was barely able to keep a little state in Najd. The Wahhabis want to return to the strict literal meaning of the Koran, stripping it of all traditional superstructures (veneration of saints, elaborate decoration of mosques, religious pomp). As soon as they conquered Mecca, they demolished domes and minarets, and destroyed the mausoleums of famous holy men including that of Khadija, Mo-

280

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 3 )

hammed's first wife, .etc. Ibn Saud issued decrees banning wine and smoking, abolishing the practice of kissing the "black stone" and the invocation of Mohammed in the ritual profession of faith and in prayers.

The puritanical activities of the Wahhabis led to protests from the Muslim world; the governments of Persia and Egypt lodged complaints. Ibn Saud moderated his actions. Yahya tries to take advantage of this religious reaction. Yahya and the majority of Yemenites adhere to the Shiite rite, in other words, they are heretics in the eyes of the Arab Sunni majority. Religiously he is at a disadvantage; therefore, he seeks to emphasize nationality and his descent from the prophet, which enables him to claim the title of caliph. (The coin he minted is inscribed: "Minted at the Seat of the Caliphate in Sana. ") His region, among the most fertile in Arabia, and his geographic location give him certain economic advantages.

It seems that Yemen has an area of no,ooo square kilometers, with a population of between r and 2 million. On the plateau, the population is purely Arabic, white; on the coast it is mostly black.

There is a certain administrative apparatus, basic schools, an army with mandatory conscription. Yahya is enterprising and has modem inclinations, though he is jealous of his independence. Yemen is Italy's pawn in the Arab world.

§(3 1). Niccolo Machiavelli. The Rivista d'Italia of 1 5 June 1 927, is devoted entirely to Machiavelli to mark the fourth centenary of his death.

These are the contents : 1) Charles Benoist, "Le Machiavellisme perpetuel"; 2) Filippo Meda, "11 Machiavellismo"; 3) Guido Mazzoni, "11 Machiavelli drammaturgo"; 4) Michele Scherillo, "Le prime esperienze pelitiche del Machiavelli"; s ) Vittorio Ciao, "Machiavelli e Petrarca"; 6 ) Alfredo Galletti, "Niccolo Machiavelli umanista"; 7 ) Francesco Ercole, "11

Principe"; 8) Antonio Panella, "Machiavelli storico"; 9) Plinio Carli,

"Niccolo Machiavelli scrittore"; 10) Romola Caggese, "Cia che e vivo nel pensiero politico di Machiavelli. " 1

Mazzoni's article is mediocre and long-winded: erudite-rhetorical-rambling.2 It even seems to me that, as is often the case with this type of writer, Mazzoni does not really understand the literal meaning of the play and he misrepresents the character of Master Nicia, who was not expecting a son from the coupling of his wife with the disguised Callimaco, but was expecting only to have a wife made fertile by the mandrake and that the coupling would free her from the deadly consequences of the potion.

Miscellaneous I. § 3 2

Master Nicia's type o f foolishness i s defined and represented clearly: he believes that the inability to have children is not his fault, though he is old, but the fault of his young but frigid wife, and he wants to remedy his wife's presumed sterility not by having someone else make her pregnant, but by having her transformed from sterile into fertile. That he lets himself be convinced to have his wife coupled with a man who must die to free her from a presumed illness-which otherwise would lead to his separation from his wife or to his death- is a comical element that can be found in different form in popular tales which seek to portray the insolence of women who, in order to reassure their lovers, let themselves be possessed even in the presence of the husband. (This theme is present, in different forms, in Boccaccio as well.) In the case of Machiavelli, it is the foolishness of the husband that is ridiculed and described, and not the insolence of the woman.

The article by Vittorio Ciao is even worse than Mazzoni's; Ciao's thick rhetoric is all over the place.3 Machiavelli obviously owes nothing to Petrarch whose political thought is rudimentary and whose allusions to Italy are purely literary. But Ciao, who sees precursors [everywhere] and miraculous auguries in every banal little phrase, goes on for ten pages about the subject and he does no more than repeat the cliches of elementary and secondary school textbooks.

Cf. Notebook r 8, § r .

§(32). Augur. Contributor to Nuova An tologia on questions of world politics, especially on the role of the British Empire and on the relations between England and Russia. Augur must be a Russian exile. His collaboration with Nuova An tologia must be indirect : articles published in English periodicals and translated in Nuova Antologia. The purpose of his journalistic activity is to promote the moral isolation of Russia (the breaking of diplomatic relations) and the creation of a united anti Russian front in preparation for war. He has ties with the English conservative right wing policy toward Russia but he distances himself from their policy toward America; he preaches a close Anglo American alliance and insists that England should yield to America or, at least, disarm the islands it still possesses in the Caribbean Sea (Bahamas, etc. ) .

His articles exude great pretentiousness (emanating, perhaps, from the presumed great authority of the inspirational source); he tries to instil the certitude that a war of extermination between England and Russia is inevitable, a war which Russia is bound to lose.

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 3 )

Official relations between the two countries resemble the waves on the surface of the ocean which come and go capriciouslyi but deep down there is the strong historical current which leads to war. 1

§(3 3). Diplomatic documen ts. An article by A. De Bosdari in the Nuova An tologia of 1 July 1 927, "I documenti ufficiali britan nici sull ' origine della guerra ( 1 89 8- 1 9 1 4) . " 1

De Bosdari raises the question of whether the documents, both German and English, are actually reproduced in their entirety and without omission of anything which may have been truly important in the historical development of events. "As far as the German publications are concerned, I can personally attest that one day I expressed to the German Foreign Minister my displeasure at the fact that included among the published documents were some that foolishly insulted Italy, especially the reports of Ambassador Monts.

I was told that this was indeed regrettable, but that those docu ments could not have been omitted without destroying the character of the publication as an impartial historical documentation. "

Following this personal recollection, D e Bosdari was ready t o swear to the integrity of the German documentation.

As for the English documents, after mentioning the sincerity of the English Government, which there is no reason to doubt, he says that a sufficiently reliable proof of authenticity and comprehensiveness is provided by the numerous insertions of documents which for quite plausible political reasons had been censored in the earlier publication of the blue books (but the English books are white, I think) . (In fact, other "quite plausible political reasons"

could have led to the suppression of the publication and the inclusion of other documentsi for ex., will the documents produced by espionage ever be published ? )

De Bosdari makes a valid observation: he notes the paucity, in both the English and the German documents, of records related to the deliberations of the government, the discussions and decisions of the cabinets (which are technically not "diplomatic" but obviously decisive). On the other hand, he notes the great abundance of telegrams and reports by diplomatic and consular staff members which are of limited importance because during times of crisis these staff members telegraph continuously (so as not to be ac-

Miscellaneous I. §35

cused of negligence and carelessness) and cannot take the time to check their own information and impressions. (This observation comes from De Bosdari's personal experience and may be an illustration of how Italian diplomatic staff works : perhaps the English do things differently. )

§(34). "Per una politica annonaria razionale e nazionale" by Guido Borghesani, in the Nuova Antologia of I July I 927, is a mediocre article and contains data that are unreliable and crudely used. 1 It upholds the general thesis that Italy consumes too much wheat and that, therefore, besides trying to improve the harvest of wheat in those places where the cultivation of this cereal is technically more productive, one must also try to replace wheat with other foods. However, the problem is this, that France, for ex., where eating habits closely resemble Italy's, not only consumes as much wheat per inhabitant as Italy, but consumes much greater quantities of other basic foods. ( Sugar: France 24. 5 kg., Italy 8 kg.; cheese and butter measured in milk: France 3 hl., Italy o.8 hl. ) The problem of wheat in Italy is due to poverty not excessive consumption, even if the general thesis is correct, in the sense that there is a great imbalance-in Italy the greater consumption of wheat in comparison with corn, etc., is the only indicator of a certain dietary improvement.

§(3 5 ). Francesco Orestano, "La Chiesa Cattolica nella Stato Italiano e nel mondo, " Nuova An tologia, I 6 July I 92 7 . l An important article during the period of the Concordat negotiations. ( Com pare with the polemics between the Popolo d' Italia, Gentile, and the Osservatore Romano, reprinted as a pamphlet by La Civilta Cattolica. )2 (Did the Guarantee-Act, insofar as it carries statutory weight, repeal Article I of the Constitution? )3

Orestano's article seems to be written by a Jesuit. It is in favor of conceding territory to the Pope within the limits of the plebiscite of 2 October I 8 7o (that is, the whole Leonine city which, I think, was in fact excluded from the official plebiscite). (In I 924

Orestano wrote a study, Lo Stato e la Chiesa in Italia, Rome, Casa Editrice Optima; and, in I 9 I 5 , Quistione Romana, reprinted in Verso la nuova Europa, Casa Editrice Optima, I 9 I 7 . )4

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

§(36). Machiavelli. Pasquale Villari, Niccolo Machiavelli e i suoi tempi, ed. Michele Scherillo, Milan: Ed. Hoepli, 1 927; 2 vols. L. 6o.

(It is the reprint of Villari's famous work, without the documents which in the Le Monnier edition made up the third volume and part of the second. The Scherillo edition contains a catalog of these documents with brief notes on their contents, so that they could be easily found in the Le Monnier edition. ) I

Cf. Notebook r 8 , §2.

§(3 7). The In ternational Aid Society. Initiative originated by Italy. Created in I 927 at an international conference to which countries that are not members of the League of Nations (United States, USSR, etc. ) were also invited. The Society coordinates the activities of existing aid organizations, and brings to them the participation of governments. The calamities which qualify for aid are disasters and upheavals caused by uncontrollable circumstances which strike entire populations, exceed the preliminary estimates of even a prudent administration, and are of an extraordinary nature. Help does not include reparations or reconstruction.

Strict national, political, religious, etc., neutrality. 1

§(38). Gioviano Pan tano. His political activity analogous to Machiavelli's. (See M. Scherillo, Origini e svolgimen to della letteratura italiana, II, which includes two texts of memoirs by Pantano on the Italian situation during the period of Charles VIII's decline; and Gothein, I1 Rinascimen to nell' Italia Meridionale, in the series

"Biblioteca Storica del Rinascimento, " Florence, I 9 I 5 . ) Pantano absorbed the culture of Naples. (Religion as an instrument of government. Against the temporal power of the Pope: "the temporal states" should be ruled by "secular kings and princes . " J l

§(39). Geopolitics. Before the war, a Swedish sociologist, Rudolf Kjellen, had already tried to construct a science of the state or politics on new foundations, starting with the study of politically organized territory (development of geographical sciences : physical geography, human geography, geopolitics) and of the mass of people living as a society within that territory (geopolitics and demopoli-

Miscellaneous I. §40

tics). His books were widely read in Germany and they gave rise to a scholarly trend. Two of his books were especially important : The State as Life Form and The Great Con temporary Powers (Die Grossmach te der Gegenwart, of 1 9 1 2, revised by the author, be came Die Grossmachte un d die Weltkrise, published in 1 92 1 ; Kjellen died in r 922). There exists a "Zeitschrift fur Geopolitik"; and voluminous works of political geography (one of them, Weltpolitisches Handbuch, is intended as a manual for statesmen) and economic geography are being published. In England, in America and in France. 1

§(40). "II problema scandinavo e baltico, " an article by A.M. ( ? ) in Nuova An tologia of 1 August 1 927. 1 An article which is some what haphazard and full of pretentious generalities, but on the whole it is interesting because it also deals with a topic that normally receives scant attention. The cultural unity of the Scandinavian peoples much deeper than that of peoples of Latin culture.

There is a movement for an inter Scandinavian league, which pe riodically provides the occasion for solemn meetings, but the league cannot attain the concrete reality of a political organism; the cultural and racial links which gave rise to the movement and which are preserved and strengthened by it, still exist. There are more substantial reasons than the danger of Swedish hegemony that have made the league impossible. Sweden and Finland have different interests from Denmark and Norway. With the elimination of the German and Russian navies, the Baltic is neutralized, in a way, but this neutrality is controlled by England. The league would create a different situation which England might dislike, unless the league itself were to be England's own creature. The same could be said for Germany (and also for Russia, indeed especially for Russia) if it were reinstated as a great power.

Before the war Denmark gravitated toward the English sphere of influence. Even more so today. It has given up its entire military apparatus. (One needs to examine whether this was the result of prompting by England which can thus enter the Baltic without violating any "little Belgium.") In any case, the disarmed neutrality of Denmark puts the Baltic under English control, and therefore dilutes the position of Germany which tends to exert influence in the North. With its disarmament, Denmark has

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NOTEBOOK 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

renounced its international role and position. A petit bourgeois country.

Sweden is apathetic and quietist, without a will to power. Under English influence, Norway is virtually disarmed, but it is gaining ground. Finland is full of energy and it is endowed with a strong governmental and state system. Sweden is a country with heavy industry and an upper bourgeoisie with rigid class distinctions (an aristocratic military and conservative tradition); reductions in military and naval expenditures; under German influence; its prestige has declined; maybe it could have annexed Finland. Instead, it saw Finland receive the Aland Islands, the Baltic Gibraltar.

Finland has absorbed Western culture from Sweden. Its permanent and most fundamental interests are linked to Germany. A cautious attitude toward Poland. Poland would like to become the great protector of the Baltic countries and to group them around itself in opposition to Russia and Germany. (But Lithuania is opposed, Finland is very circumspect, and the other Baltic countries are distrustful and suspicious. ) So far, Russia has thwarted these Polish schemes.

England, a naval power against the German-Russian bloc. (The author foresees a revival of German power which will bring Russia under its control and annex it territorially. ) In this context the traditional (English) mastery of the seas will lose its effectiveness on the continent because of the huge territorial expanse of the German-Russian bloc. England in a defensive position, because it is saturated with dominated territories and its fleet has declined as a hegemonic factor. The Russian German bloc would represent the anti-English revolt. There would be one continuous, unbroken formation from the Arctic Sea to the Mediterranean and from the Rhine to the Pacific: Turkey would be the next subordinate factor; in the case of conflict, it is not unlikely that Bulgaria and Hungary will join the bloc. (Lithuania already connects Russia and Germany. ) England's threat to force its way through the Danish straits is neutralized (besides the German use of the Kiel canal) by the possible mine fields which Germany can place on the southern borders of Denmark and Sweden. The French influence in the North is irrelevant. Sweden and Finland avoid enmity with England, but they lean increasingly toward Germany.

Rebirth of Germanicism. Germany is "potentially" still the

Miscellaneous I. §4 r

strongest nation on the continent. National unity is strengthened; the state structure is intact. Today it maneuvers between West and East, waiting to regain its political freedom in the face of England which tries in vain to separate it from Russia in order to have the better of them both.

Russia : the author's ideas on Russia are very superficial and vague. "Russian amorphism is incapable of organizing the state or even of conceiving it. All the founders of the Russian state were foreigners or of foreign descent (Rurik, the Romanovs). The organizing power has to be Germany, for historical, geographical, and political reasons. Not a military conquest but only economic, po litical, and cultural subordination. It would be anti-historical to break up Russia and to subject it to colonial experiments, as some political theorists would have liked. The Russian people is mystical but not religious; extremely effeminate and disunited, " etc., etc.2 (The issue is much less complicated to articulate : Russia is too agrarian and its agriculture too primitive for it to "easily"

organize a modem state; its industrialization is its process of modernization. )

§(4 1). Niccolo Machiavelli. An article by Luigi Cavina in the Nuova Antologia of 1 6 August 1 92 7 : "11 sogno nazionale di Niccolo Machiavelli in Romagna e il governo di Francesco Guicciardini." 1 The article refers to an interesting episode, but Cavina does not know how to derive from it all the necessary conclusions (the article is of a descriptive-rhetorical nature) . After the battle of Pavia and the decisive defeat of the French which ensured Spanish hegemony, the Italian nobles panicked: Machiavelli, who had gone to Rome to personally deliver to Clement VII the

/storie fioren tine which he had completed, proposed to the Pope that he create a national militia and persuaded him to try something new. The Pope sent Machiavelli to Romagna with a letter, dated 6 June 1 5 2 5 , for Francesco Guicciardini, the President of the Romagna. Machiavelli was to present his project to Guicciardini, and Guicciardini was to give his opinion. (The whole papal letter should be interesting: the Pope describes Italy's disarray which was so great that it compelled him to search for new and unusual solutions; and he concluded: "Res magna est, ut iudicamus, et salus est in ea cum status ecclesiastici, tum totius Italiae ac prope universae christianitatis reposita. ") Why did this happen in Romagna?

The people of Romagna are good soldiers : they had fought bravely and loyally for the Venetians at Agnadello, even though they were mercenar-

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NOTE B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

ies. Moreover, in Romagna there had been the precedent of Valentino who had recruited good soldiers from among the people.

Since 1 5 1 2, Guicciardini had written that to give arms to citizens "does not go against a republican and popular way of life because when there are true justice and orderly laws, those arms are not used perniciously but for the good of the country . " He had also praised the implementation of the ordinance conceived by Machiavelli (Machiavelli's attempt to create a citizen militia in Florence). But Guicciardini did not think it was possible to try out the idea in Romagna because of the very strong partisan divisions which prevailed there (Guicciardini's opinions on Romagna are interesting) : after the victory at Pavia, the Ghibellines are ready for any new development; even if they are not given arms, there will be a stir; one cannot oppose the imperial forces by providing arms to the imperial supporters themselves. Moreover, the difficulty is compounded by the fact that the state is ecclesiastical; that is, it lacks long term direction and is easy with pardons and amnesties which are granted at the very least upon the election of each new pope. In any other state factions could be brought under control, but not in the papal state. In his letter, Clement VII had said that the success of the venture depended not only on order and diligence but also on the zeal and love of the people. Therefore, Guicciardini said that this could not take place because "the Church, in reality, has no friends either among those who want to live well or, for different reasons, among those who are rebellious and unhappy. "

But nothing ever happened because the Pope abandoned the project.

(The episode remains interesting because it shows Machiavelli's resolve, and Guicciardini's as well as the Pope's practical views. ) The arguments which Machiavelli must have used to counter Guicciardini's observations are not known, because Guicciardini does not mention it in his letters and Machiavelli's letters to Rome are not known.

Cf. Notebook r 8, § 3 .

§(42). Quin tina Sella. When Theodor Mommsen asked him what universal idea was Italy bringing to Rome, Quintina Sella responded: "the idea of science. " 1 (Mommsen said that one cannot stay in Rome without a universal idea. This theme was taken up again by the head of the government in his speech on the Concordat to the chamber of deputies.2 Sella's response is interesting and appropriate : during that historical period, science was the new

"universal idea, " the basis of the new culture that was developing.

But Rome did not become the city of science; a vast industrial program would have been necessary, which never took place. Still,

Miscellaneous I. §45

Sella's catchword is worth noting as a description of the man . ) Nonetheless, Sella was not an atheist o r positivist who wanted to replace religion with science. ( See the documents concerning Sella himself, written or reported by others. )3

§(43). The tax on flour. In the speech delivered by Alberto De Stefani at Biella to commemorate the centenary of Sella's birth (reprinted in the Nuova An tologia of 1 6 September 1 92 7 J, l there is a reference to the tax on flour, linking it to the customs duty on wheat. (The heavy tax on flour was abolished, but soon afterward the customs officer left the mill and went to the border to collect the levy on wheat. )2

The issue is not well presented. (It is an epigram, not a criticism or an opinion. J The tax on flour was unbearable for the small farmers who consumed whatever small amount of wheat they themselves produced. The tax on flour forced people to undersell their goods to raise cash, and it gave rise to extortionate usurious practices. One has to place the tax in the context of its time, when a family-based economy was much more widespread than it is today: the large and middle sized property owners produced for the market; the small farmer (a small property owner or sharecropper) produced for his own consumption and never had any cash; for him all taxes were a ruinous tragedy; the flour tax generated instant hatred. The uprisings against the tax on flour, the killings and beatings of tax collectors were certainly not inspired by political agitation: they were spontaneous.

§(44). On Quintino Sella, see in the Nuova Antologia of 1 6

September 1 9 2 7 : P. Boselli, "Roma e Quintina Sella"; Alberto De Stefani, "Quintina Sella ( 1 827- I 884)"; Bruno Minoletti, "Quintina Sella storico, archeologo e paleografo. " 1

§(4 5 ) . America and Europe. Madison Grant (a very famous scientist and writer), president of the New York Biological Society, has written a book The Passing of the Great Race in which he

"denounces" the danger of a "physical and moral" European invasion of America; but he narrows down this danger to the invasion

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 1

by "Mediterraneans, " that is, those peoples who inhabit the Medi terranean countries. Madison Grant argues that since the times of Athens and Rome, the Greek and Roman aristocracy was made up of men who came from the North and that only the plebeian classes were composed of Mediterraneans. The moral and intellectual progress of humanity was therefore due to "Northerners. " For Grant, Mediterraneans are an inferior race and their immigration is a danger; it is worse than an armed invasion and is transforming New York and a great part of the United States into a cloaca gen tium. This way of thinking is not singular; it reflects a note worthy and prevalent current of public opinion in the United States.

The public believes that the impact of the new environment on the masses of emigrants is always less significant than the impact of the emigrant masses on the new environment, and that the essen tial nature of the "racial mixture" in the early generations represents a flaw of physical and moral harmony (unity) among the peoples, while in the subsequent generations it is a slow but fatal return to the various ancestral types . 1

On this question of "race" and "stock" and their self conceit, certain European peoples are treated in accordance with the mag nitude of their own pretensions. If biologically superior races really existed, then Madison Grant's reasoning would be quite plausible.

Historically, given the class-caste division, how many Romans

Arians have survived all the wars and invasions ? Remember Sorel's letter to Michels, Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economia e Politica, September-October 1 929; "I have received your article on 'the historical sphere of Rome'; almost all of its theses go against what long studies have shown me to be the most probable truth. There is no country less Roman than Italy; Italy was conquered by the Romans because it was as anarchic as the Berber countries; it remained anarchic throughout the Middle Ages, and its own civilization died when the Spaniards imposed their administrative rule on it; the Piedmontese completed the villainous work of the Span iards. The only country with a Latin language that may lay claim to the Roman legacy is France where the monarchy has tried hard to preserve imperial power. As for the ability of the Romans to assimilate, it is a joke. The Romans destroyed nationality by sup pressing the aristocracies. " 2 All these questions would be absurd if used as elements of political and sociological science. There is only

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material for some minor observations to explain some trivial phenomena.

§(46). In ternational institutions. The International Chamber of Commerce. (The Nuova An tologia of 1 6 September 1 927 has an article on the Fourth Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce, held in Stockholm in June-July 1 92 7 . ) 1

§(47). Ada Negri. An article by Michele Scherillo in the Nuova An tologia of 1 6 September 1 92 7 . 1 A historical-critical study of Ada Negri is needed. Could she be described during a period of her life as a "proletarian" or simply as a "popular" poet? I believe that in the cultural field she stands for the extreme wing of the romanticism of 1 848; the people become increasingly the 'proletariat' but they are still regarded under the species of 'people'- and this is not attributed to the original seeds of renewal within the people themselves (but rather to the fall from "people" to "proletariat" which it represents ? ) . (In Stella mattutina, Treves, 1 9 2 1 , Negri recounted the events of her childhood and adolescence. )2

§(48). Constitution of the English Empire. An article by "Junius, " "Le prospettive dell'Impero Britannica dopo !'ultima confer enza imperiale, " in the Nuova An tologia of 1 6 September 1 927. 1

Search for a balance between the demands of autonomy by the Dominions and the requirements of unity in the Empire. (Within the Commonwealth, England brings to bear the political weight of its industrial and financial power; its navy; its crown colonies, dominions, or whatever else its settlements are called-India, Gibraltar, Suez, Malta, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.; its political experience; etc. The postwar disintegration included the following elements : the power of the United States which is also Anglo-Saxon and exerts influence on some dominions, and the national and nationalist movements which are partly a reaction to the workers'

movement (in advanced capitalist countries) and partly a movement against capitalism spurred by the workers' movement: India, blacks, Chinese, etc. The English have a solution to the national

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problem in those dominions where capitalism i s advanced which is very interesting. Remember that Ilyich, in fact, maintained that it is not impossible for national questions to be resolved peacefully even under bourgeois rule-a classic example is the peaceful secession of Norway from Sweden.2 But the English are especially struck by the national movements in colonial and semi colonial coun tries : India, black Africans, etc.).

The major difficulty in maintaining the balance between autonomy and unity presents itself, naturally, in foreign policy. Since the Dominions no longer recognize the London government as the representative of their wishes in international politics, there have been discussions about the creation of a new juridical-political body designed to demonstrate and actuate the unity of the Empire; there was talk of creating an organ of imperial foreign policy. But is there a real "intemational" unity? The Dominions participate in world politics and are world powers through the Empire; but England's European and global foreign policy is so complicated that the Dominions are reluctant to be dragged into issues which are of no direct interest to them. Furthermore, through its foreign policy England could take away or circumscribe some of those rights of independence which the Dominions have won for themselves. Such an organ of imperial policy could be a source of problems for England itself, especially in foreign policy which requires a quickness of mind and a unity of will that are hard to achieve in a collective organ representing countries scattered across the whole world.

Incident with Canada concerning the Treaty of Lausanne : Canada refused to ratify it because it had not been signed by its own representatives . Baldwin abandoned the issue of an "imperial organ" and temporized. The Conservative government recognized the right of Canada and Ireland to have their own representatives in Washington (first step toward the explicit and implicit right of Dominions to have legations); it recognized Australia's right to have an officer to establish direct political links in London, in addition to the High Commissioner (with primarily economic duties); it favored and encouraged the formation of autonomous navies (Australian, Canadian, Indian navies); naval base in Singapore for the defense of the Pacific; the exposition at Wembley to promote the economy of the Dominions in Europe; the Imperial Eco nomic Committee for joining the Dominions to England in con-

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fronting commercial and industrial problems, and the partial realization of the principle of preferential treatment.

In foreign policy: when it signed the pact of Lucerne, England declared that it was assuming only its own obligations as laid out in the pact. (Previously, various approaches : at the Treaty of Lausanne, England signed in the name of the whole Empire, hence the incident with Canada; at the Conference on German reparations held in London in July 1 924, the individual Dominions participated with their own delegations, which required cumbersome and complicated arrangements that are not always practicable; at the Security Pact of Geneva in 1 928, England reserved the right to sign after consulting the Dominions and obtaining their approval in advance. ) The Imperial Conference (of November 1 926) set out t o produce a clear definition of the members of the Empire : they are "autonomous communities, with equal rights, in no way subordinated the one to the other with respect to their domestic and external affairs, although they are united by a common duty of obedience to the Crown and they are freely bound together as members of the British Empire. " Equal status does not mean equal roles, and it is expressly declared that Great Britain bears the principal responsibility for foreign policy as well as military and naval defense. This does not exclude that certain duties which fall within these two branches of state activity be assumed, in part, by one of the Dominions : the Indian and Australian navies (India, though, is not a Dominion); representation in Washington for Ireland and Canada, etc. Finally, the general principle is established that no international obligation falls on any one member of the Empire if this obligation has not been willingly acknowledged and undertaken.

The relation between the Dominions and the Crown has been determined and the Crown becomes the real supreme organ of the Empire. The governors general in the Dominions are merely representatives of the king and their views regarding the Dominions are bound to be exactly the same as those of the King of England; therefore, they are not representatives or agents of the English government, which communicates with the governments of the Dominions through other channels.

English foreign policy is inevitably influenced by the Dominions.

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§(49). Alessandro Mariani. The Nuova Antologia of I October I 927, published a selection of the impressions and thoughts I "In terpretazioni") by this precious character from a collection that was to be published shortly. 1 They are very confused and preten tious paragraphs, of little theoretical or artistic value, but at times they are intriguing because of a clear antipathy toward cliche and banal prejudice (replaced by other cliches and other trivialities). In the section on "The Art of Politics, " the Nuova Antologia quotes three paragraphs on the "Three Powers": I ) the Church of Rome; 2) the Red International; 3 ) the Jewish International.

The Catholic Church is "the most powerful conservative force governing under the aspect of the divine, the ultimate salvation when the decay of values endangers the social structure. " The red International is "a deviation of Christian ideology, " "it is active everywhere, but especially where an economic society has devel oped in the Western manner. A subvertor of values, it is a revolutionary and expansive force. It denies order, authority, hierarchy as they are constituted, but obeys its own order which out of the need for conquest is stricter and more imperious than the old order. It denies the divine, it does not recognize the Spirit but obeys it unconsciously and ineluctably thus declaring an unquenchable thirst for justice albeit under the deceptive mirage of Utopia. It wants to recognize only material values and interests, but it unconsciously yields to the most fundamental spiritual impulses and to the instincts with the deepest roots in the human soul. It is mystical. It is absolute. It is ruthless. It is religion, it is dogma. It is as pliable in its handling of business as it is rigid in ideology. Relation of means to ends. It is political. " "Like the Church, it is subsidized by believers and nourished by a worldwide information service.

The intelligence of all nations is at its service; all the resources of innumerable unsatisfied people who sharpen their wits in search of a better tomorrow. Like all human societies, it has its own aristocracies. " "Like the Church, it preaches the same word to all peo ples, translated into all the languages. Its destructive power is subterranean. It undermines the social structure from the founda tions. Its politics lack a tradition but not intelligence, skill and flexibility sustained by a solid determination. To deal with it or to fight against it can be either shrewd or a mistake, depending on the political circumstances. It is foolish not to examine it or to refuse to consider it. " 2

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§ ( s o). Roberto Cantalupo, "La Nuova Eritrea/' Nuova An tologia, I October I 92 7 . (Functions of Eritrea: I ) economic: to intensify its productive and commercial import-export capacity, trying to make it complement the motherland and to render it financially viable; 2) political : to give Eritrea a status and role that would enable greater contact with the Arab countries on the Asian shores of the Red Sea, and to restore the economic relations between Asmara and the contiguous area of Western Ethiopia so that Eritrea could become the natural outlet to the sea for the northern regions of Abyssinia and a natural port of transit for the central and southern zones of the Arabian Peninsula, since Port Sudan has become the outlet for the whole West of Sudan and the en trep6t for northern Arabia. Jl Cantalupo's data are now out of date. Problems of Ethiopia: in addition to the struggle for influence among England, Italy, France, neighboring powers, what is or could be the influence of the United States and Russia on Addis Ababa ? As the only free indigenous state in Africa, Ethiopia can become the key of the whole of African world politics, that is, the collision site of the three world powers (England, United States, Russia). Ethiopia could place her self at the head of an "Africa to the Africans" movement.

On the Ethiopian social situation, in which the Church is very important because of the feudal structure, see Alberto Pollera, Lo Stato etiopico e la sua Chiesa, published under the auspices the Regia Societa Geografica. (Pollera is an Italian colonial officer.)2

§(s I ). Giovanni Pascali. On the political attitudes of Giovanni Pascali (who was imprisoned in his youth for membership in the International), see the interesting "Lettere inedite di Giovanni Pas coli a Luigi Mercatelli, " published by G. Zuppone-Strani in the Nuova Antologia of I 6 October I 92 7 . 1 (Mercatelli was a correspondent of La Tribuna in Eritrea; he joined the newspaper in I 896; in I 8 97, he went to Africa with F. Martini; in I 899 he was the editor, with Federico Fabbri, of La Tribuna; in I 903, he was Consul Gen eral in Zanzibar; in I 904 Governor of Benadir. )2 Pascali's politics had the greatest public impact during the time of the Libyan war with his speech, "La grande proletaria si e mossa, " and should be considered in conjunction with the views of Enrico Corradini who transposes the concept of "proletarian" from the level of classes to

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that of nations.3 (The question of "national property" linked to emigration; but it is pointed out that the poverty of a country is relative and that human "industry"-ruling class-is what gives a nation a position in the world and in the international division of labor; emigration is a consequence of the inability of the ruling class to put the population to work and not of national povertyexamples of Holland, Denmark, etc. ; the problems are relative, of course. )

In a letter from Barga on 30 October 1 89 9, Pascali writes : "I feel socialist, deeply socialist, but a socialist of humanity, not of a class. And I feel that my socialism, even though it embraces all nations, does not conflict with the desire and aspiration for colonial expansion. Oh ! how I wish that the bold and young Social Party had placed itself at the head of Italian colonization; but, alas, it was made decrepit by its theoreticians. " 4 ( See the reflection of these views of Pascali's in his poetic works and in the school anthologies. I

In a letter from Messina on 8 June 1 900, he refers to his contributions to the La Tribuna: "Oh ! If only I could publish my 'Con versations with the young' weekly or twice a month! In the speech I delivered the other day- of which I am sending you a copy free of the numerous idiotic misprints - there is a reference to what I take to be my mission: to introduce the notion of fatherland, nation and race into the blind and frigid socialism of Marx. '' 5

In a letter from Barga on 2 July 1 900, he announces his intention to write a regular column for La Tribuna; it will be entitled "In the Future, " and he will soon be sending a brief preamble to it: "The column will include articles of all kinds, aimed at those who now are between childhood and adolescence and who will reflect on current issues in the light of the future. The first introductory article, after a brief statement in which I will formally and solemnly renounce the 'active life'-in other words, I will not become a deputy-will deal with the following topic. 'The young, at least those who are really young, possess within themselves something of the heroic. Those from an earlier generation felt driven toward patriotic heroism, those of today are driven toward, one may say, socialist heroism. But there is very serious discord in the depths of their hearts. When they heard about the defence of Amba Alagi, even those who had dedicated their heroic sentiments to the humanitarian idea were shocked . . . Well then, one must pacify

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this discord which torments (I know it, I feel it) the heart of youth, etc., etc .. ' " 6

Further on h e writes : "Nor will I always discuss the same issues : I will speak of art and literature and science and morals. I will always be trying to eradicate prejudices and to set Ewig against fashion and to contrast the present with the past and the future. "

And h e failed t o notice the inner contradiction h e was floundering in, if his understanding of Ewig were correct.

In a letter from Barga on I 2 August I 9oo, he mentions, in connection with Luccheni, his own work "Nel carcere di Ginevra"

which La Tribuna did not publish but which Pascoli published later; 7 I do not remember this text.

In a letter of I I December I 900 from Messina, signed "Giovanni Pascoli socialist patriot blacklisted by the political newspapers, that is by the financiers of Italy, " he writes about his contributions to a local newspaper, and it seems that he had started publishing what he had originally conceived as regular columns for La Tribuna, but which La Tribuna did not want to publish.8 (See the Pascoli bibliography. According to a letter of 4 December I 9oo, the column "In or For the Future" had been started in La Tribuna by Ojetti . J

In a n undated letter, which according t o Zuppone-Strani was written from Barga toward the end of I 902 or during the first half of I 903, one reads the following: "And yet the poet loves you there, sees you there, dreams of you there; and yet the patriot and the

'humanist' ( it no longer suits me to be called or to call myself

'socialist') is elated to know that you have been charged with a most exalted mission for the advantage and honor of Italy and for civilization. I used to call you 'slave trader' and you go to destroy the slave traders." (In jest Pascoli used to call Mercatelli "Ras, "

"slave trader, " etc.) And further on : "For, what helps me shun the political socialism of our day is not only the horror of the despotism of the masses or of the majority, but especially the need for a great colonial policy which I acknowledge and idolize. " 9

§(p). Giovanni Pascoli. The Nuova Antologia o f I December I 927 carries a previously unpublished article by Pascoli which had been sent to La Tribuna in I 897 but was not published because Mercatelli thought it "too bold for the character of the newspaper"

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and "too compromising for the author. " 1 The article was entitled

"Allecto" ( "the Fury of implacable hatred and of incessant revenge") and took for its starting point a telegram from the French minister Meline to the inhabitants of the Lorraine. According to Pascoli, France and Russia were bound "sooner or later, but un doubtedly" to declare war against Germany (therefore against the Triple Alliance, and therefore against Italy. ) Pascoli addresses the mothers. There is a "prophet": a "sweet and bold prophet wrapped in a red cloak travels around the world among the chosen peoples and nations, preaching his gospel of peace. Thousands of apostles travel and speak in his name, and everyone is amazed by them and admires them, because each hears them speak in his own tongue.

They have converted the foolishly cruel heart of men. " These men

"tell the grim heralds of doom : 'No: we do not wan t to; you will not be able to, ' but "from now on there will be some changes in

"

the system of ownership and social life in general. " What would the mothers say? etc.

"Marxism wanted to be this prophet. It wanted to and certainly still wants to; but it cannot. It did not succeed. The threat of dreadful war, which is the worst crime . . . cannot be warded off by Marxism. Along with so many lives and so many treasures and so many ideals, the war will also sweep away this school, this system, which has shown itself impotent. Through a fault of its own ? I do not loath the school and system; but I cannot help noticing that it has been lacking in inspiration, motivation, and tongues of fire. It wanted to be a school, but it should have been a religion. It should have spoken more about love and less about surplus value; more about sacrifice than about struggle; more about humanity than about classes. It should have been disseminated equally every where; it should have aimed at all peoples, including those who are most under the shadow of the gallows and of the 1 789 principles

. . . I will explain myself. "

According to Pascali, "Germany, and therefore the Triple Alliance, has an element of weakness in comparison with France and Russia: socialism. " Pascali "fears" that in the hearts of German and Italian workers "universal love has been made to grow in the place of brutish and warlike atavism. " Italians and Germans, according to him, have become lambs, while the French and Russians have remained lions and tigers, etc.

"But Marxism will speak before the blare of trumpets. What will

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it say? We shall listen. I believe that they will be words worthy of the great moment. They will serve, I hope, to make up for the damage that it has unwittingly caused or is about to cause in the nations that have embraced it. Indeed, they will function as a new ferment of idealism which will make up for the bestial impulse in our souls. Oh ! Italy especially deserved it! Is it not the poor nation, the proletarian among peoples ? It will have bold words for Italy. Is there a place where Italian labor has not left its massive imprint ?

Which railroads have not been constructed and which mountains have not been tunneled and which isthmuses have not been opened, for the most part, by Italian laborers ? And their labor did not enrich them or their nation, because it was at the service of foreign capi tal. We have exported and continue to export workers; we have imported and continue to import capitalists. Abroad and at home we enrich others, while we remain poor. And those we have enriched scorn us and call us 'beggars. ' I cannot explain this, but it is so. I do know, however, that we are not guilty of laziness or any other sin. How can the most hardworking, industrious, and frugal people in the world be called lazy? I say it is an injustice. " He attacks France, "the sister mistress, " and concludes : "Oh great country of workers and heroes ! Since they ask for it, since even your poverty rouses suspicions and your humility is resented, ac cept the challenge, whenever it comes, and fight like mad. "

Pascali aspired to become the leader of the Italian people; but as he himself says in a letter to Mercatelli cited in a preceding note,2

the "heroic" character of the new generations turns to "socialism, "

just as that of the previous generations had turned to the national question : therefore, his temperament compels him to brandish a national socialism which he takes to be in keeping with the times.

He created the concept of proletarian nation, and other concepts later developed by E. Corradini and by the nationalists who came out of syndicalism; this concept was very old with him. He harbored the illusion that his ideology would find favor among the ruling classes; but La Tribuna does not give him access to its columns and its authoritativeness, in spite of Pascali's close friendship with Mercatelli. There is the following interesting split within Pascali's spirit: he wanted to be an epic poet and a popular bard while his temperament was rather "intimist. " Herein lies also an artistic dissonance which reveals itself in the strain, the aimless ness, the rhetoric, the ugliness of many compositions, and in a fake

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ingenuousness which becomes truly puerile. That Pascoli took his role very seriously can be seen from a passage in a letter to Mercatelli, in which he says that he would have been happier administering the schools abroad or in the colonies than being a professor of the humanities at the university, because he would have had the opportunity to be the prophet of Italy's mission in the world.3

(Besides, D'Annunzio thought of himself in similar terms; see the volume Per l 'Italia degli Italiani. )4

§( 5 3 ). Giovanni Gena. The figure of Cena1 must be examined from two angles : as a "popular" writer and poet ( cf. Ada Negri)/

and as a man actively trying to create institutions for the education of peasants (the schools in the Roman Plains and the Pontine Marshes, which he founded together with Angelo and Anna Celli).

Cena was born in Montanaro Canavese on I2 January I 87o, and died in Rome on 7 December I 9 I 7 · During I 900- I 90 I he was a correspondent for Nuova Antologia in Paris and London. In I 902, editor-in-chief of the journal, until his death. Disciple of Arturo Gra£.3 (An autobiographical letter by Cena is published in Giulio De Frenzi's Candidati all' Immortalita. )4 Remember Cena's article, "Che fare ? , " published by La Voce in I 9 I 2 (I think).5

§(54). "Olii, petrolii e benzine, " by Manfredi Gravina in the Nuova Antologia of I 6 December I 927. (The article is continued

[in the Nuova Antologia of I January I 928, and is interesting because of its general treatment of the problem of oil. J ) l The article is a recapitulation of recent publications on the problem of oil. I extract some bibliographical notes and some observations : Karl Hoffmann, Oelpolitik und angelsii.chsischer Imperialism us (Berlin: Ring-Verlag, I 927 ), according to Gravina is a masterful work, an excellent compendium of the world's great oil problems, and indis pensable for those who want to study it in greater depth with the help of precise data (with the reservation that it is too prone to see the presence of "oil" in every international event). The "Federal Oil Conservation Board" was formed in America in I 924 to study all possible means to rationalize the excessive exploitation of American oil reserves and to ensure the highest and best yields from them. ( Hoffmann defines this board as "a grand organization

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to prepare industry for the eventual war in the Pacific. " ) On this board, Senator Hughes, who had been Secretary of State, represents the direct interests of two companies belonging to the Standard group (the "Standard" of New York and "Vacuum Oil". ) The "Standard Oil Trust, " created by John D. Rockefeller in r 8 82, had to adapt itself to the anti-trust laws. The "Standard" of New Jersey is still considered the real center of the petroleum activity of the Rockefeller family: it controls 20-2 5 % of the world production, 40-4 5 % of refineries, s o-6o% of pipelines leading from the wells to the loading depots. Other companies have emerged alongside Standard and its subsidiaries; the most noteworthy among them are the so-called Big Independents.

"Standard" is connected with the Harriman Consortium (rail transportation and shipping, 8 shipping companies) and the Kuhn Loeb & Co. banking groups of New York, headed by Otto Kahn.

Among the English, the two most important groups are the "Shell Royal Dutch" and the "Anglo-Persian Burmah." The chief executive of "Shell" is Sir Henry Deterding who is Dutch. "Shell" is at the service of the English Empire, notwithstanding the great financial and political interests of Holland. "Anglo-Persian Burmah" can be considered a British government company and, more specifi cally, a company of the Admiralty, which is represented in the company by three trustees. The president of "Anglo-Persian" is Sir Charles Greenway, assisted by a technical consultant, Sir John Cadman, who was in charge of the government's oil operations during the war. Greenway, Cadman, Deterding, and the Samuel brothers (founders of the English "Shell" which later merged with the "Royal-Dutch") are in point of fact considered the directors of English oil policy.

§(5 5 ). Emphyteusis. The owner is called "estate-owner, " the holder is called "user. " In practice, emphyteusis is a leasea with the special characteristic of being perpetual; every right associated with real ownership is transferred except for the right to regain possession in the event that the ground rent (or the annuity or the lease payment- perpetual dues) is not paid. (The figure of the proprietor is theoretically split in two. ) Emphyteusis contracts are

• In this manuscript Gramsci at first wrote : "resembles a lease. "

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more frequent i n the South and in the Ferrara region: they are rarely used in the other regions. It is linked, I think, to the phenomenon of primitive day labor or, better, the landless peasant who obtains small pieces of land in emphyteusis in order to work on them during those periods when he is out of work, either because the season has ended or because of the practice of monoculture.

Thus, the lessee greatly improves the land and makes useless or very stony ground arablei since he is unemployed and ground rents for quasi-sterile lands are very low, he does not estimate his labor in terms of the profit he hopes to make in the future. The work of the peasant is often so great that the labor-capital he invests would pay twice or three times for the plot of land. Nonetheless, if for any reason the user does not pay the ground rent, he loses everything.

Given the nature of perpetual rent, the contract should be scru pulously observed and the state should never intervene. Yet, in r 9 2 5 , the landowners were granted an increase of one-fifth in groundrent payments. In June r 929, Senators Garofalo, Libertini, Marcello, and Amero d' Aste were brazen-faced enough to present a bill that would have raised ground rents again, in spite of the revaluation of the lira: the bill was not given any consideration, but it stands as a symbol of the times, as evidence of the general offensive by the landowners against the peasants. 1

§(5 6). Massimo D 'Azeglio. In recent years many apologetic publications about Massimo D' Azeglio, especially by one named Marcus De Rubris. ! See how many titles De Rubris has invented for D' Azeglio : knight of the nation, herald of great events, etc., etc. J l Collect materials for a chapter on "usurped reputations. "

In r 8 6o, D'Azeglio, Governor of Milan, prevented arms and ammunitions from being sent to Garibaldi for the Marsala mission,

"since he thought it would be quite disloyal I ! ) to support an uprising against the Kingdom of Naples, with which there existed diplomatic relations, " as Senator Mazziotti writes !Nuova An tologia, r March r 928, "La spedizione garibaldina del 'Utile."' See Luzio, "11 milione di fucili e la spedizione dei Mille" in the Lettura of April I 9 I O, and the literature on Garibaldi in general. How did Garibaldi judge D'Azeglio ? See Memorie).2 Since on other occasions D' Azeglio was not so attached to "loyalty, " his attitude must

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have its explanation in his blind and sectarian antipathy for the Action Party and Garibaldi. D' Azeglio's attitude explains the timid and wavering policy of Cavour in 1 8 6o. D'Azeglio was a less intelligent and less statesmanlike version of Cavour, but politically they resembled each other; for them it was not so much a matter of unifying Italy as of stopping the activities of the democrats.

§(5 7). Bias against cities. Remember in Gerbi's book on La Politica del 700, the reference to Engels' views on the new arrangements that need to be made for agglomerations of industrial towns, which Gerbi misinterprets land the opinions of Ford which Gerbi also interprets badly). 1 These points of view are not to be confused with the "Enlightenment" bias against the city. See Spengler's views on large cities, defined as "monstrous crematories of the power of the people, whose best energies they absorb and destroy. " 2 Ruralism, etc.

§(5 8). On fashion. A very interesting and intelligent article in the Nuova An tologia of 1 6 March 1 9 2 8 : "Formazione e organizzazione della moda" by Bruno De Pol. 1 IDe Pol, I believe, is a leather manufacturer from Milan. ) Many suggestions; an explanation of fashion in terms of economic development I the display of luxury is not fashion, fashion emerges with great industrial development); explanation of French hegemony in female fashion and of English hegemony in male fashion; the current struggle to drive these hegemonies to a "condominium" -American and German actions in this regard. Economic consequences, especially for France, etc.

§( 5 9). Tittoni. Tittoni's opinion has certainly been very important in establishing the foreign policy programs of the government from 1 9 2 3 on: follow Tittoni's practical and literary activity during these years. The head of the government has contributed an interesting political preface to his 1 928 collection of articles on foreign policy, Quistioni del giorno. 1 Tittoni's past. His activity. The opinions of foreign diplomats on Tittoni l see Georges Louis' Garnets, etc).2 His relations with Isvolsky.3 1Marchand's Libra Nero. )4

Tittoni as a man of letters and his excessive fixation with lin

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guistic accuracy- strange because Nuova Antologia publishes pieces which are linguistically incorrect, especially translations, etc. See the article "Per Ia verita storica, " signed "Veracissimus, " in the Nuova Antologia of r 6 March- I April 1 92 8 : in it, the author (Tit toni) discusses his relations with Isvolsky and with the French press (Isvolsky, in a report published in Libra Nero, referred to the large quantity of money Tittoni gave the press during the Libyan war, etc. ), and makes some interesting allusions to the 1 909 meeting at Racconigi.5 Remember Alberto Lumbroso's book on the economic causes of the war and his references to Tittoni. (To what extent was Tittoni responsible for the Carthage and Manouba incident, mentioned by Lumbroso ? )6 In the article, there is also a crude reference (reminiscent of a country trader, as Georges Louis would sayf to the current Russian embassy in Paris and to its possible contacts with Count Manzoni. 8 (Why this particularly aggressive animus on the part of Tittoni ? Remember the scandal provoked in 1 92 5 , I believe, by Tittoni when he was president of the Senate, and for which the government had to apologize.9 The most interesting episode in Tittoni's life is his sojourn in Naples where he was prefect 10 during a period of big scandals : materials may be found in the newspapers of that time; perhaps in the Propaganda, etc. )

§(6o). On Emanuele Filiberto, there is an interesting and serious (not hagiographic) article by Pietro Egidi, "Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia" in the Nuova Antologia of r 6 April 1 92 8 . 1 The military abilities of Emanuele Filiberto are sketched with keen insight : Emanuele Filiberto marks the transition from the strategy of mer cenary armies to the new strategy which was to find its main exponents in Frederick II and Napoleon- the great war of maneuver aimed at decisive and essential targets. At Cateau Cambn!sis, he was able to regain his state with the help of Spain, but the treaty established the "neutrality" of Piedmont, that is, its independence from France as well as Spain. (Egidi maintains that it was Eman uele Filiberto who suggested to the French that they demand this neutrality, in order to avoid Spanish control; but this is a hypothesis. In this case, the interests of France and Piedmont were perfectly identical. ) This marks the beginning of the House of Savoy's modern foreign policy of balance between the two major European

Miscellaneous I. §62

powers. After this peace, however, Piedmont immediately begins losing land irreparably: Geneva and the area around Lake Geneva.

In a history, one should at least mention the various territorial phases through which Piedmont passed, from mainly French, to Franco-Piedmontese, to Italian. ( Emanuele Filiberto was basically a general of the Counter-Reformation.)

Egidi also describes Emanuele Filiberto's foreign policy quite clearly, but his references to domestic policy and especially military policy are insufficient and they are linked to those aspects of domestic policy which were strictly related to foreign events, that is to the territorial unification of the state through the return of lands still occupied by the French and the Spanish after Cateau Cambresis, or to the agreements with the Swiss Cantons to regain some part of the lost territory. (For the study on Machiavelli, examine especially Emanuele Filiberto's military organization and his domestic policy regarding the class balance upon which the absolute supremacy of the House of Savoy was based. )

§(6 I). Counter-Reformation. In the Nuova Antologia of I 6 April I 928, Guido Chialvo publishes an "Instruction" from Emanuele Filiberto to Pierino Belli, his chancellor and military judge, on the

"Council of State, " dated I December I 5 5 9· Here is the opening section of the "Instruction": "Since fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and there is no greater ill nor more serious pestilence in the governance of states than when the men in charge do not fear God, and attribute to their prudence what should be recognized as the gift of Divine Providence and Inspiration, and that from this impious heresy, as from the source of every vice come all the wickedness and the scourges of the world, and men dare to violate human and divine laws. " 1

§(62)

Joseph De Maistre. De Maistre's book on the Pope (II

.

papa, translated by Tito Casini) was published in I 927 in Florence by the Libreria Editrice Fiorentina. In an article in the Nuova Antologia of I 6 April I 928 ( "Guelfismo e nazionalismo di Giuseppe De Maistre"), Niccolo Rodolico 1 recalls how De Maistre in I 8 2o, at a time when old monarchies were restored and the authority of the Holy See renewed, was embittered during the last year of

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N O TE B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

his life because of the delays and difficulties obstructing the dedication and publication of the second edition of this book (which was published posthumously in Lyon in r 822). De Maistre wanted to dedicate the book to Pius VII who held him in very high esteem, and he wanted to publish it in Piedmont, whose king he had loyally served during the Revolutioni but he was not able to. According to Rodolico, the behavior of these most Catholic rulers can be explained by the public state of mind in Europe between r 8 r 9 and r 82o when liberals, Jansenists and anti-clerical sectarians were astir, and by the fear of provoking new and louder polemics. "After more than a century, " adds Rodolico "a good translation of the book Du pape appears in Italy without provoking polemics; it can now be studied serenely from a political perspective, connecting it to other expressions of the political thought of the period. " 2

The problem, however, i s that this book, like others of its kind, has not been published "serenely, " in order to provide scholars with a document, but has been published as a "current polemic. "

I t i s a sign o f the times. The same Libreria Editrice Fiorentina publishes a whole series of books of this type, which include the Syllabus3 and other such fossils prefaced by "topical" introductions written by neo Catholic types like Papini, Manacorda, etc.

The reappearance in print of Solaro della Margarita's Memorandum, which has been promoted as a "topical" book, is due to the same hothouse atmosphere.4 (On this subject, one should recall the discussion in the Senate between Ruffini and the head of government concerning the Statute, and the very witty comparison of Ruffini with Solaro della Margarita . )5

Take note of these publications which are typical, even though their importance is or may be negligible, and distinguish them from purely "clerical" publications. Still, the problem arises : why did the clericals not publish these books themselves already, and why did they themselves prefer not to have these books discussed?

It would be interesting to find out how many times the Syllabus has been reprinted recently. I believe that the Vatican itself preferred to let it sink into oblivion, and after Pius X it was "irritated"

by the Syllabus Chair created by French monarchists in their party schools. (This topic about De Maistre, Solaro, the Syllabus, etc., should be kept in mind for a paragraph in the section on "Past and Present. " )

Rodolico's article i s interesting for what it says about De Maistre's

Miscellaneous I. § 63

anti-Austrian views, and about his belief that Piedmont had to formulate a national not a narrowly Piedmontese policy, etc. From the general drift of the article, it appears that publication of the book on the Pope was forbidden in Piedmont because absolutist

"Piedmontists" were in government, and De Maistre's book expounded views on the Italian national role of the Papacy which were later revived by Gioberti in Prima to. 6

A book on De Maistre by Mandoul, Joseph De Maistre et la politique de la Maison de Savoie, Paris, Alcan. 7 (This opposition to De Maistre, a very temperate man, is to be studied in its political context in order to gain an exact understanding of the r 848-49

historical nexus and to explain Novara: if necessary, return to Rodolico's article and look for the other documentary materials. )

§(63). Italy and Egypt. Article by Romolo Tritonj in the Nuova Antologia of r 6 April 1 928, "Le Capitolazioni e l'Egitto. " 1 (It is supposedly a chapter from Manuale di quistioni politiche dell'

Oriente musulmano to be published soon but which I have not seen advertised or reviewed. Tritonj has also written, E giun to il momenta di abolire le Capitolazioni in Turchial published in Rome in 1 9 1 6,2 and he is a frequent contributor to Nuova Antologia and to Coppola's Politica. Who is he? Is he one of the old nationalists ?

I don't remember. He seems to me to be serious and informed: he is a specialist in Near Eastern issues. Check. )

He is very much in favor of the Capitulations, especially in Egypt, from an Italian and European point of view: he argues that there is a need for unity among European states on the question, but foresees that this unity of action will not be maintained because of England's disengagement. England already tried to detach itself from Europe with the 4 points on Egypt,3 asserting that it reserved "the protection of foreign interests" to itself- a clause that was unclear because it seemed that England arrogated this protection to itself, excluding the other powers. But it was explained that at the next conference on Capitulations, England would participate on an equal basis with the other signatories of the Capitulation accord.

England has a very small colony in Egypt (if one excludes British officials in the Egyptian administration and military personnel) and by accepting the abolition of Capitulations, it would be selling out

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N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9- 1 9 3 3 )

the others. In order to curry favor with the nationalists, i t would put the other Europeans in a bad light. (This is the delicate issue that concerns the Italians : they would like to befriend the nationalists, but they would like to do so by pursuing the interests of the Italian colony in Egypt and letting the odiousness of the situation created by Europe in Egypt fall on England's shoulders. Check the periodicals for opinions on the events of 1 929-30 in Egypt: they are contradictory, awkward; Italy is favorable toward the nationalities but . . . etc.; the same holds true for India, but the interests in Egypt are very strong and the opinions expressed have more immediate repercussions. ) The Italian colony in Egypt is very select, in other words, its constituents have already reached the third or fourth generation, having moved up from the proletarian emigrant to the industrialist, the merchant, the professional. Since they maintain their national character, they enlarge Italy's clientele in commerce, etc., etc. (It would be interesting to find out the social composition of the Italian colony: however, it is probable that after three or four generations a considerable number of emigrants has climbed to a higher social class. In any case, the Capitulations unify the Italian colony and allow the Italian bourgeoisie and officials to control all the emigrant masses. )

In those Mediterranean countries where the Capitulations have been abolished, Italian emigration has either ceased, or is being gradually eliminated (Turkey); or else it finds itself in the situation of Tunisia, where there is an attempt to denationalize it. The abolition of Capitulations means the denationalization of emigration. (Another problem arises from the fact that Italy is an exclusively Mediterranean power and any change in this sea concerns it more than any other power. )

Naturally, given his views, Tritonj would like to remain on friendly terms with the Egyptians, and he recognizes that "it is of primary importance for us to be friends of their country."

§(64). R. Garofalo, "Criminalita e amnistia in Italia, " Nuova An tologia of 1 May 1 92 8 . 1 For the character of Garofalo.

Miscellaneous I. § 66

309

§(6 5 ) . Claudio Faina, "Foreste, combustibili e carburante nazionale, " Nuova Antologia of r May 1 92 8 . 1 Interesting. It demonstrates that Italian forestry, if cultivated and industrially exploited, can greatly increase its output and yield many byproducts. (Faina, the author of this article, is the son of Senator Eugenio Faina, who is chairman of the parliamentary inquiry on the Mezzogiomo, and is deeply involved in agrarian organization and propaganda-rural schools established by the father in Umbria, etc. In his article, Faina mentions the intensive and irrational deforestation of the mountains of southern Sardinia in order to sell coal to Spain.

Remember this reference to Sardinia. )

§(66). The agrarian question. The Nuova Antologia of r 6 May 1 928, published an article by Nello Toscanelli, "ll latifondo, " which on the very first page contains the following gem: "Ever since the art of writing has permitted the Italians to have a history ( ! ), the topic of land distribution has always been on the 'agenda' of public meetings. In fact, in a country where it is possible to live well in the open air for the greater part of the year, ownership of even a small piece of land represents the secret ambition of the citizen ( ! ? ) who is convinced that he can find the most delightful ease and a perpetual source of food in the fields, which he gets to see only during the luxuriance of crops in the spring or during the happy days of the grape harvest. And, to a lesser ex tent ( ! ? ), the sweet vision of landed property moves even ( ! J the peasant, even though he knows ( ! J the slow pace and the disap pointments of agriculture. " 1 (This Nello Toscanelli is a strange type, like Loria. )

According to Toscanelli the slogan "land to the peasants" was introduced by the honorable Aurelio Drago in an electoral program in 1 9 1 3 . (Revived during the war, in 1 9 1 7, by a prime minister and popularized by Senator Tanari in the Resto del Carlino.) Toscanelli's article is a worthless long-winded journalistic assault (against agrarian reform, naturally).

In his article, Toscanelli very courteously mentioned the fact that in 1 9 1 7 Senator Tanari had exalted the slogan "land to the peasants." This is Toscanelli's way of saying that the slogan no longer frightened anyone if it was championed and exalted by a famous conservative like Tanari and a prime minister. (Who was

3 1 0

N O TE B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

it? Orlando? O r does he mean Nitti who became prime minister later and at that time was treasury minister? ) But, in 1 928, Tanari became highly suspicious and fearful lest someone believe that he had, at any time, been a Ravachol (sic) of property.

The Nuova An tologia of I June 1 928, published a "Letter to the Editor of Nuova An tologia " in which Tanari justifies himself by trying to explain and soften the position he held in 1 9 1 7 : "I want to declare that in an article, 'La terra ai contadini ? ' (emphatically with a question mark), and later in a published study of mine Sulla quistione agraria, I did not intend to exalt anything! Instead, this is how things stand. I was somewhat (sic) aware of what was promised to the peasan ts in the trenches, and when I realized that the distribution of land became a program for the postwar period (author's emphasis), it seemed to me that the time had come to keep it under control; and therefore to defend as much as possible the principle of property, which I considered . . . (etc., etc. ). How could this be achieved? In those days, because suffrage was constantly extended and because the town councils were taken over by socialism (in 1 9 1 7 ? ! ! ), out of every ten councilmen on a town council there were perhaps two administrators who paid taxes (he means direct taxes; but what about the indirect taxes, including the duty on wheat which benefited so many Tanaris ? ) while the other eight, who owned nothing, imposed them. (That is, they were trying to prevent the administrations from living only on indirect taxes, as the many Tanaris would have liked. ) This small number of owners, confronted by the non-owners, was subjected to the social-communist theory of the so-called 'artichoke' (the theory, in truth, is much older; it is precisely the theory of Piedmontese policy during the unification of Italy, and Tanari commits a crime of lese majesty by asserting that it is a social-communist theoryand in 1 9 1 7, moreover); that is, the imposition of more and more taxes on the owners of property so that very gradually, leaf by leaf, one reaches the point of expropriation. In some municipalities things had almost gone this far ( ! ? ). What was I thinking of, at that time? . . . In France, I thought, out of a population of 40 million there were 4 million landowners before the war; in Italy, we were no more than one and a half million out of 3 5 million. Clearly we were too few to defend ourselves in the climate of those times !

( "Those times" was 1 9 1 7, then ! ) So, at that time, I ventured this truly 'revolutionary' idea: 'If there was a law which would facili

Miscellaneous I. § 66

3 1 1

tate -not coercively ( take note) but liberally- the transfer of medium sized and large absentee property (author's emphasis) to those who actually farmed the land, if these were considered technically, morally, and financially fit by paying for the land-let this be well noted (author's emphasis) and if the loans were guaranteed partly by the income from the new property and partly by the state, then I would not have been opposed (as, God forgive me, neither am I now) to such a law. ' I wish I had never said it ! The most advanced and intelligent socialists understood very well how I was damaging them and told me so. Others who were less honest removed the question mark from my article; so that a question posed hypothet ically and interrogatively was transformed into an assertion. Among the landowners, on the other hand, there were several who did not read my work, or who did not understand anything, and they considered me a true expropriator; and thus, with the best intentions to defend the principle of property, and having been targeted by both sides of opposed interests, I became convinced . . . that I was righ t! (author's emphasis ) " 2

This letter by Senator G. Tanari i s remarkable for its political hypocrisy and its omissions. One should point out that Tanari carefully avoids giving precise references to his writings which go back to late 1 9 1 7 or early 1 9 r 8, while at the same time he very ably, but also with very crude dishonesty, tries to convey the impression that they were composed after the war. What impelled Tanari to deal with land redistribution and explicitly support it (he is right, of course, when he argues that he wanted to strengthen the class of landowners, but this is not the issue) was the fear that seized the ruling class following the military crises of 1 9 1 7 which led it to make generous promises to the peasant soldiers (that is, to the overwhelming majority of the army). These promises were not kept and, today, the Marquis Tanari is "ashamed" of having been weak, of having been fearful, of having engaged in demagogy of the most villainous sort. This is what constitutes Tanari's political hypocrisy and this is the reason for his omissions and his attempts to convey the impression that he launched his initiative in the postwar climate and not in I 9 I ? - r 8 . At that time, Bologna was a war zone, and Tanari wrote the article for the Resto del Carlino, that is, for the newspaper which, next to I1 Carriere, had the largest circulation in the trenches. Tanari exaggerates when he describes the landowners' reaction against him. In fact, his first article was

3 I 2

N O T E B O O K 2 ( I 9 2 9 - I 9 3 3 )

discussed very objectively by Senator Bassini, a big landowner in Veneto, whose objections to Tanari were technical ( "how can industrialized agricultural firms be divided"), not political. Tanari's and Bassini's articles, as well as Tanari's response (I think that the response consisted in an "exaltation") were reprinted in the Perseveranza, a moderate newspaper connected to the landowners in Lombardy, which at that time was edited either by Count Arrivabene or by Attilio Fontana, a well-known landowner.3 The landowners surely must have reproached Tanari for having compromised them publicly with the peasant-soldiers, and for not having left it to irresponsible individuals to make promises which everyone knew would not be kept. And this is what they continue to reproach him for even now, because they understand that not everyone has forgotten that the promises made in times of danger have not been kept. The episode deserves to be examined and studied because it is very instructive. (I must have written a note elsewhere on this episode, without having Tanari's letter in front of me; check and integrate. )4

§(67). Nicola Zingarelli, "Le idee politiche del Petrarca, " Nuova Antologia, 1 6 June I 92 8 . 1

§(68). E. De Cillis, "Gli aspetti e le soluzioni del problema della colonizzazione agraria in Tripolitania, " Nuova Antologia, I July 1 928. 1 See the literature on this subject and follow De Cillis'

publications. The article is interesting because realistic.

§(69). H. Nelson Gay, "Mazzini e Antonio Gallenga apostoli dell'Indipendenza italiana in Inghilterra (con nove lettere inedite di Mazzini ), " Nuova Antologia, I 6 July 1 92 8 . 1 It deals especially with the violation of mail privacy by the English government to the detriment of Mazzini in I 844, before the expedition of the Bandiera brothers, and with the favor England extended to the Bourbons by passing on to them the information about the conspiracy. Was the arrest of the Bandiera brothers to be "credited" to the English government or to a Mazzinian traitor (Boccheciampe)F One needs to check more exactly, because the arrest of the Bandieras required

Miscellaneous I. § 70

3 1 3

military measures and expenditures so extraordinary that only a very reliable source of information could have induced the government to undertake them, given that there must have been no lack of unfounded information provided by provocateurs and speculators about conspiracies, revolutionary initiatives, etc. It is, therefore, necessary to determine more precisely whether the responsibility of the English government (Lord Aberdeen) was only moral (insofar as it actually provided the information) or also decisive and direct (insofar as without it there would not have been the repression that actually occurred). The radical member of parliament Duncombe, who presented Mazzini's petition in Parliament, asserted in a speech : "If a monument were to be erected, as I hope it will, in the memory of those who fell at Cosenza, the memorial tablet should mention that they fell in the cause of justice and truth, victims of the baseness and deceit of a British Minister. " 3

§(70). The French Revolution and the Risorgimen to. A theme that recurs frequently in historical and non-historical Italian writing is the following one expressed by Decio Cortesi in an article,

"Roma centotrent' anni fa" (Nuova Antologia, I 6 July I 92 8 ) : "It is deplorable that Jacobin theories, the offspring of a pedantic idealism which has never taken root in our minds, should have caused so many scenes of violence in peaceful Italy which had embarked on the road of gradual improvement without shocks ( ! ! ? h it is all the more deplorable because whereas this violence could be justified, up to a point, in France when it was still oppressed by the last vestiges of feudalism and by a royal despotism, it did not have the same raison d'etre in Italy whose way of life is simple and openly democratic in practice ( ! ! ? J . The rulers of Italy may have been called 'tyrants' in literary sonnets, but whoever dispassionately considers the well being enjoyed by our people during the splendid eighteenth century is bound to look back with a sense of loss at that complex of sentiments and traditions destroyed by foreign invasion. " 1

The observation could have been true if the restoration itself, which occurred after I 8 I 5 , had not demonstrated that even in Italy the eighteenth-century situation was altogether different from what is believed. The mistake consists in looking at the surface and not at the actual conditions of the great popular masses. In any

3 1 4

NOTEBO O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9- 1 9 3 3 )

case, i t i s true that the "patriots" would not have acquired the importance they did were it not for the foreign invasion, and they would not have experienced the relatively rapid process of development that they went through. The revolutionary element was lacking and passive.

§(? I ). On the national budgets. See the speeches in the Senate by the Hon. Federico Ricci, ex-Mayor of Genoa. These speeches should be read before doing any work on the history of this period.

In his speech of I 6 December I 929 on the statement of the I 92 7-28 fiscal year, Ricci observed:

I ) Concerning the fund for the amortization of foreign debt established by the law decree of 3 March I 926 after the agreements of Washington ( I 4 November I 92 5 ) and London ( 2 7 January I 92 6 ) : the surpluses realized from the difference between the installment paid by Germany and the installment paid by Italy to America and England are loaned to the Treasury, which will have to give the money back (it will reach into the billions) at such time when Italy will have to pay more than it receives. Danger that the Treasury would not be able to pay. Italy has received from Germany payments in kind and in money. Detailed reports of the sales by the state of the goods received from Germany and of the money it took in, are no longer published: no one knows whether the amounts are larger or smaller than those credited.

2) Concerning the fund for the amortization of domestic debt, established by the law decree of 5 August 1 927 to provide for the retirement of the consolidated debt and other national debts. It had to be endowed by budget surpluses, interest income from capital, recoveries of capital, and interest from state loans to certain private industries, etc. After the first year, all the primary sources of funds, especially budget surpluses, did not materialize. It is merely credited for these sums, so that its credit in residual liabilities amounts to 1 72 8 million lire. According to the last statement, the bid from the private sector up to December I 92 8 totals 4, 8oo,ooo lire, a much smaller sum than was published in newspapers.

3 ) Insurance policies for service men, established by the law decree of r o December 1 927, at the rate of 5 00 lire for soldiers, I , ooo lire for noncommissioned officers, and 5 , ooo for officers. (Is this correct? or were they not speaking of I ,ooo lire for soldiers ? )

Miscellaneous I. § 72

3 I S

They will mature in 1 947 or 1 948, representing an enormous burden on the budget. (Naturally the interested parties have received almost nothing, and it will be the profiteers who will gain: this is an interesting topic. ) With the decree of ro May 1923, the government had provided for the establishment of a reserve at the Savings and Loans Bank by giving an initial endowment of 6oo million lire and over s o million lire a year. However, 6oo million lire were never deposited: they are entered among the residual assets as a loan contracted at 3 . 5 % interest llater raised to 4.7 5 % with Decree n. 8 p of 10 May 1 9 2 S ); and they were entered among the residual liabilities as a credit of the S. & L. As for the s o million lire, they were entered in the balance sheet for a few years, and then a ministerial decree intervened which cancelled that deposit for the current year ( 1 92 7 ) and for successive years (Ministerial Decree n. n 6 6 3 5 , of 6 October 1 92 7 ) . ( "It is strange ( ! ! ? ) that it is possible to radically transform the whole character of the budget solemnly ( ! J approved by both Parliamentary Chambers with simple ministerial decrees which do not appear in the Official Gazette, and of which the Head of the Government himself may be totally unaware; and the Minister in charge himself could have signed them inadvertently. " These words of Ricci's are obscure.) An observation by Ricci: the fund for the amortization of domestic debt has incurred a "little debt" of So million lire to amortize the national debt ! ! ! The treasury, not knowing where to tum, made the High Commissioner of the City of Naples, the Consortium of the Port of Genoa, etc. lend it money. It borrowed money from the funds for the amortization of the foreign debt and of the domestic debt, treating them in a strange way, that is, by not paying interest ! , etc. 1

§(72). About budgets. One should always compare the normal national budget with the additions, corrections, and variations which are usually made a few months later; interesting entries are often concealed in this budget supplement. (For ex., the budget contained 1 , s oo,ooo lire for secret expenditures in Foreign Affairs, in the supplement there was an increase of 1 o,ooo,ooo lire. ) One can be sure that the supplement receives less attention than the ordinary budget, and therefore it rouses less curiosity and fewer questions: it looks like everyday administration.

3 1 6

N O TE B O O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 3 )

(§7 3 ). Action Fran�aise and the Vatican. Bibliography from the Mercure de France of r May r 928 :

r ) F. Gay, a Commen t i 'ai defendu le Pape, "La Vie Catholique. "

(Reprints o f the articles against the Action Fran�aise which appeared in Vie Catholique from 6 November r 926 to I 3

August r 92 7 . )

2 ) Mermeix, L a Ralliemen t e t 1' Action Fran�aise, A . Fayard.

(An extremely detailed and well documented but very biased history of Catholic support for the republic and of the affairs of the Action Fran�aise, r 8 7 I - r 92 7 . ) 3 ) A . Lugan, L 'Action Fran�aise, de son origine a nos ;ours ( "Etudes sur les doctrines de 1' Action Fran�aise, " n. 4).

(Reproaches the Action Fran�aise for its fierce and abusive persecution of Piou and Action Liberale, Marc Sangnier and Sillon, and for its association with all those who sometimes resorted to dishonest methods such as spying to track down modernism and radicalism even among the cardinals and popes. Among these atheists and their allies, politics was more important than the concern with doctrinal integrity. It calls for the separation of religion from certain adventures which have compromised it all too much; it is a noteworthy historical exposition. )

4 ) L 'Equivoque du lai"cisme et les elections de 1928, par un Polytechnicien; Librairie du Petit Democrate.

(Calls for the formation of a great party which would embrace the "clericals" and a fraction of the old radical party.

Catholics have definitively renounced every attitude of supremacy and ask only for the right to sacrifice themselves as they have done during the war; for this reason it is necessary to make some distinctions in the so-called "lay laws. ") 5 ) Paul Remond (Bishop of Clisma) L 'Heure d'obeir, "La Vie Catholique. "

("The Holy See asked Catholics to situate themselves within the framework of the Constitution, so as to be better able to achieve unanimity in purely Catholic matters . . . The Action Fran�aise declares that it cannot receive orders from Rome on this rna tter . . "J 1

.

• In the manuscript, "Gray. "

Miscellaneous I. § 7 4

3 1 7

(§7 4). Sundry bibliography.

I J C. Smogorzenski, Le feu complexe des Partis en Pologne,

"Geebethner et Wolff. "

2 ) Louis Fischer, L 'lmperialisme du petrole, Rieder.

(A description of the history of oil production according to the documents of the German ministry and the Russian Commissariat. Against Sir Henry Deterding and the other oil kings. )

3 ) Charles Benoist, Les Lois de la Politique franyaise, A . Fayard.

(Among other things : "The Frenchman is a warrior, but not a military man, " he needs to be disciplined; therefore,

"military service for a short period is not possible except for the most reliable cadres. ")

4) Georges Valois, Basile ou la Politique de la Calomnie,

"Valois. "

(Against Maurras and the Action Franctaise; autobiographical. History of the "Proudhon Circle" and of its Cahiers.

On Sorel's participation, see Pierre Lasserre's book on Sorel1

and the Sorel Croce correspondence.2 Because of the situation which prevailed in France in I 92 5 and the hopes of the reactionaries, "Maurras s'etait presque engage a faire la monarchie pour le fin de 1 9 2 5 . " For the pitiful history of the Valois movement in France. J3

5 ) Edouard Champion, "Le livre aux Etats Unis"; a long article in the Revue des Deux Mondes of I 5 May and I June I 92 7 .4

(6)3 Ottavio Cina, La Commedia Socialista, Bernardo Lux, Rome, I 9 I 4, pp. viii I 02, 3d thousand ( ? ). Title taken from the book by Yves Guyot, La Comedie Socialiste, Paris, I 8 97, Charpentier (but he does not say so).5

Cina's is a very banal, dull, and inept book of the libelous sort.

It can be included only in a bibliography of this kind of literature at the extreme margins of the polemics of that period. Very general.

When he cites facts or names, he commits gross errors (see p. 5 , on the Turati Ferri dispute) . Check under what heading Croce cites it in the bibliography of his Storia d'Jtalia dal I87I al I9 IJ.6 On p.

• This item was probably added at a later time; it is not numbered in the manuscript.

3 1 8

NOTEBOOK 2 ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 3 )

3 4, Cina refers to his articles in the Economista d' Italia of 1 9 10.

He examines the economic conditions of the time; naturally, he is very superficial and insipidly tendentious, and he concludes by calling upon the bourgeois classes to resist the workers, even violently. From this point of view, it is interesting, as a sign of the times. One should find out who this Mr. Cina was (or is. ) He does not seem to be a "nationalist" in the sense of political party.7

(§7 5 ). R. Michels, "Les Partis politiques et Ia contrainte sociale, " Mercure de France, 1 May 1 928, pp. 5 1 3 -5 3 5 . 11Le parti politique ne saurait etre etymologiquement et logiquement qu'une partie de ! 'ensemble des citoyens, organise sur le terrain de Ia politique. Le parti n'est done qu'une fraction, pars pro toto" ( ? ) . 1

According to Max Weber ( Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Grun driss der SozialOkonomik, III, 2d ed., Tubingen 1 9 2 5 , pp. 1 67, 6 3 9 ) i t has its origins in two kinds of causes : i t is, particularly, a spontaneous association of propaganda and agitation which aims at gaining power in order to procure for its active supporters (militants) moral and material possibilities to realize objective ends or personal advantages, or even both things at once. The general orientation of political parties, then, would consist of a personal or impersonal Mach tstreben. In the first case, personal parties are presumably based on the protection granted to inferiors by a powerful man. In the history ( ? ) of political parties, such cases are frequent. In the old Prussian Diet of I 8 5 5 , which included many political groups, all of them were named after their leaders; the only group that took a real name was a national group, the Polish one (see Friedrich Naumann, Die politischen Parteien, Berlin: Die Hilfe, 1 9 1 0, p. 8 ) .

The history of the workers movement demonstrates that the socialists have not disdained this bourgeois tradition. Socialist parties have often taken the name of their leaders ( 11comme pour faire aveu public de leur assujettissemen t complet a ces chefs") ( ! ).

In Germany, between 1 8 6 3 and 1 8 7 5 , the rival socialist factions were the Marxists and the Lassalleans. More recently, in France, the great socialist movements were divided into Broussistes, Allemanistes, Blanquistes, Geusdistes, and Jauressistes. It is true that the men who gave their name to the various movements, in this

Miscellaneous I. §75

3 1 9

manner, personified a s completely as possible the ideas and the tendencies which inspired their parties and guided them throughout their development. !Maurice Charnay, Les Allemanistes, Paris : Riviere, I 9 I 2, p. 2 5 . )

Perhaps there is an analogy between political parties and reli gious sects and monastic orders; Yves Guyot has pointed out that the individual member of a modern party acts like medieval monks who took the names of St. Dominic, St. Benedict, Augustine, Francis IYves Guyot, La Comedie socialiste, Paris : Charpentier, I 897, p. I I I ). Thus the type of parties which may be called "partis de patronage. " When the leader exerts influence on his supporters because of qualities which are so extraordinary that they seem supernatural to them, he can be called a charismatic leader lxapwf.UX, gift of god, reward; see M. Weber, op. cit, p. I 4o). IThis note is numbered 4 his, which means it was inserted in the proofs; cer tainly not for the translation of "xap'a#La" but perhaps for the reference to Weber. Michels has made a lot of noise in Italy with

"his" discovery of the "charismatic leader" which, probably, was already in Weber [one should make a comparison]; one must also check Michels' I 927 book on political sociology2-he does not even mention that a conception of the leader by divine grace has already been in existence, and how! J

Nonetheless, this type of party at times appears in more general forms. Lassalle himself, leader of the Lassalleans, was officially only the president for life of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein. He took pleasure in bragging to his supporters about the idolatry he enjoyed from the delirious masses and from virgins dressed in white who sang his praises and offered him flowers. This charismatic faith was not only the result of an exuberant and somewhat megalomaniacal psychology but it also corresponded with a theoretical conception. We must- he told the Rhenish workers while explaining to them his ideas on the organization of the party-forge a hammer out of all our dispersed wills and put it in the hands of a man whose intelligence, character, and devotiona can guarantee us the ability to strike hard lsee Michels, Les Partis politiques, I 9 I 4, p. I J O; no cross reference to the 1 924 enlarged Italian edition) .3 It was the dictator's hammer. Later the masses demanded at least a sem blance of democracy and of collective

• In the manuscript, "devouemnet" is inserted between the lines as a varian t.

3 20

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

power, increasingly large groups of leaders were formed who pre vented dictatorship by a single individual. Jaures and Bebel are two types of charismatic leaders.4 Bebel, orphan of a noncommis sioned officer from Pomerania, used to speak haughtily ( ? ) and was imperious (Herve called him Kaiser Bebel : see Michels, Bedeutende Manner, Leipzig, 1 927, p. 29).5 Jaures, an extraordinary speaker without equal, fiery, romantic and realistic at the same time, who sought to overcome difficulties by "ranking" problems, so that he could defeat them as they presented themselves. ( See Rap poport, fean faures. L ' homme. Le Penseur. Le Socialiste, 2d ed., Paris, 1 9 1 6, p. 3 6 6 . ) The two great leaders who were friends and rivals shared an unyielding faith in both the effectiveness of their action and the destinies of the legions whose banners they carried.

They were both deified: Bebel while still alive, Jaures after his death.

Mussolini is another example of a party leader who has some thing of the seer and the believer in him. Moreover, he is not only the sole leader of a great party, but he is also the sole leader of a great country. In his case, the concept of the axiom "I am the party" has also had its fullest development in the sense of respon sibility and hard work. (Historically inaccurate. In the meantime, the formation of groups and all discussions at public meetings are prohibited, because they have proved to be disastrous. Mussolinib uses the state to dominate the party and he uses the party only to some extent, during difficult moments, to dominate the state. Fur thermore, so-called "charisma, " in Michels' sense, always coin cides in the modem world with a primitive stage of mass parties, the stage at which doctrine appears to the masses as something vague and incoherent, something that needs an infallible Pope to interpret it and adapt it to the circumstances. This phenomenon occurs all the more when the party comes into being and is formed not on the basis of a world view which is unitary and full of possibilities because it is the expression of a historically necessary and progressive class, but on the basis of incoherent and muddled ideologies that feed on sentiments and emotions which have not yet reached the final point of dissolution, because the classes (or the class) of which it is an expression, although in dissolution historically, still have a certain base and attach themselves to the glories of the past as a shield against the future. ) bJn the manuscript: "M. "

Miscellaneous I. § 7 5

3 2 1

To those who are familiar with the susceptibility of Italian crowds to sentimental exaggeration and "emotional" enthusiasm, the example offered by Michels as proof of the resonance of this conception among the masses is infantile. According to Michels, a voice out of a crowd of ten thousand standing outside Palazzo Chigi shouted: "No, you are Italy"- this on an occasion when the emotion of the Fascist crowd was objectively real. Moreover, according to Michels, Mussolinic displayed the charismatic essence of his character in the telegram sent to Bologna in which he stated that he was sure, absolutely sure (and surely he was, pour cause) that nothing bad could happen to him before he had completed his mission.

"Nous n'avons pas ici a indiquer les dangers que la conception charismatique peut entrainer" ( ? ) . Charismatic leadership carries with it a most powerful political dynamism. Saint-Simon, on his death bed, told his disciples to remember that in order to accomplish great things one must be passionate. To be passionate means to have the gift to excite others with passion. It is a formidable stimulant. This is the advantage of charismatic parties over others which are based on a well defined program and on class interest. It is true, however, that the longevity of charismatic parties is often dependent upon the longevity of their energy and enthusiasm, which sometimes provide a very fragile foundation. For this reason we see how the charismatic parties are led to rest their psychological ( ! ) values upon the more lasting structures of human interests.

The charismatic leader6 may belong to any party, whether authoritarian or anti-authoritarian (given that anti authoritarian parties do exist, as parties; what does happen, though, is that anti authoritarian, anarchic, anarcho-syndicalist "movements" become a "party" because they group around personalities who are organizationally "irresponsible, " in a certain sense "charismatic").

Michels' classification of parties is very sketchy and superficial, based on external and general characteristics : 1 ) "charismatic" par ties, that is, groupings around certain personalities, with rudimentary programs : the basis of these parties is faith and the authority of a single individual. (No one has ever seen any such party; certain expressions of interests are, at certain times, represented by certain

< (n the manuscript: "M. "

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more or less exceptional personalities. During certain periods of

"permanent anarchy, " due to the static equilibrium of the conflicting forces, a man represents "order, " that is, the breaking of the deadly equilibrium by exceptional means, and the "frightened, "

the "mad sheep" of the petite bourgeoisie gather around him. But there always is a program, albeit general, or rather a program which is general precisely because its only aim is to repair the exterior political facade of a society which is not undergoing a real constitutional crisis, but only a crisis arising out of the inordinate number of malcontents who cannot be easily controlled because of their sheer numbers and because of the simultaneous, but mechanically simultaneous, display of discontent across the whole nation.); 2) parties which are founded on economic and social class interests; parties of workers, peasants, or "petite gens" (since) the bourgeoisie cannot form a party by itself ; 3 ) political parties generated ( ! ) by general and abstract moral or political ideas: when this conception is based on a more developed dogma elaborated in detail, one could speak of doctrinaire parties, the doctrines of which are the privilege of the leaders-free market or protectionist parties or parties which proclaim rights of freedom and justice such as : "To each the fruits of his labor! to each according to his efforts ! to each according to his needs ! "

Fortunately, Michels finds this classification unclear and incomplete, because all "concrete" parties represent, at the most, intermediate shades or combinations of all three. To these three types he adds two others : confessional parties and national parties (one should also add republican parties under monarchical regimes and monarchical parties under republican regimes . ) According to Michels, confessional parties profess an Ueberweltanschauung more than a Weltanschauung (which is the same thing, after all). Na tional parties profess the general principle of the right of every people and of every fraction of a people to total unconditional sovereignty (P.S. Mancini's theories) . 7 But these parties disappeared after 1 848, and national parties have arisen which have no general principles because they deny to others, etc. (Although nationalist parties do not always "theoretically" deny to other peoples what they assert for their own, they subscribe to the armed resolution of conflict, when they do not start from vague conceptions of national missions, as Michels says too.)

The article abounds in hollow and vague language. "The need

Miscellaneous I. § 75

for organization ( . . .

) and the ineluctable ( ! ) tendencies of human, individual and collective psychology erase, in the long run, most of the original distinctions. " (All this means is : the "sociological"

type does not correspond to the concrete fact. ) "The political party as such has a soul of its own ( ! ), independent of its programs and rules and of the eternal principles in which it is steeped." Ten dency toward oligarchy. "By giving themselves leaders, the workers create for themselves, with their own hands, new bosses whose main tool of domination consists in their technical and intellectual superiority, and in the impossibility of any effective control by those who chose them. " Intellectuals have a function (in this situation) . Because of the numerous honorary and paid positions they provide, socialist parties offer workers (a certain number of work ers, naturally! ) a career possibility which is strongly attractive to them (but is even more attractive to intellectuals).

Growing complexity of political work, as a result of which party leaders increasingly become professionals who must constantly broaden their views, possess tact and bureaucratic experience, and often have to become much more shrewd. Thus the leaders distance themselves increasingly from the mass and one can see the glaring contradiction which exists within advanced parties between democratic declarations and intentions and oligarchic real ity. ( One must point out, however, that party democracy is one thing and democracy in the state is another. To acquire democracy within the state it may be necessary- indeed, it is almost always necessary-to have a strongly centralized party; and furthermore, questions of democracy and oligarchy have a precise meaning which comes from the class difference between leaders and members. The question becomes political; in other words, it acquires real importance and is no longer merely a question of sociological schematism, when there is a class division within the organization; this has occurred in the trade unions and the social-democratic parties.

If there is no class difference, the question becomes a purely technical one- the orchestra does not believe that the conductor is an oligarchic boss - concerning the division of labor and education; that is, centralization must take into account that in popular parties education and political "apprenticeship" take place mostly through the active participation of members in the intellectual discussions-and organizational life of the parties. The solution to the problem, which becomes complicated precisely because intel-

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lectuals have a large function in advanced parties, can b e found in the formation, between the leaders and the masses, of a middle stratum which is as large as possible and which can act as a balancing force to prevent the leaders from deviating during periods of deep crisis and to go on promoting the masses. )

Michels' ideas on political parties are rather confused and sche matic, but they are interesting as a collection of raw material and of empirical and disparate observations. There are also more than a few factual errors. (The Bolshevik party is said to have been born out of Blanqui's ideas on minority power and the more severe and diversified concepts of the French syndicalist movement inspired by G. Sorel. ) The bibliography of Michels' writings could always be reconstructed from his own writings since he cites himself abundantly.

The research can start with the books I already have. An interesting observation about Michels' way of working and thinking: his writings are crammed with bibliographic references, many of them superfluous and burdensome. He supports even the most banal truisms with the authority of the most disparate writers.

One often gets the impression that it is not the line of thought that determines the citations, but the heap of ready citations that deter mines the line of thought, giving it a disjointed and improvised character. Michels must have compiled an enormous card index, but in the manner of a dilettante, an autodidact. It may be important to know who was the first person to make a certain observation, especially if such an observation stimulated a line of research or contributed in some way to the progress of knowledge. But to annotate that this or that individual has said that two plus two makes four is, at the very least, silly.

Other citations are very parochial : the sectarian or, at best, epigrammatic opinion of a polemicist is taken as a historical fact or documentation of a historical fact. On p. 5 1 4 of this article in the Mercure de France, he says that the socialist movement in France was divided into Broussistes, Allemanistes, Blanquistes, Guesdistes, and Jauressistes, in order to make the point that modem parties resemble medieval monastic orders (Benedictines, Franciscans, etc. ) and he refers to Yves Guyot's Comedie socialiste, from which he must have taken the idea. But he fails to mention that those were not the official names of the parties, but names of

"convenience" which had their origin in internal polemics and

Miscellaneous I. § 7 5

which, in fact, always implied a criticism and a reproach of personalized deviation, a reciprocal criticism and reproach which then became crystallized in the actual use of the personalized name (for the same "corporative" and "sectarian" reason that led the "Gueux"

to take their name). For this reason all of Michels' epigrammatic considerations belong to the superficiality of a reactionary salon.

The purely descriptive character and external mode of classification of the old positivistic sociology are also essential characteristics of Michels' writings : he does not have any methodology which is intrinsic to the facts, no critical point of view other than the amiable skepticism of the salon or the reactionary coffee shop which has replaced the equally superficial unconventionalities of revolutionary syndicalism and Sorelism.

Relations between Michels and Sorel : Sorel's letter to Croce, in which he mentions Michels' superficiality and Michels' petty attempt to extricate himself from Sorel's opinion. In his letter of 30

May 1 9 1 6 to Croce ( Critica, 20 September 1 929, p. 3 5 7), Sorel writes: "Je viens de recevoir une brochure de R. Michels, tirc�e de Scien tia, mai 1 9 1 6 : 'La debacle de L' lnternationale ouvriere et l'avenir. ' Je vous prie d'y jeter les yeux; elle me semble prouver que

!'auteur n'a jamais rien compris ce qui est important dans le marxisme. 11 nous presente Garibaldi, L. Blanc, Benoit Malon ( ! ! ) comme les vrais maitres de Ia pensee socialiste . . .'' (Sorel's impression must be correct - ! have not read this work of Michels'- because it most clearly hits the mark with respect to Michels' book on the Italian socialist movement, published by La Voce. )8

In the Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economia e Politica of September

October 1 929, Michels publishes five short letters sent to him by Sorel ( 1 st in 1 90 5 , 2d in 1 9 1 2, 3d in 1 9 1 7, 4th in 1 9 1 7, 5 th in 1 9 1 7 ) which are not in the least confidential in their tone but are rather conventionally correct and cold.9 In a note (see p. 29 1 ) Michels writes the following about Sorel's above mentioned opinion: "Sorel obviously did not understand ( ! ) the most immediate sense of the article he condemns. In it I had accused ( ! ) Marxism of not holding on to the ethical aspect of the socialism of Mazzini and others, and of having ruined socialism by exaggerating the merely economic aspect. Besides, as can be seen from the letters which have already been published (Which letters ? The letters published by Michels ?

These five letters which are under discussion? They do not say anything. ), Sorel's outburst (Michels' emphasis; but this is much

3 2 6

N O T E B O O K 2 j 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 3 )

more than an outburst. I t seems that for Sorel this i s a confirmation of an opinion he had formed much earlier. ) did not detract from his good relations I ! ) with the author of these lines. " It seems to me that Michels' notes in Nuovi Studi have a fairly interesting and ambiguous purpose: to cast some doubt on Sorel as a man and as a

"friend" of Italy, and to make himself appear as an Italian patriot of long standing. This very ambiguous theme is recurrent in Michels. (I believe I have noted elsewhere his position at the outbreak of the war. J l0 Sorel's short letter of 10 July 1 9 1 2 to Michels is interesting: "Je lis le numero de la Vallee d'Aoste che vous avez bien voulu m'ennvoyer. J'y ai remarque que vous affirmez un droit au separatisme qui est bien de nature a rendre suspect aux Italiens le maintien de la langue fran�aise dans la Vallee d' Aoste." 1 1 Michels notes that this had to do with a single issue of La Vallee d'Aoste pour sa langue fram;aise, published in Aosta in May 1 9 1 2 by the Margherittaz typography, under the auspices of a local Val d'Aosta Committee for the protection of the French language (contribu tions by Michels, Croce, Prezzolini, Graf, etc. ). "It is hardly neces sary to point out that none of these authors had in any way endorsed a separatist position, as Sorel puts it with excessive poetic license. " 12 Sorel refers only to Michels, and I am led to believe that he really did at least allude to the right of separatism. (This has to be checked for a presentation on Michels which will be necessary some day. )

§(76). Officers on furlough. I derive the information from a speech made by Senator Libertini in the Senate on 1 0 June 1 929. 1

The National Association of Officers on Furlough (U.N.U.C.I. ) was created in response to the R.(oyal) D.(ecree) (n. 2 3 5 2 ) of 9 Decem ber 1 926 which was enacted into law (n. 26 1 ) on 1 2 February 1 9 28.

It produced meager results because, Libertini says, "it lacked the necessary spirit to give it life. "

(This statement is interesting, since "spirit" means precisely the award of material benefits which, in this case, are euphemistically veiled by the following words: "the just aspirations of the meritorious class of officers on furlough who felt that they deserved well from their Fatherland in exchange for the services they rendered during the war of liberation and, therefore, expect to receive the consideration they deserve, morally and materially. " If this were a

Miscellaneous I. § 76

327

question involving the popular classes, it would not have been a case of "spirit" but of base materialistic greed, aroused by demagogy, etc. This attitude of expecting the popular masses to provide

"gratis" what the other classes are "paid" for is characteristic of Italian leaders; if the masses remain passive one should not blame the ignorance of the leaders and their mean egotism, but the demagogues. It is also worth noting the line of reasoning according to which those who seek an improvement in their economic situation are "materialistic" while the same does not apply to those who refuse to give up even a little of what they already have- those who make demands are "materialistic"; those who refuse to give are "idealistic"; the have nots are mean, the haves are altruistic because they do not give, etc.)

New law, n. 3 242, of December 1 928, which awards benefits. At this point, Libertini examines the situation of furloughed officers in Yugoslavia and in France. In France, if reserve officers travel to attend lectures and training sessions at specialized schools outside their areas of residence, they receive a daily allowance of between 1 2 and 3 2 francs, depending on the length of absence; an allowance for round-trip travel in first class (military fare), etc., etc. As of I January 1 9 2 5 , the French reserve officer receives 700 francs as an allowance for his first uniform; those who do not claim this allow ance receive a free suit. a

In Yugoslavia: the register of furloughed officers and veterans, which was established in 1 922, lists 1 8,ooo reserve officers and 3 5 ,000 veterans, that is to say, almost all the furloughed officers.

Those on "service" while being educated, etc., are fed, housed, and reimbursed for travel expenses.

Still more about the "spirit": in his speech in the Chamber of Deputies, General Gazzera, under-secretary of war, admitted that the measure of asking furloughed officers to volunteer their service during the summer training period had the following results : 1 , 007

officers showed up in 1 926, 206 in 1 927, and 1 6 5 in 1 92 8 ! ! 2

(The state must take care o f furloughed officers for two basic sets of reasons : the first is of a technical nature - so that these officers, who will be recalled as officers in case of a mobilization, do not lose their acquired professional skills and, even, to further develop these skills through theoretical and practical training in

• An interlinear variant in the manuscript: "complete uniform . "

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NOTEBOOK 2 ! 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

the innovations introduced into the tactical and strategical systems; the second set of reasons is ideological in nature and is easily understood.

Naturally, the remarks on "spirit" and "matter" do not apply to officers, but to the leaders. Gazzera's figures are very interesting, especially when one considers that there are many officers who belong to official political organizations : they are to be placed together with the figures on membership in associations of colonial propaganda cited by Carlo Curcio in the Critica Fascista of July 1 9 3 03 - to be kept in mind for the section Past and Presen t. )

§(77). Military policy. Read carefully the discussions on military budgets, especially those in the Senate. One can find many interesting observations on the real effectiveness of the armed forces and for the comparison between the old and the new regime.

§(78). A tlantic-Pacific. The role of the Atlantic in modem culture and economics. Will this axis move to the Pacific ? The largest masses of population in the world are in the Pacific: if China and India were to become modern nations with massive industrial production, their break from European dependence would really rupture the present balance- a transformation of the American continent, shifting the axis of American life from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast, etc. Examine all these questions in economic and political terms (trade, etc. ).

§(79). Italian peasants. Peasant problems : malaria, brigandage, uncultivated lands, pellagra, illiteracy, emigration. (Were these problems dealt with during the Risorgimento? How? By whom ? ) Some of these afflictions were at their worst during the Risorgimento: the Risorgimento coincides with a period of great economic depression in vast areas of Italy which was made worse by the political upheaval. Pellagra appeared in Italy during the I ?oos and became progressively worse during the next century: research by doctors and economists on pellagra. (What are the causes of pellagra and of the poor nutrition of peasants which is at its roots ? ) Examine Luigi Messedaglia's book: Il Mais e la vita rurale italiana

Miscellaneous I. §83

329

(Piacenza : Federazione dei Consorzi Agrari, I 92 7 . ) Messedaglia's is a necessary book for the study of the Italian agrarian question, like the book by Jacini and the books by Celso Ulpiani. 1

§(8o.) On Italian emigration. Article by Luigi Villari in the Nuova Antologia of I 6 February I 9 2 8 : "L' emigrazione italiana vista dagli stranieri. " 1 Villari has written extensively on emigration: check. (In this article, he reviews some American, English, and French books which discuss Italian emigration. )

§(8 I ). Volunteers in the Risorgimen to. Paulo Fambri wrote an article on the volunteers in the Nuova Antologia (or Antologia ) of r 8 67 ( ? ). The Nuova Antologia of r August I 928, "L' Archivio inedito di Paulo Fambri" (by A. F. Guidi), reproduces a letter (from J I January I 8 6 8 ) sent to Fambri by General C. di Robilant, who was director of the Academy of War in Turin, which approves of the first part of Fambri's article. Di Robilant adds that out of 2 I ,ooo volunteers in I 8 5 9, only half, or a little more than half were in the fighting ranks. 1 ( See Pion-Pion's judgments against the volunteers in the same war of I 8 5 9 . )2

§(82). Giolitti. Article on G. Giolitti in the Nuova Antologia of I August I 928 by Spectator (who must be Mario Missiroli). 1 The article is interesting and it should be used if one were dealing with the same topic. Giolitti and the workers' and socialist movement, Giolitti and the post-war period, etc. Many aspects of Giolitti's policy are barely touched on; in reality, the core of his activity is not touched, though there are hints which might lead one to believe that Missiroli could have said more.

