Prison notebooks

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The so-called Prison Notebooks ( Italian Quaderni del carcere ) in addition to the prison letters and a series of journalistic work, the main political work of the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) and can, according to Wolfgang Fritz Haug as "a major work of political philosophy of the 20th Century "apply. The prison notebooks were created between 1929 and 1935, when Gramsci was in prison as a political prisoner of the Italian fascists .

Emergence

Antonio Gramsci , the author of the prison notebooks (photo around 1920)

Antonio Gramsci mentioned the idea of ​​writing down his thoughts and ideas in notebook form, for the first time in a letter from March 1927 to his sister-in-law Tanja Schucht. In this he also wrote a first work plan. In 1928 Gramsci was allowed to write in prison and did so on a regular basis from the following year. Gramsci wrote on the notebooks until 1935, but then had to stop because of the health consequences of his stay in prison. In the prison notebooks, Gramsci wanted to devote himself to a total of 16 main topics, including the history of Italy, common sense, Americanism and Fordism, as well as a theory of history or historiography.

As a basis for his writings, Gramsci used books, magazines and newspapers that he was allowed to read during his stay in prison. In addition, there are his memories of what he has read and experienced from his time before prison. His sister-in-law Tanja Schucht also sent him political literature.

After Gramsci's death in April 1937, Tanja Schucht was able to take Gramsci's inscriptions. In July 1938 these were sent to Moscow and only came back to Italy after the end of the Second World War .

Release history

In the years 1948 to 1951, the prison notebooks were distributed in six volumes in Italian for the first time ever. The publication did not take place in a chronological order of the texts, but thematically arranged. Each of the six volumes was given a title: Historical Materialism and the Philosophy of Benedetto Croce ; The intellectuals and the organization of culture ; The Risorgimento ; Notes on Machiavelli, on politics and the modern state ; Literature and national life as well as past and present .

In the mid-1970s, an Italian critical complete edition of the prison notebooks appeared under the direction of Valentino Gerratana, in which the texts were arranged in chronological order of their origin.

The political scientist Christian Riechers brought philosophy to practice with the volume . A selection in 1967 a first German-language selection of texts from the prison notebooks, which he also translated himself. Riechers can therefore be regarded as a “pioneer of the Gramsci translation”.

In the 1970s, the first complete transfer of the prison notebooks into German was planned, but this was not implemented due to the end of a boom in Gramsci reception.

Published in 1983 Sabine Kebir with Marxism and culture. Ideology, everyday life, literature - another selection of Gramsci's writings.

Several selected volumes were published in the GDR . In 1980 the collection of texts on history, politics and culture was printed, a second edition was published in 1986 and around a quarter consists of texts from prison notebooks. In 1984 Klaus Bochmann published Notes on Language and Culture , and in 1987 Thoughts on Culture appeared . In the latter book, about 75 percent of the texts printed are excerpts from the prison notebooks.

The German-language complete edition of the prison notebooks was finally carried out in the years 1991 to 2002 by Argument Verlag . The publisher received no external funding whatsoever. In June 2012 the ten-volume series was reissued, this time in paperback format.

The Italian, critical edition of Gerratana served as the template for the German translation of the prison notebooks. The individual booklets were arranged in chronological order, just like there. The fact that some of Gramsci's terms such as senso commune are difficult to reproduce with an equivalent in the German language turned out to be problematic for the translation . As a result, the Italian original was retained in some cases. In addition, there is a discussion about whether some of the terms used by Gramsci should be viewed as cover language in order to circumvent the censorship in prison.

In 2004, Argument-Verlag published a thematic selection from the prison notebooks entitled Education and Training . Another such publication followed three years later, America and Europe . In 2012 a third volume was published with literature and culture .

The English-language edition (Prison Notebooks) of the complete edition began at the same time as the German edition. Joseph A. Buttigieg (1947–2019) was in charge of this project . So far (as of 2020) three volumes have been published that contain issues 1-8. In 1971, the Selections from the Prison Notebooks was the first text selection. The Further Selections from the Prison Notebooks followed in 1994 .

Structure and structure

According to a classification by Valentino Gerratana, there are three types of text in the prison notebooks: A, B and C. The A texts are first versions. The C texts are second versions of A texts. Some of the C texts differ considerably from the A texts, while others are simply reproductions of the first version. In some cases, Gramsci redistributed the original A texts over several C texts. The B-texts only appear in one version in the booklet and were not later changed or used again by him.

The German complete edition contains 29 of the 32 prison notebooks, divided into 9 volumes with a total of more than 2000 pages. The tenth part of the output is a register tape. The individual text sections are marked with paragraphs within each booklet.

