The revolutionary party in Gramsci’s pre-prison educational and political theory and practice

Abstract

It was during the summer of 1913 that Antonio Gramsci decided to apply for membership in the Italian Socialist Party, a membership that would be accepted by the end of the same year (Davidson, 1977, p. 63); he was 22 years old. This membership marked the beginning of Gramsci’s nearly 24 years of militancy (active membership) in revolutionary parties that would only end with his death on April 27, 1937. Gramsci’s militancy in the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) (1913– 1921) and the Communist Party of Italy (PCI) (1921–1937) included prolific writing and editorial staff work for several Socialist (Il Grido del Popolo, Avanti!, La Città Futura, L’Ordine Nuovo) and Communist papers (Lo Stato Operaio, L’Unità, L’Ordine Nuovo); the establishment of party educational initiatives (Club of Moral Life, PSI; School of Culture, PSI; Institute of Proletarian Culture, PSI; correspondence school, PCI); local and national party leadership positions culminating in his position of general secretary of the Communist Party of Italy; representation of the PCI on the executive committee of the Communist International (including extended stays in the Soviet Union (1922–1923) and Vienna (1923–1924); and successful candidacy to the Italian parliament as a member of the PCI. From 1915, when Gramsci definitively ended his university studies, his life was wholly dedicated to party work.