§(8 3). Francesco Tommasini, "La Conferenza panamericana dell'

Avana, " Nuova Antologia of I 6 August and I September I 9 28 . 1 A very analytical and detailed article.

3 30

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

§(84). G. E. di Palma Castiglione, "L'organizzazione interna zionale del lavoro e la XI sessione della Conferenza internazionale del lavoro, " Nuova An tologia of r 6 August. 1

§(8 5 ) . Daniele Yare, "Pagine di un diario in Estremo Oriente, "

Nuova Antologia of r 6 September, 1 and 1 6 October 1 928. 1 Yare is an Italian diplomat !minister in China] whose rank I do not know; he signed the agreement between the Italian government and the government of Chiang Kai-shek in 1 928 or '29. These diary pages are disastrous from the literary as well as any other point of view.

Diplomats should not be allowed to publish anything (even when it does not deal with politics) without the placet of a special review agency staffed by intelligent persons, because their extra diplo matic stupidities harm the government as much as their diplomatic ones and they damage the prestige of the country which has entrusted them with the role of representing it.

§(86). Giuseppe Tucci, "La religiosita dell' India, " Nuova An tologia, 1 6 September 1 92 8 . 1 Interesting article. It criticizes all the usual cliches about India and the Indian "soul, " mysticism, etc.

India is going through a spiritual crisis; the new (critical spirit) is not yet so widespread as to create a "public opinion" which can set itself up against the old: superstition among the popular classes, hypocrisy, no backbone among the so called cultured upper classes.

In reality, in India, too, practical questions and interests engross public attention. (It is clear that given the secular social lethargy and the ossified stratifications of society, and given (as in large agrarian countries) the great number of middle level intellectuals, especially ecclestiastics, the crisis in India will last for a very long time, and a great revolution will be needed to bring about the beginnings of a solution. ) Many of Tucci's observations about India could be applied to many other countries and other religions. Keep in mind.

§(87). Oscar di Giamberardino, "Linee generali della politica marittima dell' lmpero britannica, " Nuova Antologia, r 6 September 1 928. 1 Useful.

Miscellaneous I. §89

3 3 1

§(88). Ettore Fabietti, "11 primo venticinquennio delle Biblioteche popolari milanesi, " Nuova Antologia, I October, I 928. 1 A very useful article for the information it gives on the origins and development of this institution, which has been the most remark able initiative for popular culture in modern times. The article is rather serious, though Fabietti has shown that he himself is not very serious; nevertheless, one should acknowledge his merits and his unquestionable organizational ability in the field of workers'

culture, in a democratic sense. Fabietti demonstrates that the workers were the best "clients" of the public libraries : they took care of the books, they did not lose them (unlike other kinds of readers: students, white-collar workers, professionals, housewives, the well-off ( ? ), etc. ); readers of "belletristic" literature represented a relatively low percentage, fewer than in other countries; workers who offered to pay half the cost of expensive books if only they could read them; workers who made donations of up to one hundred lire to the public libraries; a dye worker who has become a "writer"

and a translator from the French through his reading and studies in the public libraries, but who continues to be a worker.

The literature on the public libraries in Milan should be studied to obtain some "real" ideas about popular culture : which kinds of books and authors are read most, etc.; publications of the public libraries, their character, tendencies, etc. Why is this kind of initiative on a grand scale only in Milan ? Why not in Turin and other large cities ? The nature and history of Milanese "reformism"; Pop ular University, Philanthropic University, etc. A very interesting and fundamental topic.

§(89). "I primordi del movimento unitario a Trieste, " by Camillo de Franceschi, Nuova Antologia, I October I 92 8 . An incoherent articlea and of a rhetorical nature. However, it contains some references to the presence of "historical materialism" in the discussion of the national question, an interesting topic to study concretely. 1

By Angelo Vivante: Socialismo, Nazionalismo, Irredentismo nelle provincie adriatiche orien tali, Trieste, I 90 S ; Irreden tismo adriatico, Florence, I 9 I 2 (pamphlets of La Voce? ).2 Pamphlets by Vi-

• In the manuscript, an addition between lines: "lit is a speech) . "

3 3 2

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

vante, who was a very serious and upright man, were published by the A van ti! publishing house3 under the editorship of Mussolini who defended Vivante from the ferocious attacks by irredentists and nationalists. To the bibliography on this subject one should add Mussolini's articles on Trieste in Avanti! and his pamphlet on Trentino published by La Voce. 4 Articles by Arturo Labriola, Francesco Ciccotti and others, I believe, were published in Monicelli's Viandante. !The national problem was one of the critical issues which caused some of the syndicalist intellectuals to cross over to nationalism : Monicelli, etc.)5 See how far Vivante followed the Austro-Marxist line on the national question and how far he distanced himself from it; see the Russian critique of Austro-Marxism on the national question.6 The special form assumed by the na tional question in Trieste and in Dalmatia (for the Italians) : article by Ludo Hartmann in L'Unita of 1 9 1 5 reproduced in the small volume on the Risorgimento (Vallecchi).7 Polemics in La Voce about irredentism and the national question with many articles lone by Borgese, I think) favorable to the "Austrian" position 1Hartmann).8

§(90). "La nuova evoluzione dell' Islam, " by I ) Michelangelo Guidi, 2 ) Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, Nuova antologia, I October I 928. 1

This is a mediocre article by the anglophile Afghan diplomat, Ikbal Ali Shah with a brief introductory note by Prof. Michelangelo Guidi. Guidi's note raises the question, which it leaves unanswered, of whether Islam as a religion is compatible with modern progress, and of whether it is capable of evolution. He refers to a recent short book by Prof. R. Hartmann, "a serious and careful German scholar of oriental languages and cultures" - Die Krisis des !slams, which was published after a stay in Ankara and which answers the question in the affirmative. Guido also cites the view expressed by Prof. Kampffmeyer in a review of Hartmann's book published in Orien te Moderno !August I 92 8 ), that a brief stay in Anatolia cannot be a sufficient basis for judgment on such live questions, etc., and that too many of Hartmann's sources are liter ary and that appearances deceive, especially in the Orient, etc.

Guidi !at least in this note) does not reach a conclusion, he just points out that the opinions of the Orientals themselves could be of help !hut aren't they "appearances" that deceive, taken one by

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one ? ) ; even though h e wrote i n the beginning that i t would be utopian to think that Islam could preserve its splendid isolation or that, in the meantime, new formidable religious agents could arise within it and the power inherent in the Oriental world view could prevail over Western materialism and reconquer the world. It seems to me that the problem is much simpler than it is made to appear by those who implicitly consider "Christianity" as being inherent to modern civilization, or lack the courage to raise the question of the relations between Christianity and modern civilization. Why could Islam not do what Christianity has done? It seems to me, rather, that the absence of a massive ecclesiastical organization of the Christian-Catholic kind should make the change easier. If one were to accept the fact that modern civilization in its industrialeconomic political form will, in the end, triumph in the Orient (and everything proves that this is taking place and that, moreover, these discussions on Islam are the result of a crisis caused, precisely, by this diffusion of modern phenomena), why should one deny that Islam will necessarily evolve ? Can it remain as it is ? No : already, it is no longer what it was before the war. Can it collapse suddenly? Absurd. Can it be replaced by a Christian religion ? Absurd, when one thinks of the great masses. The Vatican itself is aware that it is contradictory to try to introduce Christianity in the eastern countries where capitalism is introduced; the people of the Orient perceive the hostility which is invisible in our countries because Christianity has adapted itself molecularly and has become Jesuitism, that is, a great social hypocrisy: hence the difficul ties of missionary work and the worthlessness of conversions which are also very few.

In reality, the most tragic problem of Islam arises from the fact that a society numbed by centuries of isolation and by a corrupt feudal regime (naturally, the feudal lords are not materialists ! ! ) is brought into contact much too abruptly with a frenzied civilization which has already entered its phase of decomposition. Christianity has taken nine centuries to evolve and to adapt, and it has done so in small steps, etc. : Islam is forced into a headlong rush. But, in fact, it reacts just like Christianity: the great heresy from which the real heresies will arise is the "national sentiment" against theocratic cosmopolitanism. Then the theme of a return to "origins"

will arise in exactly the same way as in Christianity, a return to the purity of the earliest religious texts as opposed to the corrup-

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tion of the official hierarchy- this i s exactly what the Wahhabis stand for, and Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah uses this same principle to explain Kemal Pasha's reforms in Turkey: they are not anything

"new" but a return to the old, the pure, etc. etc. Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, it seems to me, illustrates precisely how Jesuitism and casuistry are as developed among Muslims as they are in Catholicism.

§(9 1). Giuseppe Gallavresi, "Ippolito Taine storico della Rivoluzione francese, " Nuova Antologia, 1 November 1 92 8 . 1 Cabanis ( Georges) [ I ? s o- r 8o8 J : his materialist theories are set forth in the book devoted to a study of the relations between le physique et le moral. 2 Manzoni greatly admired 1' angelique Cabanis and he even continued to admire this book after his conversion. Taine, a follower of Cabanis.

According to Gallavresi, the inductive method and the rules of observation borrowed from the natural sciences should have led Taine to the conclusion that the French Revolution was a monstrosity, a sickness. "Egalitarian democracy is a monstrosity in the light of the laws of nature; but the fact that it was conceived by man and also realized step by step in the history of certain nations should be a cause of reflection to those who are most reluctant to accept a regime which is, after all, so conventional. " 3 (These concepts of "conventional, " "artificial, " etc., applied to certain historical events are interesting: "conventional" and "artificial" are implicitly opposed to "natural, " that is to a "conservative" scheme that is truly conventional and artificial because reality has destroyed it. Indeed, the worst "scientifists" are those reactionaries who project an "evolution" of convenience and accept the importance and effectiveness of the intervention of a strongly organized and concentrated human will only when it is reactionary, when it is directed at restoring what has been, as if what has been and was destroyed were not as "ideological, " "abstract, " "conventional, "

etc., -and even more so - as what has not yet been brought into being. )

This question of Taine and the French Revolution must be studied because it has been of some importance in the cultural history of the last century: compare Aulard's books against Taine and Augustin Cochin's writings on both of them.4 This article by Gal-

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lavresi i s very superficial. (Also, examine why the pamphlet literature before and during the French Revolution seems loathsome to the refined : but was the Jesuitic literature against the Revolution better or was it not worse ? The revolutionary class is always intellectually weak from this point of view: it struggles to give itself a culture and to give voice to a conscious and responsible cultured class; moreover, all the malcontent and bankrupt members of the other classes throw themselves on its side in order to remake a position for themselves. The same cannot be said of the old conservative class, quite the contrary: and yet its propagandistic liter ature is worse and more demagogical, etc. )

§(92). "I problemi dell' automobilismo al Congresso mondiale di Roma" by Ugo Ancona in the Nuova Antologia of I November I 9 2 8 . 1 (It contains some interesting ideas on the mania for very expensive modern super highways and on "puricellismo'? they can be of use for Past and Presen t. One needs to determine how much of local and state expenditure has gone to indispensable roads and how much to luxury roads. )

§(93). On Americanism. Robert Michels, "Cenni sulla vita universitaria negli Stati Uniti, " Nuova Antologia, I November I 9 2 8 . 1 Some interesting ideas.

§(94). On state finances. "Le riforme del Tesoro, " by " Alacer, "

in the Nuova An tologia of I 6 November I 928. 1 It completes Tittoni's article of June I 927; 2 it is to be kept in mind for an overview of the various aspects of the conservatives' underhanded fight on financial policy.

§(9 5 ). In teresting questions of Italian history and politics. Examine "11 mistero dei Ricordi diplomatici di Costantino Nigra" by Delfino Orsi in the Nuova Antologia of I 6 November I 92 8 . 1

A very important article, although it is full of silly moments.

(Some of these reveal the level of asinine acritical asperity reached

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

by many members of the Italian bourgeoisie. On p . 1 48, Orsi writes:

"On 1 9 October 1 904, Count Nigra2 arrived in Turin in order to proceed the following day to Racconigi, where he had been summoned by the King so that, together with BianchierV he would witness the official certification of the birth of the Hereditary Prince. For two days already, under the pretext of economic oppression, but in fact with the intention ( ! ! ) of disturbing the national rejoicing at the most happy royal event, the Socialist Party toeing the communist line ( ! ! in 1 904 ! ! ) in its usual cowardly fashion, had proclaimed a general strike all over Italy. " How ready-made phrases substitute for all responsible forms of thought and lead to the most exhilarating nonsense ! . It could be put in the section on Past and Presen t. ) It is an important article because it deals with one of those occurrences which remain mysterious : the disappearance of Nigra's Ricordi diplomatici, which Orsi has seen completed, cor rected, polished, and which supposedly were extremely valuable for the history of the Risorgimento. Connect with the Bollea affair concerning M. D' Azeglio's letters,4 the Confalonieri depositions,5

etc.

§(96). Alfredo Oriani. Piero Zama's note, "Alfredo Oriani candidato politico/' in the Nuova Antologia of r 6 November 1 928 is interesting. 1

§(97). Augur, "11 nuovo aspetto dei rapporti tra la Gran Bretagna e gli Stati Uniti d' America/' Nuova An tologia of r 6 Decem ber 1 92 8 . 1 (It presents the following hypothesis: that the United states wants to become the hegemonic political force of the British Empire, that is, it wants to conquer the English empire from within and not from the outside by war. )

In the same issue of Nuova An tologia see also Oscar di Giamber ardino, "La politica marittima degli Stati Uniti d' America"i this article is very interesting and to be kept in mind.2

§(98). Nino Cortese, L 'esercito napoletano e le guerre napoleoniche, Naples : Ricciardi, 1 928, 1 99 pp., in go, L. 1 2 . 1

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§(99). Giuseppe Brindisi, Giuseppe Salvioli, Naples; Casella, 1 928, 1 42 pp., L. 5 ( "Contemporanei" series) . 1

Brindisi published and wrote the preface to the posthumous edition of Salvioli's Capitalismo antico: see if this little volume deals with the question of the relations between Salvioli and historical materialism in its Crocean form, etc. (The preface to Capitalismo an tico, however, is mediocre and disorganized. )2 From a review by Tilgher in Italia che Scrive (September 1 92 8 ), I see that this topic is treated extensively, together with another which is also interesting: Salvioli's social ideas, which led him to a form of juridical state socialism ( ! ? ) that is not free of similarities to fascist social legislation.

§( 1 00). Pietro Silva, "Bilanci consuntivi : La Storiografia, " in the Italia che Scrive of September 1 928. 1 Interesting bibliographical note on the most recent publications on Italian history. To be kept in mind. A small volume which should be interesting for my particular research is Arrigo Solmi's L'unita fondamentale della storia italiana (Zanichelli pub. ), which seeks to trace and show a national continuity in the history of the peninsula, unbroken since Roman times.2 An interesting concept, but certainly not demonstrable and undoubtedly a reflection of current propaganda needs.

(Against this thesis: Croce and Volpe. )3

§( 101). Albano Sorbelli, Opuscoli, stampe alla macchia e fogli volan ti riflettenti il pensiero politico italiano (183 0-35). Saggio di bibliografia storica, Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 1 927, lxxxviii-273

pp., 1. 70.

Sorbelli lists almost a thousand leaflets and pamphlets, grouped in chronological order, with a short description of their contents.

In the preface, he examines the currents of thought of those years which would later become clustered in the parties. 1

§(1 02). Giuseppe Ferrari, Corso su gli scrittori politici italiani.

New complete edition with a preface by A. 0. Olivetti. 1 928, Milan: Monanni, 700 pp., L. 2 5 . 1

N O TE B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

§( 1 03). Adriano Tilgher, "Perche l'artista scrive o dipinge, o scolpisce, ecc. ? , " in the Italia che Scrive of February 1 929. 1

An article typical of the illogicality and moral superficiality of Tilgher who, after making a banal "mockery" of Croce's theory on this issue, concludes the article by presenting the same theory intact as if it were his own, in a fanciful and whimsical way.

Tilgher says that according to Croce "the physical externalization ( . . .

) of the artistic spirit has an essentially mnemonic purpose, "

etc. This argument is to be checked: what does "memory" mean to Croce in this case? Is it something purely personal, individual or does it have a social meaning? Is the writer concerned only with himself or is he historically apt to think also of others ? etc.

§(104). A "Review" of Bonomi's book on Bissolati in the Italia che Scrive of May 1 929, by Giuseppe A. Andriulli. 1 (One must be able to follow all these reviews of books of this kind, especially if they are written by former socialists like Andriulli. J

§(105). Men te et Malleo. Official organ of the "M. Fossati"

Institute, published under the auspices of the Associazione Nazionale Esperti nell' Ordinamento della Produzione, Turin, via Rossini 1 8, vol. I, n. 1, 10 April 1 924, in 4°, 44-xvi pp.

Biweekly technical bulletin, aimed at contributing to the scien tific organization of labor or the rational ordering of production in any field of industry, agriculture, commerce. 1

§(106). Italian Risorgimen to. Italian facobins. They are usually very badly treated in popular books and articles and, besides, very little is known about them. The Atti del XIV Congresso nazionale per la storia del Risorgimen to Italiano ( 1 92 7 ) published a study by Renata Soriga, "L'idea nazionale e il ceto dei 'patrioti'

avanti il maggio 1 7 96, " which reveals some documents taken from Filippo Buonarroti's letters. 1 From this study one might be able to obtain bibliographical data and information for a study of this early period of Italian liberalism.

Miscellaneous I. § I09

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§( 1 07). The "Lucky Star of Italy. " What is the origin of this phrase, "lucky star, " which has become part of Italy's national and patriotic ideology? On 27 November r 8 7 r , the day when Vittorio Emanuele II opened Parliament in Rome, the planet Venus was seen in broad daylight, whereas normally Venus (because its orbit is between the sun and earth) can be seen only before sunrise in the morning or after sunset in the evening. However, if certain atmospheric conditions favor the visibility of the planet, it is not rare to be able to see it even after sunrise and even before sunset, which is just what happened on 27 November 1 8 7 1 . The event is recorded in the greatest detail by Giuseppe Manfroni, a town com missioner at the time, who writes in his Memorie: "The greatest event of the month of November was the opening of the new session of Parliament, which took place on the 27th, with a speech delivered by the King . . . it did not pass without a miracle; in broad daylight, an extremely bright star was seen shining over the Quir inale; Venus, the astronomers say, but the people said that the star of Italy was shining over the victory of the idea of unification. "

The visibility o f Venus in full daylight seems t o b e a rare, but not very rare, phenomenon which had already been noticed in ancient times and during the Middle Ages. In December 1 797, when Napoleon returned triumphantly to Paris after the Italian war, the planet was seen during the day, and people said that it was Napoleon's star. 1

§( r o8). Popular literature. Edoardo Perino. On Perino's pub lishing activity, which marked an epoch in Rome (Perino printed anticlerical literature in illustrated serial form, starting with Guerrazzi's Beatrice Cenci), see G. De Rossi's Memoriale, which must have been published in 1 9 2 7 or 1 928. 1

§( ro9). French intellectuals and their current cosmopolitan role.

The cosmopolitan role of French intellectuals since the beginning of the eighteenth century is of an absolutely different kind from the role previously played by the Italians. French intellectuals express and explicitly represent a compact national bloc, of which they are the cultural 11ambassadors, " etc.

For the current state of French cultural hegemony, see the book

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by the publisher Bernard Grasset, L a Chose litteraire, Paris: Gallimard, I 929, in which special attention is given to the organization of book publishing in French cultural production after the war and the new phenomena typical of the present time. 1

§(I I o). Popular culture. I poeti del popolo siciliano by Fillippo Fichera, Isola del Liri : Soc. Tip. A. Macioce e Pisani, I 929. I believe that this book contains information that would enable one to determine the importance for Sicily of the "poetic competitions" or

"contests" that are held publicly as popular theatrical presentations. What are they like ? It appears, from a review published in the Marzocco of 1 929, that they have a purely religious character. 1

§( I I I). Risorgimento. The people and the Risorgimen to. The Marzocco of 30 September I 928 carries a summary, under the title

"La Serenissima meritava di morire? , " of a small miscellany by Antonio Pilot (U. Bortoli, publisher) which contains passages from diaries and memoirs with the opinions of Venetians on the fall of the Republic of Venice.

The responsibility of the aristocracy was an obsession of the popular classes. The last Doge, Lodovico Manin, recounts in one of his memoirs: "Things had gone so far that one day, as I was going through a small courtyard in San Marcuola, a woman who knew me said: I wish the plague would come, then we would die, but so would the rich who have sold us out and because of whom we are dying of cold and hunger. " The old man gave up his walk and went back. Bertucci Balbi-Valier, in a sonnet entitled "I nobili veneti del I 79 7 non tradirono la repubblica, " writes : "No, it is not true, that the nobles betrayed I No, not our country in ninety-seven"(which is indicative of how deep the conviction was and of the attempt to counter it). 1

§(r 1 2). Popular literature. Victor Hugo. About Victor Hugo, remember his close relations with Louis Philippe and, therefore, his support of constitutional monarchy in I 848. It is worth noting that while he was writing Les Miserables, he was also writing the notes of Chases vues (published posthumously) and that the two

Miscellaneous I. § I 14

3 4 1

works are not always i n agreement. Look into these questions because Hugo is generally believed to have been a politically consistent man, etc. (In Revue des Deux Mondes of 1 928 or 1 929, most probably of 1 92 9, there must be an article on this topic. ) 1

§( 1 1 3). Risorgimento. The people and the Risorgimen to. In La Lettura of 1 928, Pietro Nurra published the previously unpublished diary of one of the combatants in the five days of Milan, Giovanni Romani from Mantua, who first settled in Milan in 1 8 3 8 as a cook at the Croce d' Oro in the Asole area. Later, after traveling through most of Italy, he returned to Milan just before the five days, as a cook at the Porto di Mare tavern in Santo Stefano. The diary con ists of a sort of notebook with 1 99 numbered pages, of which 1 8 6

are filled with writing in crude calligraphy and horrible wording. 1

I think it is very interesting because the common people are not given to writing such diaries, especially 8o years ago. Therefore, it should be examined for its psychological and historical value : perhaps, it can be found at the Museum of the Risorgimento in Milan

- see if La Lettura provides other bibliographical details.

§(1 1 4). Political history and military history. The Marzocco of 10 March 1 929, carries a summary of an article by Ezio Levi on the Almogavares, published in Glossa Perenne; interesting in two respects. On the one hand, the Almogavares ( Catalan light troops, trained during the harsh struggles of the "reconquest" to fight against the Arabs by using the same methods as the Arabs, that is, in scattered groups without military discipline, but with sudden attacks, ambushes, individual sorties) mark the introduction in Europe of a new tactic which can be compared to that of the arditi, though under different conditions. On the other hand, according to some scholars, they mark the beginning of mercenary troops. A group of Almogavares was sent to Sicily by the Aragonese for the Vesper wars : the war came to an end, but a part of the Almogavares went to the East in the service of Andronicus, ruler of the Byzantine Empire. The other part was enlisted by Robert of Anjou for the war against the Tuscan Ghibellines. The Almogavares had black cloaks, whereas the Florentines wore a white robe with cross and lily in processions and cavalcades - according to Gino Masi,

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NOTE B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

this i s what gave rise to the appellations of Blacks and Whites. One thing is sure, that when the Angevins left Florence many of the Almogavares remained in the pay of the city, renewing their "mercenary service" annually. 1

"Mercenary troops" thus came into existence as a means to disrupt the balance of political power relations in favor of the richer bourgeoisie, to the detriment of Ghibellines and the common people.

§(I I S). On the Risorgimento and the South. Marc Monnier's books, Notizie storiche sui brigan taggio nelle province napoletane, from Fra Diavolo to 1 862, and La Camorra, mysteres de Naples. 1

§( r r 6). The cosmopolitan role of Italian in tellectuals. From an article by Nello Tarchiani in the Marzocco of 3 April 1 927, "Un dimenticato interprete di Michelangelo" (Emilio Ollivier) : "For him (Michelangelo) art was everything. Popes, princes, republics were all the same, as long as they enabled him to work; if neces sary, he would have given himself to the Turkish sultan as he once threatened to do -and Cellini resembled him in this respect. " 1

And not only Cellini; Leonardo, as well ? But why does this hap pen ? And why did such figures exist almost exclusively in Italy?

This is the problem. Examine the lives of these artists to see how their a-nationality stands out. And was the nationalism of Machiavelli so strong, after all, as to overcome "the love of art for art's sake"? Research along these lines would be very interesting: did the problem of the Italian state concern him more as a "national principle" or as a political problem interesting in itself, especially given its difficulty and Italy's great historical past ?

§( I I ?). The cosmopolitan role of Italian intellectuals. "In 1 5 63, during the civil war against the Huguenots, at the siege of Orleans undertaken by the Duke of Guise, the military engineer Bartolomeo Campi from Pesaro-whose responsibility in the attacking army was the equivalent of today's commander of the engineer corps- ordered the preparation of a large quantity of small bags which were filled with soil and carried by soldiers on their shoul-

Miscellaneous I. § I2 I

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ders to the appropriate place: in an instant they used the bags to construct shelters behind which the assailants stopped, shielded from the attack from the fortress, while waiting for the moment to advance. " (Enrico Rocchi, "Un notevole aspetto delle campagne di Cesare nelle Gallie/' Nuova Antologia, I January I 929. ) 1

§( 1 1 8). On the Anschluss. Keep in mind: I ) the position of the Austrian social democrats as it has been expressed by Otto Bauer: supporting the Anschluss but waiting to realize it until the German social democrats gain control of the German state, that is ultimately a social democratic Anschluss; 2) the position of France : it does not correspond to the Italian position- France opposes the union of Austria and Germany, but pressures Austria to join a Danube confederation; Italy is against the Anschluss and against the confederation. If the problem were posed as a choice between the two solutions, Italy would probably prefer the Anschluss to the confederation. '

§ ( 1 1 9). The a ttempt a t a Franciscan religious reform . Just how quickly the spirit of Saint Francis has declined can be seen in the Cronaca of Fra Salim bene da Parma. See Nuova Antologia of I 6

February 1 92 9 : Vittorio Marvasi, "Frate Salimbene da Parma e la sua Cronaca. " 1 The Cronaca was translated in I 928 by F. Bernini and published by a certain Carabba in Lanciano. 2 See how much the "lay" attempt of Frederick II coincided with Franciscanism: certainly, there were some connections, and Salimbene himself was an admirer of Frederick, even though he was excommunicated.

§( no). On America. The following articles in the Nuova Antologia of I6 February I 92 9 : 1 ) "II trattato di Washington per Ia limitazione degli armamenti navali e le sue conseguenze/' by Ulisse Guadagnini; 2) "II patto Kellogg/' by Carlo Schanzer; 3 ) "La dottrina di Monroe/' by Antonio Borgoni. 1

§( I 2 I ) . Cadorna. Spectator (M. Missiroli), "Luigi Cadorna/'

Nuova An tologia of I March I 929. 1 Brilliant but superficial obser-

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vations on the political-military tradition of the Cadorna family and on the critical situation of the Italian army during the time when Luigi began and completed his career. Importance of the Neapolitan General Pianell in instilling a new spirit in the new national army, in contrast to the bureaucratically French tradition of the Piedmontese General Staff, made up of mediocre elements : but Pianell was old and his legacy more critical than constructive.

Importance of the war of r 8 70 in changing ideas about military art, fossilized on the basis of the French tradition. Cadorna collaborates with Pianell. He becomes "fossilized" in the technical aspect of the organization of war and neglects the historical-social aspect.

(It seems to me that this is an exaggerated accusation: the fault does not belong to Cadorna, but to the governments which should themselves educate military men politically. The Napoleonic model cannot be brought back : Napoleon represented the civil society and the militarism of France, he united within himself the two functions of head of government and head of the army. The Italian dominant class has not known how to prepare military leaders, that is all. Why should great political ability be expected of Cadorna, if a corresponding military ability is not expected of political leaders ? Certainly, the military chief because of his function must have political ability, but the political attitude toward the military masses and military policy must be determined by the government, as its responsibility. Here is a series of very interesting questions to be studied in connection with war, up to the time of Caporetto : did the Government and Cadorna have the same views on military policy, on the strategic ends and the general means to attain them, and on the political administration of the military masses ? On the first issue, there was disagreement between Cadorna and Sonnino, and Cadorna was a better politician than Sonnino: Cadorna wanted to pursue a policy based on nationality in Austria, that is he wanted to try to break up the Austrian armyi Sonnino was opposed, he did not want the destruction of Austria. On the second issue, information is unavailable: it is very probable that the government failed to deal with it, thinking that it fell within the discretionary powers of the head of the army. This did not happen in France where the deputies themselves went to the front and checked on the way the soldiers were treated: in Italy this appeared to be an absurdity, etc., and it may even have been the cause of some inconvenience, but

Miscellaneous I. § I2 1

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the inconvenience was certainly not of the same importance as Caporetto. )

"The natural deficiency of a historical sense and of insight into the feelings of the masses was accentuated by a conception of military life which he had absorbed under Pianell's tutelage and which became intertwined with a religious faith leaning toward mysticism. " 2 (It would be more accurate to speak of bigotry and to make clear that Cadorna based his policy toward military masses on the influence of religious sentiment: the only moral factor of the regulation code was in fact turned over to military chaplains. ) Cadorna's aversion toward parliamentary political life, which is incomprehension (but he is not solely responsible, the government is also responsible and especially so). He did not participate in the African wars. He became chief of the General Staff on 27 July 1 9 1 4 .

Unknown t o the larger public, "with a halo o f quiet respect from the military ranks. " 3 (The reference to Cadorna's "Memoria" published in Altre pagine sulla grande guerra is ingenuous and Jesuitical. )4

The strategic plan "considered two equally reasonable possibilities : an offensive on the Giulia front and a defensive position on the Trentino front, or vice versa. He opted for the first solution. " 5

(Why equally reasonable? It was not the same thing: a victorious offensive on the Trentino front would have brought the war into a totally German area, that is, it would have galvanized German resistance and would have "precipitated" a clash between the Italians and Wilhelm's Germans; a victorious offensive on the Giulia front, on the other hand, would have carried the war into the Slavic countries and, supported by the politics of nationality, it would have made the breakup of the Austrian army possible. But the government was opposed to the politics of nationality and did not want a clash with Germany, against which it had not declared war: thus, Cadorna's choice- a relative choice, as can be seen from the equivocal position toward Germany-while it could have been politically superb, turned out to be terrible. The Slavic troops saw the war as a national war in defense of their territories against a foreign invader, and the Austrian army gained strength. ) Cadorna was a bureaucrat of strategy; once he had constructed his "logical" hypotheses, he blamed reality and refused to take it into account.

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

Caporetto: from Cadorna's memoirs it appears that he had known for some time before Caporetto that the morale of the troops had declined. (And a very dangerous, specific "political" activity of his should be placed in this context: he did not try to determine whether something needed to be changed in the political govern ment of the army, that is, whether the moral debilitation of the troops was due to the military command; he was incapable of self criticism. He was sure that it was caused by the civilian government, by the way the country was governed; and he called for reactionary measures, he called for repressions, etc. Some of this

"political" activity leaked out to the general public, and the articles in La Stampa are the expression of a national as well as military crisis. La Stampa is objectively correct: the situation closely resembles what preceded "fatal Novara." Even in this case the responsibility belongs to the government which, at that point, should have replaced Cadorna and dealt with the army "politically. ") The military "mystery" of Caporetto. The Supreme Command had been warned about the offensive, even about the day and the hour, the location, and the Austro-German forces that were to take part. (See Aldo Valori's book on the Italian war. J6 Why, then, was there a "surprise ? " The author of the article dodges the issues by means of trite remarks : Cadorna a second rate military leader; criticism of the Italian military which was cut off from the nation and its living reality. (The contrast between the Piedmontese army and the Garibaldines persists in the contrast between army and nation : that is, the national negativity of the Risorgimento per sists . )

Many cliches : i s i t really true that i n Italy the army was neglected before the war? One would have to show that in Italy the percentage of military expenditure in the total budget was lower than in other countries : on the contrary, I think that it was higher in Italy than in many other countries. (Obstinate rather than strong willed : the energy of a stubborn man. )

§( 1 22). Giuseppe Paratore, "La economia, la finanza, il denaro d' Italia alia fine del 1 928, " Nuova An tologia, r March 1 9 29 . 1

An interesting article, but too brief and too conformist. To be kept in mind for a reconstruction of the conditions from 1 926 until

Miscellaneous I. § r 23

347

the special laws. Paratore lists the main contradictions of the postwar period: I ) territorial divisions have multiplied customs barriers; 2) an overall decline in consumption capacity has been accompanied everywhere by a growth in industrial plants; 3 ) a fun damental drift toward economic depression has been accompanied by a sharper sense of economic nationalism (every nation wants to produce everything and wants to sell without buying); 4) a general impoverishment has been accompanied by a move toward a real increase in state expenditures; 5 ) increased unemployment has been accompanied by a drop in emigration (before the war about r , 3 oo,ooo workers left Europe every year, today only 6oo,ooo

?Oo,ooo men emigrate); 6) the wealth destroyed by the war was partly capitalized and produced interest payments which have been paid for a long time through other debts; 7) an indebtedness to the United States of America (for political and commercial debts) which would endanger all monetary stability if it were to lead to real transfers.

Regarding Italy, Paratore notes the following elements of the postwar situation : I ) the considerable decline of its human capital; 2) a debt of about r oo billion lire; 3 ) a worrisome volume of floating debt; 4) a debt-ridden state budget; 5 ) a confused monetary system characterized by a very serious drop in and a dangerous instability of the internal and external value of the currency; 6 ) a large deficit in the balance of trade aggravated by a total confusion in its trade relations with other countries; 7) erosion of many financial systems affecting the public and private economy.

§( r 2 3). "La riforma fondiaria cecoslovacca, " by Fr. Veriano Ovecka, in the Civilta Cattolica of I 6 February and I 6 March 1 929, 1 published as a separate pamphlet shortly thereafter. It is a very careful and well executed study from the point of view of the interests of the Church. The reform is accepted and justified as something due to causes beyond anyone's control. (In a general study on the agrarian question this concise pamphlet should be consulted again in order to make some comparisons with the other types of land reforms such as the one in Romania, and to derive from it some general methodological suggestions. Programmatic questions. )

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

§(1 24). Giorgio Mortara, "Natalita e urbanesimo in ltalia, "

Nuova Antologia, 1 6 June- 1 July 1 929. 1

It deals with the more narrowly statistical issues, and is very cautious in its judgments, especially those which are more directly relevant. The annual number of live births in Italy was on the rise, through fluctuations, during the first quarter of a century following national unification (a high of 1 , 1 5 2, 906 in 1 8 8 7 ) ; it gradually declined to a low of 1 , 042,090 in 1 903, it rose again to the second highest total of 1 , 1 44,4 1 0 in 1 9 1 0, and remained steady in the years before the war at 1 , 1 oo,ooo. In 1 920 (numerous marriages after the armistice) there is the absolute high of 1 , 1 5 8,04 1 , which falls rapidly to 1 , 0 5 4,082 in 1 927, and to about 1,04o,ooo in 1 92 8 (prewar territory; within the new borders : 1,093,054 in 1 927, and I,077,ooo in 1 92 8 ), the lowest figure for the last 48 years. In other countries the decline is much greater. Correlative drop in the number of deaths : from a high of 8 69,992 in 1 8 8o to a low of 6 3 5 , 7 8 8 in 1 9 1 2, a decline which resumed after the war and after the 1, 240,425

deaths in 1 9 1 8 . In 1 927, only 6 1 1 , 3 62 deaths; in 1 928, 6 1 4,000 (old borders; within the new borders: 63 5,996 deaths in 1 927 and 639,00

in 1 928). Thus, in 1 928, births outnumbered deaths by about 426,000

(new borders 438,ooo), that is a greater margin than in 1 8 87 when births outnumbered deaths by only 3 2 3, 9 1 4 because of the high percentage of deaths. The greatest gain of about 448,ooo, occurred in the five years 1 9 1 0- 1 4. (One can say, generally, that in a certain historical period the level of well being of a people cannot be inferred from the high number of births, but rather from the per centage of deaths and the excess of births over deaths : but even in this historical phase there are some variables which must be analyzed; in fact, one can talk not so much about the absolute wellbeing of the general public but rather about a better state and social organization of hygiene which can prevent an epidemic, for example, from spreading among and decimating a population with a low standard of living, but does not in any way raise this low standard-unless one goes so far as to say that it maintains it, by preventing the loss of the weaker and more unproductive members who live off the labor of others. )

The absolute figures for births and deaths give only the absolute increment of the population. The intensity of the increment is given by the relation between this increment and the number of inhabitants. The birth rate drops from 3 9 - 3 per 1 000 inhabitants in

Miscellaneous I. § I24

349

1 8 7 6 to 26 in 1 928, a decrease of 3 3 % ; the death rate falls from 34.2% in 1 8 67 to 1 5 . 6 in 1 928, a drop of 5 4% . The death rate starts to decline clearly during the five years of 1 8 76-80; the birth rate starts to decline in the five years 1 8 9 1 -9 5 .

In the other European countries, per 1 000 inhabitants: Great Britain 1 7 births- 1 2 . 5 deaths, France 1 8 .2- 1 6 . 6, Germany 1 8 .4- 1 2, Italy 26.9- 1 5 .7, Spain 2 8 . 6- 1 8 . 9, Poland 3 1 . 6- 1 7.4, USSR (European) 44. 9-24.4, Japan 3 6. 2- 1 9 . 2 . (The data for the USSR refer to 1 9 2 5 , for Japan to 1 92 6, for the other countries to 1 92 7 . ) Mortara gives three primary causes for the decline i n the death rate: improvement in hygiene, improvement in medicine, improvement in the standard of living, which summarize in a schematic form a great number of factors for a lower death rate (another factor is the lower birth rate, since infants have a high death rate). The major factor for the low birth rate is the declining fertility of marriages, due to voluntary limitation- at first, out of foresight and then out of selfishness. If the trend were to be uniform throughout the whole world, it would not alter the relative conditions of the various nations, though it would have a serious effect on the spirit of enterprise and possibly cause inertia and moral and economic regression. But the trend is not uniform : today there are peoples that grow rapidly while others grow slowly, tomorrow there will be peoples that will grow fast while others will decrease.

In France, even now, the balance between births and deaths is barely maintained by means of immigration, which causes other serious moral and political problems : in France, the situation is worsened by the relatively high death rate in comparison with England and Germany.

Regional calculations for 1 9 2 6 : Piedmont (proportion per 1 000

inhabitants, births and deaths) 1 7 - 7- 1 5 .4, Liguria 1 7 . 1 - 1 3 . 8, Lom bardy 2 5 . 1 - 1 7 .9, Venezia Tridentina 2 5 .0- 1 7 - 5 , Venezia Euganea 29 . 3 - 1 5 · 3 · Venezia Giulia 22.8- 1 6 . 1 , Emilia 2 5 .0- 1 5 . 3 , Tuscany 22.2- 1 4. 3 , Marche 28.0- 1 5 . 7, Umbria 2 8 . 4- 1 6. 5 , Latium 2 8 . 1 -

1 6 . 3 , Abruzzi 3 2 . 1 - 1 8 . 9, Campania 3 2 .0- 1 8 . 3, Puglie 34.0-2o.8, Basilicata 3 6 .6-2 3 . 1 , Calabria 3 2 . 5 - 1 7 · 3 , Sicily 2 6 . 7- 1 5 .7, Sardinia 3 1 .7 - 1 8 . 9 . The average levels prevail, but they tend to be on the higher rather than the lower side.

For Mortara, the cause of the lower birth rate is to be found in voluntary limitation. Other elements can sometimes contribute to it, but they are negligible (emigration of males). There has been a

3 5 0

NOTE B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

French "contagion" in Piedmont and in Liguria, where the phenomenon is more serious !temporary emigration has served as a vehicle) and has older origins, but one cannot speak of a "French"

contagion in Sicily which is in the forefront of declining birthrates in the South. Signs of voluntary limitation throughout the whole South are not lacking. Country and city: the birth rate in the city is lower than in the country. Turin, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, Florence have lin 1 92 6 ) a lower average birth rate than Paris.

§( 1 2 5 ). Ludovico Luciolli, "La politica doganale degli Stati Un iti d' America, " Nuova Antologia of r 6 August 1 929. 1

Very interesting and useful article to consult because it recapitulates the history of tariffs in the United States and the particular function that customs duties have always had in the policy of the United States. It would be interesting to have a historical review of the various forms that customs policy has assumed and is now assuming in different countries, but especially in the more politically and economically important countries -which, in reality, means a review of the various attempts to organize the world market and to enter it in the most favorable way from the viewpoint of the national economy or of the industries essential to national economic activity. One should keep track of the following trend in contemporary economic nationalism : some nations try to ensure that their imports from a given country are "controlled" en bloc, while a corresponding quantity of "exports" is controlled in the same way. It is clear that this kind of measure benefits those nations with a deficit in the (visible) balance of trade. But how does one explain that France, which exports more goods than it imports, is starting to assert this principle? At first, this has to do with a trade policy aimed at boycotting imports from a given country, but from this beginning there can develop a general policy which is to be placed within a larger and positive context which can (develop ) in Europe as a result of the American tariff policy and as a way of trying to stabilize certain national economies. In other words, every important nation may tend to provide an organized economic underpinning to its own political hegemony over nations subordinate to it. Regional political agreements could become regional eco nomic agreements, as a result of which the "agreed upon" levels of imports and exports would no longer take place between only two

Miscellaneous I. § r26

3 5 1

states but among a group of states, eliminating many very evident and not inconsiderable inconveniences. It seems to me that within the framework of this tendency one could include the inter-imperial free trade policy and the policy of protectionism toward the non Empire by the new group surrounding Lord Beaverbrook (or some such name) in England; as well as the agricultural agreement of Sinaia, later extended in Warsaw.

This political tendency could be the modern form of Zollverein, which led to the German Federal Empire, or of the efforts to form a customs union among the Italian states before r 848 and, earlier still, of eighteenth-century mercantilism; and it could become the intermediate stage of Briand's Pan-Europe, insofar as it corresponds to a need of the national economies to go beyond their national borders without losing their national character.

The world market, according to this tendency, would come to be made up of a series of markets -no longer national, but international (inter state) - which would have organized within their own borders a certain stability of essential economic activities, and which could enter into mutual relations on the basis of the same system. This system would be more mindful of politics than eco nomics, in the sense that within the economic field it would attach greater importance to finished goods industries than to heavy industry. This, in the first stage of organization. In fact, the attempts at international cartels based on raw materials (iron, coal, potash, etc. ) have pitted against each other hegemonic states, such as France and Germany, neither of which can yield any part of its world position and function. Too difficult and too many obstacles. Simpler, instead, an agreement between France and its dependent states for an organized economic market based on the English empire model, which could bring about the collapse of Germany's position and compel it to join the system, but under French hegemony.

These are all still very vague hypotheses, but they are to be kept in mind for a study of the development of the tendencies men tioned above.

§ ( 1 2 6). Andrea Torre, "11 principe di Bulow e la politica mondiale germanica, " Nuova Antologia, r December 1 92 9 1 (written on the occasion of Bulow's death and based on Bulow's own book, Imperial Germany: it is interesting and serious).2

3 5 2

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 3 )

§(1 27). Alfonso de Pietri-Tonelli, "Wall Street, " Nuova An tologia of 1 December 1 9 2 9 1 !comments in very general terms on the American stock market toward the end of 1 92 9 : it must be reread in order to study the financial organization of America).

§(1 28). Catholic Action. Catholic Trade Unionism. See in the Civilta Cattolica of 6 July 1 929, the article "La dottrina sociale cristiana e 1' organizzazione internazionale del lavoro" (by Father Brucculeri) . 1 It discusses the section concerning the social thought of the Church in the report given by Albert Thomas at the 1 2th session of the International Labor Conference and published in Geneva in 1 92 9 .2 Father Brucculeri is extremely pleased with Thomas and summarizes the most important passages, thus restating the Catholic social program.

§( 1 29). Italian industries. See the article "I 'soffioni' della Maremma Toscana" in the Civilta Cattolica of 20 July 1 92 9 . 1 As an article of scientific popularization, it is very well done.

§( 1 30). Regional histories. Liguria and Genoa. See Carlo Mioli, La Consulta dei Mercan ti genovesi. Historical review of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry: 1 805 - 1 927, Genoa, 1 928. It is reviewed and summarized in the Civilta Cattolica of I 7 August 1 92 9 . 1 It must be very interesting and important for the economic history of Genoa during the Risorgimento and through the period of unification up to the replacement of the Chambers of Commerce by the Economic Councils. Mioli was the secretary for the last Chamber of Commerce. The book has a preface by the lawyer Pessagno of the Genoese historical archive.

§( 1 3 1 ) . Catholic Action. The conflict in Lille. The Civilta Cattolica of 7 September 1 929, carries the complete text of the judgment pronounced by The Holy Congregation of the Council on the conflict between Catholic industrialists and workers in the Roubaix-Tourcoing region} The arbitration decision is contained in a letter, dated 5 June 1 929, from Cardinal Sbarretti, Prefect of the

Miscellaneous I. § 133

3 5 3

Congregation of the Council to Monsignor Achille Lienart, Bishop of Lille.

The document is important because it partly integrates and partly widens the scope of the Codice Sociale;2 such as, for example, where it recognizes the right of Catholic workers and trade unions to form a united front even with socialist workers and trade unions on economic questions. One must bear in mind that although the Codice Sociale is a Catholic text, it is nevertheless private and only semiofficial, and it could be totally or partially disowned by the Vatican. This document, by contrast, is official.

This document is certainly linked to the intense activity by the Vatican in France to create a Catholic political democracy, and the acceptance of a "united front, " even if subject to captious and restrictive interpretations, is a "challenge" to the Action Fram;aise and a sign of deten te with the radical socialists and the G.(eneral) C.(onfederation of ) L.(abor).

In the same issue of La Civilta Cattolica there is a long-winded and interesting article commenting on the Vatican's arbitration decision.3 This decision consists of two organic parts : the first, made up of 7 brief theses, each accompanied by copious quotations from pontifical documents, especially those of Leo XIII, provides a clear summary of Catholic teachings on trade unions; the second deals with the specific conflict under consideration - that is, the theses are interpreted and applied to real events.

§( 1 3 2). Action Fran�aise and the Vatican. See "La crisi dell'

'Action fran�aise' e gli scritti del suo 'maestro' " in the Civilta Cattolica of 2 1 September 1 929. (It is an article by Father Rosa against Maurras and his "philosophy. " J l

§( 1 3 3 ). Albanian legend of the "Zane " and the Sardinian

"Zane. " In the article "Anti chi monasteri benedettini in Albania

-Nella tradizione e neUe leggende popolari" by the Jesuit Father Fulvia Cordignano, published in the Civilta Cattolica of 7 December 1 929, 1 one reads : "In the people's mind the vakuf- that is, a church ruin or something that belongs to it- is endowed with a mysterious, almost magical force. Woe to him who touches that plant or leads the flock, the goats that devour all leaves, into those

3 5 4

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 3 )

ruins : he will be suddenly struck by some calamity; he will b e left crippled, paralyzed, insane, just as if he had run into some 'Ora' or

'Zana' in the fierce midday heat or during the dark and perilous night, on the edge of the road or in the middle of the footpath where these spirits sit at a round table, invisible and in perfect silence.112 There are some additional references in the course of the article.

§( I 3 4). Catholics, neo-Malthusianism, eugenics. It seems that there is no longer agreement on the problem of neo-Malthusianism and eugenics even among Catholics. According to the Civilta Cattolica of 2 1 December I 92 9 I "Il pensiero sociale Cristiano. La de cima sessione dell' 'Unione di Malines' "), the annual meeting of the "International Union of Social Studies, " which has its headquarters in Malines, was held at the end of September I 929. Its work was especially focused on the following three topics : the state and large families; the population problem; forced labor. There were strong differences on the demographic problem : the lawyer Cretinon, "though conforming to a population policy that respects Providence, points out that eugenics need not be seen as simply materialistic, since its goals are also intellectual, esthetic, and moral. 11 The conclusions accepted were negotiated, not without difficulties, by Father Desbuquois and Prof. Aznar: the two compilers were deeply divided. "While the first was calling for demo graphic progress, the other tended rather to recommend continence for fear that Catholic families would be doomed to economic decline by having too many offspring. 11 1

§( I 3 5 ). Pan - Christianity and the spread of Protestan tism in South America. See the article "11 protestantesimo negli Stati Uniti e nell' America latina, " in the Civilta Cattolica of I March, I s March, s April I 9 30. 1 A very interesting study of the expansionist tendencies of North American Protestants, the organizational methods of this expansion, and the Catholic reaction.

It is interesting to note that Catholics take the American Protestants to be their only, and often successful, competitors in the field of world propaganda, even though there is very little religiosity in the United States !the majority of those counted in the

Miscellaneous I. § 13 7

3 5 5

census profess no religion) : the European Protestant churches have no expansionary reach, or only a minimal one. Another noteworthy fact is this : now that the Protestant churches have fragmented themselves, one witnesses attempts at unification within the Pan

Christian movement. !However, do not forget the Salvation Army, English in its origin and organization. )

§( I 3 6). Catholic Action. See the article, "La durata del lavoro, "

in the Civilta Ca ttolica of I 5 March I 9 30 I by Father Brucculeri). 1

It defends the principle and the international legislation of the 8

hour day against Lello Gangemi and his book, I1 problema della durata del lavoro, Vallecchi, Florence, 5 26 pp.2 The article is interesting; Gangemi's book is demolished very well. It is interesting that a Jesuit should be more "progressive" than Gangemi who is quite well known in current Italian economic policy as a disciple of De Stefani and his particular orientation in the field of economic policy.

§( I 3 7)

City and coun try. Giuseppe De Michelis, "Premesse e

.

contributo allo studio dell'esodo rurale, " Nuova An tologia, 1 6 January 1 9 30. 1 An interesting article from many points of view. De Michelis poses the problem quite realistically. Meanwhile, what is the rural exodus ? It has been talked about for 200 years and the question has never been laid out in precise economic terms.

IDe Michelis, too, forgets two fundamental aspects of the question: I ) one of the reasons for the complaints about the rural exodus is to be found in the interests of landowners who see wages go up because of the competition from urban industries and a way of life that is more "legal, " less exposed to the despotism and abuse which characterize everyday rural life; 2) as for Italy, he fails to mention the emigration of farmers which is the international form of the rural exodus toward industrialized countries and which is a true criticism of the Italian agrarian regime, insofar as the farmer goes to farm elsewhere and improves his standard of living. ) De Michelis correctly points out that the exodus has not hurt agriculture : I ) because on an in ternational scale the agrarian population has not declined; 2) because production has not decreased, rather there is overproduction, as can be seen from the crisis in the

N O TE B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

prices of agricultural products. (During the past crisis, that is, when the prices paralleled periods of industrial prosperity, this was true; today, however, when the agricultural crisis goes hand in hand with the industrial crisis, one cannot speak of overproduction but of under-consumption. ) The article quotes statistics which demonstrate the progressive extension of the area used to cultivate cereals and, even more, of the area used to cultivate products for industry (hemp, cotton, etc . ), and the increase in production. The problem is seen from an international (a group of 2 1 countries) viewpoint, that is, from the viewpoint of the international division of labor.

(From the point of view of single nations, the problem can change, and herein lies the current crisis : it is a reactionary resistance to the new worldwide relations, to the increased importance of the world market. )

The article cites some bibliographical sources : must re read it. It ends with a colossal error; according to De Michelis : "The formation of cities, long ago, was nothing other than the slow and progressive detachment of craftsmanship from agricultural activity with which it originally was closely connected, until finally it became a separate activity. In future decades, thanks above all to the growth in electric power, progress will consist in the return of craftsmanship to the countryside so that in modified forms and with improved processes it is reconnected to truly agricultural labor. In this effort to rescue rural artisanship, Italy is ready once again to be forerunner and teacher. " 2 De Michelis confuses many things : r ) the reconnection of city and country cannot occur on the basis of artisanship, but only on the basis of rationalized and standardized big industry. The "artisanal" utopia was founded on the textile industry: it was believed that once the distribution of electric energy over great distances became feasible, it would be possible to give the electric powered modem mechanical loom back to the peasant family; but already a single worker nowadays can operate (it seems) up to 24 looms, which poses enormous new problems of competition and of capital needs, in addition to general organizational problems which the peasant family cannot resolve; 2 ) the industrial utilization of the time periods when the peasant cannot work (this is the fundamental problem of modern agriculture, which places the peasant in a condition of economic inferiority in comparison to the city which "can" work all year long) can only take place in a highly developed economy that follows a plan

Miscellaneous I. § r3B

3 5 7

capable of remaining immune to the temporal fluctuations of sales which are already occurring and bring with them dead seasons even in industry; 3 ) the great concentration of industry and the serial production of interchangeable parts make it possible to transfer factory divisions to the countryside, reducing congestion in the big city and making industrial life more hygienic. It is not the artisan who will return to the countryside but, on the contrary, the most modem and standardized worker.

§( 1 3 8). America. Two articles published in the 1 6 February 1 9 30 issue of Nuova An tologia: "Punti di vista sull' America: Spirito e tradizione americana" by Professor J. P. Rice (in 1 9 30 the Italy-America Society of New York chose Rice to deliver the annual lecture series established by the Westinghouse Foundation to strengthen relations between America and Italy)-the article is of little value; and "La rivoluzione industriale degli Stati Uniti" by the engineer Pietro Lanino-interesting from this point of view: as an accredited journalist and theorist of Italian industry, he has understood nothing about the American capitalist industrial system. 1 (In 1 9 30, Lanino also wrote a series of articles on American industry in Rivista di Politica Economica published by the stock corporations. )2 From the very first paragraph, Lanino asserts that in America there has been "a total reversal of the prevailing fundamental economic principles of industrial production. The law of supply and demand has been repudiated by the wages. The cost of production has declined even though wages have been going up. " 3

Nothing has been repudiated: Lanino has not understood that the new technique based on rationalization and Taylorism has created a new and original psycho-technical qualification and that the workers with this qualification are not only few in number, but are still in the process of formation, which is why those with the

"right bent" are sought after competitively with high wage�- this confirms the law of "supply and demand" in wages. If Lanino's assertion were true, one could not explain the high level of tumover among the employed personnel; that is, why would many workers pass up the high pay of certain companies for the lower pay of others ? In other words, not only would the industrialists be repudiating the law of supply and demand, but also the workers would supposedly be forgoing high wages and sometimes remain-

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

ing unemployed. A riddle that Lanino carefully refrained from solving. The whole article is based on this initial incomprehension.

That the American industrialists, starting with Ford, should have tried to argue that a new form of relations is involved, comes as no surprise: in addition to the economic effect of high wages, they also tried to obtain certain social effects of spiritual hegemony, and this is normal.

§( I 3 9). Mario Gianturco, "La terza sessione marittima della Conferenza lntemazionale del Lavoro, " Nuova Antologia, I 6 March I 9 30. 1 (Also recapitulates the main points of the previous meetings of seamen; interesting and useful. )

§( 1 40). Giuseppe Frisella Vella, Temi e problemi sulla cosi detta questione m eridionale, with an introduction and bibliography, in 8°, 5 6 pp., Palermo, La Luce, Casa Editr. Sicula, L. 6.oo. 1

§( 1 4 1 ). Past and present. The consumption of salt. ( See Salvatore Majorana, "11 monopolio del sale, " in Rivista di Politica Economica, January 1 9 3 1 , p. 3 8 . ) 1 In the 1 928-29 fiscal year, right after the increase in the price of salt, the consumption of salt decreased by I . I03 Kg. from the previous fiscal year; that is, it fell to y . I 3 3

Kg. per capita, while payments increased by L . 4. 80. Further, the free distribution of salt in municipalities where there is pellagra was stopped; it was explained that pellagra has almost disappeared and that the state combats pellagra (in general) with other general actions. (But what has been the fate of those who currently really suffer from pellagra ? )

§( 1 42). Gaspare Ambrosini, "La situazione della Palestina e gli interessi dell'Italia, " Nuova Antologia of 1 6 June I 9 30. 1 (Bibliographical data on the question. )

§( I 43). Maria Pasolini Ponti, "lntomo all' arte industriale, "

Nuova Antologia, I July I 9 30. 1

Miscellaneous I. § r48

3 5 9

§( I 44). Past and presen t. An article that is interesting for as sessing a certain movement for the rehabilitation of the Bourbons of Naples is Giuseppe Nuzzo's "La politica estera della monarchia napoletana alia fine del secolo XVIII, " in the Nuova An tologia of I 6 July I 9 30. 1 Historically inane article, because it discusses farcical whims.

§( I 45 ). Luigi Villari, "L'agricoltura in Inghilterra/' Nuova Antologia, I September I 9 30. 1 Interesting.

§(I 46). Past and present. Emigration. There are I , 6oo Italian immigrants in the Belgian Congo : 942 of them are in the Katanga alone, the richest area of Congo. Most of these Italian immigrants work for private companies as engineers, accountants, master builders, labor supervisors. Of the 200 doctors in Congo who practice medicine on behalf of the state and of corporations, two thirds are Italian ( Carriere della Sera, I S October I 9 3 I ) . 1

§( I 47). Italian Risorgimen to. In the Nuova Antologia of I Oc tober I 9 30, Francesco Moroncini, "Lettere inedite di Carlo Poerio e di altri ad Antonio Ranieri ( 1 8 6o-66 ) . " 1 Interesting for the historical period and for the Southern political question.

§(1 48). Italian Risorgimen to. See, in the Carriere della Sera of I 6 October 1 9 3 1 , the article by Gioacchino Volpe, "Quattro anni di governo nel Diario autografo del Re" (on Francesco Salata's book, Carlo Alberto inedito). 1 Volpe is excessively bland and pru dent in his judgments and exposition. A short chapter is entitled

"Against foreign interferences, " but what interferences are these ?

Carlo Alberto was most favorable to Austria's intervention in the Legations; he opposed interference ( ? ) in the domestic affairs of Piedmont by the French ambassador and by the English minister who would have liked to have a conference in Turin to settle Church-State affairs - Carlo Alberto preferred the armed intervention of Austria in the Legations to the intervention of his own troops, as the Pope wanted, because he did not want the Pied-

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

montese soldiers to be infected by liberalism or the people of Romagna to acquire the desire for unification with Piedmont.

§( 1 49). Politics and military command. Check Saverio Nasalli Rocca's article "La politica tedesca dell' impotenza nella guerra mondiale, " in the Nuova Antologia of 1 6 October and I November 1 9 30. 1

The article, based on the German experience (winning the battles and losing the war), collects material to support the thesis that, even in war, it is the political command that produces victory, a political command that must be incorporated into the military command, creating a new type of command proper to wartime.

Nasalli Rocca makes special use of the memoirs and the other writings of von Tirpitz.2 (The title of the article is also the title of a book by Tirpitz translated into Italian. ) Nasalli Rocca writes :

" . . . One of the greatest difficulties of the war is represented by the relations between the military command and the government: an experienced military man immediately recognizes that the relations between the government and the armed forces correspond, respectively, to the relations that exist between strategy and tactics. The strategy of the war to the government, the tactics to the armed forces : but just as the tactician, in order to attain the goals set for him, has full freedom of maneuver within the broad limits determined for him by the strategy, so also the strategist does not have the right to invade the field of the tactician. Absenteeism and interference are the two great stumbling blocks of command, whatever it may be called; and the sense of balance is what sets the limits of interference. " 3

I t does not seem t o m e that the formula i s very accurate : there certainly exists a "military strategy" which does not technically belong to the government, but it is contained within a larger political strategy that embraces military strategy. The question can be broadened: conflicts between the military and the government are not conflicts between technicians and politicians, but between politicians and politicians; they are conflicts between "two political leaderships" that enter into competition at the beginning of every war. The difficulties of the unified inter allied command during the war were not of a technical but of a political nature : conflict of national hegemonies.

Miscellaneous I. § 150

§( 1 so). Cultural topics. The problem mentioned in other notes

"Who is the legislator? " in a country- can be raised again in order to settle other questions in a "real, " not "scholastic" way. 1 For example, "What is the police ? " (This question has been mentioned in other notes dealing with the real function of political parties. )2

It is often said, as if it were a devastating criticism of the police, that 90% of crimes being actively investigated nowadays (a large number is not investigated either because there is no knowledge of them or because no verification is possible, etc. ) would go unpunished if the police did not have spies, etc., at its disposal. But, in fact, this kind of criticism is silly. What is the police ? It certainly is not just that particular official organization which is juridically recognized and empowered to carry out the public function of public safety, as it is normally understood. This organism is the central and formally responsible nucleus of the "police, " which is a much larger organization in which a large part of a state's population participates directly or indirectly through links that are more or less precise and limited, permanent or occasional, etc. The analysis of these relations, much more than many philosophical juridical dissertations help one understand what the "state" is.

N O T E S

N O TEB O O K I ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 0 ) DESCRIPTION OF THE MANUSCRIPT

A ruled school notebook ( 1 5 x 20. 5 em) with thin board covers colored red and black in a marbled pattern. The front cover carries the imprint of the stationer (and book publisher) : "Gius. Laterza e figli, Bari . " The label on the front cover contains: Gramsci's prison number, "7047 "; the total count of sheets that make up the notebook and that are stamped with the prison seal and numbered by the prison authorities, "fogli cinquanta"

( "fifty sheets"); the signature of the prison warden, "II direttore, Parmegiani." (G. Parmegiani was the warden at the Turi prison when Gramsci arrived there in July 1 928. He remained in charge of the prison until the end of February 1 929. ) Tatiana Schucht glued another label to the front cover of the notebook after Gramsci's death, and on it she wrote "Completo XVI 1° quademo da pg. 1 a 2oo" ( "Complete XVI 1 st notebook from pp. 1 to 2oo"). The roman numerals indicate the number which Tatiana Schucht assigned to the notebook in a cataloging system she had devised in order to organize Gramsci's papers soon after his death.

Since every sheet or folio is folded once, the notebook consists of 1 00

leaves with 22 lines on each side. Gramsci wrote on both sides and thus the notebook contains 200 manuscript pages. With an indelible pencil and the prison seal - "Casa penale speciale di Turi" ( "Special Prison of Turi")

- the prison authorities numbered and stamped each of the first so leaves on the recto side only. In addition, the recto side of every leaf is numbered ( 1 - 100) in ink by Gramsci's hand. There are no numeral markings on the verso sides. When referring to the manuscript pages, then, "r. " indicates the (recto) sides numbered by Gramsci, while "v. " indicates the unnum-

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 3 0) bered (verso) pages. Thus, for example, "p. I r. " refers to the page numbered " 1 " by Gramsci, in this case the opening page of the manuscript; whereas "p. I oov. " refers to the back of the leaf numbered " I oo" by Gramsci, in this case the final page of the manuscript.

Gramsci's writing fills the entire notebook from 11. to I oov. , except for the following spaces which are left blank: (a) I 7 lines on p. I V. ; (b) the final two lines at the bottom of p. 941. ; (c) the last four lines of p. 9 5 1.

These correspond to: (a) the space at the end of the list of "Main Topics"

which opens the notebook; (b) and (c) the space left at the end of lists of book titles which Gramsci made for the purpose of record keeping; these lists start at the top of p. 9 31., splitting the final paragraph of note § 1 49

which is interrupted in mid-sentence at the end of p. 92v. and resumes without any break in continuity at the top of p. 9 5 v. Gramsci must have originally intended to set aside the final pages of the notebook for personal records but at a later date he decided to utilize the remaining few pages not already taken up by his record keeping for his notes.

The title "First Notebook (8 February I 929)" appears at the top of the very first page and is underlined twice. Starting on the same page is Gramsci's study plan in the form of a list of topics which he intended to address. The rest of the notebook contains I 5 8 notes or sections, each one of which starts on a fresh line preceded by the symbol § . (Gramsci did not number these entries. The numbers are an editorial device meant to facilitate identification and cross-reference.) Of the notes in this notebook, 107 are crossed out by Gramsci but remain perfectly legiblefollowing V. Gerratana's denomination these notes are called A Texts.

With very few exceptions-identifiable through the absence of the normal cross-references provided by the editor at the end of A Texts- the contents of these texts reappear, often in modified form, in later notes (C

Texts). The other 5 I notes (B Texts) are not canceled, they are left unchanged, and they are not used again in any other notebook.

The manuscript of Notebook I also contains two entries which Gramsci thoroughly crossed out and rendered illegible with thick lines in ink running across the whole length of the sentences. The first of these canceled entries occupies six and a half lines at the top of p. 21., immediately preceding what is now § x . Gramsci's allusion to this entry in Notebook I

§28 suggests that it dealt with natural law. The second canceled entry consists of nine lines on pp. 79r. and 79V. between § u 8 and § u 9 of the present text. The first two words of the title of this entry are not crossed out like the rest of its contents; they read "La formula. " In the rest of the manuscript of the Prison Notebooks there are no other sections of text that are crossed out and rendered indecipherable in this manner.

The top half of p. 5 11. is taken up by two quotations, one from Nikolai V. Gogo! and the other from Feodor Dostoyevsky. These two passages

Description of the Manuscript

precede § 5 2 which starts half way down p. 5 II. Evidently Gramsci did not enter them as part, or in the course of his note writing. Unlike the individual note sections, these translated quotations are not preceded by the symbol § and the fact that they occur on the first page of the second half of the notebook suggests that they were inscribed prior to the notes that immediately precede and follow them, perhaps at a time when Gramsci intended to use the second half of the notebook for a purpose other than his notes. The two quotations are:

Anyone who looked at him would have quickly noticed that great qualities stirred his wonderful spirit for which the only worldly reward were the gallows. ( Gogo])

But while still preparing himself to be wrapped in glory, the genius believed he was entitled to an immediate reward. It is always a pleasure to be paid in advance, but especially in this case. (Dostoyevsky) The numbered list of books on pp. 9 3r. -94r. is preceded by the heading: "Books delivered from Turi to Carlo on I I November I 929." There are two changes in the heading; Gramsci had originally written: "Books sent from Turi to Carlo on 9 June I 929." The information enclosed in square brackets ( [ J ) alongside Gramsci's entries has been added by the editor.

I . B. Croce, Teoria e Storia della Storiografia [for an English translation see History: Its Theory and Practice; New York, I 9 2 I ]; 2. L. Einaudi, Corso di Scienza delle Finanze;

3 · G. Mortara, Prospettive Economiche I 927;

4 · idem

id.

id.

I 928;

5. Rabelais, Gargantua e Pantagruele, 5 vols.;

6. Ognev, Le Journal de Kostia Riabgev [the correct spelling of the last name in the title of this French adaptation-translation from the Russian is Riabtzevj;

7 . Col. Lawrence, La revolte dans le desert [a French translation of T. E. Lawrence, Revolt in the Desert; London, I 927]; 8. E. Lo Gatto, Storia della letteratura russa, volume two; 9· Petrocchi, Dizionario della Lingua Italiana;

IO. Broccardi, Gentile, et al., Goffredo Mameli e i suoi tempi; I I . C. Marchesi, Il letto di Procuste;

I 2 . Zeromski, Tutto e nulla [collection of short stories translated from Polish];

I 3 . S. Aleramo, Amo, dunque sono [a novel];

I 4. I. Bunin, I1 villaggio [an Italian translation from the Russian; for an English translation cf. The Village; New York, I 92 3 ];

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 9 2 9 - I 9 3 0) I 5. Delemain, Pourquoi les oiseaux chan tent [for an English translation, see Jacques Delemain, Why Birds Sing; London, I 932]; I6. Orlandi, 11 giovanetto filologo;

I 7. Dostoyevsky, La voce sotterranea [Notes from the Underground]; I 8 . J. Conrad [the title is missing];

I 9 . Lettere di Mad. d'Epinay all'ab. Galiani;

20. L. Tolstoy, Resurrezione; 2 vols. [Resurrection]; 2 1 . R. Kipling, Les plus belles histoires du monde [the correct title of this illustrated French translation of The Finest Story in the World is La plus belle histoire du monde; Paris, I 900]; 22. L. Tolstoy, La tempesta di neve [a translation of short stories including 11The Death of Ivan Ilyich"];

23. Pirandello, L'esclusa [an early ( I 90 I ) novel]; 24. G. Maupassant, Novelle; 4 vols. [this entry, in fact, refers to four separate books by Guy de Maupassant which Gramsci owned: Claire de June; Con tes de la Becasse; Le Horla; Miss Harriet]; 2 5 . Dizionario inglese-francese [Henri Sabersky, Dictionnaire de Poche. Anglais-Franyais; Berlin, I 9 I4];

.

26. Chekhov, Novelle, two small volumes [short stories in translation];

27 . Giannini, Storia della Polonia;

28. Panait !strati, Domnitza de Snagov;

29. Pedrazzi, La Sardegna;

30. Gino Piastra, Figure e figuri della Superba;

3 1 . A cinematic novel on F. Villon (by McCarty) [Gramsci owned a book by Justin Huntly MacCarty, La curieuse aventure de Maitre Francois Villon; Paris, 1 926];

32. Albert Londres, Des Paris a Buenos Ayres (La traite des blanches)

[for an English translation, see The Road to Buenos Ayres; New York, I 93 I ];

3 3 . Dorgeles, Partir . . . [a novel];

34· Messerel [Masereel], Die Sonne [a novel];

3 5. Almanacco Letterario 1 92 7;

3 6 . idem

I 928;

3 7 · Panait !strati, Mes departs;

38. Emil Ludwig, Guglielmo II [for an English translation from the original German, see Wilhelm Hohenzollern; New York, I 927]; 3 9 · Gogol, Le veglie alla fattoria ( Slavia) [Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka];

40. Leskov, La donna bellicosa (Slavia) [selected short stories translated from Russian]; 41. Dostoyevsky, Le notti bianche (Slavia) [ White Nights]; 42. Perri, Gli emigranti (Mandadori) [a novel];

Description of the Man uscript

4 3 · E. Marchese, Quintina Sella in Sardegna (Treves); 44· J. J. Brousson, ltineraire de Paris a Buenos Ayres (on A. France); 4S · Pascarella, Sonetti (Sten);

46. Chrystome, Anatole France;

47· Remarque, Rien de nouveau a ]'ouest [All Quiet on the Western Front!;

48. R. Boucard, Les dessous des Archives sercets (Les Editions de France) [for an English translation, see Revelations from the Secret Service: The Spy on Two Fronts; London, 1 9 30]; 49· Boris Pilnyak, Oltre le foreste (Slavia) [translation of early work by the Russian fiction writer!;

so. Beraud, Le bois du Templier pendu [for an English translation, see The Wood of the Hanging Templar; New York, 1 9 30]; S I . Capek, Raccon ti tormentosi (Slavia) [the first Italian translation authorized by the Czech writer];

p. Sieroszewski, I1 diavolo straniero (Slavia) [fiction, translated from Polish];

S 3 · Margaret Kennedy, La ninfa innamorata (Treves) [a translation of M. Kennedy and Basil Dean, The Constant Nymph; London, 1 9261;

S4· Isadora Duncan, Ma vie [French translation of My Life; Garden City, 1 927);

s s . Papini, Gli operai della vigna (Vallecchi) [for an English translation, see Laborers in the Vineyard; New York, 1 9 30]; s6. Dostoyevsky, I1 villaggio di Stepancikovo (Slavia) [ The Friend of the Family);

S 7 · Chekhov, La mia vita (Slavia) [My Life];

s8. Ramuz, La beaute sur la terre [for an English translation, see Beauty on Earth; New York, 1 929];

S9· Maurois, Clima ts [for an English translation, see Climats; New York, 1 9 39!;

6o. Chekhov, Era lei! . . ( Slavia) Ia collection of short stories];

.

61. Jerome K. Jerome, Tre uomini a zonzo (Sonzogno) [an Italian translation of Three Men on the Bummel);

62 . Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (minus one volume which is left behind) (sent in March 1 930), 4 vols. (Slavia); 6 3 . Turgenev, Le memorie di un cacciatore (one vol. is left behind) ( sent), 2 vols. ( Slavia) [A Sportsman 's Sketches].

Gramsci lists some of the above books and gives instructions about what should be done with them in a letter to his brother Carlo Gramsci, 1 7

June 1 929.

The following list of 4 books is on p. 94v. :

3 70

NOTES : NOTEBOOK I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0)

Maurice Muret, Le crepuscule des Nations blanches; Payot, Paris

[for an English translation, see The Twilight of the White Races; New York, 1 926j;

Petronius, Satyricon, Classici del ridere, Formiggini, Rome; Salvemini, Tendenze vecchie e necessita nuove del movimento operaio italiano; Licinio Cappelli, Bologna; Krasnof, Dall' aquila imperiale alla bandiera rossa; Salani, Florence

[for an English translation, see Peter Krassnoff, From the Twoheaded Eagle to the Red Flag, 1894-1921; London, 1 92 3 !; These four titles are followed on the same page (94v. ) by another numbered list of eight books under the heading: "Books delivered to Tatiana at Turi on 20 February I 9 30. " A brace is drawn on the right hand side of the second and third titles with the phrase "not delivered. " The other titles are marked on the left margin with a small cross and the phrase

"she says not delivered. "

I . Croce, Saggio sullo Hegel; Laterza, I 927 [Gramsci had the revised third edition ( I 927) of this volume which besides the study of Hegel also contains other essays on the history of philosophyfor an English translation of the essay on Hegel (but not the other essays accompanying it in the Italian edition), see What Is Living and What Is Dead in the Philosophy of Hegel; London I 9 I s J; 2. Prezzolini, Codice della Vita ltaliana; Libreria della Voce, I 92 I ; 3 · M . Maccari, 11 trastullo di Strapaese; Vallecchi, I 927 [ a celebration of country life with woodcuts and texts of songs!; 4· F. Chiesa, Villadorna; Mandadori, I 928;

5 . Chamson, Le crime des justes [for an English translation, see The Crime of the Just; translated by Van Wyck Brooks, New York, I 9 301;

6. H. Mann, Mere Marie [a French translation from the Germani; 7 . Fioretti di S. Francesco; Vallecchi [Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisil;

8 . L. Renn, La guerra, Treves [for an English translation, see Warfare: The Relation of War to Society; New York, I 9 3 9J; Another numbered list of books follows, starting on p. 94v. and continuing on to p. 95r. The heading of this list: "Books to be delivered to Tatiana: I 3 March I 9 30 . " The first fifteen items are marked with a cross on the left side. An entry ( "G. Prezzolini, Mi pare . . . Florence, Ed. Delta") between the second and third entry is crossed out.

I . Almanacco letterario I 9 30;

2. Jules Cambon, Le diplomate; Paris, Hachette (Les Caracteres de

Description of the Manuscript

3 7 1

ce temps) [for an English translation, see The Diplomat; London, 1 9 3 1 ];

3 · G. Mortara, Prospettive Economiche 1 929;

4· Goncharov, Oblomov; Slavia, 2 vols. [an Italian translation from the Russian];

5· Dostoyevsky, I1 sogno della zio, Slavia [ Uncle's Dream]; 6. "Action Fran�aise" Almanac for 1 929; 7 · L 'Action Fran�aise et le Vatican. A volume of articles by Maurras and Daudet, Flammarion, I 92 7 ; 8. L e Garnets de Georges Louis; Collected b y E. Judet, Rieder, 2

vols.;

9· Tolstoi, Due Usseri, Slavia (Two Hussars];

10. J. Maritain, I1 Primato della Spirituale; translation G. P. Dore, Ed. La Card. Ferrari;

1 1 . R. Bacchelli, I1 diavolo a Pon telungo; 2 vols., Ceschina, 1 st ed.

[for an English translation, see The Devil at the Long Bridge; New York, 1 929];

1 2 . M. Proust, Chroniques; Ed. N. R. F.;

1 3 . Chesterton, La Nouvelle Jerusalem [French translation of The New Jerusalem ];

1 4. D'Herbigny, L 'avvenire religioso della Russia (V. Soloviov); Italian translation [for an English translation, see Vladimir Soloviev: A Russian Newman (1853 -1900); London, 1 9 1 8 ]; 1 5 . Plutarch, Gli eroi di Grecia e di Roma; ed. Bemporad ( ten selected lives); 1 6 . Auguste Boullier, L 'ile de Sardaigne; Dentu, Paris.

The following numbered list of books is on p. 9 5 r., under the heading:

"Books delivered to Tatiana at Turi on 20 May 1 9 30": 1. Nuova An tologia, 5 issues, from 16 April to 16 June 1 927; 2 . Fedin, I fratelli (Slavia) [a translation of an early novel by the Russian author];

3 · Turgenev, Re Lear della steppa (Slavia) [Lear of the Steppes]; 4· Chekhov, La Camera N. 6 (Slavia) [a translation of Ward No. 6

and other stories];

5. R. Ardigo, Scritti vari; ed. G. Marchesini, Le Monnier; 6. Strapaese Almanac of 1 929;

7 · Tristan Remy, Port Clignancourt;

8. Editori e stampatori italiani del quattrocento; Hoepli, Libreria antiquaria.

Gramsci also listed books on the inside of the back cover of the notebook. The first item is separated from the rest, while the second, third,

372

N O T E S : N O TE B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 930)

fifth, sixth, seventh, tenth and eleventh items are marked by a stroke of the pen on the left margin.

Poesie scelte (by Pushkin and Lermontov). Russian text with accents, introduction, and notes by Enrico Damiani, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1 9 2 5 ; Maurice Muret, Le crepuscule de nations blanches; Payot, 1 92 5 ; Petronius Arbiter, Satyricon; trans. Limentani;

Heinrich Mann, Le Sujet; Ed. Kra;

Krasnoff, Dall 'aquila imperiale alla bandiera rossa; Salani; Mino Maccari, 11 trastullo di Strapaese; Vallecchi; G. Prezzolini, Mi pare . . (ed. Marpicati);

.

Jack London, Le memorie di un bevitore [an Italian translation of fohn Barleycorn ];

Oscar Wilde, I1 fantasma di Canterville e il delitto di Lord Saville

[an Italian translation of The Canterville Ghost. Lord Arthur Saville 's Crime]; Trotsky, La revolution defiguree; Rieder [The Revolution Betrayed]; Trotsky, Vers le capitalisme ou vers le socialisme? Librarie du Travail [ Towards Socialism or Capitalism ? ]

As can be seen, several of the titles in this list are also found i n the other lists.

Gramsci started the notebook with an outline of his study plans on 8

February 1 929, as he himself indicates at the top of the first page. It is almost certain, however, that on that date he made no other entries in the notebook. During the same period Gramsci was working on translations for which he used other notebooks. On 9 February 1 929 he wrote to Tatiana Schucht : "Do you realize? I am actually writing in my cell. For the time being I am only doing translations to get back into practice; meanwhile I am putting my thoughts in order."

The first notes, starting on p. 2r., were written no earlier than June 1 929, as can be deduced from the published sources Gramsci used in their composition. A particular reference on p. 26r. makes it possible to determine that note §43 must have been written sometime toward the end of 1 929 or, more likely, early in 1 930. In that passage, Gramsci mentions an incident recounted by Giuseppe Prezzolini in his book, La coltura italiana. Gramsci writes specifically that his source is the "first edition" of Prezzolini's volume. This means that when Gramsci wrote this note, the second edition of Prezzolini's book (which shows 1 9 3 0 as its date of publication) had already been published or, at least, announced. On 10

February 1 930, Gramsci asked Tatiana Schucht in a letter to instruct the booksellers "to send me the new edition of Giuseppe Prezzolini's Cultura italiana, published by Casa Editrice Carbaccio. " In the middle sections of

Notes to the Text: Notes and jottings 3 7 3

the notebook Gramsci makes use o f various sources including past issues of periodicals which he had received in prison during the previous years.

However, notes § I 4S and § I 47 contain references to articles in the Marzocco of 2 March I 9 30. Note § I 49 which is split by the lists of books on pp. 9 3r. -9 sr. was almost certainly composed after 20 May I 9 3 o-the date inscribed by Gramsci at the head of the last book list on those pages.

In L 'officina gramsciana: lpotesi sulla struttura dei "Quaderni del carcere" (Naples : Bibliopolis, I 984), p. I 40, Gianni Francioni offers the following chronology of the composition of Notebook I : Study Plan: 8 February I 929

§§

I-7: June I 929

8 - u : between June and July I 92 9

1 2 : July I 929

I 3 -27: between July and October I 92 9

28-2 9 : October I 92 9

3 0- 3 2 : between October and December 1 9 2 9

3 3 : December I 929

3 4-4 3 : between December I 929 and February I 9 3 0

44- I 44: between February and March I 9 3 0

1 4 5 - I 47 : March I 9 30

I 4 8 : between March and May I 9 30

I 49- I S 8 : May I 9 30 (but after 20 May)

NOTES TO THE TEXT

Notes an d Jot tings

I . Gramsci is referring to Canto X of the "Inferno" in Dante's Divine Comedy.

2 . Catholic Action was established in its earliest form during the I 8 6os as an international lay organization overseen by the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Its roots, however, go back to the resistance mounted by the Catholic Church against the secularization of society in the wake of the French Revolution. In Italy, Catholic Action emerged during the papacy of Pius IX at a time when, following the unification of the country and the loss of the Papal States, the Church was fiercely combating the spread of liberalism. When, in the aftermath of World War I, the Vatican allowed Catholics to vote and to participate in the political life of the nation, Catholic Action played a prominent role not only in shaping political opinion among the faithful but also in the formation of Catholic political leaders.

3 · The "islands" are Sardinia and Sicily.

4· Alessandro Manzoni ( 1 78 S - I 87 3 ), the famous Italian writer best

374

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 3 0) known for his classic novel, I promessi sposi ( Th e Betrothed), wrote extensively on various linguistic topics and particularly on the Italian language.

Graziadio Isaia Ascoli ( I 829- I 907 ), an eminent and acclaimed linguist who produced numerous studies on Oriental languages, phonetics, and dialects, was also a senator with a special interest in state policy on education.

5 . The phrase "this round table is square" was used by Benedetto Croce as the title of a short essay, "Questa tavola rotonda e quadrata, " originally published in I 90 5 and later collected with other essays in a volume on aesthetics. The essay discusses the relation of grammar and grammatology to logic and aesthetics. The opening paragraph of Croce's essay explains the origin of the phrase.

Steinthal [in Grammatik Logik und Psychologie ( 1 8 5 5 )[, polemicizing against Becker, uses the following example to clarify the difference between Logic and Grammar: "Someone approaches a round table and says: 'This round table is square. ' The grammarian is perfectly satisfied and says nothing, but the logician cries out: 'Absurd. ' "

See B. Croce, Problemi di Estetica e contributi alla storia dell'Estetica italiana, 5 th rev. ed. (Bari : Laterza, 1 949 ), p. 1 7 3-Gramsci owned a copy of the second edition ( 1 9 2 3 ) of this volume.

On I2 December I 927, Gramsci wrote to Tatiana Schucht: The bookshop should be informed that I never received the book which I had ordered quite some time ago: Giulio Bertoni and Matteo Giulio Bartoli, Manualetto di linguistica [A Small Manual of Linguistics[; it was printed in Modena in 192 5 , but I do not remember the publisher. If it is hard to get, you may let it go, because I have now (for reasons beyond my control, and given the impossibility of obtaining the means with which to write) abandoned the plan of writing a dissertation dealing with and entitled "The Round Table Is Square, " which I believe would have become a model for present and future intellectual work in prison. Unfortunately, the issue will remain unresolved for a while yet and this causes me some regret. But I assure you the issue is real and has already been dealt with and discussed in hundreds of academic works and political pamphlets. Nor is it a small issue when you realize that it means "What is grammar? " and that every year in every country of the world millions and millions of grammars are eagerly devoured by millions and millions of members of the human race-and yet the poor souls do not know exactly what it is they are devouring.

6. This item, which unlike all the ones that precede it in the list is not underlined by Gramsci, was most probably added at a later time. The Jesuit priest Antonio Bresciani ( 1 798- 1 862) was an exceedingly prolific

Notes to the Text. § r

3 7 5

writer who constantly and often viciously attacked liberalism i n all its forms, including constitutional democracy. In numerous didactic, moralistic, and polemical essays and books he staunchly defended Church authority and dogmatic religious orthodoxy as the only protections against the infernal threats of a corrupt secular culture. He wrote several popular historical novels which also served as vehicles for his extremely reactionary views. Bresciani was a member of the original editorial group that, in 1 8 5 0, launched the (at that time) ultra-conservative Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica, wherein he published his novels in serialized form, starting with the very first issue.

§ 1 . On poverty, Ca tholicism, and the papacy 1 . Gramsci's reference is to Arthur Roguenant, Patrons et ouvriers: Ouvrage couronne par l'Academie des sciences morales et politiques (Paris: J. Gabalde, 1 907 ). This small book ( 1 8 1 pages) appeared as a volume in the series "Bibliotheque d'economie sociale, publiee sous la direction de M. Henry Joly. " Roguenant had won the competition for the 1 906

Bardin Prize awarded by the Academy of Moral and Political Science in Paris. The incident recalled by Gramsci is discussed on p. 1 5 of Roguenant's book: Il nous est arrive d'interroger sur ce sujet ! "Pour etre parfaite la justice doit se confondre avec l'egalite") un ouvrier, catholique ardent, pratiquant, absolument sincere. Il ne nous cacha pas qu'il considerait l'egalite comme le but et la fin de tout effort conscient de la justice.-Mais, objections n

-

ous, comment concilier cette declaration de principe avec la parole de l'Evangile: il y aura toujours des pauvres parmi vous. -Il sourit et, fort a l'aise, repliqua: "C'est entendu, et pour ne pas faire mentir le Christ, qui n'a pu mentir, nous garderons deux pauvres (deux pour le pluriel) et leur attribuerons les revenus de l'assistence publique. "-La boutade etait plaisante, mais l'idee n'en est pas moins fausse.

There is no evidence and it is unlikely that Gramsci had access to this book in prison. He may have remembered the contents of the relevant passage from an earlier reading or come across it in an unidentified secondary source.

2 . In prison Gramsci possessed a book that contained the Italian version of Pius IX's encyclicals, the Syllabus, and other important writings: Pio IX, 11 Sillabo, Encicliche ed altri documenti del suo pontificato, ed.

M. Petroncelli (Florence: Libreria Editrice Fiorentina, 1 927). The Syllabus was a document attached to Pius IX's encylical Quanta cura (8 December 1 864); it consisted of a catalog of the 8o principal errors of modem thought.

The encyclical and the Syllabus constituted an official condemnation of

376

N O T E S : N O TE B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

liberalism, particularly the idea of the separation of Church and state, and of modem secular tendencies in general. Gramsci also had a copy of Codice Sociale (schema di una sin tesi sociale cattolica) (Rovigo: lstituto Veneto di Arti Grafiche, I 92 7 ) - an ideological document prepared in I 926

by the International Union of Social Studies, also known as the Union of Malines (Belgium). This Union was founded in I 920 under the patronage of Cardinal Mercier (the archbishop of Malines) to study social issues from a Catholic perspective and to propagate Catholic social teachings; it was strongly inspired by the social encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII.

§2. Faccia a faccia col nemico

1 . See Mentana, Faccia a faccia col nemico: Cronache giudiziarie dell'

anarchismo militan te, vol. I (no other volumes) (East Boston, Mass. : Edizione del Gruppo Autonomo-Tipografia della Cronaca Sovversiva, I 9 I 4), s o6 pp. Mentana was the pseudonym of the anarchist Luigi Galleani ( I 8 6 I - I 9 3 I ). Faccia a faccia col nemico (Face to Face With the Enemy) was originally the title of a regular column Galleani wrote for Cronaca Sovversiva, a weekly he edited in the United States from I 903

until I 9 I 9 . In these columns, Galleani relied heavily on old newspaper accounts to retell the stories of the most notorious trials staged against anarchists in the nineteenth century, mostly in France.

In I 9 I 4 he collected these columns in the volume cited by Gramsci.

The fifteen trials recounted by Galleani include those of Ravachol and Henry, to which Gramsci alludes. Francais-August Koenigstein, a 3 2-year-old former dyer known as Ravachol, underwent two trials in I 892.

He was first tried in the Seine court for attempted bombings and condemned to hard labor for life. In his second trial, held at Loire, Ravachol was found guilty of robbing and murdering an old hermit-he was condemned to death and guillotined soon afterward. Emile Henry, a 2o-yearold anarchist, was tried in I 894 at the Seine court for two terrorist attacks

-he had targeted the offices of a mining company and the caf e of the Hotel Terminus-and was sent to the guillotine.

In these allusions to Galleani's book, Gramsci had to be relying on his memory for although he owned a copy of the book it was not available to him in prison.

2. Pietro Abbo ( I 894- I 974l a peasant and autodidact, carried out promotional and organizational work for the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) in the area of Oneglia (in the province of Imperia). He was also a Socialist deputy in two legislatures between I 9 I 9 and I 924. At the 1 7th PSI Congress in Livomo ( I S - 2 I January I 92 I ), Abbo declared himself independent of all factions; nonetheless, he adopted an oppositional stance

Notes to the Text. §2

3 7 7

against the Communist group and sided with Giacinta Serrati. His speech at the Congress was severely criticized in L'Ordine Nuovo of 19 January 1 92 1 . Abbo later drew closer to the Communists; he fought for the liberation of Italy and subsequently joined the Italian Communist Party (PCd'I) .

Etievant's declaration, which Mentana (L. Galleani) reprinted in his book's appendix, offered a philosophical justification of the political principles of anarchism. Claude-Fran�tois Etievant, a printer, wrote the declaration for delivery during a trial at the court of Versailles in which he was accused of complicity with Ravachol. The declaration was then widely circulated by the anarchist press. In the opening part of his declaration, Etievant talks about the diversity of individual human dispositions ("dispositions we carry with us from birth") and he states: "Thus, for example, some learn mathematics easily, others have a greater disposition for linguistics" (Mentana, Faccia a faccia col nemico, p. 49 1 ). In his speech at the Livorno Congress, Abbo declared: "And, comrades, I believe that we cannot all be orators or writers and that in the human race there are those who have a disposition for mathematics, those who have a disposition for geography, those who have a disposition for language . . . " ( see the acts of the Livomo Congress, published in Direzione del Partito Socialista Italiano: Resoconto Stenografi.co del XVII Congresso Nazionale del PSI [Rome, 1 92 1 !, p. 1 8 7 ) . Gramsci also makes a polemical reference to Abbo in an article he wrote for L 'Ordine Nuovo, 14 April 1 92 1 . For a comment by Gramsci on the Socialist Party's responsibility for the cultural and political backwardness of men like Abbo, see Notebook 3, §45 .

3 · The correct name is Jules Gauthey. The reference is to a letter originally addressed to the newspaper Echo de Paris, and is reproduced in an Italian translation in Mentana, Faccia a faccia col nemico, pp. 44 1 -42.

4· In January 1 8 8 3 (and not, as Gramsci writes, in 1 8 94), Kropotkin and fifty-two other anarchists were put on trial in Lyon. They were accused of belonging to the International. During the trial, according to the text reproduced by Mentana (Faccia a faccia col nemico, p. 1 72 ), Kropotkin declared:

I have never been affiliated to the International-this has been made manifestly clear at the trial. This court of justice, therefore, is obliged to absolve me and my comrades at once, if the court recognizes our right to the same justice it grants even to its most wretched guests. As for the rest, I have always felt so comfortable in proclaiming my thoughts loudly that I have never needed conspiracy. Thus I have never concealed

-nor do I conceal now-what I think about the social revolution: it is imminent; in less than ten years it will blaze throughout the world, a flood of blood and flames, livid, a merciless leveler. History has never

378

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 30) recorded a more tragic and a more terrible event . . . in order to mitigate the consequences, the bourgeoisie which in particular will atone for its sins must hasten to make amends earnestly, wisely and lovingly.

At the end of the trial, Kropotkin and three others were sentenced to five years in jail, while the rest received lighter sentences. They enjoyed considerable public support and were released before the expiration of their sentences.

§ 3 . Church -State relations

1 . The quotation from Vorwiirts is drawn from a weekly review of the foreign press- Rassegna Settimanale della Stampa Estera, 2 5 June 1 929

(IV, 2 6 ), p. 1 429. The words in parenthesis are added by Gramsci.

§ 5 . Church -State relations

1 . This passage from Vossische Zeitung is also drawn from Rassegna Settimanale della Stampa Estera, 2 5 June 1 929 (IV, 2 6 ), p. 1 4 30.

2 . The Kulturkampf period refers to the acrimonious cultural and political struggle between Bismarck and the Roman Catholic Church. The struggle, which reached a very intense point around 1 87 3, had Bismarck aligned with the basically anti-Catholic Liberals even though he did not really share their secular political values. At stake was the authority and independence of the Catholic Church in the newly founded German empire. Bismarck's attempt to gain state control over education met especially strong resistance from the Catholic hierarchy; many priests and bishops ended up in prison.

§ 6 . "In order to praise a book . . . "

1 . Gramsci's source of Rivarol's epigram remains untraced. Antoine de Rivarol ( 1 7 5 3 - 1 80 1 ) was a reactionary French pamphleteer and stylist, a translator of Dante, and author of several works including Discours sur 1'

universalite de la Langue Fran9aise ( 1 784).

§7. Margherita Sarfatti and the "jousts "

1 . See the book review by Goffredo Bellonci, "II Palazzone, " in L 'ltalia Letteraria, 23 June 1 929 (I, 1 2 ).

Margherita Sarfatti ( 1 88 3 - 1 96 1 ) was the arts and literature editor of 11

Popolo d'Italia and later the editor of Gerarchia, the review she founded with the help of Mussolini. Sarfatti was Mussolini's mistress and her

Notes to the Text. § 8

3 79

eulogistic biography of the Fascist leader, The Life of Mussolini ( 1 92 5 ) first published in English and later in an Italian version, Dux ( 1 92 6 ) enjoyed great popular success. She was a leading exponent o f the "Novecento" (i. e. "Twentieth Century") movement in art and wrote extensively on the subject. I1 palazzone was her only novel. A vigorous supporter of fascism from its inception, Sarfatti was nonetheless forced into exile by the anti-Semitic legislation enacted by the Fascist regime in 1 9 3 8 .

Goffredo Bellonci ( 1 882- 1 9 64), a journalist and critic, wrote o n politics, art and literature for the Giornale d'Italia and other periodicals.

§8. The old and the new generation

1 . Giovanni Papini ( 1 88 1 - 1 9 5 6 ) founded the journal Leonardo in 1 903

(with the collaboration of G. Prezzolini). During the few years of its existence it promoted a broad range of new, anti-positivist philosophical movements such as Bergsonian intuitionism, the pragmatism of C. S.

Peirce and William James, and the philosophy of action. Papini was closely associated with La Voce, which he also edited for six months in 1 9 1 2. As he became strongly attracted toward futurism he broke his ties with La Voce and together with A. Soffici founded the short-lived Lacerba in 1 9 1 3 ; through it he attacked bourgeois values while promoting a nationalistic and voluntarist philosophy of action. He strongly supported Italian intervention in the war, converted to Catholicism in 1 9 1 8, and later became a vociferous supporter of fascism. During the late 1 920s Papini participated in the Strapaese (Super-country) versus Stracittii (Super-city) public debate as a vociferous opponent of cosmopolitanism and a supporter of a nationalistic ruralism or agrarianism extolling the values of austerity and simplicity.

Giuseppe Prezzolini ( 1 882- 1 982), the founder of La Voce (in 1 908 ) and its editor for several years, was an exceedingly influential intellectual in Italy until he left for France in 1 92 5 . He had collaborated closely with G.

Papini in founding Leonardo and with E. Corradini on I1 Regno. He moved from his early anti-rationalist and nationalistic views toward Crocean idealism. He expressed some socialist (Sorelian) syndicalist leanings but seemed to have no difficulty reconciling them and his other philosophical allegiances with the cultural demands of fascism during its rise to power.

In 1 9 30, he settled in New York where he remained for many years as a professor of Italian at Columbia University.

Ardengo Soffici ( 1 879-1 964), writer and painter, had close links with La Voce, helped Papini launch Lacerba and collaborated in the founding of Mussolini's paper, I1 Popolo d'Italia. During World War I he actively advocated intervention and subsequently became a very energetic supporter of fascism. Soffici's art criticism strongly endorsed avant-garde

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 0) movements from futurism to cubism. A violent polemicist against the cultural tradition inherited from the nineteenth century he turned, like Papini, into a supporter of a nostalgic and nationalistic ruralism.

Giovanni Titta Rosa ( 1 89 1 - 1 972), a writer and critic, contributed to avant-garde journals such as Papini's Lacerba. Later he edited and wrote for a variety of newspapers and periodicals including La Fiera Letteraria.

Giovanni Battista Angioletti ( 1 896- 1 96 1 ), a critic, literary polemicist and writer of narrative prose, co-edited L'Italia Letteraria (previously called La Fiera Letteraria ) between 1 928 and 1 9 34.

Curzio Malaparte ( 1 898- 1 9 5 7 ) was the Italian name adopted by Kurt Suckert (son of a German father and Italian mother) around 1 924. He was co-editor of L'Italia Letteraria from 1 928 until 1 9 3 3 . For three years he also edited the newspaper La Stampa. An interventionist during World War I, he remained an exponent of violent action and adventurism, first as a sympathizer of Gabriele D' Annunzio and subsequently as a member of the Fascist Party. His literary work was rarely removed from his politics. Malaparte was a strong supporter and promoter of the Strapaese (Super-country) movement. He was expelled from the Fascist Party after publishing Technique du coup d'Etat ( 1 9 3 1 ) -his inflammatory posturings and glorification of violence made him an embarrassment even to the Fascists.

§ 1 o. On Machiavelli

1 . See Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, 1 4 November 1 92 7 : On the occasion of the Machiavelli centennial I read all the articles published by the five newspapers I read at the time; later on I received the special issue of I1 Marzocco on Machiavelli. I was struck by the fact that none of the centennial writers examined Machiavelli's works in relation to the growth of states all over Europe during the same historical period. Diverted by the purely moralistic problem of so-called "machiavellism, " they failed to see that Machiavelli was the theorist of the national states ruled by absolute monarchy; that is, in Italy, he theorized what was forcefully achieved in England by Elizabeth, in Spain by Ferdinand the Catholic, in France by Louis XI, and in Russia by Ivan the Terrible-even though he did not and could not know about any of these national developments which, in reality, represented the historical problem of that period which Machiavelli had the genius to intuit and to explain systematically.

