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.

LRB 17 July 1980 | PDF Download