Talk:Antonio Gramsci

Definition of cultural hegemony[edit]

Cultural hegemony is the idea that the dominant ideology of society—the beliefs, explanations, perceptions, values and morals—reflects that of the ruling class. The dominant ideology justifies the social, political and economic status quo as natural, inevitable, perpetual and beneficial for everyone, rather than as artificial social constructs that benefit only the ruling class.
- Quote attributed to Gramsci, e.g. here, no source found

“To tell the truth is revolutionary”[edit]

Section added. Nbarth 23:18, 11 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"To tell the truth is revolutionary." is not a Gramsci's sentence. He put it on the frontpage of his paper but I think the author is German socialist Lassalle--131.114.116.44 11:50, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Long March?[edit]

One of the quotes most attributed to Gramsci (in English) is “long march through the institutions” – also rendered as “long march through the culture” or “slow march”. Though this is frequently quoted, I am unable to find a reference – any assistance?

In Italian, “Long March” is “lunga marcia”, while “slow” is “lenta”, and “through institutions” is “nelle istituzioni”, I believe. However, searching on any combination of these does not seem to give primary references.

For now I’ve listed the quote in “Unsourced”.

—Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 23:29, 11 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

For example, Gramsci is quoted in

Patrick J. Buchanan, Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization (New York: St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books, 2001), p. 77.

though it does not give a reference.

—Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 23:55, 11 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Turns out the quote is instead misattributed – that’s what the editor of the English language critical edition of the Prison Notebooks says, which is as authoritative as you can get. (That explains why I couldn’t find it.) I’ve moved it to “Misattributed” and given a citation.

—Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 04:10, 30 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, the quote is clearly due to Rudi Dutschke, originally „Der lange Marsch durch die Institutionen“. The German Wikipedia article Marsch durch die Institutionen elaborates this and is extensively referenced. I’ve corrected the page to make this clear.

For reference, some other discussion of use and attribution which would but bloat the main page:

The phrase is associated with the Italian Communist Party (PCI); see citations in Encounter, Volume 50, 1978, pp. 20 & 22, notably with Altiero Spinelli.
Also attributed to PCI by Radio Free Europe in 1983; see Italian Communist Blueprint for European Unity. In these references, the institutions in question are European institutions, in the form of the early European Union.

—Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 07:37, 17 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Likely false quote[edit]

On many websites, this quote is attributed to Gramsci: "Socialism will triumph by first capturing the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches and the media by transforming the consciousness of society." Searching google books for specific phrases like "infiltration of schools, universities, churches" turns up only a few examples of books and journals that clearly include the quote, but they either give no citation or only cite articles that themselves lack any citation to Gramsci's writings (for example, this book attributes it to this article, and this journal attributes it to this article). What's more, searching for some other phrases, I found a quote from a 1999 novel called The Master Plan by Al Duncan, a Christian "End Times" story along the lines of Left Behind, in which a character describes how an Illuminati-like group called "The Elites" had achieved power: "They triumphed by capturing the culture via subversion of schools, universities, churches, the media, and other societal and religious institutions." (p. 86 of the kindle edition) Needless to say, Gramsci is not mentioned anywhere in the novel, and I haven't found any examples of the similar quote being attributed to Gramsci before 1999. Hypnosifl (talk) 20:05, 1 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like that book was quoting an earlier 1996 "non-fiction" book called Unholy Alliances: The Secret Plan And The Secret People Who Are Working To Destroy America, discussed in this tweet thread, which says 'The book is a standard Freemasonic-Vatican-New World Order conspiracy theory tract'. The book mixed a Gramsci quote with the author's own summary, which later authors incorporated into the fake quote: Radical leftist Antonio Gramsci in May 1916 remarked: "Socialism is precisely the religion that must overwhelm Christianity." In The New Order, Marxist Gramsci explained that Socialism would triumph by first capturing the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches and the media by transforming the consciousness of society. Hypnosifl (talk) 23:04, 21 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Unsourced[edit]

The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions and without becoming disillusioned.

Only they who can keep their heart strong and their will as sharp as a sword when the general disillusionment is at its worst can be regarded as a fighter for the working class or called a revolutionary.

I hate the indifferent. I believe that living means taking sides. Those who really live cannot help being a citizen and a partisan. Indifference and apathy are parasitism, perversion, not life. That is why I hate the indifferent.