2. The term "elliptical comparison" was employed by Croce to define the meaning of Marx's theory of value. See Benedetto Croce, Materialismo storico ed economia m arxistica, 4th ed. (Bari : Laterza, 1 92 1 ), p. 3 2 :

Notes to the Text. § 12

What, then, is the conception of value in Marx's Capital? It is the determination of the particular formation of value which takes place in a given (capitalist) society in so far as it differs from that which would take place in a hypothetical and typical society. It is, in short, a comparison between two particular values. This elliptical comparison constitutes one of the main difficulties for understanding Marx's work.

Gramsci criticizes Croce's interpretation of Marx's theory of value in Notebook 7, §42 .

The above quoted passage from Croce occurs in the second chapter of his book Materialismo storico . . This chapter, entitled "Le teorie sto

.

riche del pro£. Loria" (Prof. Loria's Historical Theories), is a powerful attack on Loria's theories and was first published in 1 896 as an essay in Georges Sorel's journal Le Devenir Social. Gramsci fully shared Croce's low opinion of Loria's work. For an English translation of Croce's Materialismo storico . . . , see Historical Materialsm and the Economics of Karl Marx (London, I 9 I 4 ) - this translation, however, omits the second chapter altogether.

3· Cesare Borgia (c. 1 476- 1 5 07 ) was commonly known as Duke Valentino; see N. Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. 7 ·

4· Gramsci returns t o this issue i n Notebook 1 , §44.

§ n . On originality in science

1 . For the quotation from Einaudi, see Luigi Einaudi's review of Pasquale Jannaccone, La bilancia del dare e dell' avere internazionale con particolare riguardo all'Italia (Milan : Treves, I 927), which appeared in La Riforma Sociale, May-June I 929 (XXXVI, s -6 ) pp. 276-277. The italics are Gramsci's. The passage from Croce is taken from the second chapter (on Loria) in Materialismo storico . . .

Luigi Einaudi ( 1 874- I 96 I ), one of Italy's most eminent economists and politicians, was a diehard liberal as well as a consistent, firm opponent of fascism. He wrote extensively on economics and sociopolitical issues while remaining an active participant in public life. After the war he became first the Governor of the Bank of Italy and a few years later President of the Italian Republic ( I 948- I 9 5 5 ).

§ 1 2 . Giovanni Papini

I . The characterization of Papini as the "pious author" of the Civilta Cattolica is probably inspired by a review published in La Civilta Cattolica, 20 July 1 929 (LXXX, 3 ), pp. 1 4 3 - 1 50. The Jesuit Father Enrico Rosa reviewed Papini's Gli operai della vigna (Florence: Vallecchi, 1 928), a

N O TE S : N O TE B O O K I ( I 9 29- I 9 30)

collection of essays on saints and artists. Rosa wrote that Papini's work

"will enable pious readers to become acquainted with secular matters and secular readers to become acquainted with the characters of saints. 11

Papini's book Gli operai della vigna is also mentioned by Gramsci in Notebook I, §6o. See also the "Description of the Manuscript. 11 For an English translation of this work, see Giovanni Papini, Laborers in the Vineyard ( New York, I 9 30).

§ r 3. Alfredo Panzini

1 . Gramsci is referring to Fernando Palazzi's review of Alfredo Panzini's I giorni del sole e del grana (Milan: Mondadori, I 928), in L'Italia che Scrive June I 92 9 (XII, 6 ), pp. I 8o-8 I . Gramsci makes further observations on this book by Panzini and on Palazzi's review in Notebook r, §24

and Notebook 3, § I 3 8 .

Alfredo Panzini ( I 86 3 - I 9 3 9 ) studied under Giosue Carducci, and was a schoolteacher most of his life. A culturally conservative novelist and belletrist, he was a member of the Accademia d'Italia from its inception in I 929.

Fernando Palazzi ( I 884- I 962), who contributed regularly to various newspapers and periodicals, also wrote novels and books for children.

§ r 4. Fortunato Rizzi, or the petty Italian

1 . Gramsci derives the bibliographic information on Louis Reynaud's book from the article by Fortunato Rizzi he discusses in this note. Most probably, Gramsci never actually saw the book-Louis Reynaud, Le Romantisme: ses origines anglo-germaniques, influences etrangeres et traditions nationales. Le reveil du genie franr;ais (Paris : Colin, I 92 6 ) -but he almost certainly read the other reviews of it in journals that were available to him, such as, for example, the review by Paolo Nalli in Rivista d'Italia, I S June I 927 (XXX, 6 ), p. 3 8 5 .

The reference to Maurras is the first of many that are scattered throughout the Prison Notebooks. Charles Maurras ( I 868- I 9 5 2 ) was an extremely controversial French writer and political activist. An ultra-nationalist and diehard monarchist, he helped (together with Leon Daudet) make L 'Action Franr;aise a very influential voice in early twentieth-century politics.

Largely because of his strong belief in authority and in the need for stability and, therefore, because of his enmity toward liberalism and socialism in all their manifestations, Maurras allied himself with the Ramen Catholic position on social and political issues, even though he was himself an atheist. For many years the Catholic hierarchy regarded L 'Action Franr;aise favorably. In the I 9 20S, however, the Catholic Church,

Notes to the Text. § r6

officially at least, sought to distance itself and in 1 926 some of Maurras's works and L'Action Fran�aise itself were placed on the Index of forbidden books. Maurras's ideas and his works were well known in Italy and he enjoyed considerable influence and prestige particularly among certain fascist intellectual circles. During World War II he supported and collaborated with the Petain regime, for which he was sentenced to jail after Liberation.

2. The author of the article "11 Romanticismo francese e l'Italia" (French Romanticism and Italy) in I Libri del Giorno, June 1 929 (XII, 6 ), pp. 346-49, is Fortunato Rizzi and not Giovanni Rizzi, as Gramsci erroneously writes. The emphases in the lines quoted are also Gramsci's. The book by Rizzi to which Gramsci alludes is L 'anima del Cinquecento e ]a lirica volgare (Milan: Treves, 1 92 8 ) . Gramsci's comment suggests that he had not read the book but he must have come across negative reviews of it in the cultural and literary journals he read regularly in prison. See, for example, a review in L 'ltalia che Scrive, August 1 928 (XI, 8 ), pp. 207-8, and another review in La Critica, 20 March 1 929 (XXVII, 2 ), pp. 1 4 1 -44.

Yet another review of Rizzi's book which appeared in Nuova Antologia, I August 1 929, is discussed by Gramsci in Notebook 5 , §9 1 .

§ r s . On Italian universities

1 . This is the first reference in the Prison Notebooks to Giovanni Gentile, whose philosophy and politics are discussed in numerous notes.

Giovanni Gentile ( 1 874- I 944) was not only the most important Italian philosopher, besides Benedetto Croce, during the first half of the century, but also the leading theorist of fascism. For many years Gentile helped Croce edit La Critica and together they practically dominated the Italian intellectual arena. Notwithstanding their philosophical differences, Gentile and Croce remained friends until I 924, when Croce could no longer countenance Gentile's commitment to fascism. Between I 922 and I 924

Gentile served the Fascist government as minister of education and was responsible for the so-called "Gentile reform" ( "riforma Gentile") of the Italian educational system in I 92 3 . He also organized and supervised the preparation of the monumental Enciclopedia Italiana. He remained a fascist to the end and died at the hands of partisans in Florence on I 5

April I 944·

§ 1 6 . Ignoble pajama

1 . Bruno Barilli, "Sulla soglia d'un ergastolo" (On the Threshold of a Life Sentence), in the Nuova Antologia of I 6 June I 929 (LXIV, I 3 74 ), pp.

43 6-4 1 .

N O TE S : N O TE B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 30)

Bruno Barilli ( r 880- 1 9 5 2 ) was one of the founders of the journal La Ronda. His music criticism appeared for many years in several newspapers and journals. He also wrote some travel books.

§ r 7 . Riccardo Balsamo-Crivelli

I . Domenico Claps, "Gustavo Balsamo-Crivelli, " in the regular column entitled "Profili" (Profiles) in L 'ltalia che Scrive, June 1 92 9 (XII, 6), pp. 1 73-74. Gramsci correctly points out that it was not Gustavo but Riccardo Balsamo-Crivelli whose book, Cammina . . . Cammina (Milan: Ceschina, 1 92 6 ) was adopted as an Italian language text at the University of Frankfurt.

Ricardo Balsamo-Crivelli ( 1 874- 1 93 8 ) was a minor writer who attempted to imitate thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italian poetry in his verse. He also wrote some novels and travel books.

Gustavo Balsamo-Crivelli was a professor of literature at the University of Turin while Gramsci was a student.

§ r 8 . Maurras 's error

I . See Notebook 1 , §48. On the same issue, see also Gramsci's letters to Giuseppe Berti, 30 January 1 928 and Tatiana Schucht, 7 April 1 930 in which he discusses the book "L'Action Fran(:aise" et le Vatican, preface de Charles Maurras et Leon Daudet (Paris: Flammarion, 1 927), which Gramsci read while awaiting trial in Milan. In prison Gramsci also received the Almanach de L 'Action Fran�aise, XXU:me annee ( Paris: Librairie de l'A. F. , 1 929), and Nicolas Fontaine, Saint-Siege, "Action Fran9aise" et "Catholiques integraux" (Paris: Librairie Universitaire J. Gamber, 1 928). Gramsci had written on the Action Fran9aise movement several times as a journalist; see especially "Repubblica e proletariato in Francia"

(The Republic and the Proletariat in France) in I1 Grido del Popolo, 20

April 1 9 1 2 and "Misteri della cultura e della poesia, " (Mysteries of Culture and Poetry) in I1 Grido del Popolo, 1 9 October 1 9 1 2 .

§ r 9 . Information on the relations between Jews and Christians during the Risorgimento.

I . An international survey of religious sentiment had been conducted by Coenobium, an international review founded in 1 907 . (Since it was a vehicle for liberal and "modernist" thought, Catholic writers-for example, in La Civilta Cattolica inveighed against it and the Vatican

-

promptly placed it on the Index of forbidden books. It ceased publication in 1 9 1 9 . ) The survey, consisting of ten questions (in French), was pub-

Notes to the Text. § I9

lished in the Coenobium issue of July I 9 I I (V, 7). The responses were then collected in the three Coenobium "Almanacs" of I 9 I 2, I 9 I 3 and I 9 I 4 under the title "Confessioni e professioni di Fede. " The I 9 I 4 Almanac carried a preface (in French) by Dominique Parodi, which was later reprinted together with the rest of the material in the new edition mentioned by Gramsci: Confessioni e professioni di fede di letterati, filosofi, uomini politici, ecc; 3 vols. (Turin: Bocca, I 92 I ). For Raffaele Ottolenghi's response, see Vol. I, pp. 48-6 1 .

2 . Angelo Brofferio, "Storia del Piemonte dal I 8 I 4 ai giorni nostri, "

parte III, Vol. I : Regno di Carlo Alberto (Turin, I 8 S o), p . 7 6 : I n 1 847, the bishop of Acqui had an unfortunate, mentally ill girl, Giuditta Moval, snatched away from a Jewish family under the pretext that she had manifested some inclination toward Christianity. No legal or administrative authorities would take action against the Monsignor who assaulted the victim's mother and two of her brothers because they objected to this barbaric act. Another young woman, the thirteen-yearold Colomba Levi, wrested from her family through cruel deviousness by the same bishop of Acqui, was hidden in the house of a holy woman who, separated from her husband, lived in evangelical intimacy with a Canon. Neither the tears of the family, nor the desperate sorrow of the parents, nor the entreaties of the Jewish Congregation to all the magistrates of the capital succeeded in obtaining a half-hour interview with the imprisoned girl. The Monsignor gave only one answer: "The Virgin Mary wants to call that poor creature to her: nobody dares oppose the Virgin Mary."

3 · Raffaele Ottolenghi's family was, in fact, from Acqui. The fact that Gramsci corrected the place name (Alba) he had originally and erroneously written down suggests that he could actually check the text to which he must have had direct access. This is confirmed by the detailed information recorded in Notebook I, §2 I -§2 3 . Still, there is no evidence that Gramsci owned these volumes.

4· Gramsci is referring to a case of "oblation" that received widespread attention during the second half of the nineteenth century. "Oblates" was the term applied to children of "infidel" families who were "offered" to the Church at an extremely young age and against the wishes of their parents. On 24 June 1 8 5 8, in Bologna, a seven-year-old Jewish boy, Edoardo Mortara, whom a domestic servant had baptized in secret when he was eleven months old, was forcibly taken away from his family by the pontifical gendarmes under orders from the Holy Office Inquisitor. All the efforts by the parents to get their son back or at least to be permitted to see him proved useless. In r 8 6o, after the liberation of Bologna from papal rule, the former Inquisitor, Father Pier Gaetano Feletti, was arrested and

NOTES : NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0 )

tried for the "Mortara case. " He was found not guilty because he had acted under the orders of superiors. Mortara, the abducted child, who in the meantime had been transferred to Rome and re-baptized with the name Pio, was trained for the priesthood. In 1 867 he joined the Order of Regular Lateran Canons. When Gramsci was writing his notebooks, Canon Martara was still alive-he died in Belgium in 1 940.

§2o. Salvator Cotta

I . Salvator Cotta (b. 1 8 87) wrote numerous novels and some plays .

This sarcastic remark is an adaptation by Gramsci of a comment by Giosue Carducci on Mario Rapisardi. See Notebook 2 3, §9. Among the library books Gramsci read during the spring of 1 927, while awaiting trial in the prison of Milan, were two volumes of Carducci's complete works and one of Salvator Gatta's novels. See Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, 4 April 1 927.

§2 r . The first volume of the already cited Confessioni e professioni di fede

I . See Notebook 1 , § 1 9 .

§24. Father Bresciani 's progeny

1 . Antonio Beltramelli, Gli uomini rossi (11 carnevale delle democrazie ) (Milan: Treves, 1 9 10); 11 cavalier Mostardo (Milan : Mondadori, 1 92 1 ).

Antonio Beltramelli ( 1 879- 1 930), a novelist influenced by Gabriele D'Annunzio, was first a militant nationalist and, after the war, a fervent Fascist. His early novel, Gli uomini rossi (The Red Men) was first published in 1 904; it portrays republican activists (the "reds" of the title) struggling against the retrograde clerical opposition. In the later novel, 11

cavalier Mostardo, it is the socialists who are portrayed as villains. Beltramelli eulogized Mussolini in L'Uomo nuovo (Benito Mussolini) (Milan: Mondadori, 1 92 3 ), a very successful biographical treatment of 11 Duce. He was considered a major representative of official Fascist culture and became a member of the Accademia d'Italia in 1 929.

2. Luca Beltrami ( Polifilo), Casate Olona (Milan: Tip. Allegretti, 1 909 ) .

Luca Beltrami ( 1 8 5 4- 1 9 3 3 ), an architect, devoted much o f his energy t o the preservation and restoration of monuments and public buildings. Under the pseudonym of "Polifilo" he produced a series of satirical narratives set in the fictional town of Casate Olona. He originally published them in the Carriere della Sera (of which he was editor in 1 896, and later a part owner) and then collected them in a single volume with the same title.

Notes to the Text. §24

Beltrami served as a deputy in three legislatures ( I 89o- I 896) and was made senator in I 905 . In the I 920s he moved to Rome where he became the Vatican's architect. Gramsci comments at length on Beltrami's Casate Olona in Notebook 3, §94.

3· See Giuseppe Molteni, Gli A tei (Milan: L. Marianoni, I 9 IO); Gramsci remebered the title incorrectly as L 'Ateo.

In April I 908 the court in Milan sentenced a priest, Don Giovanni Riva, to sixteen years in prison for sexually abusing numerous girls at a convent school. A nun, Maria Giuseppina Fumagalli, the director of the religious institute at which Don Riva was the confessor, was found guilty of conspiring with him and received a lighter sentence.

4· Ugo Ojetti, Mio figlio ferroviere (Milan: Treves, I 922).

Ugo Ojetti ( I 87 I - I 946), art critic, novelist, and journalist, was among the most prominent cultural figures during the Fascist period. He had a special interest in the figurative arts and founded the journals Dedalo ( I 920), Pegaso ( I 929), and Pan ( I 9 3 3 ). The essays he contributed to the Carriere della Sera (which he also edited in I 926-27) were collected in seven volumes. Mio figlio ferroviere (My Son the Railway Man), generally considered to be his best novel, is a conservative critique of the moral restlessness and political (especially socialist) idealism that characterized the postwar period. In I 930 he became a member of the Accademia d'ltalia.

5 . See, for example, Giovanni Ansaldo, "Case mai viste. Ojetti imbronciato" (Things Never Seen: Ojetti Sulking) in La Rivoluzione Liberale, I 6

December I 924 (III, 47) and "Spiegazioni al lettore troppo candida" (Explanations to the Naive Reader) in La Rivoluzione Liberale, I I January I 92 5

(IV, 2 ) . The first o f these two articles i s reprinted i n Lelia Basso and Luigi Anderlini, eds, Le riviste di Piero Gobetti (Milan: Feltrinelli, I 96 I ), pp.

6oi -607 . Both articles are reprinted in Nino Valeri, ed., Antologia della

"Rivoluzione Liberale " (Turin: Da Silva, I 948), pp. 3 26-37; 3 3 8-40. La Rivoluzione Liberale, in which Ansaldo's essays (critical of Ojetti) appeared, was the political weekly founded ( I 922) and edited by Piero Gobetti. The uncompromisingly liberal and openly anti-Fascist positions it espoused led, predictably, to its suppression in I 9 2 5 . Although Ansaldo, who also edited a newspaper, 11 Lavoro, in Genoa, contributed to La Rivoluzione Liberale, he did not share many of Gobetti's views and by the time of Italy's war on Abyssinia Ansaldo had become a Fascist sympathizer.

6. See Ugo Ojetti, "Lettera al reverendo Padre Enrico Rosa S. J. " in Pegaso, March I 929 ( I , 3 ), pp. 344-47. The article was reprinted with the title "lntorno alla Conciliazione" ( Concerning the Conciliation), together with a response by Father Rosa in La Civilta Cattolica, 6 April I 929

(LXXX, ii), pp. 3 - I 9 . (The "conciliation" refers to the Lateran Pacts, also known as the Concordat, signed between the Vatican (or Holy See) and

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 9 2 9- I 9 3 0) the Mussolini government on 1 1 February I 929. ) Gramsci returns to this episode and quotes Ojetti's letter at some length in Notebook 5, §66.

7 . Gramsci is referring to a parliamentary speech by Mussolini on I 3

May I 929 in which he assured the deputies that the concordat with the Vatican did not concede any temporal power to the Church.

8 . See Alfredo Panzini, La lanterna di Diogene (Milan: Treves, I 9 1 8 ).

The episode concerning the "livid blade" is on pp. I I 2- I 3 : the phrase is an epithet for a knife that is used to cut a cigar! For a further comment on this topic, see Notebook 3, §3 8 . See also Il padrone sono me! (Rome

Milan: Mondadori, I 922); I1 mondo e rotonda (Milan: Treves, I 92 I ).

9· See Notebook 1 , § I 3 . On Palazzi's comments regarding Panzini's I giorni del sole e del grana see also Notebook 3, § 1 3 8 .

,

IO. Alfredo Panzini's Vita di Cavour (Life of Cavour) was serialized in L 'Italia Letteraria. The passage to which Gramsci alludes appeared in the 23 June I 929 ( I , I 2 ) issue : "And whoever wants to see how the Carbonarist sect could assume the appearance of Beelzebub should read Antonio Bresciani's novel, L'Ebreo di Verona; he would enjoy it immensely because, in spite of what the moderns say about it, the Jesuit Father was a powerful narrator. " Gramsci quotes the passage in Notebook 3, § 38. For an English translation of Bresciani's novel, see The few of Verona: An Historical Tale of the Italian Revolutions of r84 6-49 (Baltimore : I 8 5 4).

I 1. See Benedetto Croce's review of Dizionario Moderno by Alfredo Panzini, in La Critica, 20 November I 92 S , (XXIII, 6 ), p. 3 7 5 . Retorting to Panzini's snide comment about his use of obscure words, Croce pronounced Panzini devoid of intelligence.

I 2. Of the novels by Salvator Gotta that make up the cycle I Vela, Gramsci had read La donna mia (Milan: Baldini e Castaldi, I 924) while he was in the prison in Milan. In a letter 14 April I 927) Gramsci tells Tatiana Schucht, a propos of La donna mia (My Woman), "it's just as well she's his because she's extremely boring. "

I 3 . See Notebook I , §7. For the episode on Dante and the prostitute of Ravenna jnot Rimini), see La leggenda di Dante. Matti, Facezie e Tradizioni dei secoli XIV-XIX, introd. Giovanni Papini jLanciano: Carabba, I 9 1 1 ), pp. 89-9 1 . Gramsci refers to the anecdote because sexual activity is described metaphorically in terms of horse riding, as in Sarfatti's novel.

Gramsci read a French translation of G. K. Chesterton's The New ferusalem (London, I 920)-an account of a visit to Palestine. On one of the pages of Notebook I jsee "Description of the Manuscript") Gramsci made a list of "Books to be delivered to Tatiana: I 3 March I 9 3o": the thirteenth book listed is Chesterton, La Nouvelle ferusalem (Paris: Perrin, I 926).

I 4. Gramsci read Mario Sobrero's novel, Pietro e Paolo (Milano: Treves, I 924) in the Milan prison. jCf. Gramsci's letters to Tatiana Schucht, I 4

Notes to the Text. §24

November I 927 and I2 December I 92 7 . ) One of the characters in the novel, Raimondo Rocchi, editor of L 'Eta Nuova, is a superficial caricature of Gramsci during the Ordine Nuovo period.

I S . Francesco Perri's novel, Gli emigranti (Milan: Mondadori, I 928) is listed by Gramsci in the pages of Notebook I among the books he sent to his brother Carlo, on I I November I 929 (see "Description of the Manuscript"). Paolo Albatrelli was known to be the pseudonym of Francesco Perri. Cf. Paolo Albatrelli, I conquistatori (Rome: Libreria Politica Moderna, I 92 S ), republished after the war under the author's real name: Francesco Perri, I conquistatori (Milan: Garzanti, I 94S ) which contains a preface wherein the author provides an account of the fortunes of his novel from the time the first draft was originally published by La Voce Repubblicana in the summer of I 924.

I 6. Cf. Francesco Perri, "Problemi nuovi e forme vecchie" (New Problems and Old Forms) in La Fiera Letteraria, 22 July I 928 (IV, 30). This article gave rise to a debate in the pages of subsequent issues of the Fiera Letteraria. Those who intervened in the debate include: Bonaventura Tecchi, Arrigo Cajumi, Francesco Flora, Giovanni Battista Angioletti, Umberto Fracchia, Francesco Bruno, Giuseppe Sciortino, and Giovanni Titta Rosa.

1 7 . Leonida Repaci, L 'ultimo cireneo (Milan: Soc. Ed. "Avanti! " I 92 3 )

-Gramsci owned a copy of this book.

Leonida Repaci (b. I 898), a novelist and playwright from Calabria, studied law in Turin and after the war joined the PSI. He collaborated with Gramsci on L 'Ordine Nuovo and later ( I 92 3 -2 5 ) contributed literary columns to L'Unitil. In I 926, after being arrested for anti-Fascist activity and subsequently released, he resigned from the PCd'l. In the mid- I 930S

he published a cycle of novels on the "fratelli Rupe" (brothers Rock) which earned him a considerable reputation- see Fatalitil contemporanea: I Fratelli Rupe (Milan : Ceschina, I 9 3 3 ).

I 8. Gramsci does not recall the title of the novel precisely. Cf. Umberto Fracchia, Angela (Milan: Mondadori, I 9 2 3 ) .

Umberto Fracchia, ( I 889- I 9 30) a prolific journalist, novelist and literary critic, founded La Fiera Letteraria in I 92 S and remained its editor until I 927.

I 9 . Antonio Beltramelli and Alfredo Panzini were in the first group of literary figures nominated to the Accademia d'Italia in I 929.

20. Gramsci is referring to Camillo Pellizzi, Le lettere italiane del nostro secolo (Milan : Libreria d'Italia, I 929), a copy of which he received at Turi di Bari.

Camillo Pellizzi (b. I 896) wrote on literature and sociology. He taught Italian at the University of London from I 92o until I 93 9 when he returned to Italy and received an appointment first at the University of

3 90

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 3 0) Messina and later at the University of Florence. In both places he taught the Fascist doctrine of the state. In I 948 he was elevated to a chair of Sociology in Florence.

2 1 . Cf. Notebook I , §42.

§2 5 . Achille Loria

1 . Achille Loria ( I 8 s 7- I 943 l was a professor of economics at the Universities of Siena and Padua before moving to the University of Turin where he remained for close to thirty years ( I 903- I 9 3 2 ). He put forth a theory of "historical economism, " as he called it, which seemed to be derived, in part, from a vulgar strain of Marxist economics. Loria's theories were purportedly aimed at achieving social and political reform. He received considerable attention in Italy and beyond. Engels attacked him as a charlatan in the Preface to the third volume of Capital. For Gramsci, Loria's work typified a strain of uncritical positivism and a bizarre mentality not uncommon among Italian intellectuals-a mentality he labeled "lorianismo" which is a recurring theme in the notebooks and to which Gramsci devoted Notebook 28. For English translations of some works by Achille Loria, see The Economic Foundations of Society (London, I 902 ); Contemporary Social Problems (London, I 9 I I ); The Economic Synthesis (London, I 9 I4); Karl Marx (New York, I 920); and "Malthus" in Population and Birth Control, ed. E. Paul and C. Paul (New York, I 9 I 7 ).

In this note, Gramsci's references to Loria's work are obviously based on memory. The titles and publication data he provides contain errors of detail. Gramsci corrected these errors in the later version of the note ( see Notebook 28, § I and § 2 ) using a bibliography of Achille Loria compiled by Luigi Einaudi in I 9 3 2 . See Luigi Einaudi, "Bibliografia di Achille Loria, "

a supplement of La Riforma Sociale, September-October I 93 2 (XXIX, s ), pp. I -S S · Gramsci's familiarity with Loria's work dates back to his journalistic writings between I 9 I s and I 926. See especially the following articles: I ) "Pieta per la scienza del prof. Loria" (Have Mercy on Prof.

Loria's Science) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, I 6 December I 9 I S ; 2 )

" E lasciateli divertire" (Let Them Have Fun) i n the column "Sotto la Mole" of the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 9 January I 9 I 6; 3 ) "La scala d'oro di Achille Loria" (Achille Loria's Golden Ladder) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, I 7 May I 9 I 7; 4) "L'ultimo tradimento" (The Last Betrayal) in the column "Sotto la Mole" of the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 3 January I 9 I 8; s ) "Achille Loria, " in 11 Grido del Popolo, I 9 January I 9 I 8; 6 ) "Achille Loria e il socialismo" (Achille Loria and Socialism) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 29 January I 9 I 8; 7 ) "I criteri della volgarita" (The Criteria of Vulgarity) in 11 Grido del Popolo, 23 March I 9 I 8 ; 8 )

Notes to the Text. §.zs

3 9 1

"La retta e d i minareti" (The Straight Line and Minarets) in the column

"Sotto la Mole" of the Piedmont edition of Avan ti!, 8 April 1 9 1 8; 9 )

"Bolscevismo intelletuale" (Intellectual Bolshevism) i n the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 1 6 May 1 9 1 8 ; 1 0) "La norma dell' azione" (The Norm of Action) in the column "Sotto la Mole" of the Piedmont edition of A vanti!, 2 5 June 1 9 1 8 ; 1 1 ) "Le cause della guerra" (The Causes of War) in the column "Sotto la Mole" of the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 1 7 September 1 9 1 8; 1 2 ) "Cipolla e i bolscevichi" ( Cipolla and the Bolsheviks) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 1 3 March 1 9 1 9; 1 3 ) "Classicismo, Romanticismo, Baratono . . . " (Classicism, Romanticism, Baratono . . . ) in L'Ordine Nuovo, 1 7 January 1 922; 1 4) "Un avventuriero della scienza" (An Adventurer of Science) in L ' Unita, x 6 March 1 926.

2 . See Achille Loria, "Le influenze sociali dell' aviazione" (The Social Effects of Aviation) in Rassegna Contemporanea, January 1 9 1 0 (III, x ), pp.

20-28; reprinted in Achille Loria, Verso la giustizia sociale (Idee, battaglie ed apostoli), Vol. II: Nell' alba di un secolo (r904-I9 I5) (Milan: Soc.

Ed. Libraria, 1 9 1 5 ), pp. 379-86. (The reprinted version of the essay is subtitled "Verita e fantasia"-i.e. Truth and Fantasy. ) Gramsci refers to this essay several times in his polemical journalistic articles-see items 3, s and 1 4 in the previous note. In the latter article ( "Un avventuriero della scienza") Gramsci quotes the following passage from Loria's essay,

"Le influenze sociali dell' aviazione":

. . . the new invention (aviation ) will destroy all the restraints which until now have obstructed mankind, and thus it will allow mankind to be completely and truly free for the first time! In the first place, that invisible but all-powerful restraint which chains the worker to capital will be broken. At present, in fact, the worker who refuses to serve as a wage-earner to profit the capitalist has no other choice except death from starvation or confinement in the alms-house or prison. But all this will suddenly change when the worker who is reluctant to enter the factory or is banished from it, finds an airplane or an airship that will lift him in to the skies. You will certainly say, with a chilling and withering ironic smile, that the open skies provide no food. And why not? Why can 't future airplanes make use of leafy branches and sticky substances to become formidable catchers of fowl and thus guarantee free and plentiful food for the air travelers/ At that point, the rebellious factory worker will be able to dine sumptuously and victoriously escape the commands of the capitalist entrepreneur. What will happen then to the economic dogma that the worker needs the capitalist, that the worker cannot live without the capitalist ? Even this theoretical construct will crumble like wetted wood and it will be replaced by the new and completely different theory of the relations between capital and labor . . .

392

N O T E S : NOTE B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 3 0)

Gramsci added the parenthesis and the emphases to the quoted passage.

He also made some elisions which, however, do not alter the sense of the original. For the original version of the quoted passage, see Rassegna Contemporanea (III, I ); p. 22. Gramsci also refers to this essay by Loria in a letter to his wife, Julia Schucht, 2 May I 927.

The full name of Colonna di Cesaro ( 1 878-1 940) was Giovanni Antonio Colonna di Cesaro. Together with the nationalist Vincenzo Picardi and other Sicilian intellectuals he founded the journal Rassegna Contemporanea. He was a parliamentary deputy between 1 909 and 1 926 and served as Mussolini's' minister of Posts from 1 922 until 1 924 when he crossed over to the opposition.

3 · See Achille Loria, "La scienza della pieta" (The Science of Mercy), a lecture delivered on 1 3 December I 9 I S as a benefit for the Red Cross Hospitals of Turin, and published in Conferenze e Prolusioni, I January 1 9 1 6 (IX, I ), pp. 6-9. This lecture was not published in Nuova Antologia.

Gramsci's quotation is a reconstruction from memory and not textually precise. Gramsci had also alluded to this text by Loria in his journalistic writings; see items 1, 2 and s listed in the first note to this section.

4· The correct title of the essay, according to Einaudi's bibliography (on which Gramsci relied in the later version of this note) is: "Perche i veneti non addoppiano e i valtellinesi triplano" (Why the People of Veneto Do Not Double and the People of Valtellina Treble). Gramsci's approximative version of the title may be translated as "Why the People of Bergamo Treble and the Venetians Halve. " For further discussion of where this essay was finally published, see Notebook 28, § 1 . Gramsci had discussed this text by Loria previously in I1 Grido del Popolo, I9 January 1 9 I 8.

S · References to this "theory" of Loria's can already be found in Gramsci's article in I1 Grido del Popolo, I 9 January I 9 1 8 and in his column

"Sotto Ia Mole, " in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, I 7 September I 9 I 8.

However, the topics Gramsci mentions here are not discussed by Loria in the Preface to the first edition of Corso di economia politica (Turin: Bocca, I 9 1 o). The issues to which Gramsci makes reference in this paragraph (and more extensively in the C Text of this note) are treated in an article by Loria, "Sensualita e misticismo" (Sensuality and Mysticism) in Rivista Popolare di Politica, Lettere e Scienze Sociali, I S November I 909

(XV, 2 1 ), pp. 5 77-78. See, for example, the following passages from Loria's article:

The renowned editor of this journal, who is a physician, has had many occasions in his experience to verify the truth of what I am about to assert: that the abuse of sexuality, or the diseases that come from it, have a debilitating effect on the psyche and make it prone to ascetic and

Notes to the Text. §25

3 9 3

superstitious idealities. Hence the following striking paradox: that the most passionate supporters of moral idealities are found precisely among the most sexually debauched and contaminated individuals. This is why materialism, in all its forms, encounters the most passionate opposition among those who have syphilis and spinal meningitis, those who are persecuted and tortured by Venus . . . .

In 1 885, when I decided to expound the economic theory of political formation in an inaugural lecture at the University of Siena, only one of the authorities present at the ceremony failed to come and shake my hand, as is customary. Instead, this individual made a show of leaving the hall as soon as the lecture was over, displaying his scandalized anger at the imprudence of someone who dared utter such immoral theories from a university chair. A few months later that haughty moralist died of some misfortune which struck him while he was-how should one put it? -in the position of the King of Bithynia with Atalanta . . . .

Indeed, it is syphilis that recruits the great army of reaction; syphilis is the Joan of Arc of obscurantism. Yes, the physicians are right when they talk of constitutional syphilis because syphilis is truly the greatest and most valuable ally of the constitutional parties, the great guardian of public order, and the defensive shield against subversive and revolutionary inclinations. One night in Paris contributes more to the opposition of these doctrines than all the summae of St. Thomas; Crispi's law has contributed more to the cause of order than a whole police regiment.

Almost certainly Gramsci came to know of this text by Loria through an article (harshly critical of Loria, even derisory) by Umberto Ricci, "Rapporti fra idealismo, misticismo e malattie veneree scoperti dal prof. Achille Loria, " (The Connections Among Idealism, Mysticism, and Venereal Diseases Discovered by Prof. Achille Loria) in La Voce, 17 February 1 9 1 0 (II, 1 0), pp. 269-70, in which passages from Loria's text are quoted at some length. An issue of La Voce which appeared soon afterwards- 3 March 1 9 1 0 (II, 1 2 ) - contains a reference to another article by Umberto Ricci,

"Achille Loria uccellatore, " (Achille Loria the Fowler) published in Giornale degli Economisti ( January 1 9 1 0), in which Ricci is reported to have discussed Loria's theory of solving social problems by means of aviation.

In 1 9 I I , Croce, too, alluded to this theory of Loria's-see Benedetto Croce, Cultura e vita morale, 2d ed. (Bari : Laterza, 1 92 6 ), p. 1 5 4.

6 . Achille Loria, "Documenti ulteriori a suffragio dell'economismo storico" (Additional Documents in Support of Historical Economism) in La Riforma Sociale, September-October 1 929 (XXXVI, 9- 10), pp. 409-48.

7 · See Gramsci's article in Il Grido del Popolo, 19 January 1 9 1 8, in which he writes: "When reading Loria's writings, those who have retained a critical sense will ask themselves whether they are dealing with a sad

394

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 0) lunatic or an intelligent man. Because in Loria one finds both. Flashes of light and idiotic darkness; conscientious work and incredibly extreme nonsense. His thought is totally inconsistent: his unhinged reasoning is devoid of self-criticism. "

8 . The article b y Loria t o which Gramsci alludes here was not published in Proda or Prora but rather in La Difesa. This can be confirmed also by an article, "Le cause della guerra" (The Causes of War), which Gramsci wrote for his column "Sotto la Mole" in the Piedmont edition of Avan ti!, 1 7 September 1 9 1 8 :

In his latest study (thirty-two lines of print in the weekly La Difesa which is printed in Turin every Friday and which publishes the verses of Chev. Esuperanzo Ballerini, the economist general of the Royal general steward's office for vacant benefices), the Chev. Off. Prof. Dr. Achille Loria scores a new victory for truth over error, for light over darkness, for wisdom over blind and inert ignorance: he obtains for history the causes of global conflagration.

War is caused by syphilis. In fact, we discover that "the three great champions of liberty and positivism, Lloyd George, Clemenceau and Wilson, having emerged from the tempest are now in the ascendent, while the three embodiments of mysticism and despotism, the Czar, the Kaiser and the Austrian Emperor, are descending into a gloomy sunset."

The Czar was for many years allied to the French Republic only because of a joke of nature; nature got tired of joking (all good things are short lived) and "the sorry sovereign has been submerged for good. " The antithesis is delineated with precise clarity: on the one hand, spiritualism, or mysticism, or the Kaiser and the Austrian Emperor; on the other hand, positivism, or the materialism of history, or freedom, or Lloyd George, Clemenceau, Wilson. Now, what are spiritualism and mysticism, and hence what is despotism? They are brought about by syphilis, as Dr. Prof. Off. Chev. Achille Loria elatedly discovered at Siena when, still fresh from his publications on historical materialism and before Friedrich Engels showed that he had plundered Karl Marx, he delivered the opening lecture of a university course and everybody applauded him except for a mystic who died of syphilis some months later. What is history, then, gentlemen? An enigma, unless one has studied pathology.

What, then, is war? A monstrous phenomenon caused by syphilis. What is the world? A hospital of irresponsible, abulic, wretched idiots who kill each other deliriously because of the wishes of two syphilitics.

See Achille Loria, "I nostri voti" (Our Votes) in La Difesa, 6 September 1 9 1 8 (I, 2).

9 · See Achille Loria, "Al mio bastone (nel XXXV anna di possesso)'' in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 November 1 909 (XLIV, 9 1 0), pp. 272-76. In this poem Loria addresses his walking stick, which he has owned for thirty-

Notes to the Text. §25

3 9 5

five years, in lines such as the following: "To you, you one and only I in the genuine hemisphere I my thought does not close up I impenetrable abysses I and the most secret longing I vibrant in my heart I in an instant flash I you perceive and understand. "

I O . See Achille Loria, "Nel retroscena della gloria. L'epistolario di Carlo Marx" (Behind the Scenes of Glory. The Letters of Karl Marx) in Nuova An tologia, I 6 March I 9 I 4 (LXIX, I O I 4), pp. I 9 3 -2o6 .

I I . See Benedetto Croce, "Le teorie storiche del prof. Loria" in Materialismo storico ed economia marxistica, p. 24.

I 2 . See Achille Loria, "A proposito di Lenin" (About Lenin) Gazzetta del Popolo, I January I 9 I 8, and "La catastrofe russa" (The Russian Catastrophe), Il Tempo, IO March I 9 I 8 .

Filippo Naldi was involved in several newspaper publishing ventures.

Among other things he helped Mussolini establish Il Popolo d'Italia.

Francesco Saverio Nitti ( I 868- I 9 5 3 ) was minister of agriculture between 1 9 1 1 and 1 9 1 4 in the government of Giovanni Giolitti and then minister of the treasury ( I 9 r 7- I 9 I 9) during the primiership of Vittorio Orlando. Nitti was himself prime minister and minister of the interior between I 9 I 9 and I 920 during a period of social and economic crisis and political unrest. He went into exile with the advent of fascism. When he returned to Italy he joined the Liberal and later the Socialist ranks. He was a senator in the first legislature of the Italian Republic ( I 948-5 3 ).

I 3 . See Benedetto Croce, "Le teorie storiche del prof. Loria" in Materialismo storico ed economia marxistica, p. 2 8 :

. . . the growth i n population together with the decline in the productivity of the earth will, one ugly day, force the exploiters to reduce or to withdraw entirely their payments to their underlings, their priests, their scientists, their lawyers, their poets, and so on. What does one do in that case? Look for another master. And the unproductive workers will go to serve the exploited; hence the succession of historical crises. In short, for Loria these crises are reducible to the rebellion of unemployed ser vants !

I 4. See Achille Loria, "II nostro dovere" (Our Duty) in Gazzetta del Popolo, I 6 May I 9 1 7 · (Gramsci dates this text incorrectly both in this note and in its later version. ) Gramsci had already engaged in a polemic against this text in his article "La scala d'oro di Achille Loria" in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 1 7 May I 9 1 7. In that article, Gramsci quoted the following passage from Loria's text:

Therefore, oh! dearest brothers in labor, in aspirations and in beliefs, help us build the beautiful political city of free and reborn nations, and by doing so you would have smoothed the way for the creators of the

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 3 0 ) social city which all of us have eagerly dreamt of and you will find that the comrades who have labored next to you in the fire of the trenches are equally devoted and grateful collaborators. Help us gain the first steps of the golden ladder on which the brotherhood of nations is set and we will help you gain the higher steps of the ladder to reach the luminous summit of universal equality, to build at last on the ruins of secular hatreds a humanity that is blessed by the triple deity of peace, justice and love.

I S . Enrico Ferri ( I 8 S 6- I 929), a legal scholar and politician, was a parliamentary deputy for many years. At first he was a Socialist and editor ( 1 900- 1 905 ) of Avanti! In I 9 I 9 he was chosen to chair a Royal commission for the reform of penal laws. He joined the first Mussolini government in I 922 and was made senator in I 929. His approach to law and social analysis was markedly positivist. His major work, Sociologia criminale, went through several editions. In a monograph on Socialismo e scienza politica he argued that socialism was the logical extension of Spencerian evolutionism.

Arturo Labriola ( I 87 S - I 9 5 9 ) was, at first, a strong proponent of revolutionary syndicalism, influenced by the ideas of Georges Sorel. A very active Socialist, he founded L 'Avanguardia Socialista, but adopted a moderate position after the failure of the I 904 general strike. He entered parliament in I 9 I 3 as an independent socialist. He had supported the Libyan war in I 9 I I and favored war intervention in I 9 I S . He served as minister of labor ( I 920-2 I ) under Giolitti. He opposed fascism and after World War II he was a member of the Constituent Assembly and a senator.

For another comment on Arturo Labriola and Lorianism, cf Notebook I ,

§ 3 1 .

Filippo Turati ( I 8 5 7- I 9 3 2 ) was one of the first Italian intellectuals to openly declare himself a Socialist. He founded the journal Critica Sociale and participated in the formation of the Socialist Party in I 892. His brand of socialism was not Marxist, it had a positivistic stamp and a fundamentally reformist orientation. He was opposed to Italian intervention in World War I. After the war he moved further toward the political center; however, he was decidedly anti-Fascist and in I 926 he went into exile in France where he remained until his death. For a further comment by Gramsci on Turati and Lorianism, see Notebook I , § 3 7 .

I 6 . Luigi Luzzatti ( I 84 I - I 927), an economist and politician, was a parliamentary deputy from I 8 7 I until I 9 2 I when he became a senator. He was entrusted with the ministry of the treasury on several occasions and also served as minister of agriculture before becoming prime minister ( I 9 I Ou ). He was interested in social reform and supported progressive welfare and labor legislation. On Luzzatti, see also, inter alia, Notebook I , §4 1 .

Notes to the Text. §25

397

1 7 . Guglielmo Ferrero ( r 8 7 1 - 1 943 ), a sociologist and historian, wrote a five volume history of ancient Rome, Grandezza e decadenza di Rome ( 1 902-7 ), based on a positivist and deterministic approach emphasizing economic factors. An anti-Fascist, he left Italy for Geneva in 1 930. On Ferrero and Lorianism, see also Notebook 1, §64; see also Notebook 1, §41

on a controversy surrounding the proposed appointment of Ferrero to a university professorship.

Corrado Barbagallo ( 1 877- 1 9 5 2 ) was a historian who stressed the importance of economics. Early in his career he worked on ancient history but after World War I he focused increasingly on modern and contemporary economic and political history. He founded Nuova Rivista Storica in 1 9 1 7 .

1 8 . See Corrado Barbagallo, "Economia antica e moderna" (Ancient and Modem Economics), Nuova Rivista Storica, September-December 1 928 (XII, s ), pp. 46 5 -8 5 , and January-February 1 929 (XIII, r ), pp. 27-44.

Giovanni Sanna criticized Barbagallo's thesis because it tended to erase all the important differences between the economic systems of various historical periods; see Giovanni Sanna, "Intorno alia economia antica e modema e alia razionalita della storia" (About Ancient and Modem Economics and the Rationality of History), Nuova Rivista Storica, May-August 1 929

(XIII, 3-4), pp. 245 -54. Barbagallo's response, to which Gramsci alludes, appeared in the next issue of the same journal; see Corrado Barbagallo,

"Dalla economia antica alia irrazionalita della storia" (From Ancient Economics to the Irrationality of History) Nuova Rivista Storica, September

October 1 929 (XIII, s ), pp. 3 8 5 -97. (Barbagallo's second essay is heavily marked and underlined by Gramsci in the copy of the journal which he read in prison.) This polemic continued with the following articles in Nuova Rivista Storica: Giovanni Sanna, "Ancora sulla economia antica e modema e sulla razionalita della storia" (More on Ancient and Modern Economics and the Rationality of History) November-December 1 929

(XIII, 6 ), pp. 5 1 3 -49; Rodolfo Mondolfo, "Razionalita e irrazionalita della storia" (The Rationality and Irrationality of History) which is followed by a note by Barbagallo and a comment by Giuseppe Rensi, January-April 1 9 30 (XIV, 1 -2 ), pp. 1-2 1 . Gramsci discusses this polemic in Notebook 4,

§6o.

19. Gaetano Salvemini ( 1873- 1 9 5 7) joined the Socialist Party as a young man and his contributions to Avanti! started in 1 892. From 1 9 1 1 to 1 920

he co-edited the political weekly Unita. He was interested in economic reform and the Southern question. Although opposed to the Libyan war, he was an interventionist in World War I. He entered parliament after the war and became an open and vigorous opponent of fascism. He was arrested in 1 9 2 5 (with Carlo Rosselli and Ernesto Rossi), forced to give up

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 3 0) his professorship in modern history at the University of Florence, and compelled to go into exile. He taught Italian history at Harvard University ( I 9 3 3-47) and continued his anti-Fascist activity in the United States where he was one of the founders of the "Giustizia e Liberta" ( Justice and Freedom) movement. He returned to his professorship at the University of Florence in I 948.

§26. Cuvier's little bone

1. Georges Cuvier ( I 769- I 83 2 ), the celebrated French naturalist and paleontologist, is the subject of another comment by Gramsci in a letter to Julia Schucht, 30 December I 92 9 : "It may be, indeed it is very likely, that some of my judgments are exaggerated and even unfair. To reconstruct a megathere or a mastodon out of a tiny bone was fine for Cuvier, but it could happen that from a piece of a mouse's tail one would end up constructing a sea serpent instead. "

Cesare Lombroso ( I 8 3 S - I 909 ) was a pioneer i n the "scientific" study of criminals. In his major work, L'uomo delinquente ( I 8? 6 ) he put forward the thesis that criminals are identifiable through certain physical characteristics and that criminality is biologically determined- corresponding, in fact, to primitive stages in human evolution.

§27. Residues of late romanticism t

I . Gramsci is referring to the French popular novelist Eugene Sue

{ 1 804- I 8 S ? ), author of numerous serial novels, whom Marx criticized in The Holy Family.

§28 . Natural law

I . Gramsci is referring to the page numbers of his manuscript. The second of the two short notes to which Gramsci refers corresponds to Notebook 1, §4. The first one corresponds to a note that preceded Notebook I, § I but was canceled and made illegible by Gramsci himself. That short note (which is not included in this edition because undecipherable) was probably re-used by Gramsci together with Notebook I §4 and §28

{first paragraph) in Notebook 27 §2.

2. See Adriano Tilgher, Storia e Antistoria { Rieti, 1 928)-a pamphlet published in the series "Quaderni critici" which consists of four articles previously published in La Stampa between I 9 20 and I 928. See also Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, I4 January I 929.

Adriano Tilgher ( I 887- I 94 I ) was an essayist and moral philosopher interested in various philosophical movements and in the relations be-

Notes to the Text. §29

399

tween pragmatism and idealism. He also wrote extensively on aesthetics and the theater, and was among the earliest critics to appreciate the originality of Luigi Pirandello. An opponent of fascism, Tilgher edited the daily, Il Mondo, and once this was suppressed he launched other papers, including the Popolo di Roma.

3 · The quotation from Filippo Burzio, Discorso sul demiurgo (Turin: Ribet, 1 92 9 ), is taken from the article by Bonaventura Tecchi, "11 Demiurgo di Burzio" (Burzio's Demiurge), L 'Italia Letteraria, 20 October 1 929 (I, 29). (Gramsci makes a direct reference to this same article in the next note. )

Filippo Burzio ( 1 89 1 - 1 948) developed a concept of the ideal human being that he labeled "demiurge"-a being in whom the various discordant movements of modern culture would attain equilibrium and who would, in turn, bring about a magical-poetic transformation of life and society. His scientific field of specialization was ballistics which he taught at the Artillery Academy. When he became director of La Stampa in August 1 943, after the fall of Mussolini, he moved it into a democratic and liberal direction.

Burzio's concept of the "demiurge" appears to be in some respects a humanistic version of the "superman. " In Notebook 8, § x s o, Gramsci notes briefly how the term "demiurge" which in Greek originally meant

"one who works for the people" came to mean "creator" in the later sense of the word as it is used by Filippo Burzio. See also Notebook 6, §28.

4· The statement inside the quotation marks is probably Gramsci's own, and it should be compared to the quotation from Goethe in Notebook 4, §64.

§ 2 9 . Sarcasm as an expression of transition among historicists 1 . See Bonaventura Tecchi, "Il Demiurgo di Burzio, " L 'Italia Letteraria, 20 October 1 929 (I, 29); see also Notebook 1, §28.

2. In prison, Gramsci had a copy (in 2 volumes) of the French translation of The Holy Family by Marx and Engels: Oeuvres completes de Karl Marx: Oeuvres philosophiques, traduit par J. Molitor, vol.. II: La Sainte Famille (Paris: Castes, 1 92 7 b vol.. III : La Sain te Famille (Paris: Castes, 1 928). Among Gramsci's books (but not among those he had in prison) there exists also an old Italian translation of The Holy Family: Karl Marx

Friedrich Engels, La sacra famiglia; ossia critica della critica critica (Rome: Mangini, 1 909) .

3 . Gramsci is alluding t o the following passage i n Karl Marx, Capital, Vol. I (New York: International Publishers, 1 967), p. 6o: "The secret of the expression of value, namely that all kinds of labor are equal and equivalent, because and in so far as they are human labor in general, cannot be

400

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0) deciphered, until the notion of human equality has already acquired the fixity of a popular prejudice. "

4· See Benedetto Croce, Materialismo storico ed economia marxistica, p. xvi:

But now, after more than twenty years, Marx has generally lost the role of master which he then had, because in the meantime the philosophy of history and dialectics have returned to their own sources and have been refreshed and renewed, gaining energy and vigor for a more ambitious journey. As for political theory, the concepts of power and struggle which Marx had transferred from the States to the social classes, it seems to have now returned from the classes to the States as has been demonstrated most clearly by theory and practice, idea and fact, by what is contemplated and what is seen and touched. This should not prevent one from continuing to admire the old revolutionary thinker (who in many respects is much more modern than Mazzini to whom we habitually contrast him): the socialist who understood that even so-called revolution, in order to become a political and effective reality, must be founded on history and be armed with power and force (mental, cultural, ethical, economic), and it must not put its trust in moralistic sermons, or ideologies, or the empty talk of enlightenment. And we who at that

time were young and not trained by him-not only admired him but we were grateful to him for helping us to become immune to the Alcinalike (Alcina, the decrepit, toothless witch who put on the appearance of a buxom girl) seductions of Goddess Justice and Goddess Humanity.

Gramsci alludes to the final section of this passage again in Notebook 4,

§ 1 5 .

5 . The reference is to a brief review by Luigi Einaudi of the third edition of Benedetto Croce's Materialismo storico . . , in La Riforma

.

Sociale, July-August 1 9 1 8 (XXV, 7-8), p. 4 1 5 . Gramsci had referred to this review by Einaudi in an article, "Einaudi o dell' utopia liberale" (Einaudi, or the Liberal Utopia), in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 2 5 May 1 9 1 9 :

"Einaudi i s an implacable anti-Marxist; he does not recognize anything of value in Marx. Recently, arguing against Croce, he even denied Marx the entirely extraneous merit of having given an impetus to economic research in historical studies."

§30. Grano and Loria

r . See Paolo Grano, Altorilievi (Milan: Puccini, 1 9 1 2).

Paolo Grano ( 1 87 5 - 1 945 ) joined the editorial staff of Avanti! in 1 903

but left the Socialist Party three years later. He was elected to parliament in 1 9 1 9 . Grano later supported fascism and became a theorist of Fascist

Notes to the Text. § 32

40 1

journalism. In 1 924-2 5 he was in charge of the Rome edition of 11 Popolo d'Italia and in 1 9 3 9 he was made senator. He was especially interested in Sardinia and Sardinian issues.

2. See Paolo Orano, Psicologia della Sardegna (Rome: Tip. della Casa Editrice Italiana, 1 89 6 ), p. 9 :

One should be absolutely convinced that there exists a Sardinian fluid island environment. The "demopsychological" observer can see from the myriad signs and the hundreds of diverse phenomena the enormous difference between the high and low biological organisms found in Sardinia and those found in any other country. This can be very well explained historically, after it is explained physically.

Gramsci owned a copy of P. Grano's Psicologia della Sardegna (The Psychology of Sardinia).

3 · See Paolo Orano, I moderni. Medaglioni. 6 vols. (Milan: Treves, 1 908-26).

On Orano in relation to Gramsci's commentary on Lorianism, see also Notebook 3, §66 and § 1 3 2.

§ 3 1 . Sorel's letters to Croce

1 . See "Lettere di Georges Sorel a B. Croce, " in La Critica, 20 January 1 927 (XXV, 1 ), pp. 49- s o :

J'ai lu Ia these de doctorat d'Arturo Labriola sur Quesnay . . . Le rapport de M. Pantaleoni, qu'on a imprime comme preface � Ia these, me semble loin d'etre favorable aux idees de !'auteur. Je ne comprends guere que M.

Pantaleoni n'ait pas releve l'enorme erreur historique commise par Arturo, qui transporte naivement en France les descriptions donnees par Marx pour I' Angle terre.

(Sorel's letter is dated 30 November 1 897. )

§ p . Loria and Lumbroso

1 . Alberto Lumbroso ( 1 8 1 2- 1 942 ), a bibliophile and litterateur, edited the Revue Napoleonienne and the Rivista di Roma. His writings dealt mostly with the Napoleonic era and the World War. His father, Giacomo Lumbroso, was a highly respected Greek scholar and Egyptologist. On Alberto and Giacomo Lumbroso, see also Notebook 3, §22.

2 . Gramsci had written at some length on Tomaso Sillani and Filippo Carli in an article "Le nuove energie intelletuali" (The New Intellectual Powers), 11 Grido del Popolo, 8 June 1 9 1 8. The following excerpts from this article should help explain Gramsci's comments :

402

NOTES : NOTEB O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0)

A young man bound t o become famous i s Dr. Filippo Carli, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce in Brescia. He has adapted the economic ideas of the French nationalist Charles Maurras to Italy; he has pontificated for a long time in the columns of L'Idea Nazionale, challenging Prof. Alfredo Rocco for primacy in establishing a new Italian nationalist economic science. For some time he has preferred to write books and to launch audacious ideas, such as profit sharing and stock ownership by skilled workers.

Carli's ideas are certainly audacious; but his factual knowledge and his culture are even more audacious. In fact, he wrote an article in the Perseveranza of 1 6 March 1 9 1 6 sorrowfully complaining that the Italians have allowed the English to snatch away from them the extraction of rubber produced in the forests of Vallombrosa. The audacity of Dr.

Carli's idea was based on the fact that there exists a "Vallombrosa Rubber Company" which extracts caoutchouc in the Malay peninsula.

Carli believed that rubber grew in the forests of Vallombrosa [in Tuscany] since knowledge of economic geography is not required of an economic nationalist whose only task is to launch audaciously clever ideas . . . .

Dr. Filippo Carli's economic nationalism is worthily matched by Dr.

Tomaso Sillani's political nationalism. Tomaso Sillani was a young man from Abruzzi, a pastoral poet, a harmless scribbler about artistic topics in journals like Emporium, Cronache Letterarie, and similar "literary"

publications. Nobody noticed him; his rhetorical and inflated aestheticism made one laugh pleasantly like the reading of a humorous weekly.

Because of the usual emergence of the brilliant merits of the race, thanks to the beneficial disappearance of dumping and boring Germanic culture, Tomaso Sillani came to the foreground. He became secretary to the Duke of Cesaro (or Duke of Verderame) in the pro-Dalmatian society, and he placed two volumes of patriotic exaltation and politics with the publisher Treves. Most recently he found someone who gave him the money to launch a grand monthly review ( La Rassegna Italiana) to which the Senator Francesco Ruffini and other illustrious figures in science and literature contribute. La Rassegna ltaliana, naturally, proposes to renew Italian culture and to make known the true intellectual powers of the revived nation. One of these powers is Tomaso Sillani himself, obviously.

He published an article, "La passeggiata archeologica di Roma: sulla via delle vestigia inghirlandate" [Archeological Promenade of Rome: On the Road of Garlanded Ruins] in the Emporium of October 1 9 1 3-very poetical, as one can see even from the title.

He talks about the "Casa dei Parti" [House of the Parthians], a Roman building that was named after the Parthian people from Asia, and he

Notes to the Text. §32

403

describes the ruins. But Dr. Tomaso Sillani's culture is so lofty and audacious that-see what he makes of the poor Parthians:

"And here is all that remains of the "Casa dei Parti" [House of Parturition]: the gynecological clinic of the Roman Empire. Even though one knows of the surgical expertise of the Romans, would anyone have suspected the existence of an operating theatre, constructed along the same lines and for the same purpose as the most modern amphitheaters?

And who would have dreamt of the scientist concentrating on his bloody treatment surrounded by a circle of students attentively watching his actions from above?"

Oh! The greatness of the ancient Romans! And it is certain that in those days the Germans did not have gynecological clinics, just as it is more than certain that the Germans have stolen the plans for their modern experimental structures from the "Casa dei Parti"! Just so, Dr.

Tomaso Sillani confused the "Parti" [Parthians], the Asian people, with the "parti" [parturitions] of pregnant women. And yet he has become a celebrity, he has taken on the delicate task of educating the Italians in politics, history and geography, and he finds Senator Ruffini who helps him in the enterprise.

These are the new intellectual powers of Italy which have emerged in opposition to Germanic pedantry and method, in order to renew the national culture. They have filled the marketplaces with their shrill voices, they have thrown what has been gained in fifty years back into chaotic darkness.

Scientific rigor, seriousness and precision in research, critical sense have all been mocked and scorned. Scholarly disinterest is reviled. And all because of hatred for Germany, without thinking that these qualities are conquests of the human mind, transcending all frontiers and races.

3 · Giuseppe Belluzzo ( I 867- I 9 5 2 ), who taught at the Politecnico of Milan, was elected to parliament as a Fascist in I 924. He was economics minister from I 92 S to I 928 and then minister of education until I 929.

Gramsci was probably familiar with Belluzzo's article "L'Italia e povera di materie prime? " (Is Italy Short of Raw Materials ? ), in Gerarchia, January I 927 (VII, I ), pp. 4- 1 1 ; reprinted in Giuseppe Belluzzo, Economia Fascista (Rome: Libreria del Littorio, I 92 8 ), pp. I43-s 6 . In this article, Belluzzo laments the fact that Italians continue to ignore the hidden riches in the Alps and the Appennines. It is also possible that Gramsci had in mind a series of articles published in I 920 by Belluzzo which were used by MussoHni in the Popolo d'Italia during the period of the occupation of the factories. See Benito Mussolini, Opera Omnia, ed. Edoardo Susmel and Duilio Susmel, vol. I S ( Florence: La Fenice, I 9 S 4), pp. I 3 3- 3 7 ·

4· Gramsci's remarks recall the electoral campaign o f May-June 1 9 1 4

in the fourth district of Turin to fill a parliamentary seat vacated by the

NOTE S : NOTEBOOK I ( I 9 29- I 9 3 0 )

death of the Socialist deputy, Pilade Gay. In his essay on "Alcuni temi della quistione meridionale" ( Some Aspects of the Southern Question) ( 1 926), Gramsci makes reference to the efforts by the Turin Socialists with whom he himself had been associated to nominate Gaetano Salvemini as their candidate-a nomination declined by Salvemini. The Socialists then put forward the candidacy of Mario Bonetto, against the Nationalist Giuseppe Bevione and the Liberal Felice Panie. A fourth and totally marginal candidate was Arturo Lenzi who provided the electoral campaign with a colorful element. The results of the election held on 2 1 June 1 9 1 4 : Bonetto, 9,444 votes; Bevione, 6, 5 89 ; Panie, 3,064; Lenzi, 86. I n the runoff ballot which followed, the Nationalist Bevione defeated the Socialist Bonetto by a few votes.

S · Gramsci's citation of the book title is not quite correct. See Alberto Lumbroso, Le origini economiche e diplomatiche della guerra mondiale, Vol. 1 : La vittoria dell'imperialismo anglosassone; Vol. 2 : L'imperialismo britannico dagli albori dell ' Ottocento allo scoppio della guerra (Milan: Mondadori, 1 926-I 928). This work was published as part of a series of diaries, memoirs, scholarly works and documents related to the history of the World War-Angelo Gatti was the general editor of the series. Gramsci obtained a copy of the second volume of Alberto Lumbroso's work while he was at the Turi prison.

6. On Luzzatti, see also Notebook I, §4 1 .

7 . The correct date, in fact, is I 9 I S . See Luigi Luzzatti, "La scoperta di un nuevo Fioretto di S. Francesco" (The Discovery of a New "Little Flower" by St. Francis) in Carriere della Sera, 6 April 1 9 1 5 . Gramsci had touched upon the incident in "lnviti al risparmio" (Encouraging Savings) in his column "Sotto la Mole" in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 2 1

September I 9 1 6. H e also mentions i t i n his letter t o Tatiana Schucht on 10 March 1 9 30.

8 . Paul Sabatier ( 1 8 5 8- 1 92 8 ), a French Calvinist pastor, was a leading expert on the life and writings of St. Francis of Assisi.

9· See Riccardo Bacchelli, Lo sa il tonno, ossia gli esemplari marini (favola mondana e filosofica ) (The Tuna Fish Knows It; or Marine Types : A Worldly and Philosophical Tale) (Milan: Bottega di Poesia, 1 923 ).

Riccardo Bacchelli ( 1 89 1 - 1 9 8 5 ) wrote a prodigious number of poems, plays, novels and essays. He was a founder of the review, La Ronda.

§ 3 3 . Freud

I . Some of the ideas hinted at in this note are echoed in Gramsci's letter to Julia Schucht, 30 December I 92 9 : "It is strange and interesting that Freud's psychoanalysis is creating, especially in Germany (from what I can gather through the journals I read), trends similar to those that

Notes to the Text. § 34

existed in France during the eighteenth century; it is creating a new type of 'noble savage' corrupted by society, that is by history. This gives rise to a very interesting new form of intellectual disorder."

See also Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, 20 April 1 9 3 1 : "I have read a few things about psychoanalysis, especially articles in journals; in Rome, Rambelinsky lent me some reading material on the subject. I'd be willing to read the book by Freud which Piero [Sraffa] has pointed out to you: you may order it. " From a letter by Tatiana Schucht to Gramsci ( r s April 1 9 3 1 ) one learns that Sraffa had recommended Freud's Introduction to Psychoanalysis. Since this volume has not been found among the books Gramsci had in prison, and since there is no reference to it in either the prison letters or notebooks, it is doubtful whether Gramsci ever received it and read it.

There are several passing references to Freud and psychoanalysis in the prison notebooks; see especially, Notebook 1 5 , §74. On Freud's influence on German literature, see Notebook 3, § 3 .

Italo Svevo was the pseudonym of the Italian writer Ettore Schmitz ( r 8 6 1 - 1 928). James Joyce, who befriended Svevo in Trieste, admired his work-especially the novel Confessions of Zeno ( 1 92 3 ), which he openly praised and promoted. On Svevo and Joyce, see also Notebook 3, § 1 09 .

§ 3 4. American pragmatism

1 . Gramsci had almost certainly read William James' The Principles of Psychology ( 1 890). In a letter to Tatiana Schucht, 2 5 March 1 929, he refers to the Italian edition of James's work as "the best manual of psychology."

For the Italian edition, see William James, I principi di psicologia, trans.

G. C. Ferrari (Milan: Soc. Ed. Libraria, 1 905 ). Probably Gramsci read translations of other works by James as well. Among the books on pragmatism, Gramsci owned Mario Calderoni and Giovanni Vailati, I1 pragmatismo, ed. Giovanni Papini (Lanciano: Carrabba, 1 9 1 5 ). For a general comment on pragmatism, see Notebook 1 7, §22.

2 . Gramsci is referring to the preface to the first English edition of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific ( 1 892). Gramsci is probably thinking of Engels' description of agnosticism as "a materialism which feels ashamed."

Gramsci owned a copy of an Italian version of Engels' text which, however, does not include the preface to the 1 892 English edition- see Friedrich Engels, L 'evoluzione del socialismo dall'utopia alla scienza (Milan: SEUM, 1 9 2 5 ).

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N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I j i 929- I 9 30)

§ 3 5 · Types of periodicals

1 . Francesco Coppola I I 87 8 - I 9 5 7 ) was one of the founders of the Italian Nationalist Association. In I 92 3 he supported the merger of the Nationalists with the Fascist Party. Together with Alfredo Rocco he founded Politica, which he edited from I 9 1 9 until 1 943 . In 1 929 he was made a member of the Italian Academy.

2. Luigi Russo ( 1 892- 1 96 1 ) was one of the most eminent and influential Italian literary historians and critics of this century. His critical studies of Giovanni Verga and Francesco De Sanctis are especially important.

One of Russo's major early works was Francesco de Sanctis e la cultura napoletana ( 1 92 8 ) . He also edited Leonardo ( 1 9 2 5 -2 9 ) and La Nuova ltalia ( I 9 30-3 1 ). After World War II he founded the highly respected journal Belfagor.

Angelo Formiggini ( I 87 5 - I 9 3 8 ) launched L 'ltalia che Srive in 1 9 I 8 . He also was the founder of the Istituto Leonardo for the propagation of Italian culture. The enactment of the Fascist racial laws and the subsequent persecution of Jews drove Formiggini, who was himself of Jewish descent, to suicide.

§ 3 6 . Lorianism

1 . Most probably Gramsci is referring to Alberto Magnaghi, D 'Anania e Botero. A proposito di una "Fantasia " storico-geografica sui Cinquecento ICirie: Tip. Giovanni Capella, I 9 1 4 ) .

Alberto Magnaghi j i 874- I 945 ) was a professor of geography at the University of Turin, best known for his work on Vespucci and on nautical cartography.

2. See Giovanni Papini and Giuseppe Prezzolini, La coltura italiana

!Florence: F. Lurnachi Ed., 1 906); especially chapter I 4 1PP· I 5 1 - 1 5 9 ), "Gli scienzati celebri" !Famous Scientists), which contains an attack against the leading contemporary intellectual exponents of positivism-Achille Loria, Cesare Lombroso, Giuseppe Sergi, Enrico Ferri, etc. Most of this volume is made up of articles which had already been published in I 905

in various journals !Leonardo, L 'ldea Liberale, Campo, ll Regno, Revue du Nord). It should not be confused with another book of the same title written by Prezzolini and published in I 92 3 .

§ 3 7 . Turati and Lorianism

1 . Gramsci is referring to a speech 1 "11 voto alle donne e le salariate dell'amore") on the question of women's voting rights and on women who

"earn the wages of love" which Filippo Turati delivered in parliament on

Notes to the Text. § 3 8

4 September I 9 I 9; see Filippo Turati, Discorsi parlamentari, vol. 3 {Rome: Tip. della Camera dei Deputati, I 9 S O), pp. I 676-92. Gramsci had already attacked this speech in several articles; see especially: "Lo Stato italiano"

{The Italian State) in L 'Ordine Nuovo, 7 February I 920; "Lo strumento di lavoro" (The Instrument of Labor) in L 'Ordine Nuovo, I 4 February I 920;

"Concentrazione nel vuoto" (Concentration in the Void) in L'Ordine Nuovo, 7 September I 92 I ; "Classicismo, romanticismo, Baratono . . . " (Classicism, Romanticism, Baratono . . . ) in L 'Ordine Nuovo, I 7 January I 922.

2. The reference is to a line in a poem, "Fiori d'aprile" {April Flowers) composed by Turati in his youth and first published in La Farfalla, 24

April I 88 1 . The poem was later collected in Filippo Turati, Strafe (Milan: Quadrio, I 88 3 ), pp. 9 I -96; and reprinted in Turati giovane, scapigliatura, positivismo, marxismo, ed. Luigi Cortesi (Milan: Edizioni Avan ti!, I 9 62 ), pp. I I I - I s . Gramsci also alludes to this line of verse in his article in L 'Ordine Nuovo, 1 7 January I 922.

§38. Types of periodicals

1 . Up to this point in this note, Gramsci develops a topic he had started discussing in Notebook I, § 3 5 and which he picks up again in Notebook I, §43 . The rest of the note, however, consists in a digression on Catholic Action which is later developed, together with another note on the same subject (see the first part of Notebook I, §43 ), in Notebook 20, § 1 .

2 . A similar remark about the French monarchists (but not about Louis XVIII) after the restoration of I 8 I s is found in one of the books Gramsci owned in prison; see Jacques Bainville, Heur et Malheur des Fran�ais (Paris: Nouvelle Librairie Nationale, I 924), pp. 623 -24.

3· The Guelphs were the papal supporters in medieval Italy. Neo

Guelphism, a nineteenth-century Italian political movement, sought to reconcile liberal political ideas with Catholic orthodoxy. Its adherents believed in a unified Italian nation, but one held together by the papacy.

In this respect, the neo-Guelphs constituted a papal or Catholic party.

Neo-Guelphism failed precisely because the Risorgimento culminated in the formation of a single nation under the Piedmontese monarchy, an arrangement staunchly resisted by the pope for whom the formula of a

"free Church in a free State" proposed by Cavour was unacceptable.

4· On this topic, see Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, 28 September I 9 3 I : " . . . and many Cossacks used to believe as an article of faith that Jews had tails. " See also another letter to Tatiana Schucht, I 2 October I 93 I :

It is strange that you do not use historicism for the overarching issue, and then you expect from me a historicist explanation of the fact that

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N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

certain Cossack groups believed that Jews had tails. It was an anecdote told to me by a Jew who during the Russian-Polish war of 1920 was political commissar of an assault division of Oremburg Cossacks. These Cossacks had no Jews in their territory and in keeping with official and clerical propaganda they conceived of them as monstrous beings who had murdered God. They refused to believe that the political commissar was Jewish: "You are one of us, " they said, "you are not a Jew; you have many scars from the wounds caused by Polish lances, you fight on our side. Jews are something else."

5 · The Popular Party was formed in I 9 I 9 by a group led by a Sicilian priest, Don Luigi Sturzo. As a party, it represented a progressive Catholic approach to contemporary social and political issues and it initially had the blessing of the Vatican since it could serve as a vehicle for Catholic intervention in the political arena, and possibly as a counterweight to the socialist movement. The Popular Party also actively helped organize unions which were called "white" to distinguish them from the "red" labor unions affiliated with the socialists. The party joined Mussolini coalition government in I 922. Soon, deep divisions arose within the party: its right wing remained collaborationist, whereas Sturzo (who with De Gasperi led the anti-Fascist majority in the party) was forced by Vatican pressure to resign from the leadership in I 9 2 3 . With the passage of the Exceptional Decrees in I 926, suppressing all political parties, the Popular Party ceased to exist.

6. See Notebook I , § 1 . The preface to the Codice Sociale refers to the Freiburg Union (presided by Cardinal Marmillord between I 884 and I 89 I ) as a historical precursor of the Union of Malines. According to the preface (p. 8 ) : "The Freiburg Union had the honor of establishing and promulgating principles of social action which were soon ratified by the encyclical Rerum Novarum. "

§ 3 9 · Repaci

I . See Leonida Repaci, "Crepuscolo" (Twilight) in La Pier a Letter aria, 3 March I 929 (V, 9); Gramsci's emphasis.

§40. Leon Blum 's "saying. "

1 . It has not been possible to trace the source of Gramsci's quotation from Leon Blum ( I 872- I 9 5 0), the famous French Socialist, opponent of fascism and main architect of the Popular Front in France before World War II.

Notes to the Text. §42

§4 r . Lorianism - Luzzatti

1 . The bill to establish a chair in the philosophy of history at the University of Rome {which was to be filled by Guglielmo Ferrero) was presented to parliament in May 1 9 1 0. It gave rise to a lengthy and heated debate both among legislators and in the press. La Voce, which Gramsci read regularly, devoted many pages to the controversy, starting with an article by Giuseppe Antonio Borgese, "Per la cattedra a Guglielmo Ferrero"

{In Favor of the Professorship for G. Ferrero) published in La Voce on 26

May 1 9 10 {II, 24). The next issue, i.e. that of 2 June 1 9 10 {II, 2 5 ), was devoted entirely to this controversy with articles (both for and against Ferrero) by Luigi Ambrosini, Francesco Coppola, Giovanni Papini, Giovanni Amendola, Giuseppe Prezzolini, and Giuseppe Antonio Borgese. The same contributors intervened more than once in the course of the debate.

See La Voce, 8 June 1 9 1 0 {II, 26 ); 10 November 1 9 1 0 {II, 48); and 1 7

November 1 9 1 0 (II, 49). The bill reached the Senate in 1 9 1 3 where i t was finally approved but it did not become law because it needed to be discussed again in the lower house which by that time had been dissolved.

Croce's speech in the Senate on this question, "Contro una cattedra di filosofia della storia" (Against a Chair in the Philosophy of History), first appeared in La Voce, 1 2 June 1 9 1 3 (V, 24), but due to a typographical error an entire column was omitted; therefore, it was reprinted in the next issue of La Voce, 19 June 1 9 1 3 (V, 2 5 ). Croce had already criticized the bill and Ferrero in an earlier article he published in La Critica in 1 9 1 1 , now collected in Benedetto Croce, Conversazioni critiche, Serie prima (Bari: Laterza, 1 9 1 8)-a book that Gramsci owned in prison. Luigi Credaro

{ 1 86o- 1 9 3 9 ) who was minister of education between 1 9 10 and 1 9 1 4 invoked Cicero to justify the establishment of a university chair in the philosophy of history during the debate in the Senate in May-June, 1 9 1 3 .

Luigi Luzzatti's remark, mentioned by Gramsci, is not recorded in the acts of parliament. {For this note Gramsci is clearly relying on his distant memory. ) On Luzzatti, see also Notebook 1, § 3 2 .

§42 . Father Bresciani 's progeny. - Curzio Malaparte-Kurt Erich Suckert

1 . Guglielmo Lucidi's organization, to which Gramsci refers, was the Associazione del Controllo Popolare founded in Milan in 1 9 1 6 . It later established a section in Rome, as well. In September 1 9 1 9, Lucidi, who was the foreign representative and a member of the board of directors of the Associazione del Controllo Popolare in Rome, was named a corresponding member of the Union of Democratic Control in London. In May 1 920 the Associazione del Controllo Popolare established itself as the

4 1 0

NOTES : NOTEBOOK I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0)

Unione Italiana del Controllo Popolare in association with the Union of Democratic Control in London, the French group Clarte, and the Geneva Central Committee "for the restoration of international relations." Guglielmo Lucidi was named Secretary of the Executive Committee. The organ of the movement was La Rassegna Internazionale, launched in April 1 9 1 9 as a monthly supplement to La Rassegna Nazionale. From 1 920 onwards it was published by the Casa Editrice Rassegna Internazionale.

2. See Curzio Suckert, La rivolta dei santi maledetti, 2d ed. to which is added "Ritratto delle cose d'Italia, degli eroi, del popolo, degli avvenimenti, delle esperienze e inquietudini della nostra generazione" (Rome: Casa editrice Rassegna Internazionale, 1 924)-the first edition appeared in 1 920 from the same publishers. Some of the changes made by the author for the second edition were pointed out by Piero Gobetti in an article, "Profili di contemporanei: l'eroe di corte" (Profiles of Contemporaries: The Court Hero), in I1 Lavoro (of Genoa), 1 7 January 1 924: In 1 920 C. Erich Suckert wrote, "Fortunately, the concept of nation has not yet had time to take hold." And now, Curzio, has maliciously corrected it into unfortunately. Three years ago, the central idea of the book was expressed as follows: "This absence of patriotism places Italy in the lead of the new civilization which is germinating in the world, a civilization which is internationalist and transcends the concept of nation. Italy and Russia are at the vanguard of tomorrow's civilization: because they have skipped a stage- i.e. patriotism -in the evolution of nations, they are more open and more adaptable to the internationalist mentality." In the second edition, Curzio puts this statement in quotation marks and adds a shameless remark: "This was what many foreigners, and not just socialists, thought about us in 1 9 1 9."

See Piero Gobetti, Scritti Politici, ed. Paolo Spriano (Turin: Einaudi, 1 960), p. s 68. These and other "corrections" were also discussed soon afterwards in a polemical article, "Caratteri Italiani: Curzio Erich Suckert" (Italian Characters : Curzio Erich Suckert) in L'Unita, 1 3 March 1 924. The article was signed "da Luni, " the pseudonym of Ottavio Pastore. The polemic dragged on and led to a duel between Pastore and Malaparte.

3· Antonio Graziadei ( 1 873- 1 9 5 3 ), although from a conservative and aristocratic family, was elected to parliament ( 1 9 10-2 6 ) first as a member of the Socialist Party and then (after the Livorno Congress split) as a Communist. A professor of economics he wrote several books including Prezzo e sovraprezzo nell'economia capitalistica ( 1 92 3 ) which was criticized as revisionist. He was expelled from the PCd'l in 1 928. Fascist persecution forced him into exile in France but he returned to Italy after the war and played a very important role in the preparation of Italy's new

Notes to the Text. §43

4 1 I

constitution while reestablishing his ties with the Communist Party. For another comment on Graziadei's mania for things foreign, see the final section of Notebook 7, §30.

4· There is no other record of this conversation with Giuseppe Prezzolini in I 924. However, Gramsci's memory corresponds with a remark made by Prezzolini in a letter to Piero Gobetti on 26 December I 923, after the Fascists had assaulted Giovanni Amendola: ". . . this is the kind of incident that makes one wish our children were born English. " See Gobetti e "La Voce, " ed. Giuseppe Prezzolini (Florence: Sansoni, I 97 I ), p. I I ? .

§43 . Types of periodicals

1 . Up to this point, this note is a continuation of the discussion in the second part of Notebook I, § 3 8 . These two segments of the text are recombined in a later draft in Notebook 20, § r .

2 . See Notebook I , § 3 5 .

3 · This point marks the end of the second part of this note, which continues the discussion started in Notebook I, § 3 5 and the first part of Notebook I, § 3 8 . These three segments of the text are recombined in a later draft in Notebook 24, § 3 . The rest of this (i.e. Notebook 1, §43 ) note reappears in a second draft in Notebook 1 9, §26, where it marks the beginning of a series of systematic notes on the Risorgimento.

4· In Notebook 3, § 3 9, Gramsci describes the "problem of . . . the hundred cities" as follows: "the clustering of the rural bourgeoisie in burgs (cities) and the clustering of great masses of agricultural day laborers and landless peasants from areas with extensive landed estates in peasant market towns. "

5 . "Cities of Silence" i s the title of a series of poems by Gabriel D'Annunzio in Elettra ( I 904). The phrase refers to those cities whose past glory and power may still be reflected in their architectural marvels and great monuments, but whose status in contemporary Italy is ordinary and unexceptional-e.g. Pisa, Ravenna, Urbina, Perugia, Orvieto, etc.

6. The short lived Parthenopean Republic had its roots in the Jacobin leanings of the bourgeoisie and the republican sympathies of a substantial segment of the aristocracy in Naples. In I 7 98, King Ferdinand, the Bourbon monarch of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, declared himself at war with France. By the time French troops invaded Naples in January I 799, the revolutionary spirit among the city's intellectual and social elite had already prepared the ground for the proclamation of a Republic, which took place on 23 January. The royal court moved to Palermo where, with the help of the British, it started to organize a counter-revolutionary force to retake Naples. Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo successfully organized what he called the "Christian Army of the Holy Faith, " and marched toward the

4 1 2

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0) city. Cardinal Ruffo enjoyed strong support in the countryside (where the peasants had not felt the benefits of the republican revolution in the city) and among the lower classes within the city who still backed the Bourbons. Ruffo regained Naples for the Bourbons in June 1 799· He negotiated an armistice agreement with the French which included amnesty for the Republicans. However, the Bourbons, with the collusion of Nelson, prevented the Republican leaders from sailing into safe exile and executed many of them- including Francesco Caracciolo (commander of the Republican navy) who was court martialed and hanged on board Nelson's flagship.

7. See the views Gramsci enunciated during the Third Congress of the PCd'I in �yons which were recorded in an unsigned article (dictated by Gramsci himself ), "Cinque anni di vita del partito" (The Party After Five Years), L'Unita, 24 February 1 92 6 :

What i s the material and political foundation of this function of the Southern peasant masses? The relations between Italian capitalism and the Southern peasants do not consist only in the normal historical relations between city and country which were created by the growth of capitalism in all the countries of the world. Within the framework of national society, these relations are aggravated and radicalized by the fact that economically and politically the whole zone of the South and the Islands functions as an enormous countryside in relation to the Italian North which functions as an enormous city. This kind of situation causes in Southern Italy the emergence and development of certain aspects of a national question, even though these aspects do not immediately assume an explicit form of this question as a whole but only the form of an extremely spirited regional kind of struggle and of strong leanings toward decentralization and local autonomy.

8. The events of 7 - 1 4 June 1 9 1 4 were also known as the "red week"

because of a series of uprisings inspired by socialists and anarchists and provoked by an economic crisis and the high cost of living. In 1 893, a severe economic crisis led to a peasant revolt in Sicily and elsewhere in the South. Organized peasants, known as "fasci di lavoratori" ( "workers'

leagues") or the "Sicilian Fasci, " rebelled against the big landowners and demanded land redistribution. The revolt was suppressed by Crispi's government. High prices and food shortages were the primary causes of the agitation by workers in Milan in 1 898. In 1 9 1 9 peasants invaded the land of large estate owners in Sicily and the South, while in 1 920 industrial workers in the North occupied the factories.

9· Giustino Fortunato ( 1 848- 1 9 3 2 ), a scholar and conservative politician, was a parliamentary deputy from 1 88o until 1 909 when he became senator. He was greatly influential in creating a frame of reference for the

Notes to the Text. §43

4 1 3

extended debate on the Southern question. One of his most important books on the subject was I1 Mezzogiorno e lo Stato italiano ( I 9 1 I ).

1 0. Like the famous playwright Luigi Pirandello and the philosopherpolitician Giovanni Gentile, Francesco Crispi was born in Sicily. Crispi ( I 8 I 8- I 90 I ) was extremely active in the drive to achieve national unity and to liberate Italy from foreign rule. He spent years in exile in various parts of Europe, participating in many conspiracies and initiatives. Crispi entered parliament as a leftist republican in 1 8 6 1 , but by 1 86 5 he had accepted the role of the monarchy and thus broke with Giuseppe Mazzini.

In 1 887 he became prime minister and governed the country in a strong, autocratic manner. Abandoned by his former leftist allies, he governed with the help of conservatives until 1 89 1 . He was also a vigorous promoter of colonial expansion. He returned to the government as prime minister in 1 8 9 3 but resigned in I 89 6 after the Italian military disaster at Adowa in Abyssinia.

1 1 . See Gramsci's "Alcuni temi della quistione meridionale" ( "Some Aspects of the Southern Question"), especially the following passage: In every country, the stratum of intellectuals has been changed by the development of capitalism. The old type of intellectual was the organizing element in a society with a base that was largely made up of peasants and artisans; to organize the state, to organize commerce, the dominant class reared a particular type of intellectual. Industry has introduced a new type of intellectual: the technical organizer, the specialist in applied science. In those societies where the economic forces have developed in a capitalist direction to the point of absorbing most national activity, it is this latter type of intellectual who has prevailed with all his characteristics of intellectual discipline and organization. On the other hand, in those countries where agriculture still plays a significant or even dominant role, the old type has continued to prevail. It is this type that provides the largest number of state personnel, and even locally, in the village and in the rural town, the type performs the function of intermediary between the peasant and the administration in general.

In Southern Italy, the intellectual of this type predominates with all his characteristics : democratic in his peasant face, reactionary in the face turned toward the great landowner and the government; he politics, is corrupt and disloyal. One cannot understand the traditional character of the Southern political parties without taking into account the characteristics of this social stratum.

1 2 . Spectator [Mario Missiroli], "Giovanni Giolitti" in Nuova Antologia, I August I 928 (LXIII, 1 3 5 3 ), pp. 3 6 5 -79; see especially p. 3 7 I : In [Giolitti's] politics, doctrinal presuppositions did not count for anything, method was all. It is said that in his anxiety to be and to appear

4 1 4

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0) liberal, to allow nature to run its course, he frequently allowed events to guide him and he unleashed forces which he was then unable to control. It is also said, in his defense, that the very same contradictions evident in his government and for which he has been blamed were part of his mental design and had a coherent pattern within the dialectic of a personal method. For example, he was in favor of socialism in the Po valley and he did not intervene in the competition between capital and labor, but he was always very careful to ensure that socialism did not spread in the South where the police fired at rebellious strikers and Brigadier Centanni was honored with the silver medal.

Mario Missiroli ( 1 886- 1 974), who used the pen-name "Spectator, " was a very active journalist and political commentator whose contributions appeared in many newspapers. He edited I1 Resto del Carlino ( 1 9 1 8-2 I ), 11 Secolo ( 1 92 1 -2 3 ), and later 11 Messaggero. Early in his career he was a liberal syndicalist but then became a fascist sympathizer.

Giovanni Giolitti ( 1 842- 1 928) so dominated Italian politics that the first fifteen years of this century in Italy are frequently referred to as the

"Giolittian era." He was prime minister of Italy on five different occasions: 1 892-93, 1 903- 5 , 1 906-9, 1 9 1 1 - 1 4, and 1 920-2 1 . (On Giolitti's role and importance in early twentieth century Italian history, see A.

William Salamone, Italy in the Giolittian Era; Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1 960. )

1 3 . See Giuseppe Prezzolini, La cultura italiana (Florence: Soc. An.

Editrice "La Voce, " 1 92 3 ). On p. 1 62, Prezzolini draws attention to the fact that the name of the review, Unita, was suggested to Gaetano Salvemini by Giustino Fortunato who was "concerned about the 'unity of Italy' which from his point of view as a historian has always appeared as not yet fully and solidly achieved. " This volume by Prezzolini was among the books Gramsci had in Rome before his arrest (see Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, 2 5 March 1 929) but it was not among the books that were sent to him in prison. However, among the books Gramsci had in prison was a copy of the second edition of the same work

Giuseppe Prezzolini, La cultura italiana (Milan: Corbaccio, 1 9 30)-which Gramsci. himself requested in a letter to Tatiana Schucht, r o February 1 930.

1 4. In 1 894, the Sardinian parliamentary representative Francesco Pais Serra was asked by the government to conduct an inquiry into the economic and commercial problems of the island which had reached the point of crisis during the final decade of the nineteenth century. Pais Serra severely criticized the centralized trade policies which placed Sardinia at great disadvantage vis-�-vis the more affluent areas of Italy, particularly in the North. Pais Serra's report was delivered to the government and published in 1 89 6 : Relazione dell'inchiesta sulle condizioni economiche e

Notes to the Text. §43

della sicurezza publica in Sardegna promossa con decreta ministeriale del 12 dicembre 1894 (Rome: Tipografia della Camera dei Deputati, I 896).

Gramsci had already called attention to the importance of Pais Serra's report in an article, "Uomini, idee, giornali e quattrini" (Men, Ideas, Newspapers and Money) in Avanti!, 23 October I 9 I 8 .

I 5 . According to a police report prepared in Bisacquino (near Palermo J

in October I 893, the leaders of the Sicilian Fasci signed a treaty with the French, Russians and British, undertaking to act contrary to Italian interests in exchange for aid. The report was completely without foundation and was dismissed even by the Prefect of Palermo. However, during a parliamentary debate in February I 894, Crispi lent credence to the existence of this treaty. When the Bisacquino report was brought up later, at the trial of the Fasci leaders in Palermo, it was ridiculed.

I 6 . See Luigi Natoli, Rivendicazioni attraverso le rivoluzioni sociali del 1848-6o (Treviso, I 927 ). Croce reviewed the book in La Critica, 20

July I 928 (XXVI, 4), pp. 287-88. In his book, however, Natoli does not criticize remarks made by Croce in Storia d'Italia (which was only published in I 928, after Natoli's book had appeared) -Natoli's criticism, instead, is directed at certain statements made by Croce in Storia del Regno di Napoli ( I 9 2 5 ). On Natoli's book, see also Notebook 3, §24.

I 7. Count Vincenzo Ottorino Gentiloni ( I 86 5 - I 9 I 6 ) played a major role in organizing the participation of Catholics in politics before the Vatican officially lifted its ban on such activity. In I 909, Pius X made Gentiloni president of the Catholic Electoral Union, a post he held until the year of his death. He never formed a political party but his activity led to the "Gentiloni pact" -a private agreement between Gentiloni acting in the name of the Catholic Electoral Union and the Liberals. This was done in preparation for the I 9 I 3 general elections, the first to be held under universal suffrage in Italy. By this pact the Catholics undertook to support those candidates who promised not to promote anti-clerical policies or laws detrimental to the Church. In effect, the pact was designed to forge an alliance between Catholics and Liberals in order to ensure an electoral victory for Giolitti and block the Socialists.

For other comments by Gramsci on the intransigents within the PSI and on Giolitti's alliances with various blocs, see his essay on "Some Aspects of the Southern Question."

I8. Luigi Albertini ( I 87 I - I 94 I ), journalist and politician, took over the editorship of the Carriere della Sera in I 900 and made it one of the most authoritative newspapers in Europe. He was a liberal conservative who advocated war intervention in I 9 I 5 but afterwards supported peaceful settlement with Yugoslavia. He entered the Senate in I 9 I 4 . An adversary of fascism he was compelled to give up the editorship of the Carriere della Sera in I 92 5 .

4 I 6

NOT E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 3 0)

I 9 . The events at Molfetta during the I 9 I 3 general elections assumed national importance because Gaetano Salvemini, a candidate in that district, conducted a very vigorous campaign to draw public attention to the climate of violence and intimidation which surrounded the elections in the South. The Carriere della Sera lent support to this campaign through its reports; it also published an eye-witness account by Ugo Ojetti, "Ricordi di una domenica di passione. L'elezione del 26 ottobre a Molfetta"

(Memories of a Sunday of Passion. The 26 October Elections at Moffetta), Carriere della Sera, 6 November I 9 I 3 . Ugo Ojetti's article was reproduced in its entirety by Gaetano Salvemini in the second edition of his book, 11

ministro della mala vita ( Rome: Ed. La Voce, I 9 I 9 ), pp. 63-80. (This was among the books owned by Gramsci. )

20. Gramsci had made the same observation in his article, "11 Mezzogiorno e il fascismo" (The South and Fascism), L'Ordine Nuovo, I s March I 924: "The Carriere has supported Salandra and Nitti, the first two prime ministers from the South. ( Sicilian prime ministers represented Sicily, not the South, because the Sicilian question is significantly different from the Southern question.)"

Antonio Salandra ( I 8 S 3- I 9 3 I ) entered parliament in I 886. He was a conservative in internal affairs and an expansionist in foreign policy. Once he became prime minister in I 9 I 4 he had to confront the war crisis.

Initially, he favored neutrality but then he decided Italy should play an active role. He asked Austria to cede Italian territory and upon Austria's refusal he advocated intervention, abandoned the Triple Alliance and negotiated an alliance with Britain. The neutralists in parliament tried to force his resignation but the popular interventionist mood and the King preserved his government. He remained prime minister until I 9 I 6 when the Austrians attacked the Trentino. After the war he was a delegate at the Paris Conference and Italian representative in Geneva. He supported fascism but withdrew from public life in I 92 5 .

2 1 . Sardism was a separatist movement in Sardinia after World War I.

The efforts to set up regional action parties were inspired in large measure by the formation of the Partito Sardo d'Azione (Sardinian Action Party) in I 920.

Ivanoe Bonomi ( I 87 3 - I 9 5 2 ) was a reformist socialist who at first collaborated with Turati in Critica Saciale and worked for A vanti! He was elected to parliament in I 909. Expelled from the PSI in I 9 I 2, he formed the Reformist Socialist Party. Bonomi held a number of ministerial appointments in the Nitti and Giolitti cabinets before becoming prime minister ( I 9 2 I -22). Although he reacted weakly to Fascist violence while he was prime minister, he did not support Mussolini's government and he lost his parliamentary seat in the I 924 elections. Upon the liberation of Rome ( I 944) Bonomi headed a coalition government for a while and later

Notes to the Text. §43

4 1 7

was a member of the Constituent Assembly. H e presided over the Senate from 1 948 until his death.

Francesco Torraca ( 1 8 5 3- 1 93 8 ) was a literary scholar who entered the Senate in 1 920. In I 9 I 8 he started a journal, Volonta, which he continued to edit until 1 922. An effort to revive Volonta in I 924 failed after a few months.

On these issues, see also the account of the proceedings of the Third Congress of the PCd'I held in Lyons ( 1 926 ), "Cinque anni di vita del partito" (The Party After Five Years), L'Unita, 24 February 1 926: A s a result of the war and the workers' uprisings after the war which had seriously weakened the state apparatus and almost destroyed the social prestige of the . . . upper classes, the peasant masses of the South woke up to a life of their own and they worked hard to have their own structures. Thus, there have been movements of war veterans, and the various so-called parties of "renewal" which tried to exploit this reawakening of the peasant masses - sometimes supporting it, as in the period of land occupations; more often trying to change its direction and thus consolidate it in a position of struggle for so-called democracy, as has occurred most recently with the formation of the National Union.

22. The Action Party (Partito d'Azione) grew out of the republican and national liberation movement inspired by Mazzini, but its adherents represented a broad range of views. As a more or less coherent movement it dates back to I 8 5 3, but it got its name around I 86o, the year it sponsored Garibaldi's expedition of the Thousand in Sicily. Not long after, it came into sharp conflict with Cavour whose designs to unify Italy under the aegis of Piedmont's monarchy and his mode of handling the question of the Papal States were hard to reconcile with republican ideals and principles. After 1 8 70, the Action Party disintegrated as its members moved to the parliamentary "left" or else into the fledgling Republican Party.

The Moderate Party had its roots in the neo-Guelph federalist movement. It was formally established in I 848 and during the decade that followed it enjoyed great strength and influence thanks, in large measure, to the leadership of Cavour and Massimo d' Azeglio. During that same period the Moderate Party abandoned its federalist principles and functioned as the main political instrument in the implementation of Cavour's plans for unification. The Moderate Party moved increasingly to the right but continued to dominate Italian politics until I 876 when control of parliament passed to the "Left" led by Agostino Depretis.

2 3 . "The movements of I 820- 2 I , of I 8 3 I " were two waves of revolutionary activity involving the "carbonari"-the secret, almost masonic, revolutionary societies (in Italy, France and elsewhere) that fought for freedom from foreign rule and for constitutional liberties.

4 I 8

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

24. In I 84 S the Austrians quelled a rebellion by the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy in Galicia by turning the peasants against them through a promise of land redistribution.

On 6 February I 8 5 3, there was an anti-Austrian uprising in Milan which failed because the rebellious workers who espoused republican ideas inspired by Mazzini were not supported by the upper classes. Several leaders of the uprising received death sentences. That same year the Austrians executed another group of Mazzini's supporters in Belfiore.

Gramsci mentioned the incident of the homage paid by the Milanese nobles to Franz Josef in I 8 5 3 in a letter to Giuseppe Berti, 8 August I 9 27 . He also refers to it elsewhere in the Prison Notebooks: Notebook 3,

§ 1 2 5 ; Notebook 6, §I and Notebook I 9, § s The incident is discussed in

.

an article by "Rerum Scriptor" [Gaetano Salvemini], "Moderati e democratici milanesi dal 1 848 al 1 8 5 9 " (Moderates and Democrats of Milan from 1 848 to 1 8 5 9 ), Critica Sociale, 1 December I 899 (VIII, 20), pp. 3 I 8-I 9 :

. . . on 2 March I 8 s 3-that is, two days before the proclamation of the sentence condemning 23 Italians to death for the uprising of 6 February, and one day before Tito Speri, Carlo Montanari, and Bartolomeo Grazioli were sentenced at Mantua, and one day before the announcement of another sentence condemning several other liberals to between 8 and 1 6

years of hard labor

o

-

n 2 March 1 8 5 3, the moderate nobles of Milan took advantage of a failed assassination attempt on Franz Josef to sign an act of homage to the emperor. Limitations of space prevent a complete account; it is enough to recall that they not only thanked Providence which "watches over monarchs and peoples" for "thwarting the outcome of the horrible act, " but they also protested against "the abominable crimes committed by the perpetual enemies of order, even in our terrorized Milan. " They also offered the Emperor, "apart from the hopes, the love, and the best wishes of his subjects, the declarations of faithful citizenship and of the people's sincere and loyal readiness to respond with their own cooperation to wise measures taken by the ruler of this country, so desirous of that order and tranquility which alone can make it prosper and flourish again. " About two hundred signed; almost all the nobles, the marquises, and others of the same set.

