Some Questions around Gramsci’s Marxism (1958)

The interpretation that Gramsci gives of Marxism in general is entirely contained, I believe, in a single definition: the philosophy of praxis is integral philosophy and absolute historicism. 1 The theoretical and historical origin of this interpretation should make us go back to the early development of Gramsci’s thought, to his first experiences of culture, to those first personal readings, which always leave a crucial imprint in the impressionable mind of a young scholar. It should open up the door to a more thorough examination of the Turinese environment, so rich in this period of cultural as well as social ferment, of a personality in formation or already formed. All of this does not fall within the scope of this work. With our current knowledge of his early writings it does not appear possible to have a discussion around the cultural influences that acted upon the thought of the young Gramsci; and it appears a useless exercise to measure how much of Sorel and how much of Bergson, how much of revolutionary syndicalism and how much of voluntaristic intuitionism can be found in these few writings that we know