Wolfgang Fritz Haug describes the structure of the prison notebooks as a "mosaic", which in formal terms is an "anti-work". Christian Gaedt follows this assessment and speaks of a collection of splintered thoughts, notes and fragmentary treatises. In Gramsci, these are often not sorted by subject.

content

Diverse topics

The contents of the prison notebooks are very broad. There are comments, reflections and thoughts on political philosophy, political theory, politics in general, literature, intellectuals and their social function and much more. Gramsci also deals with the philosophy of his time, especially with Benedetto Croce and Giovanni Gentile , but also with Marxist theorists such as Leon Trotsky and Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin . He always comes back to Karl Marx at various points .

Gramsci's concept of hegemony

From a political and social theory perspective, Gramsci's concept of hegemony is to be seen as a core concept of prison notebooks. Even if Gramsci already dealt with the topic of hegemony in his journalistic work, he only developed it in a systematic and comprehensive way in the prison notebooks.

The discussion of the question of hegemony takes place in Gramsci as a result of the question of why there was no successful revolution in Western Europe following the October Revolution in Russia. He also asks about the reasons for the stability of order in the western states. Gramsci finds an answer to these questions in his reflections on the importance of civil society. In this context, Gramsci developed the concept of cultural hegemony .

Gramsci notes in this regard:

“In the East, the state was everything, civil society was in its beginnings […]; in the West there was a proper relationship between the state and civil society, and when the state wavered, civil society was immediately seen to be robust. The state was just a forward trench, behind which there was a robust chain of fortresses and casemates [...]. "

Gramsci defines the state itself elsewhere as “political society + civil society, i. H. Hegemony armored with compulsion ”. In this respect, Gramsci does not see the state as standing outside of society. Instead, it consists of two levels: civil society and the political level, which can be described as the state in the narrower sense. In Gramsci, the separation of these two is purely methodical. At Gramsci, civil society consists of institutions that are commonly viewed as private: museums, theaters, the church, political parties, mass media, educational institutions and others. According to Gramsci, civil society exercises the function of hegemony over society as a whole.

Gramsci ascribes a fundamental role to public opinion in the establishment of political hegemony. This is "the point of contact between" civil society "and" political society ", between consensus and violence" .

When considering hegemony, Gramsci considers the distinction between leadership and domination to be of central importance. For him, rule encompasses the dimensions of violence and coercion, while leadership is based on consensus and consent, which in turn are linked to the question of hegemony. Gramsci explains:

“The supremacy of a social group manifests itself in two ways, as 'domination' and as 'intellectual and moral leadership'. A social group is ruling over the opposing groups, which it [...] seeks to subjugate by force of arms, and it is a leader over the related and allied groups. A social group can and must even be a leader before it conquers government power. "

After a group has conquered power, it must always remain ruling and at the same time leading in order to keep it and to be hegemonic.

Gramsci's concept of ideology

Regarding the question of ideology , Gramsci did not develop a systematic theory in the booklets and uses the term in a variety of ways. Gramsci speaks of ideology in relation to belief and religion, as well as politics and ideology itself. For Gramsci, ideology is the cement that holds civil society and thus the state together. The ideology manifests itself as a conception of the world in art, law and economic actions and in general all individual and collective expressions of life. Hans-Jürgen Bieling writes that for Gramsci the prevailing ideology is being worked out in the institutions of civil society and in the places where public opinion is formed. Gramsci himself writes in this context that the

“The press […] is the most dynamic part [of the] ideological structure [is], but not the only one: everything that directly or indirectly influences or can influence public opinion belongs to it: the libraries, the schools, the circles and Clubs of different types, including architecture, the layout of the streets and their names. "

In addition there would be “publishing houses [...], political newspapers, magazines of all kinds, scientific, literary, philological, popular science”.

Similar to Karl Marx, Gramsci speaks of the fact that ideology is the terrain on which people would recognize the fundamental social conflicts and disputes.

Gramsci's concept of the intellectual

In Gramsci's reflections, the question of intellectuals is closely linked to the issues of hegemony and ideology. For Gramsci, basically all people are intellectuals, but not all of them would take on the social function of intellectuals. In addition, Gramsci introduces the distinction between traditional and organic intellectuals.

Intellectuals take on an organizing function both in production and in culture as well as in the political and administrative area. In addition, the intellectuals are those who "organize the social hegemony of a group and its state rule [...]".

