Antonio Gramsci 1891-1937

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Antonio Gramsci 1891-1937

Antonio Gramsci was born on January 22, 1891 in Sardinia.  He was the fourth of seven children, and Gennaro, the oldest of the Gramsci children, contributed significantly to Antonio's political development by embracing socialism.  He grew up in poverty, was less than five feet tall, and had a hunched back, attributed to him being dropped as a child.  However, in 1911 he applied for and won a scholarship to the University of Turin.  He studied for four years, after which he began a journalistic career that made him among the most feared critical voices in Italy at that time.  

As World War I progressed he began to put his political ideas into action, as a member of the Italian Socialist Party, which joined the communist International. The influence of Marxist theorists at this time had a large impact on Gramscis intellectual development.  Furthermore, the force of Fascism was making rapid strides, as Italy came under fascist rule and in Germany the Nazis were rapidly growing.  Gramsci concluded that the emergence of fascism reflected the intensification of capitalist crisis.  He believed that fascism was an attempt by the upper classes to deal with crisis at the expense of the working class and fair democracy.  Consequently he believed in anti-fascist unity across a broad spectrum of democratic forces.

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Gramsci did not believe that intellectuals were a separate class, likely influenced by his humble childhood, and believed it necessary to develop intellectuals from all classes and sections of the people.  However, if the ruling class dominates society, then education will naturally educate intellectuals in order to maintain the dominance of the ruling class.  Therefore he suggested that the responsibility for organising education should be taken by the State in order to create intellectuals who serve society as a whole.

In 1926, Gramsci was arrested in Rome by the fascist-dominated Italian legislature, and placed in solitary confinement. He ...

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