2 s . Gramsci is probably thinking of a collection of letters by Mazzini to Italian workers' organizations, Lettere di Mazzini alle Societa Operaie Italiane (Rome, 1 87 3 ) . These letters were discussed in an unsigned article,

"Due lettere di Marx su Mazzini e i contadini in ltalia" (Two Letters of Karl Marx on Mazzini and the Italian Peasants), L'Unita, 26 February 1 9.26. This article points out that Mazzini's letters to the Italian workers'

associations reveal:

Notes to the Text. §43

4 I 9

Mazzini's almost total obliviousness to the peasant masses, his failure to deal at all with the enormous problems which these masses had to resolve in order to ensure the free development of the emergent capitalist society, and consequently his complete lack of consideration of the essential role the peasant movement had in the struggle for Italian independence . . . . This principal criticism which Karl Marx makes of Mazzini in the letters we are reproducing here, appears fully justified when one reads Mazzini's letters to the Italian workers' associations.

Only two of these letters contain a reference to the fraternity with peasants and to joint association with "rural workers. " And these are just references made in passing. In his letters Mazzini never mentions the expropriation of landed property and the struggle against residual feudalism in the agrarian economy.

The same article offered Italian translations of the texts of a letter from Marx to Engels, 1 3 September I 8 5 I ( and not 3 September as the article incorrectly indicates), and another letter from Marx to Joseph Weydemeyer (wrongly named Beidmaier in the article), 1 1 September I 8 5 1 . In both letters Marx mentions the Austrian actions in Galicia to which Gramsci alludes.

Marx's letter to Weydemeyer contains the following comments on Mazzini and the Italian situation:

I regard Mazzini's policy as basically wrong. He is working wholly in the Austrian interest by inciting Italy to the present secession. On the other hand, by failing to tum to the part of Italy that has been repressed for centuries, to the peasants, he is laying up fresh resources for the counter-revolution. Mr. Mazzini knows only the towns with their liberal nobility and their citoyens eclaires. The material needs of the Italian country folk- bled white and systematically enervated and stultified just like their Irish counterparts- are, of course, too lowly for the platitudinous paradise of his cosmopolitan-neo-catholic-ideological manifestos. But admittedly it requires some courage to tell the bouregeoisie and the nobility that the first step toward gaining Italy's independence is the complete emancipation of the peasants and the transformation of their metayage system into bourgeois freeholdings. Mazzini would seem to regard a loan of IO million francs as more revolutionary than a gain of IO million human beings. I very much fear that if the worst comes to the worst, the Austrian Government itself will alter the state of tenure in Italy and effect 'Galician' reforms.

In his letter to Engels, a couple of days later, Marx reiterates his views: If Mazzini, or anyone else, puts himself at the head of the Italian agitators and fails this time to transform the peasants, franchement and immediatemant, from metaires into free landowners- the condition of

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N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 30)

the Italian peasants i s atrocious, I have thoroughly mugged u p the beastly subject- the Austrian government will, in the event of revolution, have recourse to Galician methods. In the Lloyd it has already threatened "a complete transformation of the state of tenure" and the "extermination of the turbulent nobility." If Mazzini's eyes have not yet been opened, then he's a dunderhead. Admittedly certain agitational interests are involved here. Where will he find the 10 million fr. if he antagonizes the bourgeoisie ? How will he retain the services of the nobility, if he informs them that their expropriation comes first on the agenda? Such are the difficulties encountered by a demagogue of the old school.

See K. Marx and F. Engels, Collected Works, vol. 38 (New York: International Publishers, 1 982), pp. 45 3 - 5 5 and pp. 4S S -S 7·

26. Nino Bixio ( r 82 1 - 1 87 3 ), an Italian patriot and follower of Mazzini, was one of the principal organizers of the Thousand. He fought in various battles with Garibaldi for the unification of Italy, including the military campaign in Rome in 1 870.

27. See Giuseppe Cesare Abba, Da Quarto al Volturno. Noterelle di uno dei Mille (Milan : Universale Economica, 1 949), pp. 6 s -66. For an English translation, see Giuseppe Cesare Abba, The Diary of One of Garibaldi's Thousand (London : Oxford University Press, 1 9 62 ), pp. 5 4-s s : I have made a friend. He is twenty-seven years old, although he looks as though he were forty. He is a monk called Fra' Carmelo. We've been sitting half-way up the hill on which there is a Calvary with three crosses, near the cemetery above this village. Before us stretched Monreale in its wealth of gardens. The atmosphere was gloomy and we discussed the revolution. Fra' Carmelo was deeply moved.

He would like to join us and share our adventures, great soul that he is, but something holds him back.

"Why don"t you come with us, we should all love it. "

"I can"t. "

"Perhaps because you are a friar? We"ve already got one and still others fought side by side with us without fear of blood. "

" I should have come, i f I were only sure that you were on some great mission, but I have spoken with many of your comrades and the only thing they could say to me was that you wish to unite Italy. "

"Certainly we do, to make one great people. "

"You mean, one territory; as far as the people are concerned, one or many, they are bound to suffer and they go on suffering and I have not heard that you want to make them happy."

"Of course! The people will have liberty and education- "

"Is that all ? " broke in the friar. "Liberty i s not bread, nor i s education.

Perhaps these things suffice for you Piedmontese but not for us here."

"Well. What do you want then ? "

Notes to the Text. §43

42 1

"War! We want war, not war against the Bourbons only, but against all oppressors, great and small, who are not only to be found at court but in every city, in every hamlet. "

"Well, then, war also against you friars, for wherever I g o I see you have convents and properties, houses and fields."

"Yes, indeed. Also against us, first of all against us. But with the Bible in your hand and the cross before you- then I should join you; your aims now are too limited. If I were Garibaldi I shouldn"t find myself at this stage of the proceedings still supported almost only by you people who came with him. "

"What about the insurgent bands ? "

"And who told you they don"t expect something more than you"re after? "

I really didn"t know how t o reply so I got up. He embraced m e and, clinging to my hands, told me not to laugh at him, that he prayed to God for me, and that on the following morning he would say a Mass on my account. I felt a great surge of emotion in my heart and should like to have stayed with him, but he moved off, climbed the hill, turned once more to look back at me from above, and then disappeared.

Giuseppe Cesare Abba ( 1 8 3 8- 1 9 101 was a volunteer who soldiered with Garibaldi from 1 86o to 1 866. His book of reminiscences, reflections and impressions about the exploits and experiences of the expedition of the Thousand and other campaigns was first published with the title Noterelle di uno dei Mille in 1 88o. Its publication was strongly encouraged and supported by Giosue Carducci. He wrote other works, including a historical novel and a biography of Bixio, Vita di Nino Bixio ( 1 905 1. In Notebook 6, § 1 66, Gramsci refers to another book by Abba, Uomini e Soldati ( 1 89ol.

28. See, for example, Giovanni Verga's short story "Liberta. " Giovanni Verga ( 1 840- 1 922), arguably the most important Italian novelist after Manzoni and the main figure of the verismo movement (itself inspired by French naturalism!, set several of his narratives in a Sicilian, generally rural environment and populated them with "ordinary" characters, many of them peasants.

29. Mazzini was chosen head of the triumvirate which governed the Roman Republic ( January-June 1 849) until it was overthrown by the French.

Felice Orsini ( 1 8 1 9- 1 8 5 8 1 helped Mazzini with various insurrectionary projects and participated in many rebellions and other illegal activities.

He eventually abandoned Mazzini and in 1 8 5 8 he unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Napoleon III in Paris, for which he was executed.

30. In this instance, Gramsci is thinking, most probably, of the article

"Due lettere di Marx su Mazzini e i contadini in Italia" (Two Letters of Marx on Mazzini and the Italian Peasants! in L ' Unita, 26 February 1 926.

422

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929 - I 930)

§44. Political class leadership before and after assuming governmen t power

I . The source of the assertion which Gramsci attributes to King Vittorio Emanuele II has not been traced. Probably Gramsci was relying on his memory of something he had once read. In a letter of I 862, Vittorio Emanuele II did express his disdain for parliamentary procedures: "I have all parties under my control, and I couldn't care less." In this case, however, there is no specific reference to the Action Party as such, but to all parties. Gramsci may have derived this information from a book of memoirs by General E. Della Rocca Autobiografia di un veterano, vol. 2 (Bologna, I 89 7 ), p. 1 1 7 ; or from some other indirect source.

2. Vincenzo Cuoco ( I 77o- I 82 3 ), while favoring the creation of a national identity, was a conservative and anti-revolutionary thinker whose ideas were, nonetheless, strongly influential in the early phase of the Risorgimento movement. He played a minor role in the Parthenopean Republic ( I 799) even though he did not share the ideals which inspired it.

Although he was sent into exile, he eventually returned to Italy where he continued to expound his conservative views which were mostly derived from Edmund Burke. In his Saggio storico sulla rivoluzione napoletana del 1 799 ( I 8o i ) he characterized the Neapolitan rebellion as a "passive revolution" because it was inspired and guided by abstract ideas imported from France by the bourgeoisie and therefore lacked a mass or popular base. In keeping with his anti-revolutionary, anti-enlightenment views, Cuoco advocated a strong reliance on traditional national values, offered a positive assessment of the past, and believed in historical continuity.

Gramsci's first discussion of Cuoco's concept of "passive revolution"

is in Notebook 4, § 5 7 .

3 · An example of the "liberal-Catholic" movement that grew all over Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century was neo-Guelphism in Italy.

4· "P�pularism" refers to the Popular Party founded under the leadership of Luigi Sturzo in I 9 I 9.

5 · Carlo Pisacane ( I 8 I 8- I 8 5 7 ) was born in Naples but fled from the city in I 847 and joined the Foreign Legion in Algeria. He returned to Italy the following year and in I 849 moved to Rome where he played an extremely important role in the short lived Republic as commander-inchief of the city's defences and as a central figure in the War Council.

Although he never abandoned the revolutionary republican cause, Pisacane had his differences with both Garibaldi and Mazzini. His contacts with Carlo Cattaneo and the French socialists helped him appreciate the importance of mass participation in the revolutionary movement, so that he came to regard Garibaldi's and even Mazzini's failure to take the

Notes to the Text. §44

423

masses into account as undemocratic and shortsighted. Pisacane represents a socialist current of thought in the Risorgimento. He expressed his differences with Garibaldi in La guerra combattuta in Italia negli anni I 84 8-49 ( I 8 5 I ), and his more general views on politics, society and military strategy in a four volume work that was published posthumously, Saggi storici-politici-militari sull ' It alia ( I 8 5 8-6o).

6 . Eugene Sue's very popular serial novels included Les Mysteres du Peuple ( I 849- 5 7 ), Le fuif Erran t ( I 844-45 ), Les Mysteres de Paris ( I 842-43 ).

In Antonio Fogazzaro's ( I 842- I 9 I I ) novel, Piccolo mondo an tico ( I 89 S ), the main character, Franco Maironi, receives the instalments of Sue's Le Mysteres du Peuple from his friend Professor Gilardoni (see Part 2, ch. 5 ) and not clandestinely from Switzerland. Gramsci's memory of the details of the novel is inaccurate, as can be seen also from the erroneous initial

"P. " he attributes to Maironi. Gramsci had also mistakenly given the name of "Piero" (instead of Francesco) to Maironi in a brief article, "L'appello ai pargoli" (The Appeal to Children) in his regular column "Sotto la Mole, " Avanti!, 3 I July I 9 I 6 .

Edouard Herriot ( I 87 2- I 9 5 7 ), a French Radical Socialist, held many ministerial positions and as a prominent parliamentary leader strongly advocated the secularization of the state. He was prime minister in I 924-25 and for very brief periods on two other occasions. Similarly, Edouard Daladier ( I 884- I 970) was a Radical Socialist who held several ministerial positions and served as Prime Minister of France in I 9 3 3, I 934 and I 9 3 8-40.

7. Adolfo Omodeo, "Prima to francese e iniziativa italiana" (French Primacy and Italian Initiative), in La Critica, 20 July I 929 (XXVII, 4), pp.

223-40; now in Adolfo Omodeo, Difesa del Risorgimento (Turin : Einaudi, I 9 5 I ), pp. I 7-38.

Adolfo Omodeo ( I 889- I 946), who wrote extensively on the Risorgimento, had a close intellectual association with Croce whose liberal views he shared. In his work, Omodeo attached special value to Mazzini's political theories and to Cavour's purportedly exemplary embodiment of European liberalism. He emphasized the close links between Italy and the European tradition.

8. The "Communes" to which Gramsci refers here were the independent republican city-states of medieval Italy.

9· Joseph Bonaparte was King of Naples-the realm, in fact, was called the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies-from I 8o6 to I 8o8, and Joachim Murat from I 8o 5 to I 8 I 5 .

IO. See Spectator [M. Missiroli], "Luigi Cadorna" in Nuova Antologia, I March I 929 (LXIV, 1 3 67), pp. 43-6 5 .

Luigi Cadorna ( I 850- I 928) was commander-in-chief of the Italian armed

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 9 2 9- I 9 3 0) forces from 1 9 1 4 to 1 9 1 7 . He participated for a while in the Versailles negotiations after the war. He was elevated to marshal in I 924.

Giuseppe Salvatore Pianell ( I 8 I 8- I 892) took part in several important military campaigns during the wars leading to unification and after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. He was also an active politician and served in the Senate.

1 1 . See Giuseppe Ferrari, Opuscoli politici e letterari (Capolago: Tipografia Elvetica, 1 8 5 2). While in prison Gramsci received an anthology of writings by Giuseppe Ferrari, Le piu belle pagine, ed. Pio Schinetti (Milan: Treves, I 927) which contains an appendix with biographical and bibliographic information. Gramsci was also familiar with other works by Ferrari.

Giuseppe Ferrari ( I 8 I I-76), a philosopher, historian and politician, lived in France for many years ( 1 8 3 8- .s 9 ) before returning to Italy and participating actively in politics. Pursuing what he believed to be a line of thought originating in Vico, he considered Italian history as a series of revolutions and he propounded an "activist" concept of reality. Ferrari favored a republican or democratic federalism for Italy and he stood for the severance of the state from all religious ties. (Hence, he was severely critical of the religious element in Mazzini's thought. ) From 1 8 .5 9 he was a solitary radical figure in parliament, albeit a respected and influential presence. He became senator in I 87 6 . It may be said that Ferrari prepared the ground for the emergence of a democratic leftist element in Italy. He insisted on the inseparability of political and social revolution. Although he remained fundamentally tied to liberalism, and his socialist leanings were vague and his ideology nebulous, Ferrari was sympathetic toward the International and spoke of it favorably in parliament in 1 87 5 .

1 2. Gramsci probably has in mind a famous image used by Lenin in The Immediate Tasks of The Soviet Government ( I 9 I 8 ) : It is not enough to be a 'revolutionary, and an adherent of socialism, or a communist in general. One must be able at each particular moment to find that special link in the chain which one must grasp with all one's might in order to hold the whole chain, and to make lasting preparations for the transition to the next link; the order of the links, their form, the manner in which they are linked together, their difference from each other in the historical chain of events, are not as simple and as senseless as those in an ordinary chain by a blacksmith.

See V. I. Lenin, Selected Works, vol. 7 (New York: International Publishers, I 94 3 ), p. 347. Gramsci first knew of this passage through an article by Max Eastman, "Uno Statista dell'Ordine Nuovo" (A Statesman of the New Order), published in four parts in L'Ordine Nuovo, I May, I S May,

Notes to the Text. §44

24 May, 7 June 1 9 1 9-the passage is paraphrased by Eastman toward the end of his article.

1 3 . A report on the peasant movement in Sicily by the correspondent from Palermo was published in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, r o October 1 920. The report provided some information about a congress of "Sicilian farmers" that was held during those days. The congress passed a motion which stated, among other things, that "it resolved to give notice that if the authorities did not take timely measures, the landowners and farmers would consider themselves legitimately endowed with the power and the right to take steps to ensure respect for the law and the established order. " The relation between agrarian reaction and Sicilian separatism is mentioned more explicitly in "Tesi del Partito Comunista d'Italia per il lavoro contadino nel Mezzogiomo" !Theses of the PCd'I on Peasant Labour in the South), written by Ruggiero Grieco, which first appeared in abbreviated form in L ' Unita, 2 1 October 1 926 and was later published in full in 1 927 in Lo Stato Operaio II, 2). It is now collected in Ruggiero Grieco, Scritti Scelti, vol. I !Rome: Ruiniti, 1 96 6 ), pp. I 86-2 I 3 . See especially pp. I 94-9 5 : In I 920, and specifically during the land occupation, the Sicilianists made it clear that if the state did not adopt all the measures to repress the disturbances by the rural masses, Sicily would take care of the matter itself by taking over its own rule. And when the threat of revolution by workers and peasants on the mainland seemed to overwhelm the bourgeois state, the Sicilians warned that should the proletarian revolution be victorious they would declare Sicily independent.

I4. The Duke of Bivona was a Spanish nobleman of the highest rank and a feudal landowner in Sicily. According to a report, "La verita sui fatti di Ribera" !The Truth About the Events at Ribera) in Avanti!, I I February I 92o, the duke instigated a diplomatic initiative calling for the supression of the peasant movement in Ribera, in the province of Agrigento.

I 5 . The efforts and the measures of the Fascist regime to "fascistize"

the entire Italian press effectively deprived the Scarfoglio brothers !Paolo, Carlo, Michele, and Salvatore) of editorial control over the liberal daily newspaper 11 Mattina of Naples after January 1 926. The Scarfoglio family, however, retained ownership of the Mattina publishing company until I 928, when pressure from the Fascist regime compelled it to sell its shares and thus completely sever its ties with the company. Some documents related to the expulsion of the Scarfoglio family from 11 Mattina are published in the appendix of Valerio Castronovo, La stampa italiana dall'

Unita al fascismo IBari: Laterza, I 9 70), 3 72-9 5 .

r 6 . According to the Albertine Statute !which derives its name from

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 3 0) King Carlo Alberto) the regions unified under the Kingdom of Italy were governed by parliament which was bound by a constitution and therefore did not fall under the direct jurisdiction of the king.

1 7 · Giosue Carducci ( I 8 3 S - I 907) was a highly influential poet and critic whose poetics were classicist and the criticism formalist. In opposition to De Sanctis, he argued for the exclusion of historical and political concerns from literary and aesthetic considerations. Although in his early poetry he sang the praises of the patriotic spirit and heroism that led to the unification of Italy, Carducci turned increasingly conservative from around I 870 onward, even writing odes extolling the monarchy. He was made senator in I 890 and in I 906 he became the first Italian to win the Nobel prize for literature.

I 8. I1 Mattina conducted a journalistic campaign against the agreement between the Southern Cotton Industries and the Fascist trade unions negotiated by Giovanni Preziosi as official representative of the Fascist Party. Soon after making this agreement which called for great concessions from the workers of the Southern Cotton Industries and other Southem interests, Preziosi was named editor-in-chief of the Mezzogiorno, owned by the same Southern Cotton Industries. I1 Mattina launched its campaign in the 6-7 September I 92 3 issue with an article, "Come si va smembrando una industria meridionale. 11 Concordato Preziosi" (The Breaking Up of a Southern Industry. The Preziosi Agreement). This article recalls a previous campaign in support of Southern industry, and makes reference to the Bourbons. "The readers of Il Mattina will remember the vigorous campaign we waged in May I 922 to prevent the oldest textile industry in Italy, the cotton spinning and textile industry which is a hundred and thirty years old (and which the Bourbons protected and promoted with the intelligent spirit of modernity which nobody can deny them), from being destroyed and wiped out for the advantage of Northern interests . " Another reference to the Bourbons in the same article is related to the transfer of plant machinery to the North: "Will [the machines! not start running again in a cotton plant in Lombardy while the industry founded by the wisdom of the Bourbons would have been destroyed? " At the same time, the newspaper positioned itself on the side of the workers betrayed by the Fascist trade unions: "A conservative newspaper like ours would not support the workers' cause were it not for the fact that the workers are fully justified. " 11 Mattina kept up its campaign for a whole week until it was suddenly stopped in the issue of 1 4- I 5 September by an announcement that the government was to handle the issue directly. The agreement of the Southern Cotton Industries and other scandals involving Preziosi returned to the fore in I 92 5 when a journalistic polemic in the newspaper 11 Mondo was followed by a law suit for libel which took place in Naples in June-August 1 92 5 . See "Gli scandali dell' affarismo borghese:

Notes to the Text. §44

Appunti sul processo Mondo-Mezzogiorno" (The Scandals of Bourgois Business Dealings: Notes on the Mondo-Mezzogiorno Trial) in L ' Unita, 6

August 1 9 2 5 .

1 9 . I1 Mattina of 2 1 -22 January 1 9 2 5 appeared with a large headline strung across the front page, 11Maria Sofia, l'ex regina di Napoli, e morta"

(Maria Sophia, Former Queen of Naples Is Dead). A photograph of Maria Sophia was accompanied by an editorial and an article signed by Giovanni Anguissola, both of them eulogistic and hagiographic. Francesco II, the husband of Maria Sophia ( 1 84 1 - 1 92 5 ), was the last Bourbon ruler of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The royal family fled the kingdom in 1 86 1 .

For the rest of her life and from her various places of exile, Maria Sophia continued to hope and to plot for the restoration of the Bourbons in Naples.

20. In the course of the "red week" of June 1 9 1 4, during an antiwar demonstration in Ancona at which Malatesta made a speech, troops fired at the crowd killing and wounding several protesters. Nationwide demonstrations and a widespread general strike followed.

Zita of Bourbon was the Empress of Austria-Hungary.

Gaetano Salvemini's L ' Unita of 29 November 1 9 1 7 (VI, 48)-and not of 1 9 1 4 or 1 9 1 5 as Gramsci erroneously remembers- carried two very short polemical articles touching upon the issue of hostile foreign involvement in Italian internal affairs. One of the articles, 11Una genealogia caratteristica" (A Typical Genealogy), suggests that a web of family relations may have led to contacts between the Italian General Staff and unfriendly foreigners. However, it is impossible to understand what the article refers to because parts of it were erased by the censor. The other article, "Un altro filo conduttore11 (Another Link), suggests that Malatesta himself, because of his relations with Maria Sophia, could have been manipulated by the Austrian General Staff in June 1 9 1 4 : 11Errico Malatesta, the soldier of fortune of the red week was also a friend of Maria Sophia of Bavaria, former queen of Naples. Thus, we begin to understand the roots of the red week."

Errico Malatesta ( 1 8 5 3 - 1 9 3 2 ), who joined the Socialist International in 1 872, was an anarchist and follower of Bakunin. A very active agitator, propagandist and journalist both in Italy and abroad, he was imprisoned and exiled several times. In 1 9 1 3 he founded the newspaper Volonta.

2 1 . See Benedetto Croce, Uomini e case della vecchia Italia, vol. 2

(Bari: Laterza, 1 92 7 ), pp. 406-407 =

Little is known . . . about the thoughts, the feelings and the intentions that nourished the deposed sovereigns in their French and Bavarian retreats because those around them have maintained silence on this issue; and, perhaps, they did not have anything to tell because there was

NOTE S : N O T E B O O K I j i 929- I 9 30)

nothing t o report. It seems that like others o f her kind, Queen Maria Sophia from time to time was prone to foolish hopes and was no stranger to intrigue. A certain Insogna, biographer of Ferdinand II, was undoubtedly her agent; he came to Italy in I 904 with letters from Malatesta to make arrangements with Italian anarchists to free Bresci, the murderer of King Umberto of Savoy. Giolitti had him arrested and then deported, and at the same time he succeeded through diplomatic channels in having both the Austrian Emperor and the government of the French Republic warn Maria Sophia to remain quiet.

This passage is in Croce's essay "Gli ultimi borbonici" !The Last Bourbons), which had already been published in a series of articles in La Stampa of Turin -see especially La Stampa, 3 June 1 92 6 . It is most likely that Gramsci was aware of it when it first appeared, since it was quoted in an article by Ettore Ferrari !and perhaps inspired by Gramsci himself ),

"Chi spinse Bresci al regicidio? " !Who Instigated Bresci's Regicide? ) published in L'Unita, I I June I 926. The Unita article quoted the above passage from Croce's essay, and called for further clarification. The article concludes by stating that "unless clearer explanations are provided by both Croce and Malatesta, an ominous darkness will descend over the action of the anarchist Gaetano Bresci. " Croce, however, never gave any explanation of the dark side of this affair, nor did he ever reveal his source of information. Indeed, when Croce republished the essay "Gli ultimi borbonici" in the second volume of his Uomini e cose della vecchia Italia, he did not even bother to correct a glaring error it contained: the purported attempt to free Bresci could not possibly have taken place in I 904 because Bresci had committed suicide in prison in I 9 0 I . The Unita article, however, did evoke a response from Errico Malatesta, "Per fatto personale: manovre borboniche e malignita comuniste" !On a Personal Matter: Bourbon Intrigues and Communist Malice), which appeared in the Italian edition of the Geneva-based anarchist biweekly, 11 Risveglio, 30 July I 92 6

!XXVI, 698): "Of course, I have n o knowledge o f anything; and even i f I knew something I would not want to tell it to the police, not even through the Hon. Enrico Ferrari. In the meantime I want to point out the unique psychology of certain communists: they are always ready to pick up any washerwoman's little tale-and one can be a washerwoman even if one is called Benedetto Croce-if they think it will help them malign the anarchists. " Gramsci never became aware of the existence of this article by Malatesta. In his later version of this note !Notebook I 9, §24) Gramsci states that Malatesta never responded to these accusations. Soon after the publication of the first edition of the Quaderni del carcere the debate on this episode was revived in an article published by an anarchist journal in Rome; see "Una vecchia storiella contro Bresci e Malatesta nuovamente

Notes to the Text. §44

429

riferita in una opera di A. Gramsci" (An Old Tale Against Bresci and Malatesta Newly Cited in a Work by A. Gramsci), Umanita Nuova, 20

March 1 949 (XXIX, 1 2 ). On the same topic, see also Notebook 7, § 10o.

22. "Lazzarone" (pl. "lazzaroni") is a term that has long been adopted by several European languages to describe the layabouts, beggars, hucksters, ragamuffins, etc. who roam the streets of Naples.

Alfredo Niceforo ( r 876- 1 96o), a sociologist and professor of statistics, wrote extensively on criminal psychology, poverty, delinquency, and also on the biological and sociological bases of language. He sought to give scientific credibility to the belief that Southerners are biologically and inherently inferior.

On this topic, see also Gramsci's "Some Aspects of the Southern Question": The first problem the Turin communists had to resolve was that of changing the political perspective and the general ideology of the proletariat itself, as a national element which exists within the whole life of the state and is unconsciously influenced by bourgeois schooling, the bourgeois press and bourgeois tradition. It is known what ideology has been disseminated through capillary forms among the Northern masses by the propagandists of the bourgeoisie: the South is the dead weight which hinders faster progress in the civil development of Italy; the Southerners are biologically inferior beings, destined by nature to be semi-barbarians or total barbarians; if the South is backward, it is not the fault of the capitalist system or any other historical cause, but it is the fault of nature which had made the Southerners lazy, inept, criminal, barbaric, moderating this harsh fate with the purely individual outbursts of great geniuses like solitary palm trees in a dry and barren desert. To a large extent, the Socialist Party was the vehicle of this bourgeois ideology among the Northern proletariat; the Socialist Party gave its blessing to all the "Southernist" literature by the clique of the so-called positivist school of writers like Ferri, Sergi, Niceforo, Orano, and their minor followers who in articles, sketches, short stories, novels, books of impressions, and memoirs repeated the same refrain in various forms- once again, science was used to crush the wretched and the exploited, but this time it was wrapped in socialist colors and pretended to be the science of the proletariat.

2 3 . Napoleone Colajanni ( 1 847- 1 92 1 ) founded the Rivista Popolare di Politica, Lettere e Scienze Sociali in 1 89 5 and continued as its chief editor until 1 92 1 . Through his journal, parliamentary speeches, books, and pamphlets, Colajanni waged a vigorous campaign for many years against the racist theories of Southern inferiority and "inferior races" put forth by Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri, Raffaele Garofalo, Alfredo Niceforo, and

430

NOTE S : NOTEBOOK I ( I 9 29- I 9 3 0)

Paolo Orano. Among his most important writings on this subject, see Per la razza maledetta ( Rome, I 898); Settentrionali e meridionali (Rome, I 898); 11 dissidio tra Nord e Sud-Esortazioni di un parricida (Palermo, I 899); In difesa del Mezzogiorno ( Rome, I 9o2)-a speech delivered in parliament, I I December 1 90 1 ; Latini e Anglosassoni-Razze superiori e razze inferiori ( Rome, 1 903 ).

24. Gramsci had mentioned the Sardinian Congress and the comment on the exploitation of the island by the mainland in an article, "I dolori della Sardegna" (The Sufferings of Sardinia), in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 1 6 April I 9 1 9 : "Why is it prohibited to report what a Sardinian general said at the last Sardinian Congress held in Rome: namely, that in the fifty years between 1 86o and 1 9 1 0, the Italian State, in which the bourgeoisie and the Piedmontese nobility have always prevailed, has extracted s oo million lire from Sardinian peasants and shepherds and made a present of them to the non-Sardinian Italian ruling class? " The name of the Sardinian general ( Rugiu), omitted in this article, is explicitly mentioned in a parliamentary speech touching on the same issue by the Communist deputy Enrico Ferrari-a speech that was almost certainly inspired by Gramsci. ( See the account given in L'Unita, 1 9 June 1 92 5 . ) However, i t has not been possible to locate any documents from the period that shed light on Gramsci's remark in this note. He is most probably mistaken when he states that a Sardinian Congress took place in Rome in I 9 1 1 . A regional Sardinian Congress was held in Rome in I 9 I 4, but its published proceedings make no mention of a speech by Rugiu or even of his participation. It is possible that Gramsci was relying on his memory of conversations with fellow Sardinians whose circles he frequented in Turin around 1 9 1 9.

General Rugiu ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 926) was born in Sassari (Sardinia) and took part in several important military campaigns. He retired from active service in 1 902, after which he lived in Turin until 1 9 1 3 when he returned to Sardinia. There is no documentary evidence that he engaged in political activity and it seems unlikely that Gramsci knew him personally.

2 5 . The special issue of La Voce devoted to the Southern question appeared on I 6 March I 9 I I (III, I I ); it included articles by Giustino Fortunato, Giuseppe Carbone, Guglielmo Zagari, Agostino Lanzillo, Roberto Palmarocchi, Francesco Nitti, Alberto Caroncini, Giuseppe Donati, Gaetano Salvemini, Gennaro Avolio, Ettore Ciccotti, Luigi Einaudi, Giuseppe Prezzolini. The first issue of the journal L'Unita, edited by Salvemini, appeared on 1 6 December I 9 I 1-during the previous months Salvemini intensified his collaboration in La Voce.

26. In "Some Aspects of the Southern Question, " Gramsci had already drawn attention to the influence exercised by Southern intellectuals on the publications mentioned here. The Borelli groups were the Young

Notes to the Text. §44

43 1

Liberals (Giovani Liberali) organized by Giovanni Borelli ( 1 869- 1 932) who founded the movement in 1 900. This right-wing, monarchist, and colonialist movement was behind two journals, L 'Alba and L 'Idea Liberale, through which it sought to propagate the idea of a "Latin Mediterranean. "

The journal published i n Milan, t o which Gramsci alludes, was L 'Azione (and not Azione Liberale); it was founded in May 1 9 1 4 and edited by Paolo Arcari and Alberto Caroncini. (In "Some Aspects of the Southern Question, " Gramsci cites the title of the journal correctly. ) 27. Umberto Cosmo ( 1 868- 1 944) taught literature a t various lycees before settling in Turin in 1 898. He was an authoritative Dante scholar.

(On Gramsci's communications with Cosmo regarding the interpretation of Dante, see Notebook 4 § 8 6 . ) In 1 9 1 7 he became editor of La Stampa and started to write on political issues as well. A strong opponent of fascism, he was banned from teaching in 1 926 and briefly interned in 1 929.

Luigi Salvatorelli ( I 886- I 974) was professor of church history at the University of Naples before moving to Turin to work for La Stampa ( I 92 I -2 S ), through which he conducted a sustained journalistic campaign against fascism. After abandoning political journalism he turned to historical research and in his studies of the Risorgimento sought to highlight the Italian tradition of democratic and liberal values.

Luigi Ambrosini ( I 8 8 3 - I 929), who had studied under Giosue Carducci, wrote for several journals and newspapers, including La Voce and La Stampa, on historical, cultural and political topics.

28. Gramsci is alluding to the fact that several passages in the first edition of Prezzolini's La coltura italiana ( I 92 3 ) are missing from subsequent editions; the author did not wish to irritate fascist sensibilities with favorable references to L 'Ordine Nuovo, for example. See also Notebook I, §43 (note I 3 ), and Notebook I, §90.

29. Piero Gobetti ( r 90 I - I 926), a political and cultural critic, left a rich legacy in spite of the brevity of his life. He adhered to a conception of liberalism that was distinctly different from its traditional, mainstream forms. Gobetti envisioned a liberal state in which the masses would participate actively in the political life of the nation, enabling a process of continuous transformation and renewal. Although definitely not a Marxist or socialist, Gobetti held a favorable view of the Bolshevik Revolution and maintained close contacts with Gramsci and other members of the Ordine Nuovo group. He shared many of the Ordine Nuovo group's views on the factory council movement and on the need for forging an alliance between workers and peasants. He also contributed book reviews and theater criticism to L 'Ordine Nuovo. In I 922 he founded a weekly, La Rivoluzione Llberale, and later also established a publishing house. He published the work of diverse critics and politically active intellectuals

432

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 30)

(e.g., Salvemini, Nitti, Sturzo, Einaudi, Amendola, Levi) representing a broad range of views. Through his publishing activity he waged an open and bitter war against fascism. In the end, however, he was ruthlessly suppressed by the regime. After receiving a severe beating by Fascist thugs, Gobetti went into exile and died almost immediately. For Gramsci's analysis of Gobetti's views, see also "Some Aspects of the Southern Question. "

30. Guido Dorso ( I 892- I 947 l belonged to Gobetti's cultural-political movement and contributed frequently to La Rivoluzione Llberale. In his writing, he attached special importance to the Southern question which he considered to be the crucial national issue. (Gramsci discusses Dorsa's views in "Some Aspects of the Southern Question.") He advocated an alliance between the Northern bourgeois liberals and the poor Southern masses of workers and peasants- an alliance that would oppose and defeat the overwhelming power of the conservative industrialists and landowners. He expounded his views more or less systematically in a book published by Gobetti; see Guido Dorso, La rivoluzione meridionale (Turin: P. Gobetti Editore, 1 92 5 ).

Giovanni Ansaldo, also a contributor to Gobetti's Rivoluzione Liberale

-see Notebook I , §24 (note s )-was opposed to any position that would divide Italian society and threaten national unity. He, therefore, objected strongly to Dorsa's position. The polemic to which Gramsci refers is an article by Ansaldo (which Gramsci cites again in Notebook 3, §40) in 11

Lavoro, I October I 92 5 , on Dorso's La rivoluzione meridionale. In his article, Ansaldo attacks not only Dorso but also Gramsci who had expressed favorable opinions on Dorsa's book. Gramsci's comments on "comic elements" and " obsessive unitarianism" can best be understood in the context of certain passages in Ansaldo's article:

In order to have fun-oh! let me say it! -with ideal schemes, in order to find a solution to a dialectical opposition of terms, you lose sight of th� reality of the Kingdom of Italy, the reality of the Kingdom of Naples which is always alive, the reality of the gangs and packs of Bourbon supporters which is always imminent! [ . . .

] Gramsci! Gramsci who discovers the kernel of the Italian problem! But what kernel do you want him to discover- the man swallows all the kernels, the fruit kernels when he eats and the kernels of philosophical systems when he reasons !

Or do you believe that he is the demiurge of Italian history, and not an intellectual more or less like us and like you who tomorrow, when the situation changes, will be swept away by the forces of secular subversion at work in our country which can be conjured up but cannot be controlled? [ . . . ] And who assures you, once the wretched "boors" [i.e.

Southern Italian peasants] are given free reign to carry out what in vague pompous language you call the Southern revolution, that behind the

Notes to the Text. §44

4 3 3

material requests of 1 86o there will not also be the reemergence of more strictly political demands? Do you really believe that Gramsci is stronger than Fra Diavolo? Is it that no danger threatens Italian unity any longer?

3 1 . See "Some Aspects of the Southern Question": "The proletariat will destroy the Southern agrarian bloc to the extent that it succeeds in organizing through its party increasingly significant masses of poor peasants into autonomous and independent formations; but the measure of its success in this necessary task is also dependent on its ability to break up the intellectual bloc which is the flexible but exceedingly resistant armor of the agrarian bloc."

32. Among the books Gramsci owned prior to his arrest (but not among the books sent to him in prison) was Giuseppe Ferrari, Filosofia della rivoluzione, 2d ed., pre£. by Luigi Fabbri !Milan: Casa Editrice Sociale, I 92 3 ). The first edition of this work with the same preface was published in I 9 2 I by F. Manini (not Monanni as Gramsci indicates) in Milan. The publisher Monanni, however, did publish in I 929 a new edition of Ferrari's Corso sugli scrittori politici italiani to which Gramsci refers in Notebook 2, § Io2. On Ferrari and the agrarian question, see also Notebook 8, § 3 5 ·

Luigi Fabbri ( I 877- I 9 3 5 ), an anarchist, edited the journal Il Pensiero ( I 903- I 9 I I ), and wrote several books including one on Pisacane and another on Malatesta. He was a strong opponent of fascism and died in exile in Uruguay.

3 3 · For a more extensive discussion by Gramsci of this debate, see Notebook 2, §66.

34· See Tullio Martello, Storia della lnternazionale dalle sue origini al Congresso dell'Aja !Padua-Naples: F.lli Salmin-G. Marghieri, I 87 3 ). Gramsci also refers to this book !reprinted in I 92 I by the publisher Perrella of Florence) in his letter to Giuseppe Berti, 8 August I 927.

Tullio Martello ( I 84 1 - 1 9 I 8 ), who participated in the expedition of the Thousand, studied economics in Geneva where he founded Revue d'Economie, d'Histoire et de Statistique to promote the liberal and antisocialist study of economics. After the publication of his history of the International, Storia della lnternazionale, he received academic appointments in Venice and Bologna.

3 5 . Gramsci is referring to a series of articles which Proudhon published in a Belgian newspaper in 1 862. Proudhon was still in exile in Belgium at the time. That same year he received a pardon from the emperor which then allowed him to return to Paris. Within the year he collected these essays and published them with additional material in a single volume. See Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, La Federation et ]'unite en ltalie ! Paris: E. Dentu, I 862). On Proudhon's "democratic-Gallicist" lean-

434

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 9 29- I 9 30) ings and his working class "Gallicism" (i.e. French Nationalism), see Notebook 7, § 5 1 .

3 6 . Jacques Bainville ( I 879- I 9 3 6 ), a monarchist strongly influenced by Charles Maurras, repeatedly stressed the need for France to protect its national integrity from the dangers of an excessively powerful and influential Germany. His criticism of the policies of the two Napoleons can be found in Histoire de trois generations ( I 9 I 8) which was gathered together with three other works-Histoire de deux peuples ( I 9 I 5 ), L'Avenir de la Civilisation ( I 922), and Histoire de France ( I 924)-in a single volume: Jacques Bainville, Heur et malheur des Fran{:ais (Paris: Nouvelle Librairie Nationale, I 924). Gramsci owned a copy of this book while he was in prison at Turi di Bari.

3 7 . See "Lettere inedite di F. D. Guerrazzi" (Unpublished Letters of F.D. Guerrazzi) in the "Marginalia" section of 11 Marzocco, 24 November I 929 (XXXIV, 47). The emphasis in the quotation is Gramsci's.

Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi ( I 804- I 87 3 ) produced a substantial body of fiequently melodramatic fiction with revolutionary and patriotic themes.

He was influenced by Byron. A very active though politically impractical republican, Guerrazzi played a prominent role in the I 848-49 revolution in Tuscany and especially in the provisional government that was set up.

Following the collapse of the revolution he was exiled in Corsica from where he subsequently escaped. Elected to the parliament of Piedmont in I 8 6o, he formed part of the opposition to Cavour.

3 8 . Gramsci is alluding to the following passage in The Holy Family: If Herr Edgar [i.e., Bruno Bauer] compares French equality with German

"self-consciousness" for an instant, he will see that the latter principle expresses in German, i.e., in abstract thought, what the former says in French, that is, in the language of politics and of thoughtful observation.

Self-consciousness is man's equality with himself in pure thought.

Equality is man's consciousness of himself in the element of practice, i.e., man's consciousness of other men as his equals and man's attitude to other men as his equals. Equality is the French expression for the unity of human essence, for man's consciousness of his species and his attitude toward his social or human relation of man to man.

See Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels, Collected Works, vol. 4 (New York: International Publishers, I 97 5 ), p. 3 9 · In prison, Gramsci owned a French translation of Marx's philosophical works; the text of The Holy Family is in the second volume: Karl Marx, Oeuvres philosophiques, 3 vols., trans.

J. Molitor ( Paris: Castes, I 927-28).

References to this observation by Marx in The Holy Family recur often in the Prison Notebooks. Gramsci also brings it up in a most interesting letter to Tatiana Schucht, 30 May I 9 3 2, where he tentatively and broadly

Notes to the Text. §44

43 5

sketches a line of thought that leads him from Ricardo through Hegel to Marx :

I want to tell you about a series of observations so that, if possible, you may transcribe them for Piero [Sraffa] and ask him for some bibliographic references which will help me broaden the field of my reflections and give me a better orientation. [ . . .

] My line of thinking is this:

can one say that Ricardo has been important to the history of philosophy besides the history of economics, in which he's certainly a figure of primary importance ? And can one say that Ricardo helped to direct the early theoreticians of the philosophy of praxis toward going beyond Hegelian philosophy and toward constructing their new historicism, rid of every trace of speculative logic? I think that one can try to prove this assumption, and that it would be worth doing. I take my cue from the two fundamental concepts of economics, the "determined market" and the "law of tendency" which I think we owe to Ricardo; and I argue as follows: aren't these two concepts, perhaps, the starting point of the attempt to reduce the "immanentist" conception of history (articulated in the idealistic and speculative discourse of classical German philosophy) to a realistic, immediately historical "immanence" in which the law of causality of the natural sciences has been rid of its mechanistic character and identified synthetically with Hegelian dialectical reason?

Perhaps this whole nexus of ideas still seems somewhat confused, but it is important that it should be understood as a whole, even if only approximately; enough to find out whether the problem has been perceived and examined by some Ricardo scholar. It should be remembered that Hegel himself, in other cases, saw these necessary connections between different scientific activities, and also between scientific and practical activities. Thus, in the Lectures on the History of Philosophy, he found a connection between the French Revolution and the philosophy of Kant, Fichte and Schelling, and he said that "only two peoples, the German and French, although they are the opposite of one another (rather, precisely because they are opposites) took part in the great epoch of universal history" in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Whereas in Germany the new principle "burst forth as spirit and concept, " in France it unfolded "as effectual reality. " From the Holy Family one sees how this nexus, posited by Hegel, between French political activity and German philosophical activity was appropriated by the theoreticians of the philosophy of praxis. One needs to find out how and to what extent did classical English economics, in the methodological form elaborated by Ricardo, contribute to the further development of the new theory.

3 9 · The Le Chapelier law, passed by the Constituent Assembly on 1 4

June 1 7 9 1 , effectively repressed workers' associations. On 29 September

N O T E S : N O T EB O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

I 793, a law was enacted to control the "maximum" level of food prices as well as wages.

One of Gramsci's most important sources of information on the history of the French Revolution was a three-volume work by Albert Mathiez, La Revolution Franr;aise, vol. 1 : La Chute de la Royaute (Paris: Colin, I 922); vol. 2 : La Gironde et la Montagne (Paris : Colin, I 924); vol. 3: La Terreur, 2d ed. ( Paris: Colin, I 928). When Gramsci wrote this note he had only the first two volumes of this work. The Chapelier law is discussed in chapter IO of vol. 1 . The law of the maximum, however, is discussed in chapter 6

of the final volume, which explains why Gramsci added his allusion to it at a later date, after he had ordered and received the book. Gramsci requested volume 3 of Mathiez's work in a letter to Tatiana Schucht, I 6

June I 9 30.

40. See Rerum Scriptor !Gaetano Salvemini], "Moderati e democratici milanesi dal I 848 al I 8 5 9 " (Moderates and Democrats of Milan from I 848

to I 8 5 9 ), Critica Sociale, I 6 November I 899 (VIII, I 9 ), pp. 297-99 and I December I 899 (VIII, 20), pp. 3 I 7- I 9 . This article was reprinted as a chapter in a book which was also published under the pseudonymous authorship of Rerum Scriptor, I partiti politici milanesi nel secolo XIX

(Milan: Biblioteca dell' Educazione Politica, I 899). In it, Salvemini attacked Bonfadini for defending even the weakness of the moderates; see Romualdo Bonfadini, Mezzo secolo di patriottismo, 2d ed. (Milan: Treves, I 866). Gramsci made a slight error in recording the title of Bonfadini's book; he changed it from Half a Century !Mezzo Secolo] of Patriotism to Fifty Years !Cinquant 'anni] of Patriotism.

Romualdo Bonfadini ( I 83 I - I 899) at first espoused democratic ideals but he became a monarchist-a position he promoted through his contributions to various journals and newspapers as well as his books on history. A deputy in four legislatures he was made senator in I 896.

41. See R. Bonfadini, Mezzo Secolo di patriottismo, pp. I 7 3 -74 note.

42. The "depositions" ("costituti"l in question are the statements made by Confalonieri during the interrogations that preceded his trial for conspiracy against the Austrians. The documents of these "depositions" had been conserved in the state archives in Vienna and were discovered by Francesco Salata in I 924, but the article to which Gramsci refers appeared in I 926; see "I costituti di Federico Confalonieri rivendicati in Italia"

!Federico Confalonieri's Depositions Vindicated in Italy), Corriere della Sera, I S April I 926. These documents were subsequently handed over to the Italian government and entrusted to the state archive in Milan.

Count Federico Confalonieri ( 1 78 5 - I 846), although married to a woman with close ties to the viceroy's court in Lombardy, was a strong opponent of Napoleonic domination in Italy. He campaigned hard for Lombard and Italian independence, participating in and organizing many conspiracies.

Notes to the Text. §44

43 7

He sought and developed contacts with French liberals and became a leader of the "Federati" who worked for the ouster of Austria from Italian soil. At the same time he campaigned hard for educational and infrastructural improvements in Lombardy. He was arrested in 1 8 2 1 with several other conspirators who were seeking to organize an uprising against Austrian rule. After an unusually long trial he was condemned to death in 1 82 3 . His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and later he was allowed to go into exile. He stayed for a short time in the United States before returning to Europe in 1 8 3 7. He lived in France, Belgium and Switzerland where he died.

4 3 · See "I costituti del Conte Confalonieri" (Count Confalonieri's Depositions), La Civilta Cattolica, 18 October 1 902 (LIII, xviii, 8 ), pp. 1 44-5 7 · This article takes issue with Alessandro D'Ancona for having maintained that the Confalonieri depositions were not to be found in Italian archives, and then goes on to say:

The Confalonieri depositions were not destroyed, as we are led to believe: they were left in the archive of the Law Courts in Milan [ . . ].

.

Therefore, why hide them? Why not let public opinion feed on the truth and put an end to the gossip? Is it because of the fear, perhaps, that if the depositions of Federico Confalonieri, Silvio Pellico, Pietro Maroncelli

. . . were to be made known, the whole edifice of a unified Italy would collapse ?

44· See Alexandre Philippe Andryane, Memorie di un prigionero di Stato allo Spielberg, selections, notes, and preface by Rosolino Guastella (Florence: Barbera, 1 9 1 6 ). This small book which is here cited from memory, must have been among the books Gramsci left behind in Rome.

Subsequent citations- see Notebook 8, §6 and §2 3-lead one to believe that later on Gramsci had access to the book, even though it is not preserved among the volumes Gramsci owned in prison.

The Marquis Giorgio Pallavicino-Trivulzio ( 1 794- 1 87 8 ), from Lombardy, spent fourteen years in the Spielberg prison during the same period as Silvio Pellico. In 1 848 he was a staunch republican but he converted to the view that Italian unification could be achieved only under the aegis of Piedmont, or more precisely, the Royal House of Savoy. He played an influential role in Gioberti's shift away from neo-Guelphism. Together with Daniele Manin, he founded the National Society with the dual goal of rallying public opinion in favor of unity and independence under the leadership of the King of Sardinia and of persuading King Victor Emmanuel to undertake the leadership of and commit his army to the cause of unification. On Pallavicino and the National Society, see also Notebook I, §84.

45 · Gramsci is referring to Luzio's monograph An tonio Salvotti e i

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0 ) processi del Ven tuno (Antonio Salvotti and the Trials of 1 82 1 ) which was first published in 1 90 1 and later reprinted in Alessandro Luzio, Studi critici (Milan: Cogliati, 1 92 7 ), pp. 29 1 -49 1 . Luzio presents a detailed defense of Antonio Salvotti's behavior as the investigating magistrate in the famous trial of Silvio Pellico and Pietro Maroncelli (also in 1 82 1 ) and in the Confalonieri trial. Luzio openly defends Salvotti who was notorious for the zeal with which he prosecuted patriots suspected of subversive activity against the Austrian regime. Gramsci returns to this topic in Notebook 1 9, § 5 3 .

Alessandro Luzio ( 1 8 5 7- 1 946) violently attacked all radical and revolutionary tendencies in his early journalistic writings. Having been found guilty in a libel suit, he avoided serving his sentence by taking refuge in Vienna; during his time there ( 1 89 3 - 1 898) he was a correspondent for the Carriere della Sera and the Gazzetta di Torino. A pardon enabled him to return to Italy where he was first appointed director of the state archive in Mantua ( 1 899) and later superintendent of the state archive in Turin ( 1 9 1 8 ). The author of several historical studies on the Italian Renaissance and the Risorgimento, Luzio was inducted into the Italian Academy in 1 929. For a comment on the tendentiousness of Luzio's historiography, see Notebook 8, § 2 3 .

46 . See Alfredo Panzini, Vita di Cavour, ch. 6 , i n L'ltalia Letteraria, 30

June 1 929 (I, 1 3 ) :

That same year, 1 8 5 7, the Austrian Emperor, Franz Josef, came t o visit his lovely Kingdom of Italy. He was in Milan, a short distance from Turin; but Cavour did not even send him a chamberlain's saddlecloth he could use as a courtesy. The Turin press was full of mockery toward certain unrepentant Lombard nobles who thought they were still living in the times of the Holy Roman Empire and went to bow before Franz Josef. (Indeed, there was a lady who honored the Emperor in a horrible manner. The balconies along the Emperor's way were to be decorated; this lady decorated her balcony with a tiger-skin.) 47· Gramsci makes several comments in his notebooks on the interpretations of the Risorgimento as a "royal conquest" -see especially, Notebook 9, §89 and § n r .

48 . Gramsci is clearly alluding to the opening phrase of The Communist Manifesto: "A spectre is haunting Europe. "

49 · See Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, "Address of the Central Authority to the [Communist] League" (March 1 8 5 0) in K. Marx and F.

Engels, Collected Works, Vol. 10 (New York: International Publishers, 1 97 8 ), pp. 2 8 1 , 286-8 7 :

Notes to the Text. §44

43 9

While the democratic petty bourgeois wish to bring the revolution to a conclusion as quickly as possible, and with the achievement, at most, of the above demands, it is our interest and our task to make the revolution permanent, until all more or less possessing classes have been forced out of their position of dominance, the proletariat has conquered state power, and the association of proletarians, not only in one country but in all the dominant countries of the world, has advanced so far that competition among the proletarians in these countries has ceased and that at least the decisive productive forces are concentrated in the hands of the proletarians . . . .

If the German workers are not able to attain power and achieve their own class interests without completely going through a lengthy revolutionary development, they at least know for a certainty this time that the first act of this approaching revolutionary drama will coincide with the direct victory of their own class in France and will be very much accelerated by it.

But they themselves must do the utmost for their final victory by making it clear to themselves what their class interests are, by taking up their position as an independent party as soon as possible and by not allowing themselves to be misled for a single moment by the hypocritical phrases of the democratic petty bourgeois into refraining from the independent organization of the party of the proletariat. Their battle cry must be: The Revolution in Permanence.

s o. See the special author's introduction to the English edition of Frederick Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scien tific (London : Swan Sonnenschein, 1 892), pp. xxii-xxiv: In Calvinism, the second great bourgeois upheaval found its doctrine ready cut and dried. This upheaval took place in England. The middleclass of the towns brought it on, and the yeomanry of the country districts fought it out. Curiously enough, in all the three great bourgeois risings, the peasantry furnishes the army that has to do the fighting; and the peasantry is just the class that, the victory once gained, is most surely ruined by the economic consequences of that victory. A hundred years after Cromwell, the yeomanry of England had almost disappeared.

Anyhow, had it not been for that yeomanry and for the plebeian element in the towns, the bourgeoisie alone would never have fought the matter out to the bitter end, and would never have brought Charles I to the scaffold. In order to secure even those conquests of the bourgeoisie that were ripe for gathering at the time, the revolution had to be carried considerably further-exactly as in 1 793 in France and 1 848 in Germany. This seems, in fact, to be one of the laws of evolution of bourgeois society.

Well, upon this excess of revolutionary activity there necessarily

440

NOTES : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

followed the inevitable reaction which in its tum went beyond the point where it might have maintained itself. After a series of oscillations, the new centre of gravity was at last attained and became a new startingpoint. The grand period of English history, known to respectability under the name of "the Great Rebellion, " and the struggles succeeding it, were brought to a close by the comparatively puny event entitled by Liberal historians, "the Glorious Revolution."

The new starting-point was a compromise between the rising middleclass and the ex-feudal landowners. The latter, though called, as now, the aristocracy, had been long since on the way which led them to become what Louis Philippe in France became at a much later period,

"the first bourgeois of the kingdom." Fortunately for England, the old feudal barons had killed one another during the Wars of the Roses. Their successors, though mostly scions of the old families, had been so much out of the direct line of descent that they constituted quite a new body, with habits and tendencies far more bourgeois than feudal. They fully understood the value of money, and at once began to increase their rents by turning hundreds of small farmers out and replacing them by sheep.

Henry VIII, while squandering the Church lands, created fresh bourgeois landlords by wholesale; the innumerable confiscations of estates, regranted to absolute or relative upstarts, and continued during the whole of the seventeenth century, had the same result. Consequently, ever since Henry VIII, the English "aristocracy, " far from counteracting the development of industrial production, had, on the contrary, sought to indirectly profit thereby; and there had always been a section of the great landowners willing, from economical or political reasons, to cooperate with the leading men of the financial and industrial bourgeoisie.

The compromise of 1 689 was, therefore, easily accomplished. The political spoils of "pelf and place" were left to the great land-owning families, provided the economic interests of the financial, manufacturing, and commercial middle-class were sufficiently attended to. And these economic interests were at that time powerful enough to determine the general policy of the nation. There might be squabbles about matters of detail, but, on the whole, the aristocratic oligarchy knew too well that its own economic prosperity was irretrievably bound up with that of the industrial and commercial middle-class.

5 I . This is the first mention in the notebooks of one of the earliest and most important Italian Marxist philosophers, Antonio Labriola [ I 843-1 904). Gramsci is most probably referring to an observation made by Labriola in Discorrendo di socialismo e di filosofia: In Germany [ . . . ] social democracy has been reduced to and stuck in a closed phalanx because of special historical reasons and above all because the bourgeoisie has been unable to sever its ties completely with

Notes to the Text. §44

44 1

the ancien regime !notice that the Emperor continues to speak with impunity in the language of a vice-god, when in fact he is nothing but a Frederick Barbarossa acting as a traveling salesman of goods made in Germany) . . .

See Antonio Labriola, Discorrendo di socialismo e di filosofia, 2d ed.

(Rome: Loescher, 1 902), p. 44-Gramsci owned this book but did not have it with him in prison. For an English translation, see Antonio Labriola, Socialism and Philosophy (Chicago : Charles Kerr, 1 906 ); its version of the quoted passage is on p. 49· Antonio Labriola's best known work, Saggi sulla concezione materialistica della storia consists of three major texts which were originally published separately. The first two are: In memoria del Manifesto dei Comunisti (In Memory of the Communist Manifesto) and Del materialismo storico jOn Historical Materialism). These two texts were translated into English in one volume-see Antonio Labriola, Essays on the Materialistic Conception of History ( Chicago: Charles Kerr

&. Co., 1 908 ). The third text is the one quoted above, Discorrendo di socialismo e filosofia, which was the first to be translated into English and published as a book on its own. The title page of Socialism and Philosophy indicates that it is translated "From the Third Italian Edition, Revised and Amplified by the Author" but, in fact, it corresponds to the text of the second ( 1 902) edition of Labriola's text- the same edition Gramsci owned and read.

5 2· When Garibaldi set out with his famous Thousand to conquer Sicily in May 1 8 6o, he and Cavour were publicly at odds with each other.

Garibaldi had upbraided Cavour in parliament for ceding Nice and Savoy to France. Cavour, on his pan, feared that Garibaldi's ventures would seriously disrupt his foreign policy. The expedition got under way with the seizure of two steamers in Genoa. As soon as the ships left the harbor, they headed for the beach of nearby Quarto where they picked up Garibaldi's volunteer force.

5 3 · The Jacobin slogan coined by Marx is the phrase "revolution in permanence, " or "permanent revolution," already referred to.

Parvus ( 1 869-1 924) was the pen name of Alexander Helfand (sometimes spelled as "Gelfand"), a Russian Jew who emigrated to Germany where he developed close associations within Social Democracy circles and gained considerable prominence through his writing and political activity. He collaborated with Rosa Luxemburg and others in the attack on revisionism. In 1 90 5 he returned to Russia and for about two years worked closely with Trotsky (Bronstein); they co-edited Russkoye Slovo and Nachalo. Parvus wrote the introduction to Trotsky's pamphlet "Until the Ninth of January" ( 1 905 ) and in it he articulated the theory of "permanent revolution" which was to become so closely identified with Trot-

442

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0) sky. The basic thesis was that given the bourgeoisie's inability to carry out its own revolution, the proletariat had to undertake the task itself and then proceed through "permanent revolution" toward the final goal of true socialism. This meant that the proletariat, although still a minority in semi-feudal and industrially undeveloped Russia, did not have to wait for capitalist development under bourgeois rule to create the proper conditions before taking power. Therefore, Parvus and Trotsky believed that the proletariat (represented by the Social Democratic Party) should assume responsibility for the provisional government. At the same time, Trotsky also believed that the success of the "permanent revolution"

could only be assured if the revolution was spread throughout the West where the conditions were ripe for socialist success- "socialism in one country" would not only be practically impossible to achieve, especially in a country as backward as Russia, but it would also contradict the necessarily international character of socialism. From the beginning, Trotsky's theories were the subject of many debates among the Bolsheviks and over the years several interlocutors (among them Bukharin) shifted positions. Gramsci's reference to "the tendency which opposed" the Parvus

Trotsky thesis specifically recalls the extensive and complex debates in the Soviet Union between 1 924 and 1 926--debates that addressed fundamental questions about the character of the Revolution and about the appropriate policies that should be adopted on the road toward the realization of a socialist society. In 1 9 2 5 , Stalin affirmed the doctrine of "socialism in one country" and condemned the concept of "permanent revolution." Bukharin argued that while only world revolution would protect the Soviet Union from the external threats posed by capitalist countries, nonetheless it was entirely possible, even necessary, to continue building socialism in the Soviet Union notwithstanding the revolutionary failures in the industrialized European countries. Central to all these debates was the question of economic policy and the relative roles of the three classes that made up Soviet society: the proletariat, the peasants and the new bourgeoisie. Those Bolsheviks who endorsed the New Economic Policy (chief among them Bukharin) envisioned and theorized an alliance of the proletariat with the peasantry- the "two classes" mentioned by Gramsci.

For Trotsky's own retrospective account of the circumstances surrounding the publication of his pamphlet "Until the Ninth of January, "

his relationship with Parvus, the theoretical and strategic views he espoused and their subsequent distortion, see, inter alia, Leon Trotsky, Stalin (New York: Harper, 1 9 4 1 ), especially the chapter on "Three Concepts of the Russian Revolution" which is also reprinted in The Basic Writings of Trotsky, ed. Irving Howe (New York: Random House, 1 9 6 3 ).

Notes to the Text. §45

443

§45 . Sicilian in tellectuals

1 . All the information in this note is derived from an article by Antonio Prestinenza, "La sicula Atene" ( Sicilian Athens) in La Fiera Letteraria, 3 March 1 929 (V, 9 ).

2. Domenico Tempio ( 1 7 5 0- I 82 1 ), a Sicilian lyric poet from Catania, also wrote some satire and farce. His epigrams gained some regional popularity.

Vincenzo Bellini ( r 8o 1 - 1 8 3 s ), the composer who became famous for such operas as Norma and I Puritani, was born in Catania.

3· Mario Rapisardi ( 1 844- 1 9 1 2 ), a poet, was born in Catania and spent his life there. In 1 870 he became a professor of Italian literature at the University of Catania. An admirer of Goethe, Byron, Hugo and Lamartine, he was an extremely prolific writer who composed several long, grandiose poems in which he sought to give poetic expression to the positivist, atheist, and socialist currents of his period. Lucifero ( 1 877), for example, is an anti-clerical long poem in which Lucifer is made to embody the debilitating influence of all forms of superstitions. In that same poem, Rapisardi made a satirical remark about Carducci which sparked a bitter controversy, inflamed by the incitement of Carducci's adversaries.

Garibaldi's and Victor Hugo's comments on Rapisardi are quoted in Prestinenza's article which is Gramsci's source. These comments had been reported by Rapisardi himself in a letter to Giovanni Andrea Scartazzini, 24 May 1 8 9 3 ; see Mario Rapisardi, Epistolario, ed. Alfio Tomaselli (Catania: F. Battiato, 1 922), pp. 309- 10. The remark Rapisardi purportedly uttered on his deathbed is recorded in the "Introduction" to the edition of his letters (Epistolario). The introductory essay also provides the precise source of Rapisardi's remark (which Gramsci quotes somewhat loosely from Prestinenza's article)-it is a line from Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata (Canto XIX, v. 205 ) : "Argante died, and he died as he had lived. " The polemic between Rapisardi and Carducci was widely known even at the time when Gramsci was writing; the exchanges were first published in 1 88 1 in a volume that went through many editions: see, for example, Giuosue Carducci -Mario Rapisardi, Polemica, 5 th ed. (Catania: Giannotta, 1 926).

Giuseppe De Felice Giuffrida ( 1 8 5 9- 1 920), a journalist and politician, was born and died in Catania. Initially a socialist, he was among the organizers of the workers' Fasci in Sicily, for which he was arrested following the 1 894 disturbances. He served as deputy in three legislatures during which time he drifted away from socialism. He supported the Libyan war in 1 9 1 1 and favored Italian intervention in World War I.

4· Luigi Capuana ( 1 8 3 9- 1 9 1 5 ) spent most of his life in Catania where he was born and died. Capuana wrote short stories and novels, apart from

444

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

a large body of drama in Sicilian dialect. An important and influential literary critic, he was a major theorist of the verismo movement. His books on contemporary literature reveal his knowledge of the various European literary currents, especially French naturalism. Capuana, much of whose fiction is in the "verist" mode, had a considerable impact on Giovanni Verga and other writers of the same generation.

Federico De Roberto ( I 86 I - I 927) was born in Naples and after some years in Milan, where he contributed literary criticism to the Carriere della Sera, he settled in Sicily. Like Verga and Capuana, he was a major exponent of verismo. He later became interested in psychology which he sought to reconcile with verismo in his fiction. De Roberto wrote several novels and short stories, essays on psychology and in literary criticism, as well as a book on Giacomo Leopardi.

§46. The Moderates and the intellectuals

1 . Vincenzo Gioberti ( I 8o i - I 8 p ) was ordained priest in I 82 5 and appointed chaplain to the royal court in Piedmont in 1 8 3 I . Two years later, however, he was arrested and imprisoned for allegedly belonging to the subversive Mazzinian "Giovine Italia" (Young Italy) movement. He went into exile and after a year in Paris stayed in Brussels for ten years ( I 8 3 5 -45 ). During this period he wrote books on philosophy and on politics. In his philosophical work, Gioberti challenged the position of Antonio Rosmini, a leading Italian philosopher of the time; he considered it and other contemporary philosophical currents, including the Cartesian tradition, psychologistic and subjectivist. He argued for a philosophy based on metaphysical objectivity. The starting point of Gioberti's philosophical system (often labeled "ontologism") is the absolute reality and essential centrality of Being. Being creates existence, and the history of the human spirit is a process or a journey from existence back to the originary Being.

In his own view, Gioberti was reconciling material existence with the life of the spirit; culture or civilization, i.e. the work of the intellectual, could transform the sensible created world into rationality, in other words it would make the life of the spirit a historical actuality. (Orthodox Catholic theologians and philosophers objected to the pantheism implicit in these views. ) Gioberti's political theories were closely linked to his philosophical ideas-hence his emphasis on culture and the history or progress of civilization. He was widely acclaimed for the book he published in I 843, Primato morale e civile degli Italiani (The Moral and Civil Primacy of the Italian People) in which he revealed himself to be more moderate politically than his early association with republicanism could have led one to expect. In Primato he provided a reactionary interpretation of history, attributing the general modem malaise to the Reformation, the rise of

Notes to the Text. §46

445

Humanism, and the widespread effects of the Enlightenment. The Italian tradition, he claimed, resisted these changes, it remained the center of a universal Catholicism under the unifying presence of the papacy, and was therefore in a privileged position to provide Europe with an exemplary model of a stable state-a culmination of Western civilization. He, therefore, proposed a neo-Guelph solution to the problem of Italian unification: a federation under the tutelage of the pope. For a while even Pius IX

seemed attracted to this proposal since it theoretically reconciled liberalism and Catholicism, it envisioned a unified Italian nation while preserving a special role for the papacy. Gioberti returned to Turin in 1 848, was elected to the newly formed parliament in Piedmont, served for a few months as prime minister, and was named ambassador to France. Disillusioned by the pope's unwillingness to join the war of Italian liberation against Austria, and more open to the democratic ideals that inspired many of the 1 848 uprisings, Gioberti revised his earlier political views in a book he published in I 8 5 I, Rinnovamento civile d'Italia (The Civil Renewal of Italy).

2. Ferdinanda Galiani ( I 728- 1 7 87), also called Abbe Galiani, was best known for his books on economics and on trade, although he also wrote on the Neapolitan dialect, and his correspondence with French friends contains very interesting philosophical reflections. He spent several years in Paris as a secretary in the embassy of the Kingdom of Sicily and Naples and established close relations with Diderot, Madame d'Epinay, and other intellectuals who frequented the fashionable salons.

In this instance, Gramsci most probably has in mind the comments on Galiani made by Benedetto Croce in Saggio sullo Hegel, seguito da altri scritti di storia della filosofia, 3d ed. (Bari: Laterza, I 927), pp.

3 2 I -2 2 :

A Neapolitan, he possessed a good measure of the open·mindedness which in Southerners is mixed with passionate and imaginative exuberance-hence the realism which is often seen as no less a characteristic of Southern thought than of Southern literature and art. He was open minded and he liked to see all the veils stripped off ; even when they were not veils, perhaps, but part of the thing itself [ . ] It was the period

. .

of general and simplistic theories, and Galiani abhorred the simplistic and generalities [ . ] It was a period of grand talk, and Galiani tapped it

. .

with his fingers and made the hollowness resound.

Gramsci owned two copies of this book by Croce; he sent one of the copies to Tatiana Schucht (see "Description of the Manuscript"-Notebook I ) asking her to forward it to his wife, Julia. See Gramsci's letter to Julia Schucht, IO April I 9 3 3 · The copy which is preserved with Gramsci's books (i.e., the "Fondo Gramsci") has a brief inscription in Gramsci's

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 3 0) hand on the blank page preceding the frontispiece: "Antonio Gramsci

Ustica-December I 926."

Gramsci quotes Galiani in Notebook I , § 1 20.

3. The mutual" or monitorial teaching method was developed during

"

the late eighteenth century by Joseph Lancaster and Andrew Bell. Early in the nineteenth century it was adopted in various parts of Europe ( Confalonieri was one of its leading proponents in Italy), England, the United States, and Canada. It was a system intended to resolve the problem of how to provide mass elementary education with relatively few teachers and limited funds. In the highly formalized and rigidly structured system perfected by Lancaster, a teacher would instruct the better pupils to help the other children and monitor their study. By using children to teach other children it was believed possible to provide education for large numbers without the need to hire many teachers and assistants. Institutions organized along these lines were also commonly referred to as Lancaster schools.

Gino Capponi ( I 792- I 876 ) was a moderate liberal politician, historian, and educator from Tuscany. In Frammento sull' educazione, written in I 84 I but published only four years later, he criticized pedagogical practices which suffocated the child's mental development by the superimposition of precepts. He argued for a pedagogy which would allow the child's mind to unfold or develop freely-a view clearly influenced by the ideas of Rousseau and by naturalistic theories of education, such as those put forward by the Swiss educator J.H. Pestalozzi (mentioned by Gramsci in Notebook I, § I 2 3 ).

Ferrante Aporti ( I 7 9 I - I 8 S 8 ), an educator, established some of the earliest infant schools in Italy. He was a teacher and school administrator in Cremona before moving to Piedmont in I 848 when he was made senator.

His liberal approach to education (as well as politics) strongly reflected the influence of Rousseau and Pestalozzi. On Aporti and infant schools, see also Notebook s, § 3 .

4 · Moderate liberals and reformers organized several professional associations, initiatives, journals, etc. which cut across state boundaries and fostered a sense of national identity. Among the most important of these were the scientific congresses which were held annually starting in I 8 3 9

and attracted participants from all over Italy.

s . Among the most important journals were I1 Politecnico founded by Carlo Cattaneo in I 8 3 9 and I1 Risorgimento which started appearing in I 847 and to which Cavour himself contributed.

Notes to the Text. §48

447

§47 . Hegel and associationism

I . Among the books Gramsci had in prison which may have suggested to him some ideas concerning the interpretation of Hegel's concept of the state, see Victor Basch, Les Doctrines politiques des philosophes classiques de l'Allemagne (Leibniz-Kant-Fichte-Hegel) (Paris : Alcan, I 927).

The theories to which Gramsci refers are expounded in Hegel's Philosophy of Right: Section II, pars. 2 5 0- 5 6 and Section III, pars. 3 0 I - 5 . However, it appears that Gramsci did not have access to this work by Hegel while in prison.

2. Filippo Buonarroti ( 1 76 I - I 8 3 7 ) was an associate of Fran�ois-Noel Babeuf whose revolutionary theories he actively promoted. He was considerably influential in the political and revolutionary formation of Louis

Auguste Blanqui ( I 80 5 - I 88 I ). They were both disappointed by the outcome of the I 830 uprising which deposed Charles X but brought a bourgeois regime in its wake. Buonarroti and Blanqui had a considerable impact on Italian radical thought.

3· See Paul Louis, Histoire du socialisme en France depuis la revolution jusqu 'a nos ;ours ( Paris: Riviere, I 9 2 5 ); Maurice Block, Dictionnaire general de la Politique, nouvelle edition, 2 vols. ( Paris: Lorenz, I 873 -74); Francois Alphonse Aulard, Histoire politique de la Revolution fran{:aise, 6th ed. ( Paris: Colin, I 926); Charles Andler, Le Manifeste Communiste de Karl Marx et F. Engels, Introduction historique et commentaire ( Paris: Rieder, n.d. )-of which Gramsci owned a copy; Alessandro Luzio, La Massoneria e I1 Risorgimento italiano, 2 vols. (Bologna : Zanichelli, I 92 5 ).

§ 48. Charles Maurras ' reverse facobinism

I . Gramsci is referring to a page number in his manuscript which corresponds to Notebook I, § I 8.

2 . Stenterello is a mask-character from the Florentine popular theater of the late eighteenth century. He represents the rather harmless, shiftless simpleton who is always ready with an answer-a type used in popular drama for parodic effect. Gramsci's pairing of Machiavelli and Stenterello is an evocation of a quatrain from II Mementomo by the Tuscan satiric poet Giuseppe Giusti ( I 809- I 8 5 o) :

Dietro ]'avella

di Machiavello

giace lo scheletro

di Stenterello.

("Behind the tomb/of Machiavelli/lies the skeleton/of Stenterello.") Gramsci had quoted the same lines in an article, "Stenterello, " Avanti!, IO March

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 0) 1 9 1 7 . A brief extract from this article is indicative of how Gramsci uses the figure of Stenterello:

The figure of a single Machiavelli is surrounded by a whole crowd of Stenterellos-Stenterellos who howl, bawl, and preen themselves with the serious mien of self-satisfied academics; they eulogize the virtues of their race, the great wisdom of their ancestors while they themselves do nothing, they do not work, they do not produce an idea, or anything.

Stenterello is not even a human; he is a monkey. Stenterello is the prototype of the Italian bourgeoisie- talkative, vain, hollow; it refuses to adapt itself to modest but productive anonymous collective work, but it always amuses itself by playing the guitar to sing the praises of the glorious deeds of its ancestors, though this bourgeoisie is no more than a bunch of lousy upstarts.

There are several references to the figure of Stenterello in Gramsci's journalistic writings, as well as in the notebooks; see, for example, Notebook 9, §25 and §27.

3 · The term arditi here refers to volunteer assault troops or commando squads. Arditi literally means "daring ones" and it gained currency during World War I when the elite assault units in the Italian army were so called. The terms arditi and arditismo acquired new connotations after the War when veterans from the elite squads formed the Arditi Association. Many of the ex-arditi were passionately nationalist and joined D'Annunzio in his invasion of Fiume in 1 9 1 9 . Several of them joined Mussolini's "Fasci di Combattimento. " The term was also adopted by leftist groups which were formed in 1 9 2 1 to oppose Fascist squads-they called themselves arditi del popolo.

4· An allusion to a book by Leon Daudet, Le stupide XIXe siecle (Paris : Librairie d'Action Franrraise, Paris, 1 922), which Gramsci discusses in Notebook 3, §62.

s . See Leon Daudet, "L'Action Franrraise quotidienne a vingt ans " in Almanach de l'Action Fran(:aise. XXIeme. annee. 1 929 (Paris: Librairie de

!'Action Fran�aise, 1 929), p. p :

Ce qui est precisement remarquable, c'est que les comites directeurs de l'A.F. aient vecu pendant vingt ans dans un contact joumalier, au milieu de vicissitudes de toutes sortes, sans le moindre dissentiment serieux.

Cette union, que l'on peut dire indissoluble, est a l'origine de nos succes et est le signe de notre victoire certaine. Car, en verite, ce qui nous reste a realiser, par tous les moyens Jegaux et illegaux, est peu de choses visa-vis des tours de force que l'A.F. a deja reussis et dont le plus rare est cette unanimite dans la determination et dans !'action.

Leon Daudet ( 1 867-1 942 ), together with Charles Maurras, transformed L'Action Fran(:aise into a daily paper in 1 908.

Notes to the Text. §49

449

6. Joseph-Marie Caillaux ( I 86 3- I 944), an exceedingly controversial French politician, was involved in a number of sensational scandals. He was elected deputy for the first time in I 898, quickly established himself as a fiscal expert and within a year was appointed minister of finance. He was named prime minister in I 9 I 1 but was forced to resign after less than a year for ceding French colonial territories to Germany. Caillaux came under attack for his lack of patriotism. In the meantime he moved further to the political left as he joined the Socialists in opposing the French military buildup. The editor of the powerful, conservative Le Figaro who threatened to publicly blackmail Caillaux was shot to death by Madame Caillaux- she was acquitted in a trial that caused a public uproar. After the War, which he opposed, Caillaux was tried for treason but was found guilty only on some relatively minor charges. During the economic crisis of the I 920s, Caillaux succeeded in restoring his credibility and by I 92 S

he was, once again, appointed finance minister. H e was elected to the Senate in I 927, by which time his political position was basically centrist.

Caillaux's pacificism and his long association with the Socialists and other left-of-center groups made any suggestion that he would align himself with the ultra-conservative, nationalist Action Fran�aise seem utterly incongruous.

§49 . "Organic cen tralism " and Maurras ' doctrines 1 . For a discussion of "organic centralism" see Notebook 9, §68.

§so. An A.M.M.A. documen t concerning the North-South question

1 . Some of the confidential documents of A.M.M.A. -Associazione Metallurgici, Meccanici e Affini (The Engineering Employers' Association)-which were found in the offices of the FIAT automobile company and other companies in Turin during the workers' occupation of factories, were published in the Piedmont edition of Avanti! starting on 6 September I 920. The documents included blacklists of supposedly subversive workers and contained materials revealing discriminatory measures taken against workers. Publication of these documents continued throughout the month of September, but the circular mentioned here by Gramsci does not appear among these published documents. Gramsci mentions the same circular in a letter to Tatiana Schucht, 2 I March I 93 2 : " . . . a secret circular of the Association of Metallurgical Industrialists of Piedmont was published in September I 920; this circular enjoined factories, during the war, not to employ workers born 'below Florence, ' that is from Southern and Central Italy. "

450

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0) 2. References to this phenomenon can be found in the Communist press of the time. For example, L'Unita of 10 December 1 92 5 reported that in a speech delivered in parliament the previous day, Luigi Repossi said: "In 1 9 2 5 we are witnessing this truly unique event: while northern workers are being laid off, the owners of the North are buying up southern labor."

Giovanni Agnelli ( 1 866- 1 94 5 ) was a dominant figure in Italian industry. He founded the FIAT automobile company in 1 899 in Turin. Within a couple of decades FIAT became an industrial giant producing, among other things, engines for aircraft and naval vessels. Military contracts strengthened FIAT even further. After World War I, Agnelli spearheaded the Italian industrialists' opposition against the trade unions and other leftist workers' movements. Mussolini made Agnelli a senator in 1 92 3 .

Riccardo Gualino ( 1 879-1 964) was a n international trader, industrialist and financier. In addition to becoming a vice president of FIAT he held important positions in a wide variety of industrial concerns. Gualino was also a supporter of the arts and a promoter of culture. In I 9 3 I he was interned on the island of Lipari where he wrote Frammenti di vita (Milan: Mondadori, 1 9 3 1 ). For a comment by Gramsci on Gualino and his memoirs, see Notebook 10, §45 .

3 · Gramsci may be thinking of the short story "Fortezza" by Edmonda De Amicis ( I 846- 1 908 ) in which a captured "carabiniere" is tortured by some brigands-even though the story makes no mention of the victim's tongue being cut out. As a young man, De Amicis was an infantry officer in the Piedmontese army and some of his writings deal with military topics. In 1 867, he was put in charge of L 'Italia Militare, the journal of the War Ministry. He abandoned his military career early and devoted the rest of his life to writing. After publishing a series of rather conventional travel books he turned to fiction. His novels are rather sentimental, moralistic and even didactic, but they sometimes deal interestingly with important social issues such as emigration, lower class poverty, public education, etc. He is best known for his novel, Cuore ( 1 88 6 ), the chronicle of a year in the life of an elementary school child.

4· See Luigi Pirandello's short story "L'altro figlio" ( 1 905 ).

5· See Giovanni D'Adamo, 11 gran mascherone della civiltii (Naples: Morani, I 897). A passage from this book describing the horrible atrocities that took place in the suppression of brigandage was quoted in an article,

"Berberi d'Italia" (Italian Berbers) by Gaetano Salvemini, published in the regular column, "Frammenti della vita italiana" (Fragments of Italian Life) in L'Unitii, 30 December I 9 I I (I, 3 ) . In the article, Salvemini criticized the racist attitudes displayed by certain sectors of the Italian press in their response to the massacre of Italians taken prisoners in Libya. Citing D'Adamo's book and other sources, Salvemini reminded his readers of the

Notes to the Text. § 5 r

4 5 1

ferocity displayed by Italian "gentlemen" fifty years earlier in the suppression of brigandage and the revolt in Palermo.

6. See Giulio Bechi, Caccia grossa. Scene e figure del banditismo sardo (Milan, 1 9 1 9 ). Gramsci had remarked on this book (Big Game Hunting: Scenes and Characters of Sardinian Banditry) in an article, "11 lanzo ubriaco"

(The Drunken Mercenary), Avan ti!, 1 8 February 1 920: "Giulio Bechi's Caccia grossa is the naive account of a subaltern officer who declares a state of siege in Sardinia, takes old people, women, and babies hostage, and then gets punished by the military authorities for hurting the feelings of the Sardinian intellectuals by writing perverse things about the color of the sky, the countryside, and the chastity of the women. "

Giulio Bechi ( 1 870- 1 9 1 7 ) was a career military officer who participated in the Eritrean war, the suppression of brigandage in Sardinia ( 1 897- 1 900) and the Libyan campaign. His writings deal with military themes.

7. It has not been possible to identify the book to which Gramsci alludes. He had mentioned what seems to be the same work (although in one instance he gives a different date) in two articles. In "Gli scopritori"

(The Discoverers), in the column "Sotto la Mole, " in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 24 May 1 9 1 6, Gramsci wrote: "An officer who went to Cagliari in 1 9 1 0 to suppress a strike, pitied the women of Sardinia who were destined to become the legal partners of the monkeys clothed in untanned hides, and he felt within him (his exact words) an awakening of the genius of the species (the one which is not clothed in hides) that called for the good work of improving the race. " Later, in an article on socialism in Sardinia addressing the Sardinian proletariat- "La Sardegna e il socialismo : ai compagni proletari sardi" (Sardinia and Socialism: To the Sardinian Proletarian Comrades) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 1 3 July 1 9 1 9-Gramsci referred to the same text again: "An officer could not resist saying in a 1 906 publication that he pitied Sardinian women destined to become wives of the ugly peasants. "

§ 5 1 . The clergy a s in tellectuals

1 . Antonio Rosmini Serbati ( 1 797-1 8 5 5 ) was a priest, philosopher and political theorist. In 1 848, King Carlo Alberto sent him to Rome to meet Pius IX on a diplomatic mission which proved unsuccessful. A year later, his works-one of them, La costituzione secondo ]a guistizia sociale (The Constitution According to Social Justice) published in 1 848-were placed on the Index of forbidden books. This induced him to retreat from public life but he stayed in touch with friends, including Alessandro Manzoni, and continued writing. His work strongly influenced contemporary intellectuals, even though his orthodoxy was seriously questioned. In his philosophical work, Rosmini sought an objective foundation for knowl-

45 2

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929 - I 9 3 0 ) edge and he proposed the thesis that every human mind possesses an innate idea of Being which is the basis of all intellective perceptions. In his political writings, Rosmini maintained that the state should limit itself to the role of guaranteeing individual rights, regulating the relations among families, and enabling the orderly preservation and accumulation of property. One of his severe critics was Vincenzo Gioberti who devoted a whole book, Degli errori filosofici di A. Rosmini ( 1 84 1 ), to revealing what he considered to be Rosmini's errors .

2 . See Arturo Carlo Jemolo, I1 giansenismo in Italia prima della rivoluzione (Bari : Laterza, 1 928); pp. xxii-xxi :

First of all, Anzilotti pointed out that the secular question on the relation between grace and free will has a practical value since the overvaluing of grace in the salvation of man, as the Jansenists do, would reduce the importance of the role of the Church. And this is a good argument for challenging the worldliness of the Church, its political power, the interference by churchmen in civil life [ . . . ] Above all one should note that Anzilotti's remarks on the practical value of the doctrines concerning grace, while certainly acute, bear no resemblance to factual reality.

This book by Jemolo on Jansenism in Italy before the revolution was among the volumes Gramsci had in prison. Jemolo (b. 1 89 I ) was a historian and legal scholar, author of many books and essays and a contributor to La Stampa and Il Ponte. He was interested in establishing ecclesiastical law as an autonomous legal discipline removed from all political considerations, and in drawing a clear distinction between Church law and State law.

Antonio Anzilotti ( x 88 5 - 1 924), a historian, was a contributor to La Voce. The author of an important study on Gioberti ( 1 922), he wrote mainly on the reforms in Tuscany during the late eighteenth century and on the various political and intellectual movements leading to Italian unification.

For a further comment on Jemolo's criticism of Anzilotti, see Notebook 8, §23 1 .

3 · See Kurt Kaser, Riforma e controriforma (Florence: Vallecchi, 1 927).

Part 2, ch. I of this work (originally published in German in 1 922), which Gramsci read in prison, is entitled "Calvinism; " see especially p. 8 6 : Luther's doctrine of justification was developed to its ultimate conclusion by Calvin: man is unable to act for his own salvation; only divine grace can help him. God alone can bestow grace on one and withhold it from another [ . . . ] Should this doctrine not lead to ethical quietism? Yet, it has been correctly observed that the most orally robust of all the evangelical churches, the one most prepared for struggle and martyrdom, was built precisely on predestination. The chosen can only be recog-

Notes to the Text. § 5 r

4 5 3

nized in the course of life, and it i s the ability to act morally that distinguishes those who possess divine grace. For this reason everyone makes the greatest effort in order to gain the knowledge of not being among the rejected.

4· See Andre Philip, Le Probleme ouvrier a ux Etats- Unis ( Paris: Alcan, 1 92 7 ), especially pp. 226-27:

Dans !'opinion americaine, toute imbue d e pragmatisme e t incapable de dissocier les deux concepts de verite et d'utilite, morale et religion sont en effet considerees comme de puissants stimulants a la production, done a l'enrichissement. Les grands patrons du Sud et de l'Ouest font une propagande religieuse intense aupres de leurs ouvriers et organisent des reunions de reveil, car, m'a-t-il ete declare a plusieurs reprises,

"apres le passage de l'evangeliste, la productivite des ouvriers augmente de 10 a 1 5 pour 1 oo." Le journal d'une grande entreprise textile de Ia Caroline donne aux ouvriers ces conseils edifiants: "Le grand statisticien Babson a demontre scientifiquement ( ! ) que les fils de pasteur ont 77,22

fois plus de chance de devenir millionnaires que les fils des autres familles; c'est que !'education religieuse forme le caractere, et le caractere est la cause essentielle du succes. " "Parents, donnez done une education religieuse a vos enfants, sinon vous leur enlevez une chance de reussir dans la vie." Dans une reunion du Rotary Club, a Denver, j 'entendis moi meme le president de !'Association pour le developpement des ecoles du dimanche faire un discours que l'on peut resumer en ces quatre points:

1 . Les Etats-Unis, grands pays industriels, ont besoin de capitaines d'industrie;

2. Pour etre capitaine d'industrie, il faut etre energique, abstinent, courageux et chaste;

3. Le christianisme cree ces vertus;

4· Done il faut donner une education chn!tienne a ses enfants.

Dieu n'est done plus qu'un ouvrier fordise, qui produit en serie les vertus necessaires au regime capitaliste.

Le moralisme utilitaire a tellement penetre la masse des industriels americains qu'ils sont pour Ia plupart incapables de penser separement les concepts de verite et d'utilite; dans une reunion des directeurs des services de personnel, comme j 'avais, dans une courte allocution indique que le christianisme pouvait ne pas conduire necessairement au succes dans les afaires, le president me repondit en affirmant Ia verite de la doctrine chretienne; pour lui, puisque je ne croyais pas le christianisme utile, j'etais evidemment un incredule; l'idee qu'une doctrine vraie puisse ne pas servir est inconcevable pour ces cerveaux pragmatiques.

Le religion n'est pas consideree seulement comme un moyen d'enri-

4 5 4

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 30) chissement, elle est aussi utilisee pour justifier les profits enormes de certaines entreprises; proclamant avec l'Evangile que "si l'on cherche d'abord le Royaume de Dieu et sa Justice, tout le reste vous sera donne par surcroit, " les industriels americains en concluent que s'ils re�oivent tout le reste (les gros dividendes), c'est qu'ils ont cherche premierement le Royaume de Dieu et sa Justice. Dans cette conception, qui s'exprime dans tous les discours prononces dans les Rotary Clubs et autres associations patronales, le profit est considere comme le signe du service rendu par }'entrepreneur a Ia societe, comme Ia mesure de son degre de moralite.

Gramsci had a copy of this book by Andre Philip while he was in prison and he refers to it on several other occasions in the notebooks.

s . In Le Probleme ouvrier aux Etats - Unis, Philip provides information about the following items which may have been of special interest to Gramsci : a report by the Interchurch World Movement on the steelworkers strike of 1 9 1 9 (pp. 26-28); a Catholic priest and a Protestant minister allowed their churches to be used by the strikers (p. 29); a campaign by the Interchurch World Movement to reduce the work day from twelve to eight hours in the steel mills (pp. 270-7 1 ); a pamphlet by the Federal Council of Churches on the railway strike of 1 9 2 1 (p. 3 70); the intervention by the Industrial Committee of the Protestant churches organization supporting a strike by garment workers (p. 487).

§ 5 2 . Social origin of the clergy

I . Gramsci's observations in this note closely parallel what he had written in "Some Aspects of the Southern Question": Since the clergy belongs to the social group of intellectuals, one should note the different characteristics of the Southern clergy as a whole and the Northern clergy. The Northern priest is usually the son of an artisan or a peasant, has democratic sentiments, has closer ties with the mass of peasants; he is morally more correct than the Southern priest who often lives almost openly with a woman, and therefore he exercises a socially fuller spiritual function, that is, he is a leader of all family activity. In the North, the separation of the Church from the State and the expropriation of ecclesiastical property has been more radical than in the South where the parishes and the convents have either retained or re-accumulated sizable properties, fixed and movable. In the South the priest appears to the peasant: I ) as an administrator of landed property with whom the peasant comes into conflict over the question of rents; 2) as a usurer who asks for extremely high interest rates and who plays on the religious factor to ensure the payment of rent or interest; 3 ) as a man subject to the normal passions (women and money) and who

Notes to the Text. §54

45 5

therefore inspires no spiritual confidence in his discretion and fairness.

Therefore, confession hardly functions as a form of guidance and the Southern peasant is not clerical, even though he is often superstitious in a pagan way. This whole situation explains why, in the South, the Popular Party (except for certain areas in Sicily) does not have a strong position, it has no network of institutions and mass organizations.

The peasant's attitude toward the clergy is summed up in the popular saying: "The priest is a priest at the altar; outside he is a man like all others. "

2. See Gennaro Avolio, "Le condizioni del clero" (The Conditions of the Clergy) in La Voce, 1 6 March 1 9 1 1 (III, 1 1 ) -a special issue on the Southern question. Avolio's article on the situation of the clergy, however, does not touch upon the issue of the abolition of celibacy for priests.

Instead, Avolio discussed the question of celibacy in a paper he delivered at a conference on sexuality and this was published in La Voce, 1 7 November 1 9 10 (II, 49), pp. 3 3 6-39. On the same topic, see also Romolo Murri, "II celibato ecclesiastico" (Ecclesiastical Celibacy), La Voce, 7 December 1 9 1 1 (III, 49 ), pp. 704- 5 .

3 · Gramsci followed very closely the developments of the electoral campaign in Sardinia in 1 9 1 3 . According to many accounts, the political experience of these elections was an important element in Gramsci 's formation as a Socialist. See, for example, Angelo Tasca's book on the early years of the Communist Party, I primi dieci anni del PCd'I (Bari : Laterza, 1 97 1 ), p. 8 8 :

Antonio Gramsci was on vacation i n his native Sardinia a t the time of the elections and he was very impressed by the transformation in the general atmosphere brought about by the participation of the peasant masses in the elections, even though they did not yet know how tonor could they- use the new weapon [i.e. the vote] to their advantage.

It was this scene and the meditation on it that made Gramsci definitively a socialist. When he returned to Turin at the start of the new academic year, I received confirmation of the decisive importance this experience had for him. He described his experience to me in a long letter- an experience he elaborated on his own in an independent and original manner.

§ 5 4. The Battle of Jutland

1 . Gramsci was probably familiar with an Italian translation of a part of Winston Churchill's multivolume autobiographical history of the war, The World Crisis ( 1 92 3 -29). See Winston Churchill, Memorie di guerra, trans. I. Palcinelli (Milan: Ed. Alpes, 1 929), pp. 2 3-62 (Chpts. 3 - 5 ) .

45 6

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 0 )

§ s s . Types of periodicals

1 . Gasparo Gozzi ( 1 7 1 3 - 1 7 86) was born to an aristocratic family in Venice. Between 1 760 and 1 762 he edited three different periodicals: La Gazzetta Veneta, 11 Mondo Morale and L 'Osservatore Veneto. The first issue of the Osservatore appeared on 4 February 1 7 6 1 ; it came out every two weeks until May 1 7 6 2 when it was changed into a weekly until it ceased publication soon afterwards on 1 8 August 1 762. Gozzi himself stated that he owed his inspiration for the Osservatore to Joseph Addison's and Richard Steele's Spectator. In both his essays and his poetry, Gozzi reveals himself as primarily a moralist and a somewhat self-conscious stylist. His best known collection of poetry is Sermoni ( 1 76 3 ) . In the early twentieth century, interest in Gozzi's prose was revived somewhat by conservative writers and critics (such as those associated with the journal La Ronda ) who resisted the new waves of literary experimentation and who sought to invigorate the tradition of artistic prose.

2. L 'Asino (The Ass) was an illustrated weekly founded in Rome in 1 8 9 1 by Guido Podrecca. Except for a short period between January and July 1 89 5 , when it came out as a daily, L'Asino continued to appear every week until it folded in 1 9 2 5 .

11 Seme (The Seed) was launched by the Socialist Party i n 1 90 1 and it appeared twice a month until 1 9 1 4 when it ceased publication. It originally presented itself in its subtitle as a "Socialist Propaganda Bimonthly for Peasants. " 11 Seme changed its subtitle several times: first to "Illustrated Educational Little Review for Poor People, " then to "Bimonthly for Workers" and finally to "Illustrated Bimonthly of Propaganda for the Struggle Against Exploiters. " At one time Gramsci thought of reviving 11

Seme in order to disseminate the PCd'I's ideas in accessible form among peasants. He communicated his idea in a letter to Palmiro Togliatti, 27

March 1 924. Gramsci was especially anxious to establish close relations between the working class and the peasantry and to propagate the notion of a "Federal Republic of Workers and Peasants. " He founded L'Unita precisely to promote these goals. A revival of Il Seme would have been one way of reaching the less literate peasantry and popularizing the political line of the PCd'l. See Palmiro Togliatti, ed., La formazione del gruppo dirigente del Partito Com unista Italiano nel r923 -24 (Rome: Riuniti, 1 9 62 ), p. 2 5 7 .

Notes to the Text. §57

45 7

§ 5 7 . Reactions of the North to an ti-Southern prejudicial even ts 1 . In this note, Gramsci lists in a schematic form some of the most important topics he had treated in his unfinished 1 926 essay on "Some Aspects of the Southern Question . "

2. S e e "Some Aspects o f the Southern Question" :

. . . even before the War, something happened i n Turin which potentially contained all the activity and the propaganda carried out by the communists in the post-War period. When the death of Pilade Gay in 1 9 1 4

left the 4th Ward of the city vacant and the question of a new candidate arose, a group of the Socialist section to which the future editors of L 'Ordine Nuovo belonged raised the prospect of presenting Gaetano Salvemini as candidate. At that time, Salvemini was the most progressive representative, in a radical sense, of the peasant masses of the South. He was outside the Socialist Party, indeed he was conducting a most lively and dangerous campaign against the Socialist Party since his statements and accusations became a cause of hatred among the Southern working masses toward not only Turati, Treves, and D' Aragona but also the industrial proletariat as a whole. (Many of the bullets fired by the Royal Guards in 1 9 19, 1 920, 1 92 1, and 1 922 against the workers were cast from the same lead used to print Salvemini's articles. ) Nevertheless, this Turin group wanted to make a statement with Salvemini's name, in the sense which was explained to Salvemini himself by comrade Ottavio Pastore who went to Florence to obtain Salvemini's consent to the candidature: "The workers of Turin want to elect a deputy for the Apulian peasants. The workers of Turin know that in the general elections of 1 9 1 3, the peasants of Molfetta and Bitonto overwhelmingly supported Salvemini; the administrative pressure of the Giolitti government and the violence of thugs and the police prevented the Apulian peasants from expressing themselves. The Turin workers do not ask for any commitments from Salvemini either to the party, or to a program, or to the discipline of the parliamentary group; once elected, Salvemini will answer to the Apulian peasants not to the workers of Turin who will conduct their electoral propaganda according to their own principles and will not be bound at all by Salvemini's political activity. "

Salvemini was not willing to accept the candidature although he was struck and even moved by the proposal. (At that time no one was yet talking of communist "perfidy" and behavior was still honest and courteous. ) He proposed Mussolini as candidate and he promised to come to Turin to support the Socialist Party in the electoral struggle. In fact, he held two large meetings at the Chamber of Labor and in Piazza Statuto where the masses saw and applauded him as the representative of the Southern peasants, oppressed and exploited in even more hateful and bestial ways than the Northern proletariat.

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929- 1 9 3 0 ) 3 · S e e "Some Aspects of the Southern Question": In 1 9 1 9, the Giovane Sardegna [Young Sardinia] association was formed, the beginning of what later would become the Sardinian Action Party.

The Giovane Sardegna proposed to unite all the Sardinians of the island and the mainland into a regional bloc capable of exercising beneficial pressure on the government to ensure that the promises made to the soldiers during the war were kept. The organizer of Giovane Sardegna on the mainland was a certain Professor Nurra, a socialist, who most probably is now one of those "young men" who every week discover in the Quarto Stato some new horizon to explore. Lawyers, professors, civil servants joined in the enthusiasm that is generated by every new opportunity to pick up pins, titles, and little medals. The founding meeting held in Turin for the Sardinians living in Piedmont was an impressive success, judging by the number of participants. Most of those present were poor people, common people with no clear qualifications, factory workers, retirees on small pensions, former carabinieri, former prison guards, former customs officers who now run a wide variety of small businesses; they all became enthusiastic at the idea of finding themselves among their fellow countrymen and hearing speeches about their country to which they remained attached by countless bonds of family relations, friendships, memories, sufferings, and hopes- the hope of returning to their country, but a more prosperous and richer country which would offer the conditions for living, even if only modestly.