The right

For Gramsci, the law takes on two basic functions: on the one hand, it would ensure the homogenization of the ruling group, and on the other, it would serve to create a “social conformism” that would be of use to the ruling group. Following this line of argument, law is not the expression of society as a whole, but only of the leading class. This would impose its “norms of behavior” on the rest of society.

reception

The prison notebooks were received in a variety of ways and in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.

In his writings, the Canadian political scientist Robert W. Cox attempted to make Gramsci's concept of hegemony fruitful in the field of international relations and to transfer it to the global level. Since then, so-called Neogramscianism has formed its own branch within the theory of international relations and international political economy .

Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe have taken a different approach to the concept of hegemony and its further development since the mid-1980s. From this they developed their own discourse theory .

Other links were made in educational science or pedagogy, in cultural studies , in scientific considerations about language, culture, fascism and in dealing with intellectuals. Gramsci also proved fruitful for post-colonial approaches.

Terry Eagleton emphasizes Gramsci's role in changing the understanding of ideology . In Gramsci there has been a transition in the consideration of ideology as a simple system of ideas and thoughts (also "false consciousness") to a "lived, habitual social practice". Accordingly, following Gramsci, real action is to be understood as ideology.

Jan Rehmann emphasizes that Louis Althusser's conception of the ideological state apparatus and the repressive state apparatus in his central essay Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus is based on Antonio Gramsci's analytical separation of civil society and political society. In addition, Gramsci's considerations on the integral state had a fundamental influence on Althusser's work.

Text output

  • Antonio Gramsci: Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. Edited by Geoffrey N. Smith and Quintin Hoare, 1971.
  • Antonio Gramsci. Philosophy of practice. A selection . Ed. U. translated v. Christian Riechers , Frankfurt am Main 1967.
  • Antonio Gramsci: On history, politics and culture. Edited by Guido Zamiš, Leipzig 1980.
  • Antonio Gramsci: Marxism and Culture. Ideology, everyday life, literature. Edited and translated by Sabine Kebir , Hamburg 1983.
  • Antonio Gramsci: Notes on Language and Culture. Ed. U. translated v. Klaus Bochmann, Leipzig 1984.
  • Antonio Gramsci: Thoughts on Culture. Edited by Guido Zamiš, Leipzig 1987.
  • Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks . Edited by Klaus Bochmann and Wolfgang Fritz Haug , 10 volumes. Argument-Verlag, Hamburg 1991–2002.
  • Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 1–3, ed. v. Joseph A. Buttigieg, 1992-2007 New York City.
  • Antonio Gramsci: Further Selections from the Prison Notebooks. 1995.
  • Antonio Gramsci: Upbringing and Education . Edited by Andreas Merkens. Argument-Verlag, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-88619-423-X (Gramsci-Reader 1).
  • Antonio Gramsci: America and Europe . Edited by Thomas Barfuss. Argument-Verlag, Hamburg 2007 (Gramsci-Reader 2).
  • Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks . Edited by Klaus Bochmann and Wolfgang Fritz Haug, 10 volumes. Argument-Verlag, Hamburg 2012 (paperback edition).
  • Antonio Gramsci: Literature and Culture . Edited by Ingo Lauggas. Argument-Verlag, Hamburg 2012 (Gramsci-Reader 3).

Secondary literature

  • Klaus Bochmann: preliminary editorial note. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, pp. 15-20, Hamburg 1991.
  • Valentino Gerratana: Introduction. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, pp. 21-46 Hamburg 1991.
  • Wolfgang Fritz Haug: Foreword. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, pp. 7-14 Hamburg 1991.
  • Wolfgang Fritz Haug: Introduction. In: prison notebooks. Volume 6, pp. 1195-1222 Hamburg 1994.
  • Read Gramsci! Entry into the prison notebooks , ed. v. Mario Candeias , Florian Becker, Janek Niggemann, Anne Steckner, Hamburg 2013.
  • Thomas Barfuss, Peter Jehle: Antonio Gramsci for an introduction , Hamburg 2014.
  • Giuseppe Cospito: The Rhythm of Thought in Gramsci. A Diachronic Interpretation of Prison Notebooks , Leiden 2016.

