Antonio Gramsci 1924
Gramsci to Togliatti Scoccimarro, etc.
(Vienna, 5 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.
Dearest Friends.
I have received comrade Silvia's letter, but I must confess it
has greatly embarrassed me. The situation is still totally
confused, and I am unable to understand exactly what you all want
me to do. What is the agenda for the CC meeting? To what specific
issue, or item of discussion, should the resolution I am to write
refer? I thought of writing an open letter to the CC to make a
personal statement, but I abandoned the idea, fearing that I might
in some way become separated from you and thus allow the resulting
situation to be exploited. The article I wrote in the second
number of ON can be taken as my statement to the meeting and as an
indication of my position. 138 Please make a statement in my name
to this effect, if it is necessary.
There is still too little coordination in our work. To tell the
truth, I still do not know exactly what you concretely want. Do
you accept all my proposals en bloc? But may there not still be
disagreement on some detail, which could nevertheless be crucially
important? How can I draw up a resolution under these
circumstances? I think you know my point of view fairly fully, but
I only know yours very imperfectly. If anybody can draw up a
resolution, given that we want to produce something global and
organic, then it is among you who can discuss and reach an
understanding that this somebody exists. In general, if the
meeting is going to discuss tactical questions and the orientation
of the party, as you indicate is the case, I think it is necessary
to take up a position, decisively and without hesitating: the one
I have indicated, if you accept it in toto. In that case I think
that a short resolution is enough., at the end of a speech by
Palmi, for instance, outlining our attitude from the Rome Congress
up till today.
At Rome, we accepted Amadeo's theses because they were
presented as an opinion for the Fourth Congress and not as a line
of action. We thought we would thus keep the party united around
its basic nucleus, and considered that this concession could be
made to Amadeo, given the very great role he had had in organizing
the party We do not regret this. Politically, it would have been
impossible to lead the party without the active participation of
Amadeo and his group in work at the centre. Events which have
occurred since have modified the situation. We face a new upsurge,
which is reflected in Italy as well. At that time, we withdrew and
had to do so in such a way that the retreat took place in good
order, without new crises or new threats of splits within our
movement, without ever adding new disintegrative ferments to those
which defeat itself was producing in the revolutionary
movement. Today, it is necessary to lay the foundations of a great
mass party, and to clarify fully our own theoretical and practical
positions. We have found ourselves in partial disagreement with
the Comintern, not so much in our assessment of the general
Italian situation, as in our evaluation of the repercussions which
the measures proposed would have inside our party, whose weakness
and constitutive fragility we knew. We have been somewhat
sectarian, as occurs when the movement ebbs, partly as a reaction
against the excessive optimism of the preceding period. On
questions of principle, we have always been in agreement with the
Comintern. But our attitude has had repercussions which have made
us reflect. At the same time, we see that a clarification has
occurred within the minority, and this has helped to orient
us. Two tendencies have now emerged within the minority, one of
which has shown its true liquidatory charactor, foreseen by us and
which had frightened us. With this wing, we could never have
anything in common; we will fight against it. The other part,
represented by comrade Tasca, has changed its nature and in
practice accepted many of our positions. With it, or with the
policy which it claims to represent, it is possible to work
fruitfully. With the left, many discussions will still be needed
to see exactly where the difference lies. But we must censure
Amadeo's attitude, which has damaged the party.
We differ from the left on certain organizational principles,
and it will be necessary to explore these to see how far they
go. The attitude taken up by Amadeo implies denying the world
party in practice, i.e. in the only way in which it could be
concretized in the present situation. 140 In the national sphere,
the party's development is hampered and it tends towards political
passivity. But we continue to believe that Amadeo's collaboration
in the work of the party is necessary. We believe that a man like
him cannot become a simple militant, a rank-and-file member. 141
In practice, that would mean a perpetual state of unease among the
party's membership; the perpetual existence of a nonorganized
faction. For at every moment, before every difficulty, each member
of the party would wonder: "What does Amadeo think? If he was
there, things would perhaps go better." The assertion that a
leader can remain in the ranks like an ordinary member is false
both theoretically and in practice. If Amadeo insists on this, we
can do nothing to help him, but must envisage the need to struggle
against him to prevent a wasting sickness in the party.
It will be necessary to be clear on these points and extremely
open. Only in that way will it be possible to extricate the party
from the toils in which it is caught and give it an
orientation. If you agree, you can say that my article in ON
roughly represents our orientation, and that our subsequent
statements will develop points touched upon in the article: 1. our
desire to put an end to the crisis and liquidate factionalism;
2. our intention of working in practical agreement with the
International Executive Committee, whose deliberations we accept
en bloc (i.e. not excluding that they could be improved in part);
3. our campaign to make the party capable of confronting the grave
tasks which await it. If you are in agreement, you can yourselves
draw up a short resolution based on these elements, putting my
signature on it too and saying that it completely represents my
point of view as I well.
Warm greetings,
Sardi
I have received Negri's letter, which persuades me even more
that there is insufficient coordination between you. His comments
should, I think, be taken into consideration, at least so far as
our group and its organization is concerned, because a lot of time
has now been lost. With respect to the minority, I do not agree
with him. I think it is absolutely indispensable, vital, to try to
detach Tasca from the minority, at the price of any formal
concessions whatsoever. You do not trust Tasca's words: yet
another reason to detach him from the others. 142 Greetings.