Antonio Gramsci 1921
The old order in turin
Unsigned, L'Ordine Nuovo, 18 May 1921.
Text from Antonio Gramsci "Selections from political writings (1921-1926)", translated and edited by Quintin Hoare (Lawrence and Wishart, London 1978). Transcribed to the www with the kind permission of Quintin Hoare.
Avanti!'s correspondent, the archangel with the
clyster, signor Mario Guarnieri, is right: the old order has
triumphed in Turin. It is certain that even the 22,323 socialist
votes cannot be considered as an affirmation of revolutionary
will. The Turin socialists have moved so far to the right, they
have shown such a frenzied desire to ruin the proletarian
organization, that they have permanently secured the sympathies
and the political support of the petty bourgeois - and the latter
certainly do not want the proletariat to instal a new order. The
22,323 socialist votes can be added in with the 10,150 votes for
the Popular Party, not with the 12,509 communist votes. And the
significance of the Turin elections clearly emerges: a majority
asserted by the middle parties (32,473 votes) against fascist
capitalism (31,555 votes for the bloc), to protest against the
uncivilized "excesses" of those who burned the Chamber of Labour
and, by means of the civilized weapon of the ballot, to proclaim
the possibility for the magnificent and progressive destiny of the
working people to be realized within the framework of bourgeois
legality and the old capitalist order.
The Popular Party, since the share-croppers' strike, has lost
the support of the old landed nobility. The socialists, since the
split from the communists, have lost the support of the
revolutionary proletariat. Together, they have given political
expression to the feelings of sharecroppers, sacristans,
shop-keepers, foremen, clerks and a percentage (around 20 per cent
of more skilled workers, who want to blackleg while still claiming
to be socialists. It is noteworthy that the socialists achieved
respectable votes in the wards of the city centre; and it is still
more noteworthy that Hon. Casalini should have won 250 write-in
votes on the Popular list. The links of the chain which now bind
Turin socialism to the bourgeoisie have been revealed: Turin
socialism - Casalini (250 write-in votes on the Popular list) -
Popular Party (400 write-in votes for Hon. Facta and Hon. Rossi on
the Popular list) Giolittism. 24 La Stampa did not oppose
the socialist list and only gave the bloc tepid support. All
La Stampa's propaganda during the municipal election
campaign against the Communists; the fact that in the last few
days La Stampa has been arguing that it was only due to
the wisdom of the reformists that the occupation of the factories
did not culminate in "Bolshevik madness"; the fact that La
Stampa has always maintained (including in the last few days)
that since the split the Socialist Party has become a party of
right-thinking men and model citizens - these factors combined to
produce the 22,323 votes for the socialists.
The communists were defeated. We do not hesitate to acknowledge
it. Of the 48,000 votes won in the last administrative elections,
40,000 at least were cast by communist proletarians and could have
been cast in these elections too. Why was there such a high degree
of abstention in the proletarian camp? It is not hard to explain
such abstention, even if it is not justified from the point of
view of a high level of political education, such as might have
been presumed and hoped for in an industrial centre like Turin. In
Turin, we are passing through a terrible crisis of discouragement
and demoralization. The communists are persecuted in the
factories, two thirds of the members in the section have been
subjected to "reprisals". The electoral struggle, because of the
general interpretation given it by popular sentiment, had the
significance of an affirmation of bourgeois legality against
fascist barbarism and ferocity; the Turin proletariat believed
that such an affirmation was of no interest to it. This apathy is
not a sign of political capacity, it is a sign of dissolution and
mental confusion. An electoral result has the same value as a big
rally; it serves as a demonstration of numerical strength and a
document of the popular consent to an idea and a programme. Just
as occurs with big rallies and public meetings, so too the results
of an election can have the virtue of raising the spirits and the
enthusiasm of the popular masses - hence the results of an
election can even become a revolutionary factor. Not to understand
this little truth of political life means not to know the ABC of
political struggle. That is why abstention cannot ever be viewed
as proof of political capacity, but is only proof of dissolution
and moral degradation.
The small enthusiasm of the masses is justified by the small
enthusiasm and the lassitude of the organized communists. A huge
job of reorganization must be carried out by the best and most
conscious elements. However, the communists must not get tangled
up in investigations to determine the formal responsibility. The
best way of establishing who was responsible is to construct a
more solid organization. The best way of eliminating the weary,
the hesitant and the undisciplined is by mobilizing the energetic,
the decisive, the disciplined, and those who are aware of the
immense work of organization and propaganda which lies before the
Communist Party, if it wishes to become the party of the broad
masses and to be capable of leading the revolutionary proletariat
to accomplish its historic mission.