The Sardinian communists, exactly eight of them, went to the meeting, presented their own motion to the chair, and requested to make a counter-presentation. After the official speaker's tumultuous and oratorical speech embellished with all the Venuses and Cupids of provincial rhetoric, after all the participants had wept at the memories of past sorrows and of the blood spilled in war by Sardinian regiments, and after they had become enthusiastic to the point of delirium at the idea of a solid bloc of all the generous sons of Sardinia, it was very difficult to properly "set up" the counter-presentation. The most optimistic predictions were for, if not a lynching, at least a walk to the police headquarters after being rescued from the "righteous indignation of the crowd."

The counter-presentation, however, received an attentive hearing, even though it generated great amazement; and once the spell had been broken the revolutionary conclusion was arrived at rapidly but methodically. The dilemma: Are you, poor devils from Sardinia, in favor of a bloc with the gentry of Sardinia who have ruined you and who are the local overseers of capitalist exploitation ? Or are you in favor of a bloc with the revolutionary workers of the mainland who want to demolish all exploitation and emancipate all the oppressed? - this dilemma was driven into the brains of all those present. The vote by division was a tremendous success : on one side, a small group of overdressed women,

Notes to the Text. §57

45 9

officials in top hats, professional people livid with anger and fear, and some forty policemen to round off the consensus; and on the other side, the whole crowd of poor devils and women dressed in their Sunday best surrounding the tiny communist cell. An hour later, at the Chamber of Labor, the Sardinian socialist Educational Circle was formed with 2 5 6

members; the founding of the Giovane Sardegna was postponed sine die and, in fact, never took place.

4· See "Some Aspects of the Southern Question": This was the political basis of the activity carried out among the soldiers of the Sassari Brigade, a brigade made up almost entirely of men from the provinces. The Sassari Brigade had participated in the suppression of the uprising of August 1 9 1 7 in Turin. It was a certainty that it would never fraternize with the workers because of the memories of hatred which every repression leaves among the masses who hate even the material instruments of repression, and also among the military regiments who remember the soldiers killed by the blows of the insurgents.

The brigade was welcomed by a crowd of ladies and gentlemen who offered the soldiers flowers, cigars, and fruit. The mood of the soldiers is described in the following account by a tannery worker from Sassari engaged in the first propagandistic probings : "I approached a bivouac in Piazza X (at first, the Sardinian soldiers camped in the squares as if in a conquered city) and I talked with a young peasant who greeted me warmly because I was from Sassari like him. 'What have you come to do in Turin ? ' 'We have come to shoot the gentry who are on strike.' 'But it is not the gentry who are on strike, it is the workers and they are poor. '

'Here they are all gentry: they have collars and neckties; they earn 3 0

lire a day. I know poor people and I know how they dress; i n Sassari, yes, there are many poor people; all of us "diggers" are poor and we earn d lire a day. ' 'But I am a worker too and I am poor. ' 'You are poor because you are a Sardinian. ' 'But if I go on strike with the others, will you shoot at me? ' The soldier reflected for a moment, then putting a hand on my shoulder: 'Listen, when you go on strike with the others, stay at home! ' "

This was the state of mind of the overwhelming majority of the brigade which included only a small number of mine workers from the Iglesias basin. Yet, a few months later, on the eve of the general strike of 20-2 1 July, the brigade was moved away from Turin, the older soldiers were furloughed, and the formation was split into three: one third was sent to Aosta, one third to Trieste, and one third to Rome. The brigade was made to leave at night, suddenly; no elegant crowd cheered them at the station; their songs, even if they were still songs of war, no longer had the same content as the ones they sang at their arrival.

Were these events inconsequential ? No, their effects are still with us and they continue to live in the deep roots of the popular masses. They

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0 ) illuminated, for a moment, brains which had never thought i n that way and which remained impressed, changed radically. Our archives have been scattered; we have destroyed many papers ourselves in order to prevent arrests and persecutions. But we remember tens and hundreds of letters from Sardinia to the editors of Avan ti! in Turin; often collective letters, often signed by all the Sassari Brigade veterans of a particular village. In uncontrolled and uncontrollable ways, the political position we upheld was disseminated; it strongly influenced the formation of the Sardinian Action Party at the base and, in this regard, one could recall episodes rich in content and significance.

The last confirmed repercussion of this activity took place in 1 92 2

when 300 carabinieri from the Cagliari Legion were sent t o Turin with the same purpose as the Sassari Brigade. At the editorial office of the Ordine Nuovo we received a declaration of principle signed by a very large number of these carabinieri; it echoed completely our approach to the Southern problem-it was decisive proof of the correctness of our course.

5 · See "Some Aspects of the Southern Question": After the occupation o f the factories, the FIAT management proposed to the workers that they run the company as a cooperative. Naturally, the reformists were in favor. An industrial crisis was looming, the specter of unemployment distressed the workers' families. If FIAT became a cooperative, a certain job security could be gained by the skilled workers and especially by the most politically active workers who were convinced that they were destined to be laid off.

The Socialist section led by the communists intervened vigorously on the issue. The workers were told: workers can take upon themselves a large cooperative concern like FIAT only if the workers are determined to enter the system of bourgeois political forces that governs Italy today.

The proposal by the FIAT management forms part of Giolitti's political plan . . . .

Giolitti wants to domesticate the workers of Turin. He has defeated them twice: in the strike of last April and in the occupation of the factories- with the help of the General Confederation of Labor, that is, of corporative reformism. He now thinks that he can enclose them within the framework of the bourgeois state system. In fact, what will happen if the FIAT skilled workers accept the proposal of the management ? The present industrial shares will become debentures, which means that the cooperative will have to pay the debenture holders a fixed dividend, whatever the turnover may be. The FIAT company will be subject to all kinds of extortion by the credit institutions which remain in the hands of the bourgeoisie whose interest is to bring the workers under its control. The skilled workers will necessarily have to

Notes to the Text. §57

bind themselves t o the state which "will come t o the aid o f the workers"

through the agency of the working-class representatives, through the subordination of the workers' political party to government policy. This is Giolitti's plan in its full application. The Turin proletariat will no longer exist as an independent class, but only as an appendage of the bourgeois state. Class corporatism will have triumphed, but the proletariat will have lost its position and its role as leader and guide; it will appear to the masses of poorer workers as privileged, it will appear to the peasants as an exploiter just like the bourgeoisie, because the bourgeoisie, as always, will portray the privileged nuclei of the workers to the peasant masses as the sole cause of their suffering and misery.

The FIAT skilled workers accepted our point of view almost unanimously and the management's proposals were rejected.

6. See "Some Aspects of the Southern Question" : Reggio Emilia has always been the target o f the "Southernists. " An adage by Camillo Prampolini, "Italy is divided into Northerners and filthy Southerners, " was a most typical expression of the violent hatred spread among the Southerners against the workers of the North. A problem similar to the one at FIAT arose in Reggio Emilia: a big factory was to pass into the hands of the workers as a cooperative enterprise.

The Reggio reformists were enthusiastic about it and they trumpeted it in their newspapers and at their meetings. A Turin communist went to Reggio, took the floor at a factory meeting, gave a general exposition of the whole problem between North and South, and the "miracle" was achieved: the workers by a very large majority rejected the reformist, corporative thesis. It was demonstrated that the reformists did not represent the mind of the workers of Reggio; they represented only their passivity and other negative aspects. They had succeeded in establishing a political monopoly due to the remarkable concentration in their ranks of organizers and propagandists with a certain professional ability, and therefore they were able to prevent the development and organization of a revolutionary current. But the presence of a capable revolutionary is all it took to set them back and to show that the workers of Reggio are brave fighters and not swine raised on government fodder.

7. Zibordi's monograph on the workers' movement in Reggio was among the books Gramsci had in prison. See Giovanni Zibordi, Saggio sulla storia del movimen to operaio in Italia. Camillo Prampolini e i lavoratori reggiani, 2d ed. (Bari : Laterza, 1 9 30).

8 . Piero Gobetti and Giudo Dorso are also discussed in "Some Aspects of the Southern Question." Dorsa's views on the Communists are found in part 2, ch 1 2 of his book, La rivoluzione meridionale ( 1 92 5 ).

9· "S. B . " refers to the Sassari Brigade.

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 3 0) The phrase "lambs and rabbits" is a direct allusion to the title of an article by Gramsci, "Agnelli e conigli" (Lambs and Rabbits) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 4 March I 9 I 9 . In this wonderfully humorous but biting article, Gramsci attacks the protectionist policies which prevented Sardinian lamb from competing against Piedmontese rabbit in the markets of Turin. An explanation of the connection between lambs and rabbits and the Sassari Brigade is provided by Gramsci himself in a letter to Tatiana Schucht, 30 April I 9 2 8 : "I carried out an extensive investigation in Turin in I 9 I 9 because the town council boycotted Sardinian lambs in favor of rabbits from Piedmont. There were about 4000 Sardinian shepherds and peasants on a special mission [i.e., the Sassari Brigade] in Turin, and I wanted to open their eyes on this matter."

It is unclear what the words "Mines-Railways" refer to.

§ s B . Emigration and intellectual movemen ts

I . In this note, as in the previous one, Gramsci touches upon issues he had treated in "Some Aspects of the Southern Question, " particularly in the following passage:

If you look closely, you will notice that the most radical crises in the socialist and workers' movement occurred during the decade I 900-I 9 I O : the masses reacted spontaneously against the policy of the reformist leaders. Syndicalism was born, which is the instinctive, rudimentary, primitive but healthy expression of working-class reaction against the bloc with the bourgeoisie and in favor of a bloc with the peasants and first and foremost with the Southern peasants. Just so; indeed, in a certain sense, syndicalism is a weak attempt by the Southern peasants, represented by their most advanced intellectuals, to lead the proletariat.

Who makes up the nucleus of the leaders of Italian syndicalism? What is the ideological essence of Italian syndicalism ? The leading nucleus of syndicalism is made up almost exclusively of Southerners : Labriola, Leone, Longobardi, Orano. The ideological essence of syndicalism is a new liberalism, more vigorous, more aggressive, more pugnacious than traditional liberalism. If you look closely, you will see that there are two basic issues at the center of the successive crises of syndicalism and the gradual shift of syndicalist leaders over to the bourgeois camp: emigration and free trade- two issues closely connected with Southernism.

The phenomenon of emigration gave rise to the idea of Enrico Corradini's "proletarian nation"; the Libyan war appeared to a whole stratum of intellectuals as the start of the offensive by the "great proletarian nation" against the capitalist and plutocratic world. A whole group of syndicalists crossed over to nationalism; indeed, the Nationalist Party was originally made up of ex-syndicalist intellectuals (Monicelli, Forges-

Notes to the Text. §58

Davanzati, Maraviglia). Labriola's book, Storia di 1 0 anni (History of Ten Years] (the ten years from 1900 to 19 10), is the most typical and characteristic expression of this anti-Giolittian and Southemist neoliberalism.

During these ten years, capitalism gained strength and developed, and turned part of its activity toward agriculture in the Po Valley. The most characteristic actions of these ten years were the mass strikes by the agricultural workers of the Po Valley. A profound upheaval took place among the Northern peasants, there was a deep differentiation of classes (the number of agricultural day laborers rose by s o percent according to the figures of the 1 9 1 1 census), and this was paralleled by a realignment of political trends and mental attitudes. Christian democracy and Mussolinism were the two most salient emanations of that period : Romagna was the regional melting pot of these two new activities; it seemed that the agricultural day laborer had become the social protagonist of the political struggle. The leftist organs of social democracy (the Azione in Cesena) as well as Mussolinism quickly fell under the control of the "southemists. " The Azione in Cesena was a regional edition of Gaetano Salvemini's Unita. The A vanti! run by Mussolini, slowly but surely changed into a platform for syndicalist and Southemist writers. The likes of Fancello, Lanzillo, Panunzio, Ciccotti became its regular contributors; Salvemini himself did not conceal his sympathies for Mussolini who also became the darling of Prezzolini's Voce.

Everyone remembers that, in fact, when Mussolini left A vanti! and the Socialist Party, he was surrounded by this cohort of syndicalists and Southemists.

2. See Enrico Ferri's speech in the Chamber of Deputies on I I March I 9 I I during the parliamentary debate on the budget of the Emigration Fund, which is recorded in the Atti parlamentari of the first session of the XXIII Legislature (Camera dei Deputati), pp. 1 3 202- I r . A report on Ferri's speech appeared in Avan ti!, I 2 March I 9 I I . On Ferri and the problem of emigration, see also Notebook 3, § I 24.

3· Enrico Corradini ( I 86 S - I 9 3 I ) started as a writer of fiction and drama under the influence of Gabriele D'Annunzio before turning his attention almost exclusively to politics and becoming the leading ideologue as well as the preeminent founder of the Nationalist movement in Italy. He created the political review II Regno in I 903 to disseminate his views. In I 9 I O he helped establish the Italian Nationalist Association; he edited its mouthpiece, L 'Idea Nazionale, from I 9 I 8 to I 920. An extreme reactionary, Corradini set out to replace the socialist concept of a proletarian class with the nationalist concept of a "proletarian nation. " He demanded that Italy have its own empire and not be relegated to a second rate power by plutocratic nations like England and France. As a "proletarian nation"

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 30) Italy would send forth its workers not as destitute emigrants but as conquerors from a proud nation. The Nationalists clamored for the invasion of Libya and later for Italian intervention in World War I. After the war, Corradini provided strong political and material support for D'Annunzio's seizure of Fiume. In 1 923 the Nationalists merged with the Fascists; Corradini gained a place on the Fascist Grand Council and he became senator in I 928.

Giovanni Pascali ( I 8 S 5 - I 9 I 2 ), a major Italian poet, considered himself a socialist and, in fact, spent some months in prison in 1 879 for his revolutionary views. By the tum of the century he was describing himself as a socialist-patriot. Several of his books of poetry reveal a fascination with the grandeur and heroism manifest in the long and rich history of Italy stretching back to ancient Rome. The affection for Italy expressed in the poetry is reflected on a banal level in his elaboration of a bizarre ideology which he insisted was socialist but, at the same time, anti

Marxist, nationalistic, and colonialist. The speech by Pascali to which Gramsci alludes, "La grande proletaria si e mossa" (The Great Proletarian Nation Has Stirred), was first published in La Tribuna, 27 November I 9 I r . For a discussion of Pascali's views on socialism and nationalism, see Notebook 2, § S I and § 5 2 .

Gramsci discussed the concept of "proletarian nation" i n his "Introduction" to the first batch of study materials (printed and distributed in April

May 1 92 5 ) with which he launched the short-lived "First Course of the Party School":

The theorists o f the Italian bourgeoisie have been able t o create the concept of "proletarian nation, " that is, to maintain that all of Italy was

"proletarian" and that Marx's concept should be applied to Italy's struggle against the other capitalist states, not to the struggle of the Italian proletariat against Italian capitalism. The "Marxists" of the Socialist Party countenanced without opposition these aberrations which were endorsed by an individual - Enrico Ferri- who passed for a great theoretician of socialism. This was the good fortune of Marxism in Italy: it served as parsley in the most indigestible sauces which the most heedless adventurers of the pen have sought to put on sale. Enrico Ferri, Guglielmo Ferrero, Achille Loria, Paolo Orano, Benito Mussolini . . .

have been Marxists of this sort.

4· Roberto Forges Davanzati ( 1 880- 1 936) was born in Naples and started his political career as a syndicalist in 1 906. However, he became a leader of the Italian Nationalist Association and helped found L'Idea Nazionale.

After the fusion of the Nationalists with the Fascists, he became a member of the Fascist Grand Council. He was made senator in 1 9 34.

Maurizio Maraviglia ( r 878-1 9 5 5 ) was from Cosenza in Calabria. A

Notes to the Text. §58

socialist in his youth, he was a founding member of the Italian Nationalist Association together with Corradini, Forges Davanzati, and Luigi Federzoni. He helped negotiate the Nationalist-Fascist merger, and in 1 923 was made a member of the Fascist Grand Council. He became senator in 1 93 9 .

5 . The issue, or special publication, o f L a Riforma Sociale (a journal which came out every two months in Turin) to which Gramsci is referring here has not been traced. The figure of a s o percent increase of day laborers taken from the 1 9 1 1 census and cited by Gramsci in "Some Aspects of the Southern Question" appears also in another very important document of the PCd'l- The Italian Situation and the Tasks of the PCd'I also known as the Lyons Theses, was co-authored by Gramsci and Togliatti and approved by an overwhelming majority at the PCd'l's Third Congress held in Lyons, 2 1 -26 January 1 926. Thesis 1 3 states: Having broken up the first attempts by the proletariat and the peasants to rise against the state, the strengthened Italian bourgeoisie was able to impede the progress of the workers' movement by adopting the external methods of democracy and the methods of corruption in its dealings with the most advanced segment of the working population (workers'

aristocracy) in order to make it an accomplice in the continuing reactionary dictatorship and to prevent it from becoming the center of a popular insurrection against the state (Giolittism). Between 1 900 and 1 9 1 0, however, there was a period of industrial and agrarian concentration. The agricultural proletariat grew by so percent at the expense of the categories of indentured laborers, sharecroppers, and tenant farmers.

This led to a wave of agricultural workers' movements, and a new outlook of the peasants which compelled the Vatican itself to react by founding "Catholic Action" and with a "social" movement which in its most extreme forms actually took on the appearance of a religious reform (Modernism). In accord with the Vatican's response to prevent the flight of the masses, an agreement was reached between the Catholics and the ruling classes to give the state a more secure basis (the abolition of the non expedit, the Gentiloni pact). Also, toward the end of the third period ( 1 9 1 4) the various fragmentary movements of the proletariat and the peasants culminated in a new unconscious attempt to weld the different anti-state mass forces into an uprising against the reactionary state. This attempt had already posed quite clearly the problem which was to appear in all its fullness after the war: that is, the problem of the need for the proletariat to organize within itself a class party which would enable it to place itself at the head of the uprising and lead it.

6. L'Azione, published in Cesena, was the organ of the Christian Democratic League, founded in 1 9 1 1 by Eligio Cacciaguerra ( I 878- 1 9 1 8 ) after

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I ! I 929- I 9 30)

the dissolution of the National Democratic League which Romola Murri had formed in I 899-7 . Gramsci had expressed his views on 11 Resto del Carlino in an article, "II 'Programma' di Wilson" (Wilson's Program), 11 Grido del Popolo, I 9 October I 9 I 8 : The newspaper of Bologna [i.e., 11 Resto del Carlino] occupies its own separate, well defined, and identifiable place within Italian journalism.

In the meantime, it is a newspaper that publishes ideas rather than hollow and idle talk lacking in skill and political commitment. Its columns are opened freely to men of the most diverse political and cultural tendencies: its contributors include the syndicalist-reformist, Arturo Labriola, and the conservative reactionary from the Marche, Tanari; the pious-democrat Angelo Crespi; the philosopher Giovanni Gentile, an absolute idealist; and the philosophy professor, Giuseppe Tarozzi, a positivist; the Catholic-liberal, Mario Missiroli; and the blasphemer of Jesus Christ, Giovanni Papini; the liberal economist Francesco Flora; and the protectionist agrarians of Emilia. The newspaper has an intellectual life of its own, it provides a fresh, lively, and thoroughly energetic nourishment of ideas to its readers, especially to the younger readers headed toward the liberal professions or bureaucratic careers, that is, to those young men who will make up the ruling class of our country and who will constitute the elective and administrative cadres of power.

Mario Missiroli started working for Il Resto del Carlino in I 909 and was the executive editor of the paper from I 9 I 8 to I 92 I .

8 . Giuseppe Giulietti ( I 87 9- I 9 5 3 l started his colorful and turbulent career as a sailor. In I 909, he founded the Italian Federation of Seamen which he built into a strong and militant body. He campaigned vigorously in favor of Italian intervention in the war, after which he became a staunch supporter of D'Annunzio. In I 9 I 9 he hijacked an Italian merchant ship, the Persia, and delivered its cargo of arms and munitions to D'Annunzio. His syndicalism, however, earned him little sympathy from the Fascist regime and even D'Annunzio broke with him in I 924. In I 926

Giulietti was arrested for purported embezzlement and although found innocent he was exiled in Sardinia. He eventually managed to return to the mainland and was openly supportive of Mussolini. In I 948 he was elected to parliament from the lists of the Republican Party.

§ 5 9 . Ugo Ojetti

I . Gramsci is probably thinking of a remark attributed to Ojetti in the column "Ottovolante" in La Fiera Letteraria, I 9 February I 928 (IV, 8 ) :

Notes to the Text. § 6r

"Ugo Ojetti says: 'If I do not become part of literary history for what I myself have written, I will certainly become a part of it because of what Giosue Carducci has written about me. ' "

§6o. Papini, Christ, Julius Caesar

r . See Giovanni Papini, "Gesu peccatore" ( Jesus the Sinner), Lacerba, I June 1 9 1 3 (I, I I ), pp. I I 0- 1 2 .

I n the manuscript, Gramsci sometimes erroneously writes L'Acerba instead of Lacerba -in all these instances the correct spelling has been restored in reproducing his text.

2. See Giovanni Papini, Gli operai della vigna (Florence: Vallecchi, 1 929), pp. 1 3 - 5 8 . "Cristo romano" (Roman Christ) was originally delivered at the inauguration of a center for Catholic study in Florence, 9

December 1 923, and again in Milan at another Catholic institute on 1 6

December 1 9 2 3 . For an English translation of this book, see Giovanni Papini, Laborers in the Vineyard (New York: Longmans, 1 9 30).

§6 r. Americanism

I . Charles Eugene Bedaux ( 1 887-1 944), who emigrated from France to the United States, devised a "scientific" method for measuring the productivity of individual workers in factories. The Bedaux system was supposed to increase the productivity of piece work through rational and efficient management-in many respects it was a rather simplistic, latterday applied version of the theories of "scientific management" introduced in the late nineteenth century by Fredrick Winslow Taylor ( 1 8 5 6- 1 9 1 5 ).

The Bedaux system was widely adopted in 1 920, although it was strongly opposed by workers' organizations. Bedaux himself returned to France in 1 9 3 7, joined Petain's government and collaborated with the Nazis. After the war he was extradited to the United States and charged with treason; he committed suicide in jail.

2. In 1 9 1 7 (not 1 9 1 2, as Gramsci guesses) Giustino Fortunato edited and translated those sections from Goethe's autobiographical ltalienische Reise (Italian Journey) dealing with Naples; Fortunato also supplied an introduction to his edition-translation- see W. Goethe, Lettere da Napoli, trans. G. Fortunato (Naples : Ricciardi, 1 9 1 7 ) . The volume was republished in a series, "Quademi Critici, " under the general editorship of the literary critic Domenico Petrini; see Giustino Fortunato, Le lettere da Napoli di V. Goethe (Rieti: Bibliotheca Editrice, 1 928). The first edition of the book was reviewed by Luigi Einaudi, "Goethe, Ia leggenda del lazzarone napoletano ed il valore del lavoro" (Goethe, the Myth of the Neapolitan Lazzarone, and the Value of Labor) in La Riforma Sociale, March-

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

April I 9 I 8 (XXV, 3-4), pp. I 92-2o2. Einaudi's review-essay was reprinted in L. Einaudi, Le lotte del lavoro (Turin: P. Gobetti Editore, I 924), pp.

267-76.

3 · Giorgio Mortara, Prospettive economiche I 922 (Citta di Castello: Soc. Tip. "Leonardo da Vinci, " I 922). This economic survey was published annually by the Institute of Economics and Politics at the Universita Bocconi in Milan. Gramsci followed these annuals with great attention, always making sure to order the latest volume. (The institute was founded in I 920 by Piero Sraffa's father, Angelo, who was also rector of the Universita Bocconi from I 9 I 7 to I 92 6 . ) 4· See Mario Camis, "lntorno alle condizioni alimentari del popolo Italiano. Considerazioni statistico-fisiologiche" (On the Nutritional Conditions of Italians. Statistical-Physiological Considerations) in La Riforma Sociale, January-February I 926 (XXXIII, I-2), pp. p-8 1 .

s . During a debate in the Senate ( 2 2 June I 92 9 ) on the preliminary estimates of the expenses of the Finance Ministry for the I July I 929-30

June I 9 3 0 budget, Senator Teodoro Mayer was emphasizing the need to prevent the standard of living of Italians from declining. Mussolini interrupted him and said: "One must recognize that this standard of living is not terribly high. There are municipalities in Sardinia and southern Italy where people live for whole months on greens. " The exchange is recorded in the Atti parlamentari of the first session of the XXVIII Legislature (Senato), p. u s 8 . In November I 9 29, Gramsci had received some fascicles of the Atti parlamentari; see Gramsci's letters to Tatiana Schucht, I 4 July I 929 and I 8 November I 929.

6 . Gramsci had two books by Henry Ford in French translation: Ma vie et mon ouevre ( Paris: Payot, I 92 6 ) and Aufourd'hui et demain (Paris: Payot, I 926). ( See Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, 25 March 1 929.) For the original editions in English, see Henry Ford, My Life and Work (Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, I 92 2 ), and Today and Tomorrow (Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, I 926). In a letter to Tatiana Schucht, 23 May I 927, Gramsci comments: "I have [ . . . J Ford's book, Today and Tomorrow which I find quite amusing, be�use Ford, while a great industrialist, seems very comical to me as a theoretician. "

7. See Lucien Romier, Qui sera le Maitre, Europe o u Amerique/ (Paris: Hachette, I 92 7 ) - Gramsci had this book in prison and he also mentions it in a letter to Tatiana Schucht, 25 March I 929. For an English translation, see Lucien Romier, Who Will Be Master, Europe or America/ (New York: Macauly, 1 928).

Lucien Romier ( 1 8 8 5 - I 944) was a historian who, after World War I, turned his attention primarily to social and economic issues. His reactionary politics culminated in a ministerial appointment in the government of Marshal Petain.

Notes to the Text. § 6r

8. The later (Text C) version of this note reveals that, in this instance, Gramsci is alluding to the financial support which the Agnelli family gave to the YMCA. On the same topic, see also Notebook 7, §74.

9· Gramsci is referring to the proposal by the FIAT directors to transform the company into a cooperative-a proposal that was vigorously opposed by the Ordine Nuovo group, as Gramsci explains in "Some Aspects of the Southern Question. " See also Notebook I, § 5 7 . About the form of "Americanism" supported by the Ordine Nuovo, see the series of articles by Carlo Petri, "Il sistema Taylor e i Consigli dei produttori" (The Taylor System and the Councils of Producers) in L 'Ordine Nuovo, 2 5

October, I November, 8 November, I S November, 22 November I 9 I 9 (I, 23-27).

IO. See Andre Philip, Le Probleme ouvrier aux Etats- Unis (Paris: Alcan, I 927).

I I. See, especially, Alessandro Schiavi, "Impulsi, remore e soste nell'attivita dei comuni italiani" (Impetus, Obstacles, and Delays in the Activity of Italian Communes) in La Riforma Sociale, July-August I 929

(XXXVI, 7-8), pp. 3 5 5 -88; and also "La municipalizzazione dei servizi publici dell'ultimo decennia in Italia" (The Municipal Take-Over of Public Services During the Last Decade in Italy) in La Riforma Sociale, May

June I 929 (XXXVI, s-6), pp. 239-5 5 .

I 2. See Umberto Ricci, "La scienza e la vita" (Science and Life) in Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economia e Politica, March I 928 (I, 3 ), pp. 22o-2 5 . This text consists in a letter commenting critically on Ugo Spirito's views on Pareto, and it is followed (pp. 226-28) by a response from U.

Spirito.

Umberto Ricci ( I 879- I 946 ), a follower of Vilfredo Pareto, was an economist; his best known work was La teoria dell' astinenza ( I 9o8).

I 3 . See Henri De Man, Il superamento del marxismo, 2 vols. (Bari: Laterza, I 929). Gramsci asked for this book as soon as it appeared in a letter to Tatiana Schucht, 3 June 1 929, and it was sent to him in prison.

De Man's book was originally published in German, Zur Psychologie des Sozialism us ( Jena : Diederichs, I 926); it came out a year later in French with a different title, Au deJa du Marxisme (Brussels, I 92 7 ), and very soon afterwards in English, The Psychology of Socialism (London: Allen &.

Unwin, 1 928).

Henri De Man ( 1 88 5 - I 9 5 3 ), who was a fervent and active Marxist in his youth, explains his motivations for writing this anti-Marxist book in its Preface:

The effect [of the war] was so profoundly disturbing that, after the armistice, I quitted Europe for two years, to seek, in a nomadic and adventurous life in America, possibilities for a new spiritual anchorage.

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N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I [ I 929- I 9 3 0)

[ . . . ] I had moved from the outlook of economic determinism, which forms the basis of Marxist socialism, to the standpoint of a philosophy wherein the main significance is allotted to the individual human being as subject to psychological reactions. [ . . . ] What the Americans call a

'psychological jolt, ' a sudden shaking up, is an almost indispensable preliminary to such a transformation of mental outlooks as I hope to effect. That is why, moreover, I speak frankly of the 'liquidation of Marxism, ' instead of using some such half-hearted word as 'revision,'

'adaptation, ' 'reinterpretation, ' or the like, which might seem to imply a wish to run with the hare as well as hunt with the hounds.

The Psychology of Socialism was followed by several books which gained considerable attention in Europe; the most important were: Der Kampf um die Arbeitsfreude ( Jena: Diederichs, 1 927) of which Gramsci had an Italian translation [La gioia del lavoro) which was published by Laterza in 1 9 3o-for an English translation, see Joy in Work [London : Allen & Unwin, I 929); and Die sozialistische Idee I Jena: Diederichs, 1 9 3 3 ). De Man's ideas had some influence in certain non-Marxist currents of Italian antifascism, especially the Giustizia e Liberta movement founded by Carlo Rosselli in Paris. De Man lost his political credibility when he became leader of the Belgian Labor Party and supported Leopold Il's willing capitulation to Germany. In 1 94 I , he fled to Switzerland where he remained until his death; he could not return to Belgium because he had been convicted of treason.

§62. The sexual question

1 . Tommaso Campanella I 1 5 68- I 69 3 ), hom in Calabria, joined the Dominican order but was accused of heresy and jailed briefly in Rome

[during the same period as Giordano Bruno). Shortly after his return to Calabria in 1 5 99, he was arrested for conspiring to overthrow Spanish rule and he spent the next twenty-six years in prison. Both during his confinement and afterward (when he moved to France and enjoyed the protection of Cardinal Richelieu), Campanella wrote several books, mostly on philosophical and theological topics. One of these works was Citta del Sole

[City of the Sun), a utopia which first appeared in Frankfurt [ in Latin) in I 62 3 . It describes an ideal communistic society on an island where private property has been abolished and where education and all social relations (including sexual relations) are organized according to communal as opposed to individual or egotistic interests.

Benedetto Croce wrote at considerable length on Campanella in an essay which is severely critical of Marxist [especially Paul Lafargue's) interpretations of Campanella's utopia as a prefiguration of communist

Notes to the Text. § 63

47 1

ideals. Croce's essay, "Sulla storiografia socialistica. Il comunismo di Tommaso Campanella" (On Socialist Historiography. The Communism of Tommaso Campanella), which was first published in 1 89 5 , was reprinted in Benedetto Croce, Materialismo storico ed economia marxistica, 4th rev. ed. (Bari : Laterza, 1 92 1 ) which Gramsci had in prison. On p.

1 89, note 2, Croce remarks: "I do not know what inspired Calenda to state that in his theory Campanella was expressing the communistic aspirations and the sexual desires of Calabrian peasants [ . . . ]. Was the sharing of women also a response to the desires of the Calabrian people, who are among the most terribly jealous people in southern Italy? " (The English translation of Croce's volume, Historical Materialism and the Economics of Karl Marx ( 1 9 1 4) does not include the chapter on Campanella.) 2. Gramsci seems to be referring to a parliamentary inquiry on the conditions of peasants in the South and in Sicily which was carried out between 1 907 and 1 9 I I by a commission made up of eighteen members of parliament and chaired by Senator Eugenio Faina. The work of this commission resulted in six technical reports, five parliamentary reports, two monographs, and a final report. It has not been possible to locate, in the voluminous materials produced by the inquiry, the figures on incest in Abruzzo and Basilicata, to which Gramsci alludes.

§ 6 3 . Lorianism and Graziadei

I . See Benedetto Croce, "Recenti interpretazioni della teoria marxistica del valore e polemiche intorno ad essa, " first published in 1 899, which Gramsci had available in Materialismo storico ed economia marxistica, 4th rev. ed (Bari : Laterza, 1 92 I ); see especially p. I 47, note 2. For an English translation, see "Recent Interpretations of the Marxian Theory of Value and the Controversies Concerning Them" in Historical Materialism and the Economics of Karl Marx (London : Allen & Unwin, 1 9 I 4), especially the note on pp. 1 4 I -42 :

Graziadei will allow me to point out to him that it is not the first time that he has made discoveries that tum out to be equivocal. Some years ago when carrying on a controversy, in the review Critica Sociale, on the theory of the origin of profits in Marx's system, Graziadei (vol. IV., n. 22, I 6th Nov. 1 894, p. 348) wrote: 'We can very readily imagine a society, in which profits exist, not indeed with surplus-labor, but with no labor. If, in fact, for all the labor now accomplished by man was substituted the work of machines, these latter, with a relatively small quantity of commodities would produce an enormously greater quantity. Now, given a capitalist organization of society, this technical phenomenon would afford a basis for a social phenomenon, viz.: that the

472.

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 92.9- 1 9 30) ruling class being able t o enjoy b y itself alone the difference between the product and the consumption of the machine, would see at their disposal an excess of products over the consumption of the labourers, i.e., a surplus-product, much larger than when the feeble muscular force of man still co-operated in production. ' But here Graziadei neglects to explain how labourers could ever exist, and profits of labour, in a hypothetical society, based on non -labour, and in which all the labour actually done by man would be done by machines. What would the labourers be doing there? The work of Sisyphus or the Danaides ? In his hypothesis the proletariat would either be maintained by the charity of the ruling class, or would end by rapidly disappearing, destroyed by starvation. For if he supposed that the machines would produce automatically a superfluity of goods for the whole of that society, then he was simply constructing by hypothesis a land of Cocaigne.

A little earlier, in the same essay, Croce also draws a parallel between Graziadei and Loria: "Graziadei's object is to examine profits independently of the theory of value: a course already indicated by Professor Loria, and the fallacy of which ought to be clearly evident at a glance, without it being necessary to wait for proofs from the attempt" (see p. 1 3 8 of the English translation). This comment may very well have inspired Gramsci to include Graziadei among the Lorians.

2.. See Antonio Graziadei, Sindacati e salari (Milan: L. Trevisini 1 92.9).

In the manuscript, Gramsci erroneously writes down the title of another book by Graziadei, Capitale e salari (Milan: Casa Ed. Monanni, 1 92.8), but provides the correct year of publication of Sindacati e salari ( 1 929). Gramsci had both books in prison. Graziadei's response to Croce's criticism is in Sindacati e salari, p. z o :

Since w e are discussing some o f Croce's ideas, the occasion offers us the opportunity to also mention the criticism which he directed at our early writings. We have always believed that polemics about one's own books

- especially when these books are only a part of a larger whole- have an incidental and negative character which generally makes them sterile. If an author believes, notwithstanding the objections of his rivals, that he has expounded a true and useful concept, it is preferable that he should use his time to develop that concept concretely in all its implications rather than to defend it abstractly. Since the opinions of someone like Croce always merit the greatest attention, we maintain that our most recent studies should constitute the best response to most of the observations he made at that time. If, in these recent studies, we have dealt at length with exchange values or prices, we also once again emphasized the problems, in view of which it is necessary to link the outlook on single businesses lin relation to which the recourse to exchange value is inevitable) with the outlook on the totality of busi-

Notes to the Text. § 63

473

nesses. We have also shown how the second outlook implies the consideration of products under the sole aspect of use value, which Croceforgetting that the concept of use value also belongs to Political Economy-pretends lies outside the field of the latter. [ . . .

] As for the relations between so-called "constant" capital and capitalist profit, our early article which he criticized has also been expanded and transfused in various small books, among them La teoria del valore ed il problema del capitale costan te (tecnico). The developments made in these works positively refute what appears to be an obvious error on Croce's part: his aprioristic opposition to a borderline hypothesis of ours, in an attempt to slam the door on the facts which such a hypothesis-albeit somewhat clumsy-aimed and still aims at making evident.

On these same polemical issues, see also Notebook 7, §23.

3 . See L. Rudas, "Graziadei-ein Okonom und Kommunist von Gottes Gnaden, " in Unter Dem Banner des Marxism us, January 1 926 (I, 3 ), pp.

600-3 1 . Croce's note on Graziadei, to which Gramsci refers, is quoted early on (pp. 601-2) in this essay. The second part of Rudas' essay was published in the next issue of the same journal which, however, did not appear until two years later in March 1 928 (II, 1 -2).

Prezzo e sovraprezzo (Value and Surplus Value) is the short title of another book by Graziadei. Gramsci owned copies of three different editions of this book: Antonio Graziadei, Prezzo e sovraprezzo nell'economia capitalistica. Critica alla teoria del valore di Carlo Marx (Milan: Soc. Ed.

Avanti!, 1 92 3 ) ; the 2d revised and expanded Italian edition based on the first German edition (Turin: Bocca, 1 924); and the French translation, Le Prix et le sur-prix dans l 'economie capitaliste ( Paris: Rieder, 1 92 5 ).

4· "Rab." refers to Pietro Rabezzana, the leader of the Turin section of the Socialist Party, and one of the most "rigid" among the intransigents.

He gave a series of talks during the summer of 1 9 1 6 in which he proposed to replace the principle of the International- in his view, a narrow concept that presupposes the existence of nations-with the idea of an "Unione Proletaria del Mondo" ( Proletarian World Union) which some renamed

"lnterplanetaria"-the Interplanetary. (Il Grido del Popolo, 5 August 1 9 1 6, published a report on Rabezzana's series of talks. ) 5 . I t has not been possible t o identify the episode t o which Gramsci is referring here.

6. Carlo Pozzoni, secretary of the Chamber of Labor in Como, wrote a pamphlet proposing that the refusal by tenants to pay rent together with a policy for the socialization of housing should be made the cornerstone of the Socialist Party's revolutionary strategy. The pamphlet was intended as a thesis to be presented at the National Congress of the PSI held in Livorno in 1 92 1 ; the Preface, however, explains that the pamphlet could

474

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929 - 1 9 3 0) not be produced in time for the Congress. See Carlo Pozzoni, Tattica e strategia socialistico-comunista (Milan: Ed. L. Pozzoni, n.d. ) : I f the proletariat knows how to transfer the entire weight of all its drganizations quickly and resolutely from the site of maximum resistance, the factory, to the site of minimum capitalist resistance, the house, it will conquer and socialize housing in the shortest time- in this way it will have increased its own power and weakened its enemy's so much that very soon it will be able to contemplate its complete liberation.

7. The Hungarian writer, Cecilia de Tormay ( 1 876-1 9 3 7 ) -Gramsci misspells her name here-gained some notoriety after the war with the publication of her diary containing a very biased account of the 1 9 1 8-1 9 1 9 Hungarian revolution. The title of the diary (Proscribed Book) echoes the somewhat melodramatic emphasis it places on de Tormay's predicament during that turbulent period in Hungary. It seems that the revolutionary government of Bela Kun was looking for her because she supported reactionary forces and advocated foreign military intervention in Hungary.

In November 1 9 1 8, de Tormay had founded "a national alliance of Hungarian women, " a counter-revolutionary association which brought together representatives of the aristocracy. De Tormay's diary, published after the defeat of the revolutionary movement, attracted considerable attention abroad as well, and it was widely used for anti-communist purposes. There does not seem to be an Italian translation of this work; most probably, Gramsci read about it in the contemporary Italian press where he might have also come across some extracts quoted from it.

Gramsci seems to be alluding to an episode which occurred in Budapest during the revolution and which in de Tormay's diary is recounted to the author by a man who accompanies her during her flight from the Hungarian capital. According to the story, a young communist gained entry into a hostel for respectable young ladies where he preached to them about free love. See Cecile de Tormay, Scenes de la Revolution communiste en Hongrie. Le livre proscrit (Paris: Plon, 1 9 3 3 ), pp. 1 7 3-74.

8. The motto, "Pessimism of the intelligence, optimism of the will, "

has been generally associated with and attributed to Gramsci. It is a maxim that appears recurrently in Gramsci's writings and it was also used as the motto of L 'Ordine Nuovo where it appeared alongside the title.

Gramsci himself, however, ascribed the saying to Romain Rolland. See Antonio Gramsci, "Discorso agli anarchici" (Address to the Anarchists) in L 'Ordine Nuovo, 3- 1 0 April 1 920:

The socialist conception of the revolutionary process has two characteristic marks which Romain Rolland has encapsulated in his watchword:

Notes to the Text. § 64

47 5

"Pessimism of the intelligence, optimism of the will." The anarchist ideologues, by contrast, state that they "have an interest" in repudiating Karl Marx's pessimism of the intelligence ( . . . ] "in that a revolution brought about by an excess of misery and oppression will necessitate the establishment of an authoritarian dictatorship which may even ( ! I go so far as to become a state socialism ( ! ? ) but never anarchist socialism. "

Socialist pessimism has had dreadful confirmation in events: the proletariat has been plunged into the deepest depths of misery and oppression that the human mind could possibly imagine. The anarchist ideologues have nothing with which to counter this kind of situation except superficial and hollow psuedo-revolutionary rhetoric woven with the most worn out tunes of mindless mob optimism. The Socialists counter it with an energetic organizing activity by the best and most conscious elements of the working class; through these vanguard elements, the Socialists exert every possible effort to prepare the broadest based masses to win freedom and the power that can guarantee this freedom.

It is not known exactly where Romain Rolland used this maxim or how or from what source Gramsci learned about it. Romain Rolland himself may have derived the idea from his friend Malwida von Meysenbug's recollection of a phrase which had been used by Jacob Burckhardt to describe the Greeks: "Pessimismus der Weltanschauung und Ottimismus des Temperaments." See Malwida von Meysenbug, Der Lebensabend einer Idealistin (Berlin-Leipzig: Schutter u. Loeffler, 1 898) p. 5 0. For a possible variation on this idea, see Jacob Burckhardt, Griechische Kulturgeschich te, II (Berlin: Rutten u. Loening, 1 9 5 5 ), p. 3 6 3 .

§64. Lorianism and G. Ferrero

1 . Gramsci had written an article on Ferrero in which he explained more fully the blunder he mentions in this instance. See Gramsci, "Storia antica e democrazia" (Ancient History and Democracy) in the regular column "Sotto la mole, " Avanti!, 24 March 1 9 1 6 : The anecdote of the tyrant whom Ferrero called a Menelik of antiquity, but was only-a measure of length, did not receive as much attention as it deserved. Yet, it could have served as an indicator. Imagine a Frenchman writing the history of Italy who comes across a reference in some text to Regia Gabella and confusing "regia" with "regina" (i.e.,

"queen"] he improvises a whole fictional story on the hypothetical Mrs.

Gabella, recalling by way of background Messalina, Pompadour, or Giovanna di Napoli! One can guess what hilarity! Well: Ferrero made such a blunder. He came across the word for linear measure accompanied by the royal adjective which the republican Greeks employed for

476

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 9 29- I 9 30) all things Persian and Asiatic, and around this wretched word he constructed the biographic fiction of a Menelik of antiquity.

§ 6 5 . Types of periodicals

1 . Giuseppe Baretti ( I 7 I 9-1 7 89) spent several years in England where he came to know Samuel Johnson. He returned to Italy in 1 7 60 and after a couple of years in Milan moved to Venice where he founded the review La Frusta Letteraria. Like his friend Cozzi's Osservatore, Baretti's publication was conceived with the Spectator and other similar English periodicals in mind. Every issue of the Frusta Letteraria was written entirely by him; using the pseudonym and the persona of Aristarco Buonafede, he launched sharp attacks on prominent personalities and severe criticisms of social and cultural mores. The review was censored and suppressed in Venice after twenty-five issues. Although he managed to publish eight additional issues, in the end Baretti was forced to abandon his endeavor and he returned to England where he remained for the rest of his life.

2. Papini's "Gesu peccatore" ( Jesus the Sinner) has already been mentioned by Gramsci in Notebook I, §6o, and "Viva il maiale" (Long Live the Pig) was published in Lacerba, I S May I 9 I 4 (II, 10). Papini did not write "Contro la famiglia" (Against the Family); Gramsci is probably thinking of an article by Ardengo Soffici, "Appunti sulla famiglia" (Notes on the Family), Lacerba, I S July I 9 I 4 (II, 14). Ardengo Soffici's "Giornale di Bordo" (Log-Book) was published in installments in Lacerba, I 9 I 3 (I, 2-24). Italo Tavolato's "Elogio della prostituzione" (In Praise of Prostitution) appeared in Lacerba, I May I 9 I 3 (I, 9).

3 · The Dante quotation is from a set of four lyrics written for a woman whose name, Pietra (i.e., stone), is a reflection of her hard heartedness.

These poems are known as the "Rime Pietrose, " and Gramsci probably refers to them in this context as an example of intentionally difficult and obscure writing. It is not clear what "Compagnia della Pietra" means or where it comes from.

§ 6 6 . Italian colonies

I . See Arnalda Cicchitti, "La S. Sede nelle Colonie italiane dopa il Concordato con il Regno" (The Holy See in the Italian Colonies After the Concordat with the Realm) in I1 Diritto Ecclesiastico e Rassegna di Diritto Matrimoniale, March-April I 929 (XL, 3-4), pp. I 3 3-4 1 .

2 . See Arnalda Cicchitti, "Le Isole italiane dell'Egeo costituiscono una colonia di dominio diretto" (The Italian Aegean Islands Constitute a Colony of Direct Dominion), Rivista di Diritto Pubblico e della Pubblica

Notes to the Text. § 70

477

Amministrazione in Italia, February I 928 (XX, 2 ), part I, pp. 1 26-3 I ; "Se la concessione italiana di Tien Tsin sia un possedimento coloniale" (Is the Italian Concession of Tien Tsin a Colonial Possession? ), Rivista di Diritto Pubblico . . . , February I 929 (XXI, 2 ), part I, pp. I 4 I - 5 7; and "Prolegomeni di diritto coloniale italiano" ( Prolegomena to Italian Colonial Law), Rivista delle Colonie Italiane, May I 929 (III, 5 ), pp. 4 5 2-5 9. There is no discussion of Albania in any of these three articles.

§ 6 7 . Concerning religious marriage . . .

1 . See "Giurisprudenza dei tribunali ecclesiastici" ( Jurisprudence of Ecclesiastical Courts), I1 Diritto Ecclesiastico e Rassegna di Diritto Matrimoniale, March-April I 929 (XL, 3-4), pp. 1 7 6-8 5 .

§ 6 8 . The sexual question and the Catholic Ch urch 1 . The last two quotations -one from Canon r o r 3 and the other from Genesis-are taken from the article by Cesare Badii, "I veri caretteri essenziali del rapporto guiridico di matrimonio secondo il diritto italiano e canonico" (The True Essential Characters of the Juridical Matrimonial Relation in Italian and Canonical Law), I1 Diritto Ecclesiastico e Rassegna di Diritto Matrimoniale, March-April 1 9 2 9 (XL, 3-4), pp. I 5 0- 1 5 9 . The other quotations are taken from the article by C. Viglino, "Oggetto e fine primario del matrimonio" (The Object and Primary Purpose of Marriage), I1 Diritto Ecclesiastico e Rassegna di Diritto Matrimoniale, March-April 1 929 (XL, 3-4), pp. 1 42-49.

§ 6 9 . The Nobel Prize

1 . Gramsci did not see this article himself. The later (Text C) version of this note indicates that Gramsci learned about it through the Review of the Press ( "Rassegna della stampa"), a regular feature in La Fiera Letteraria, which he followed very closely. See "Rassegna della stampa, " La Fiera Letteraria, I 7 June I 928 (IV, 2 5 ).

§yo. "Impressioni di prigonia "

1 . Extracts from Jacques Riviere's article on his impressions of prison life were reproduced in the Review of the Foreign Press section edited by Giacomo Prampolini in La Fiera Letteraria -this is the source for the passages quoted by Gramsci. See "La stampa estera" in La Fiera Letteraria, I April I 92 8 (IV, 1 4 ) .

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929 - 1 930)

Jacques Riviere ( 1 886- 1 92 5 ), who spent some years as a prisoner of war, was a very influential essayist who took over the editorship of the Nouvelle Revue Franr;,aise in 1 9 1 9 .

§7 1 . Father Gioacchino Ventura

1 . Gramsci extracted this information from the brief notices on publications about religion in the "I libri della settimana" (Books of the Week) section of La Fiera Letteraria, 1 5 January 1 928 (IV, 3 ) .

Gioacchino Ventura ( 1 792- 1 86 r ) was a priest, orator and philosophertheologian whose intellectual and political development resembled in many respects that of his friend Lamennais. He maintained that true philosophy is necessarily Christian and considered himself a Thomist. He embraced democratic ideals and openly expressed anti-monarchist views which he based on Gospel authority. He delivered a famous funeral oration for Daniel O'Connell, the Irish nationalist who died in Genoa in 1 847. In 1 848 he eulogized the liberals who died in the Vienna revolt, and he supported the establishment of the Roman Republic even though he declined to participate in its constituent assembly. Ventura came to endorse the separation of Church and State, and he stayed in Rome, even after Pius IX's flight from the city, as the plenipotentiary of the autonomous Sicilian State. When the French troops took over Rome, Ventura went into voluntary exile in France where he remained until his death.

Louis-Gabriel-Ambroise Bonald l 1 7 5 4- 1 84o) was a fervent monarchist, a staunch defender of Church authority, and uncompromisingly opposed to all democratic tendencies.

Hughes-Felicite-Robert de Lamennais ( 1 872- 1 8 5 4), a priest and political philosopher, sought to reconcile political liberalism with Catholicism.

He believed that a revitalized Church could spearhead social transformation. Although he advocated democracy with increasing fervor and even came to endorse the separation of Church and State, Lamennais remained an ultramontanist, envisaging a leading role for the Church in the sociopolitical renewal of Europe. Together with Charles de Montalambert and other liberal Catholics he founded L'Avenir. Eventually, he was compelled to break off with the Catholic Church. In several important aspects his political theories and ideas resembled the guiding principles of neo

Guelphism in Italy. His views had a significant influence on Giuseppe Mazzini.

Joseph De Maistre 1 1 7 5 3- 1 82 1 ), a French political thinker and statesman, left Savoy, where he was a senator, upon the invasion by Napoleon in 1 792 and never again returned to France. He spent fourteen years in Russia as the envoy of the King of Sardinia and after his return to Turin became minister of state of the Kingdom. An uncompromising ultra-

Notes to the Text. § 73

479

conservative, De Maistre opposed all liberal beliefs and philosophies. Social and political stability, in his view, could only be maintained by the absolute authority of the monarchy and the papacy. His absolutism was inseparable from his belief in the primacy and supremacy of Christianity.

§72. Father Bresciani 's progeny. Catholic art.

1 . Eduardo Fenu's article on Catholic art was summarized in the "Rassegna della stampa" (Review of the Press) section of La Fiera Letteraria, 1 5 January 1 928 (IV, 3 ). The exclamation marks in the quoted passage are inserted by Gramsci.

Domenico Giuliotti ( 1 877- 1 9 5 6 ), an exponent of reactionary Catholicism, wrote a series of polemical books and some volumes of poetry. He also published, in 1 923, with the collaboration of Papini, Dizionario dell'omo selvatico (Dictionary of the Unsociable Man), one of the original sources and basic texts of the Strapaese (Super-country) movement.

Guido Manacorda ( 1 879- 1 96 5 ), a professor of German literature and a translator of Wagner and Goethe, was also a prolific essayist who brought his rigid and intolerant Catholicism to bear on social and political issues.

Like Papini and Giuliotti, he formed part of the group of Catholic intellectuals associated with 11 Frontespizio, a review of literature and the arts founded in 1 929 and published in Florence.

2. Like St. Francis of Assisi and Thomas a Kempis ( 1 379- 1 47 1 ), author of the classic devotional text, Imitation of Christ, Iacopo Passavanti ( 1 302-1 3 5 7 ) wrote a famous spiritual work, Lo Specchio di vera penitenza (The Mirror of True Penance).

3 · Antonio Fogazzaro was condemned by the Catholic Church for espousing modernist views and two of his novels, 11 Santo ( 1 905 ) and Leila ( 1 9 1 1 ), were placed on the Index of forbidden books. Fogazzaro eventually recanted and reconciled himself with the Church.

§7 3 . Cremieux's Modern Italian Literature

1 . See "Cremieux e Bellonci" in the "Rassegna della stampa" (Review of the Press) section of La Fiera Letteraria, 1 5 January 1 928 (IV, 3 ). Gramsci had also read the survey of contemporary Italian literature by Benjamin Cremieux, Panorama de la litterature italienne contemporaine (Paris: Kra, 1 92 8 ) which he had in prison and which he used in other notes as well.

Benjamin Cremieux ( 1 888- 1 944) was a French critic who was particularly interested in and wrote extensively about Italian literature. He served for many years as the general secretary of the French Institute in Florence.

Among other things, he translated the plays of Pirandello into French.

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929 - 1 930)

During the war, Cremieux joined the French Resistance, was captured and died in the concentration camp at Buchenwald.

2. Gramsci had written on this issue in an article, "La lingua unica e

!'Esperanto" (A Single Language and Esperanto) in 11 Grido del Popolo, 1 6

February 1 9 1 8 :

Manzoni posed the question: how does one create the Italian language, now that Italy has been created? And he responded: every Italian must speak Tuscan, the Italian state must recruit elementary school teachers in Tuscany; Tuscan will replace the numerous dialects spoken in the various regions, and now that Italy has been created, the Italian language will be created as well. Manzoni was able to obtain government support and embark on the publication of a Novo Dizionario [New Dictionary]

which was to have contained the true Italian language. But the Novo Dizionario remained half finished and teachers were recruited from among educated people in all the regions of Italy. As it turned out, a scholar of the history of language, Graziadio Isaia Ascoli had countered hundreds of pages by Manzoni with some thirty pages in order to show: that not even a national language can be brought about artificially by the imposition of the state; that the Italian language is being formed by itself and it will be formed only to the extent that the social life of the nation gives rise to numerous and stable contacts among the various segments of the nation; that the dissemination of a particular language is due to the productive activity of writing, trade and commerce of the people who speak that particular language. In the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, Tuscany had writers like Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Machiavelli, and Guicciardini who disseminated the Tuscan language; it had bankers, craftsmen and manufacturers who carried Tuscan products and the names of those products all over Italy; later it reduced its productivity of goods and books and therefore it also reduced its productivity of language. A few years ago, Professor Alfredo Panzini published a dictionary of the modern spoken language, and from it one sees how many Milanese expressions have spread as far as Sicily and Apulia.

Milan sends newspapers, periodicals, books, goods and commercial travelers all over Italy and, therefore, it also sends some characteristic expressions of the Italian language spoken by its inhabitants.

Ascoli expressed his objections to Manzoni's approach to the language question in Italy in his "Proemio" to the Archivio glottologico italiano ( I 8?2)-now available in Graziadio lsaia Ascoli, Scritti sulla questione della lingua, ed. Corrado Grassi (Turin : Einaudi, I 97 s ).

According to the study plan Gramsci outlined for himself on the opening page of Notebook I, the language question (including the contrasting positions of Manzoni and Ascoli) was one of the topics he intended to examine in some detail. This, after all, was the field of study which

Notes to the Text. § 7 3

attracted most of his interest as a university student. The place of his treatment of the language question within his overall plans for an extensive study on the role of the intellectuals is described by Gramsci himself in a letter to Tatiana Schucht, 1 7 November 1 9 30: I have settled on three or four main topics, one of which is the cosmopolitan role played by the Italian intellectuals up to the eighteenth century; this can be divided up into several sections: the Renaissance and Machiavelli, etc. If I had the chance to consult the necessary material, I believe that a really interesting and unprecedented book could be produced. I say a book, when I only mean an introduction to a certain number of monographs, because the problem presents itself differently in different periods, and in my view one needs to go back to the time of the Roman Empire. In the meantime I write notes, also because reading the relatively small amount of material I have makes me remember my past reading. Besides, the thing is not completely new to me because ten years ago I wrote an essay on Manzoni's views on the language question and that required a certain amount of research on the organization of Italian culture from the time when the written language (so-called Middle Latin; that is, the Latin written from 400 A.D. to 1 300) broke off completely from the language spoken by the people, which was fragmented into an infinite number of dialects once Roman centralization came to an end. Middle Latin was followed by the vernacular, which in turn was submerged by humanistic Latin, thus leading to a learned language that was vernacular in its vocabulary but not in phonology and much less in syntax, which was copied from the Latin- thus there continued to be a double language, the popular or dialectal language and the learned language or the language of the intellectuals and the educated classes.

Manzoni himself, in revising I Promessi Sposi I The Betrothed) and in his studies on the Italian language, in reality, took into account only one aspect of language, the vocabulary, but not syntax which, after all, is the essential part of any language-so much so that English is a Germanic language although more than 6o% of its words are Latin or neo-Latin, whereas Romanian is a neo-Latin language although more than 6o% of its words are Slavic. As you can see, the topic interests me so much that I've let myself be carried away by it.

Gramsci never had the opportunity to develop this topic as he had originally planned, but he does touch upon it elsewhere in the notebooks; see especially Notebook 3, §63 and Notebook 1 4, § 1 4.

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

§7 4· Super-city and Super-coun try

1 . The quotation is taken from "Papini e la citta" ( Papini and the City) in the "Rassegna della stampa" (Review of the Press) section in La Fiera Letteraria, I 5 January I 928 (IV, 3 ).

2. The quotation is taken from "Fuoco sotto la cenere" (Fire Under the Ashes) in "Rassegna della stampa, " La Fiera Letteraria, 1 5 January I 928.

The words are attributed to an unidentified speaker at "the meeting of Super-country."

3 · This quotation is also taken from "Fuoco sotto la cenere" in La Fiera Letteraria, I 5 January I 928. (L'Assalto was a Fascist newspaper. )

§7 5 . Sicilian in tellectuals

I . Most probably Gramsci took his cue for this note from the "Ballettina dei nuovi libri" (Bulletin of New Books) section in La Fiera Letteraria, I S January I 928 (IV, 3 ), which reported the appearance of a book by Giuseppe Sciortino, Esperienze antidannunziani (Anti-D'Annunzio Experiences) published by the "Ciclope" Press in Palermo.

Of the three Sicilian intellectuals mentioned by Gramsci, the only one to have gained some degree of recognition was Pietro Mignosi ( I 89 S

I 9 3 7 ), a philosopher, novelist, poet, and critic born i n Palermo. Although he collaborated with Piero Gobetti early in his career, Mignosi became a strident neo-Thomist. He founded and edited two journals, La Tradizione and Nuovo Romanticismo, which published literary and philosophical essays that strongly reflected his extremely orthodox and militant Catholic orientation.

§ 7 6 . The crisis of the "West "

I . This note is a summary o f "L'Occidente e i l demiurgo" (The West and the Demiurge) in the "Rassegna della stampa" (Review of the Press) section in La Fiera Letteraria, 29 July I 928 (IV, 3 I ). Gramsci inserts his own comments in parentheses. The term "demiurge, " carries connotations of a humanistic version of "superman, " and is used here in the sense attached to it by Filippo Burzio on which Gramsci comments elsewhere; see especially Notebook I, §28, Notebook 6, §28 and Notebook 8, § I s o.

§ 7 7 . Clergy and in tellectuals

1 . The quoted passage from Father Agostino Gemelli's article on Leo XIII and the intellectual movement is derived from "Il venticinquesimo della morte di un Papa" (The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of a Pope's Death)

Notes to the Text. § 78

in the "Rassegna della stampa" (Review of the Press) section in La Fiera Letteraria, 29 July 1 928 (IV, 3 1 ) .

Agostino Gemelli ( I 8 7 8- I 9 5 9), a Franciscan priest, was especially interested in psychology besides philosophy and theology. A vigorous promoter of neo-scholasticism and a very influential intellectual, he served as president of the Papal Academy of Sciences as well as rector of the Catholic University of Milan, which he helped establish.

2. Leo XIII ( r 8o r - I 90 3 ), who succeeded Pius IX to the papacy in r 87 8, sought to restore the prestige of the Catholic Church in various countries where it had been significantly eroded because of its conservative, even reactionary resistance to social and political developments. He brought about the end of the kulturkampf through a rapprochement with Bismarck and he called upon French Catholics to cease their uncompromising repudiation of the Republic. His famous encyclical Rerum Novarum ( r 8 9 I ) expressed the Church's concern with the plight of workers and provided the basis for a new Catholic social doctrine. Nevertheless, Leo XIII was quite conservative-he worked extremely hard to establish Thomism as the foundation of Catholic philosophy, he offered neo-scholasticism as the Catholic response and alternative to contemporary political and social views, he repeatedly condemned socialist and secularist tendencies, and he officially reaffirmed his predecessors' refutations of liberalism. In Italy, he maintained the policy of the non expedit, barring Catholics from participation in politics, even as voters. At the same time, though, Catholics were encouraged to play an active social role through organizations such as the Opera dei Congressi. The intransigent antiliberal clericalism of the Catholic activists contributed significantly to the wave of anti-clericalism which led to the (short-lived) suppression of Catholic organizations by the Italian government in 1 898.

The Congress of Genoa was held in August 1 892. It brought together representatives from numerous Italian labor organizations and occasioned the founding of the Italian Socialist Party under the leadership of Filippo Turati.

§ 7 8 . Bergson, positivist materialism, pragmatism r . Balbina Giuliano's article appeared in I1 Resto del Carlino. Gramsci derives his information from "Bergson, premio Nobel" (Bergson: Nobel Prize Winner) in the "Rassegna della stampa" ( Review of the Press) section in La Fiera Letteraria, 25 November 1 928 (IV, 48).

Balbina Giuliano ( 1 879- 1 9 5 8 ), a professor of philosophy and follower of Giovanni Gentile, was very active in politics, first as a Nationalist and then as a Fascist. Elected deputy in 1 924, he became senator in 1 9 34, having served as education minister between 1 929 and 1 9 32.

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

§79. Italo Chittaro, La capacita di comando

I . The information about Chittaro's book, La capacita com an do (The Skill of Command) is obtained from a review "Letteratura militare" (Military Literature), which appeared in "I libri della settimana" (Books of the Week) section of La Fiera Letteraria, 4 November I 928 (IV, 4 5 ).

§So. The public and Italian literature

I . The quotation from Leo Ferrero's article is derived from "Gli senttori e il pubblico" (The Writers and the Public) in the "Rassegna della stampa" ( Review of the Press) section in La Fiera Letteraria, 28 October 1 92 8 (IV, 44).

Leo Ferrero ( 1 903- I 9 3 3 ), son of the historian Guglielmo Ferrero, wrote criticism, poetry, fiction and drama. He contributed to Solaria and other journals. An anti-Fascist, he left Italy in I 928 and lived in France and England before settling in the United States-he died in an automobile accident in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

§8 1 . Nino Daniele, D 'Annunzio politico

1 . Most probably Gramsci extracted this bibliographic entry from the

"Libri ricevuti" (Books Received) section of La Fiera Letteraria, 26 August 1 928 (IV, 3 5 ).

A copy of this volume, on D' Annunzio as a political man, is among the books Gramsci had in prison; see, Nino Daniele, D 'Annunzio politico: Rievocazioni e rivelazioni con un supplemento (Sao Paulo, I 928). Gramsci asked for a copy of Daniele's book in a letter to Tatiana Schucht, I I April I 9 3 2 :

You should also ask him [Piero Sraffa) where h e could obtain for m e a copy of a book by Nino Daniele on D 'Annunzio politico, printed in S.

Paulo, Brazil, by an Italian publisher (Tissi, I think). The book has been much praised by the newspapers and journals and must be very interesting because for many years (for as long as the organization of Fiume legionaries led an independent existence) Daniele was D' Annunzio's trustee in Piedmont and he was also D'Annunzio's own political counsellor first in Fiume and subsequently in Cardone.

Gramsci had written an article ridiculing Daniele (who visited the offices of Avanti! in August I 9 ); see, "Un eroe" lA Hero), in the regular column

"Sotto la Mole, " in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 28 August 1 920.

Several years later Daniele claimed, in an article for an Italian periodical published in Brazil, that in the spring of I 92 I an unsuccessful attempt

Notes to the Text. § 84

was made to arrange a meeting between Gramsci and D' Annunzio; see, Nino Daniele, "Fiume bifronte" in Quaderni della Liberto (Sao Paulo), 2 5

January 1 9 3 3 (4), pp. 7- 1 2 . O n this whole episode, see Sergio Caprioglio,

"Un mancato incontro Gramsci-D'Annunzio a Cardone nell' Aprile 1 921-Con una testimonianza di Palmiro Togliatti" in Rivista Storica del Socialismo, January-August 1 962 (V, 1 5 - 1 6 ), pp. 263-73.

§ 8 2 . Father Bresciani 's progeny

1 . This bibliogxaphic reference is most probably derived from the "Libri ricevuti" (Books Received) section in La Fiera Letteraria, 5 August 1 928 (IV, 3 2 ) . The comment added to the later version (Text C) of this note suggests that Gramsci may have subsequently obtained a copy of Santoro's novel.

§ 8 3 . Piero Pieri, 11 regno di Napoli dal luglio 1799 al marzo 1806

1 . The reference to Pieri's book on the Kingdom of Naples from 1 799

to 1 8o6, and the comment on it are most probably taken from a review by Carlo Morandi in La Fiera Letteraria, 1 6 December 1 928 (IV, 5 1 ). For another reference by Gramsci to Pieri's volume, see Notebook 3, § 1 34.

Piero Pieri (b. 1 89 3 ), a scholar and university professor, wrote extensively on the economic, social, and especially the military history of Italy.

§ 8 4 . Giovanni Maioli, 11 fondatore della Societa Nazionale 1 . The information about Giovanni Maioli's book on the founding of the National Society and the quotation of Pallavicino are extracted from a review by Rodolfo Mosca, "Storia" (History), in "I libri della settimana"

(Books of the Week) section of La Fiera Letteraria, 1 6 December 1 928 (IV, p ).

The founders and principal leaders of the National Society were Daniele Manin and Giorgio Pallavicino. (For an earlier reference to Pallavicino, see Notebook I, §44. ) They worked hard to foster nationalist sentiment and to guide the movement for Italian unification toward a realistic acceptance of a leading role for Piedmont and its monarch, the King of Sardinia. At the same time, the society urged King Victor Emmanuel to embrace their cause and lead the drive for national unity.

Felice Foresti ( 1 789- 1 8 5 8 ), a nationalist active in the secret and conspiratorial "carbonaro" movement, received a death sentence in 1 8 2 1

which was commuted t o twenty years o f imprisonment a t the Spielberg.

In 1 83 6 he was deported to the U.S. where he taught Italian literature at Columbia University, started corresponding with Mazzini, and estab-

NOT E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0) lished friendships with several exiles including Garibaldi. When he returned to Italy in 1 8 5 6, however, Foresti distanced himself from Mazzini and lent his support to Cavour's policies.

Giuseppe La Farina ( 1 8 1 S - I 8 6 3 ), a nationalist and republican, played a very active role in the short-lived parliament elected after the anti-Bourbon revolution in his native Sicily. Once the revolution was defeated, he moved to Turin where he helped found the National Society. Like the other leaders of the society, he abandoned his republicanism and favored a monarchical solution to the problem of unification. La Farina was the secretary of the National Society and created the society's mouthpiece, Il Piccolo Carriere, in 1 8 5 6 .

2. The Allobroges, an ancient Celtic tribe, inhabited an area in southeastern France. In this instance Gramsci uses "Allobrogos" as a mockheroic epithet for the natives of Piedmont and Savoy. He is alluding sarcastically to the Gesta Dei per Francos, a twelfth century work celebrating the first crusade in which the French are portrayed as the instruments of divine providence.

§ 8 5 . Giuseppe Solitro, Due famigerati gazzettieri dell 'Austria 1 . The information on Solitro's book, Due famigerati gazzettieri dell 'A ustria (Two Notorious Austrian Hack Journalists) is taken from "I libri della settimana" (Books of the Week) section in La Fiera Letteraria, 1 6 December 1 928 (IV, 5 1 ).

§86. Giovanni Crocioni, Problemi fondamentali del Folklore 1 . The bibliographic reference to Crocioni's book, Problemi fondamentali del Folklore (Basic Questions in Folklore) is extracted from a review by Raffaele Ciampini, "Folklore, " in "I libri della settimana" (Books of the Week) section of La Fiera Letteraria, 30 December 1 928 (IV, 5 3 ) which is cited by Gramsci in Notebook 1, §89.

§ 8 7 . Gen tile and the philosophy of Italian politics 1 . The quotation is taken from "La filosofia del fascismo" (The Philosophy of Fascism) in the "Rassegna della stampa" (Review of the Press) section in La Fiera Letteraria, 30 December 1 928 (IV, 5 3 ).

§88. Gioberti

1 . The quotations from Giosue Carducci's work on the Risorgimento (originally published in 1 89 6 ) are taken by Gramsci from an article by Ugo

Notes to the Text. § 89

De Maria, "Carducci e Gioberti" in La Fiera Letteraria, 1 3 January 1 929

(V, 2).

Santorre De Rossi di Santarosa ( 1 78 3 - 1 82 S ), an idealistic revolutionary and patriot, worked hard to overthrow Austrian rule and bring about the unification of Italy. He spent some years as an exile in England before joining the revolutionaries in Greece where he died in action.

Giuseppe Parini ( 1 729- 1 799), a poet and literary critic, was a priest of humble origins, renowned as much for his humanitarianism and moral integrity as for his extraordinary literary skill. Parini was a severe critic of the Milanese aristocracy whom he satirized in the mock heroic poem Il Giorno ( 1 76 3 ). Because of his sympathies for the democratic goals of the French Revolution and Enlightenment ideas he was labeled a Jacobin by his Milanese contemporaries.

Melchiorre Cesarotti ( 17 30- 1 8o8 ) received a seminary education but did not pursue an ecclesiastical career long. Strongly influenced by the Enlightenment, he translated some of Voltaire's works into Italian. He was a professor of Greek at the University of Padua and wrote important works on language and aesthetics. He also sought to promulgate the democratic ideals of the French Revolution.

Giuseppe Barbieri ( 1 774- 1 8 5 2 ) was a friend of Cesarotti whom he succeeded as professor of Greek at the University of Padua. He became famous for his sermons and orations.

Ludovico Di Breme ( 1 78o- I 82o) was born of an aristocratic family in Turin where he received an ecclesiastical education and started his career as a teacher of religion in the Royal Lyceum. An active exponent and proponent of romanticism he was a friend and correspondent of several prominent figures of his time, including Byron, Schlegel, and Madame de Stael.

Giuseppe Andreoli ( I 79 1 - 1 822), a priest and a nationalist, was an active "carbonaro" until he was arrested and executed for his conspiratorial activity.

Enrico Napoleone Tazzoli ( I 8 n- I 8 p), a patriotic priest, at first shared Gioberti's neo-Guelph vision of an Italian federation under the papacy.

After 1 848, he became increasingly radical and joined the Mazzinian revolutionaries. He was arrested by the Austrians and executed in December I 8 5 2--one of the famous Belfiore martyrs.

§89. Folklore

1 . Gramsci reconstructs Giovanni Crocioni's views from the review by Raffaele Ciampini which he cites. See also Notebook I , §86.

The Bibliografia delle tradizioni popolari d'Italia, compiled by Giuseppe Pitre was first published in 1 894 (Turin-Palermo: C. Clausen). Giu-

NOTES : NOTEBOOK I ( I 929- I 9 30)

seppe Pitre ( I 84 I - I 9 I 6 ), a Sicilian doctor, devoted his life to the study of folklore. In I 88o he co-founded the Archivio delle tradizioni popolari which he edited until I 906. He also produced the Biblioteca delle tradizioni popolari Siciliani, an encyclopedic collection in twenty-five volumes of Sicilian popular songs, legends, tales, word games, proverbs, public spectacles, traditional feasts, etc.

2. In prison, Gramsci had a copy of Cesare Pascarella, Sonetti, new ed.

(Turin: Tip. Editrice Nazionale, 1 92 6 ) which contains "La scoperta dell'

America" (The Discovery of America) originally published in 1 894. The volume is listed by Gramsci among the books sent to his brother Carlo, I I November I 929; see "Description of the Manuscript"-Notebook 1 .

Cesare Pascarella ( 1 8 5 8- I 940), a widely read popular poet who wrote in dialect, was influenced and also praised by Carducci. He composed romanticized historical accounts in sonnet form. In "La scoperta dell'

America, " the adventures of Columbus are narrated from a popular point of view in an effort to endow historical events with a sense of immediacy

-hence the folkloristic elements both in the narrative voice as well as in the content of the various descriptions and the reconstruction of events.

For another comment by Gramsci on Pascarella's poetry, see Notebook 9,

§ 1 4 1 .

§90. La Voce and Prezzolini

1 . Gramsci is referring to an article by Giuseppe Prezzolini in I1 Lavoro Fascista, 1 9 February 1 929 which was summarized in 11Processo alla Voce"

( La Voce on Trial) in the 11Rassegna della stampa" (Review of the Press) section of La Fiera Letteraria, 24 February 1 929 (V, 8). Because of a typographical error, the inside pages of this issue of La fiera Letteraria show the wrong year of publication, "24 February 1 928"-Gramsci also transcribed the wrong year in his manuscript.

2. Gramsci derives this information from an article by Silvio D'Amico attacking La Tribuna, reprinted in 11Papini Tedesco? " (German Papini ? ) in the 11Rassegna della stampa" ( Review of the Press) section, La Fiera Letteraria, 27 January 1 929 (V, 4).

La Tribuna, once a Giolittian newspaper, merged with the Nationalist

Fascist organ, L'Idea Nazionale, in I 92 5 .

3 . I1 Davide, a Catholic journal of philosophy and the arts, was published in Turin; its first issue appeared on 1 5 January 1 926. Prezzolini's letter appeared in I1 Davide in April 1 926 and was then partially reprinted in L'Italia che Scrive, May I 926 (IX, s ), p. 1 10.

4· On Prezzolini's La coltura italiana, see Notebook I , §43. Gramsci also owned a copy of the other book he mentions: Giuseppe Prezzolini, Le Fascisme, trans. Georges Bourgin (Paris: Bossard, 1 9 2 5 ) .

Notes to the Text. §93

s . Il Popolo d'Italia was founded by Mussolini in I 9 I 4 and vigorously supported Italy's intervention in the war.

§9 1 . Super-coun try

r . The quotation is taken from "Svolta pericolosa" (A Dangerous Tum) in the "Rassegna della stampa" (Review of the Press) section edited by Enrico Falqui, in L 'Italia Letteraria, I 9 May I 929 ( I, 7 ) .

Mino Maccari ( b . I 89 8 ), a painter, engraver and writer, helped found Il Selvaggio which he edited for many years. The journal stridently supported the most intransigent Fascist factions and became the main organ of the Super-country movement.

§92. On Americanism

r . The quotation is taken from "Verita sull 'Americanismo" (The Truth About Americanism) in the "Rassegna della stampa" (Review of the Press) section of L'ltalia Letteraria, I9 May I 929 (I, 7).

Eugenio Giovanetti (I 88 3- I 9 s I ), an essayist, translator, fiction writer, and journalist, was for many years editor of the Giornale d'Italia.

2. See Notebook r, §87 for Gramsci's comment on Gentile's saying.

§ 9 3 . Father Bresciani 's progeny

r . Gramsci is referring to Gallarati Scotti's "II crociato e Santa Ruth"

(The Crusader and St. Ruth) in his volume of short stories, Storie dell'

Amor Sacro e dell'Amor Profano (Tales of Sacred and Profane Love) which was first published in I 9 I I and reappeared in a new edition by the same publisher in 1 924. See Tommaso Gallarati Scotti, Storie dell'Amor Sacro e dell'Amor Profano (Milan: Treves, I 9 I I ), pp. I 48-88. Gallarati Scotti's book is not among the volumes Gramsci had in prison. Most probably Gramsci had once read this work and was reminded of it by an article which alludes to some of Gallarati Scotti's books, including Storie dell'

Amor Sacra e dell'Amor Profano

see Carlo Calcaterra, "Due 'vite' di

-

Dante" (Two "Lives" of Dante) in L 'ltalia Letteraria, 7 July I 929 (I, 14).

Tommaso Gallarati Scotti ( 1 878-1 966), a fiction writer, essayist and literary biographer, associated himself with the modernist movement in Catholicism and had close contacts with many of the major European figures of the religious culture of his time. He co-edited the journal Il Rinnovamento for about a year, until it was condemned by the Church in 1 908. An anti-Fascist, he contributed to the short-lived ( 1 924-2 5 ) paper Il Gaffe. He also wrote biographies of Fogazzaro ( 1 920) and Dante ( 1 92 1 ).

2. Gramsci is alluding to the tenth story of the sixth day in Boccaccio's

490

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

Decameron in which Fra Cipolla promises to show some peasants the penis of the angel Gabriel.

In referring to Eca de Queiroz's La reliquia (The Relic) Gramsci is evidently relying on his memory, hence his erroneous identification of the translator. See J.M. Eca De Queiroz, La reliquia, trans. Paolo Silenziario, with a note by L. Siciliani (Lanciano: Carabba, I 9 I 3 ).

Giuseppe Antonio Borgese ( I 882- 1 9 5 2 ), a writer and critic, was a university professor of aesthetics and German literature before leaving Italy for the United States in I 9 3 I because of his anti-Fascist convictions. In a series of essays written during the early I 920s, he argued strenuously for a renewal of Italian literature, calling for a move away from Crocean aesthetics and a return to the unified and organic wholeness of novelistic form.

3 · The Bollandists are a group of Belgian Jesuits who edit and publish the Acta Sanctorum, the comprehensive collection of the biographies of saints. The group was first organized in the seventeenth century by Jean Bolland ( I S 96- I 66 s ), a Belgian Jesuit who set out to collect the source materials for and to produce the biographies of saints according to the scientific principles of historical criticism.

4· See Henry Wickham Steed, Mes Souvenirs: Trente annees de vie politique en Europe, vol. 1 : I 892- I 9 1 4, trans. M. D'Honfroi (Paris : Pion, I 92 6 ), pp. I 5 9- 1 6o. Gramsci owned a copy of this volume while in prison in Milan but he did not have it at Turi. (At Turi, however, he had a copy of the.second volume of the same work which was published a year later. ) His recollection- in this instance and again in Notebook 8, §22cr-f the anecdote recounted by Steed is not entirely accurate: the conversation, in fact, takes place between a prelate and an Italian nobleman (not between a Protestant and a Cardinal) and it is only indirectly related to the popular Neapolitan belief in the miracle of St. Gennaro. Still, it is not difficult to understand how Gramsci got the details confused. The relevant passage in Henry Wickham Steed, Through Thirty Years: 1892-1922. A Personal Narrative (London: Heinemann, 1 924), vol. 1, pp. 1 76-1 77, is as follows: But espousal of the one or the other historic tendency, the Catholic or the Protestant, may be as much a question of race and temperament as of intellectual or mystical conviction. Those who prefer a religious or political life under authority to the vicissitudes of enquiry and doubt are apt to favor the Catholic tendency in a spiritual or a political form; whereas those of sturdier or less disciplined temper, who put above all things liberty to think and to act, who are jealous of authority lest it grow tyranical, feel drawn toward a Protestant conception of life, though they may not recognize it as Protestant. Between the two there is no real compromise; for, in the last resort, the Roman Church is an autoc-

Notes to the Text. §93

49 1

racy, circumscribed if not guided by an oligarchy. Moreover, those members of the oligarchy who reside in the Curia are conscious of their privileged position. I listened one day in Rome to a conversation between a prelate imbued with the spirit of the Curia and an Italian nobleman who was a devout Catholic of an intellectual type. The nobleman complained of a certain grossness in a nuptial allocution we had just heard. "Why, Monsignore, " he inquired, "does the Church ask us to believe those things ? "

"The Church, " replied the prelate, "does not ask you and me to believe them. They are good for the Neapolitans. "

"Yet, " returned the nobleman, "there are some things hard to believe, even in the Gospels. "

"There is a great deal of exaggeration in the Gospels, " replied the prelate.

"But, " returned the nobleman, genuinely shocked, "is not the Bible, are not the Gospels the basis of everything, the source of Christianity; and are we not Christians, Monsignore? "

"We are prelates, " replied the Monsignore.

Nothing more was said. The prelate's meaning was that all these matters of faith lie within the exclusive competence of the Pope, whose immediate staff in the Government of the Church is composed of the Cardinals, the prelates, the Inquisition, and the heads of the Regular Clergy.

5 . See "Lettere di Georges Sorel a B . Croce" in La Critica, 20 March 1 928 (XXVI, 2 ), p. 9 7 · In a letter dated 3 1 December 1 906, Sorel wrote : Je vois dans plusieurs joumaux que le miracle de Saint Janvier donne lieu encore a des nouvelles disputes qu'un habile chemiste l'aurait reproduit. Il me semble avoir lu quelque part que ce miracle n'etait pas autrefois isole comme aujourd'hui et qu'il y avait en Italie d'autres sangs qui bouillaient dans les circostances solemnelles. Est-ce que ce fait se rattache a quelque croyance d'ordre general?

Croce added the following in a footnote:

The other miraculous bloods which used to be in the monasteries of Naples are now found in the surviving blood of St. Gregory Ameno. This was confirmed to me by the priest Sperindeo whom I asked, during a visit he paid me, why he had not mentioned this fact in his study. He responded: "Let's leave it alone; otherwise things will get muddled. "

The study of the priest G . Sperindeo, I1 miracolo di S. Gennaro (Naples : Tip. D 'Auria, 1 90 1 ) is cited by Croce in another note in the same issue of La Critica (p. 94).

492

NOTES : NOTEBOOK I j i 929- I 9 30)

§94. Proudhon, fahier, and Raim ondi

1 . See Giuseppe Raimondi, "Carriere di Bologna" !Bologna Messenger) in L'Italia Letteraria, 2 I July I 929 II, 1 6 ).

Giuseppe Raimondi jb. 1 89 8 ), an autodidact with leftist leanings from Bologna, wrote in La Ronda for which he also worked as an editorial secretary. He was especially interested in modem French writing.

Piero Jahier j r 884- 1 966), a fiction writer and translator, is best known for two autobiographical works, Ragazzo and Con me e gli alpini- both published in I 9 1 9 . Although he professed socialist tendencies, Jahier's works extol the peasant world and betray a lack of sympathy toward the working class.

2. See Notebook 3, § r o.

§ 9 5 . Adriano Tilgher, Homo Faber

I . This bibliographic information is probably drawn from a review of Tilgher's book by Corrado Alvaro which appeared in L'Italia Letteraria, I I August 1 9 29 U, 1 9 ) .

§ 9 6 . Adelchi Baratono

1. The quotation is taken from "Glossa perenne" in the "Rassegna della stampa" !Review of the Press) section of L 'Italia Letteraria, I I August 1 929 II, 1 9 ) .

Adelchi Baratono ( I 87 S - I 947), a philosopher who among other things wrote on aesthetics, was a Socialist and a parliamentary deputy. Gramsci had criticized him mercilessly in an article, "Classicismo, Romanticismo, Baratono . . . " in L'Ordine Nuovo, I 7 January I 9 2 2 : The revolutionary verbiage of the Hon. Adelchi Baratono i s comparable only to the philosophical verbiage of Prof. Adelchi Baratono, teacher of pedagogy. [ . . . ) Baratono is a pedant not a pedagogue; he is a reader of historical books not a connoisseur of history; he is a mediocre parliamentarian not a politician. He is completely lacking in imaginative perception: his writings are a chronological and grammatical succession of thoroughly embalmed linguistic fossils [ . . . ]

2 . Giovanni Berchet ( 1 78 3- I B S I ), translator, poet, and critic, was a leading figure of the romantic movement in Italy. He became a "carbonaro" in I 82o but Austrian repression compelled him to live in exile for several years. He returned to Italy in 1 84 5 and three years later participated in the provisional government of Milan. Once the Austrians reestab-

Notes to the Text. §97

493

lished their rule, he moved to Turin where he was elected to parliament and allied himself with the Moderates.

3· This is the first of many references to De Sanctis in the Prison Notebooks. Francesco De Sanctis ( 1 8 1 7- 1 8 8 3 ), one of the most important figures in the history of Italian literary criticism, exemplified for Gramsci and many others the ideal intellectual who combines scholarly and philosophical rigor with political commitment and social responsibility. In 1 848, De Sanctis joined the popular uprising against Bourbon rule, and he was later imprisoned for his political subversion. In 1 8 5 3 he was put on a ship on the way to exile in the United States but he somehow escaped and made his way through Malta to Turin. He returned to Naples in 1 86o and worked in the education ministry of the government established by Garibaldi. Subsequently he was elected deputy to the national parliament and served in Cavour's government; later he belonged to the opposition. In 1 872 he delivered a very important lecture "La Scienza e la vita" (Science and Life), in which he denounced the positivist culture which kept the dominant bourgeoisie separated from the popular classes. As part of an effort to address this problem, in 1 876, he founded a "Philological Circle"

in Naples. When he became minister of education in 1 878, De Sanctis concentrated on eliminating illiteracy and protecting state schools from clerical influence. His literary criticism has a distinctive Hegelian stamp, but it is also marked by the way in which it grounds poetry, literature and indeed culture as a whole in history-as can be seen especially in his two volume Storia della letteratura italiana ( 1 870-7 1 ).

§ 9 7 . Salvadori, Valli, and Lorianism

1 . This observation on Valli is most probably derived from an essay by Benedetto Migliore, "Una nuova interpretazione delle rime di Dante e del

'dolce stil nuovo' " (A New Interpretation of Dante's Rhymes and the dolce stil nuovo) in Nuova An tologia, 1 6 February 1 928 (LXIII, 1 342), pp.

446-6 1 . Gramsci makes explicit reference to this essay in Notebook 3,

§ x u .

Luigi Valli ( 1 878- 1 9 3 1 ) was a professor of philosophy and a literary critic with a special interest in Dante. In his books he developed ideas which had been originally proposed by Pascoli, and he interpreted Dante along allegorical lines following in the footsteps of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

2. This information on Giulio Salvadori is derived from an article by Filippo Crispolti recapitulated in "Salvadori e le conversione manzoniana"

(Salvadori and Manzoni's Conversion) in the "Rassegna della stampa"

(Review of the Press) section of L 'Italia Letteraria, 1 1 August 1 929 (I, 1 9 ) .

Salvadori proposed a n autobiographical interpretation of The Betrothed,

494

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ! 1 9 29- 1 930)

equating fictional characters with individuals who played central roles in Manzoni's life. Donna Giulia Beccaria was Manzoni's mother. His wife, Enrichetta Luigia Blonde!, was a Swiss Calvinist who converted to Catholicism after the birth of their child Giulia-around the same time Manzoni returned to his faith. Enrichetta Blondel-Manzoni died in 1 83 3 .

Giulio Salvadori ! 1 862- 1 92 8 ), a poet and literary critic, was a t first a follower of Carducci and D' Annunzio. He espoused a Darwinian brand of positivism calling for moral renewal through science. Around 1 8 8 5 , he underwent a spiritual conversion; his very orthodox Catholicism, asceticism and pietistic bent were fully reflected in his poetry. In criticism, he turned his attention to writers with a distinctly spiritual and religious content-hence his special interest in Manzoni, especially his masterpiece, The Betrothed. Salvadori is a candidate for beatification in the Catholic Church.

§98. Lello Gangemi, Il problema della durata del lavoro 1 . See L 'Italia Letteraria, 1 8 August 1 929 U, 20). For another comment on the book by Lello Gangemi, Il problema della durata del lavoro !The Problem of Working Hours), see Notebook 2, § I 3 6 .

§99. A famous bungling prattler

1 . The quotations from Broers' article are taken from "Spiritualismo, sperimentalismo" (Spiritualism, Experimentalism) in the "Rassegna della stampa" (Review of the Press) section in L'Italia Letteraria, I September 1 929 (I, 22).

Antonio Broers ( 1 887- 1 9 5 4), an autodidact and voluminous writer, was a great admirer of D'Annunzio. He developed his interest in spiritualism and "psychic research" into a full-blown, elaborate and all-embracing philosophical system within which he had no difficulty accommodating science, faith, idealism, immanentism, Catholicism, and fascism. In spite of the confused nature of his thought he succeeded in getting his work published and he was even named vice-chancellor of the Italian Academy in 1 929, a post he held until 1 943.

§ x oo. Goffredo Bellonci, Pagine e idee

1 . See Goffredo Bellonci, Pagine e idee (Rome: Ed. Sapientia, 1 929).

Gramsci's observations were probably occasioned by a review-article by Giovanni Titta Rosa, "Critica militante" (Militant Criticism) in L 'Italia Letteraria, I September I 929 U, 22). Most probably, Gramsci also read

Notes to the Text. § I02

4 9 5

other reviews of the book, such as the one by Ugo D'Andrea in Critica Fascista, I 3 July I 929 (VII, I 4), p. 288.

§ 1 0 r . Piedigrotta

I . The quotation from Adriano Tilgher's article is taken from "Addio a Piedigrotta" (Goodbye to Piedigrotta) in the "Rassegna della stampa" (Review of the Press) section of L 'ltalia Letteraria, I S September I 929 (I, 24).

Piedigrotta is a district of Naples and the songs of Piedigrotta are popular songs in Neapolitan dialect.

2 . Libera B ovio ( 1 8 8 3 - 1 942 ), a Neapolitan dialect poet, was the composer of many popular songs.

§ 1 02 . "La Fiera Letteraria, " which later became "L ' ltalia Letteraria "

1 . The weekly review, La Fiera Letteraria, founded in 1 9 2 5 by Umberto Fracchia ( 1 889- 1 9 30), was renamed L 'Italia Letteraria in April 1 929

when its editorial office moved from Milan to Rome. Gian Battista Angioletti took over its editorship in 1 928 and Curzio Malaparte was the coeditor from I 928 to 1 9 3 1 . The review ceased publication in 1 93 6 . La Fiera Letteraria was revived in I 946 by Angioletti.

2. Enrico Falqui ( I 90 1 - 1 974) a j ournalist and literary critic, was especially interested in twentieth-century Italian literature on which he wrote numerous essays.

3 · Alberto Moravia's first novel, Gli indifferen ti ( The Time of Indifference), which appeared in 1 929, was a great popular and critical success.

Nino Savarese ( 1 882- 1 94 5 ) first published his novel Malagigi in serial form in Nuova Antologia between 1 August and 1 6 September 1 928 (LXIII, 1 3 5 3 - 5 6 ) . The novel was published in book form in 1 929 and was a candidate for the "Trenta" literary prize. It was reviewed by Aurelio Navarria in L 'ltalia Letteraria, 1 December 1 929 (I, 3 5 ).

4· Gramsci had employed the comparison with Bandar Log, the Monkey-People in Rudyard Kipling's The fungle Book, in his journalistic writings. In "Vita Nuova! " ( New Life! ) in the "Satta Ia Mole" column of Avanti!, 8 July 1 9 1 8, he wrote in sarcastic vein: According to Rudyard Kipling, the Bandar Log monkeys in the jungle sing every minute of every hour, of every week, of every month, of every year. They sing but do not act, they talk but the word never becomes flesh - the monkeys are herbivores and the high prices do not spur their individual initiative. Italian democracy, however, is not a tribe of mon-

NOTES : NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 0)

keys: it follows words with deeds, it transforms fancy into will, conscious of means and ends.

1 . . J thus the Anglo-Saxons in the crowd could say: Rudyard Kipling

.

should destroy his jungle books because the Latins are no longer like the Bandar Log who sing but do not act, who claim to be the wisest, cleverest, most clear-sighted but who always postpone the transformation of their songs and speeches into practice until tomorrow . . . .

Democracy has carried out highly laudable, most noble work. Has carried out? Now then, it has carried out or will carry out; the future is the same as the present: if it has not done it this year it will do it next year or some other year. It will be done, it will be done . . . we are the wisest, most clever, most clear-sighted people on earth; you'll see what we're capable of doing . . . tomorrow, because the new life starts tomorrow as for the Bandar Log in Rudyard Kipling's jungle.

In "II popolo delle scimmie" (The Monkey-People) in L 'Ordine Nuovo, 2

January 1 92 1 , Gramsci compared the Italian petty bourgeoisie to the Bandar Log "who believed themselves to be superior to all the other people in the jungle "

.

For other comments by Gramsci on The Jungle Book, see also the letter to his son Delio, 10 April 1 9 3 3 and the letter to Tatiana Schucht, 2.2. May 1 9 3 3-in the latter, Gramsci tells Tatiana Schucht that he would like Delio to read The Jungle Book rather than Uncle Tom 's Cabin. In these letters Gramsci also mentions some translations of Kipling's text.

§ 1 0 3 . General Fascist Confederation of Italian Industry 1 . This bibliographic reference is taken from a review by Guido Figgini in L' Italia Letteraria, 29 September 1 929 (I, 26).

§ r o4. Jean Barois

1 . This anecdote is extracted from an article by Bruno Revel, "Cronaca di filosofia" ( News of Philosophy) in La Fiera Letteraria, 2.4 February 1 929

(V, 8). Jean Barois is the main character in the novel by Roger Martin du Gard, Jean Barois (Paris: Gallimard, 1 9 1 3 ) . For an English translation, see Roger Martin du Gard, Jean Barois (New York: Viking, 1 949); the incident mentioned by Gramsci is recounted on pp. 3 6 3 -6 5 .

§ r os . American philosophy

1 . Gramsci's observation is occasioned by Bruno Revel's article "Cronaca di filosofia, " La Fiera Letteraria, 24 February 1 92.9 (V, 8). In this article, Revel discusses the work of the American philosopher Josiah

Notes to the Text. § wB

497

Royce, Outlines of Psychology ( I 90 3 ) which had appeared in Italian translation, Lineamenti di psicologia, ed. Umberto Forti (Bari: Laterza, I928).

§ r o6. Maurras 's concept of religion

1 . Gramsci extracts the summary of J. Vialatoux's article from "La scuola di Maurras" (Maurras's School) in "La pagina delle riviste" (Periodicals Page) section of the Rivista d' /tali a, I 5 January I 92 7 (XXX, I ), pp.

I 3 9-40. Gramsci places his own comments in parentheses.

2. Gramsci had read Maritain's book prior to his arrest. See Gramsci's letters to Giuseppe Berti, 30 January 1 928 and Tatiana Schucht, 2 5 March I 929.

§ ro7 . Filippo Meda, Statisti cattolici

1 . The bibliographic information about Filippo Meda's book on Catholic statesmen is taken from a brief notice which appeared in the "Rassegna bibliografica" (Bibliographical Review) section of the Rivista d' Italia, I 5

January I 927 (XXX, I), p. I J 2. The observations which follow, however, are not derived from this source.

Filippo Meda ( I 869- I 9 3 9 ), a politician and journalist, was a prominent leader of the Catholic parliamentary group of the Popular Party. He served as treasury minister under Giolitti.

2 . Gabriel Garcia Moreno ( I 82 I - I 87 5 ) was an important political figure in Ecuador, not Venezuela.

3· Alvaro Obregon ( I 880- I 928), President of Mexico from I 920 to I 924, vigorously pursued reforms in land distribution and education, and was in constant conflict with the ecclesiastical establishment. He relinquished the presidency after a period of civil strife but was re-elected in I 92 7 . He was assassinated by a fanatic who opposed his anti-clerical policies.

Plutarco Calles ( I 877- I 945 ), a follower of Obregon, held several ministerial posts. Elected president in I 9 24, he continued Obregon's programs of agrarian reform and the nationalization of mines. He faced strong opposition from Britain, the United States and the Vatican.

§ r oB. On the Risorgimento

1 . The source of this note and the three notes which follow it ( § I o9,

§ 1 1 o and § I 1 1 ) is an essay by Augusto San dona, "11 Preludio delle Cinque giornate di Milan-Nuovi documenti" (The Prelude to the Five Days of Milan- New Documents) in Rivista d' ltalia, I 5 January I 927 (XXX, I), pp. 74-99. Gramsci cites this source in § I o9, below.

N O TE S : N O TE B O O K I ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 0 )

§ r o9. Austrian informers an d agen ts provocateurs r . On Augusto Sandona's essay, see § r oB, above. The observation which follows is Gransci's own.

§ r r o. The contradictions of the Moderates before 1 848

r . The source of this information is Augusto Sandona's essay; see § r oB, above. The comment which follows is Gramsci's.

Cesare Balbo I 1 7B9- 1 B 5 3 ) was a politician and historian whose writings and political activity bore the stamp of his staunch Catholicism. Although he had no revolutionary sympathies, Balbo called for the liberation of Italy from Austrian rule while remaining an unswerving monarchist and a fervent believer in the supremacy of Catholic culture-positions he articulated in his influential 1 B44 book Le speranze d'Italia (The Aspirations of Italy). In 1 B4B, he became the first prime minister of Piedmont-a post he held for a few months- and subsequently the leader of the political right in parliament.

§ r u . By A ugusto Sandona

1 . The source of this bibliographic information is the essay by Augusto Sandona; see § r oB, above.

§ r 1 2. Father Facchinei

1 . See Adolfo Zerboglio, "Il ritorno di padre Facchinei" (The Return of Father Facchinei), in Rivista d'Italia, 1 5 January 1 927 (XXX, 1 ), pp. 22-30.

Cesare Beccaria ( r 73 B- 1 7 94), a legal scholar and statesman, wrote one of the most important works of the Italian enlightenment, Dei delitti e delle pene (On Crime and Punishment), published in 1 7 64. The book is an attack on capital punishment, torture, and the unfairness of judiciary systems. Beccaria opened up the question of the relationship between the severity of punishment and the social class of the accused, and between crime and poverty. He also pointed to property as one of the root causes of social problems. The book gave rise to a stormy controversy and provoked many intemperate responses including a crude refutation by the theologian Ferdinanda Facchinei, Note e osservazioni sui libra in titolato "Dei delitti e delle pene" (Notes and Observations on the Book Entitled "On Crime and Punishment") which was commissioned by the Venetian governing authorities and published in 1 76 5 .

