Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 02:01:58 +0100
From: Mauro junior <mauro.jr-AT-iol.it>
Subject: Re: The Value of Gramsci to Leo C.


At 20.16 17/11/95 -0500, Leo wrote:
_The
>Prison Notebooks_ are schematic and disjointed, to be sure, as Gramsci never
>prepared them for publication. But they are also chocked full of very
>fascinating insight. 
Mauro jr:
Absolutely true. So fascinating that even Fini (chairman of the "fascist"
Alleanza Nazionale) found three months ago at one of his congresses, some
"useful teachings" about the concept of nation.
Look, I'm not joking or making stupid polemics. While no one of the
certainly-bougeois politicals or intellectuals found anything useful in
Marx, Lenin or Bordiga, many of them discover in Gramsci many *** diamonds.

Leo:
I think that his rethinking of the state-civil society
>couplet found in bourgeois liberal theory from Locke through Hegel and in
>Marx is particularly useful, and has a new resonance after the focus on the
>role of civil society and in its institutions in the fall of the Communist
>states.

Mauro jr:
Even more true. But it's necessary to explain where Gramsci "has a new
resonance, etc."
Amongst the intellectuals who are always so keen (uhh)in discovering the
relationships amongst several thinkers. How nice! The connections between
Machiavelli, Locke, Hegel and some stuff of Marx: we could spend a bulk of
papers, publications and conferences.
But Leo is particulary right when he refers to the role of the civil
society. I had already something to say about it and Leo's view of it. But,
before me and with more accuracy, Bordiga had to argue with Gramsci on his
concept of the socialism growing inside capitalism thru the consciousness of
the workers in the factory councils. It was exactly the concept of the
changing of the civil-society as pre-condition for the changes in the actual
nature of the social formation; something which is opposed to *** one of the
most important contributions by Marx -The German ideology. (And I do not
repeat the content of that book for people who knows it - I think - but
prefers something else).
About the fall of the Communist states, the trick is old and even renewed.
Beforehands one supports the diamat by Stalin against the marxist
principles; when it collapses, throw it away thinking it was marxism.

Leo:
 His work on the Modern Prince (the political party) provides an
>interesting alternative to rigid Leninst and Stalinist conceptions of the
>party. 

Mauro jr:
the conception of the party of Lenin is different from that of Stalin. But
it doesn't matter, for Leo.
Two simple questions: is the party the class? No, for Lenin. Yes for Stalin.
Is the state made of the workers power (and organs) or by the Party as only
class organ?
For Lenin (State and Revolution is there to be read) the semi-State is the
vertical and horizontal organisation of the mass-organs of the workers
(politically led by the party). For Stalin the State (which lost its
specification of semi-state)is made by the party, because the party IS the
class.("The party is the supreme form of the class organisation of the
proletariat")
The Gramsci's work on Modern Prince has nothing to do with this problems and
is useful fo the intellectual exercises in the academic milieu.

Infact, Leo:

Finally, his discussion of organic and traditional intellectuals is a
>very useful set of concepts for grappling with the role of intellectuals in
>social change. These theoretical innovations provide the basis for some of
>the most interesting thinking not only about fascism, but also about right
>wing reaction in general. Gramsci is a diamond field waiting to be mined
>these days. 

 Mauro jr:
Leo found in Gramsci the theoretical motivation for his own role of
intellectual who has to lead the civil society towards its democratic, ethic
goals. If - meanwhile - the working class (the variable value)is beaten up
by the Capital which prepares itself to make the workers cannon fodder for
its wars, beh, that's a pity.
Final note. Gramsci led the "mass-party" after it was built and initially
led by the Bordiga's communist left. At the founding Congress od the CP od
Italy (Livorno 22 Jan 1921)Gramsci did not say a word. How is it?
Rev greetings
Mauro Junior
Tel  (-39)02/35.51.275 fax (-39)02/33.200.101



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