reference books

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wolfgang Fritz Haug: Foreword. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 7 Hamburg 1991, p. 15.
  2. ↑ See: Valentino Gerratana: Introduction. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 24.
  3. ↑ See: Valentino Gerratana: Introduction. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 29.
  4. ↑ See: Valentino Gerratana: Introduction. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, pp. 34f.
  5. ↑ Cf. Petra Lange: Ways of the Political. The political philosophy of Antonio Gramscis and Hannah Arendt. Osnabrück 2003, p. 29.
  6. ↑ See: Valentino Gerratana: Introduction. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 29ff.
  7. ↑ See introduction. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, pp. 36f.
  8. ↑ See: Valentino Gerratana: Introduction. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, pp. 37f.
  9. ^ Wolfgang Fritz Haug: Foreword. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 10.
  10. ↑ a b cf. Wolfgang Fritz Haug: Foreword. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 12.
  11. ↑ See Wolfgang Fritz Haug: Foreword. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 11.
  12. ↑ See Wolfgang Fritz Haug: Foreword. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 11, footnote 8.
  13. ↑ See Klaus Bochmann: Editorial preliminary note. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, pp. 15f.
  14. ↑ See Klaus Bochmann: Editorial preliminary note. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 16.
  15. ↑ See Klaus Bochmann: Editorial preliminary note. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 18.
  16. ↑ See Klaus Bochmann: Editorial preliminary note. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 19.
  17. ↑ See Wolfgang Fritz Haug: Introduction. In: prison notebooks. Volume 6, Hamburg 1994, pp. 1201f.
  18. ↑ See: Valentino Gerratana: Technical explanations and instructions for use. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 43.
  19. ^ Wolfgang Fritz Haug: Foreword. In: prison notebooks. Volume 1, p. 8.
  20. ↑ See: Christian Gaedt: Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937). Biographical Notes. In: Andreas Merkens, Victor Rego Diaz (Ed.): Working with Gramsci. Texts on Antonio Gramsci's political and practical appropriation. Hamburg 2007, p. 216.
  21. ↑ See: Christoph Scherrer : Hegemony. Empirically tangible? In: Working with Gramsci. P. 71.
  22. ^ See: Benjamin Opratko: Hegemony. Political theory according to Antonio Gramsci. Münster 2012, p. 11, footnote 2.
  23. ↑ See: Mario Candeias : Gramscianische Konstellationen. Hegemony and the implementation of new modes of production and life. In: Working with Gramsci. P. 18.
  24. ^ Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 4, Issue 7, § 16, p. 874.
  25. ^ Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 4, Issue 6, § 88, p. 783.
  26. ^ Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 3, Issue 4 § 38, p. 498f.
  27. ↑ See: Hans-Jürgen Bieling : Metamorphoses of the integral state. Competing models in the crisis discussion. In: Elmar Altvater and others: The return of the state? Hamburg 2010, p. 39.
  28. ^ Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 7, Issue 12 § 1, p. 1502.
  29. ^ Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 4, Issue 7, § 83, p. 916.
  30. ^ See: Benjamin Opratko: Hegemony. P. 36.
  31. ^ Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 8, Issue 19, § 24, p. 1947.
  32. ^ See: Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 8, Issue 19, § 24, p. 1947.
  33. ↑ See: Jan Rehmann: Introduction to Ideology Theory. Hamburg 2008, p. 92.
  34. ^ See: Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 6, Issue 10, Part II, § 41.IV, p. 1313.
  35. ^ See: Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 6, Issue 11, § 12, p. 1381.
  36. ↑ See: Hans-Jürgen Bieling: Metamorphoses of the integral state. P. 40.
  37. ^ Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 2, Issue 3 § 49, p. 374.
  38. ^ Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 2, Issue 3 § 49, p. 373f.
  39. ^ See: Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 7, Issue 13, § 18, p. 1571.
  40. ^ See: Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 7, Issue 12 § 1, p. 1500.
  41. ^ See: Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 1, Issue 1 § 43, p. 98.
  42. ^ Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 3, Issue 4 § 49, p. 515.
  43. ^ Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 4, Issue 6, § 84, p. 777.
  44. ^ Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Volume 4, Issue 6, § 98, p. 791.
  45. ^ See: Benjamin Opratko: Hegemony. Political theory according to Antonio Gramsci. P. 71.
  46. ↑ See: Armin Bernhard: Basic pedagogical conditions. The relevance of Antonio Gramsci for an emzancipatory pedagogy. In: Working with Gramsci. Pp. 141-156.
  47. ↑ See: James Martin (Ed.): Antonio Gramsci. Critical Assessments of Leading Political Philosophers. Vol 1, London 2002, pp. VIII-XIV.
  48. ↑ Neelam Srivastava, Baidik Bhattacharya (ed.): The postcolonial Gramsci. New York et al. a. 2012.
  49. ↑ Terry Eagleton: Ideology. An introduction. Stuttgart / Weimar 2000, p. 136.
  50. ↑ Jan Rehmann: Theory of Ideology. In: Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism. Volume 6.1: Hegemony to Ideology. Hamburg 2004, p. 736.