2 . According to Maurice Block, Dictionnaire general de la Politique, 2

vols., new ed. ( Paris: Lorenz, r B7 3 - 1 B74), II, pp. 945 - 5 0, the terms "so-

Notes to the Text. § I I 4

499

cialisme" and "socialiste" were introduced into French by Louis Reynaud in an article published by the Revue de Deux Mondes in I 8 3 6 .

§ 1 1 3 . The revolution in criminal law and in criminal procedure and historical materialism

1 . When he was writing this note Gramsci relied on his memory of Marx's text-he not only wrote down the wrong publication date of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, but he originally quoted Marx as follows: "'It would be as if a judge judged the accused on the basis of what he said about himself ' (or something like that)." Later on, Gramsci used a part of Notebook 7 for his translation of a German anthology of texts by Marx, Lohnarbeit und Kapital. Zur fudenfrage und andere Schriften des Friihzeit (Leipzig: Reclam, n.d. ), which contained a passage from the preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. Gramsci used his own translation of this passage (Notebook 7, p. 3 v. ) to correct his earlier quotation from Marx in this note. A translation of the same passage was included in the first batch of study notes which Gramsci had compiled for the short-lived Communist Party correspondence school in I 9 2 5 .

2 . On this topic, see also Notebook 8, §207; Notebook I O, part II, §4 I ; and Notebook I I , § so.

§ 1 1 4 . The Risorgimen to. Political and military leadership 1 . Giorgio Sidney Sonnino ( I 847- I 922), a conservative Liberal who served as prime minister in I 906 and I 909- I O, was Italy's foreign minister during World War I. After the outbreak of the war, Sonnino tried to obtain territorial concessions from Austria in exchange for Italian neutrality. He did not attempt to exploit the weakness of the Hapsburg empire by supporting the nationalistic aspirations of the various peoples under Austrian rule. Once it became evident that the negotiations with Austria were futile, Sonnino joined the Triple Entente and in April I 9 I 5 signed the Pact of London committing Italy to war and obtaining the Trentino, the Alto

Adige and Dalmatian territory in return.

Luigi Cadoma ( I 8 5 0- I 928) was commander-in-chief of the Italian army when it suffered the humiliating defeat in the Battle of Caporetto in October-November I 9 1 7 ·

2 . Gramsci i s referring to the defeat (and its aftermath) of the Piedmontese army by the Austrians at Novara in March I 849·

s oo

NOTES : NOTEBOOK I ( 1 9 2.9- 1 9 30)

§ I I 5. Regarding . . .

1 . See Notebook 1 , §43 .

2.. See "Lo spirito militare polacco" (The Polish Military Spirit) in the

"Marginalia" section of ll Marzocco, 1 December 1 92.9 (XXIV, 48).

3 · Gramsci probably read Charles Darwin, Viaggio di un naturalista in torno al mondo, trans. M. Lessona (Turin: Utet, 1 872.)-a translation of the work best known under the title, The Voyage of the Beagle. Darwin's work, originally published in 1 8 3 9, appeared in an 1 86o edition with the title, A Naturalist 's Voyage Around the World. Gramsci's allusion is to a passage in Chapter 7 ( in the entry for October 1 6th) of Darwin's text: He was an old Spaniard, and had been many years in this country [i.e.

Argentine]. He professed a great liking for the English, but stoutly maintained that the battle of Trafalgar was merely won by the Spanish captains having been all bought over; and that the only gallant action on either side was performed by the Spanish admiral. It struck me as rather characteristic, that this man should prefer his countrymen being thought the worst of traitors, rather than unskillful or cowardly.

§ 1 1 6 . Italian in tellectuals

1 . See Notebook 1 , §43 . On the Corriere della Sera and the comparison with the French press, see also Notebook 8, §7.

2.. Andrea Torre ( 1 866-1 940) wrote for many newspapers and journals and founded the Giornale d' ltalia. He was elected to parliament in 1 909, and in 1 92.0 he became minister of education in the government of Francesco Nitti. Torre was a regular contributor to the Corriere della Sera between 1 906 and 1 9 1 6, supporting not only the Libyan war but also Italian intervention in World War I. The Corriere came out in favor of the Libyan war for the first time with an article by Andrea Torre on 1 0

September 1 9 1 1 . Torre pressed the issue with other articles published in the Carriere on 1 2., 1 8, 2.8, 2.9 and 30 September 1 9 1 1 .

Andrea Torre's "blunders" were pointed out in an article-with which Gramsci was most probably familiar-by Gaetano Salvemini, "Erodoto e Plinio, nazionalisti" (Herodotus and Pliny, Nationalists) in L'Unita, 6

January 1 9 1 2. (I, 4), which was reprinted with other pieces attacking Torre's articles, in Gaetano Salvemini, Come siamo andati in Libya (Florence: Libreria della Voce, 1 9 1 4).

3 · Gramsci had written on this subject in an article, "11 sasso nello stagno" ( Stirring the Waters), in L 'Ordine Nuovo, 14 March 1 92.2..

Luigi Facta ( 1 86 I - I 930), who held ministerial positions in several gov-

Notes to the Text. § r r 6

501

ernments between 1 903 and 1921, was a consistent supporter of Giolitti and his policies. In February 1 922, when Giolitti was prevented from forming a government by the opposition of the Popular Party, Facta became prime minister. He resigned the following October after he failed to persuade King Vittorio Emmanuele to declare a state of emergency as the Fascists were marching toward Rome. Facta's weakness, many historians have argued, contributed significantly to Mussolini's success. Mussolini appointed Facta to the Senate in 1 924.

4· See Francesco Ciccotti, L 'Italia in rissa ( Casa Ed. Rassegna Intemazionale, 1 922), pp. 5 7-5 8 :

The Hon. Nitti is a shrewd and tireless constructor of economic plans to which he becomes deeply attached with paternal affection. His favorite creatures are the plans for the industrialization of Italy which provide him with the pleasing image of our country full of smoke-stacks, resonating with the sounds from the smithies, and shrouded in smog from the steel mills.

Ciccotti's book, L 'Italia in rissa (Italy Aroused), which has a preface by Filippo Turati, does not go beyond these generalities-it is most probable, therefore, that Gramsci's observations derive from other sources as well.

Francesco Ciccotti ( 1 880- 1 9 3 7 ) joined the Socialist Party in his youth, but his political orientation was by no means Marxist. A very active journalist, he had close working relationships with various periodicals including Nuova Antologia and the Rivista d'Italia. He frequently oscillated in his political position and at some time or another he sided with groups within the PSI which were at opposite ends of the right-left spectrum. He initially called for Italian intervention in the World War I but then shifted to a neutralist position in line with Giolitti's approach.

s . For another reference to Francesco Nitti's speech on the "technical impossibility" of revolution in Italy, see Notebook 1 3, §2.

Nitti expressed his position in a parliamentary speech presenting his government's program to the Chamber of Deputies on 9 July 1 9 1 9. The Carriere della Sera of 10 July 1 9 1 9 provided the following rendition of Nitti's speech:

Whoever speaks of revolution in Italy or tries under whatever guise to subvert the masses under the present conditions of production and exchange, has to be regarded as an enemy of the people. A country which lacks sufficient raw materials and which only has enough food supplies for a part of the population, a country which for a number of years has to purchase on credit the necessities of life and what it needs for reconstruction, cannot allow itself to fall into disorder without rushing to its ruin. Revolution in those countries which produce raw materials or

5 02

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929 - 1 930)

which are for the most part self-sufficient, may be and is evil; in those countries which lack sufficient raw materials and cannot subsist, it would resemble a massive attempt at suicide.

For Giacinta Serrati's open letter, see "Risposta di un comunista unitario al compagno Lenin" (A Unitary Communist's Response to Comrade Lenin) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 1 6 December 1 920. Gramsci had criticized Serrati's anti-revolutionary attitude in "Serrati e il Fronte Unico" ( Serrati and the United Front), L'Ordine Nuovo, 1 9 March 1 922:

"Serrati preferred to break with Lenin rather than break with Turati, because his views were in agreement with Turati's and not with Lenin's, and because Serrati, too, had allowed himself to be persuaded by Nitti's propaganda on the technical impossibility of a revolution in Italy, because G.M. Serrati is steeped in Giolittism and Nittism. "

Giacinta Menotti Serrati ( 1 876- 1 926) took charge of Avanti! after MussoHni's expulsion from the PSI and spearheaded a campaign against Italian intervention in World War I. He led the PSI faction which adhered to the Third International and joined the PCd'I in 1 924.

6. Giovanni Ameglio ( 1 8 5 4- 1 92 1 ), a general and veteran of the Libyan war, was the Italian governor of the Libyan province of Cyrenaica between 1 9 1 3- 1 9 1 8 . In 1 920 he was entrusted with the command of the Royal Guard. Shortly before his death the newspapers published reports about a public altercation between him and the general Adolfo Tettoni over the results of an administrative inquiry which had been conducted by Tettoni in Libya. Unfounded rumors in political circles falsely attributed Ameglio's death to suicide.

7. See Antonio Gramsci, "Giolitti, Ia guerra e Ia pace" (Giolitti, War and Peace) in Il Grido del Popolo, 14 August 1 9 1 8 in which Gramsci reproduces, almost in its entirety, an article by Rerum Scriptor [Gaetano Salvemini], "La politica estera del on. Giolitti" (Giolitti's Foreign Policy), L ' Unita, 27 December 1 9 1 7 (VI, p). Gramsci's recollection of the details of these articles is not entirely accurate: the naval pact was not signed in 1 9 1 2 when the Triple Alliance was renewed, but later on 23 June 1 9 1 3 .

Furthermore, according to Salvemini's article, the German navy units which entered the Messina harbor in August 1 9 1 4 were the Goeben and the Bresslau. Some of the points made by Salvemini in his criticism of Giolitti's foreign policy, were also adopted by Gramsci in "Una catena di ribaldi" (A String of Scoundrels) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 1 3

October 1 9 1 9.

8. See Antonio Salandra, La neutralita italiana (r9r4). Ricordi e pensieri (Milan: Mondadori, 1 928), pp. 260, 264. Gramsci had a copy of this book- the first of two volumes of Salandra's memoirs- in prison; see his letters to Tatiana Schucht, 1 7 December 1 928 and 24 February 1 929.

Notes to the Text. § r r6

503

Alberto Pollio died in Turin on 1 July 1 9 1 4 and was succeeded as chiefof-staff by Luigi Cadorna. The rumors which attributed his death to suicide never received official confirmation.

The political significance of the 1 9 1 2 Italo-German military agreement, signed by General Pollio in Berlin, had been discussed by Gramsci in his article "La mana della straniero" (The Hand of the Foreigner), L 'Ordine Nuovo, 4 March 1 922.

9· Giovanni Borelli ( 1 869- 1 932) founded the Young Liberal Party in 1 90 1 and edited L 'Idea Liberale, proposing a monarchist and expansionist program and calling for an Italian political renaissance. He subsequently favored liberal support for the Fascist regime.

10. Pia Perrone ( 1 876- 1 9 5 2 ) and his brother Mario ( 1 878-1968) were major industrialists who, among other things, owned the Ansaldo company and whose steel mills, munitions factories and other enterprises generated enormous profits during World War I. Mussolini benefited greatly from their financial and political support. They contributed funds to help Mussolini launch (with Naldi's assistance) the interventionist Il Popolo d'Italia in 1 9 14. The Perrone brothers openly sided with those Fascists who favored a government regulated economy over a free enterprise system.

I I . Gramsci is referring to the violent riots and general strike that took place in Turin on 22-26 August I 9 I ?-the immediate causes were the shortage of bread and steep food prices.

I 2 . Ciccotti delivered his speech on 2 November 1 9 1 6 in the hall of the General Workers Association in Turin. The disturbances which followed the speech were reported in an article, "Violenze poliziesche ed arresti" (Police Violence and Arrests) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 4 November 1 9 1 6 . According to this unsigned article, which has been attributed to Gramsci, some of the people leaving the hall after Ciccotti's speech started singing the Socialist anthem; the police attacked the crowd and made twelve arrests.

1 3 . Vincenzo Morello ( I 860- I 9 3 3 ), a playwright, critic, and journalist, wrote under the Balzacian pseudonym, "Rastignac. " He edited and wrote for several journals and newspapers, including La Tribuna. A die-hard nationalist he embraced fascism and was made senator in 1 92 3 . Gramsci had criticized him very severely in an article "Paradossi" (Paradoxes), I1

Grido del Popolo, 1 6 February 1 9 1 8 . In Notebook 4, §83, Gramsci provides an extensive critique of Morello's interpretation of Canto X of Dante's

"Inferno. "

Isacco Artom ( I 868- 1 9 3 5 ), an Italian statesman, was among those who sought territorial concessions from Austria in exchange for Italy's neutrality in the World War.

5 04

NOTES : NOTEBOOK I ( I 929- I 9 3 0)

Camille Barrere ( 1 85 1 - 1 940), who was the French ambassador in Rome, worked for Italy's intervention as a French ally in the war.

I4. See Edoardo Verdinois, La sommossa di Torino del 1917 e l'approvvigionamento del grano. L 'occupazione dei telefoni di Verona, dicembre 1922. Per legittima difesa ( Rome : Stab. Tip. Site, I 92 5 ). Verdinois, who was prefect of Turin when the disturbances broke out, was sacked by Vittorio Emanuele Orlando who at the time headed the Interior ministry.

1 5 . Gramsci had discussed the way in which the Gazzetta del Popolo treated the events of August I 9 I 7 in Turin in his article "L'irresponsabilita sociale" ( Social Irresponsibility) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 7

August I 928. Gramsci returned to the same topic in another article,

"Quattro cani" (Four Dogs) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 6 November 1 920.

1 6 . Giuseppe Canepa ( 1 86 5 - 1 948) was in charge of the General Commissariat of Provisions and Foodstuffs during the period discussed here by Gramsci. He started his career as a journalist and in I 903 founded I1

Lavoro in Genoa, which he continued to publish until I 9 3 8, retaining a measure of independence even under fascism. In 1 9 1 2, together with other former PSI members who were expelled or defected from the party because they supported the Libyan war, he helped Leonida Bissolati establish the Reformist Socialist Party. Canepa was appointed undersecretary of agriculture in the Boselli government.

I ? . Gramsci's recollection of the sequence of events is not quite accurate. Paolo Boselli ( 1 8 3 8 - 1 9 3 2 ), who succeeded Salandra as prime minister in June 1 9 1 6, headed a coalition which included the reformist socialists and was strongly in favor of Italy's intervention in the World War. He was still in power when the events of Turin occurred in August 1 9 1 7 . Boselli's government was dissolved following a vote of no confidence in October I 9 I 7 .

Vittorio Emanuele Orlando ( 1 860- 1 9 5 2 ) held ministerial posts in the governments of Giovanni Giolitti and Antonio Salandra before he became minister of the interior under Paolo Boselli's premiership-a position he still held in August 1 9 1 7 . In fact, contrary to Gramsci's impression, Orlando did not became prime miniser until 29 October 1 9 1 7, almost exactly at the same time that Italy suffered the first in a series of devastating military defeats at Caporetto. His government fell in June 1 9 1 9 when (largely because of Woodrow Wilson's firm stand) he failed to secure Fiume for Italy at the Paris Peace Conference. In 1 922, Orlando tried unsuccessfully to form a coalition which would have included the Fascists. For a while, he believed in the possibility of appeasing the Fascists through limited support but he eventually distanced himself from Mussolini's regime. He returned to politics after the war and was elected to the Constituent Assembly.

Notes to the Text. § r r7

505

On the events of Turin in August I 9 I 7, see also Notebook 8, §83 .

I 8 . Major Quirino Gamba replaced Carlo Zunini, a major in the reserves, as the military correspondent of La Stampa when the latter was recalled to military duty in September I 9 I 5 . In November of the same year Zunini was arrested after a letter he sent to Gamba had been intercepted. Zunini's case was assigned to the military court at Portogruaro.

He was accused of having sent senator Alfredo Frassati, director of La Stampa, articles which slandered the military. (The articles never appeared in print. ) The trial was held on I 6 December I 9 I 5 and Frassati was called to testify. Zunini was found guilty and received a two-and-a-half year prison sentence. Among other things, the trial revealed that Gamba had close links with a certain Klieven who owned an industrial firm in Turin and was attached to the German high command. The whole affair was politically exploited to attack the Giolittians' neutralist stance.

I 9 . On the Union of Democratic Control and its Italian connections, see Notebook I, §42.

20. A controversy broke out in Turin in May I 9 I 6 over plans to abolish the parish of the Holy Martyrs. When the ecclesiastical authorities failed to respond to their petitions, the parishioners took their campaign to save the parish to the local council. It was believed that the parish was being abolished so that the Church of the Holy Martyrs could be turned over to the Jesuits. Gramsci had discussed this issue and the Jesuits' efforts to extend their influence in Turin in three articles: "L'infiltrazione gesuitica a Turin. I mezzi e la fine" ( Jesuit Infiltration in Turin. The Means and the End) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 24 June I 9 I 6; "La campana"

(The Bell) in the "Sotto la Mole" column, Avanti!, 28 June I 9 I 6; "La rinascita gesuitica" ! Jesuit Renaissance) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, I S January I 9 I 7.

2 1 . Carlo Bazzi, a vociferous interventionist, had close links with L 'Internazionale and the Unione Sindacale Italiana, both of which were founded by the maverick syndicalist Alceste De Ambris. He was an organizer of the national union of cooperatives and helped raise funds to support the Fascist march on Rome. He was also editor of the Nuovo Paese and supported the moderate wing of the Fascist movement.

§ 1 1 7 . Political and military leadership during the Risorgimen to 1 . See Emil Ludwig, Guillaume II, trans. J.P. Samson ( Paris: Simon Kra, I 927), pp. 268-69. Gramsci owned a copy of this work; he entered it in the list of books (Notebook I, p. 9 3r. ff. ) consigned to his brother Carlo on 1 1 November I 929; see "Description of Manuscript"-Notebook 1 .

For an English translation (from the German original) of this volume, see

s o6

NOTES : NOTEBOOK I ( I 9 29- I 9 30)

Emil Ludwig, Wilhelm Hohenzollern: The Last of the Kaisers, trans. E. C.

Mayne (New York: Putnam, I 927)-the relevant passage is on p. 469 : The Emperor was all for the supremacy of the soldier in war-time.

Bismarck (vol. ii, chap. 23) had written: "The establishment and limitation of the ends to be obtained by war, and the advice thereon to be given to the sovereign, are and remain in war as before it, a political function; and the tenor of these decisions cannot be without its influence upon the conduct of the war." The Emperor wrote angrily upon a similar representation by the Frankfurter Zeitung: "Let this fallacy be instantly and publicly stamped out by the Wilhelmstrasse . . . . Politicians hold their tongues in war-time, until strategists permit them to speak! "

§ u 8 . The problem of volunteers during the Risorgimen to 1 . See Ettore Rota, "Del contribute dei Iombardi alia guerra del I 848 : il problema del volontarismo" (On the Lombards' Contribution to the war of I 848: The Problem of Volunteerism) in Nuova Rivista Storica, January

February 1 928 (XII, I ), pp. I - p .

2. This note is followed by a n entry o f nine lines which Gramsci crossed out in such a manner as to render all but the first two words ( "La formula") illegible. In the manuscript, this canceled entry occupies the last four lines of p. 7 9r. and five lines at the top of p. 79v.

§ I I 9 . Demagogy

1 . See Notebook I , § 1 1 4, § 1 1 7 and § 1 1 8 .

§ 1 20. "Believe me, d o not fear . . . "

1 . Most probably Gramsci found this quotation from Ferdinanda Galiani in Benedetto Croce's essay "11 pensiero dell' abate Galiani" (Abbot Galiani's Thought) which is collected in B. Croce, Saggio sullo Hegel seguito da altri scritti di storia della filosofia, 3d rev. ed. (Bari: Laterza, I 92 7 ), p. 322-a copy of which Gramsci had in prison.

§ 1 2 r . Novara I849

1 . Silvio Spaventa ( I 822- I 8 9 3 ), brother of the philosopher Bertrando and Benedetto Croce's uncle and guardian, devoted most of his life to politics. His opposition to Bourbon rule cost him several years in prison after a death sentence was commuted. He urged the participation of Na-

Notes to the Text. § r 2 I

5 07

pies in the Italian war of independence and held several important administrative and governmental offices.

Massimo D'Azeglio I I 798-r 866), born in Turin, moved in literary and artistic circles during his youth and produced some historical novels which bear an obvious patriotic stamp. Influenced by his cousin, Cesare Balbo, he became increasingly interested in politics. By the mid- 1 84os he was writing against the corruption of government in the papal states. A cautious, moderate liberal, he was made prime miniser after the disaster at Novara and he remained at the helm of the Piedmontese government for four years, until 1 8 5 2. He was responsible for significant reforms in State

Church relations. D'Azeglio's political influence and prominence waned as Piedmontese politics came to be dominated by Cavour.

2. See Silvio Spaventa, Dal r848 al r86r. Lettere, scritti, documenti, ed. B.Croce, 2d rev. ed. IBari: Laterza, 1 92 3 ) .

Gramsci read this book (which, however, is not preserved among the volumes he had in prison) and wrote at some length about it in a letter to Tatiana Schucht, 1 3 January 1 930:

These last few days I read a book, Dal r848 al r86r, which is a collection of letters, writings, and documents relating to Silvio Spaventa-a patriot from Abruzzi, a member of the Neapolitan parliament in 1 848, he was arrested after the failure of the national uprising, given a prison �entence and freed in 1 8 5 9 thanks to French and English pressure. Subsequently, he became a minister of the kingdom and one of the most prominent figures of the right-wing Liberal Party until 1 876. It seemed to me that in many of his letters-in the somewhat romantic and sentimental language of his time-he expresses perfectly certain states of mind similar to those I frequently experience. For instance, in a letter to his father on 1 7 July 1 8 5 3, he writes: "It is two months since I have had news from you; four months or more since I heard from my sisters, and a long time since I heard from Bertrando. Don't you believe that for a person like me, who attaches great value to his affectionate and youthful heart, the privation is bound to be extremely painful? I do not believe that I am loved less by my family now than I always was; but misfortune tends to have a dual effect: it often extinguishes affection for the unfortunate, and just as often it extinguishes all the affection of the unfortunate toward others. I do not fear the first of these two effects in you, as much as the second in me; for, cut off as I am from every human and loving exchange, the great boredom, the long imprisonment, the fear of being forgotten by everyone are slowly making my heart bitter and sterile. " As I was saying, setting aside the language which is in keeping with the sentimental tone of the age, the state of mind comes across very clearly. And I am comforted by the fact that Spaventa was certainly not a weak character, not a moaner like others. He was one of the few

sos

NOTE S : NOTEBOOK I ( 1 929- 1 9 30)

(about sixty), out of the more than six hundred condemned in I 848, who refused to ever petition the King of Naples for mercy; nor did he resort to religion. Rather, as he often writes, he became increasingly convinced that Hegel's philosophy was the only intellectually worthy rational system and world view of that time.

But then, do you know what will be the practical effect of the discovery of this correspondence between my states of mind and those of a political prisoner of I 848 ? That now my states of mind will appear somewhat comical to me, ridiculously anachronistic. Three generations have passed and there has been a movement forward in all fields. What was possible for the grandfathers is not possible for the grandchildren. (I do not refer to our grandfathers because my grandfather-I've never told you this-was actually a colonel in the Bourbon gendarmerie, and probably was among those who arrested Spaventa, the enemy of the Bourbons and supporter of Carlo Alberto. ) I mean this objectively, because subjectively, individual by individual, things may not be the same.

§ 1 22 . Suggestions and stimuli

1 . Macaulay's remark is taken from an autobiographical text by Ruggero Bonghi ( 1 826-1 89 5 ) which Gramsci also used in other notes, especially Notebook 2, §8, §9, § 1 0 and § 1 1 . Parts of Bonghi's previously unpublished diary were reproduced in "I fatti miei e i miei pensieri: Dal diario inedito di Ruggero Bonghi" ( My Experiences and My Thoughts: From Ruggero Bonghi's Unpublished Diary), Nuova Antologia, 16 April 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 2 2 ), pp. 4 1 3-26; see especially p. 4 1 7 :

"I have also read, " Bonghi writes, "another piece by the same author

[Macaulay) on the Athenian orators. It has the same serene truth of leamin8J tidy concepts, splendid stylistic modesty and great number of original and wise observations. Among others, the following two observations. He attributes the ease with which even the most cultured Greeks, as can be seen in some of Plato's dialogues, let themselves be blinded by even puerile sophisms-he attributes this to the very great influence of live and spoken discourse in Greek life and education. In fact, he maintains that the habit of conversation generates a certain aptitude for finding very quickly ostentatious arguments which are accepted wholesale because they are good enough to render the adversary momentarily speechless."

See Thomas Babington Macaulay, "On the Athenian Orators" ( 1 824), in Miscellaneous Writings (London, 1 870), pp. 5 6-63 .

2 . From " I fatti miei e i miei pensieri : Dal diario inedito di Ruggero Bonghi, " p. 4 1 7 : "[Macaulay) refers to a statement by Eugenio of Savoy

Notes to the Text. § r 2 5

5 09

who said that those who became the greatest generals were the ones who were suddenly placed in charge of the army and in a situation which required them to think of large and complex maneuvers. "

§ 1 2 3 . Search the exact historical origin . . .

1 . Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi ( 1 746- 1 827) was a Swiss pedagogist of Italian descent. A severe critic of the artificiality of established pedagogical practices, he proposed a mode of education which would resemble the "art of mothering"-a method based on trust and love.

2. Giuseppe Lombardo-Radice served as the director general of elementary education when the minister of education, Giovanni Gentile, was introducing his comprehensive reforms of the Italian educational system.

3 · See Gramsci's letter to his wife Julia Schucht, 30 December 1 92 9 :

"This mode of conceiving education a s the unwinding of a pre-existing thread had its importance when it was set in opposition to the Jesuit school, that is, when it negated a philosophy that was even worse; but today it too has been superseded. "

§ I 2 4 . The Futurists

1 . Gramsci had written previously on the Futurists and his views on the subject changed significantly. See "I futuristi" in Coniere Universitario, 20 May 1 9 1 3 (1, 8 ), and "Marinetti rivoluzionario ? " (Marinetti Revolutionary? ) in L'Ordine Nuovo, s January 1 9 2 1 . An unsigned Letter on Italian Futurism, written by Gramsci in response to Leon Trotsky's request for information on the Futurist movement and dated 8 September 1 922, appeared in Russian in the Soviet journal Literatura i revolutsiya, September 1 922. This was reproduced under the title Comrade Gramsci's Letter on Italian Futurism in L. Trotsky, Literatura i revolutsiya (Moscow: Krasmaya Novy, 1 9 2 3 ), pp. u 6- 1 8. The text of Gramsci's letter has been omitted from the English translation of L. Trotsky, Literature and Revolution (New York: Russell & Russell, 1 9 5 7).

§ ! 2 5 . 1919.

r . Gramsci had touched upon this same issue in "Alcuni temi della quistione meridionale" ( "Some Aspects of the Southern Question"): With a whole series of actions, the Turin proletariat showed that it had attained a very high level of political maturity and capability. In 1 9 1 9, the technicians and white collar employees in the factories could improve their conditions only because they were supported by the workers.

S I O

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 3 0) In order to break the technicians' unrest, the industrialists proposed to the workers that they themselves should nominate new gangers and foremen by vote. The workers rejected the proposal even though they had many grounds for conflict with the technicians who had always been an owners' instrument for repression and persecution. At the time, the newspapers waged a raging campaign to isolate the technicians, pointing out their very high salaries which were as high as 7000 lire a month. The skilled workers supported the agitation of the manual laborers who otherwise would not have succeeded to win; within the factories all privileges and all exploitation of the less skilled by the more skilled were done away with. Through these actions the proletarian vanguard won its position of social vanguard-and this was the basis of the development of the Communist Party in Turin.

§ 1 26 . 1922

1 . Raffaele Garofalo ( I 8 s I- I 9 34), an influential jurist, expounded an individualist and libertarian legal theory. Gramsci was probably familiar with his book La superstizione socialista ( I 89 s ) in which he attacks Enrico Ferri and argues that one cannot base socialism on premisses derived from Darwinism and positivism.

2. This matter had been brought up in an unsigned article, probably written by Gramsci, "Un gruppetto di miserabili politicanti" lA Coterie of Pitiful Political Intriguers) in L ' Unita, I 3 July I 92 6 : "During Bonomi's prime ministership I 1 92 1 -22), the Popular Party held the Justice Ministry; the system of administering justice by circulars reached such scandalous proportions that it impressed even an old reactionary like Senator Garofalo. "

However, no article signed by Raffaele Garofalo appeared in the Rome newspaper L'Epoca in 1 922. Perhaps, Gramsci was thinking of an anonymous article in L'Epoca which may have been attributed in journalistic circles to Senator Garofalo at a time when he was a judge in the Court of Cassation in Naples. An article entitled "11 nuovo ordinamento guidiziario. Gravi critiche di un alto magistrato" (The New Legal System. Serious Criticism by a High Ranking Judge) in L 'Epoca, 26 January 1 922, reported a conversation with an unidentified "high ranking judge passing through Rome. " Commenting on the new legal system approved by Royal Decree on 1 4 December 1 92 1 , the unidentified judge remarked on the excess of power "which is becoming all the more grievous in Italian life as the government, with increasing frequency, established de facto laws outside of and above parliament. " On 1 February 1 922, L 'Epoca returned to the same topic with an article, "La riforma giudiziaria" (Legal Reform), attributed to "a high ranking judge who wishes to remain anonymous. " The

Notes to the Text. § r3 o

5 1 1

article gave the following reasons, among others, in arguing for the need of a more independent judiciary:

Because of an extraordinary combination of circumstances, the Supreme Council no longer seemed free in its decisions; and its opinions were not echoed agreeably and favorably by the judges' sense of justice and legal reality. It seemed that single members made their judgements with too much reverential fear; and, among the lower levels, the personality of the individual members gave rise to and produced painstaking research and patient study in order to obtain, in due course, benevolence and favor. Therefore, it became necessary to have a reform without delay, first and foremost to keep the fibre of the judges' characters strong and to preserve the secure and tranquil independence of the individual magistrates, free and immune from economic dependence and cowardly abuse.

Gramsci had written before on the question of the independence of the judiciary and also on the speeches made by Senator Garofalo at the opening sessions of the Court of Cassation of Turin in I 9 I 6 and I 9 I 8. See "II huon diritto" ( Rightful Law) in the "Sotto la Mole" column of A vanti!, 20

July I 9 I 6; "Le opinioni del Senatore Garofalo" (Senator Garofalo's Opinions) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 8 November I 9 I 6; "La borghesia italiana. Raffaele Garofalo" (The Italian Bourgoisie. Raffaele Garofalo) in the Piedmont edition of Avan ti!, 9 January I 9 I 8 .

§ 1 27 . The question of the young

I . Gramsci returns to the same topic and refers back to this note in Notebook 3, §34.

§ 1 30. Real Italy and legal Italy

I . The clerical paper, /tali a Reale, was published in Turin between I 872 and I 9 I 4. It is not to be confused with the clerical and pro-Bourbon paper of the same name published in Naples between I 88o and I 883 under the general editorship of Francesco de Mary Ligny, Duke of Castellaneta.

2. See Jacques Bainville, "Historie de France" in Heur et Malheur des Franr.ais ( Paris: Nouvelle Librairie Nationale, I 924), especially ch. 2 1 : "La Troisieme Republique" (pp. 683-7 I 3 ). Gramsci had a copy of this book in prison.

5 1 2

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I ( 1 929 - 1 9 3 0)

§I 3 I. Bainville and universal suffrage in France 1 . See Jacques Bainville, Heur et Malheur des Fran�ais (Paris: Nouvelle Libraire Nationale, 1 924); especially pp. 683-7 1 3 .

§ 1 3 2. . Actual idealism and the ideology-philosophy connection 1 . Giovanni Gentile called his philosophy "actual idealism, " a term that is meant to convey the absolute unity between theory and concrete (i.e., actual) experience which he thought he had achieved.

2. The bimonthly review Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economia e Politica started publication in November 1 92 7 . All the issues up to 1 9 3 3 and three issues from 1 9 3 5 are conserved with the collection of books owned by Gramsci while in prison.

Ugo Spirito ( 1 896- 1 97 9 ), who studied under Gentile at the University of Rome, was an extremely visible and influential intellectual who taught at several universities and wrote extensively on philosophy, law, political theory and economics. He was co-founder, with Amaldo Volpicelli, of Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economia e Politica. A major proponent of corporativism, Spirito provoked a major controversy within the Fascist Party with his theory of "integral corporativism" (a theory shared by Amaldo Volpicelli). According to Spirito, fascism would bring the class struggle to an end by installing a corporativist system which would abolish the separation between owners and producers. Thus, for Spirito, the Fascist State would constitute a post-capitalist society. His views were strongly opposed by the mainstream of the Fascist Party.

J. See Benedetto Croce, Storia d'Italia dal 1871 al 1915, 3d ed. (Bari : Laterza, 1 928). Gramsci had this book while in prison- see his letter to Tatiana Schucht, 2 April 1 928. For an English translation, see B. Croce, A History of Italy: 1871-19 15, trans. C. M. Ady ( New York: Russell &.

Russell, 1 929); especially p. 2 8 3 :

Above all, the liberals of the Right [i.e. the neutralists] could not accept the view that the war which was being waged was simply a war of ideas between liberal and autocratic regimes; they realized that ideal motives were rare or wholly absent, that industrial and commercial interests were paramount, and that the whole conflict was fed by uncontrolled desire and distorted imagination-that it was in a sense a war of "historical materialism" or "philosophical irrationalism."

Croce also added a footnote (p. 327) to this passage: (Guido] De Ruggiero ["Le pensee italienne et Ia guerre" in Revue de metaphysique et de morale, XXIII, 5, 1 9 1 6], pp. 763-64: "Un penseur de

Notes to the Text. § 135

S I 3

chez nous (it was I who said this in conversation) resumait scientifiquemente cette conception en disant que cette guerre lui apparait comme

'la guerre du materialisme historique. ' L'observation est heureuse et elle donne a penser. "

4· Henri De Man's book, Au deJa du marxisme, was reviewed by Croce in La Critica, 20 November 1 928 (XXVI, 6 ), pp. 4 5 9-60. In his brief review, Croce praised De Man's book lavishly and recommended that it be translated and disseminated in Italy. The Italian translation appeared the following year and was published by Laterza; see H. De Man, 11 superamento del marxismo, 2 vols., ed. A. Schiavi (Bari : Laterza, 1 929)-of which Gramsci had a copy in prison. (The Italian version of De Man's book was also reviewed in La Critica by Guido De Ruggiero. ) Gramsci refers to the reviews of De Man's book in Notebook 4, §2.

The book by Giovanni Zibordi, Saggio sulla storia del movimento operaio in ltalia. Camillo Prampolini e i lavoratori reggiani, 2d ed. (Bari : Laterza, 1 930) is mentioned earlier in Notebook r, § 5 7 . Zibordi connects his views explicitly with De Man's and Croce's.

§ 1 3 3 . Military art and political art

1 . See Notebook 1, §48 and § s 6 .

§ 1 3 4 . Political struggle and military war

1 . The comitadjis were armed bands of the Macedonian nationalist movement who staged attacks against Turkish targets in the late nineteenth century when Turkey still occupied large Balkan territories.

2 . This is a reference to the Fenian movement, the Irish nationalist secret society set up to struggle against British rule in the r 86os.

§ r 3 5 . Americanism

1 . See Carlo Pagni, "A proposito di un tentativo di teoria pura del corporativismo" (On an Attempt at a Pure Theory of Corporativism) in Riforma Sociale, September-October 1 929 (XXVI, 9- r o), pp. 449-73 .

2. I t appears that Massimo Fovel was a very minor intellectual-political figure who early on had ties with the Socialist Party and the workers'

movement. Gramsci is probably referring to him as an example of the confused positions and shifting allegiances exhibited by a whole slew of political-intellectual opportunists during the period that saw the transition from the tail end of the Giolitti era to the emergence of Fascist power.

3. Gramsci's memory is incorrect: it was Tomaso Borelli who sue-

5 1 4

N O T E S : N O TE B O O K I ( I 9 29- I 9 3 0) ceeded Italo Minunni as editor of the Gazzetta di Torino in October I 9 I 8.

For an analysis of the significance of the changes in the editorial control of various Italian papers see an article written by Gramsci, "Uomini, idee, giomali, quattrini" (Men, Ideas, Newspapers, Money) in the Piedmont edition of Avanti!, 23 October I 9 I 8 .

4· O n Fovel's relationship with the Socialists, see Gramsci, "Fovel, " in L ' Unita, 22 August I 92 5 . Gramsci had also attacked Fovel in another article, "Massimalismo piccolo-borghese" (Petit-Bourgeois Maximalism), L ' Unita, I7 June I 9 2 5 .

5 · Giuseppe Passigli's contribution is recorded in L'Ordine Nuovo, 27

March I 92o, p. 3 3 8 .

6 . After the split i n the Socialist Party a t the Livomo Congress ( January I 92 I ), control of the Lavorotore, which had been the organ of the Socialists of Trieste, passed over to the Communists who had obtained the support of the majority of the Trieste party members.

7 . Nicola Vecchi belonged to the anarcho-syndicalist wing of the revolutionary Unione Sindacale Italiana and advocated a rapprochement with the Communists and the International. See Gramsci, "11 nostro indirizzo sindacale" ( Our Syndicalist Position) in Lo Stato Operaio, I 8 October I 92 3 .

8 . Fovel, under the pseudonym "Free Trader, " published an article "11

capitalismo americana in Italia" (American Capitalism in Italy) in Avanti!, 5 August I 9 2 5 , in which he expressed a favorable view on U.S. investments in Italy. This article evoked very harsh criticism from the Communists, including an article by Gramsci, "Un giomale in liquidazione.

Un partito alia deriva" (A Newspaper in Liquidation. A Party Adrift) published in three parts in L'Unita, 6, 8, I I September I 92 S .

9 · On this topic see also Notebook I, § 6 1 .

§ 1 3 6 . Bon tempelli 's Novecen tismo

I . Massimo Bontempelli ( I 878- 1 96o), a playwright and fiction writer, combined in his writings various avant-garde strands. Rejecting both the classical and the romantic traditions he strove for a "magical realism"

which contained elements of futurism and surrealism and which allowed for the free play of the fantasy and the unconscious. In I 926, together with Malaparte, he founded the review, '900 ( "Novecento" or 2oth Century), with the goal of opening up provincial Italian culture to the innovative movements in contemporary European culture. The project l:lecame a celebration of the Fascist revolution. Bontempelli's "manifesto" appeared in the form of articles in the first four issues of '900. The review ceased publication in I 929.

2. Giuseppe Prezzolini's article, "Viva l'artificio! " (Long Live Artifice! ),

Notes to the Text. § r 42

S I S

was first published in La Voce, I S February I 9 I S (VII, s ), pp. 288-96. It was later reprinted in Giuseppe Prezzolini, Mi pare . . . (Florence: Edizione Delta, I 92 s ), pp. 5 I -6 I . Gramsci had a copy of this volume in prison.

3 . See Massimo Bontempelli, Nostra Dea (Milan: Mondadori, I 92 5 ).

§ I 3 7 · Novecen tismo and Super-coun try

1 . "Arcadia" was the name of a group of literati formed in Rome in I 690 which gave rise to a widespread movement of reaction against the artfulness and excess of baroque style. The Arcadians sought to retrieve the simplicity and clarity exemplified by classical pastoral poetry.

§ 1 4 1 . Americanism

I . See Mino Maccari, 11 trastullo di strapaese ( Canzoncine e legni incisi) (Florence: Vallecchi, I 928), pp. IO- I I . Gramsci owned a copy of Maccari's little volume (The Amusement of Super-Country: Songs and Wood Engravings) and on several occasions the prison authorities, in Rome as well as Turi, confiscated it. In September I 930, Gramsci protested and appealed against the seizure in a letter to Mussolini. A draft of this letter is found in Notebook 2; see "Description of the Manuscript:'-Notebook 2.

§ I 42 . Giuseppe Prezzolini and the intellectuals 1 . See Giuseppe Prezzolini, Codice della vita italian a (Florence: "La Voce" Societa Anonima Editrice, I 92 I ). This volume was published as part of a series, "Quademi della Voce" (III, 4S I· Gramsci had a copy of it in prison.

2. Prezzolini's letter to Piero Gobetti, "Per una societa degli Apoti"

(For a Society of Apoti- "apoti" is Greek for "non-drinkers"), was first published in La Rivoluzione Liberale, 28 September I 922 (I, 28), p. I 04. It was later reprinted in Giuseppe Prezzolini, Mi pare . . . (Florence: Edizione Delta, I 92 S ), pp. I O I -9, where its date of composition is erroneously given as I 92 3-an error repeated by Gramsci who had a copy of the book in prison.

3. Gobetti first published a comment alongside Prezzolini's letter when it was originally printed in La Rivoluzione Liberale. Less than a month later, Gobetti expressed his critical views on Prezzolini's letter in La Rivoluzione Liberale, 2 S October I 922 (I, 3 I ). Gramsci was in Moscow during that period and therefore could not have followed the exchange.

Most probably he only learned about Prezzolini's letter through reading Mi pare . .

, where no reference is made to Gobetti's response.

.

S I 6

NOTE S : NOTE B O O K I ( I 929- I 930)

§ 1 44. Auguste Boullier, L 'ile de Sardaigne.

1. See Auguste Boullier, L 'ile de Sardaigne. Description, Histoire, Statistique, Moeurs, Etat Social (Paris: E. Dentu, I 8 6 s ). Gramsci had a copy of this book in prison. This volume is listed on p. 9 s r of the manuscript of this notebook with fifteen other titles "to be delivered to Tatiana; " see

"Description of the Manuscript"-Notebook I .

2 . See the "Preface" in A. Boullier, L ' ile de Sardaigne, p. I : Au moment oil je visitais la Sardaigne le bruit d'une cession de cette ile a la France, sans avoir aucun fondement, avait pris quelque consistance.

On s'en etait entretenu au parlement italien et au parlement britannique et l'on avait fonde a Cagliari un journal destine a cambattre ce pretendu projet.

3· This book is mentioned in a note on p. 3 of L 'ile de Sardaigne. It was first published in I 864 and a new edition was brought out a year later with a slightly modified title: Auguste Boullier, L 'ile de Sardaigne. Dialecte et chan ts populaires, 2d rev. ed. (Paris: E. Dentu, I 8 6 s ).

4· See A. Boullier, L 'ile de Sardaigne. Description, Histoire . .

, pp. I 2 I

.

ff.

S · See A. Boullier, L 'ile de Sardaigne. Description, Histoire . . .

, pp.

2 5 7-70. Gramsci does not recall the proposal for the purchase of Sardinia completely accurately. According to Boullier, Nelson wrote in a letter of I o February I 8o4: "On me dit que le revenu de l'ile, le depenses payees, ne donne pas au roi s,ooo livres sterling par an; s'il en est ainsi, je luis donnerais pour la ceder soo,ooo livres sterling qui lui produiraient pour toujours 2 5 ,000 livres sterling par an . . . " (p. 2 6 3 ).

§ 1 4 5 . Talent

I . See Luca Beltrami, "Rievocazioni artistiche e letterarie dell' Ottocento: lo scultore Emilio Quadrelli" (Artistic and Literary Evocations of the Eighteenth Century: The Sculptor Emilio Quadrelli) in Il Marzocco, 2

March I 930 (XXXV, 9 ) .

§ 1 46. In A. De Pietri Tonelli's review . . .

1 . See the "Rassegna della pubblicazioni economiche" (Review of Publications in Economics) section of Rivista di Politica Economica, 28 February I 9 30 (XX, 2 ), pp. 226-2 7 .

Alfonso D e Pietri-Tonelli ( I 88 3 - I 9 S 2 ), an economist, belonged t o the mathematical school of economics. He extended the application of the general theory of economic equilibrium to the explanation of particular

Notes to the Text. § rso

phenomena. His writings contributed to the definition of political economy as the theory of the links between politics and economics. He employed logical models derived from economic theory and from the physical sciences to the study of political institutions.

§ 1 47 . "On a thousand occasions in my life . . .

"

1 . The quotation is taken from an article signed "Bdm" and entitled

"Un profilo di Vincenzo Monti" (A Profile of Vincenzo Monti) in 11 Marzocco, 2 March I 9 3o (XXXV, 9).

Vincenzo Monti ( 1 7 5 4- I 828) was a major Italian poet of the Arcadia movement. In his poetry he celebrated many of the major events of his day, including the feats of Napoleon. He was also known for his poetic translations.

§ 1 48 . Lorianism

1 . The quotation from Aristotle (Politics, VII, II) is most probably taken from the work of Enrico Ruta, Politica e ideologia, 2 vols. (Milan: Corbaccio, I 929); see especially vol. 2, p. 9· Gramsci had a copy of this book in prison.

§ 1 49 . North an d South

I . In the manuscript, this note is started on p. 92r., continued through all of p. 92v. and concluded on p. 9 s v. The pages in between (i.e. from p.

9 3r. to 9 sr. ) had been used earlier by Gramsci to make a list of the books which he turned over to his brother Carlo and to his sister-in-law Tatiana between I I November I 929 and 20 May I 9 30. See "Description of Manuscript. "

§ 1 5 0. The conception of the state from the standpoin t of the productivity {function} of the social classes

1 . See Raffaele Ciasca, L 'origine del "Programma per l'opinione nazionale italiana" del 184 7-48 (Milan-Rome-Napoli: Albrighi, Segati e C., I 9 I 6). Gramsci owned a copy of this book prior to his arrest in Rome. He asked that it be sent to him while he was interned on the island of Ustica, but he only received it when he was in Turi after he had asked for it a second time. See Gramsci's letters to Tatiana Schucht, 9 December 1 926

and 2 5 March I 929.

2. See Notebook I , §44 (note 2).

3 · See Notebook I , §xo (note 1 ).

5 I 8

N O T E S : N O TE B O O K I ( I 929- I 9 30)

§I 5 I. The historical relation between the modern French state created by the Revolution and the other modern European states 1 . See Notebook I, §44 (note 3 8 ), and Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels, Collected Works, vol. 4 (New York: International Publishers, 1 97 5 ), p. 39 ·

2. See Notebook r , § r s o.

§ I p . Marx and Hegel

I . The various parenthetical comments and other asides in this note indicate that Gramsci is relying on his memory of Marx's, Hegel's and Croce's texts. In checking Gramsci's comments against the original texts, one must also bear in mind the particular translations of Marx and Hegel which were available to him and other commentators. The source of Gramsci's reference to Marx's statement that Hegel "has men walking on their heads" is a passage in the "Postface" to the second edition of Capital

-for an English translation, see K. Marx, Capital (New York: Vintage, 1 97 7 ), p. I03 :

The mystification which the dialectic suffers in Hegel's hands by no means prevents him from being the first to present its general form of motion in a comprehensive and conscious manner. With him it is standing on its head. It must be inverted, in order to discover the rational kernel within the mystical shell.

The German original reads as follows: "Die Mystifikation, welche die Dialektik in Hegels Hiinden erleidet, verhindert in keiner Weise, class er ihre allgemeinen Bewegungsforrnen zuerst in umfassander und bewusster Weise dargestellt hat. Sie steht bei ihm auf dem Kopf. Man muss sie umstiilpen, urn den rationellen Kern in der mystischen Hiille zu entdecken."

Croce refers to this passage in his book Materialismo storico ed economia marxistica, 4th rev. ed. (Bari : Laterza, 1 92 1 ), pp. 4- 5 , a copy of which Gramsci had in prison. For an English translation, see B. Croce, Historical Materialism and the Economics of Karl Marx, trans. C.M.

Meredith (London: G. Allen & Unwin, I 9 I 4 ), p. 6 : A s the reader knows, Marx, when discussing the relation between his opinions and Hegelianism employed a pointed phrase which has been taken too often beside the point. He said that with Hegel history was standing on its head and that it must be turned right side up again in order to replace it on its feet.

Another allusion to Marx's idea that Hegel turned history upside down is found in B. Croce, Conversazioni critiche, 1 st series (Bari: Laterza, 1 9 1 8);

Notes to the Text. § I 53

5 1 9

and Gramsci had a copy of this book as well. However, Croce does not raise the question of the origin of Marx's image; Gramsci's memory seems to be faulty in this regard. The question is touched upon in another book which Gramsci read (and a copy of which is preserved with Gramsci's books), namely Antonio Labriola, Discorrendo di socialismo e filosofia, 2d ed. (Rome: Loescher, 1 902), p. 5 4: "The word used by Marx, 'umstiilpen, ' is commonly used in the sense of 'turning up' one's trousers or

'rolling up' one's sleeves. " In writing this note Gramsci, most probably also had in mind passages from two separate works by Engels (Italian translations of which are preserved with his books). See F. Engels, Ludwig Feuerba ch and the Outcome of Classical German Philosophy (New York: International Publishers, 1 94 1 ), p. 44: "Thereby the dialectic of the concept itself became merely the conscious reflex of the dialectical motion of the real world and the dialectic of Hegel was placed on its head; or rather, turned off its head, on which it was standing before, and placed upon its feet again. " And, see F. Engels, Socialism : Utopian and Scientific (New York: Scribner's, 1 892), p . 2 : "It was the time when, as Hegel says, the world stood upon its head . . . " Engels adds a footnote to this last statement: This is the passage [in Hegel] on the French Revolution: "Thought, the concept of law, all at once made itself felt, and against this the old scaffolding of wrong could make no stand. In this conception of law, therefore, a constitution has been established, and henceforth everything must be based upon this. Since the sun had been in the firmament, and the planets circled round him, the sight had never been seen of man standing upon his head-i.e. on the Idea-and building reality after this image. "

The source of this passage is correctly given by Engels as Hegel's Philosophy of History-it is not in the Philosophy of Right as Gramsci tentatively guesses.

§ 1 5 3 · Con versa tion and culture

1 . See Notebook 1 , § 1 22.

2 . See Francesco De Sanctis's essay "L'ultimo dei puristi" (The Last of the Purists) in F. De Sanctis, Saggi critici, ed. Paolo Arcari, val. 2 (Milan: Treves, 1 924), p. 1 5 2 :

Everyone was fond of and respected the Marquis [Basilio Puoti] because he loved his young men- which is what he called them, not students or disciples-and was their protector, their father. He was surrounded by a group of veterans, young men who had been there for five or six years

5 20

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K I { I 929- I 9 30)

and whom the Marquis jokingly called "The Elders of Santa Zita" {Inferno, XXI, 3 8 ). Their judgment was very authoritative and when one of them spoke everyone was silent, including the restless Marquis, and waited with bated breath.

Gramsci had all three volumes of this edition of De Sanctis's critical essays. See Gramsci's letters to Tatiana Schucht, 23 May 1 927 and 20

September I 9 3 1 .

3 · This is the first reference in the notebooks to Nikolai Bukharin's book on historical materialism which is later analyzed critically and in great detail by Gramsci. Bukharin's book, Teoriia istoricheskogo materializma: populiarnyi uchebnik marksistskoi sotsiologii, was first published in Moscow in I 92 I . For an English translation, see N. Bukharin, Historical Materialism: A System of Sociology {Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1 969). Gramsci most often refers to it as the Popular Manual, from its original subtitle. In all probability, Gramsci first read the book in the original Russian or in translation-it was widely available in German, French and English-during his stay in the Soviet Union in 1 922-2 3 . He had also used some passages from it in the materials he prepared for the Communist Party correspondence school in I 92 S . In his introduction to the "First course" of the Party school which he prepared in April-May 1 92 5 , Gramsci wrote: "In the first part, which will follow the lines or simply provide a translation of comrade Bukharin's book on the theory of historical materialism, comrades will find a full treatment of the topic. "

Some passages from Bukharin's work loosely translated into Italian had appeared a little earlier in a two-part article by Ugo Girone, "Teoria del materialismo storico" {Theory of Historical Materialism) in Prometeo, 1 s May 1 924 {I, s ), pp. 105-6 and June-July 1 924 {I, 6-7 ), pp. 122-24.

In a letter to Tatiana Schucht, 25 March 1 929, Gramsci asked for a French translation of Bukharin's book published in Paris in 1 927; see Nicolai lvanovich Boukharine, La theorie du materialisme historique, Manuel populaire de sociologie marxiste, Traduction de la 4eme edition suivie d' une note sur La position du probleme du materialisme historique {Paris: Editions Sociales Intemationales, 1 927). Although this book is not preserved among the volumes Gramsci had in prison, there can be little doubt that he received a copy of it in Turi-his close analysis of the text could not have been possible otherwise.

For another comment on "all the shortcomings of conversation" displayed in Bukharin's book, see Notebook 8, §229.

4· See F. Engels, Anti-Diihring, especially Chapter 3·

s. Giuseppe Peano taught at the University of Turin when Gramsci was a student there.

Notes to the Text. § I 5 7

5 2 1

§ I S S · Marx and Hegel

1 . See Notebook r , § I p.

2. See "Da un secolo all'altro. Considerazioni retrospettive e presagi"

(From One Century to the Other. Retrospections and Foreshadowings) in Antonio Labriola, Saggi intorno alla concezione materialistica della storia, ed. Luigi Dal Pane (Bologna: Cappelli, I 92 5 ). Gramsci had a copy of this book in Rome before his arrest and later on in prison as well. (See Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, 25 March I 929. ) Labriola's statement, including the reference to Anaxagoras, alludes to the same passage from Hegel's Philosophy of History cited by Engels in Socialism: Utopian and Scien tific- see Notebook I, § I p (note i ).

§ I s 7 . Croce and the intellectuals

1 . See Benedetto Croce, Storia d'Italia dal I87I al I9I5, 3d ed. (Bari: Laterza, 1 928), of which Gramsci had a copy while in prison. For an English trans., see B. Croce, A History of Italy: 1871-1915 (New York: Russell &. Russell, 1963).

2. See Ivanoe Bonomi, Leonida Bissolati e il movimento socialista in Italia (Milan : Cogliati, I 928); Giovanni Zibordi, Saggio sulla storia del movimen to operaio in Italia. Camillo Prampolini e i lavoratori reggiani, 2d ed. (Bari: Laterza, 1 9 30); and Henri De Man, I1 superamento del marxismo, 2 vols., ed. and trans. A. Schiavi (Bari : Laterza, I 929). Gramsci had copies of all three books in prison. In their books both Bonomi and Zibordi explicitly draw attention to Benedetto Croce's Storia d'Italia dal 1871 al 19I5. In the "Foreward" to his translation of De Man's book, Alessandro Schiavi recalls a note by Croce to justify his choice of title for the translation- the original German title of De Man's work was Zur Psychologie des Sozialismus ( I 926); the French version was entitled Au deJa du Marxisme ( I 927); and in English it appeared as The Psychology of Marxism ( I 928). On De Man's book, see also Notebook I , § 6 1 and § I 32.

Leonida Bissolati ( I 8 S ?- I 920), who was attracted to Mazzinian republicanism in his youth, embraced socialism and was one of the founders of the PSI in 1 928. He was in charge of Avanti! when it was founded. He became a leader of the reformist faction of the Socialist Party. In 1 9 1 1 - 1 2

he supported the Italian venture i n Libya which led to his expulsion from the party, whereupon he founded the Partito Socialista Riformista. He favored Italy's intervention in World War I and subsequently held ministerial posts in the governments of Paolo Baselli and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando.

3 · See Giovanni Castellano, Introduzione allo studio delle opere di

N O T E S : N O TE B O O K I ( I 9 29- I 9 30)

Bendedetto Croce. Note bibliografiche e critiche (Bari : Laterza, I 92o), pp.

249- s I . Gramsci had a copy of this book in prison.

Gramsci is referring to a letter Orazio Raimondo wrote to a friend of his in I 909 and which was published in the Rivista di Roma in 1 9 I 4. In his book, Castellano quotes long passages from Raimondo's letter as a

"personal and social document of the effects produced by Croce's work during his early years as a philosopher and his project of publication of La Critica. " In his letter, Raimondo wrote, among other things : Some time ago I read in a newspaper that just as those who are forty years old and over, in Italy, learned how to write from Carducci, so the young people of our generation have learned how to think from Croce.

[ . . ]

.

Croce is above all, a critic whom we, the young, love for the many good things we have learned from him, and also for those other things which he taught us how to grasp by providing us with an approach and a method which we had never found in the schools (which reeked of the moldy smell of professional chairs). From him we learned that studying is not the accumulation of notions and facts as in the bottles of a cellar, that the brain is not a receptacle in which the ideas of others are decanted, that education is not a pedantic bottling operation. [ . . . ] There is no topic to which Croce did not direct his attention, to which he did not contribute his own views : from Carducci to Harnack's "essence of Christianity, " from the realistic conception of history (such as his definitive views on the current prejudice of historical objectivity and on the impossibility of suppressing man-an enterprise which seemed to be so simple to the excellent Taine ! ) to the question of the existence of dialectal literature, from the psychology of James to the positivism of Ardigo, from the novel to Marxism, from religious questions to the Museum of Naples. [ . ]

. .

And the end result of this incredible activity is epitomized in a practical end: restoring to us, the young, the self-confidence of our thought, faith in human reason. Croce is truly one of the greatest benefactors of Italy. For this reason we venerate him and love him - those of us who, not known by him, have imbibed from the lucid source of his teachings.

When he composed this letter, Orazio Raimondo ( I 874-I 92o) was an active member of the Socialist Party. He was elected to parliament as a socialist deputy in 1 9 1 3 . He left the PSI in I 9 I 4 after the Congress of Ancona when it was resolved that membership in the Socialist Party was incompatible with Masonic associations.

4· This is a reference to a well publicized trial at which Raimondo delivered a harangue which was published in a pamphlet. See Orazio Raimondo, In difesa di Maria Tiepolo (Perugia: Bartelli e Veranda, I 9 I 4).

Notes to the Text. § I 58

523

§ r s 8 . "Animality" and industrialism 1 . Vittorio Alfieri ( I 7 49- I 803 ) was a major Italian poet and dramatist.

In his autobiography he describes how he had his servant tie him to his chair in order to make sure that he would devote the requisite time to his work.

N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9 - 3 3 ) DESCRIPTION OF THE MANUSCRIPT

A ruled school notebook ( I 5 x 20. 5 em) with thin board covers colored beige and blue in a marbled pattern. The front cover carries the imprint of the stationer (and book publisher) : "Gius. Laterza e figli, Bari. " The label on the front cover contains: Gramsci's prison number, "7047"; the total count of sheets that make up the notebook and that are stamped with the prison seal and numbered by the prison authorities, "quarantotto fogli"

( "forty eight sheets"); the signature of the prison warden, "11 direttore, Parmegiani. " On another label which she glued to the front cover after Gramsci's death, Tatiana Schucht wrote "lncompleto, da pg. I a I oo, XXIV" ( "Unfinished, from pp. I to Ioo, XXIV").

Since every sheet or folio is folded once, the notebook consists of 96

leaves or I 9 2 pages of 22 lines each. With an indelible pencil and the prison seal- "Casa penale speciale di Turi" (Special Prison of Turi)-the prison authorities numbered and stamped each of the first 48 leaves on the recto side only. The numbering of the leaves on recto side is partially continued by pen (and probably by Gramsci himself ) in the following manner: 49 (a number which replaces a canceled " 5 1 "), s o, 5 1 , 5 2, 5 4, 5 5 , 5 6 . More important, however, is the separate enumeration of the pages (as opposed to the leaves). Pages I to I 5 7 are numbered in sequence.

They are followed by 24 blank pages which are not numbered. The numbering resumes on a blank page which is numbered I 5 8 and continues to I 6 5 . The last three pages of the notebook are blank and not numbered.

Several parts of this notebook are unused. Apart from the twenty pages

p6

N O T E S : N O TE B O O K 2 ( I 9 29- I 9 3 3 ) following p . I 5 7 and the final three pages (none of which are numbered), the following numbered pages are also blank: 99, Ioo, I03, I04, I 5 8 .

Furthermore, there are blank spaces on other pages as well. On p. 96, immediately following §72, eight lines are unused. Eleven blank lines follow at the end of § 7 3 on p. 98 . On p. I 02, §74 is followed by nine empty lines. On p. I 5 7, eighteen blank lines occur at the end of § I 5 o. The last fourteen lines on p. I 62 are left blank.

The notebook opens with a title, "Miscellanea 1, " which is underlined twice at the top of the first page. It contains a total of I so notes or sections. Three of the notes are not preceded by the symbol § - these three notes correspond to §73, §74, and § 7 5 in the present edition. One entry in the notebook was started and then crossed out by Gramsci; under the straight lines in ink which cancel it, one can still read: "§ Su Tangeri"

(On Tangier). This canceled entry occurs between what are now § 5 and

§6. Three of the notes in this notebook are crossed out but remain perfectly legible; the contents of all three reappear in Notebook I 8 . Following V. Gerratana's denomination these three entries are called A Texts. The other I47 notes are all B Texts- they are not crossed out and they are not used again in subsequent notebooks.

This notebook also contains the following materials which are not reproduced in the main body of the text in the present edition.

Pages I 5 9- I 6o are used for the draft of a petition under the heading

"Petition to H.E. the head of government, sent in September I 9 30": My situation is so strange and unusual that I am compelled to address Your Excellency after having uselessly tried the intermediate appeals procedures. In June 1928, the chaplain of the prison in Rome confiscated my small volume of poems, 11 trastullo di Strapaese (Florence: Ed.

Vallecchi) by Mino Maccari, a well known fascist writer. I protested to the military attorney of the Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State, and during one of his visits to the prison Comm. Isgro not only had the confiscated book returned to me but he also advised me and other prisoners held for the same trial who had complained of similar confiscations to protest and resort to the higher authorities if we were denied scholarly or classical books in the prisons to which we were assignedhe pointed out that only books of political agitation were forbidden. In the prison of Turi di Bari where I am presently held, Maccari's book has once again been taken away from me along with the following books: Giuseppe Prezzolini, Mi pare . . . (a collection of miscellaneous articles published by Arturo Marpicati in 192 5 ); Oscar Wilde, 11 fantasma dei Canterville e altre due novelle umoristiche; H. Mann, Le sujet, Ed. Kra (a novel about Germany during King Wilhelm's time); Petronio Arbitro, Satyricon, J. London, Le memorie di un bevitore; Krassnoff, Dall' aquila imperiale all a bandiera rossa (a novel by the Cossack general Krassnoff,

Description of the Man uscript

5 27

czarist emigre in Berlin, published by Salani in Florence); Maurice Murct, Le crepuscule des nations blanches, 192 5 . These are unimportant and insignificant books, it is true, but for me who still has to spend 1 5

years in prison, this is a matter of principle: to know precisely what books I can read. Since, according to a communication by the Governor of the prison even the minister of justice maintains that the reading of Mino Maccari's poetry and of the other aforementioned books is prohibited, I turn to Your Excellency and ask that you grant me permission to read them. At the same time I also ask that you please allow me to read Fiilop Miller's 11 volto del bolscevismo with a preface by Curzio Malaparte published by the Libreria d'Italia in Milan and Leo Trotsky's Autobiography published by Mondadori.

Thank you and respects.

The original copy of this petition is not preserved in Gramsci's file at the main Italian state archives. Gramsci first raised the idea of petitioning for permission to read Trotsky's work and other books in a letter to his brother Carlo, 2 5 August 1 9 30. In that letter Gramsci asked Carlo to make the petition on his behalf but the letter did not reach Carlo because it was held by the prison authorities. Gramsci then requested that the letter be forwarded to the minister of justice-as he was entitled to do according to prison regulations. The Justice Ministry upheld the decision of the prison warden on the grounds that the books Gramsci was asking for were of a political character. Gramsci, therefore, decided to address his petition directly to the head of government-i.e., Mussolini; and his letter, drafted in this notebook, was forwarded to the highest authorities on 30 September 1 9 30. The following November he was informed that his request had been granted. See Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, I December I 930.

Pages I 6o- I 62 contain a draft of another petition under the heading

"Petition to H.E. the head of government sent at the end of October I 9 3 I " :

The recent ministerial regulations concerning the ability of prisoners to subscribe to periodicals induce me to write to Your Excellency who a year ago responded favorably to a petition of mine that resembled the present one. The new regulations establish a list of those periodicals generally permitted to prisoners. The list contains only some of the periodicals to which I have subscribed for the past four and a half years by permission of the Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State; I will, therefore, be automatically deprived of the rest. The periodicals which I have been reading and which appear on the list are: I ) Nuova Antologia; 2) Gerarchia; 3 ) Critica Fascista; 4) Pegaso; 5 ) Educazione Fascista; 6) Politica. The periodicals absent from the list are: I ) Formiggini's L'Italia che Scrive; 2) the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Rassegna della Stampa Estera; 3 ) La Nuova Italia, Florence; 4) La Riforma Sociale of Turin; 5 )

p8

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K 2 ( I 9 29 - I 9 3 3 ) B . Croce's La Critica; 6 ) La Civilta Cattolica; 7 ) La Cultura; B) La Nuova Rivista Storica; 9) I1 Marzocco; 10) L'Italia Letteraria; 1 1 ) Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economia e Politico; 1 2 ) Leonardo; I 3 1 I Problemi del Lavoro; I 41 Das Deutsche Buch; I S ) Nimm und Lies (two German bibliographic reviews); I 6 ) Labour Monthly, a monthly publication of the Labor Research Department; 17) Manchester Guardian Weekly; I B ) the Nouvelles Litteraires of Larousse; 1 9 ) Nouvelle Revue Franr;aise, published by Gallimard; 20) La Critique Sociale, published by Marcel Riviere. Recalling how last year you granted me permission to have a number of books of the same kind, I ask you to please allow me to read the following published works: I ) Knickerbocker, II piano quinquennale sovietico, published by Bompiani, Milan; 2) Le proces du Parti industriel de Moscou, an abridged account with a preface by Pierre Dominique; 3) Trotsky, La revolution defiguree. Vers le socialisme ou vers le capitalismel, published by Rieder; 4) B. Grinko, Le plan quinquennal; s l Jakovliev, Les exploitations collectives et l'essor de l'agricolture; 6) M.N.

Pokrovsky, Pages d'Histoire (Costantinople, Lamartine, Cavaignac et Nicolas I0• ecc.); 7) Panferof, La Communa-qte des Gueux, a novel; 8) the Complete Works of Marx and Engels published by Costes of Paris (about fifteen volumes of these writings have already been approved for me to read in Milan by the Special Tribunal and in Rome through the intervention of the military attorney, Comm. Isgro); 9) Marx, Lettres a Kugelmann ( I 862- 1 874) with an introduction by N. Lenin (the introduction was written in I907 ).

The original copy of this petition is missing from Gramsci's file at the main Italian state archives. Gramsci mentioned this petition in a letter to Tatiana Schucht, I 6 November I 9 3 I .

On p. I 62, the following title appears : "Letter to the Warden, 2 3 May I 9 3 2, to protest against noisiness at night"-but the text of the letter itself is not transcribed.

On p. 1 6 3 eight titles are listed under the heading, "Books delivered to Tatiana on I S June I 9 30":

I I Edoardo Scarfoglio, 11 libro di Don Chisciotte, Ed. Mondadori, I92 S .

2 ) Andre Gide, Si le grain ne meurt, 3 vols. Ed. N.R.P., I 924 [for an English trans. see If It Die, London, I 9 S O] .

3 ) Rivista d'Italia, the issues o f March, May, July, August I 927.

4) Antonio Mosconi (Minister of Finance), La Finanza statale alla vigilia delle elezioni plebisci tarie, A speech delivered in Naples, Libreria della Stato, I 929.

s ) Commisione d'indagine per la spedizione Polare dell' aeronave

"Italia, " A report, Rome : "Rivista Marittima, " I 9 30.

Description of the Man uscript

5 29

6 ) B. Mussolini, Gli accordi del Laterano, Parliamentary Speeches, Libreria del Littorio, Rome.

7 ) E. Vercesi and A. Mondini, I Patti del Laterano, Libreria d'ltalia, Rome.

8) Nuova An tologia, the issues from I July to I6 December I927.

Also on p. I 63 there is a list of six titles under the heading, "Books delivered to Carlo on 2 October 1 9 30":

I ) L 'ltalia che Scrive, I 928 (the March and November issues are missing).

2) L 'ltalia che Scrive, 1 929 (the November issue is missing).

3) Nuova An tologia, 1 928, complete: 24 issues.

4) Eugenio D'Ors, Goya, N.R.F., Paris (Lives of famous men).

s) Samuel Gompers, Ligue de Na tions ou Ligue de Financiers, Payot, Paris, I 924 [see "The World's Choice: League of Nations or League of Financiers, " The American Federationist, January, 1 924].

6 ) E. Lo Gatto, Spiriti e forme della poesia Bulgara, published by the Istituto Europa Orientale (pamphlet).

On pp. I 63 - I 64, twenty titles are listed under the heading, "Books delivered to Carlo on I 3 March I 9 3 I ":

I ) Civilta Cattolica, six months July-December 1 9 3 8, 1 2 issues.

2) Nuova Antologia, I 929, complete, 24 issues.

3) Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt, Ed. Stock, 1 930.

4) Jan Neruda, Raccon ti di Mala Strana, Ed. Slavia, Turin, I 9 30.

s ) Civilta Cattolica, I 929, complete, 24 issues.

6) Chesterton, La saggezza di padre Brown, Ed. Alpes, I 930 [The Wisdom of Father Brown] .

7 ) Jack London, Ricordi di u n bevitore, Ed. "Delta" [ fohn Barleycorn ] .

8 ) Mino Maccari, 11 trastullo di Strapaese, Vallecchi.

9 ) Oscar Wilde, 11 fantasma di Canterville, Formiggini [The Can terville Ghost].

1 0) Civilta Cattolica (up to 5 April 1 930), 1 9 30.

1 1 ) Pegaso, second half of 1 930: July, August, September, October, November, December: 6 issues, complete.

1 2 ) Vincenzo Morello, Dante, Farinata, Cavalcante, A. Mondadori, Milan, I 927 .

1 3 ) G. Prezzolini, Mi pare . . , Fiume, Edizioni "Delta, " I 92 ) .

.

1 4) Heinrich Mann, L 'Empire. Sujet!, Kra, Paris.

r 5) Nicola Turchi, Storia delle religioni, 2d ed., Fratelli Bocca, Turin, 1 922.

NOTE S : NOTEBOOK 2 ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 3 )

1 6 ) Nuova Antologia, 1 930 ( 1 -6 ), from I January to I S March.

1 7 ) Das Deutsche Buch, 1 930, complete, 6 issues.

1 8 ) Almanacco Letterario, I 9 3 L

1 9 ) I Libri del Giorno, 1 2 issues, complete.

20) I Libri del Giorno, 1 929, complete.

On pp. I 64-6 5 two lists of books follow one another without any heading (and some of the entries are crossed out but remain legible) : I ) Andre Maurois, L a Vie de Disraeli, Paris, Gallinard [for an English trans., see Disraeli: A Picture of the Victorian Age, New York, I 9 5 5 ].

2 ) Ferdinanda Martini, Confessioni e Ricordi ( I 8 5 9- I 892 ), Treves, Milan, 1 928.

3 ) L. Tolstoy, Guerra e Pace, 6 vols. Slavia [ War and Peace].

4) Henri Beraud, Mon ami Robespierre, Pion [for an English trans., see My Friend Robespierre, New York, I 928].

5 ) E. Buonaiuti, Gesu il Cristo, Profilo, Formiggini.

6 ) G. D'Annunzio, Per l'Italia degli Italiani, Milan, Bottega di Poesia, I 92 3 (which is listed as no. 2 in the next list). [This entry is crossed out in the manuscript.]

7 ) Gerarchia, I 928, 12 issues, complete year. [This entry is crossed out in the manuscript.]

8 ) Gerarchia, 1 929, I 2 issues, complete year. [This entry is crossed out in the manuscript. ]

9 ) Pegaso, I 9 3 1 , 9 issues from January to September.

1 0) Rassegna della Stampa Estero, I 927 (from no. 9 of 1 March to no. 30 of 26 July 1 927; no. 23 of 7 May is missing); 2 1

parts. [This entry i s crossed out in the manuscript. J

1 1 ) Nuova Antologia, I 9 30, from I April to I 6 December, I 8 parts (complete year with six issues previously forwarded).

1 2 ) Civilta Cattolica, 1 9 30, from 19 April to 20 December I 9 30.

Complete year with the issues previously forwarded. Now 1 7

issues.

1 3 ) Nuova Antologia, 1 9 3 1 , from I January to 1 6 July I 9 3 1 ; I 4

issues.

I 4) Thornton Wilder, Il ponte di San Louis Rey, Modemissima, Milan [The Bridge of San Louis Rey].

I S ) G. Prezzolini, Codice della vita ltaliana, Ed. "La Voce."

I ) Felice Ramorino, Mitologia classica illustrata (Manuali Hoepli), Milan.

2 ) G. D'Annunzio, Per l'Italia degli ltaliani, Milan, Bottega di Poesia, 1 9 2 3 .

Description of the Manuscript

S 3 I

3 ) Contessa Anna Potocka, Voyage d'Italie I I 826- I 82 7 ), Plon-Nourrit, Paris, I 899.

4) Domenico Oliva, I1 teatro in Italia nel 1909, Quinteri, Milan, I 9 I I .

5 ) Annali d'Italia cattolica, I 926, "Vita e Pensiero, " Milan, I 926.

6 ) Rassegna della Stampa Estero (from no. I O of 28 February I 92 8

to no. S3 of 26 December I 92 8 ); 44 parts + 4 quarterly indexes: 48 parts. [This entry is crossed out in the manuscript. ]

7 ) Vercesi and Mondini, I Patti del Laterano, Libreria d'Italia.

8) L 'Arcilibro, I 9 3 I .

One more set of bibliographic entries (untitled and not numbered) occupies the inside of the back cover of the notebook: In the Sammlung Goschen, now published by Walter de Gruyter &.

Co. of Berlin:

the Russische Grammatik by Berneker (which seems to be very good).

Russisch-deutsches Gespriichsbuch by Berneker (Erich), third edition edited by Max Vasmer lvol. 68).

Deutsche Wortkunde, by Alfred Schirmer (vol. 929).

Geschich te der Deutschen Sprache, by Hans Sperber lvol. 9 I 5 ).

P. Louis Riviere, L 'Apres Guerre, dix ans d'histoire I I 9 I 9- I 929), in I 6°· pp. 3 89, Paris, Ch. Lavanzelle et C. ie.

Andre Siegfried, Tableau de Partis en France, Grasset, I 930.

Paul Louis, Tableau politique du monde, Librairie Valois, Fr. I s .

Federico Chabod, Dol "Principe" di Niccolo Machiavelli, Albrighi-Segati, Milan, L. 4.00.

Andre Siegfried, La Crise Britannique au XXe siecle, Collection Armand Colin, L. I 0. 5 0.

Corrado Alvaro, Gente d'Aspromonte, Treves, I 2 lire.

Luigi Ambrosini, Cronache del Risorgimento, "La Cultura" Ed., 25

lire.

Salvador de Madariaga, Anglais, Franr;ais, Espagnols, N.R.F.

Ludovico Geymonat, I1 problema della conoscenza nel positivismo, Bocca, L. I 6 .

I . Giordani, I Protestanti alla conquista d'Italia, Milan, "Vita e Pensiero" (Notebooks of contemporary Catholicism). Vita e Pensiero catalog.

L. Russo, Prolegomeni a Machiavelli, Le Monnier, L. 5 .

This notebook contains notes resulting from a systematic review of the periodicals that Gramsci had received since the early days of his deten-

5 32

NOTES : NOTEB O O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9- 1 9 3 3 )

tion. Articles which appeared i n Nuova Antologia between 1 927 and 1 9 30, for example, are the source of 89 sections of the notebook. Although composition of this notebook started in 1 929, it is clear that it was interrupted and resumed at different times while Gramsci was working on other notebooks. Blank spaces and differences in calligraphy are indicative of the discontinuous composition of the notebook, and the arrangement of the entries does not necessarily indicate the temporal sequence of their composition.

The first half of the notebook was written, most probably, between 1 929 and 1 9 30. It is certain that §76 was written no sooner than the second half of I 930 since it refers to an article (cited from memory with some inaccuracies) which was published in the August I 9 30 issue of Critica Fascista. Similarly, § I 3 8 refers to I 9 3 0 in the past tense and therefore it (and the sections that follow it) must have been composed no earlier than I 9 3 r . An article from the Carriere della Sera of r s - I 6 October I 93 I is cited in § I 46 and § 1 48. The final entry in the notebook seems to refer to notes in Notebook 14 which suggests that it was written at a later time, not prior to I 9 3 3 ·

In L ' officina gramsciana: lpotesi sulla struttura dei "Quaderni del carcere" (p. 1 40), Gianni Francioni offers the following chronology of the composition of Notebook 2 :

§§

I - r 8 : May I 9 30 (before the 2oth)

I 0- 3 2 : between May and June I 930 (before the I S th) 3 5 - s 4 : June I 930 (before the I S th)

s s -72: between August and September 1 930

73-7 5 : 1 929 ( ? ) - 1 9 30 (perhaps before May) 76-IOS : between August and September I 930 (before 2 October)

1 06- u s : between October and November 1 9 30

1 26- 1 2 9 : between November and December 1 930

1 30- 1 3 6 : December I 9 3 0

I 3 7- I 4 I : between December I 930 and March I 9 3 I 1 42- 1 49 : October 1 9 3 1

r so : 1 9 3 3 (after January)

Notes to the Text. §4

5 3 3

NOTES TO THE TEXT

§ r . Vittorio Giglio, Milizie ed eserciti d'Italia 1 . The bibliog�aphic information on V. Giglio's Milizie ed eserciti d'Italia (Italian Militias and Armies) was obtained from an advertisement published in 11 Marzocco, 20 March 1 927 (XXXII, 1 2 ).

2. The Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale (Voluntary Militia for National Security) was officially founded by Mussolini on 1 February 1 9 2 3 . Its creation enabled Mussolini to exert some control and discipline over the fascist Blackshirt squads, although the M.V.S.N. proved hard to keep in check and had a very uneasy relationship with the Army.

§2. Italo Raulich, Storia del Risorgimento politico d'Italia 1 . The bibliographic information is extracted from the "Recentissime pubblicazioni italiane" (Latest Italian Publications) section in L'ltalia che Scrive, April 1 927 (X, 4), p. 9 1 .

Italo Raulich ( 1 862- 1 92 5 ) was a prolific, and well regarded historian whose Storia del Risorgimento politico d'Italia (History of the Italian Political Risorgimento) was widely read as an account of Italian patriotism.

§ 3 . Giorgio Macaulay Trevelyan, Daniele Manin e la rivoluzione veneziana del 48

1 . The publication of the Italian translation of George Macaulay Trevelyan's Manin and the Venetian Revolution of r848 (London, 1 92 3 ) was noted in L'Italia che Scrive, April 1 927 (X, 4), p. 9 1 .

§4. From the report read by the engineer Giacinto Motta . . .

1 . Giacinta Motta (b. 1 87o), an engineer, played a major role in the development of electrical production and distribution, as well as in the setting up of the telephone system in Italy. From 1 9 1 6 onward he held very high positions in the most important Italian electric utility corporation, the Edison Company.

2. Most probably Gramsci had kept some clippings from the newspaper 11 Sole which he read while in prison in Milan, and the information in this note is taken from one or more of these clippings. Gramsci told Tatiana Schucht in a letter of 4 April 1 92 7 : "I buy 11 Sole, an industrial-commer-

5 3 4

N O T E S : N O TE B O O K 2 ( I 9 29 - I 9 3 3 ) cial newspaper, and I read some economic news ( I have read all the annual reports of the stock corporations) . "

3 · Aldo Finzi ( I 89 I - I 944), a n early supporter o f D'Annunzio, became a most zealous Fascist and one of Mussolini's closest associates. He was elected to parliament in I 9 2 I and was later a member of the Fascist Grand Council. Although Jewish, he was not affected by the anti-Semitic laws of I 9 38, but he was expelled from the Fascist Party in I 942 and was a victim of the Nazis in the Ardeatine Caves massacre of I 944·

§ s . Angiolo Gambaro, Riforma religiosa nel Carteggio inedito di Raffaello Lam bruschini

I . The immediate source of the information in this note was a review of Angiolo Gambaro's Riforma religiosa nel Carteggio inedito di Raffaello Lambruschini ( Religious Reform in Raffaello Lambruschini's Unpublished Correspondence) by "M. G. R." in Nuova Antologia, I 6 April I 927

(LXII, I 3 22), pp. 5 07-8.

Angiolo Gambaro ( I 88 3 - I 96 6 ), a priest and professor of pedagogy wrote extensively on European religious thought and prepared the critical edition of Raffaello Lambruschini's works.

Raffaello Lambruschini ( 1 788- I 8 7 3 ), an ordained priest, was a pedagogist and religious reformer whose moderate liberal views led him to support Italian unity and independence and to campaign for the institutional reform of the Church. After the annexation of Tuscany to the Kingdom of Piedmont, Cavour appointed Lambruschini senator. He worked especially hard in the field of education.

§6. An article, "Problemi finanziari " . . .

1 . Almost all the material in this note is reproduced, often literally, from the article by Verax (a pseudonym used by Tommaso Tittoni), "Problemi finanziari" (Financial Problems), Nuova Antologia, I June I 927 (LXII, I 3 2 5 ), pp. 294-3 I 5 . The opening section of this article cites the earlier article by Tittoni, "I problemi finanziari dell'ora" (Current Financial Problems) to which Gramsci refers. Gramsci's own comments and observations are always enclosed in parentheses, they are often inside quotation marks, and in some instances they are marked by the initials A. G.

Tommaso Tittoni ( I 8 5 5 - I 93 I ), a very prominent statesman of the traditional liberal right, was first elected deputy in I 886 and was made senator in I 902. Before the war he served two terms ( I 903 - I 905 and 1 906- 1 909) as foreign minister under Giovanni Giolitti. In 1 906 he was appointed ambassador to London, and from 1 909 to 1 9 1 6 he served as

Notes to the Text. § 6

5 3 5

ambassador in Paris from where he campaigned for Italian intervention in World War I. He was appointed foreign minister once again in 1 9 1 9 by Francesco Nitti and led the Italian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference. Tittoni was elevated to the presidency of the Senate in 1 9 20, an office he held until 1 929, acquiescing in the Fascist takeover of power. In 1 929 Mussolini appointed him president of the Italian Royal Academy.

2. Alberto De Stefani ( 1 879-1 969), a professor of economics and finance, joined the Fascist Party in 1 92 1 and was elected to parliament the same year. In 1 922 he became minister of finance and within a year he was also given the treasury ministry. De Stefani was a strong advocate of free trade and consistently opposed government interference in private enterprise. He reduced taxes, bolstered competition and helped stimulate private investment. His policies led to a strengthening of the Italian currency and produced budget surpluses, but he alienated many of the leading industrialists (especially those connected with arms production) who sought government support and subsidies. He was forced to resign from his ministerial posts in 1 9 2 5 . He wrote several books on economics and finance.

3· Giuseppe Volpi ( 1 877-1 947 ), a highly successful industrialist and financier, was entrusted with several political and administrative missions. Among other things, he served as a delegate at the Paris Peace Conference and as governor of Tripolitania (Libya). Mussolini made him senator, conferred upon him the title of Count of Misurata, and appointed him minister of finance in 1 92 5 following De Stefani's demise. Volpi settled Italy's war debt with Britain and the U.S., obtained a huge loan from the Morgan Bank, drastically reduced the money supply, helped stabilize the lira, and consolidated the public debt. He was replaced as finance minister in 1 928 and returned to his business activities but remained an influential figure in the Fascist inner circle until he started to distance himself from the regime toward the end of 1 942.

4· Verax, "Problemi finanziari, " Nuova Antologia, 1 June 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 2 5 ), p. 296. The emphasis is Gramsci's.

5 · Verax, "Problemi finanziari, " p. 300. Gramsci's emphasis.

6. Teodoro Mayer (b. 1 86o) was made senator in 1 920 and served for many years as chairman of the committees overseeing the budget and the drafting of laws related to finance and taxation.

7 . Verax, "Problemi finanziari, " p. 303. Emphasis in the original.

8. Verax, "Problemi finanziari, " p. 306.

9· Jacques Necker ( 1 73 2- 1 804), a Swiss born French financier and statesman, was put in charge of the Royal Treasury in 1 776 and effectively controlled financial policy. He also served as finance minister for a brief period shortly after the Revolution

10. Alberto De Stefani's letter appeared under the heading "Problemi

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K 2 j i 9 29 - I 9 3 3 ) finanziari" !Financial Problems) in the "Notizie e commenti" I "News and Comments") section of Nuova Antologia, I 6 June I 927 ILXII, I 3 26), pp.

5 07-08.

§ 7 . Articles by Luzzatti . . .

1 . The complete list of Luzzatti's articles in Nuova An tologia jfrom which Gramsci copied the titles found in this note) appeared at the end of an obituary article by Tommaso Tittoni, "Luigi Luzzatti" in Nuova Antologia, I 6 April I 927 (LXII, I 3 22), pp. 3 8 5 -9 1 .

§ 8 . An opinion of Manzoni 's on Victor Hugo

I . See Ruggero Bonghi, "I fatti miei e i miei pensieri. II: Dal diario inedito" (My Experiences and Thoughts. II: From the Unpublished Diary) in Nuova Antologia, I 6 April I 927 jLXII, I 322), p. 4 I 3 .

Ruggero Bonghi ( I 826- I 89 5 ), a prominent literary figure and statesman, was born in Naples where he participated in the I 847-48 rebellion against the monarchy. He served in parliament for many years until I 892.

In I 869 he was a member of a committee chaired by Manzoni which was charged by the government to make proposals for advancing knowledge of the correct usage of the Italian language and pronunciation.

§ 9 . The philosophers and the French Revolution 1 . See R. Bonghi, "I fatti miei e i miei pensieri, " Nuova An tologia, I 6

April I 927 (LXII, I 3 22j, pp. 4 I 8- I 9 .

§ r o. A Venetian gondolier . . .

1 . See R. Bonghi, "I fatti miei e i miei pensieri, " Nuova Antologia, I 6

April I 927 j LXII, I 3 22), p . 420. The same anecdote i s brought u p again in Notebook 4, § 6 5 .

§ r r . Manzoni and Rosmini on Napoleon III

1 . See R. Bonghi, "I fatti miei e i miei pensieri, " Nuova Antologia, I 6

April I 927 jLXII, I 3 22), p . 426.

§ 1 2. The Italian merchant marine

1 . See L. Fontana Russo, "La nostra marina transatlantica" jOur Transatlantic Fleet), Nuova Antologia, I 6 April I 92 7 I LXII, I 322 ), pp. 489-99.

Notes to the Text. § r 6

5 3 7

This note is made up of extracts from the cited article. Gramsci's own comments are always inserted parenthetically, frequently within quotation marks and sometimes marked by the initials A. G. The subtitles are suppled by Gramsci.

§ I J . Eugenio Di Carlo, Un carteggio inedito . . .

I . The bibliographic data on Eugenio Di Carlo's book (which contains the previously unpublished correspondence between Luigi Taparelli D'Azeglio and his brothers Massimo and Roberto) and the other information recorded in this note are derived from a review signed B. Mig. in Nuova Antologia, I May I 927 (LXII, I 3 2 3 ), pp. 1 24-2 5 . The concluding comment in parenthesis is Gramsci's own.

§ r 4. Amy A. Bernardy, Forme e colori di vita regionale italiana I . The bibliographic reference is taken from a list of books in the "Libri e recenti pubblicazioni" (Books and Recent Publications) section in Nuova Antologia, I May I 927 (LXII, I 3 2 3 ), p. 1 28 .

§ I s . The Albanians of Italy

1 . See Vico Mantegazza, "Sulle vie dell' Oriente" (On the Ways of the Orient), Nuova Antologia, I May I 927 (LXII, I 3 2 3 ), pp. 98- 1 06.

Vico Mantegazza ( I 8 s 6- I 934), a journalist who wrote on his extensive travels in Africa and elsewhere, also served as a war correspondent before becoming the editor-in-chief of the Coiiiere della Sera and of other newspapers.

§ r 6 . Francesco Tommasini, "Politica mondiale e politica europea"

I . See Francesco Tommasini "Politica mondiale e politica europea"

(World Politics and European Politics) in Nuova Antologia, I May I 927

(LXII, I 3 2 3 ) pp. 3 5 -5 2 and I6 May I 927 (LXII, I 3 24), pp. 204- I 7 . The whole note consists in a summary of this article. Gramsci inserts his own comments parenthetically.

2. The phrase "two powers standard" appears both times in English (and is underlined) in the manuscript.

NOTES : NOTE B O O K 2 ( I 9 29- I 9 3 3 )

§ 1 7 . Guido Bustico, "Gioacchino Murat . . . "

1 . See Guido Bustico, "Gioacchino Murat nelle memorie inedite del generale Rossetti. I: La 'politica nuova' del I 8 I4" ( Joachim Murat in the Unpublished Memoirs of General Rossetti. I: The 'new policy' of I 8 I4) in Nuova Antologia, I 6 May I 927 (LXII, I 3 24), pp. I 29-37; "II : Una missione segreta e G. Grassi" (A Secret Mission and G. Grassi) in Nuova Antologia, I June I 927 ( LXII, 1 3 2 5 ), pp. 3 20-3 1 ; "III: La fuga del Murat da Napoli" (Murat's Flight from Naples) in Nuova Antologia, I 6 June 1 927

(LXII, I 3 26), pp. 4 3 3- p.

2. Joachim Murat ( 1 767-I 8 I 5 ), who was made King of Naples by Napoleon in 1 808, sought to save his kingdom from the collapse that was set in motion by Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Leipzig in 1 8 1 3 . After declaring a truce he forged an alliance with Austria and Britain in 1 8 14. A year later, however, following Napoleon's escape from Elba, Murat went to war against Austria and exhorted the Italians to join him and fight for their independence. Murat was quickly defeated and fled to Corsica. Soon afterward he attempted to regain Naples but his small army was easily overwhelmed; he was captured and executed by a firing squad.

§ 1 8 . "Una politica di pace europea, " by Argus I . See the article, "Una politica di pace europea" (A European Peace Policy) signed by the pseudonym Argus, in Nuova Antologia, I June 1 927

(LXII, 1 3 2 5 ), pp. 3 3 2- 3 8 .

2. Gramsci, most probably, i s referring t o the article by Manfredi Gravina, "Le grandi navi" (The Great Ships) in Carriere della Sera, 24 July I 927.

Manfredi Gravina ( I 88 3 - I 9 3 2 ) was a naval officer before being entrusted with several important diplomatic missions. He also wrote extensively on politics, foreign affairs, and naval policy.

§ 1 9 . Roger Labonne 's article

1 . This note is based on the account of Roger Labonne's article provided in the "La pagina della riviste" (Periodicals Page) section in Rivista d'Italia, 1 5 March 1 927 (XXX, 3 ), pp. 487-88.

2 . The London Treaty of I 9 I 3 settled the partition of European Turkey among the victors of the Balkan wars.

3 · Eleutherios Venizelos ( I 864- 1 9 3 6 ) obtained many territorial concessions for Greece in the negotiations that followed World War I.

4· Theodoros Pangalos ( 1 878- 1 9 5 2 ) took over the Greek government

Notes to the Text. §22

5 3 9

with a coup d'etat in June 1 92 5 and was overthrown by another coup in August 1 926.

§20. For the relations between the German Cen ter and the Vatican

1 . See the "La pagina delle riviste" (Periodicals Page) section in Rivista d'Italia, 1 5 March 1 927 (XXX, 3 ), pp. 489-90.

§2 1 . "L' Etiopia d'oggi"

1 . All the information i n this note i s derived from a n article, "L'

Etiopia d'oggi" (Ethiopia Today) in Rivista d'Italia, 1 5 March 1 927 (XXX, 3 ), pp. 343- 5 2 ·

2. The "echege" i s the chief monk i n Ethiopia.

3 · The Treaty of Wuchali was signed in 1 889 by the representative of King Umberto I and Emperor Menelik II. Italy interpreted the treaty as giving it a protectorate over Ethiopia. Menelik, who rejected this interpretation, renounced the treaty in 1 89 5 .

§22. Stefano Jacini, Un conservatore rurale della nuova Italia I . Both the bibliographic reference and the information contained in the rest of the note are derived from an article by Filippo Meda, "Stefano Jacini" in Rivista d'Italia, 1 5 March 1 927 (XXX, 3 ), pp. 32 5 -26. Stefano Jacini's Un conservatore rurale della Nuova ltalia (A Rural Conservative of the New Italy) had been published in 1926 by Laterza of Bari.

2. Stefano Jacini ( r 827- 1 89 r ) came from a rural bourgeois family actively engaged in land management. A right wing Catholic liberal, he was put in charge of public works by Cavour. He is best remembered for coordinating a comprehensive seven-year study of agrarian life in Italy, for which he also prepared the final report in 1 884.

Count Stefano Jacini ( 1 886- 1 9 5 2 ), the nephew of Stefano Jacini, was especially interested in problems concerning agriculture and emigration.

He wrote several historical studies in addition to his uncle's biography cited by Gramsci in this note. Jacini was also active in politics: he joined the Popular Party, was elected to parliament in 1 9 1 9, and later opposed fascism.

3· See Filippo Meda, "Stefano Jacini, " p. 3 2 8 .

4· Carlo Cattaneo ( 1 8o r - r 869 ), an intellectual with an encyclopedic range of interests, had a strong formative influence on the Italian Risorgimento. He wrote on the most disparate subjects in virtually all the major

5 40

N O T E S : N O TE B O O K 2 ( I 9 29 - I 9 3 3 ) spheres of knowledge: economics, agriculture, literature, philosophy, the arts, linguistics, mathematics, geology, social theory, politics, chemistry.

In 1 8 3 9 he founded II Politecnico, a monthly review devoted to "the applied study of culture and social prosperity. " A diehard republican, Cattaneo played a leading role in the "Five Days" ( I 8-22 March I 848 ) rebellion against Austrian rule in Milan. Once the Austrians regained control of the situation, Cattaneo went into exile in Switzerland. He returned to Italy in 1 8 5 9 and in 1 867 was elected to the Italian parliament, but since he opposed the monarchy he refused to take the oath of loyalty to the royal house of Savoy. Cattaneo's views occupy a prominent place in the history of Italian political thought. Gaetano Salvemini, the Giustizia e Liberta movement, and the founders of the Italian Repubican Party all drew inspiration from his staunch republicanism.

S · Count Emanuele Greppi ( I 8 S 3 - I 9 3 I ), from Milan, was elected parliamentary deputy as a moderate liberal, and later elevated to senator. He subsequently became a Fascist collaborator.

Gaetano Negri ( 1 8 3 8- 1 902), a prominent member of the Moderate Party, was mayor of Milan before he was elected parliamentary deputy.

He became a senator in I 890. His most important writings deal with religious thought and include a book on George Eliot.

Giuseppe Colombo ( 1 8 3 6- 1 92 1 ), an engineer who helped develop the electric industry in Italy, was elected to parliament from Milan in I 886.

He was named minister of finance in I 8 9 I and minister of the treasury in I 89 6 . He entered the senate in I 900.

§2 3 . The Eurasian movemen t

1 . The information in this note is derived from an item entitled "Politica europea e politica mondiale" (European Politics and World Politics) in "La pagina delle riviste" ( Periodicals Page) section in Rivista d'Jtalia, I S May I 927 (XXX, s ), pp. 2 I 3 - I 4. The item consists of a summary of an article by Bernhard Histermann which had appeared in the journal A bendland, April I 927.

§24. World politics and European politics

1 . This note is taken word for word from the same source as the previous note- "La pagina delle riviste" in Rivista d'Italia, I S May 1 927

(XXX, s ), pp. 2 1 3 - 1 4. The original source is an article by Enrico Mataia published in Abendland, April I 927.

Notes to the Text. §25

54 I

§ 2 5 . Italian na tionalism

1 . Scipio Sighele ( I 8 68-I 9 I 3 ), a follower of Cesare Lombroso's school of positivist criminology, wrote several studies on mass psychology. An ardent Nationalist he agitated for the incorporation of Trentino into Italy and published political works on nationalism.

Gualtiero Castellini ( I 890- I 9 I 8 ), a journalist who reported on the Libyan and Balkan wars and the author of books on Garibaldi's exploits, was a very early and enthusiastic adherent of the Nationalist movement.

Luigi Federzoni ( 1 878- I 967), together with Enrico Corradini, founded the Nationalist Party in I 9 I O and its organ, L 'Idea Nazionale, in 1 9 1 1 . He was elected to parliament in 1 9 I 3 and strongly urged Italian intervention in the war. A staunch supporter of fascism, he promoted the merger of the Nationalist Party with the Fascist Party in 1 9 2 3 . He served as minister of the interior ( 1 924-26) and twice as minister of the colonies ( 1 922-24 and I 926-2 8 ) before entering the Senate, over which he presided from I 929 to I 9 3 1 . He became editor in chief of Nuova Antologia in I 9 3 I and president of the Italian Academy in I 9 3 8 .

Paolo Arcari ( 1 879- 1 9 5 5 ), a professor and author of many books on Italian literature, was a member of the central committee of the Nationalist Party when it was first founded.

Giuseppe Bevione ( I 879-I 976), a journalist who was especially inter·

ested in foreign affairs, economics, and social issues, was elected to parliament as a Nationalist in I 9 I 5 . He spent some time in Washington D.C. in 1 9 I 8 as an attache in the Italian embassy. For three years ( 1 92 3 - 1 9 2 6 ) he was editor in chief of 11 Secolo. He was made senator in I 924.

Emilio Bodrero ( I 874- I 949), a professor of philosophy, a Nationalist and an interventionist in World War I, supported the fusion of his party with the Fascists. As a Fascist he was elected to parliament in I 924. He held several important public offices, including that of undersecretary of education and was made senator in I 9 34· In I 940 he became professor of fascist doctrine at the University of Rome.

Ezio Maria Gray ( I 88 5 - I 969), a strong supporter of the Libyan war and an interventionist in World War I, was elected to parliament as a Nationalist in 1 9 I 9 . In I 92 5 he became a member of the Fascist Grand Council.

Later he took charge of the Gazzetta del Popolo. Although his fascist activities earned him a death sentence after the war, he was amnestied and went on to become a leading figure in the neo-fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano.

