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The Italian Communist leader Antonio Gramsci was both a political activist and theorist.

During his imprisonment by the fascist regime in Italy from 1926 until his death 1937, he wrote his posthumously published Prison Notebooks. Working from Leninist principles, he developed the conception of hegemony in Marxist theory, in order to explains how a dominant class rules.

Gramsci emphasised a less dogmatic variety of Marxism than the contemporary Stalinist orthodoxy, and his thinking has subsequently had considerable impact around the globe, including in Australia.

Resources

Books

• Connell, R. W, Ruling class, ruling culture, Studies of conflict, power and hegemony in Australian life, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, London, New York, Melbourne, 1977, 205-222 & 242-4 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Milner, Andrew, 'Radical Intellectuals: an unacknowledged legislature?', in Verity Burgmann and Jenny Lee (eds), Constructing a culture: a people's history of Australia since 1788, McPhee Gribble/ Penguin Books, Melbourne, 1988, pp. 259-84. PDF Details
• Turner, Ian, 'The bastards from the bush: some comments on class and culture', in Wheelwright, E.L. & Buckley, K. (ed.), Essays in the political economy of Australian capitalism, volume three, 1978 edn, vol. 3, Australia & New Zealand Book Company, Brookvale, 1978, pp. 167-189. Image PDF Details

Journal Articles

• Davidson, Alastair, 'Antonio Gramsci: the man [part two]', Australian Left Review, no. 2, April-May 1968, pp. 59-70. Details
• Davidson, Alastair, 'Gramsci: on the Party', Australian Left Review, October-November 1968, pp. 55-60. Details
• Davidson, Alastair, 'Antonio Gramsci: the man', Australian Left Review, no. 1, February-March 1968, pp. 51-63. Details

See also

• 'Editorial', Thesis eleven, no. 1, pp. 2-6. PDF Details