Antonio Gramsci 1924
Gramsci to Zino Zini
(Vienna, 2 April 1924)
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.
I too received your reply only after a long delay, and it gave
me great pleasure to get news of you directly. I had the most
varied and contradictory reports about you, as about so many other
friends, so that I could not get any idea of how you are thinking
and how you see the future. I think our disagreement today depends
a lot on the fact that in 1920 1 was very pessimistic about how
the events then taking place would be resolved. Fascism's rise to
power, and the destruction which preceded and followed this, only
surprised me moderately. Another thing which has certainly
contributed to creating my present state of mind is the fact that
I did not remain in Italy during this last period, so that I
escaped the terrible spiritual pressure exerted on many comrades
and friends by the torturing daily drip of violence and
abasement. The daily spectacle which 1, by contrast, had in Russia
- of a people which is creating a new life, new customs, new
relationships, new ways of thinking and confronting all problems -
makes me today more optimistic about our country and its
future. Something new exists in the world, and is working in a
subterranean, one might say molecular fashion, but
irresistibly. Why should our country be left out of this process
of general renewal?
The attitude of many of the Italian workers who have emigrated
to Russia shows that in 1920 we would not have held on to power,
even if we had won it. They do not understand how the Russian
workers, after six years of revolution, are able to suffer in good
spirit the many travails to which they are still condemned. They,
the Italians, want to avoid these, and try to ward them off by
every means. Fascism, from this point of view, has transformed our
people, and we have proof of this every day. It has given it a
more robust temper, a healthier morality, a resistance to ill
fortune which was previously unsuspected, a depth of feeling that
had never existed before. Fascism has truly created a situation
that is permanently revolutionary, as Tsarism once did in
Russia. The pessimism which dominated me in 1920, especially
during the occupation of the factories, has vanished
today. Naturally, this does not mean that I see the Italian
situation in rosy colours. Indeed, I think that much pain and
struggle still awaits our proletariat, of a yet more bloody kind
than those it has already experienced. But today there is a sure
line of development, and this seems to me to be a highly
significant thing to say of our country. Today, predictions can be
made with some confidence, and it is possible to work with greater
stamina than in 1919-20. There, you see, is my optimism, which I
would like to communicate to all the friends and comrades with
whom I am making contact again, and who appear to me to be crushed
by the spiritual pressure of fascism.
I see that the masses are less pessimistic than the
intellectuals. But they are looking for a point of reference, a
centre. The most important question in our country today is to
give the masses their point of reference. The intellectuals of the
old generation, who have so much historical experience, who have
seen the whole tormented development of our people over these last
decades, would fail in their duty and mission if, precisely in
this culminating phase, they stood aside and were unwilling to
contribute to clarifying, organizing and centralizing the ideal
forces which already exist - which, in other words, do not need to
be brought into existence (that would be utopian), but merely to
be centralized and given a direction. See what is happening with
the periodical. It is printing double the number of copies today
that it was in 1920. This is documentary evidence of what I am
saying. In 1920, the situation appeared enormously propitious, but
it was a quartan fever. Today, there is more depth, more solidity,
even if the landscape is one of cataclysm.
I would be very happy to be able to recreate the community of
work which was formed around the periodical in 1919-20. 1 think
that your collaboration would be precious for that. Naturally, you
would have to sign with a pseudonym, because we have already too
often made the mistake of throwing our forces into the fray
unarmed or virtually so against a well-equipped and implacable
enemy. The idea too of your collaboration with Russian journals
could be taken up again, and I could help to arrange it. In
Russia, a whole number of great literary, artistic and
philosophical journals are published, which would like to have
regular contributions from Italy on all our cultural and
intellectual movements. The articles or reports would also be very
well paid, because the Russians value literary activity very
highly (perhaps even too highly). This would in any case allow you
to get hold of Russian books and periodicals, which are being
produced in gigantic quantities in all fields, but especially in
the natural sciences and the philosophy of Marxism.
I wanted to reply at once to your letter, so I have only
touched on many of the things I should have liked to write
about. I would be grateful if you would write to me again, at the
same address as last time, and also tell me something about
Prof. Cosmo, with whom I had an interesting conversation in Berlin
in May 1922.
Please accept my most cordial and affectionate greetings,
Gramsci