Alfredo Rocco ( 1 87 5 - I 93 5 ), a legal scholar, was one of the leaders and most influential intellectuals of the Nationalist Association. In 1 9 I 8 he founded Politica (together with Francesco Coppola) which served as a platform for his Nationalist and Fascist views. After the merger of the

542

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K 2 ( I 9 29 - I 9 3 3 ) Nationalists with the Fascist Party h e played an extremely important role in government. He was appointed justice minister in 1 92 5 and helped design the laws which gave a juridical structure to the Fascist state. Rocco became rector of the University of Rome in I 9 3 2 and senator in I 9 34·

Giorgio Del Vecchio ( I 878-I 970) was a professor and author of many books on the philosophy of law. He taught at various universities, served as rector of the University of Rome and edited the Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia del Diritto.

2. Gramsci wrote this note upon reading an article by Arturo Beccari,

"Nazionalismo e irredentismo. Scipio Sighele" (Nationalism and Irredentism: Scipio Sighele) in Rivista d'Italia, I S May I 927 (XXX, s ), pp. 5 - 1 6.

However, apart from the references to some specific names and facts, the observations and opinions expressed here are Gramsci's own.

§ 2 6 . The German newspapers

1 . The information gathered in this note is culled from an article by Paolo Vita-Finzi, "Lettere dalla Germania: l'enciclopedia a quattro soldi.

La stampa politica tedesca" (Letters from Germany: The Threepenny Encyclopedia. The German Political Press) in Rivista d'Italia, 1 5 May 1 927

(XXX, s ), pp. I 30-44·

Alfred Hugenberg was a right wing German member of parliament.

2 . According to P. Vita-Finzi's article, from which the information for this note is derived, Az Est was published in Prague and Neue Freie Presse in Vienna.

§ 2 7 . The Correspondan t of 2 5 July 1 92 7 . . .

I . The information in this note is extracted from an item entitled "La pressione italiana" (Italian Pressure) in "La pagina delle riviste" (Periodicals Page) section in Rivista d'Italia, I S July 1 927 (XXX, 7 ), pp. 5 82-8 3 .

Pietro Badoglio ( 1 8 7 1 - I 9 5 6 ) rose very rapidly through the military ranks even though in I 9 I 7 he was partly responsible for the debacle of the army in the battle of Caporetto. By I 9 I 9 he had become chief of staff, a post he resigned in I 9 2 I during Ivanoe Bonomi's premiership. He gradually developed a good relationship with Mussolini who first named him ambassador to Brazil in 1 92 3 and then appointed him to Army Chief of Staff as well as Chief of the Supreme General Staff in 1 92 5. He was elevated to Marshal in I 92 6 but saw his command eroded as Mussolini sought greater personal cont.rol of the armed forces. In I 928, Badoglio was made governor of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica (Libya)-by the time he returned to Italy in I 923 he had pacified the territories through brutal repressive measures against the native population. In 1 9 3 6 he succeeded

Notes to the Text. §29

5 4 3

i n defeating Haile Selassie's army b y employing ruthless force, and was appointed viceroy of Ethiopia. Although he was cautious about Italy's plans to enter the war in 1 9 3 9, he subsequently supported Mussolini's ventures and helped execute them as Chief of the Supreme General Staff.

After a military fiasco in Greece in I 940, Badoglio reluctantly resigned.

The king appointed him head of government in I 943 following Mussolini's arrest. His inept handling of the situation ensured his withdrawal from public life in I 944 when the Allies took possession of Rome.

§28. Article by Frank Simmonds . . .

1 . The source of this note is an item entitled "Vecchi torbidi nei nuovi Balcani" (Old Troubles in the New Balkans) in the "La pagina delle riviste" (Periodicals Page) section of Rivista d'Italia, I S July I 927 (XXX, 7 ), p. 5 8 3 .

2. Gustav Stresemann ( 1 8 7 8 - 1 929) was chancellor ( I 92 3 ) and foreign minister ( 1 923-29) of the Weimar Republic.

§29. Quin tina Sella

I . See Cesare Spellanzon, "Quintina Sella" in Rivista d' !tali a, I 5 July I 927 (XXX, 7 ), pp. 5 4 1 -48, from which all the information contained in this note is taken-Gramsci's own observations are inserted parenthetically.

2. Quintina Sella ( I 82 7- I 884) was elected to parliament in I 86o and two years later prime minister Urbano Rattazzi named him finance minister, a post he also held during the premierships of Alfonso Ferrero Lamarmora ( I 864- 1 86 5 ) and Giovanni Lanza ( I 869- 1 87 3 ) . He sought to remedy the huge deficit and balance the budget through large reductions in expenditures and the imposition of indirect taxes. His plan to exact a tax on flour caused rebellion in the countryside and was strongly opposed by the left, thus leading to his resignation in I 8 6 s . The tax was subsequently imposed by the rightist government of Prime Minister Luigi Menabrea ( 1 867- 1 869). Sella succeeded in balancing the budget during his term of office as finance minister under Lanza. His continued policy of indirect taxation led to a series of widespread strikes in I 872. Bitterly attacked by the left he resigned in I 8 7 3, a few months before Lanza's government collapsed.

3· Urbano Rattazzi ( 1 808- 1 87 3 ) founded a center-left party and for a time allied himself with Cavour in opposition to the conservatives. An extremely prominent politician, Rattazzi held many important parliamentary and ministerial offices in the course of his public career. He was named prime minister twice, in I 862 and I 867; in both cases he con-

5 44

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 ) fronted very difficult problems which made it difficult for him to gain the support of either the right or the left wings, and both his governments were short-lived.

Marco Minghetti ( 1 8 1 8- 1 88 6 ) held several ministerial positions before becoming prime minister in 1 8 6 3 . A leader of the right he gave high priority to balancing the budget but he also sought to complete the process of Italian unification. He returned to the office of prime minister in 1 87 3

after Lanza's (and Sella's) fall; his was the last conservative government before the left took control of parliament under the leadership of Agostino Depretis.

Giovanni Lanza ( 1 8 Io-1 882), like Rattazzi, was a centrist and held important offices under Cavour who made him finance minister in 1 8 5 8 .

He moved toward the right and was given the ministry of the interior by Lamarmora in 1 864, a post he resigned a year later because he opposed the tax on flour proposed by his fellow cabinet member, Sella. He also vehemently opposed the state monopolization of tobacco and resigned his presidency ( 1 867- I 868) of the chamber of deputies over the issue. In 1 869

he became prime minister following the collapse of the Menabrea government, and Sella was one of the most prominent figures in his cabinet. His government fell in I 87 3 when the economic measures put into place by Sella failed to get support from the right.

Luigi Federico Menabrea ( 1 809- 1 89 6 ), a conservative and a protector of clerical interests, was put in charge of public works before being called upon to form a government in 1 867 when the king's efforts to install Sella as prime minister failed. Menabrea headed a reactionary government until 1 869. A Francophile, he opposed the transfer of the Italian capital to Rome in 1 870.

4· The quote is taken from Cesare Spellanzon, "Quintina Sella, " Rivista d'Italia, p. 5 44·

Alfonso Ferrero Lamarmora ( 1 804- 1 87 8 ) had a distinguished military career and had served several terms as minister of war before being named prime minister for the first time in 1 8 5 9, following Cavour's resignation.

He was again prime minister in I 864 and led Italy into a disastrous war against Austria in I 866.

5· Quoted from Cesare Spellanzon, "Quintina Sella, " Rivista d'Italia, p. 5 46.

6 . Enrico Cialdini ( I 8 1 3 - 1 892) fought in numerous military campaigns in various parts of Europe, and was King Vittorio Emanuele Il's aide de camp before being elected to parliament where he had a bitter disagreement with Garibaldi. He was named senator in 1 864 and played an important role in the transfer of the Italian capital to Florence. He was also a severe critic of Lamarmora's handling of the war in 1 866.

Notes to the Text. § 33

S4S

§30. Italy and Yemen in the new Arab policy

1 . See Rivista d'Italia, I S July I 927 (XXX, 7 ), pp. 5 30-40.

§ 3 1 . Niccolo Machiavelli

1 . See Rivista d'Italia, I S June I 927 (XXX, 6 ), pp. 2 I 7- 3 7 S ·

2. The article by Guido Mazzoni, "Il Machiavelli drammaturgo" (Machiavelli the Playwright), contains a discussion of Machiavelli's play Mandragola ( The Mandrake).

Guido Mazzoni ( I 8 S 9- I 9 S 3 ) who had studied under Carducci, was a poet, critic and professor of literature. He wrote several books on classical and Italian literature.

3 . The article by Vittorio Cian, "Machiavelli e Petrarca, " seeks Petrarchan elements in Machiavelli's work.

Vittorio Cian I I 862- I 9 s I ), a professor of literature, was editor-in-chief of the Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiano. He wrote numerous detailed historical and philological studies on Italian literature. Elected to parliament in I 924, he was made senator in I 929.

§32. Augur

I . Gramsci had the following articles by the pseudonymous Augur:

"Mosca e Londra" (Moscow and London), Nuova Antologia, I July 1 927

(LXII, I 32 7 ), pp. I 24-26; "L'Europa centrale e gli interessi italiani dal punta di vista inglese" (Central Europe and Italian Interests from the English Point of View), Nuova Antologia, I 6 October I 927 (LXII, I 3 34), pp. s o2- 1 1 ; "Futuri orientamenti intemazionali, " (Future International Orientations), Nuova Antologia, I February I 928 (LXIII, I 3 4 I ), pp. 3 69-7 4; "Il nuovo aspetto dei rapporti tra la Gran Bretagna e gli Stati Uniti d'America" (The New Aspect of British and United States Relations), Nuova Antologia, I6 December I 928 (LXIII, 1 3 62), pp. 488-94-Gramsci refers to this article again in Notebook 2, §97; "La Politica della Gran Bretagna" (British Policy), Nuova Antologia, I 6 July 1 929 (LXIV, 1 3 76), pp. 2 I I - I 6 .

§ 3 3 . Diplomatic documen ts

1 . This note summarizes the article by Alessandro De Bosdari, "I documenti ufficiali brittanici sull' origine della guerra ( 1 898- 1 9 1 4)" (The Official British Documents on the Origin of the War: I 898- 1 9 1 4), Nuova Antologia, I July 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 2 7 ), pp. u s -24. Gramsci places his own comments in parentheses.

N O TE S : N O TE B O O K 2 ( I 9 29- I 9 3 3 ) Alessandro D e Bosdari ( I 867- I 929) entered the diplomatic service in I 89 1 . He led the Italian delegation at the Rome convention on prisoners of war in 1 9 1 8 and the following year he was appointed the first Italian ambassador to Brazil. He was governor of Rhodes from I 920 to I 922 and ambassador to Germany between I 922 and I 926. He also wrote a book on World War I.

§34. "Per una politica annonaria razionale e nazionale"

I . See Guido Borghesani, "Per una politica annonaria razionale e nazionale" (Towards a Rational and National Food Rationing Policy), Nuova An tologia, I July I 927 (LXII, I 32 7 ), pp. 6 8-8o.

§ 3 5 . Francesco Orestano, "La Chiesa Cattolica nella Stato Italiano e nel mondo"

I. Francesco Orestano, "La Chiesa Cattolica nello Stato Italiano e nel mondo" (The Catholic Church in Italy and the World), Nuova Antologia, I 6 July I 927 (LXII, I 3 28 ), pp. I 3 7-49·

2. See Intorno alla questione romana ( Rome: La Civilta Cattolica, I 927). This pamphlet (which Gramsci had in prison) is a reprint from La Civilta Cattolica, s November I 927 (no. I 8 5 7 ) . It contains the texts (accompanied by a commentary) of a polemic that took place in September and October I 927 between the Osservatore Romano on one side and Arnaldo Mussolini (the Fascist leader's brother) and Giovanni Gentile on the other. Arnaldo Mussolini wrote in the Popolo d'Italia, of which he was the editor in chief, while Gentile wrote in the Carriere della Sera.

Gentile also included the article he wrote on this polemic in his book Fascismo e cultura (Milan: Treves, I 92 8 ), pp. I 82-88-a copy of which Gramsci had in prison. At the time when this polemic broke out, the negotiations between the Fascist government and the Vatican were stalled and it seemed that both sides were stiffening their positions.

3 · Gramsci is querying a thesis expressed tentatively by Francesco Orestano in his article, "La Chiesa Cattolica nello Stato Italiano e nel mondo, " Nuova Antologia, p. I 3 8.

4· The bibliographic reference is derived from Francesco Orestano, "La Chiesa Cattolica nello Stato Italiano e nel mondo, " p. I 3 7 ·

§ 3 6 . Machiavelli

1 . The information contained in this note is derived from the "Rassegna bibliografica" (Bibliographic Review) section in Nuova Antologia, I August I 927 (LXII, I 329) p. 401 .

Notes to the Text. §41

5 47

§ 3 7 . The In ternational Aid Society

1 . The information in this note is taken from an article, "La conferenza internazionale per l'Unione internazionale dei soccorsi a Ginevra" (The International Conference for the International Aid Society in Geneva) published in the "Notizie e commenti" (News and Comments) section of Nuova Antologia, I August I 927 (LXII, I 3 29 ), pp. 3 96-9 9 .

§38. Gioviano Pantano

1 . The information in this note is taken from an article by Tommaso Tittoni, "Coltura e Politica a Perugia nel Rinascimento" (Renaissance Culture and Politics in Perugia), Nuova Antologia, I August I 927 (LXII, I 3 29 ), pp. 273-95 (see esp. pp. 2 88-90).

Gioviano Pantano ( I 429- I 5 03 ), a poet and historian, was the main exponent and promoter of humanistic culture in the Aragonese royal court of Naples.

§ 3 9 . Geopolitics

1 . The information in this note is extracted from an article by Roberto Almagia, "Gli indirizzi attuali della geografia e il decimo Congresso geografico nazionale" (Current Trends in Geography and the Tenth National Geographic Congress), Nuova Antologia, I 6 July I 927 (LXII, I p8 ), pp.

246- 5 4 (see esp. pp. 249- 5 0).

Rudolf Kjellen ( I 864- 1 922), a Swedish political scientist and member of parliament ( 1 905 - 1 9 I 7 ), coined the term "geopolitics. " His work was especially influential in Germany.

§40. 1111 problema scandinavo e baltico"

1 . See an article signed A. M., "11 problema scandinavo e baltica" (The Scandinavian and Baltic Problem) in Nuova Antologia, 1 August I 927

(LXII, I 329), pp. 3 80-92.

2. Gramsci is quoting, in abbreviated form, the text of the article by A.

M., "11 problema scandinavo e baltica, " p. 3 9 1 .

§4 r . Niccolo Machiavelli

1 . See Luigi Cavina, "11 sogno nazionale di Niccolo Machiavelli in Romagna e il governo di Francesco Guicciardini" (Machiavelli's National Dream in Romagna and Guicciardini's Government), Nuova Antologia, 1 6 August 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 30), pp. 472-94.

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 3 )

§42. Quin tina Sella

1 . Gramsci's source is an article by Paolo Boselli, "Roma e Quintina Sella, " in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 September 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 3 2), p. 1 47 . The anecdote about Quintina Sella's response to Mommsen is also mentioned in Benedetto Croce, Storia d' ltalia dal 187r al 1915, 3d ed. (Bari: Laterza, 1 928). Gramsci had a copy of this book in prison and he refers to Croce's account of the anecdote in Notebook 8, §49 . For an English translation, see B. Croce, A History of Italy: 1871-19 15, trans. C. M. Ady (New York: Russell &. Russell, 1 9 6 3 ), pp. 3-4: "Theodor Mommsen once, in a moment of excitement, asked Quintina Sella, 'What are you going to do with Rome? It is making us all anxious. Rome is never without cosmopolitan projects.' To this Sella replied that the cosmopolitan project which Italy then entertained for Rome was 'knowledge.' "

2. For the text of Mussolini's speech, see B. Mussolini, Discorsi del 1929 (Milan: Alpes, 1 9 30), pp. 7 1 - 1 84. Gramsci had a copy of this volume in prison.

3. Some texts and documents concerning Quintina Sella's attitude toward the religious question are cited in a note in the article by Paolo Boselli, "Rome a Quintina Sella, " p. 1 48-for example, a speech by Sella in parliament on 14 March 1 882, a speech at Cassata in October 1 86 5 , and another speech at Bioglio in 1 874.

§43 . The tax on flour

r . See Alberto De Stefani, "Quintina Sella ( 1 827-1 884)" in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 September 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 3 2 ), pp. 1 5 6-6 1 .

2 . Alberto De Stefani, "Quintina Sella ( 1 827-1 884), " p . 1 5 8 : "The heavy tax was abolished. The people were not any less hungry than before, and after a few years the customs officer who had left the mill went to the border to collect the levy on wheat. "

§44. On Quintina Sella . . .

r . These three articles (the first two of which are used in the previous two notes) were all published in the same issue of Nuova Antologia- 1 6

September 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 3 2 )- to commemorate the centenary of Quintina Sella's birth : Paolo Boselli, "Roma a Quintina Sella, " pp. 1 47-5 5 ; Alberto De Stefani, "Quintina Sella ( 1 827-1 884), '' pp. 1 5 6-6 1 ; Bruno Minoletti, "Quintina Sella storico, archeologo e paleografo" (Quintina Sella: Historian, Archeologist, Palaeographer), pp. 1 62-66.

Notes to the Text. §47

5 49

§45 . America and Europe

1 . Gramsci's source of information about Madison Grant's book and its contents is an item, "Questioni americane . . . con occhi americani"

(American Issues . . . As Seen by Americans) in the "Notizie e commenti"

(Notes and Comments) section in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 September 1 927

(LXII, 1 3 3 2 ), pp. 2 5 7- 5 8 . The report is signed Diogene Laerzio, a pseudonym used by Arturo Calza- see Notebook 6, § 5 5 · The book by Madison Grant, The Passing of the Great Race or the Racial Basis of European History (London : G. Bell & Sons, 1 9 1 7 ) was translated into French, Le declin de la grande race ( Paris, 1 926).

2. See "Lettere di Georges Sorel a Roberto Michels, " Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economia e Politica, September-October 1 929 (II, 5 ), pp. 288-9 3 ; see especially pp. 292-9 3 . (The passage quoted b y Gramsci i s from the Italian translation of a letter Sorel wrote on 28 August 1 9 1 7 - ) Robert Michels ( 1 876- 1 9 3 6 ), who was born i n Germany, studied and taught at various universities before his appointment to a professorship in general and corporative economics at the University of Rome in 1 928. His early socialist views were strongly influenced by the thought of Max Weber and George Sorel. Attracted to the theories of Gaetano Mosca and Vilfredo Pareto, he developed his formulation of the "iron law of oligarchy, " according to which rule by the elite is both inevitable and desirable.

Having abandoned socialism, Michels became an apologist of the Fascist regime.

§46. In ternational institutions

1 . See G. Dall'Oglio, "II Congresso di Stoccolma della Camera di Commercia intemazionale, " Nuova Antologia, 1 6 September 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 3 2), pp. 244- 5 6 .

§47 . Ada Negri

I . See Michele Scherillo, "Ada Negri, " Nuova Antologia, 1 6 September 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 3 2 ), pp. 1 6 7-82.

Ada Negri ( I 870- I 94S ), in her earlier poetry, addressed themes which were almost totally ignored by the major Italian poets: social conflict, the effects of industrialization, the difficulties and sufferings of working class life.

2. The reference to the autobiographical novel by Ada Negri, Stella mattutina (Milan: Treves, 1 92 1 ) is derived from Michele Scherillo's article, "Ada Negri, " cited in the opening sentence of the note.

5 5 0

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K 2 ( I 9 29 - I 9 3 3 )

§48. Constitution of the English Empire

I . See Junius, "Le prospettive dell'Impero Britannica dopa }'ultima conferenza imperiale" (The Outlook for the British Empire After the Last Imperial Conference), Nuova Antologia, I 6 September I 927 (LXII, I 3 32), pp. 223-34. Except for the passage within parenthesis in the first long paragraph, this note summarizes the article by the pseudonymous Junius.

2. Gramsci is referring to Lenin's The Right of Nations to Self-Determination ( I 9 I 4 ) and specifically to Section 6 of that text, "Norway's Secession from Sweden. "

§49. Alessandro Mariani

I . See Alessandro Mariani, "Interpretazioni" (Interpretations), Nuova Antologia, I October I 927 (LXII, I 3 3 3 ), pp. 3 20-30.

2. Alessandro Mariani, "Interpretazioni, " pp. 3 2 5 -26.

§ s o. Roberto Cantalupo, "La Nuova Eritrea"

I. The long parenthesis summarizes the contents of the article by Roberto Cantalupo, "La Nuova Eritrea" (The New Eritrea), Nuova Antologia, I October I 927 (LXII, I 3 3 3 ), pp. 3 3 I -45 ·

2 . The reference to Alberto Pollera's book on the Church in Ethiopia is derived from R. Cantalupo, "La Nuova Eritrea, " p. 3 3 9·

§ 5 r. Giovanni Pas coli

I . See Giuseppe Zuppone-Strani, "Lettere inedite di Giovanni Pascali a Luigi Mercatelli" (Unpublished Letters from Pascali to Luigi Mercatelli), Nuova Antologia, I6 October I 927 (LXII, 1 3 3 4), pp. 427-4 1 .

2. This information is extracted from G. Zuppone-Strani, "Lettere inedite di Giovanni Pascali a Luigi Mercatelli, " p. 427.

Luigi Mercatelli (b. I 8 5 3 ) advocated Italian expansionist policies in Africa in his contributions to the Carriere di Napoli before joining La Tribuna. He also founded and edited 11 Secolo illustrato in I 8 87.

Ferdinanda Martini ( I 84 I - I 928) was minister of education ( 1 892- I 893 ) before he was appointed governor of Eritrea in I 897, a post he held until I 9oo. He served as minister of the colonies from I 9 I 4 to I 9 I 6 and became senator in I 92 3 .

3 · Giovanni Pascali's speech, "La grande proletaria s i e mossa" (The Great Proletarian Nation Has Stirred), was first published in La Tribuna, 27 November I 9 1 1 . Gramsci refers to this speech in relation to Enrico Corradini's theories in Notebook 1, § 5 8 .

Notes to the Text. §52

5 5 1

4· Quoted from G. Zuppone-Strani, "Lettere inedite di Giovanni Pascoli a Luigi Mercatelli, " pp. 428-29.

5 · Quoted from G. Zuppone-Strani, "Lettere inedite, " pp. 429-30.

6. Quoted from G. Zuppone-Strani, "Lettere inedite, " p . 4 3 2 .

7 · This information is taken from G . Zuppone-Strani, "Lettere inedite, "

p. 4 3 3 ·

Luigi Luccheni ( I 87 3 - 1 9 10) was the anarchist who assassinated the Empress Elizabeth of Austria in Geneva in 1 898. He later committed suicide in jail. Pascali wrote an ode to him in 1 898, "Nel carcere di Ginevra" (In the Prison of Geneva).

8 . See G. Zuppone-Strani, "Lettere inedite, " p. 43 6 .

9· Quoted from G. Zuppone St

-

rani, "Lettere inedite, " pp. 4 3 8-3 9.

§ 5 2 . Giovanni Pascali

1 . See Giovanni Pascoli, "Allecto (Una pagina inedita del 1 897 ) " (Allecto : An Unpublished Page from 1 89 7 ) in Nuova An tologia, 1 December 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 3 7 ), pp. 273-76. A brief editorial note accompanying the text provides an account of its history:

The article was originally in Donna Rosa Mercatelli's archive. The original is now in the possession of Maria Pascoli. When she gave us permission to publish it, she wrote: "Mercatelli thought that 'Allecto' was too bold for the character of the newspaper (La Tribuna), too compromising for the author, and therefore not publishable. Giovannino was so sorry (as one can also see from the letters to his friend) that he did not have the freedom to express his thought. 'Allecto' was written in 1 897 . "

2. See the preceding note, Notebook 2 , § 5 1 .

3 · See G. Zuppone-Strani, "Lettere inedite di Giovanni Pascali a Luigi Mercatelli, " Nuova Antologia, 1 6 October 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 34), p. 43 8 : I a m deeply moved by the knowledge I now have of the effort made by you and by that dearest spiritual brother . . . by you and the Hon. Galimberti to have me appointed to the colonial school . . . As soon as I read those lines I recognized myself. Yes : that would have been my place. I have no enthusiasm for a university professorship. Why? Because ( to be frank) preparing teachers for secondary school and grammar schools seems to me to be too little. It seems to me like using the steam locomotive to tow only the tender. Instead, to be the inspirer of the Italian character in the heart of our pioneers, the guardians of our milestones-what a great thing that would have been! Certainly, Italy's greatest fault is that it does not want to give its men their proper assignments, that it turns a reprehensible person into a king, and vice versa.

5 5 2

NOTES : NOTEBOOK 2 ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 3 )

4 · See Gabriele D'Annunzio, Per l'Italia degli ltaliani (Milan: Bottega di Poesia, 1 92 3 ) . Gramsci had a copy of this book in prison; he makes a note of it in the manuscript of this notebook (p. 1 6 5 ) - see "Description of the Manuscript."

§ 5 3 . Giovanni Gena

r . Giovanni Cena ( 1 870- I 9 I 7 ), a poet and novelist, helped establish seventy schools in an effort to improve the plight of the destitute and backward rural population. His sympathy for the underprivileged classes is evident in his novel Gli ammonitori ( 1 904) in which the dignity of the oppressed in their poverty serves as an "admonition" to those who enjoy positions of power and high social status. As Gramsci points out, Cena was Arturo Graf 's student (at the University of Turin) and he became editor of Nuova Antologia.

2 . See Notebook 2, §47.

3 · Arturo Graf ( 1 848- 1 9 1 3 ) became a professor of Italian literature at the University of Turin in 1 882. He exercised considerable influence among the cultural circles of Piedmont in the late nineteenth century. He helped establish the Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana which he edited for several years. On Gra( see also Notebook 3, §8 5 .

4· All the information contained in the note up to this point is extracted from a feature entitled "Nel X anniversario della morte di Giovanni Cena" (On the Tenth Anniversary of Giovanni Cena's Death) in Nuova Antologia, I 6 December I 927 (LXII, I 3 3 8 ), pp. 43 8-5 6. The feature consists of two articles: Maggiorino Ferraris, "Ricordi" (Memories), pp.

43 8-42; Felicina Sacchetti-Parvis, "La vita e l'opera" (Life and Works), pp.

443 - 5 6.

Giulio de Frenzi is a pseudonym used by Luigi Federzoni. The reference is to Federzoni's book of literary profiles, Candidati all'Immortalita (Bologna, I 904).

5 · In fact, the article was published in I 9 I O; see Giovanni Cena, "Che fare? " (What To Do? ) in La Voce, 7 July I 9 IO (II, 30).

On Giovanni Cena, see also Notebook 3, § 8 5 and §93, and Notebook 6,

§42.

§ 5 4. "Olii, petrolii e benzine"

I. See Manfredi Gravina, "Olii, petrolii e benzine" (Oil, Kerosene and Gasoline) in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 December 1 927 ( LXII, I 3 3 8 ), pp. s oo-1 2 and 1 January 1 928 ( LXIII, I 3 3 9), pp. 5 9-7 1 . The information and bibliographical data recorded in this note are extracted from the first part of the article; see especially pp. 5 02-7.

Notes to the Text. §56

5 5 3

§ 5 5 . Emphyteusis

1 . All the information in this note is extracted from an issue of the parliamentary acts of the senate. See A tti Parlamentari. Senato, 28th Legislature, r st Session, 1 2 June 1 929, pp. 605 -607, which documents a discussion on a law proposed by senators Marcello Amero d'Aste, Raffaele Garofalo, Gesualdo Libertini, and Gerolamo Marcello: "Modification of article 10 of the law of 1 1 June 1 92 5 , no. 998, on the reform of provisions for the enfranchisement of rents, annuities and other perpetual leases. "

The first paragraph of Gramsci's note i s drawn from the intervention of senator Garofalo in support of the proposed law. The second paragraph draws on points made by senator Valenziani in his intervention opposing the proposed law. The issue of the A tti Parlamentari used in this note must have been part of a bundle of Atti Parlamentari Gramsci received in November 1 92 9-see Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, 1 8 November 1 929.

§ 5 6 . Massimo D 'Azeglio

1 . See Marcus De Rubris, "Genesi e vicende del prima scritto politico di Massimo d'Azeglio" (The Origins and History of Massimo D'Azeglio's First Political Writing) published in two parts in Nuova Antologia, 1 6

January 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 1 6 ), pp. 1 87-204 and 1 February 1 927 (LXII, 1 3 1 7 ), pp. 293-3 1 3 ; "L'amicizia tra d'Azeglio e Vieusseux" (D'Azeglio's Friendship With Vieusseux), Nuova Antologia, 1 6 May 1 928 (LXIII, 1 348), pp.

202- 1 6 ; and "Un nostro ex-prima ministro pittore a Londra" (A Former Italian Prime Minister- Painter in London) published in two parts in Nuova Antologia, 1 August 1 929 (LXIV, 1 3 7 7 ), pp. 293-3 1 0 and 16 August 1 929 (LXIV, 1 3 7 8 ), pp. 424-38. The appellation of D'Azeglio as "herald of great events" is used by Marcus De Rubris in the title of his book L'Araldo della vigilia. Dai casi della Romagna ai lutti della Lombardia (Turin: Sten, 1 929) which is cited by M. De Rubris himself in his article "La data di una storica udienza" (The Day of a Historic Audience) in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 November 1 929 (LXIV, 1 3 84), pp. 268-69. D'Azeglio is called the

"knight of the national passion" in the title of another book by M. De Rubris, I1 Cavaliere della passione nazionale (Bologna: Cappelli, 1 930)this book was reviewed by Ersilio Michel in L 'Italia che Scrive, December 1 930 (XIII, 1 2 ), p. 3 82.

2. See Matteo Mazziotti, "La spedizione garibaldina del 'Utile' " (Garibaldi's 'Utile' Expedition), Nuova Antologia, I March 1 928 ( LXIII, 1 34 3 ), p. 32; Alessandro Luzio, "11 milione di fucili e la spedizione dei Mille" (The Million Rifles and the Expedition of the Thousand) in La Lettura, April 1 9 1 0, p. 2 1 3 ; and Giuseppe Garibaldi, Memorie (Bologna: Cappelli, 1 9 32).

5 5 4

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 3 )

§ 5 7 . Bias against cities

r . See the book on eighteenth-century politics by Antonello Gerbi, La politica del Settecento. Storia di un 'idea (Bari : Laterza, 1 928). Gramsci owned a copy of this book in prison. ! See Gramsci's letters to Tatiana Schucht, 1 7 December 1 92 8 and 1 4 January 1 92 9 . ) In his book (p. r 82 ) Gerbi refers t o Henry Ford a s a n example o f the "humanitarian, democratic and rationalistic ideology which seems to be the only ideology accessible to the scarcely speculative intellects of statesmen and men of action." Gerbi alludes to Engels in a note (p. 289) where he refers to a passing observation made by Benedetto Croce in La Rivoluzione napoletana del I799. 4th ed. !Bari: Laterza, 1 926), p. r oo, note r . Croce conflates the views expressed by Engels in the Anti-Diihring on the contrast between the city and the country with the opinions of Vincenzo Russo ( r no- 1 799), who argued against the big cities while eulogizing rural life.

Antonello Gerbi ( 1 909- 1 97 6 ) also wrote another important book on the politics of romanticism, La politica del Romanticismo ( 1 932). He was in charge of the research office of the Banca Commerciale Italiana. He went into exile in South America after the promulgation of the anti-Jewish laws in 1 9 3 8 .

2 . Gramsci quotes Spengler's description of large cities from a n article by Manfredi Gravina, "Pro e contra lo Stato unitario in Germania" !For and Against a Unified German State) in Nuova Antologia, r March 1 928

!LXIII, 1 343 ), pp. 7 3-79; see especially p. 7 5 ·

§ 5 8 . On fashion

1 . See Bruno De Pol, "Formazione e organizzazione della moda" (Creation and Organization of Fashion), Nuova Antologia, r 6 March 1 928 !LXIII, 1 344), pp. 238-5 6 .

§ 5 9 . Tittoni

r . The book by Tommaso Tittoni, Quistioni del giorno !Milan: Treves, 1 9 2 8 ) with a preface by Mussolini is discussed by Benedetto Migliore in the "Notizie e commenti" !News and Comments) section of Nuova Antologia, 1 6 March 1 9 2 8 (LXIII, 1 3 44), pp. 26 1 - 6 3 in which the text of Mussolini's preface is reproduced in its entirety.

2. See Georges Louis, Les Garnets, Vol. r : rgo8-rgu, Vol. 2 : rgu

I9 I l (Paris : Rieder, 1 92 7 ) . Those views of foreign diplomats on Tittoni which Louis records in his book are not generally favorable. Gramsci had a copy of G. Louis' Garnets both before his arrest in Rome and later on when he was in prison; see Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, 2 5 March

Notes to the Text. §59

5 5 5

I 929. The same book is included in the list of titles "to hand over to Tatiana on I 3 March I 930" in the manuscript of Notebook I (p. 9 5 r. )see "Description of the Manuscript. "

3 · George Louis' Les Garnets contains many references t o the relations between Tittoni, the Italian ambassador in Paris, and Aleksandr lsvolsky, the Russian ambassador in the French capital.

4· Gramsci is referring to a work edited by Rene Marchand, Un Livre Nair. Diplomatie d'avan t-guerre et de guerre d'apres les documents des archives russes (Paris, 1 9 27 ).

5 · See Veracissimus, "Per la verita storica" (For the Historical Truth) published in two parts in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 March I 928 (LXIII, 1 344), pp. 1 87-98 and I April 1 928 (LXIII, I 345 ), pp. 3 5 5 -69. Tommaso Tittoni wrote under the pseudonym Veracissimus.

6. See Alberto Lumbroso, Le origini economiche e diplomatiche della guerra mondiale. Vol. 2 : L 'imperialismo britannica dagli albori dell' ottocen to allo scoppio della guerra (Milan: Mondadori, 1 92 8 ), pp. 370-7 1 .

Gramsci had a copy of this book (which contains many allusions to Tittoni) in prison.

7 . Gramsci is referring to the views of a Russian diplomat on Tittoni which are quoted by G. Louis in Les Garnets (I, 245 ): "Il est intelligent, mai il n'a aucun doigte. J'attribue cela a un manque de culture premiere.

11 est le fils d'un ce qu'on appelle en Italie un 'mercante di campagna. ' "

8. In 1 928 Count Gaetano Manzoni was the Italian ambassador in Paris. In his article, "Per la verita storica, " Tittoni states that when he himself was ambassador in France, his personal relationship with the Russian ambassador lsvolsky was facilitated by the fact that the two embassies were next to each other. He then goes on to say: "As to the extent that Count Manzoni's stay in Moscow may have, consciously or unconsciously, made him (now that he is the Italian ambassador in Paris) used to or rendered him less sensitive to certain contacts-we do not believe that he fully appreciates the fact that our embassy is situated next to the Soviet one or that he tries to take advantage of it. " (See Veracissimus, "Per la verita storica, " p. 3 5 7 ).

9. The incident to which Gramsci refers, in fact, occurred in 1 9 2 3 .

During a discussion o n electoral reform that took place i n the Senate on I 3 November I 923, Senator Gatti made a speech in which he incidentally mentioned Lenin. This provoked some muttering in the Senate chamber and Tittoni, as president of the Senate, interrupted the speaker with the remark: "The Senate expresses its contempt for the name you have uttered. " In the official transcript of the session, Tittoni's words were omitted, a fact that was acknowledged by the Italian government in its response to a protest lodged by the Russian embassy in Italy. The episode was reported in two issues of Lo Stato Operaio, 22 and 29 November I 923

s s 6

N O T E S : N O TE B O O K 2 ( I 9 2 9 - I 9 3 3 ) (I, I 3 and I4). See also the reports in Avanti! between I 4 and 2 3 November 1 92 3 .

1 0 . Tommaso Tittoni, who had been made prefect of Perugia i n 1 898, was transferred to the prefecture of Naples in I 900 where he remained until I 907 when he was named foreign minister by Premier Giovanni Giolitti.

§6o. On Emanuele Filiberto

1 . See Pietro Egidi, "Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia- Nel IV Centenario della nascita di Emanuele Filiberto" (Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy-On the Fourth Centenary of Emanuele Filiberto's Birth), Nuova Antologia, I 6

April 1 928 (LXIII, 1 346), pp. 409-3 1 .

Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Savoy ( I p8-I s 8o), succeeded his father, Charles III, at a time when the Kingdom of Savoy was in total disarraymost of its lands had been absorbed by France and Spain, which were at war, and by Switzerland. He distinguished himself in military campaigns on behalf of the Emperor Charles V (who was related to Emanuele Filiberto's mother by marriage). The duchy was partially restored following the Peace of Cateau-Cambresis ( 1 5 5 9 ) between Spain and the French. Emanuele Filiberto proved himself a masterful diplomat and managed to enlarge his territory by acquiring several former possessions. Once recovery of Geneva proved impossible, he moved his capital to Turin in I 5 63 . An exceedingly capable administrator, he also restored the economic wellbeing of Savoy and Piedmont through the development of commerce and industry.

Pietro Egidi ( 1 872- I 92 9 ), a historian, became editor of Rivista Storica Italiana in 1 92 3 . He had a special interest in the history of Piedmont during the period of the war between Charles V and the French. He was the author of many books including one on Emanuele Filiberto which he published in 1 92 8 .

§ 6 1. Counter-Reformation

1 . See Guido Chialvo, "II consiglio di Stato nelle istruzioni inedite di Emanuele Filiberto: Nel IV Centenario della nascita di Emanuele Filiberto" (The State Council in the Unpublished Instructions of Emanuele Filiberto: On the IV Centenary of Emanuele Filiberto's Birth), Nuova Antologia, I 6 April I 928 (LXIII, I 346), p. 4 5 1 .

Pierino Belli ( I s 02- 1 s 7 s ) held high positions in the courts of Charles V

and Philip II before becoming Emanuele Filiberto's chancellor in I s 6o. He was an expert in military administration and a jurist and he contributed significantly to the rebuilding of the Savoy duchy.

Notes to the Text. § 62

5 5 7

§62. Joseph De Maistre

I . See Niccolo Rodolico, "Guelfismo e nazionalismo di Giuseppe de Maistre" (The Guelphism and Nationalism of Joseph De Maistre), Nuova An tologia, I 6 April I 928 (LXIII, I 346), pp. 506- I 5 . This article cites the book by G. De Maistre, I1 Papa, trans. T. Casini (Florence: Libreria Editrice Fiorentina, I 92 7 ) - for an English trans. see J.M. Maistre, The Pope: Considered in his Relations with the Church. Temporal Sovereignities, Separated Churches and the Cause of Civilization, trans. A. Me D. Dawson (London: Dolman, I 8 5o).

Niccolo Rodolico ( I 8 7 3 - I 9 6 9 ) was a prominent historian whose work reveals a special interest in social issues. His early work focuses on the medieval communes in Italy, particularly Florence. Subsequently he wrote on sixteenth-century religious history (particularly Jansenism) and the Risorgimento.

·

On Joseph De Maistre, see Notebook I, § ? I (note).

2. See Niccolo Rodolico, "Guelfismo e nazionalismo di Giuseppe de Maistre, " p. 506.

3 · Gramsci had a copy of Pius IX's Syllabus published by the Libreria Editrice Fiorentina and refers to it in Notebook I, § 1 .

4 · Count Clemente Solaro della Margarita ( 1 792- I 869), a leading reactionary politician, was King Charles Albert's minister from I 8 3 5 to I 847.

Although he supported national independence, della Margarita was a strict monarchist and a firm believer in the need for religious discipline. In I 8 5 I he published the Memorandum storico-politico, affirming his conservative views and justifying his actions during his years in government. On the re-publication of Memorandum storico-politico (Turin: Bocca, I 9 30), see Notebook 6, § 1 76.

5 . Gramsci is referring to a discussion on an electoral reform bill which took place in the Senate on 1 2 May I 928. Speaking against the bill, Senator Ruffini invoked the Statute, that is the constitution granted by King Charles Albert in I 848 which guaranteed parliamentary government.

Mussolini intervened in the debate and stated that the transcripts of the meetings of Charles Albert's counsellors preparing the statute showed that "the present position of Senator Ruffini, for example, is identical to that which had been upheld by the Han. Marquis Solaro della Margaritathat is, a distinctly reactionary position." A part of Mussolini's speech, including his references to Senator Ruffini and Solaro della Margarita, was published in Critica Fascista, I 5 May I 928 (VI, I o ) p. I 94-most probably this is Gramsci's source in this instance.

6. See Vincenzo Gioberti, Del Primato morale e civile degli ltaliani ( I 842-4 3 ) .

7 . The book b y J. Mandoul, Un Homme d'etat italien. foseph De

s s s

N O T E S : N O TE B O O K 2. ! 1 9 2.9 - 1 9 3 3 ) Maistre e t la politique de la Maison de Savoie !Paris : Alcan, 1 900) is mentioned in the article by Niccolo Rodolico, "Guelfismo e nazionalismo di Giuseppe de Maistre, " p. s oB, note 4·

§ 6 3 . Italy and Egypt

1 . See Romolo Tritonj, "Le Capitolazioni e l'Egitto" !The Capitulations and Egypt), Nuova Antologia, 1 6 April 1 92.8 (LXIII, 1 346), pp. 489-sos .

The Capitulations consisted in a system of concessions and privileges established under Ottoman rule. In Egypt, the Capitulations exempted European residents from taxes and ensured that they were only subject to their own courts.

2. . See Romolo Tritonj, E giunto il momen to di abolire le Capitolazioni in Turchia/ !Rome, 1 9 1 6 ) which deals with the question of whether the Capitulations should be abolished in Turkey.

3 · When Egypt gained its independence (2.8 February 1 92.2.), which theoretically brought the British protectorate to an end, it was agreed that the British government would still hold discretionary power over four areas: defence, security of imperial communications, protection of foreign interests, and Sudan.

§ 64. R. Garofalo, "Criminalita e amnistia in ltalia"

1 . See Raffaele Garofalo, "Criminalita e amnistia in Italia" ! Criminality and Amnesty in Italy), Nuova Antologia, 1 May 1 928 ILXIII, 1 347 ), pp.

49-6 1 . In this article, the senator Raffaele Garofalo expresses his opposition to the granting of amnesties especially to those who were serving terms for breaking laws regulating political propaganda. He writes IPP· 60-6 1 ) : There exists, in our time, a new kind of political crime which seeks to upset the very foundations of society by means of expropriations and the destruction of the so-called bourgeois and intellectual classes with the goal of bringing about an artificial and radical economic transformation of society. This crime is the propaganda of integral communism which the devotees of liberal theory pay the honor of considering a political party thus giving it access to the legislative chambers. This was the great mistake of the democracies of neo-Latin countries, a mistake which could prove fatal to European civilization. [ . . . ] This propaganda is really and truly the political crime of our era. Not tolerating it is the condition of life of society. And this cannot be achieved by means of impunity. The primary means for disarming the propagandists is to persuade them of the certainty, the inevitability of punishment and of the uselessness of hoping for pardon. If, however, the punishments amount

Notes to the Text. § 67

5 5 9

to no more than minor obstacles which could easily be surmounted, they will no longer be feared by anyone. And this occurs when the placard inscribed "Amnesty" is omnipresent and carried by everyone.

Gramsci makes another reference to this article by Raffaele Garofalo in Notebook 5 , § 1 24.

§6 5 . Claudio Faina, "Foreste, combustibili e carburante nazionale"

I . See Claudio Faina, "Foreste, combustibili e carburante nazionale"

( Forests, Fuels, and National Gasoline), Nuova Antologia, I May I 92 8

(LXIII, I 3 47 l, pp. 82-106.

§66. The agrarian question

1 . See Nello Toscanelli, "11 latifondo" (The Landed Estate), Nuova An tologia, I 6 May 1 928 (LXIII, I 3 48 ), pp. 247-6 1 . The passage quoted by Gramsci (in which he inserts exclamations and question marks) is on p.

247·

2. See Giuseppe Tanari "Lettera al Direttore" ( "Letter to the Editor), Nuova An tologia, I June I 9 28 (LXIII, I 349L pp. 402-3 . Most of the parenthetical remarks in the quoted passage are inserted by Gramsci.

3· For the polemic between Tanari and Bassini in 1 9 I 7, see Giuseppe Tanari, "La terra ai contadini? " (The Land to the Peasants? ), Il Resto del Carlino, 22 April 1 9 I 7 ; Edoardo Bassini, "La terra ai contadini ? Lettera aperta al senatore Tanari" (The Land to the Peasants ? An Open Letter to Senator Tanaril, Il Resto del Carlino, 4 May 1 9 I 7; Giuseppe Tanari, "La terra ai contadini ? Replica del sen. Tanari al sen. Bassini" (The Land to the Peasants ? Senator Tanari's Response to Senator Bassini), Il Resto del Carlino, 7 May 1 9 I 7 . The polemic was reprinted almost in its entirety by the Milan paper La Perseveranza in its issues of 2 3 April, 6 May and 8

May I 9 1 7 · Gramsci's memory is not exact- the polemic did not take place in late I 9 I 7 and early 1 9 1 8 as he believes, but a few months earlier; still, this makes no difference to his argument.

4· See Notebook I, §44.

§67. Nicola Zingarelli, "Le idee politiche del Petrarca"

I . See Nicola Zingarelli, "Le idee politiche del Petrarca" (Petrarch's Political Ideas), Nuova Antologia, 1 6 June 1 928 (LXIII, 1 3 5 0), pp. 409-24.

Nicole Zingarelli ( r 860- 1 9 3 5 ), a professor of literature, wrote extensively and primarily on Dante.

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 2 9 - 1 9 3 3 )

§ 6 8 . E . D e Cillis, "Gli aspetti e l e soluzioni del problema della colonizzazione agraria in Tripolitania"

1. See Emanuele De Cillis, "Gli aspetti e le soluzioni del problema della colonizzazione agraria in Tripolitania" (The Aspects and Solutions of the Problem of Agrarian Colonization in Tripolitania), Nuova Antologia, 1 July 1 928 (LXIII, 1 3 5 1 ), pp. 1 0 5 - 1 5 .

§ 6 9 . H . Nelson Gay, "Mazzini e Antonio Gallenga . . .

"

1 . See H. Nelson Gay, "Mazzini e Antonio Gallenga apostoli dell

'Indipendenza italiana in Inghilterra (con nove lettere inedite di Mazzini)"

(Mazzini and Antonio Gallenga, Apostles of Italian Independence in England-With Nine Unpublished Letters by Mazzini), Nuova Antologia, 1 6

July 1 928 (LXIII, 1 3 5 2 ), pp. 206-22.

2. The Bandiera brothers-Attilio ( 1 8 1 o- 1 844) and Emilio ( 1 8 1 9- 1 844)formed a secret society in I 84 I in order to struggle for the liberation of Italy from foreign rule. In the belief that they could instigate a popular uprising, they landed in Calabria with twenty co-conspirators in June 1 844. The Neapolitan government had advance knowledge of the expedition and it was generally supposed that a member of their group, Pietro Boccheciampe, had betrayed them. They were captured, tried and executed a month later. There is overwhelming evidence to support the thesis that the English had discovered the plot by intercepting the Bandieras'

letters to Mazzini and passed on the information directly or indirectly to the Neapolitan government. (Lord Aberdeen was British foreign minister at the time.)

3 · The quotation is taken from H. Nelson Gay, "Mazzini e Antonio Gallenga, " p. 2 I 6.

§70. The French Revolution and the Risorgimento 1 . See Decio Cortesi, "Rome centotrent' anni fa" ( Rome: One Hundred Thirty Years Ago), Nuova Antologia, I 6 July 1 928 (LXIII, 1 3 5 2 ), pp. 223-37. The quoted passage is on p. 236. The parentheses are Gramsci's.

§7 I . On the national budgets

1 . Most probably Gramsci read the text of senator Federico Ricci's speech, which he summarizes in this note, in A tti Parlamentari. Senato, XXVIII Legislature, 1 st Session, 1 6 December 1 929, pp. 1 694-98. In a letter to Tatiana Schucht, 1 8 November 1 929, Gramsci mentions that he received two bundles of parliamentary Acts and asks that the order for

Notes to the Text. § 74

s 6 x

these publications be discontinued; however, i t i s quite likely that he received some additional issues.

§ 7 3 . Action Fran�aise and the Vatican

I . All the bibliographic data in this note are extracted from the review

"Bibliographie politique" by Emile Laloy in Mercure de France, I May I 928 (XXXIX, 7 1 7), vol. CCIII, pp. 744-5 2; see especially pp. 7 5 0-5 1 . The parenthetical notes and comments are translated almost literally from E.

Laloy's text.

This note ends half way down page 9 8 of the manuscript. The rest of the page as well as pp. 99- I OO are left blank.

§7 4· Sundry bibliography

x . See Pierre Lasserre, Georges Sorel theoricien de l'imperialisme. Ses idees. Son action. ( Paris : L'Artisan du Livres, I 9281. Gramsci had a copy of this book in prison. Lasserre discusses Sorel's relations with the "cercle Proudhon" in Chapter I, section 6; see especially p. so: Un antidemocrate de gauche, queUe fortune et quel argument pour les anti-democrates d'extreme droite ! Des jeunes gens de la nouvelle ecole royaliste, qui voulait qu'on h1t royaliste, non plus par mysticisme et par tradition, mais par positivisme et par raison, tendirent les mains a Sorel.

La conjonction ne se fit pas, ainsi qu'il arrive si souvent en politique, au seul nom d'une passion, d'une inimitie commune, et sans souci des principes. Elle chercha sa base dans une commune doctrine et prit pour patron Proudhon, maitre venere de Sorel a cote de Marx et de Nietzsche, et dont les idees parurent a des jeunes gens pleines d'optimisme et d'audace, se preter a quelque arrangement avec les leurs. Les vents qui disperserent promptement le Cercle Proudhon, fonde sous la presidence morale de Georges Sorel, et qui precederent de peu la tempete de la guerre, empecherent ce groupe d'elaborer la doctrine desiree. Cependant l'historien qui racontera les vicissitudes de !'esprit public en France a la veille de la guerre n'en devra pas negliger l'etude.

2. In Georges Sorel's correspondence with Croce- "Lettere di Georges Sorel a B. Croce" published in La Critica between 20 January I 927 (XXV, x l and 20 May 1 930 (XXVIII, 3 1 -there is no specific reference to the

"Cercle Proudhon" (founded in December I 9 I I I or to the Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon. However, in some of the letters he wrote between 1 909

and 1 9 1 2, Sorel mentions his collaboration with some elements of the Action Franr;aise.

3· The first four items in this bibliographic list are taken from the

N O T E S : N O TE B O O K 2 ( I 9 29- I 9 3 3 ) article (used in the previous note) by Emile Laloy, "Bibliographie politique" in Mercure de France, I May I 928 (XXXIX, 7 1 7 ) .

4· The reference t o E. Champion's article i s extracted from a column by Jean Catel, "Lettres Anglo-Americaines" in Mercure de France, I May I 928 (XXXIX, 7 1 7); see especially pp. 7 4 I -42 .

5 . See Ottavio Cina, La Commedia Socialista ( Rome: Bernardo Lux, I 9 I 4 ) . Ottavio Cina is the pseudonym of Tito Canovai. Gramsci may have obtained a copy of this book from the prison library or from some other prisoner. The book by Yves Guyot, La Comedie Socialiste ( Paris: Charpentier, I 897) is cited in an article (used by Gramsci for his next note) by Roberto Michels, "Le Partis politiques et la contrainte sociale" in Mercure de France, I May I 928 (XXXIX, ? I ? ), pp. 5 I 3-3 5 ·

6 . See Benedetto Croce, Storia d'Italia dal 1 871 al 1915, 3 d ed. (Bari: Laterza, I 928), p. 3 44·

7 . This note ends on p. I 02 of the manuscript. Pages I 0 3 - I 04 are left blank.

§7 5 . R. Michels, "Le Partis politiques et la contrainte sociale"

I. See Roberto Michels, "Le Partis politiques et la contrainte sociale"

in Mercure de France, I May I 928 (XXXIX, 7 1 7 ), pp. 5 I 3-3 5 · The references which follow to Max Weber's work and to other works cited in parenthesis are extracted from the footnotes in Michels' article. The note itself is simultaneously a summary of and a commentary on Michels'

article.

2. See Roberto Michels, . Corso di sociologia politica (Milan : Istituto Editoriale Scientifico, I 927). For an English trans., see Robert Michels, First Lectures in Political Sociology, trans. and introd. A. De Grazia (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, I 949). See also Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, 9 January I 92 8 : "Michels' Corso di sociologia politica is of special interest to me because it must contain the text of the first series of lectures held at the University of Rome by the Chair of Political Science which was recently established and inaugurated by Michels himself. I have already read the other lecture series on the science of administration which, however, was not very interesting-it had to do with

'technical' presentations made by high government officials, each on his own ministry."

3 · See Roberto Michels, Il partito politico. Le tendenze oligarchiche della democrazia italiana (Turin: Utet, I 924). Gramsci owned a copy of this book in Rome, prior to his arrest. He requested it when he was in prison at Turi, but it seems that the book was lost. See Gramsci's letters to Tatiana Schucht, 2 5 March 1 929, 26 August 1 929, 1 8 November 1 929.

Gramsci also owned a copy of an earlier French edition of the same work

Notes to the Text. § 76

which has been found among his books; see Roberto Michels, Les Partis politiques. Essai sur les tendances oligarchiques des democraties (Paris: Flammarion, 1 9 1 9 ). For an English trans., see Robert Michels, Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy, trans. E. Paul and C. Paul (New York: Hearst International Library, I 9 I 9 ).

4· Jean Jaures ( I 8 S 9- I 9 I 4), who was elected several times to the French parliament, boldly opposed institutional interests during the Dreyfus affair and stood against colonial ventures. He gained popular support for his reformist socialism and became increasingly radical as his pacifist views led him to campaign against militarism and war. In I 904 he founded the Humanite which he edited until he was assassinated.

August Friedrich Bebel ( I 840- I 9 I 3 ) was active in the First International and in workers' movements before his election to parliament in northern Germany as a democratic radical in I 867. A founding member of the Marxist Social Democratic Party in I 8 69, he later supported the merger of his party with the Lassalleans at the Gotha congress of I 87 S ·

S · Gustave Herve ( I 87 I - I 944), a political activist and propagandist, had close ties with the French branch of the Workers International. A vociferous opponent of militarism and war-which even led him to oppose Juares's less instransigent positions-he subsequently shifted to a patriotic position on the eve of World War I.

6. In this instance and throughout the remaining paragraphs of the note, Gramsci writes "carismatico" instead of "charismatico" as he did in preceding sections of the note. Furthermore, the ink and calligraphy are somewhat different from this point on. It appears that the composition of this paragraph was interrupted and resumed some time later.

7. Pasquale Stanislao Mancini ( I 87 I - I 88 8 ), a legal scholar and professor, served as foreign minister under Agostino Depretis from I 88 I to I 88 s .

He wrote many books on legal theory and international law.

8. See Roberto Michels, Storia critica del movimento socialista italiano dagli inizi fino al I9 I I ( Florence: La Voce, I 926).

9· See "Lettere di Georges Sorel a Roberto Michels, " Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economia e Politica, September-October 1 929 (II, s ), pp. 288-94.

I O. Gramsci may be referring to his entry in Notebook 7, § 64.

I 1. See "Lettere di Georges Sorel a Roberto Michels, " p. 290.

I 2 . See "Lettere di Georges Sorel a Roberto Michels, " p. 290, note 1 .

§ 7 6 . Officers on furlough

I . Gramsci read Senator Gesualdo Libertini's speech in a batch of Acts of Parliament he had received in November I 929. See Atti Parlamentari.

Senato, XXVIII Legislature, 1 st Session, 1 0 June 1 9 29, pp. 5 30-34.

NOTES : NOTEB O O K 2 ( I 92 9- I 9 3 3 )

2 . General Pietro Gazzera's speech in parliament and the figures he mentioned are cited in Senator Libertini's speech which is Gramsci's immediate source for this note.

3· Gramsci's memory is incorrect: the article to which he is referring was not written by Carlo Curcio but by Carlo Giglio, "Coscienza e cultura coloniale" (Colonial Consciousness and Culture) in Critica Fascista, I August I 9 30 (VIII, I S ), pp. 294-9 5 , which provides data on the activity of the Fascist Colonial Institute.

Carlo Curcio jb. I 8 9 8 ) was a journalist until the middle of the I 930s when he became a professor of the history of political theory on which he wrote several books.

§ 7 9 . Italian peasan ts

1. The information in this note, including the reference to Luigi Messedaglia's book on the role of corn in Italian agrarian life, is derived from an article by G. Quintarelli, "Le classi rurali italiane" (The Italian Rural Classes) in Nuova Antologia, I February I 928 (LXIII, I 3 4 I ), pp. 402-3 .

Gramsci also had first hand knowledge of the book by Stefano Jacini, L 'inchiesta agraria. (Proemio. Relazione finale. Conclusioni dell'in chiesta sulla Lombardi a. In terpellanza al Senato. ), in trod. Francesco Coletti jPiacenza: Federazione italiana dei Consorzi agrari, I 926). Gramsci had a copy of Jacini's book (containing the text of an official report on Italian agriculture) in prison; see Gramsci's letter to Tatiana Schucht, 2 3

May I 927. O n Stefano Jacini, see also Notebook 2 , §22.

§So. On Italian emigration

I . See Luigi Villari, "L'emigrazione italiana vista dagli stranieri" (Foreign Views on Italian Emigration), Nuova Antologia, I 6 February I 928

(LXIII, I 3 42 ), pp. 475 -84.

§8 r. Volun teers in the Risorgimento

I . See Angelo Flavia Guidi, "L'archivio inedito di Paolo Fambri" (The Unpublished Papers of Paolo Fambri), Nuova Antologia, I August I 928

(LXIII, I 3 S J ), pp. 3 30-5 1 . This is the third part of a long article and it contains jpp. 3 3 9-40) the text of the letter by General Carlo di Robilant to which Gramsci refers.

Paolo Fambri j i 827- I 89 7 ), who was trained as an engineer, fought with the volunteers of Lombardy in I 848 against the Austrian army from which he had deserted. He later escaped to Piedmont and once again joined the volunteer army. He left the military in I 864 because of disagreements

Notes to the Text. §85

with the ministry of war and pursued a political and journalistic career.

He remained interested in military issues, carried out several important engineering projects, and wrote drama.

Carlo di Robilant ( I 826- I 888) distinguished himself in the Piedmont campaigns against the Austrians in 1 848-49. He held several important military appointments before being named ambassador to Austria in I 876

and foreign minister in I 8 8 5 . During the last months of his life he served as the Italian ambassador in London.

2. The negative views expressed by Gerolamo Bonaparte (Plon-plon) on the Italian volunteers are mentioned in Alfredo Panzini's Vita di Cavour which Gramsci read as it appeared in serialized form in L 'Italia Letteraria

- see Alfredo Panzini, "Vita di Cavour" (The Life of Cavour), Chapt.

XXXII in L'Italia Letteraria, 8 September I 929 (I, 2 3 ).

§82. Giolit ti

1 . Spectator, "Giovanni Giolitti, " Nuova Antologia, 1 August 1 928

(LXIII, I 3 5 3 ), pp. 3 6 5 -79. "Spectator" was, indeed, Mario Missiroli's penname. Gramsci refers to this same article in Notebook I, §43 .

§8 3 . Francesco Tommasini, "La Conferenza panamericana dell'Avana"

1. See the two-part article by Francesco Tommasini, "La Conferenza panamericana dell'Avana" (The Pan-American Conference in Havana) in Nuova Antologia, I 6 August I 928 (LXIII, I 3 5 4), pp. 478-84, and I September I 928 (LXIII, I 3 5 5 ), pp. 9 I - I 0 5 .

§84. G.E. d i Palma Castiglione, "L'organizazione internazionale del lavoro . . . "

1 . See G.E. di Palma Castiglione, "L'organizazione internazionale del lavoro e la XI sessione della Conferenza internazionale del lavoro" (The International Labor Organization and the I I th Session of the International Labor Conference), Nuova Antologia, I 6 August I 928 (LXIII, I 3 5 4), pp.

5 04-7·

§8 5 . Daniele Yare, "Pagine di un diario in Estremo Oriente"

1 . Daniele Yare, "Pagine di un diario in Estremo Oriente." ( Pages from a Far Eastern Diary) in Nuova Antologia, I 6 September 1 928 (LXIII, 1 3 5 6 ), pp. 2 1 1-29; I October I 928 (LXIII, I 3 5 7 ), pp. 347-64; I 6 October I 928

(LXIII, I 3 5 8 ), pp. 483-5 04.

5 6 6

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K 2 ( I 9 29- I 9 3 3 )

§ 8 6 . Giuseppe Tucci, "La religiosita dell'India"

1 . Giuseppe Tucci, "La religiosita dell'India" (The Religiosity of India) in Nuova Antologia, I 6 September I 928 (LXIII, I 3 5 6 ), pp. 204- I o.

Giuseppe Tucci ( I 894- I 9 84), a professor of oriental philosophy at the University of Rome, spent many years in the Far East. He taught for five years in Indian universities, traveled extensively in Nepal and undertook several scientific and archaeological expeditions in Tibet, Pakistan and Afghanistan. His voluminous publications in Italian and English include translations of Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese texts. He was made a member of the Italian Academy in I 929.

§87. Oscar di Giamberardino, "Linee generali della Politica marittima dell'Impero britannica"

1 . See Oscar di Giamberardino, "Linee generali della politicamarrittima dell'Impero britannica" (The Main Features of the Naval Policy of the British Empire), Nuova Antologia, 1 6 September 1 928 (LXIII, 1 3 5 6 ), pp. 230- 3 7 ·

§ 8 8 . Ettore Fabietti, "II primo venticiquennio delle Biblioteche popolari milanesi"

I . Ettore Fabietti, "11 primo venticinquennio delle Biblioteche popolari milanesi" (The First Twenty-five Years of Public Libraries in Milan), Nuova An tologia, I October I 928 (LXIII, I 3 5 7 ), pp. 3 80-94.

§89. "I primordi del movimento unitario a Trieste"

I. See Camillo de Franceschi, "I primordi del movimento unitario a Trieste" (The Origins of the Unification Movement in Trieste) in Nuova An tologia, I October I 928 (LXIII, I 3 5 7 ), pp. 3 6 5 -79. See, especially, p.

3 6 6 : "Irredentism-whatever may have been stated to the contrary by the proponents of historical materialism and of class struggle who did not hesitate in their bad faith to define it as an intentional equivocation aimed at dulling the people's sentiment of universal brotherhood-has been the victory of the political ideology of sentiment over utilitarian ideology. "

2. Gramsci derives the titles of the two works by Angelo Vivante from a bibliographic note at the end of the article by Camillo de Franceschi, "I primordi del movimento unitario in Trieste. " However, only one of Vivante's texts-Irredentismo adriatico (Adriatic Irredentism)-was published (in I 9 I 2 ) by the Libreria della Voce in Florence. The publisher of Vivante's other work, Socialismo, Nazionalismo, Irredentismo nelle prov-

Notes to the Text. § 89

incie adriatiche orien tali ( Socialism, Nationalism, Irredentism in the Eastern Adriatic Provinces),which appeared in Trieste in 1 905, is not specified.

3 · See Angelo Vivante, Dal covo dei "traditori. " Note Triestine (Milan: Soc. Ed. A vanti!, 1 9 1 4).

4· See Benito Mussolini, Il Trentino veduto da un socialista. Note e notizie (Florence: Quaderni della Voce, 1 9 u ).

s . Tomaso Monicelli ( 1 88 3 - 1 946) started his journalistic career as the drama critic of Avanti! in 1 904. He edited I1 Viandante, a weekly which was published in Milan between 6 June 1 909 and 29 May 1 9 10. From 1 9 1 8

to 1 920 he helped edit L 'Idea Nazionale and subsequently he was in charge of several important national newspapers.

The young Gramsci read Il Viandante, as he himself indicates in a short piece he wrote in the form of a letter to I1 Grido del Popolo, 4 March 1 9 1 6 . At that time he referred to Monicelli as a "revolutionary. " Not very long afterwards, however, Monicelli embraced nationalism and Gramsci referred to him disdainfully in two articles: "La storia dei cerini" (The Matches Affair) in the "Sotto la Mole" column of Avanti!, 1 5 December 1 9 1 7; and "Maurizio Barres e il nazionalismo sensuale" (Maurice Barres and Sensual Nationalism) which appeared in I1 Grido del Popolo, 2 March 1 9 1 8 and in Avanti!, 1 0 March 1 9 1 8 .

6. Gramsci may be thinking of the pamphlet by Joseph Stalin, Marxism and the National Question, which was first published in 1 9 1 3 . Stalin's text was also reprinted in the Soviet Union in 1 920, in a volume containing several articles by Stalin on the national question. In his pamphlet Stalin criticizes the position taken on the national question by the leading Austrian socialists, particularly Otto Bauer and Karl Renner.

7. Ludo Moritz Hartmann ( 1 8 6 5 - 1 924), a scholar of Italian history who became professor at the University of Vienna in 1 9 1 8, was a member of the Social Democratic Party. He served as Austrian ambassador in Berlin between 1 9 1 9 and 1 9 2 1 and strongly supported the unification of Austria and Germany. Just before Italy's entry in World War I, Hartmann sent an article to Eugenio Rignano in which he argued in favor of an agreement between Austria and Italy. The article was published in L ' Unita, 23 April 1 9 1 5 (IV, 1 7 ), together with a letter by Rignano and a comment by Gaetano Salvemini. A response by Hartmann, followed by a note from Salvemini, appeared in L ' Unita, 14 May 1 9 1 5 (IV, 20). Hartmann's two articles were reprinted in the introduction to the volume mentioned by Gramscisee Ludo M. Hartmann, II Risorgimento. Le basi dell'Italia moderna: r B r s - rg rs, 2d ed. ( Florence : Vallecchi, 1 9 24), pp. u-22.

8 . La Voce devoted two consecutive special issues to the problem of irredentism. The issue of 8 December 1 9 1 0 (II, 5 2) included articles by Scipio Slataper, Angelo Vivante, Ruggero Timeus, and Giuseppe Prezzo-

5 68

N O T E S : N O T E B O O K 2 ( I 9 29 - I 9 3 3 ) lini. The I 5 December I 9 I O (II, 5 3 ) issue carried articles by Scipio Slataper, Giuseppe Antonio Borgese, Alberto Spaini, Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Papini, as well as extracts from the writings of Giuseppe Mazzini, Graziadio lsaia Ascoli and Gaetano Salvemini. These articles generally expressed disapproval of nationalistic irredentism, but favored the protection of the interests of the Italian minorities within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

§90. "La nuova evoluzione dell'Islam"

I . See Michelangelo Guidi and Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, "La nuova evoluzione dell'Islam" (The New Evolution of Islam) in Nuova Antologia, I October I 928 (LXIII, I 3 5 7 ), pp. 324-37.

Michelangelo Guidi ( I 886- I 946 ) was a professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Rome.

§9 1 . Giuseppe Gallavresi, "Ippolito Taine storico della Rivoluzione francese"

I . See Giuseppe Gallavresi, "Ippolito Taine storico della Rivoluzione francese" (Hippolyte Taine: Historian of the French Revolution) in Nuova Antologia, I November I 928 (LXIII, I 3 5 9 ), pp. 2 I -2 5 .

2 . See Pierre-Jean-Georges Cabanis, Rapports du physique et du moral de l'homme (Paris, I 8o2).

3 · G. Gallavresi, "Ippolito Taine storico della Rivoluzione francese, " p.

22.

4· The article by Gallavresi, "Ippolito Taine storico della Rivoluzione francese" refers (pp. 22-23 ) to the works of Alphonse Aulard and Augustin Cochin. See especially Franc;ois Alphonse Aulard, Histoire politique de la Revolution fran�aise, 6th ed. (Paris: Colin, I 92 6 ) which Gramsci mentions in Notebook I, §47.

§92. "I problemi dell' automobilismo al Congresso mondiale di Roma"

1 . See Ugo Ancona, "I problemi dell'automobilismo al Congresso mondiale di Roma" (The Problems of Car Travel at the World Congress in Rome) in Nuova Antologia, I November I 928 ( LXIII, I 3 5 9 ), pp. I 07-9·

2. The term "puricellismo" is derived from the name of the engineer Piero Puricelli who conceived and helped develop modern superhighways.

Notes to the Text. §95

§9 3 . On Americanism

1 . See Robert Michels, "Cenni sulla vita universitaria negli Stati Uniti"

(A Brief Account of University Life in the United States) in Nuova Antologia, 1 November 1 928 (LXIII, 1 3 5 9 ), pp. 87-9 5 .

§94. On state finances

1 . "Alacer, " "Le riforme del Tesoro" (Treasury Reforms) in Nuova An tologia, 1 6 November 1 928 (LXIII, 1 3 60), pp. 242-5 0.

2 . See the article written under the pseudonym Verax by Tommaso Tittoni, "Problemi finanziari" (Financial Problems) in Nuova Antologia, 1 June 1 927 (LXII, 1 32 5 ), pp. 294-3 1 5-Gramsci summarizes this article in Notebook 2, §6.

§ 9 5 . In teresting questions of Italian history and politics 1 . See Delfino Orsi, "11 mistero dei Ricordi diplomatici di Costantino Nigra" (The Mystery of Costantino Nigra's Ricordi diplomatici) in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 November 1 928 (LXIII, 1 3 60), pp. 1 3 7- 5 4.

2. Costantino Nigra ( 1 828- 1 907 ), a diplomat and man of letters, fought as a volunteer in Piedmont's war against Austria in 1 848. Soon after he finished his studies, he worked in the foreign ministry first with D'Azeglio and then with Cavour. He was entrusted with many delicate diplomatic and administrative missions throughout his career and played an especially important role in the complicated and shifting relations between Italy and France. His literary works include several volumes of poetry and translations from the classics as well as studies on the language, folklore and popular poetry of Piedmont.

3· Giuseppe Bianchieri ( 1 82 1 - 1 908 ) was first elected deputy in 1 8 5 3

and sided with the left, opposing many of Cavour's policies. After the unification of Italy he shifted to the right, served as minister of the Navy ( 1 866- 1 867 ) and for many years presided over parliament.

4· In 1 9 1 2, the Ministry of the Interior prohibited Professor Cesare Bollea, a historian, from publishing a collection of documents and correspondence by Cavour, Victor Emmanuel II, Costantino Nigra, Napoleon III, and others, which he had found in the state archive of Turin. The documents covered the years 1 8 5 4-5 6 and it was feared that their publication would tarnish the history of the Risorgimento. On this issue, see also Notebook 3, § 3 8 and Notebook 6, §46.

5. Gramsci discusses the controversy surrounding Federico Confalonieri's "depositions" in Notebook 1, §44.

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N O TE S : N O T E B O O K 2 ( I 9 29 - I 9 3 3 )

§ 9 6 . Alfredo Oriani

1 . See Pietro Zama, "Alfredo Oriani candidate politico" (Alfredo Oriani Political Candidate) in the "Notizie e commenti" (News and Comments) section of Nuova Antologia, I 6 November I 928 (LXIII, I 3 6o), pp.

266-70.

§ 9 7 . Augur, "11 nuovo aspetto dei rapporti tra la Gran Bretagna e gli Stati Uniti d' America"

I . See Augur, "11 nuovo aspetto dei rapporti tra Ia Gran Bretagna e gli Stati Uniti d'America" (The New Aspect of British-U.S. Relations) in Nuova An tologia, I 6 December I 928 (LXIII, 1 3 62), pp. 488-94. For Gramsci's comment on the anonymous "Augur, " see Notebook 2, § 3 2 .

2. See Oscar D i Giamberardino, "La politica marittima degli Stati Uniti d'America" (U.S. Naval Policy) in Nuova Antologia, I 6 December I 928

(LXIII, 1 3 62), pp. 49 5 -5 05 .

§98. Nino Cortese, L 'esercito napoletano e le guerre napoleoniche

1. This bibliographic reference to Cortese's work on the Neapolitan army during the Napoleonic wars is extracted from the book review by Pietro Silva in L 'ltalia che Scrive, May I 928 (XI, 5 ), p. 1 2 5 .

Nino Cortese ( I 896- I 972), a professor of history, wrote many important books on Naples and the Risorgimento.

§99. Giuseppe Brindisi, Giuseppe Salvioli

I . The bibliographical information about Giuseppe Brindisi's book on Giuseppe Salvioli is derived from a review of the book by Adriano Tilgher in L'ltalia che Scrive, September I 928 (XI, 9), p. 2 3 9 .

Giuseppe Salvioli ( I 8 5 7- I 928) was a professor o f the history o f law on which he wrote many important books. One of his most famous works, 11

capitalismo an tico. Storia dell'economia romana (Ancient Capitalism : A History of Roman Economics) appeared for the first time in French in I 906-an Italian edition was published posthumously in I 929.

2 . See Giuseppe Salvioli, 11 capitalismo antico. Storia dell'economia romana, ed. with preface by Giuseppe Brindisi (Bari : Laterza, I 929). Gramsci had a copy of this book in prison and he refers to it also in Notebook 4, §6o. In a letter to his wife Julia Schucht, IO February I 9 30, Gramsci suggests that she propose a Russian translation of Salvioli's book which he describes to her as follows:

Notes to the Text. § roo

5 7 1

Last year a new edition came out of a book which by now belonged to European culture: 11 capitalismo antico. Storia dell'economia romana, 204 pp., in 1 60, Bari : Laterza. The first edition came out in 1 906 in French, a translation from the Italian manuscript, and it was a great success. It was soon translated into German by Karl Kautsky and also, I think, into Russian and other languages. The book opposed a tendency established by Mommsen to characterize every "monetary" economy as

"capitalistic. " (Marx's reproach of this tendency in Mommsen is developed and critically amplified by Salvioli . ) This tendency has now assumed dangerous proportions thanks to the work of Professor Rostovtzev, a Russian historian who teaches in England, and thanks to the work, in Italy, of Professor Barbagallo, a disciple of Guglielmo Ferrero.

Salvioli was a very serious scholar (he died last year while lecturing at the University of Naples) who accepted the theories of historical materialism in the form they have assumed in Italy through the revision of Benedetto Croce, that is, as a practical canon of historical research and not as a total world view. The new Italian edition is a thorough improvement of the earlier one; its scholarship has been updated and it has been shorn of those polemical elements which were topical in 1 906. In short, it is a new book because the author died before putting it in its final form. It requires a translator with a very good knowledge of Italian and who is, therefore, also able to understand the distortions of syntax and the rather clumsy sentences.

A little later in the same letter, Gramsci describes Salvioli's historiography as belonging to "the so-called economic-juridical school which to some extent has revitalized the study of history that is traditionally academic and rhetorical or, at best, purely erudite and philological. "

§ r oo. Pietro Silva, "Bilanci consuntivi : La Storiografia"

1. See Pietro Silva, "Bilanci consuntivi : La Storiografia" (Historiography: A Final Balance) in L 'Italia che Scrive, September 1 928 (XI, 9), pp.

2 2 6 - 2 8 .

Pietro Silva ( 1 887- 1 9 5 4), a professor of history at the University of Rome, wrote mostly on the Risorgimento and on international affairs.

2 . Arrigo Salmi's pamphlet on the basic unity and continuity of Italian history, to which Gramsci alludes, was first published in 1 927 : see Arrigo Salmi, L'unita fondamen tale della storia italiana (Bologna: Zanichelli, 1 927 ). It was later reprinted in a volume containing several lectures by Solmi on Italian history: see Arrigo Solmi, Discorsi sulla storia d'Italia (Florence: Nuova ltalia, 1 9 3 5 ), pp. 1 -46. A copy of this latter volume is preserved among Gramsci's books. It is likely that Gramsci did not have first hand knowledge of Salmi's text when he wrote this note, but he

5 72

N O TE S : N O T E B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 ) probably read i t later when it appeared in the 1 9 3 5 collection of lectures.

Arrigo Solmi ( 1 87 3 - 1 944), a professor of law, was first elected to parliament in 1 924 and later served as undersecretary of education and as justice minister before entering the Senate. His best scholarly works deal with medieval history and the Italian city states.

3· Gramsci's comments are occasioned by the following observations in Pietro Silva's article "Bilanci consuntivi : La Storiografia" (p. 227 ) : "Another issue of great interest and fundamental importance for the construction of Italian history is the one raised by Arrigo Solmi in a work which is short but teeming with ideas: L 'unita fondamentale della storia italiana (Zanichelli). It seeks to trace and to demonstrate an unbroken national continuity from Roman times onward in the history of the peninsula.

Salmi's view is opposed by such powerful figures as Croce and Volpe. "

Gioacchino Volpe ( 1 876- 1 9 7 1 ), a professor of history, was a parliamentary deputy from 1 924 until 1 929 when he became a member of the Italian Academy. His early works on the late Middle Ages revealed a special interest in economic and legal history and were influenced by Marxist thought. After 1 9 1 0, however, his political views veered toward nationalism and later toward fascism. He also redirected his scholarly work and produced several volumes in which he sought to revise Italian history from a fascist viewpoint.

§ 1 0 1 . Albano Sorbelli, Opuscoli, stampa alla macchia, e fogli volan ti . . .

1 . Albano Sorbelli's bibliographic study on political pamphlets and leaflets in Italy between 1 8 3 0 and 1 8 3 5 was reviewed by Ersilio Michel in l'Jtalia che Scrive, October 1 928 (XI, 1 0), p. 263, which is Gramsci's source of information for this note.

§ 1 02 . Giuseppe Ferrari, Corso su gli scrittori politici italiani 1 . The bibliographic information on Giuseppe Ferrari's survey of Italian Political writers is probably derived from an advertisement by the Monanni publishing house in L 'Italia che Scrive, September 1 928 (XI, 9 ), p. 227. According to the advertisement, Ferrari's book was to appear in 1 928 but when it came out its year of publication was indicated as 1 929.

Notes to the Text. § I07

S 7 3

§ r oJ . Adriano Tilgher, "Perche l 'artista scrive o dipinge, o scolpisce, ecc. ! "

1 . See Adriano Tilgher, "Perche l'artista scrive o dipinge o scolpisce, ecc. ? " (Why Does the Artist Write, Paint, Sculpt, etc. ? ) in L 'ltalia che Scrive, February I 929 (XII, 2 ), pp. 3 I -J 2 . In this article Tilgher refers to several writings by Croce, including his review in La Critica, 20 March 1 928 (XXVI, 2 ), pp. 1 1 9-22 of A.E. Powell's The Romantic Theory of Poetry: An Examina tion in the Light of Croce 's Aesthetics (London: Arnold, I 926). Gramsci mentions this article by Tilgher elsewhere in the notebooks; see especially Notebook 3, § I S S ·

§ 1 04. A "Review" of Bonomi's book . . .

1 . See The review of Ivana Bonomi's Leonida Bissolati e il movimento socialista in ltalia (L. Bissolati and the Socialist Movement in Italy) by Giuseppe Andriulli in L 'Italia che Scrive, May I 929 (XII, s ), p. I S 8. Gramsci read Ivanoe Bonomi's book in prison: see Notebook I, § I S ? .

§ r os . Men te e t Malleo

1 . All the information in this note is taken almost word for word from the "Nuovi Periodici" (New Periodicals) section of L 'Italia che Scrive, May I 929 (XII, s ), p. I 68.

§ r o6. Italian Risorgimen to. Italian facobins

I . The information on Rena to Soriga's monograph on "L'idea nazionale e il ceto dei patrioti avanti il maggio I 79 6 " (The National Idea and the Class of 'Patriots' Before May I 79 6 ) which was published in Acts of the 1 4th National Congress on the History of the Italian Risorgimento ( 1 927 ), is extracted from a note in the "Marginalia" section of 11 Marzocco, 9

October 1 927 (XXXII, 4 I ).

§ 1 07. The "Lucky Star of Italy"

1 . The information and the quotation in this note are extracted from

"II pianeta Venere 'stellone' d'Italia" (The Planet Venus: The Lucky Star of Italy) in the "Marginalia" section of 11 Marzocco, s February I 928

(XXXIII, 6).

5 74

NOTES : NOTEBOOK 2 ( 1 9 29- 1 9 3 3 )

§ 1 08 . Popular literature. Edoardo Perino

1 . The source of the information contained in this note is "La fortuna editoriale di Edoardo Perino" (The Publishing Fortunes of Edoardo Perino) in the "Marginalia" section of 11 Marzocco, 5 February I 928 (XXXIII, 6).

The speculation on the year of publication of Giuseppe De Rossi's book is Gramsci's- the book was, in fact, published in 1 928; see Giuseppe De Rossi, Memoriale di Eutichio Tuttibozzi (Milan: Treves, I 928).

§ I 09 . French in tellectuals and their current cosmopolitan role 1 . All the information on Bernard Grasset's book is derived from a review-article by Aldo Sorani, "I 'segreti' di un editore" (The 'Secrets' of a Publisher) in Il Marzocco, 28 April 1 929 (XXXIV, 1 7 ) .

§ u o. Popular culture

I . See Giuseppe S. Gargano, "Poeti popolari siciliani" (Popular Sicilian Poets) in I1 Marzocco, 2 1 July 1 929 (XXXIV, 29) which is the source of all the information contained in this note.

§ I I I . Risorgimen to. The people and the Risorgimen to 1 . Except for the final parenthetical remark, all the information and the quotations in this note (including the lines from Balbi-Valier's poem

"The Venetian Nobles of 1 797 Did Not Betray the Republic) are extracted from "La Serenissima meritava di morire? " (Did His Serene Highness Deserve to Die ? ) in the "Marginalia" section of 11 Marzocco, 30 September I928 (XXXIII, 40).

§I 12. Popular literature. Victor Hugo

1 . See Andre Le Breton, "Victor Hugo chez Louis-Philippe" in Revue des Deux Mondes, I December I 929 (XCIX), pp. 667-80. Gramsci knew of this article from a note in the "Marginalia" section of 11 Marzocco, I 5

December 1 929 (XXXIV, so).

§ 1 1 3 . Risorgimen to. The people and the Risorgimento 1. See Pietro Nurra, "Il diario inedito di un combattente delle 'Cinque Giomate' " (The Unpublished Diary of a Combatant in the "Five Days"), La Lettura, 1 March 1 928 (XXXIII, 3 ), pp. 1 6 1-82. Gramsci obtained the

Notes to the Text. § I I 7

S 7 S

information about this article from a note in the "Marginalia" section of Il Marzocco, I I March I 928 (XXXIII, I I ).

§I I4. Political history and military history

1 . The information in this note is derived from "Gli almogavari d1talia"

(The Italian Almogavares) in the "Marginalia" section of Il Marzocco, 1 0

March 1 929 (XXXIV, 1 0). However, the comparison of the Almogavares with the arditi and the observations in the final paragraph are Gramsci's.

§ u s . On the Risorgimen to and the South

1 . The titles of Marc Monnier's books are obtained from an article by Guido Mazzoni, "Onoranze ginevrine a Marco Monnier fiorentino" (Geneva Honors Marc Monnier of Florence) in Il Marzocco, 24 November 1 929 (XXXIV, 47).

Marc Monnier ( 1 829- 1 88 s ), a poet, critic and professor of literature, although hom in Florence was of Swiss descent and wrote in French. The two books mentioned by Gramsci were also published in Italian. The first deals with the history of brigandage in the Italian South from the time of the bandit known as Fra Diavolo (Brother Devil) up to the time of the book's publication. (Fra Diavolo, whose real name was Michele Pezza was a leader of the uprising against the Parthenopean Republic in 1 799; together with Cardinal Ruffo he helped overthrow the revolutionary government and restore the monarchy. ) The second book mentioned by Gramsci is about the Neapolitan underworld. See Marco Monnier, Notizie storiche documentate nelle province napoletane dai tempi di Fra Diavolo sino ai giorni nostri (Florence: Barbera, 1 862), and La Camorra (Florence: Barbera, 1 862).

§I I 6 . The cosmopolitan role of Italian intellectuals 1 . See Nello Tarchiani, "Un dimenticato interprete di Michelangelo: Emilio Ollivier" (A Forgotten Interpreter of Michelangelo: Emilio Ollivier) in 11 Marzocco, 3 April 1 927 (XXXII, 1 4). Gramsci's emphasis.

§ I I ? . The cosmopolitan role of Italian intellectuals I . See Enrico Rocchi, "Un notevole aspetto delle campagne di Cesare nelle Callie" (A Noteworthy Aspect of Caesar's Campaigns in Gaul) in Nuova An tologia, 1 January 1 929 (LXIV, 1 3 6 3 ), pp. 93-1 10. The passage quoted by Gramsci is at the beginning of the article.

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N O T E S : N O TE B O O K 2 ( I 9 2 9 - I 9 3 3 )

§ 1 1 8 . On the Anschluss

1 . This note is occasioned by an article by Roberto Cantalupo, "L' Anschluss" in Nuova Antologia, I January I 929 (LXIV, I 3 6 3 ), pp. 78-92.

§ 1 1 9 . The a ttempt at a Franciscan religious reform 1 . See Vittorio Marvasi, "Frate Salimbene da Parma e la sua Cronaca"

(Brother Salimbene of Parma and his Chronicle) in Nuova Antologia, I 6

February I 929 (LXIV, 1 3 66 ), pp. 468-78 .

2. Salimbene d a Parma ( 1 22 1 - 1 28 7 ), a Franciscan who traveled widely, recorded various aspects of medieval life and provided many portraits of contemporaries in his Chronicle, one of the most interesting works in the Latin literature of the Middle Ages. He was in Parma in I 247 when the city rebelled against Fredrick II and was placed under siege by the imperial forces. Although Salimbene certainly regarded Fredrick II as an impious usurper, he nevertheless gave a rather sympathetic account of the emperor. See Salimbene da Parma, Cronaca, trans. F. Bernini (Lanciano: Carabba, I 928).

§ 1 20. On America

1 . The following articles appeared together under the general heading

"Gli Stati Uniti nella politica mondiale" (The United States in World Politics) in Nuova Antologia, I 6 February I 929 (LXIV, I 3 6 6 ) : Ulisse Guadagnini, "11 trattato di Washington per la limitazione degli armamenti navali e le sue conseguenze" (The Washington Treaty on Naval Disarmament and Its Consequences), pp. 479-98; Carlo Schanzer, "11 patto Kellogg" (The Kellogg Pact), pp. 498-5 1 2 ; Antonio Borgoni, "La dottrina di Monroe" (The Monroe Doctrine), pp. 5 1 3-24.

Carlo Schanzer ( I 86 5 - I 9 5 3 ) held many ministerial positions and other very important high offices. In I 9 2 I -22 he headed the Italian delegation at the Washington Disarmament Conference. He was foreign minister in I 922 and the Italian representative at the League of Nations in I 92o, I 92 I , and I 924.

§ 1 2 1 . Cadorna

1 . See Spectator [Mario MissiroliJ, "Luigi Cadoma" in Nuova Antologia, I March I 929 (LXIV, I 3 67 ), pp. 43-6 5 . Gramsci refers to this article also in Notebook I, §44.

2 . Spectator, "Luigi Cadoma, " p. 50.

Notes to the Text. § I24

5 7 7

3 · Spectator, "Luigi Cadoma, " p. 5 1 .

4· Spectator, "Luigi Cadoma, " pp. 5 I - p : Finally, all strategic concepts needed to be shifted from West t o East. A shift of this kind was so foreign to our General Staff that there existed no preparatory studies along these lines. When the European war broke out, Cadorna himself dictated a Memorandum, later published in his book Altre pagine su la grande guerra [Other Writings on the Great War], on the hypothesis of sending an Italian army to Alsace.

The text of the "Memorandum" is published in Luigi Cadoma, Altre pagine sulla grande guerra (Milan: Mondadori, I 92 5 ), pp. I 5 -23, of which Gramsci had a copy in prison.

5 . Spectator, "Luigi Cadoma, " p. p.

6. The article by Spectator, "Luigi Cadoma, " contains a reference [p.

5 4) to Aldo Valori's book on the war between Italy and Austria-see Aldo Valori, La guerra italo-austriaca. 1 91 5-1 91 8 [Bologna: Zanichelli, I 92o).

§ 1 22 . Giuseppe Paratore, "La economia, la finanza, il denaro d'ltalia alia fine del 1 92 8 "

1 . See Giuseppe Paratore, "La economia, I a finanza, i l denaro d'Italia alia fine del I 9 2 8 " (The Italian Economy, Finance, and Currency at the End of I 92 8 ) in Nuova Antologia, I March I 929 (LXIV, I 3 67), pp. 74-87.

Gramsci discusses this article also in Notebook 3, § I 6o.

Giuseppe Paratore [ I 876- I 967) held many important government posts, including minister of the treasury in I 922. He returned to private life during the Fascist dictatorship but after the war he participated in the Constituent Assembly and presided over the Senate.

§ 1 2 3 . "La riforma fondiaria cecoslovacca"

1 . See Veriano Ovecka, "La riforma fondiaria cecoslovacca" (Czechoslovak Land Reform) in La Civilta Cattolica, I 6 February 1 929 (LXXX, 1 ), pp. 305 -20, and I 6 March I 929 (LXXX, I ), pp. 489- 5 0 3 .

§ 1 24. Giorgio Mortara, "Natalita e urbanesimo in ltalia"

I. See Giorgio Mortara, "Natalita e urbanesimo in ltalia" (Birth Rates and Urbanism in Italy) in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 June 1 929 (LXIV, 1 3 74), pp. 48 5 -96, and 1 July 1 929 (LXIV, 1 3 7 5 ), pp. 1 02- 1 5 . In this note Gramsci summarizes Mortara's two-part article, the first part in greater detail than the second. He also makes use of this same article in Notebook 5, § 8 1 .

5 78

NOTE S : NOTEBOOK 2 I I 9 29- I 9 3 3 )

§ 1 2 5 . Ludovico Luciolli, "La politica doganale degli Stati Uniti d' America"

I . See Ludovico Luciolli, "La politicadoganale degli Stati Uniti" IThe Customs Policy of the United States) in Nuova Antologia, I 6 August 1 929

ILXIV, 1 3 7 8 ), pp. S 07-2 S .

§ 1 26 . Andrea Torre, "11 principe di Biilow e la politica mondiale germanica"

I . See Andrea Torre, "11 principe di Biilow e Ia politica mondiale germanica" ( Prince von Biilow and German World Policy) in Nuova Antologia, I December 1 929 I LXIV, I 3 8 s ), pp. 3 I 7-29.

2. Bernhard Fiirst von Biilow I I 849- 1 929), the imperial chancellor from I 900 to I 909, pursued an aggressive foreign policy aimed at establishing Germany as a superior world power. He was sent as ambassador to Rome in 1 9 1 4 but failed to prevent Italy's intervention in the war on the enemy side. Von Bulow died in Rome. For the book mentioned in this note, see Bernhard von Biilow, Imperial Germany, trans. M. A. Lewenz !London: Cassel, 1 9 I 4).

§ 1 27 . Alfonso De Pietri-Tonelli, "Wall Street"

1. See Alfonso De Pietri-Tonelli, "Wall Street" in Nuova Antologia, 1

December I 929 j LXIV, 1 3 8 5 ), pp. 3 5 2-64.

§ 1 28 . Catholic Action. Catholic Trade Unionism I . See Angelo Brucculeri, "La dottrina sociale cristiana e l'organizzazione internazionale del lavoro" ! Christian Social Doctrine and the International Labor Organization) in La Civilta Cattolica, 6 July I 929 (LXXX, 3 ), pp. 3 8-43 ·

2. See Albert Thomas, Conference Internationale du Travail. Deuxieme Session, Rapport du Directeur, Premiere Partie !Geneva: Bureau International du Travail, 1 929).

Albert Thomas ( I 878- 1 9 3 2 ) belonged to the French socialist movement, wrote on syndaclism and contributed to L 'Humanite before he was elected deputy in I 9 IO and held important government positions. In 1 9 I 9

he represented France at the International Labor Conference in Washington. Soon afterwards he gave up his parliamentary seat and assumed the directorship of the Bureau International du Travail in Geneva.

Notes to the Text. § r33

5 79

§ I 2 9 . Italian industries

1 . See the unsigned article, "I 'soffioni' della Maremma Toscana" (The

"Fumaroles" of the Tuscan Marsh) in La Civilta Cattolica, 20 July 1 929

(LXXX, 3 ), pp. u 6-2 5 .

§ I 30. Regional histories. Liguria and Genoa

I . See the unsigned article, "La consulta dei Mercanti genovesi" (The Council of Genoese Merchants) in La Civilta Cattolica, 1 7 August 1 929

(LXXX, 3 ), pp. 3 20-27 .

§ I 3 r . Catholic Action. The conflict in Lille 1 . See the unsigned article, "Per Ia pace sociale" (For Social Peace) in La Civilta Cattolica, 7 September 1 929 ( LXXX, 3 ), pp. 3 89-97 .

2. On the Codice Sociale, see Notebook 1 , § 1 .

3 . See the unsigned article, "La S . Congregazione del Concilio al vescovo di Lilla per un conflitto tra industriali e operai" (The Holy Congregation of the Council to the Bishop of Lille on a Conflict Between Industrialists and Workers) in La Civilta Cattolica, 7 September 1 929 (LXXX, 3 ), pp. 445 - 5 4·

Achille Lienart became bishop of Lille in 1 928 and was elevated to Cardinal by Pius XI in 1 930.

§I 3 2 · Action Frant; aise and the Vatican

1 . See the unsigned article, "La crisi dell' 'Action fran«raise' e gli scritti del suo 'maestro' " (The Crisis of Action Fran«raise and the Writings of its

"Master") in La Civilta Cattolica, 2 1 September 1 929 ( LXXX, 3 ), pp. 48 1 -

9 4 . Probably Gramsci was able t o identify the authors o f unsigned articles (in this note and elsewhere) through the analytic index published by La Civilta Cattolica (compiled by Giuseppe Del Chiaro) : Indice analatico delle annate 1 926-1 930 ( Rome, 1 9 3 1 ).

§ I 3 3 · Albanian legend of the "Zane " and the Sardininian "Zane "

1 . See the two-part unsigned article, "Antichi monasteri benedettini in Albania. Nella tradizione e nelle legende popolari" (Old Benedectine Monasteries in Albania in Tradition and Popular Legends) in La Civilta Cattolica, 7 December 1 929 (LXXX, 4), pp. 40 1 - 1 2, and 2 1 December 1 929

( LXXX, 4), pp. 5 04- 1 5 . Here, as elsewhere, Gramsci probably identified

) 80

NOTE S : NOTEBOOK 2 ( 1 9 2 9- 1 9 3 3 )

the author of the article through the analytic index published by La Civilta Cattolica.

2. See "Antichi monasteri benedettini in Albania, " p. 401 .

§ 1 34. Catholics, neo-Malthusianism, eugenics

r . See the unsigned article, "II pensiero sociale cristiano. La decima sessione dell' 'Unione di Malines' " ! Christian Social Thought. The Tenth Meeting of the Union of Malines) in La Civilta Cattolica, 2. 1 December 1 92.9 !LXXX, 4), pp. 49 5 - 5 0 3 . On the Union of Malines, see Notebook 1,

§ r , note 2..

§ 13 5. Pan-Christianity and the spread of Protestan tism in South America

1 . See the three-part unsigned article, "11 protestantesimo negli Stati Uniti e nell'America latina" !Protestantism in the United States and in Latin America) in La Civilta Cattolica, r March 1 930 !LXXXI, 1 ), pp. 401 - 1 4; 1 5 March 1930 !LXX, 1 ), pp. 493-501 ; 5 April 1 930 !LXX, 2), pp. 32. -42.

§ 1 3 6 . Catholic Action

1 . See the unsigned article, "La durata del lavoro" !Working Hours) in La Civilta Cattolica, 1 5 March 1 9 30 !LXXXI, r ), pp. 5 02-8 . Gramsci probably identified the author of the article through the analytic index published in 1 9 3 1 by La Civilta Cattolica.

2.. Lello Gangemi, 11 problema della durata del lavoro !Florence: Vallecchi, 1 929). Gramsci discusses Gangemi's book on the question of working hours in Notebook 1, §9 8.

§ 1 3 7 . City and country

1 . See Giuseppe De Michelis, "Premesse e contributo allo studio dell'esodo rurale" !An Introduction and a Contribution to the Study of the Rural Exodus) in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 January 1 930 !LXV, 1 3 88), pp. 226-3 3 ·

Giuseppe De Michelis ( 1 87 5 - 1 9 5 1 ) was in charge of the emigration office from 1 9 1 9 to 1 927 before receiving ambassadorial rank and negotiating many international economic agreements. Between 1 9 2 5 and 1 9 3 3

he presided over the International Agricultural Institute i n Rome. He wrote several books on economics, labor, and emigration.

2.. Giuseppe De Michelis, "Premesse e contributo allo studio dell'esodo rurale, " p. 2 3 3 .

Notes to the Text. § I 40

5 8 1

§ 1 3 8 . America

I . See two articles published under the general heading "Punti di vista sull'America" (Views on America) in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 February 1 9 3 0

(LXV, 1 390) : J. P. Rice, "Spirito e tradizione americana" (American Spirit and Tradition), pp. 468-76 ; Pietro Lanino, "La rivoluzione industriale negli Stati Uniti" (The Industrial Revolution in the United States), pp.

477-80.

The information on J. P. Rice is obtained from an editorial note at the end of his article.

2. See Pietro Lanino, "II regime industriale degli Stati Uniti" (The Industrial Regime of the United States) in Rivista di Politica Economica, 28 February 1 9 3 0 (XX, 2 ), pp. 1 7 1-78; 3 1 March 1 9 3 0 (XX, 3 ), pp. 2 5 5 -5 8; 31 May 1930 (XX, 5 ), pp. 503-7; 31 July-3 1 August 1 930 (XX, 7-8), pp.

6 5 3 - 5 8 .

3 · Pietro Lanino, "La rivoluzione industriale negli Stati Uniti, " p. 477 ·

Gramsci's comments are also i n response to the following assertion by Pietro Lanino (p. 477 ) :

The criterion of supply and demand which reduces human labor to the level of a market commodity is being replaced by a human criterion in determining the level of compensation, namely the criterion of the worker's needs for his life and his family's. The worker becomes a Human, he is no longer a mere instrument of labor. The concept even assumes an ethical value.

