Tom Nairn continues his examination of recent attempts to find in Gramsci’s writings a basis for left-wing opposition to Communism

The value and interest of the three examinations of Gramsci which I began to discuss last week in the first part of this article is that they concentrate upon his view of politics: nobody concerned with such problems can avoid finding almost every page of Gramsci and Marxist Theory[1] and Gramsci’s Politics[2] absorbing; as for Gramsci and the State,[3] while it is undeniably a repository of some of the obscurest paragraphs ever written about the man, the reader will also discover the most monumental and exhaustive analysis of his life and ideas in relation to Third International Leninism. It is probably the most important book yet to appear in the dissident-Communist perspective. Fortunately David Fernbach’s translation makes it accessible (apart from a few Volapük lapses like ‘genial’ for génial) and copes ruggedly with the steeper philosophical faces.

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[1] Gramsci and Marxist Theory edited by Chantal Mouffe. Routledge, 288 p., £9.50, 22 November 1979, 0 7100 0358 7.

[2] Gramsci and the State by Christine Buci-Glucksmann. Lawrence and Wishart, 470pp., £14, 7 February, 0 85315 483 X.

[3] Gramsci’s Politics by Anne Showstack Sassoon. Croom Helm. 261 pp., £12.95, 24 April, 0 7099 0326 X.

[4] Gramsci and Italy’s passive Revolution edited by John Davis Croom Helm. 278 pp., £12.50, 22 November 1979, 0 85664 704 7. Another recent work deserving serious attention is H. Entwistle’s discussion of Gramsci’s ‘anti-Rousseauism’, Antonio Gramsci: Conservative Schooling for Radical Politics, Routledge, 207 pp., £3.95, October 1979, 0 7100 0354 X.