§ 1 3 9 . Mario Gianturco, "La terza sessione marittima della Conferenza Intemazionale del Lavoro"

I . See Mario Gianturco, "La terza sessione marittima della Conferenza Intemazionale del Lavoro" (The Third Maritime Session of the International Labor Conference) in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 March 1 930 (LXV, 1 3 92 ), pp. 24 1 - 5 8 .

§ 1 40. Giuseppe Frisella Vella, Temi e problemi sulla cosi detta questione meridionale

I . The bibliographic data on Giuseppe Frisella Vella's Temi e problemi sulla cosi detta questione meridionale (Themes and Problems of the So

Called Southern Question) which was published in 1 928 are probably derived from the "Bollettino Bibliografico" (Bibliographic Bulletin) section of I Libri del Giorno, January 1 929 (XII, 1 ), p. 5 9 ·

N O T E S : N O TE B O O K 2 ( 1 9 29 - 1 9 3 3 )

§ 1 4 1 . Past and presen t

1 . The information contained in this note is extracted from the article by Salvatore Majorana, "11 monopolio del sale" (The Salt Monopoly) in Rivista di Politica Economica, January 1 9 3 1 (XXI, 1 ), pp. 26-39; see especially p. 3 8 .

§ 1 42 . Gaspare Ambrosini, "La situazione della Palestina e gli interessi dell'Italia"

1 . See Gaspare Ambrosini, "La situazione della Palestina e gli interessi dell'Italia" (The Situation of Palestine and Italian Interests) in Nuova An tologia, 1 6 June 1 930 (LXV, 1 3 98 ), pp. 497- 5 1 3 .

§ 1 4 3 . Maria Pasolini Ponti, "lntorno all'arte industriale"

1 . See Maria Pasolini Ponti, "lntomo all'arte industriale" (About Industrial Art) in Nuova Antologia, 1 July 1 9 3 0 (LXV, 1 3 99 ), pp. 1 09-20.

§ 1 44. Past and presen t

1 . See Giuseppe Nuzzo, "La politica estera della monarchia napoletana alia fine del secolo XVIII" (The Foreign Policy of the Neapolitan Monarchy in the Ute 1 8 th Century) in Nuova Antologia, 1 6 July 1 930 (LXV, 1 400), pp. 1 94-208.

§ 1 4 5 . Luigi Villari, "L'agricoltura in Inghilterra"

1 . See Luigi Villari, "L'agricoltura in Inghilterra" (Agriculture in England) in Nuova Antologia, 1 September 1 930 (LXV, 1 403 ), pp. I 04- I ? ·

§ 1 46 . Past and present. Emigration

1 . The information in this note is extracted from an unsigned news article, "Una rivolta di negri nel Congo helga provocata dalla crisi economica" (A Revolt by Blacks in the Belgian Congo Provoked by the Economic Crisis) in the Carriere della Sera, 1 5 October 1 93 1 .

§ 1 47. Italian Risorgimento

1 . See Francesco Moroncini, "Lettere inedite di Carlo Poerio edi altri ad Antonio Ranieri. r 86o- r 866" (Unpublished Letters by Carlo Poerio

Notes to the Text. § I so

and Others to Antonio Ranieri. I 86o- I 96 6 ) in Nuova Antologia, I October I 930 (LXV, I 405 ), pp. 273-97.

Antonio Ranieri ( I 8o6- I 88 8 ), a Neapolitan writer and very close friend of the poet Giacomo Leopardi, spent several years in exile because of his liberal convictions. He served as parliamentary deputy from 1 8 6 1 to r 8 8 1 .

§ r 48 . Italian Risorgimen to

1 . The title of the article by Gioacchino Volpe, "Quattro anni di governo nel Diario autografo del Re" ( Four Years of Government in the King's Own Diary) in the Carriere della Sera, 1 6 October 1 9 3 1 , is preceded by a smaller headline, "Carlo Alberto si confessa" ( Charles Albert Confesses).

The article discusses a book which had just appeared on unpublished writings by the king; see Francesco Salata, Carlo Alberto inedito (Milan: Mondadori, I 9 3 I ).

§ 1 49 . Politics and military command

1 . See Saverio Nasalli Rocca, "La politica tedesca dell'impotenza nella guerra mondiale" (The German Policy of Impotence in World War I) in Nuova An tologia, I 6 October 1 9 30 (LXV, I 4o6), pp. 48 1 -97 and 1 November 1 930 (LXV, 1 407 ), pp. I O I - I 8 .

2. Alfred von Tirpitz ( 1 849- I 9 30), who built the German navy into a formidable force, had a major determining influence on German foreign policy up to the eve of World War I. His memoirs, Erinnerungen were published in 1 9 1 9 and translated into English (My Memoirs) the same year. He also wrote Politische Dokumen te, 2 vol. ( I 924-26) in an effort to justify his views and policies.

3 · Saverio Nasalli Rocca, "La politica tedesca dell'impotenza nella guerra mondiale" (part I ), p. 49 1 .

§ r s o. Cultural topics

1 . See Notebook 1 4, §9 and § 1 3 .

2. See Notebook i 4, § 3 4.

SE QUENCE OF NOTES

BY TITLE OR OPENING PHRASE

NOTEBO O K I

PAGE

100 § I

On poverty, Catholicism and the papacy

1 00 §2

Faccia a faccia col nemico, by Luigi Galleani

1 0 1 § 3

Church-State relations

I O I §4

Natural Law and Catholicism

1 02

§ s

Church-State relations

I 02 §6

"In order to praise a book . . . "

I 02 §7

Margherita Sarfatti and the "jousts"

1 02 §8

The old and the new generation

I03 §9

Soffici

103 §w

On Machiavelli

I03 § u

On originality in science

I04 § 1 2

Giovanni Papini

I04 § 1 3

Alfredo Panzini

I 04 § 1 4

Fortunato Rizzi

1 06 § I s

On Italian universities

I 07 § I 6

Ignoble pajama

ro8 § I ?

Riccardo Balsamo-Crivelli

I08 § 1 8

Maurras's error. Notes on the French Monarchist Party 1 09 § 1 9

Information on the relations between Jews and Christians during the Risorgimento

1 10 §20

Salvator Gatta

1 10 §2 1

In the first volume of the already cited Confessioni e professioni di fede . . .

1 1 0 §22

The second volume of Confessioni e professioni di fede .

I I I §23

In the third volume of Confessioni e professioni di fede .

1 1 2 §24

Father Bresciani's progeny

1 1 4 §2 5

Achille Loria

s 86

Notes

I I 6 §26

Cuvier's little bone

I I 6 §27

Residues of late romanticism?

I I ?

§28

Natural law

I I ?

§29

Sarcasm as an expression of transition among historicists I I 9 §30

Orano and Loria

I I 9 §3 1

Sorel's letters to Croce

I I 9 §32

Loria and Lumbroso

1 20 § 3 3

Freud

1 20 §34

American pragmatism

! 20 § 3 5

Types of periodicals

1 2 1 § 3 6

Lorianism

1 2 1 § 3 7

Turati and Lorianism

1 2 1 § 3 8

Types o f periodicals

1 24 § 3 9

Repaci

1 24 §40

Leon Blum's "saying"

1 24 §41

Lorianism-Luzzatti

1 24 §42

Father Bresciani's progeny

1 2 5 §43

Types of periodicals

1 3 6 §44

Political class leadership before and after assuming government power

1 5 1 §45

Sicilian intellectuals

1 5 2 §46

The Moderates and the intellectuals

! 5 3 §47

Hegel and associationism

1 5 5 §48

Charles Maurras' reverse Jacobinism

1 6 1 §49

"Organic centralism" and Maurras' doctrines 1 6 1 § s o

An A.M.M.A. document concerning the North-South question

1 62 § s r

The clergy as intellectuals

1 6 3 § 5 2

Social origin of the clergy

1 64 § 5 3

Maurrasianism and syndicalism

1 64 § 5 4

The Battle o f Jutland

1 6 5 § s s

Types of periodicals

r 6 s

§ s 6

Apologue of the log and the dry twigs

r 6 s

§ 5 7

Reactions o f the North to anti-Southern prejudicial events r 6 s

§s 8

Emigration and intellectual movements

1 66 § 5 9

Ugo Ojetti

1 6 6 §6o

Papini, Christ, Julius Caesar

1 67 §6 1

Americanism

! 70 §62

The sexual question

1 7 1 §63

Lorianism and Graziadei

1 72 §64

Lorianism and G. Ferrero

1 7 3 §6 s

Types of periodicals

1 74 §66

Italian colonies

Notes

s B7

1 74 §67

Concerning religious marriage

1 74 §68

The sexual question and the Catholic Church

1 76 §69

The Nobel Prize

1 7 6 §70

"lmpressioni di prigionia" by Jacques Riviere 1 77 §? I

Father Gioacchino Ventura

1 7 7 § 7 2

Father Bresciani's progeny. Catholic art

179 §73

Cremieux's Modem Italian Literature

1 80 §74

Super-city and Super-country

1 80 §7 s

Sicilian intellectuals

1 80 §?6

The crisis of the "West"

1 82 §n

Clergy and intellectuals

1 8 3 §?8

Bergson, positivist materialism, pragmatism

1 83 §?9

Italo Chitarro, La capacita di comando

1 84 §8o

The public and Italian literature

1 84 § 8 1

Nino Daniele, D 'Annunzio politico

1 84 §82

Father Bresciani's progeny

1 84 §83

Piero Pieri, 11 regno di Napoli . . .

1 84 §84

Giovanni Maioli, 11 fondatore della Societa Nazionale 1 8 5 § 8 5

Giuseppe Solitro, Due famigerati gazzettieri dell'Austria 1 8 5 §86

Giovanni Crocioni, Problemi fondamentali del Folklore 1 8 5 §87

Gentile and the philosophy of Italian politics

1 86 §88

Gioberti

1 86 §89

Folklore

1 8 7 §go

La Voce and Prezzolini

1 8 8 §9 1

Super-country

1 88 §92

On Americanism

1 89 §93

Father Bresciani's progeny

1 90 §94

Proudhon, Jahier, and Raimondi

1 90 §95

Adriano Tilgher, Homo Faber

1 90 §g6

Adelchi Baratono

1 90 §97

Salvadori, Valli, and Lorianism

1 9 1 §98

Lello Gangemi, 11 problema della durata del lavoro

1 9 1 §99

A famous bungling prattler

1 92 § r oo Goffredo Bellonci, Pagine e idee

1 92 § 1 01 Piedigrotta

1 93 § 1 02

La Fiera Letteraria which later became L 'Italia Letteraria 1 93 § 1 03 General Fascist Confederation of Italian Industry 1 9 3 § 1 04

Jean Barois

1 94 § r os

American philosophy

1 94 § r o6 Maurras' concept of religion

1 9 5 § 107 Filippo Meda, Statisti cattolici

1 9 6 § r o8

On the Risorgimento

1 96 § 1 09 Austrian informers and agents provocateurs

s 88

Notes

I 9 6 § n o The contradictions of the Moderates before I 848

I 9 7 § I I I By Augusto Sandona

I 97 § u 2 Father Facchinei

I 9 8 § I I 3

The revolution in criminal law and criminal procedure and historical materialism

I 9 8 § 1 1 4

The Risorgimento

I 9 9 § 1 1 s Regarding continuous threats by the Viennese government 200 § 1 1 6 Italian intellectuals

206 § I I ?

Political and military leadership during the Risorgimento 208 § 1 1 8 The problem of volunteers during the Risorgimento 208 § 1 1 9 Demagogy

209 § uo

"Believe me, do not fear

"

209 § u i Novara I 849

2 1 0 § I 22

Suggestions and stimuli

2 I I

§ 1 2 3

Search the exact historical organ

2 I I

§ 1 24

The Futurists

2 1 2 § u s

I 9 I 9

2 1 2 § 1 26

I 922

2 I 2 § 1 27

The question of the young

2 1 3

§ 1 28

Religion as a principle and the clergy as a feudal class-order 2 I 4 § I 29

The most widespread platitude about the Risorgimento 2 I 4 § I 30

Real Italy and legal Italy

2 I 5 § I 3 I

Bainville and universal suffrage in France

2 I 6 § I 3 2

Actual idealism and the ideology-philosophy connection 2 1 7 § I 3 3 Military art and political art

2 1 8 § 1 34

Political struggle and military war

220 § 1 3 5 Americanism

223 § 1 3 6

Bontempelli's Novecentismo

223 § I 3 7

Novecentismo and Super-country

223 § 1 3 8

Risorgimento

223 § 1 3 9

Catholic Action

224 § I 40 The Spanish constitution of 1 8 1 2 in the Risorgimento 224 § I 4 1 Americanism

2 2 5 § 1 42

Giuseppe Prezzolini and the intellectuals

226 § I 43

Quality and quantity

226 § I 44

Auguste Boullier, L'ile de Sardaigne

227 § I 4 5 Talent

2 2 7 § 1 46

In A. De Pietri Tonnelli's review . .

227 § 1 47

"On a thousand occasions in my life

"

227 § 1 48

Lorianism

228 § 1 49 North and South

229 § I S O The conception of the state from the standpoint of the productivity [function] of the social classes

Notes

5 89

23 0

§ 1 5 1

The historical relation between the modem French state created by the Revolution and the other modern European states

23 1 § x p

Marx and Hegel

23 2

§ 1 5 3

Conversation and culture

2 34

§ 1 5 4

Clergy and intellectuals

23 4 § 1 5 5 Marx and Hegel

234 § 1 5 6 Past and present

234 § 1 5 7

Croce and the intellectuals

2 3 5 § x s 8 "Animality" and industrialism NOTEBOOK 2

239 §x

Vittorio Giglio, Milizie ed eserciti d'Italia

239 §2

Italo Raulich, Storia del Risorgimento politico d'Italia 23 9

§ 3

Giorgio Macaulay Trevelyan, Daniele Manin . . .

23 9 §4

From a report read by the engineer Giacinta Motta

240

§ 5

Angelo Gambaro, Riforma religiosa . . .

241 §6

An article "Problemi finanziari" signed Verax (Tittoni) 2 5 4 §?

Articles by Luzzatti

2 5 5 §8

An opinion of Manzoni's on Victor Hugo

2 S S §9

The philosophers and the French Revolution

2 5 5

§ 1 o

A Venetian gondolier . . .

2 5 5 § u

Manzoni and Rosmini on Napoleon III

2 5 5 § u

The Italian merchant marine

2 5 8 § 1 3

Eugenio Di Carlo, Un carteggio inedito .

2 5 9

§ 1 4

Amy A. Bernardy, Forme e colori di vita regionale italiana 2 5 9

§ 1 5

The Albanians of Italy

2 5 9

§ 1 6

Francesco Tommasini, "Politica mondiale e politica europea"

266 § I ?

Guido Bustico, "Gioacchino Murat . . .

"

266 § 1 8

"Una politica di pace europea" by Argus

267

§ 1 9

Roger Labonne's article

267

§20

For the relations between the German Center and the Vatican

268 §2 1

"L'Etiopia d'oggi"

27 1

§22

Stefano Jacini, Un conservatore rurale della nuova /tali a 272 §23

The Eurasian movement

27 3 §24

World politics and European politics

27 3

§2 5

Italian nationalism

274 §26

The German newspapers

27 5

§27

The Correspondant of 2 5 July 1 927

5 90

Notes

276 §28

Article by Frank Simonds

276 §29

Quintina Sella

278 §30

Italy and Yemen in the new Arab policy

280 §3 1

Niccolo Machiavelli

2 8 1

§ 3 2

Augur

282 § 3 3

Diplomatic documents

28 3

§34

"Per una politica annonaria razionale e nazionale"

283 § 3 5

Francesco Orestano, "La Chiesa Cattolica

II

284 § 3 6

Machiavelli

284 § 3 7

The International Aid Society

284 §3 8

Gioviano Pantano

284 §3 9

Geopolitics

2 8 5 §40

"11 problema scandinavo e baltica"

287 §4 1

Niccolo Machiavelli

288 §42

Quintina Sella

289 §43

The tax on flour

289 §44

On Quintina Sella

289 §4 5

America and Europe

29 1

§46

International institutions

29 1

§47

Ada Negri

29 1

§48

Constitution of the English Empire

294 §49

Alessandro Mariani

29 5

§ s o

Roberto Cantalupo, "La Nuova Eritrea"

29 5

§ s 1

Giovanni Pascali

297 § p

Giovanni Pascali

3 00

§ 5 3

Giovanni Cena

300

§ 5 4

"Olii, petrolii e benzine"

301 §s s

Emphyteusis

302 § s 6

Massimo D' Azeglio

303 § s 7

Bias against cities

303 §s 8

On fashion

3 03

§ 5 9

Tittoni

304

§6o

On Emanuele Filiberto

305 §6 1

Counter-Reformation

305 §62

Joseph De Maistre

307 §63

Italy and Egypt

308 §64

R. Garofalo, "Criminalita e amnistia in Italia"

3 09

§6 s

Claudio Faina, "Foreste, combustibili . . . "

309 §66

The agrarian question

3 1 2 §67

Nicola Zingarelli, "Le idee politiche del Petrarca"

3 1 2 §68

E. De Cillis, "Gli aspetti e le soluzioni . . "

.

3 1 2 §69

H. Nelson Gay, "Mazzini e Antonio Gallenga

I I

3 1 3 §70

The French Revolution and the Risorgimento

Notes

5 9 1

3 1 4

§ ? I

On the national budgets

3 1 5

§ 72

About budgets

3 1 6 §7 3

Action Fran�aise and the Vatican

3 1 7

§ 74

Sundry bibliography

3 1 8 §? S

R. Michels, "Les Partis politiques

I I

3 2 6 § 7 6

Officers on furlough

3 2 8

§n

Military policy

328

§ 78

Atlantic-Pacific

3 2 8

§7 9

Italian peasants

3 29

§8o

On Italian emigration

3 29

§8 1

Volunteers in the Risorgimento

3 29

§82

Giolitti

3 29

§8 3

Francesco Tommasini, "La conferenza panamericana

"

3 30

§84

G. E. di Palma Castiglione, "L'organizzazione intemazionale . . .

"

3 3 0 §8 5

Daniele Yare, "Pagine di un diario in Estremo Oriente"

3 30

§86

Giuseppe Tucci, "La religiosita dell'lndia"

3 30

§87

Oscar di Giamberardino, "Linee generali . . . "

3 3 1

§ 8 8

Ettore Fabietti, "11 primo venticinquennio . . . "

3 3 1

§ 89

" I primordi del movimento unitario a Trieste"

3 3 2 §90

"La nuova evoluzione dell'lslam"

3 3 4

§ 9 1

Giuseppe Gallavresi, "Ippolito Taine storico

II

3 3 5

§92

"I problemi dell'automobilismo

"

3 3 5

§9 3

On Americanism

3 3 5

§ 94

On state finances

3 3 5

§9 5

Interesting questions of Italian history and politics 3 3 6 §96

Alfredo Oriani

3 3 6

§97

Augur, "II nuovo aspetto dei rapporti . . .

"

3 3 6

§98

Nino Cortese, L 'esercito napoletano e le guerre napoleoniche 3 3 7

§99

Giuseppe Brindisi, Giuseppe Salvioli

3 3 7 § 1 oo

Pietro Silva, "Bilanci consuntivi: La Storiografia"

3 3 7 § 1 0 1

Albano Sorbelli, Opuscoli, stampe alla macchia .

3 3 7 § 1 02

Giuseppe Ferrari, Corso su gli scrittori politici italiani 3 3 8 § 1 03

Adriano Tilgher, "Perche l'artista scrive

"

3 3 8

§ 1 04

A "Review" of Bonomi's book

3 3 8

§ 1 0 5

Mente et Malleo

3 3 8

§ 1 o6

Italian Risorgimento. Italian Jacobins

3 3 9

§ 1 07

The "Lucky Star of Italy"

3 3 9

§ 1 o8

Popular Literature. Edoardo Perino

3 3 9

§ 1 09

French intellectuals and their current cosmopolitan role 3 40

§ u o Popular culture

3 40

§ I I I Risorgimento. The people and the Risorgimento

5 92

Notes

3 40 § n 2 Popular literature. Victor Hugo

3 4 1 § I I 3 Risorgimento. The people and the Risorgimento 3 4 1 § 1 1 4

Political history and military history

342 § n 5 On the Risorgimento and the South

3 42 § n 6 The cosmopolitan role of Italian intellectuals 3 42 § I I ?

The cosmopolitan role of Italian intellectuals

343 § n 8 On the Anschluss

343 § I I 9 The attempt at a Franciscan religious reform 343 § 1 20

On America

343 § 1 2 1 Cadoma

346 § 1 22

Giuseppe Paratore, "La economia, la finanza, il denaro I I

347 § 1 2 3 "La riforma fondiaria cecoslovacca"

348 § 1 24

Giorgio Mortara, "Natalita e urbanesimo in ltalia"

3 5 0 § 1 2 5 Ludovico Luciolli, "La politica doganale degli Stati Uniti d'America"

3 5 1 § 1 26

Andrea Torre, "11 principe di Bulow . . . "

3 5 2 § 1 2 7 Alfonso d e Pietri-Tonelli, "Wall Street"

3 5 2 § us

Catholic Action. Catholic Trade Unionism

3 5 2 § 1 29

Italian industries

3 5 2 § 1 30 Regional histories. Liguria and Genoa 3 5 2 § 1 3 1

Catholic Action. The conflict in Lille

3 5 3 § x p

Action Fran�aise and the Vatican

3 5 3 § 1 3 3 Albanian legend of the "Zane" and the Sardinian "Zane"

3 5 4 § 1 34

Catholics, neo-Malthusianism, eugenics

3 5 4 § 1 3 5 Pan-Christianity and the spread of Protestantism in South America

3 S S § 1 3 6

Catholic Action

3 5 5 § 1 3 7 City and country

3 5 7 § 1 3 8 America

3 5 8 § 1 3 9 Mario Gianturco, "La terza sessione marittima

"

3 5 8 § 1 40

Giuseppe Friselli Vella, Temi e problemi sulla cosi detta questione meridionale

3 5 8 § 1 4 1

Past and present

3 5 8

§ 1 42

Gaspare Ambrosini, "La situazione della Palestina II

3 5 8

§ 1 43

Maria Pasolini Ponti, "lntomo all'arte industriale"

3 5 9 § 1 44 Past and present

3 S 9 § 1 4 5 Luigi Villari, "L'agricoltura in Inghilterra"

3 S 9 § 1 46 Past and present. Emigration

3 5 9 § 1 47

Italian Risorgimento

3 5 9 § 1 48

Italian Risorgimento

3 60 § 1 49 Politics and military command

3 6 1 § 1 5 0 Cultural topics

NAME INDEX

Abba, Giuseppe Cesare, I 3 5 , 420- 2 I

Andryane, Alexandre Philippe, 1 49, 437

Abbo, Pietro, I oo, 376-77

Angioletti, Giovanni Battista, 102, I 9 3 ,

Abdullah (Sultan!, 279

3 80, 3 89, 4 9 5

Aberdeen, Lord George Hamilton, 3 I 3,

Anile, Antonino, I I I

5 60

Ansaldo, Giovanni, I l 2, I 44, 3 87, 432

Abignente, Filippo, I I o

Antona-Traversi, Giannino, I I I

Adams, R . C., 242

Anzilotti, Antonio, I 63, 240, 4 5 2

Addison, Joseph, I 6 5 , 4 5 6

Aporti, Ferrante, I 5 2, 446

Adrasto-Barbi, Silvio, I I I

Appony, Antal Rudolf, I 9 6

Agabiti, Augusto, I I O

Arcangeli, Umberto, 9 2

Agnelli, Giovanni, I 6 I, I 6 5 , I 6 9, 222, Arcari, Paolo, I I I, 2 7 3 , 4 3 I , 5 4 I

450

Ardigo, Roberto, I I I , 3 7 1 , 5 22.

Ahmed ibn-ldris al-Hasani al-Idrisi, 278

Argus, see Ciampi, Vittorio

Albatrelli, Paolo, see Perri, Francesco

Ariis, Giovanni, 88

Albertini, Luigi, I 32, 206, 4I 5

Aristotle, 227, 5 1 7

Aleramo, Sibilla, 367

Arrivabene, Giangaleazzo, 3 I 2

Alfieri, Vittorio, 236, 5 2 3

Arro, Alessandro, I I I

Almagia, Roberto, 5 47

Artioli, Adolfo, I IO

Alvaro, Corrado, 492, 5 3 I

Artom, Isacco, 204, 503

Ambrosi, Luigi, I I I

Ascoli, Graziadio Isaia, 99, I 79, 374, 480,

Ambrosini, Gaspare, 3 5 8, 5 82

s6S

Ambrosini, Luigi, I 44, 409, 43 I , S 3 I

Augur, 2 8 I , 3 3 6, 5 4 5 , 5 70

Ameglio, Giovanni, 203, 5 02

Aulard, Francois Alphonse, I 5 4, 3 3 4, 447,

Amendola, Giovanni, 2, 409, 4 I I

568

Amero d'Aste, Marcello, 302, 5 5 3

Avolio, Gennaro, I 63, 430, 45 5

Amoretti, Giovanni, 7 5 , So

Aznar, 3 5 4

Ancona, Ugo, 3 3 5, 5 6 8

Anderlini, Luigi, 3 8 7

Andler, Charles, I 5 4, 447

Bacchelli, Riccardo, 1 20, 3 7 I , 404

Andreoli, Giuseppe, I 86, 487

Bacci, Orazio, I I I

Andriulli, Giuseppe, 3 3 8, 5 7 3

Badii, Cesare, I 74, 477

Andronicus I I Palaeologus, 3 4 I

Badoglio, Pietro, 276, 5 42-43

5 94

Name Index

Bainville, Jacques, 1 46, 2. 1 5 , 407, 434,

Berchet, Giovanni, I 90, 492

5 1 1, 5 1 2

Bergson, Henri, I 8 3, 3 79, 483

Bakunin, Michael, 42 7

Berrnani, Eugenio, I I I

Balbo, Cesare, I 96, 498, 507

Bemaert, Augusto, I 9 5

Balbo, Italo, I05

Bernardy, Amy, 2 5 9, 5 3 7

Baldwin, Robert, 292

Bemeker, Erich, 5 3 I

Balsamo-Crivelli, Gustavo, roB, 384

Bernhard, George, 274

Balsamo-Crivelli, Riccardo, roB, 3 84

Bernini, Ferdinanda, 343

Bandiera, Attilio, 3 I 2, 5 60

Berti, Giuseppe, I 3, I4, 384, 4 I B, 433,

Bandiera, Emilio, 3 I 2, 5 6o

497

Baratono, Adelchi, I 90, 492

Bertoni, Giulio, 7, B7, 374

Barbagallo, Corrado, I x 6, 397

Bertucci Balbi-Valier, 340, 5 74

Barbier, Edmond-Jean·Franc;ois, 2 5 5

Bevione, Giuseppe, 273, 404, 5 4 1

Barbieri, Giuseppe, I 86, 487

Bianchi, Giuseppe, 6 8

Barbusse, Henri, 7I, 75, 92

Bianchieri, Giuseppe, 3 3 6, 5 6 9

Baretti, Giuseppe, I 7 3 , 476

Bianco, Vincenzo, 4

Barilli, Bruno, I o7, 3 8 3 -84

Bignami, Enrico, I09

Barone, Giuseppe, I I I

Bildt, Carl Nils Daniel de, I 7 6

Barrere, Camille, 204, 5 04

Bismarck, Otto von, 207, 26B, 3 78, 4B3

Barres, Maurice, 5 6 7

Bissolati Bergamaschi, Leonida, 234, 3 3 8,

Bartoli, Matteo Giulio, 7 , 6 7 , 68, 87, 374

p i , 5 7 3

Basch, Victor, 44 7

Bivona, Duke of, I 42, 425

Baselli, Paolo, 5 2 I

Bixio, Gerolamo INino), I 3 S , 420, 42 I

Bassini, Edoardo, 1 4 5 , 3 I 2, 5 5 9

Blanc, Charles Louis, 32 s

Basso, Lelio, 387

Blanqui, Louis·Auguste, I S 4, J I B, 3 24,

Bauer, Otto, 343, 567

447

Bazzi, Carlo, 206, 220, 505

Bloch, Joseph, s B

Beaverbrook, William Maxwell Aitken,

Block, Maurice, 1 5 4, I 97, 447, 498

3 5 I

Blonde!, Enrichetta, x 9 I

Bebel, August Friedrich, 3 I 9, 320, 5 6 3

Blum, Leon, 1 24, 408

Beccari, Arturo, 5 42

Boccaccio, Giovanni, I B 9, 2 B I , 4Bo, 489

Beccaria, Cesare, I 97, 498

Boccardo, Carlo, 69

Beccaria, Giulia, I 9 I

Boccheciampe, Pietro, 3 I 2

Bechi, Giulio, 1 62, 45 1

Bodrero, Emilio, 273, S 4 I

Becker, C. F., 374

Boero, Giovanni, 7 I , 7 2

Bedaux, Charles-Eugene, I 67, 467

Bolland, Jean, 490

Begey, Attilio, I 1 x

Bollea, Luigi Cesare, 3 36, 5 69

Bell, Andrew, 446

Bombacci, Nicola, 69, 7S

Belli, Pierino, 305, 5 5 6

Bonald, Louis Gabriel Ambroise, I 77, 478

Bellini, Vincenzo, I 5 2, 443

Bonaparte, Gerolamo, 329, S 6 S

Bellonci, Goffredo, 1 02, 1 1 3, 1 79, I 92,

Bonaparte, Joseph IKing of Naples I 8o6·

3 78·79, 494

I BoB), I 4o, 423

Belloni-Filippi, Ferdinanda, I I x

Bonetto, Mario, 404

Belluzzo, Giuseppe, I I 9, 403

Bonfadini, Romualdo, I 49, 436

Beltramelli, Antonio, I 1 2, I I 4, 386, 389

Bonghi, Ruggero, 2 S S , soB, 5 3 6

Beltrami, Luca, I 1 2, 227, 386, 5 1 6

Boniface VIII, I 7 9

Benetti, Giuseppe, x I I

Bonomi, Ivanoe, I 32, 234, 4 I 6, p i , S42, Benetti, Velleda, I I I

5 73

Benini, Vittorio, I I I

Bontempelli, Massimo, I I I , 223, 5 1 4,

Benoist, Charles, 280, 3 x 7

S I S

Beraud, Henri, 369

Bon tempi, Teresina, x I I

Name Index

S 9 S

Bonucci, Alessandro, I I O

Cadorna, Luigi, I 40, I 99, 203, 206, 343-

Bordiga, Amadeo, 69, 7 I , 7 3 -84 passim,

46, 423, 499, 503, 5 7 6-77

86

Caesar, Julius, I 66-67, 207, 467

Borelli, Giovanni, I 44, 204, 4 3 I , 5 03

Caggese, Romolo, 28o

Borelli, Tomaso, 220, 5 I 3

Caillaux, Joseph-Marie, I 6 I , 449

Borgese, Giuseppe Antonio, I 89, 3 3 2,

Cajuni, Arrigo, 389

409, 490, 5 6 8

Calcaterra, Carlo, 489

Borghesani, Guido, 2 8 3 , 5 4 6

Calderoni, Mario, 405

Borgia, Cesare, I 0 3 , 288, 3 8 I

Calles, Plutarco Elias, I 96, 497

Borgoni, Antonio, 343

Calosso, Umberto, 7 5 , 92

Boselli, Paolo, 205 , 289, 5 04, 548

Calvin, John, 452

Boucard, Robert, 369

Calvino, Paolo, I I I

Boullier, Auguste, 226, 3 7 I , 5 I 6

Calza, Arturo, 5 49

Bovio, Libero, I 92, 495

Cambon, Jules, 370

Bresci, Gaetano, 428

Camis, Mario, I 68, 468

Bresciani, Antonio, 35, 43 -44, 99, I 1 2,

Cammett, John M., xiv

I 24, I 77, 1 78, I 84, I 89, I 90, 3 74-7 5 , Campanella, Tommaso, I 7o, 470-7 I

3 8 6 , 3 88, 409, 479, 489

Campi, Bartolomeo, 342

Briand, Aristide, 3 5 I

Canepa, Giuseppe, 205, 5 04

Brindisi, Giuseppe, 3 3 7, 5 70

Canovai, Tino, 3 1 7- I S, 5 62

Broccardi, Eugenio, 3 6 7

Cantalupo, Roberto, 295, 5 50, 5 7 6

Brofferio, Angelo, I 09, 3 8 5

Canudo, Ricciotto, I I I

Bronstein, Lyov Davidovich, see Trotsky,

Capek, Karel, 369

Leon

Caporali, Enrico, I I I

Broussais, Franr;ois-Joseph Victor, 3 I 8,

Cappa, Innocenzo, I 1 I

324

Capponi, Gino, 1 5 2, 446

Brousson, Jean-Jacques, 369

Capra-Cordova, C., I I I

Brucculeri, Angelo, 3 5 2, 3 5 5 , 578

Caprin, Giulio, I I I

Bruers, Antonio, I 9 I , 494

Caprioglio, Sergio, xii, xiii, xiv, 4, I 8, 48 5

Brunelli, Bruno, see Villanova 0' Ar-

Capuana, Luigi, I p, 443-44

denghi, Bruno

Caracciolo, Francesco, 4 I 2

Bruni, Renato, 1 ro

Carbone, Giuseppe, 430

Bruno, Francesco, 389

Carducci, Giosue, I43, I S 2, 1 66, 1 76,

Bruno, Giordano, 470

I 86, 3 82, 3 86, 42 I , 426, 43 I , 443, 467, Buffoni, Francesco, So

486, 488, 494, 5 22

Bukharin, Nikolai, 23, 29, 33, 36, 5 3- 5 9,

Carena, Attilio, 69

6 1 , 62, 8 5 , 233, 442, po

Carena, Pia, 7 I

Biilow, Bernhard Heinrich Karl, 3 5 r , 5 78

Carli, Filippo, 1 1 9, 40I -2

Bunin, Ivan, 3 6 7

Carli, Plinio, 280

Buonaiuti, Emesto, 5 30

Carlini, Armando, 69

Buonarroti, Filippo, 1 5 4, 3 3 8, 447

Carlo Alberto di Savoia (King of Sardinia

Buozzi, Bruno, 69

I S 3 I -49I, 209, 3 5 9, 426, 5 5 7, 5 8 3

Burckhart, Jacob, 475

Caroncini, Alberto, 430, 43 I

Burke, Edmund, 422

Carson, (Lordi Edward Henry, I 27

Burzio, Filippo, 1 1 7, I 8o, I 8 I , 399, 482

Carvaglio, Giulio, I I I

Bustico, Guido, 266, 5 38

Casale, Giovanni, 7 5

Byron, George, 434, 443

Casati, Carlo, I 9 6

Casini, Tito, 305

Cabanis, Pierre-Jean-Georges, 3 34, 5 68

Castellano, Giovanni, 234, p i -22

Cacciaguerra, Eligio, 46 5

Castellini, Gualtiero, 273, 5 4 I

Cadman, John, 301

Castelnau, Edouard de Curiers de, I 6o

Name Index

Catel, Jean, s 62

Ciccotti, Francesco, 203-6, 220, 430, 463,

Catellani, Enrico, 1 1 0

SOl, S03

Cattaneo, Carlo, 272, 422, 446, 5 3 9-40

Cicero, Marcus Tullius, 1 24

Cavalcanti, Cavalcante, 99

Cimbali, Giuseppe, 1 I 1

Cavalcanti, Peter, xiv

Cina, Ottavio, see Canovai, Tino

Cavina, Luigi, 287

Cippico, Antonio, I 1 1

Cavour, Count (Camillo Benso), xviii,

Cipri-Romano, u s

1 34, 1 3 6, 1 4 1 , 146, I SO, I S I , 272, 303, Citemi, Carlo, 27 1

4 1 7, 423, 434, 4 3 8, 44 1 , 493, S O?, S43, Ciuffo, Pietro, 72

S44, S 69

Claps, Domenico, 108, 3 84

Cecchi, Emilio, 66

Clark, Martin, 1 9

Celli, Angelo, 300

Clemenceau, Georges, 1 1 s

Celli, Anna, 300

Clement VII, 287-88

Cellini, Benvenuto, 342

Cochin, Augustin, 3 3 4, s 68

Cena, Giovanni, 300, 5 5 2

Colaianni, Napoleone, 1 44, 429

Cervesato, Amaldo, 1 1 1

Colombo, Giuseppe, 272, S 40

Cesarini-Sforza, Widar, 1 1 1

Colonna di Cesaro, see Cesaro, Giovanni

Cesaro, Giovanni Antonio Colonna di,

Antonio

I I I, I I 4, 392

Columbus, Christopher, 1 87

Cesarotti, Melchiorre, 1 86, 487

Comte, Auguste, I 82, I 94, I 9 S

Chabod, Federico, 53 1

Conca, Paolo, 8 6

Chamberlain, Arthur Neville, 266

Condorcet, Marquis de, 1 9 1

Champion, Edouard, 3 1 7, s 62

Confalonieri, Federico, 149, 1 5 2, 3 3 6,

Chamson, Andre, 3 70

436-37, S 69

Charles III (Duke of Savoy 1 so4- 1 s 5 3 ),

Conrad, Joseph, 368

s s 6

Coppola, Francesco, I2I, 273, 307, 406,

Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor I s I 9-

409, 5 4 1

I S S 6), 5 5 6

Cordignano, Fulvio, 3 s 3

Charles VIII (King of France I 4 8 3 - 1498),

Corradini, Enrico, 1 66, 273, 295, 299,

284

379, 463, 46S, 5 4 I , s s o

Charles X (King of France I 824- 1 8 3o),

Cortese, Nino, 3 3 6, 5 70

447

Cortesi, Decio, 3 1 3, 5 60

Charles Albert, see Carlo Alberto di Sa-

Corti, Settimio, 1 1 1

voia

Cosentini, Francesco, uo

Chamay, Maurice, 3 1 9

Cosmo, Umberto, 5 , 67, 69, 9 1 , 1 44, 43 1

Chekhov, Anton, 3 6 8, 3 69, 3 7 1

Credaro, Luigi, 1 24

Chesterton, G. K., 1 1 3, 3 7 1 , 3 88, 529

Cremieux, Benjamin, 1 79-8o, 479-80

Chialvo, Guido, 30S, 5 5 6

Crespi, Angelo, I I 1 , 466

Chiang Kai-shek, 3 3 0

Crispi, Francesco, I 30, 1 32, 1 4 I -43, z s z, Chiesa, Francesco, 3 70

2 I S, 272, 4 1 3, 4 I S

Chittaro, Italo, I 83, 484

Crispolti, Filippo, 1 7 6

Chrystome, 369

Cristofoli, An, 1 7 7

Churchill, Winston, 1 64, 4 S 5

Croce, Benedetto, xviii, IO- I I , 2 3 , 29, 3 S, Cialdini, Enrico (Duke of Gaeta), 277-78,

37, 4 1 , 44, 6 1 , 62, 66, 69, 103, I 04, S 44

107, I I 3, l i S , I I 6, 1 I 8- 1 9, 1 2 1, 1 30-32, Ciampi, Vittorio, 266, 5 3 8

143, 1 44, 1 70, 1 7 1, 1 82, 1 89, 209, 2 1 6, Ciampini, Raffaele, 1 86, 487

232, 234, 3 1 7, 3 2 5 , 3 26, 3 3 7, 3 3 8, 3 6 7, Cian, Vittorio, 280, 281, S 4 S

3 70, 374, 3 80- 8 1 , 383, 3 9 3 , 3 9 S , 400, Ciarlantini, Franco, s

40 1 , 409, 423, 427-28, 44S , 470, 47 1 -73, Ciasca, Raffaele, 7, 229, S I ?

49 I , 5 06, s 1 2- 1 3, s 1 8 - 1 9, s 2 1 , 5 22, 5 28, Cicchitti, Amaldo, 1 74, 476

S 48, 5 5 4, S 6 I, S 62, 5 7 1

Name Index

5 97

Crocioni, Giovanni, 1 8 5 , r 86, 486, 487

D e Maria, Ugo, 486-87

Cromwell, Oliver, I s o

De Michelis, Giuseppe, 3 5 5, s Bo

Cuoco, Vincenzo, 1 37, 411

De Pietri Tonelli, Alfonso, 117, 5 1 6, 5 7 8

Curcio, Carlo, p8, 5 64

D e Pol, Bruno, 303, 5 5 4

Cusumano, Giuseppe, 91

Depretis, Agostino, 4 I 7, 5 6 3

Cuvier, Georges, 41, 44, 46, 5 1, 5 3, 5 6,

D e Roberto, Federico, I 5 1, 444

5 8, 60- 6 1 , 63, 64, I I 6, 398

De Rossi, Giulio, 3 3 9

D e Rubris, Marcus, 301, 5 5 3

D'Adamo, Giovanni, 1 61, 4 5 0

D e Ruggiero, Guido, S I 1- I 3

Daladier, Edouard, 1 3 9, 413

De Sanctis, Francesco, 1 90, 131, 406,

Dall'Oglio, G., 5 49

493, S I 9-10

D'Amico, Silvio, 488

Desbuquois, G., 3 5 4

D'Ancona, Alessandro, 437

De Stefani, Alberto, 14 I , 1 5 1, 1 5 3, 189, Daniele, Nino, 1 84, 484-85

3 5 5 , 5 3 5 , 5 48

D'Annunzio, Gabriele, 76, 300, 3 80, 3 86,

Deterding, Henry, 30I, 3 I 7

4 I I , 463, 464, 466, 484, 485, 494, 5 30,

D'Herbigny, Michele, 3 7 I

5 3 4, 5 5 1

D i Breme, Ludovico, 1 86, 487

Dante Alighieri, xvi, 7, 8, 18, 9 1 , 105,

Di Carlo, Eugenio, 1 5 9, 5 3 7

I I 3, 1 7 3, 3 7 3 , 476, 480, 489, 4 9 3 , 5 0 3

Diderot, Denis, 44 5

D' Aquino, Alessandro, II I

D i Gennaro, Francesco, I I I

D'Aragona, Lodovico, 4 5 7

Donati, Giuseppe, 430

Darwin, Charles, 100, s oo

Dorgeles, Roland, see Lecavele, Roland

Daudet, Alphonse, 1 7 9

Doria Cambon, Nella, I I I

Daudet, Leon, 1 5 9, 3 7 1 , 3 81, 3 84, 448

D'Ors, Eugene, 5 19

D'Azeglio, Luigi Taparelli, 1 5 8, 5 3 7

Dorso, Guido, I 44, I s o, I 6 S , 431, 46 I

D'Azeglio, Massimo Taparelli, 109, 1 5 8,

Dostoyevsky, Feodor, 3 66-67, 368, 3 69,

176, 301, 303, 3 3 6, 4 1 7, 5 07, 5 37, 5 5 3, 3 7 I

5 69

Drago, Aurelio, 309

D'Azeglio, Roberto Taparelli, 1 5 8, 5 3 7

Dreyfus, Alfred, I O I , I S 7, 5 6 3

D e Ambris, Alceste, 505

Duncan, Isadora, 369

De Amicis, Edmonda, 1 61, 450

Duncombe, Thomas Slingsby, 3 I 3

De Angelis, Leopolda, r r r

De Bosdari, Alessandro, 181-83, 5 4 5 -46

Eastman, Max, 7 I , 414-15

De Carlo, Eugenio, 1 46

Ecta de Queiroz, Jose Maria de, I 89, 490

De Cillis, Emanuele, 3 1 1, s 6o

Eckermann, Johann Peter, 1 7 6

De Felice Giuffrida, Giuseppe, I 5 1, 443

Egidi, Pietro, 304, 5 5 6

Deffenu, Attilio, 67

Einaudi, Luigi, 49, s o, 5 3, 67, I 04, 1 1 8, De Frenzi, Giulio, see Federzoni, Luigi

1 67, 3 67, 3 8 I , 3 90, 3 91, 400, 430, 468

De Gasperi, Alcide, 408

Eliot, George, 5 40

De Gubematis, Angelo, I r I

Elizabeth (Empress of Austria), 5 s I

Delemain, Jacques, 368

Elizabeth I (Queen of England I 5 5 8-

Del Greco, Francesco, I 10

r s Bol, 380

Della Rocca, E., see Morozzo della Rocca,

Emanuele Filiberto (Duke of Savoy!, 304,

Enrico

305, s s 6

De Luca, Benedetto, I I I

Engels, Friedrich, xviii, 43, 5 8, 1 10, 1 3 6, Del Vecchio, Giorgio, 173, 5 41

I S O, 1 3 3 , 303, 3 90, 399, 405, 4 1 9-10, De Madariaga, Salvador, 5 3 I

434, 438, 439, 5 1 8, S I 9, po, 5 18, 5 5 4

De Maistre, Joseph, I 77, 305-7, 478-79,

Epinay, Madame (Luoisel d', 3 68, 445

5 5 7

Ercole, Francesco, 180

De Man, Henri, 1 70, 1 I 6, 134, 469-70,

Etievant, Claude-Franctois, r oo, 3 7 7

5 I 3, 5 1 I

Eugene o f Savoy, 1 I o, s oB

Name Index

Fabbri, Federico, 29 5

Forges Davanzati, Roberto, I 66, 273, 462-

Fabbri, Luigi, I 4 5 , 4 3 3

63, 464-6 5

Fabietti, Ettore, 3 3 I , 5 66

Formiggini, Angelo Fortunato, 1 2 I , 406

Fabrizi de' Briani, Vittoria, I I I

Fortichiari, Bruno, 7 5 , 76, 79

Facchinei, Ferdinando, I 97, 498

Fortini Del Giglio, Ugo, I I I

Faccio, Rina. See Aleramo, Sibilla

Fortunato, Giustino, I 30, I 3 I , I 44, I 67, Facta, Luigi, 202, 5 00- I

4 1 2, 4 I 4, 430, 467

Faggi, Adolfo, I I I

Foucault, Michel, xix

Faina, Claudio, 309

Fovel, Massimo, 220-22, 5 I 3, s I 4

Faina, Eugenio, 309, 47 1

Fracchia, Umberto, I I 4, 389, 49 S

Falorsi, Guido, I I I

Fra Diavolo, see Pezza, Michele

Falqui, Enrico, I 9 3, 489, 49 5

Franceschi, Camillo de, 3 3 I , s 66

Fambri, Paolo, 329, 5 64

Franchi, Bruno, I IO

Fancello, Niccoli), 67, 463

Francioni, Gianni, xvi, xvii, 3 7 3, 5 3 2

Farina, Salvatore, 1 I I

Francis I I !King of the Two Sicilies I 8 S 9-

Farinelli, Arturo, 67

I 86 I ), 427

Fatima, 278

Francis of Assisi, 1 20, I 78, 223-24, 343,

Federzoni, Luigi, 273, 300, 465, S 4 I , S 52

404, 479

Fedin, Konstantin, 3 7 I

Francis Joseph I !Emperor of Austria

Felletti, Pier Gaetano, 3 8 5

I 848- I 9 I 6), I 3 S , 1 49, 4 I 8, 438

Fenu, Edoardo, I 77, 479

Frassati, Alfredo, 206, sos

Ferdinand I !King of the Two Sicilies

Frederick II !Holy Roman Emperor 1 2 20-

I 8 I 5 - I 82 5 ), 4 1 1

n sol, 304, 343 , 5 7 6

Ferdinand II !King of the Two Sicilies

Frei, Josef, 7 9

I 8 J I - I 8 S 9), 428

Freud, Sigmund, I 20, 404-s

Ferdinand V I King of Spain I 479- I s I 6 ),

Friscia, Alberto, r r o

3 80

Frisella Vella, Giuseppe, 3 5 8, s B r

Ferrari, Giuseppe, I 40, I 4 5 -46, 3 3 7, 424, Fubini, Elsa, xii, xiv, 4

428, 430, 4 3 3 , S 7 2

Fiilop-Miller, Rene, 5 27

Ferraris, Maggiorino, s s 2

Fumagalli, Maria Giuseppina, 1 1 2,

Ferrata, Giansiro, xi

387

Ferrero, Guglielmo, 1 1 6, 1 24, I 72, 397,

409, 464, 47 S , 484, S 7 I

Gabba, Carlo Francesco, I I I

Ferrero, Leo, I 84, 484

Galetto, Leo, 70

Ferri, Enrico, u 6, I 44, I 6 S , 3 I 7, 396, Galiani, Celestino, 209

406, 429, 463, 464, S I O

Galiani, Ferdinando, 1 5 2, 368, 445, s o6

Ferrini, Oreste, I I I

Gallarati Scotti, Tommaso, I 89, 489

Fichera, Filippo, 340

Gallavresi, Giuseppe, 3 34-3 5, 5 68

Fichte, Johann Gottlieb, 4 3 5

Galleani, Luigi, roo, 376, 377

Figgini, Guido, 496

Gallenga, Antonio, s 6o

Finzi, Aldo, 240, s 34

Galletti, Alfredo, 280

Fiori, Giuseppe, xiv

Gallo, Niccolo, xi

Fischer, Louis, 3 I 7

Galtey, see Gauthey, Jules

Flora, Francesco, 389, 466

Gamba, Quirino, 206, 505

Fogazzaro, Antonio, I 3 9, I 79, 423, 479,

Gambaro, Angiolo, 240-4 1, 5 34

489

Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand, 2 I 9

Fontaine, Nicolas, 384

Gangemi, Lello, I 9 I , 3 5 s , 494, s So

Fontana, Attilio, 9I, 3 I 2

Gardenghi, Pio, 220

Fontana Russo, Luigi, 2 5 5 , 5 3 6

Gargano, Giuseppe, 57 4

Ford, Henry, I 69, 303, 3 5 8, 468, S S 4

Garibaldi, Giuseppe, xviii, I 34, I 3 S, I 3 6, Foresti, Felice, I 8 s , 48 5

I 38, I 39, I 5 I , I 5 2, 302, 3 2 5 , 4 1 7, 42 I , Forgacs, David, xiii, xiv

422, 423, 44 I , 443, 493, 5 4 I , 5 44, 5 5 3

Name Index

5 9 9

Garofalo, Raffaele, 2 1 2, 3 0 I , 308, 429,

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 9 , I o, I 67,

s i o- I I , s s 3, s s 8- s 9

I 7 6, 399, 443, 467, 479

Garzia, Raffa, 66

Gogo!, Nikolai V., 3 6 6-67, 368

Gasco, Giuseppe, I IO

Gompers, Samuel, s , 5 29

Gatti, Angelo, 404

Goncharov, Ivan, 3 7 I

Gatti, Gerolamo, s 5 5

Gorgerino, Giuseppe, I 8 8

Gatto Roissard, Leonardo, I I I

Gorky, Maxim, 7 I

Gauthey, Jules, I O I , 3 7 7

Gothein, Eberhard, 284

Gay, Francisque, 3 I 6

Gotta, Salvator, 1 1 0, I I 3, 1 78, 386, 388

Gay, H . Nelson, 3 I 2, s 6o

Gozzi, Gasparo, I 6 S , I 7 3, 4 5 6, 476

Gay, Pilade, 404, 4 5 7

Gradassi-Luzi, Riccardo, I I I

Gazzera, Pietro, 3 27-28, 5 6 4

Graf, Arturo, I I I , 300, 3 26, 5 5 2

Gelfand, Alexander, see Helfand, Alexan-

Gramsci, Carlo, I , I 3, 22, 6 5 , 88-93 pas-der

sim, 3 67, 3 69, 389, so s, 5 I ?, 527

Gemelli, Agostino, I 82, 482-83

Gramsci, Delio, I , 8 2 , 84, 496

Gennari, Casimiro, 1 78

Gramsci, Emma, 65, 7 5

Gennari, Egidio, 79

Gramsci, Francesco, 6 5

Gentile, Giovanni, 69, I 07, I 3 I , I 8 S ,

Gramsci, Gennaro, I, 6 5 , 66, 78, 89

I 89, 2 1 1 , 2 I 6, 240, 2 8 3 , 367, 383, 4 I 3, Gramsci, Giuliano, I , 84

466, 483, 486, 489, 509, 5 1 2, 5 46

Gramsci, Grazietta, 6 5

Gentiloni, Vincenzo Ottorino, I 3 2, I 64,

Gramsci, Mario, I , 6 5 , 87

2 1 5 , 4 I S , 465

Gramsci, Teresina, I I, 65

Gerbi, Antonello, 303, S 54

Gramsci Marcias, Giuseppina, I 3, 6 5 , 9I

Gerratana, Valentino, xii, xiii, xiv-xviii,

Grant, Madison, 289-90, 549

4, 4 I , 3 66, p6

Grasset, Bernard, 340, 574

Geymonat, Ludovico, s 3 I

Gravina, Manfredi, 266, 300, 5 38, 5 5 2,

Giamberardino, Oscar di, 3 30, 5 66, 5 70

5 5 4

Giannini, Amedeo, I 7 4

Gray, Ezio Maria, I I I , 273, 5 4 I

Giannini, Fortunato, 3 6 8

Graziadei, Antonio, 7 6, 77, 78, I 2 S , 1 7 1, Gianturco, Mario, 3 5 8, 5 8 I

4 I O- I I , 47 I ·7 J

Giardino, Gaetano, 202

Grazioli, Bartolomeo, 4 I 8

Gide, Andre, 5 2 8

Greenway, Charles, 30I

Giglio, Carlo, 3 28, 5 6 4

Greppi, Emanuele, 272, 5 40

Giglio, Vittorio, 2 3 9, 5 3 3

Grieco, Ruggiero, 76, 78, 79, 425

Gioberti, Vincenzo, I 5 2, I 5 3, I 86, I 97,

Grinko, Grigori, 528

307, 437, 444"45, 4 5 2, 486, 5 5 7

Groethuysen, Bernard, I 6

Giolitti, Giovanni, I 3 I -32, I 42, I 44, 20 I

Groppali, Alessandro, I I I

s , 329, 3 9 5 , 3 96, 4 I 3 - I 4, 4 I S, 4 I 6, 428, Guadagnini, Ulisse, 343, 5 7 6

4 5 7, 46o-6 I , s o i , s o2, s o4, 5 34, s s 6, Gualino, Riccardo, I 6 I , 4 5 0

s 6 s

Guastalla, Rosolino, I 49

Giordani, Igino, s 3 I

Guerrazzi, Francesco Domenico, I 46,

Giordano, Mario, 76

1 90, 3 3 9, 434

Giovannetti, Eugenio, I 88, 489

Guicciardini, Francesco, 287-88, 480

Girone, Ugo, 5 20

Guidi, Angelo Flavio, I I I , 329, 564

Giudice, Maria, 70

Guidi, Michelangelo, 3 3 2, 5 68

Giuliano, Balbino, 70, I 8 3, 483

Guise, Henri Duke of, 342

Giulietti, Giuseppe, I 66, 466

Guyot, Yves, 3 1 7, 3 I 9, 3 24, 5 6 2

Giuliotti, Domenico, 1 78, 479

Giusti, Giuseppe, 447

Habta, Giorgis, 269

Gobetti, Piero, 2, 70, 75, 77, I 44, I S O,

Haile Selassie I (Emperor of Ethiopia

I 6 5 , I 80, 2 2 5 , 387, 4 I O, 4I I, 43 1 -32, I 930- I 974I, 268-69, 2 7 I , 543

46 I , 482, 5 I 5

Hamilton, Robert, 249

6oo

Name Index

Harding, Warren G., 262

Johnson, Samuel, 476

Harnack, Adolf, von, s 22

Joyce, James, 1 20, 40S

Hartmann, Ludo Moritz, 3 3 2, s 67

Junius, 2 9 I

Hartmann, Richard, 3 3 2

Hegel, G. W . F., xviii, I 5 3·5 4, I 94, 23 I ·

Kabakcev, Christo, 7 s

3 2 , 234, 3 70, 4 3 5 , 447, 5 I 8· I 9, 5 2 I Kahn, Otto, 30I

Helfand, Alexander, I S I , 441 ·42

Kamenev, Lev, 85

Henderson, Hamish, xiv

Kampffmeyer, George, 332

Henry, Emile, I oo, I O I , 3 7 6

Kant, Immanuel, I 87, 43S

Herriot, Edouard, I 3 9, I 6o, 42 3

Kaser, Kurt, I 6 3, 4 5 2

Herding, Georg, Graf von, I 9 s

Kautsky, Karl, S 7 I

Herve, Gustave, 3 20, 5 6 3

Kemal, Pasha, 3 3 4

Histermann, Bernhard, 5 40

Kennedy, Margaret, 3 6 9

Hitler, Adolf, 5 I

Khadija, 2 7 9

Hoare, Quintin, xiii, I S

Kipling, Rudyard, 368, 49 S ·96

Hoepker-Aschoff, I02

Kjellen, Rudolf, 284, S47

Hoffmann, Karl, 300- I

Klingsland, Z. St., 200

Hofmannsthal, Hugo von, 227

Koenigstein, Franc;ois August, I OO, 3 I o,

Hortis, Attilio, I I s

376

Hugenburg, Alfred, 2 7 4, 5 42

Krasnoff, Peter, 3 70, 3 72, 5 26

Hughes, Charles Evans, 301

Kropotkin, Peter, I O I , 3 7 7·78

Hugo, Victor-Marie, I 5 2, 2 S 5 , 340·4 I ,

Kun, Bela, 7 1

443, S 36

Humbert-Droz, Jules, 83, 8 s

Labanca, Baldassarre, I I I

Huntly MacCarty, Justin, 3 6 8

Labonne, Roger, 267, 5 3 8

Husayn ibn Ali, 2 7 8

Labriola, Antonio, I S O, 234, 440·4 I , 5 1 9

Husayn ibn Ali (King o f Hejaz I 908·

Labriola, Arturo, I I 6, I I 9, 3 3 2, 396, 40I , I 9 I 6 ), 278

462, 466, 5 2 I

L a Farina, Giuseppe, I S S , 486

Ibn Saud, 278, 279

Laloy, Emile, S 6 I

Ibrahim Pasha, 279

Lamarmora, Alfonso Ferrero, 277, S 4 3

Idris I (Sidi Muhammad Idris al-Mahdi

Lamartine, Alphonse Marie Louis de, 443

as-Sunusi, King of Libya I 9 S I · I 969),

Lambruschini, Raffaello, 240·4 I , 5 34

278, 279

Lamennais, Hugues-Felicite-Robert de,

Isgro, Michele, 88, 5 26

I 77, 24 I , 478

Istrati, Panait, 368

Lancaster, Joseph, 446

Isvolsky, Aleksandr, 303, s s S

Lanino, Pietro, 3 5 7· s 8, S 8 I

Iturbe, Augustin de (Emperor of Mexico

Lanza, Giovanni, 277, S 43, S 44

I 822 I 8 2 3 ), 260

Lanzalone, Giovanni, I I I

Ivan IV, the Terrible (Czar of Russia

Lanzillo, Agostino, 430, 463

l 5 47" I 5 84), 3 80

Lassalle, Ferdinand, 75, 3 1 8, 3 I 9

Lasserre, Pierre, 3 I 7, 5 6 I

Jacini, Stefano, 2 7 I -72, 329, 5 3 9, 5 64

Lattes, Emesto, I I I

Jacini, Stefano, jr., 27 I , 5 3 9

Lauria, Amilcare, I I I

Jahier, Piero, I 90, 492

Lavedan, Andre, 267

James, William, 1 20, 3 79, 40S , 5 2 2

Lawner, Lynne, xiv

Jannaccone, Pasquale, 3 8 I

Lawrence, T. E., 3 6 7

Janni, Ugo, I I O

Lay, Giovanni, 90

Jansens, 244

Lazzaretti, Davide, 48

Jaures, Jean, 3 1 8, 3 1 9-20, 5 6 3

Lazzari, Costantino, 69

Jemolo, Arturo Carlo, I 63, 4 5 2

Le Breton, Andre, 57 4

Jerome, Jerome K., 3 6 9

Lecavele, Roland, 3 6 8

Name Index

601

Le Chapelier, Isaac-Rene-Guy, I 48, I S O,

Lumbroso, Giacomo, 1 20, 40 I

I S S

Lunacharsky, Anatoly, 7 I

Lenin, V . 1., xviii, 24, 69, 7 I, 74, 8 I , 292, Luther, Martin, 4 5 2

3 9 S , 424, S 02, 5 28, s so, s s s

Luxemburg, Rosa, 4 4 I

Lenzi, Arturo, 1 1 9, 404

Luzio, Alessandro, I 49, I S 4, 240, 302,

Leo XIII, I 82, 268, 3 5 3, 3 7 6, 482, 483

438, 447, S 5 3

Leonardo da Vinci, 342

Luzzatti, Luigi, 1 1 6, 1 20, 1 24, 2 S 4, 3 9 6, Leone, Enrico, 462

409, 5 3 6

Leonetti, Alfonso, 70, 7 S , So, 89

Luzzatto, Leone, I I I

Leopardi, Giacomo, 444, s 8 3

Leskov, Nikolai, 368

Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 1 1 6, 2 I o,

Levi, Ezio, 3 4 I

2 3 2, s oB

Levi Minzi, Giacomo, I I I

Maccari, Mino, I 88, 224, 3 70, 372, 489,

Lewis, Sinclair, 5 29

S I S , 5 26, 5 27, 5 29

Libertini, Gesualdo, 302, 326-27, S 5 3,

MacDonald, J. Ramsay, s

s 6 3-64

Machiavelli, Niccolo, 23, 3 I, 3 S , 3 6, 3 7, Li Causi, Girolamo, So

38, 4 I , 5 7, 6 I , 87, I03, I 39-40, I S 7, Lienart, Achille, 3 5 3, S 7 9

230, 280-B I , 284, 287-88, 30S, 342,

Lij Eyasu, 2 6 8

3 80, 3 8 I , 447•48, 480, 48 I , S4S,

Lipparini, Giuseppe, I I I

S 46, S47

Lisa, Athos, 90

Macis, Enrico, 86, 87

Lloyd, George David, I I 5

Maffi, Fabrizio, 78, 82

Lo Forte Randi, Andrea, I I I

Magnaghi, Alberto, 1 2 I, 406

Lo Gatto, Ettore, 367, 5 29

Maioli, Giovanni, 1 84, 48 s

Lombardo-Radice, Giuseppe, 2 1 1 , s o9

Majorana, Salvatore, 3 S 8, s B 2

Lombroso, Cesare, 42, 44, 4 S , 46-48, I I 6, Makonnen (Ras o f Ethiopia), 268

398, 406, 429, S 4 I

Malaparte, Curzio, I 02, 1 24, I 93, 380,

London, Jack, 3 72, S 26, S 29

409 - I O, 49S, S I4, 5 2 7

Londres, Albert, 368

Malatesta, Errico, 1 43, 427-28, 433

Longobardi, Emesto Cesare, 462

Malon, Benoit, 3 2 S

Loria, Achille, 2S, 43"4S , 49" 5 3, s 6, I I I, Malthus, Thomas, I 7 2

I I 4· I 6, 1 1 9-20, I 67, I 7 I -72, 1 90, 227, Manacorda, Guido, 1 78, 306, 479

309, 3 8 I , 3 90-9 S, 406, 464, 472

Mancini, Pasquale Stanislao, 3 22, s 6 3

Louandre, Charles, 2 s s

Mandoul, J., 307, S 5 7

Louis XI (King of France I 46 I - I 4 8 3 ), 380

Manfroni, Giuseppe, 3 3 9

Louis XIV (King of France I 643 · I ? I S ),

Manin, Daniele, 239, 4 3 7 , 48 s , 5 3 3

2 3 S

Manin, Lodovico, 340

Louis X V (King of France I ? I S - I 774), 2 S S

Mann, Heinrich, 370, 372, 5 26, 5 29

Louis XVIII (King of France I 8 I 4 I 8 24),

Mantegazza, Vico, 2 S 9, 5 3 7

1 22, 407

Manzoni, Alessandro, 99, I o6, I 78, I 79,

Louis, Georges, 303, S S 4, S S S

I 9 I , 2 S S , 3 34, 373, 4 S I , 480- 8 I , 493-94, Louis, Paul, I S 4, 447, 5 3 I

S 3 6

Louis-Philippe (King of France I 8 3o-

Manzoni, Gaetano, 304, s s s

I 848), 340

Manzoni, Romeo, I I I

Luccheni, Luigi, 297, s 5 I

Marabini, Anselmo, 82

Lucidi, Guglielmo, 1 24, 409- I o

Maraviglia, Maurizio, I 66, 463, 464

Lucini, Gian Pietro, I I I

Marcello, Gerolamo, 302, s 5 3

Luciolli, Ludovico, 3 s o, 5 7 8

Marchand, Rene, 303

Ludovici, Anthony, 22 7

Marchese, Eugenio, 369

Ludwig, Emil, 207, 3 68, s o s - 6

Marchesi, Concetto, 367

Lumbroso, Alberto Emanuele, 1 1 9-20,

Marchi, Vittore, I I O

304, 40I , 404, s s s

Marescotti, Ercole Arturo, I I I

602

Name Index

Maria Sophia (Queen of Naples), I43,

Menabrea, Luigi Federico, 277, S 43, S 44

427, 428

Menelik II (Emperor of Ethiopia I 889-

Mariani, Alessandro 294, S s o

I 923 ), 268-70

Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso, S09

Mentana, see Galleani, Luigi

Maritain, Jacques, I 94, 3 7 I , 497

Mercatelli, Luigi, 2 9 S , 297, 299, 300, S s o, Marks, Louis, xii

S S I

Maroncelli, Pietro, 437, 438

Mercier (Cardinal), 376

Marrocco, Luigi, I I O

Merrneix, see Terrail, Gabriel

Martello, Tullio, I 46, 433

Messedaglia, Luigi, 328

Martin du Gard, Roger, 496

Mettemich, Klemens, Furst von, I 9 6

Martinet, Marcel, 7 I

Meysenbug, Malwida von, 47 S

Martini, Ferdinando, 29s, 5 30, s s o

Michel, Ersilio, 5 7 2

Marvasi, Vittorio, 343, 5 7 6

Michelangelo Buonarroti, 342, 5 7 S

Marx, Karl, xviii, I ?, 2 6 , 34, 5 2, 6 I , 68, Michels, Robert, 290, 3 I 8-26, 3 3 S , S 49, 70, 90, I I S , I I 8, I I 9, 1 3 6, I 47, I S O, s 62-63, s 69

I S I , I S 4, I ? I -72, I 98, 2 3 I - 32, 2 3 4, 296, Migliore, Benedetto, 49 3, S S 4

380- S I , 3 9 S , 398, 399-400, 40I , 4 I 8, Mignosi, Pietro, I 8o, 482

4 I 9, 420, 42 I , 434- 3 S , 438, 44 I , 464, Mikael (Ras of Ethiopia), 268

47 I , 47 S , 499, 5 1 8, S 2 I , 5 22, 5 28, S 7 I Minghetti, Marco, 277, S 44

Mary Ligny, Francesco de, s I I

Minoletti, Bruno, 289, S48

Marzani, Carl, xii

Minunni, ltalo, 220, s I 4

Marzorati, Angelo, I I I

Mioli, Carlo, 3 5 2

Masi, Gino, 3 4 I

Misiano, Francesco, 7 s

Massari, Amedeo, I I I

Missiroli, Mario, I 3 I , I SO, I 66, I 92, 203, Mataia, Enrico, S 40

329, 343, 4 I 3- I 4, 423, 466, s 6 s , s 76

Mathiez, Albert, 436

Mohammed, 278, 280

Matta, Enea, 72

Mohammed Ali, 279

Matteotti, Giacomo, 2, 8 I

Molteni, Giuseppe, I I 2, 387

Mattheos (Abune of Ethiopia), 269

Momigliano, Felice, I I I

Maupassant, Guy de, 368

Mommsen, Theodor, 288, S 48, 5 7 I

Maura, Antonio, I 9 s

Monanni, Giuseppe, I4S

Maurois, Andre, 3 69, 5 30

Mondini, A., 5 29, 53 I

Maurras, Charles, I 04, I O S , I 08, I s s , Mondolfo, Rodolfo, 397

I S 8-6 I , I 64, I 82, I 94-9 S , 2 7 3 , 3 I 7, 3 5 3, Mondolfo, Ugo Guido, 69

3 7 I , 382-83, 3 84, 402, 434, 447, 448,

Monicelli, Tomaso, 3 3 2, 462, s 67

449, 497

Monnier, Marc, 342, 5 7 S

Maximillian (Archduke of Austria, Em

Monroe, James, 260

peror of Mexico I 864- I 867 ), I 49, 2 6 I ,

Montagnana, Mario, 2-3, 40, 72, 7 5 , So

272

Montalambert, Charles de, 478

Mayer, Teodoro, 24s , 2 5 3, 468, 5 3 S

Montanari, Carlo, 4 I 8

Mazzini, Giuseppe, xviii, r 3 s , I 3 9, I 46, Montepin, Xavier Aymonde, I S , I 6

I 5 2, 3 1 2- I 3, 3 2 S , 400, 4 I 3, 4 I 7, 4 I 8 - I 9, Monti, Achille, I I I

42 I , 422, 423, 424, 478, 48 S , 486, s 6o, Monti, Vincenzo, 227, S I 7

s 6s

Monts, Anton, 282

Mazziotti, Matteo, 302, S S 3

Morandi, Carlo, 48 s

Mazzoldi, Luigi, I 8 s

Morando, Giuseppe, I I O

Mazzoni, Guido, 28o- 8 I , S 4 S , 5 7 S

Morano, Alberto, I 9 S

Meda, Filippo, I 9 S , 272, 280, 497, S 3 9

Moravia, Alberto, I 93, 4 9 S

Melani, Alfredo, I I I

Morelli, Gabriele, I I I

Melani, Corrado, 87

Morello, Vincenzo, 204, s o3, s o9

Meline, Felix-Jules, 298

Moreno, Gabriel Garcia, I 9 S , 497

Melzi, Giovanni Battista, 1 26

Morgan, John Pierpont, 2 S O

Name Index

Moroncini, Francesco, 3 5 9, 5 82

Nurra, Pietro, 3 4 I , 4 5 8, 574

Morozzo della Rocca, Enrico, 422

Nuzzo, Giuseppe, 3 5 9, 5 82

Morselli, Enrico, 1 I I

Mortara, Edgardo (Pio), I I O, 3 8 5 -86

Obregon, Alvaro, I 96, 497

Mortara, Giorgio, 1 68, 348, 349, 3 67, 3 7 1 , O'Connell, Daniel, 1 9 5, 478

468, 5 7 7

Ognev, Nikolai, 367

Mosca, Gaetano, 5 49

Ojetti, Ugo, I I 2, I I 4, I 3 2, I 66, 297, 3 8 7-Mosca, Rodolfo, 48 5

88, 4 I 6, 466-67

Mosconi, Antonio, 5 2 8

Oliva, Domenico, 53 I

Masse, Rudolph, 2 7 4

Olivetti, Angelo Oliviero, 3 3 7

Mosso, Pietro, 7 1

Olivetti, Camillo, 248

Motta, Giacinta, 239, 5 3 3

Ollivier, Emilio, 342, 5 7 5

Murat, Joachim (King of Naples r 8o8-

Omodeo, Adolfo, 3 6, I 3 9, 423

r 8 I 5 ), I 40, 266, 423, 5 3 8

Orano, Paolo, 1 1 9, 1 44, 400- I , 430, 462, Muret, Maurice, 370, 372, 5 2 7

464

Murri, Romola, I I I, 4 5 5 , 5 66

Orestano, Francesco, 283, 546

Mussolini, Arnalda, 5 46

Oriani, Alfredo, I 66, I 92, 3 3 6, 5 70

Mussolini, Benito, 4, I 7, 20, 78, B I , 8 5 , Orlandi, Venezia, 368

8 6 , 9 1 , 1 3 2, I 68, 267, 270, 276, 288, Orlando, Vittorio Emanuele, 205, 267,

po, 321, 3 32, 3 78-79, 3 8 6, 388, 3 9 5 ,

3 IO, 3 9 5 , 5 04, 5 2 1

396, 403, 408, 4 1 6, 457, 4 6 3 , 468, 5 0 I , Orsi, Delfino, 3 3 5 , 3 3 6, 5 6 9

503, 5 04, 5 27, 5 29, 5 3 3, 5 34, 5 3 5, 5 42, Orsini, Felice, I J 6, I 3 9, 42 I

543, s 4s, 5 5 4, 5 67, 5 68

Ottolenghi, Raffaele, I 09, I I o, 3 8 5

Ovecka, Veriano, 347, 5 77

Nairn, Tom, xiv

Naldi, Filippo, u 6, 1 26, 203, 220, 3 9 5 ,

Pagni, Carlo, 220, 22 I , 5 1 3

5 0 3

Pais-Serra, Francesco, I 3 2, 4 I 4

Napoleon Bonaparte, I 09, I 3 9, I 40, I 46,

Palazzi, Fernando, I 04, I I 2, 382, 388

I 47, I 5 1 , 207, 2 3 I , 2 5 5 , 304, 3 3 9, 344

Palazzo, Costanza, I I I

Napoleon III (Louis-Napoleon), I 46, 2 I S ,

Pallavicino, Giorgio, I 49, I S S , 437, 485

2 5 5, 2 6 I , 42 I , 5 69

Palma Castiglione, G. E. di, 3 30, 5 6 5

Nardi, Vittorio, I I O

Palmarocchi, Roberto, 430

Nasalli Rocca, Saverio, 5 8 3

Panella, Antonio, 280

Natoli, Luigi, I 32, 4 I 5

Panferov, Feodor, 5 28

Naumann, Friedrich, 3 I 8

Panfilo, see Caprin, Giulio

Navarria, Aurelio, 49 5

Pangalos, Theodoros, 267, 5 3 8

Necker, Jacques, 2 5 3, 5 3 5

Panie, Felice, 404

Negri, Ada, 2 9 I , 300, 5 49

Pankhurst, Sylvia, 72

Negri, Gaetano, 272, 5 40

Pantaleoni, Maffeo, 40 1

Nelson, Horatio, 226, 4 1 2, 5 I 6

Panunzio, Sergio, 463

Nenni, Pietro, 2 2 I

Panzini, Alfredo, I 04, I I I , I I 2- I 3, I I 4, Neruda, Jan, 5 29

I 49, 3 82, 3 s s, 3 89, 438, 4Bo, 5 6 5

Niccodemi, Dario, I 6

Papini, Giovanni, I 02, I 04, 1 1 3, 1 2 I ,

Niceforo, Alfredo, I 44, 429

I 66, I 7 3 , 1 78, I 8o, I 88, 3 69, 379, 3 8 I -

Nigra, Costantino, 3 3 5 - 3 6, 5 69

82, 388, 405, 406, 409, 466, 467, 476,

Nitti, Francesco Saverio, I I 6, I 3 2, 202-4, 479, 482, 488, 5 68

205, 206, 3 1 0, 3 9 5 , 4 I 6, 430, 5 00, 5 0 1 , Paratore, Giuseppe, 346, 5 77

5 02, 5 3 5

Pareto, Vilfredo, 469, 5 49

Nono Villari, Maria, I I I

Parini, Giuseppe, I 86, 487

Novaro, Angiolo Silvio, I I o

Parmegiani, G., 365, 5 2 5

Nowell Smith, Geoffrey, xiii

Parodi, Dominique, I 09, 3 8 5

Nunzio, Paolo, I I O

Partesotti, Atillio, I 9 6

Name Index

Parvus, see Helfand, Alexander

Pitre, Giuseppe, I S6, 4S7·SS

Pascarella, Cesare, r S7, 369, 4SS

Pitt, Wiliam, 249

Pascali, Giovanni, 9, I 6 6, I 90, 295-300,

Pius VII, 306

464, 493, s s o s i

Pius IX, I S O, 3 7 3, 3 7 5 , 445, 4S I , 47S, Pasolini Ponti, Maria, 3 5 S, 5 S2

4S3, 5 57

Passarge, Clara, 8 I

Pius X, 1 3 8, 306, 4 1 5

Passarge, Giorgio, S I

Pius XI, 1 22, I 3 S, 5 79

Passavanti, Jacopo, I ? S, 479

Pizzi, Italo, I I I

Passigli, Giuseppe, 220, s I4

Platone, Felice, x, xi, xiii, 40, So

Pastore, Annibale, 6S

Plon-Plon, see Bonaparte, Gerolamo

Pastore, Ottavio, 70, 75, So, 4 I O, 4 5 7

Plutarch, 3 7 I

Peano, Giuseppe, 2 3 3 , 5 20

Podrecca, Guido, I I I , 4 5 6

Pedrazzi, Orazio, 36S

Poerio, Carlo, 3 5 9

Peirce, C. S., 3 7 9

Poggi, Alfredo, I I O

Pellico, Silvio, 4 3 7 , 43S

Pokrovsky, Mikhail, p S

Pellizzi, Camillo, I I 4, 3S9

Polano, Luigi, 7 5

Penne, Giovanni Battista, r I O

Polifilo, see Beltrami, Luca

Pera, Luigi, I r o

Pollera, Alberto, 2 9 5 , s s o

Perego, Pietro, I S 5

Pollio, Alberto, 203, 5 03

Perino, Edoardo, 3 3 9, 5 74

Ponson du Terrail, Pierre-Alexis, 1 5

Perla, Luigi, I 9 I

Pantano, Gioviano, 2 S4, 547

Perri, Francesco, I I 3 , 36S, 3 S 9

Ponti, Gian Giacomo, 2 2 I

Perrone, Mario Ferdinanda, 204, 503

Porro, Francesco, I 1 1

Perrone, Pio, 204, 503

Potocka, Anna, 5 3 I

Pertini, Sandro, 91

Pozzoni, Carlo, 1 72, 473-74

Perucci, Ugo, 1 1 0

Prampolini, Camillo, I 6 S , 204, 234, 4 6 1 , Pessagno, Giuseppe, 3 5 2

477

Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich, 2 I I , 446, 509

Predieri, Giovanni, 1 1 I

Petain, Henri Philippe, 3 S 3

Premoli, Palmiro, 1 2 6

Petrarch !Francesco Petrarca), 2So

Prestinenza, Antonio, I 5 2, 443

Petrini, Domenico, I 6 7

Preziosi, Giovanni, I 1 1, 220, 426

Petrocchi, Policarpo, 3 6 7

Prezzolini, Giuseppe, 5 , 44, 66, 67, 76,

Petronius Arbiter, 370, 3 7 2

102, I I 6, 1 2 1 , 1 2 5 , 1 3 1 , 1 44, 1 87-88, Pezza, Michele ! Fra Diavolo), 342, 5 7 5

223, 225, 326, 370, 3 7 2, 3 79, 406, 409,

Philip, Andre, 1 6 3, 1 69, 4 5 3- 5 4, 469

4 1 1 , 4 1 4, 430, 4 3 1 , 463, 4SS, 5 1 4- 1 5, Pianell, Giuseppe Salvatore, 1 40, 344,

5 26, 5 29, 5 30, s 67

345, 424

Price, Richard, 249

Piastra, Gino, 36S

Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph, I 46, 1 90, 3 1 7,

Picardi, Vincenzo, 1 1 4, 392

433, 492, S 6 I

Piccardi, Guido, 1 1 0

Proust, Marcel, 1 20, 3 7 1

Piccone, Paul, xiv

Puccinelli, Vittorio, 9 3

Pieri, Fiero, 1 S4, 4S 5

Puccio, Luigi, 1 I 1

Pietropaolo, Francesco, I I 1

Pujo, Maurice, 1 s 9

Pignato, Luca, r So

Puoti, Basilio, 2 3 2, s 1 9

Pilnyak, Boris, 369

Puricelli, Fiero, 5 6 S

Pilo, Mario, I 1 1

Pilot, Antonio, 340

Quadrelli, Emilio, 227, 5 1 6

Pilsudsky, Josef, 200

Quadrelli, Ercole, 1 1 1

Piou, Jacques, 3 1 6

Quintarelli, G., 5 6 4

Pirandello, Luigi, 9, r o, 23, S7, 1 30, 1 62, 36S, 399, 4 I 3, 4 5 0, 479

Rabelais, Fran�;ois, 367

Pisacane, Carlo, I 3 9, 1 40, 422-23, 4 3 3

Rabezzana, Pietro, 1 72, 473

Name Index

6os

Raimondi, Giuseppe, 1 90, 492

Rodolico, Niccolo, 305, 306, 307, 5 5 7,

Raimondo, Orazio, 2 3 4, 5 2 2

5 5 8

Rakosi, Matyas, 7 5

Roguenant, Arthur, 3 7 5

Rambelinsky, 405

Rolland, Romain, I 2, 6 8 , 7 I , 92, 9 3 , 474-Ramorino, Felice, s 30

7 5

Ramuz, Charles-Ferdinand, 369

Romani, Giovanni, 34 I

Ranieri, Antonio, 3 5 9, 5 8 3

Romano, Pietro, I I I

Rapisardi, Mario, 1 5 2, 3 86, 443

Romier, Lucien, I 69, 468

Rappoport, Karl, 3 20

Root, Elihu, 263, 264

Rastignac, see Morello, Vincenzo

Rosa, Enrico, I 1 2, 3 5 3, 3 8 I -82, 3 8 7

Rastoul, Amand, I 7 7

Rosengarten, Frank, xiv

Rattazzi, Urbano, 277, 5 4 3 -44

Rosmini Serbati, Antonio, I 62, I 86, 24 I ,

Raulich, Italo, 239, 5 3 3

2 5 5, 444, 45 I -5 2

Ravachol, see Koenigstein, Fran�ois

Rosselli, Carlo, 2 , 3 97, 470

August

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, I 90, 493

Ravagnan, Riccardo, 84

Rossetti, Giuseppe, 266

Ravazzoli, Paolo, 84, 89

Rossi, Emesto, 397

Raveggi, Pietro, I I I

Rossi Case, Luigi, I I I

Ravera, Camilla, 78, 84

Rostovtzev, Mikhail, 5 7 I

Remarque, Erich Maria, 369

Rota, Ettore, 208, 5 06

Remond, Paul, 3 I 6

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 2 I I, 446

Remy, Tristan, 3 7 I

Royce, Josiah, I 94, 497

Renda, Antonio, I I O

Rudas, L., 473

Renn, Ludwig, 3 70

Ruffini, Francesco, 67, 240, 306, 402, 5 5 7

Renner, Karl, 5 67

Ruffo di Bagnara, Fabrizio, I 3 0, 4 I I - I 2, Rensi, Giuseppe, I I O, 397

5 7 5

Repaci, Leonida, So, I I 4, I 24, 389, 408

Rugiu, Vittorio, I 44, 430

Repossi, Luigi, 7 5 , 76, 82, 4 5 0

Rurik, 287

Rerum Scriptor, see Salvemini, Gaetano

Russo, Luigi, I 2 I , 406, 5 3 I, 5 5 4

Revel, Bruno, 496

Reynaud, Louis, 104-6, 382

Sabatier, Paul, I 20, 404

Riboldi, Ezio, 87, 90

Sacchetti-Parvis, Felicina, 5 5 2

Ricardo, David, 43 5

Sacchi, Alessandro, I I I

Ricci, Federico, 3 I 4, 3 I S , 5 60

Sacchi, Bice, I I I

Ricci, Umberto, 1 70, 393, 469

Saint-Simon, Claude-Henri de Rouvroy,

Rice, J. P., 3 5 7, 5 8 I

I 94, 24 I , 3 2 I

Ridolfi Bolognesi, Pietro, I I O

Salandra, Antonio, I 3 2, 2 0 I , 203, 204,

Rignano, Eugenio, 5 67

4 I 6, 5 02, 5 04

Riva, Giovanni, 1 1 2, 387

Salata, Francesco, I 49, 3 5 9, 436, 5 8 3

Rivaroli, Antoine ( Rivarol), 42, I 02,

Salimbene d a Parma, 343, 5 7 6

378

Salvadori, Giulio, I 90, 493 -94

Riviere, Jacques, 1 76, 477-78

Salvatorelli, Luigi, I 44, 43 I

Riviere, Paul Louis, 53 I

Salvemini, Gaetano, 44, 66, 68, 69, I I 6,

Rizzi, Fortunato, I 04-6, I I I, 382, 3 8 3

I 2 I, I J I , I J 2, I43, I 44, I 6 S , 370, 397, Robert o f Anjou (King o f Sicily I 297-404, 4 I 4, 4 I 6, 4 I 8, 427, 430, 436, 4 5 0, I 343 ), 3 4 I

4 5 7, 463, s ao, 5 02, 5 40, 5 67, s 6 8

Robespierre, Maximilien, 1 3 6, I 48

Salvioli, Giuseppe, 3 3 7, 5 70, 5 7 1

Robilant, Carlo Felice Nicolis di, 3 29,

Salvotti, Antonio, I 49, 437-38

5 64, 5 6 5

Sandona, Augusto, 1 96, I 9 7, 497, 498

Rocchi, Enrico, 343, 5 7 5

Sangnier, Marc, 3 I 6

Rocco, Alfredo, 273, 402, 406, 5 4 1 -42

Sanna, Giovanni, 76, 1 1 6, 397

Rockefeller, John D., 30I

Sanna, Malvina, 1 4, r 6

6o6

Name index

Santarosa, Santorre De Rossi di, I S6, 4S7

Siotto-Pintor, Manfredi, I I I

Santoro, Maddalena, I S4, 4S5

Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, 3 32, 3 3 4, s 6 S

Santucci, Antonio, xii

Slataper, Scipio, 5 67-6S

Saporito, Filippo, 92

Smorgorzenski, Casimir, 3 I 7

Sardofontana di Riella, Francesco Paolo,

Sobrero, Mario, I I 3, 3SS

I 46

Soffici, Ardengo, I 02, I03, I 7 3, 379, 476

Sarfatti, Margherita, I 02, I I 3, 3 7S-79,

Solaro della Margarita, Clemente, 306,

3SS

5 5 7

Savarese, Nino, I93, 495

Solitro, Giuseppe, I S 5 , 4S6

Sbaraglini, Giuseppe, S6

Salmi, Arrigo, 3 3 7, S ? I -72

Sbarretti, Donato, 3 52

Sonnino, Giorgio Sidney, I 99, 267, 344,

Scala, Stefano, 2 I 4

499

Scarfoglio, Carlo, I 42-43, 425

Sorani, Aldo, 57 4

Scarfoglio, Edoardo, I 42-43, 425, pS

Sorbelli, Albano, 3 3 7, 5 7 2

Scarfoglio, Paolo, 42 5

Sorel, Georges, 5 I , I I 9, I 66, I S9, I 92, Scarfoglio, Salvatore, 425

I 9S, 290, 3 I 7, 324, 325 ·26, 3 S I , 396, Scartazzini, Giovanni Andrea, 443

40 I , 49 I , 5 49, 5 6 I , 563

Schanzer, Carlo, 343, 5 7 6

Soriga, Renate, 3 3 8, 5 7 3

Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm, 4 3 5

Spaini, Alberto, s 6 S

Scherillo, Michele, 2So, 2S4, 2 9 I , 5 49

Spaventa, Silvio, 209, 506-7

Schiavi, Alessandro, I 69, 234, 469, P I

Spectator, see Missiroli, Mario

Schirmer, Alfred, 5 3 I

Spellanzon, Cesare, 276, 5 43, 5 44

Schmitz, Ettore, see Svevo, ltalo

Spengler, Oswald, 5 I, 303, 5 5 4

Schucht, Eugenie, S4

Sperber, Hans, 5 3 I

Schucht, Julia, I, I 3, 24, 64, 77, S2, S4, Speri, Tito, 4 I S

S7, S9, 93, 39S, 404- 5 , 44 5 , 5 09, 5 70-7 I Sperindeo, G., 4 9 I

Schucht, Tatiana (Tanya), I, 3 -4, 5, ?- I I

Spirito, Ugo, 2 I 6, 469, S I 2

passim, I 4, 22, 24, 29-30, 3 2, 3 6, 3S,

Spriano, Paolo, xi, 3

S3, S7, S9, 9 I -94 passim, 365, 3 70, 3 7 I , Sraffa, Piero, I , 3-4, 5 , S, 3 S, So, S6, S7, 372, 374, 3 SO, 3 S4, 3 S6, 3 S S, 39S, 405, 9I, 93, 4 3 5 . 4S4

407, 4 I 4, 434, 436, 445 . 449, 462, 46S,

Stalin, losif V., 4, 8 5 , 442, 5 67

469, 4S I , 4S4, 496, 497, 5 02, 5 07, 5 1 2, Starkenburg, Heinz, 5 S

S I ?, 5 2 5 , 5 27, pS, 5 3 3, 5 5 3, 5 5 4, 5 62, Steed, Henry Wickham, I 89, 490

5 64

Steele, Richard, 4 5 6

Schuster, Felix, 2 5 I

Steinthal, H . , 374

Sciortino, Giuseppe, I SO, 3 S9, 4S2

Strauss, Richard, 227

Scoccimarro, Mauro, 7 S, 79, So, S4, SS

Stresemann, Gustav, 275, 276, 543

Scucchia, Angelo, 90

Sturzo, Luigi, 40S

Sella, Quintino, 276-77, 2SS, 2S9, 543,

Suckert, Kurt Erich, see Malapane, Cur5 44. 54S

zio

Serge, Victor, So

Sue, Eugene, I S , I 6, 45, 46, I I 6, I 3 9, Sergi, Giuseppe, I I I, 406

39S, 423

Serrati, Giacinto Menotti, 69, 72, 76, 7S,

Svevo, Italo, 1 20, 405

S2, S4, 203, 206, 5 02

Siciliani, Luigi, I S9, 490

Tafari Makonnen, see Haile Selassie I

Siegfried, Andre, s 3 I

Taine, Hippolyte-Adolphe, 3 34, 5 22, s 6S

Sieroszewski, Waclaw, 369

Takahira, 263, 264

Sighele, Scipio, 273, 5 4 I , 542

Tanari, Giuseppe, I45, 309- 1 2, 466, 5 5 9

Sillani, Tomaso, I I 9, 40 I -3

Tarchiani, Nello, 342, 5 7 5

Sillon, 3 I 6

Tarozzi, Giuseppe, 466

Silva, Pietro, 3 3 7, 5 70, S ? I , 5 7 2

Tasca, Angelo, 67, 6S, ?I, 72, 76, 77, 7S,

Simonds, Frank, 276, 5 4 3

79, 4 5 5

Name Index

607

Tasso, Torquato, 443

Ugoni, Filippo, I 8 5

Tavolato, Italo, I 7 3, 476

Ulpiani, Celso, 329

Taylor, Frederick Winslow, 1 28, I 5 2,

Umberto I ( King of Italy I 87 8 - 1 900),

I 6?, I 88, 2 3 6, 3 5 7, 467

428

Tazzoli, Enrico Napoleoni, I 86, 487

Tecchi, Bonaventura, I I ?, 389, 3 9 9

Vailati, Giovanni, 405

Tempio, Domenico, I 5 2, 443

Valdamini, Angelo, I I I

Terracini, Umberto, ? I, 74, 75, 76, 79,

Valentino, see Borgia, Cesare

So, 88, 89

Valenziani (Senator), 5 5 3

Terrail, Gabriel, 3 I 6

Valeri, Nino, 387

Tettoni, Adolfo, 203, 5 02

Valli, Luigi, 1 90, 493

Thomas a Kempis, 1 78, 479

Valois, Georges, I 5 9, 3 I 7

Thomas, Albert, 3 5 2, 5 78

Valori, Aldo, 346, 5 7 7

Tiepolo, Maria, 234

Varanini, Varo, I 8 3

Tilgher, Adriano, I I ?, I 90, I 9 2, 3 3 7, 3 3 8, Vare, Daniele, 3 30, 5 6 5

398-99, 492, 49 5 , 5 70, 5 7 3

Varisco, Bernardino, 1 r o

Timeus, Ruggero, 5 67

Vasmer, Max, S J I

Tirpitz, Alfred von, 3 60, 5 8 3

Vaugeois, Henri, I 5 9

Titta Rosa, Giovanni, I 02, I 9 3, 380, 3 89, Vecchi, Nicola, 2 2 I , 5 1 7

494

Venizelos, Eleutherios, 267, 5 3 8

Tittoni, Tommaso, 2 4 I , 2 5 3 -5 4, 303 -4,

Ventura, Gioacchino, 1 77, 478

3 3 5 , 5 34-3 5 , 5 3 6, 5 47, 5 5 4, 5 5 5 , 5 5 6, Veracissimus (and Verax), see Tittoni,

569

Tommaso

Toesca, Pietro, 67

Vercesi, Ernesto, 5 29, 5 3 I

Togliatti, Palmiro, 2-3, 5 , 40, 66, 67, 69-Verdinois, Edoardo, 205, 5 04

7 5 passim, 79-8 5 passim, 4 5 6

Verga, Giovanni, I 3 5 , I 5 2, 406, 42 I, 444

Tolstoy, Leo, 3 68, 3 69, 3 7 I , 5 30

Vespucci, Amerigo, 406

Tommasini, Francesco, 2 5 9, 260, 26 5,

Vialatoux, J., I 94, 497

329, 5 3 7, 5 6 5

Viazzi, Pio, I I I

Tonetti, Giovanni, 78

Vico, Giambattista, 424

Torraca, Francesco, I 32, 4 1 7

Victor Emmanuel, see Vittorio Emanuele

Torre, Andrea, 202, 500, 5 7 8

Vidari, Giovanni, 1 I 1

Torresani, Carlo, I 9 6

Vieth von Golssenau, Arnold, see Renn,

Toscanelli, Nello, 309, 5 5 9

Ludwig

Toscano Stanziale, Nicola, I I O

Viglino, C., 477

Tosini, Casimiro, I I O

Viglongo, Andrea, 69-70, 72

Toumay, Cecilia de, I ?2, 474

Villanova D' Ardenghi, Bruno, I r I

Tresso, Pietro, 8o, 89

Villari, Luigi, I I I , 3 29, 3 5 9, 5 64, 5 82

Trevelyan, George Macaulay, 239, 5 3 3

Villari, Pasquale, I I I, 284

Treves, Claudio, 4 5 7

Villon, Fran'Vois, 368

Tritonj, Romolo, 307, 308, 5 5 8

Vita-Finzi, Paolo, 5 42

Trombetti, Gustavo, 9 I , 9 2

Vittorio Emanuele II ( King of Italy I 849-

Trotsky, Leon, xviii, 24, 77, 78, 8 5 , 90, I 8 6 I ), 1 3 6, 3 3 9, 422, 437, 5 44, 5 69

I 5 I , 3 72, 442, 5 09, 5 27, 5 2 8

Vittorio Emanuele III (King of Italy 1 900-

Tucci, Giuseppe, 3 30, 5 6 6

1 944), 5 0 1

Tulli, Enrico, 87, 90

Vivante, Angelo, 3 3 I , 3 3 2, 5 66-67

Turati, Filippo, 45, I I 6, 1 2 1 , 3 I ?, 396, Volpe, Gioacchino, 3 3 7, 3 5 9, 5 72, 5 8 3

406-7, 4 5 7, 483, 50I, 5 02

Volpi, Giuseppe, 2 4 1 , 5 3 5

Turati, Giampiero, I I O

Volpicelli, Amaldo, 2 1 6, 5 1 2

Turchi, Nicola, 529

Voltaire, 487

Turgenev, Ivan, 369, 3 7 I

Vossler, Karl, 7

Turki, 279

Vota, Giuseppe, 77, 79

6o8

Name Index

Wagner, (Wilhelm) Richard, 479

Zama, Piero, 3 3 6, 5 70

Wahhab, Mohammed ibn Abd el-, 279

Zauditu (Empress of Ethiopia I 9 I 7 - I 9 30),

Weber, Max, 3 1 8, 3 I 9, 549, 5 62

268-69

Weydemeyer, Joseph, 4 I 9

Zerboglio, Adolfo, I I I , I 97, 498

Wilde, Oscar, 3 72, p6, 52. 9

Zeromski, Stefan, 367

Wilder, Thornton, 5 30

Zibordi, Giovanni, I65, 2. 1 6, 2.34, 46 I ,

William II (Emperor of Germany I 888-

5 I 3, S l i

I 9 I 8 ), 2.08, 345

Zingarelli, Nicola, 3 1 2., 5 5 9

Wilson, (Thomas) Woodrow, 262., 5 04

Zini, Zino, 7 5 , So

Windthorst, Ludwig, 1 9 5 , 2.68

Zinoviev, Grigorii, 7 I , 77, 78, 8 5

Witos, Wincenty, 200

Zita o f Bourbon (Empress o f Austria),

Wizner, Aron, 70

I43, 42.7

Wolf, Theodor, 274

Zola, Emile, I 79

Zucca, Antioco, I I I

Yahya ibn-Mohammed Hamid, 278-So

Zuccarini, Oliviero, uo

Zucchelli, Torquato, I I I

Zadei, Guido, I 77, I S S

Zunini, Carlo, 505

Zagari, Guglielmo, 430

Zuppone-Strani, Giuseppe, 2.95, 297, 5 5 0,

S S I

Document Outline

- Cover

- Title

- Copyright

- Contents

- Preface

- Acknowledgments

- Introduction

- Chronology

- Prison Notebooks

- Notebook 1. 1929-1930. First Notebook

- Notebook 2. 1929-1933. Miscellaneous I

- Notes

- Notebook 1. Description of the Manuscript

- Notes to the Text

- Notebook 2. Description of the Manuscript

- Notes to the Text

- Illustrations/ Portfolio

Table of Contents

- Cover

- Title

- Copyright

- Contents

- Preface

- Acknowledgments

- Introduction

- Chronology

- Prison Notebooks

- Notebook 1. 1929-1930. First Notebook

- Notebook 2. 1929-1933. Miscellaneous I

- Notes

- Notebook 1. Description of the Manuscript

- Notes to the Text

- Notebook 2. Description of the Manuscript

- Notes to the Text

- Illustrations/ Portfolio

Table of Contents

Cover

Title

Copyright

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chronology

Prison Notebooks

Notebook 1. 1929-1930. First Notebook

Notebook 2. 1929-1933. Miscellaneous I

Illustrations/ Portfolio

Notes

Notebook 1. Description of the Manuscript

Notes to the Text

Notebook 2. Description of the Manuscript

Notes to the Text