Notes on Italian History

"A social group can, and indeed must, already exercise 'leadership' before winning governmental power (this indeed is one of the principal conditions for the winning of such power); it subsequently becomes dominant when it exercises power, but even if it holds it firmly in its grasp, it must continue to 'lead' as well." (Antonio Gramsci, Selections from Prison Notebooks, Lawrence and Wishart, 1971, London,　p.57/58)

You can, and indeed must, already exercise 'leadership' before winning governmental power (this indeed is one of the principal conditions for the winning of such power); you subsequently become dominant when you exercise power, but even if you hold the power firmly in your grasp, you must continue to “lead” as well.

"(T)here does not exist any independent class of intellectuals, but every social group has its own stratum of intellectuals, or tends to form one; however, the intellectuals of the historically (and concretely) progressive class, in the given conditions, exercise such a power of attraction that, in the last analysis, they end up by subjugating the intellectuals of the other social groups; they thereby create a system of solidarity between all the intellectuals, with bonds of a psychological nature (vanity, etc.) and often of a caste character (technico-juridical, corporate, etc.)" (ibid, p.60)

As it is said that "the artisanal character of agricultural labour was too obvious" (ibid, p.76), so it can be said that the artisanal character of educational labour is too obvious even today. I wonder when we will be able to conquer that character and to become an organized one.

In reality, geopolitics is always cold-blooded. "In reality, the principal tendencies of French politics were bitterly opposed to Italian unity. ...France, which 'ought' to be surrounded by a swarm of little states of Switzerland type in order to be 'secure'." (ibid, p.76)

"In real life, one cannot ask for enthusiasm, spirit of sacrifice, etc. without giving anything in return, even from the subjects of one's own country; all the less can one ask these things of citizens from outside that country, on the basis of a generic and abstract program and a blind faith in a far-distant government." (ibid, p.89) The give-and-take system is inevitable in real life.

How long will school grade deviation value keep being a fetish for adolescence? Will a figure of job prospects become another fetish someday? If the figure is to be important for choosing colleges, what figure will be important for preparatory levels of education? What can we predict over the fetishism over those figures?

"This form of hysterical unitarianism was especially prevalent among the Sicillian intellectuals (as a consequence of the formidable peasant pressure on the nobility's land, and also of the local popularity of Crispi);" (ibid., p.95) Some forms of hysterical anti-officialism have been especially prevalent among the teaching intellectuals (as a consequence of the formidable parental pressure on the nobility's information, and also of the local popularity of the governor).

As "the intellectuals of the lower grades, who normally tend to follow the university professors and great scholars, through spirit of caste" (ibid, p.104), so they form, or join, caste-spirit groups, or so called schools, under the names of great scholars.

"The 'leader' presupposes the 'led', and who was 'led' by these nuclei? These nuclei did not wish to 'lead' anybody, i.e. they did not wish to concord their interests and aspirations with the interests and aspirations of other groups. They wished to 'dominate' and not to 'lead'." (ibid, p.104/105) "This fact is of the greatest importance for the concept of 'passive revolution'---the fact, that is, that what was involved was not a social group which 'led' other groups, but a State which, even though it had limitations as a power, 'led' the group which should have been 'leading' and was able to put at the latter's disposal an army and a politico-diplomatic strength." (ibid, p.105) This is true not only of Italy but also of Japan. During the last days of Tokugawa Shogunate and Meiji Restoration, nobody seemed to be leading. Every one was just trying to dominate the nation, and, after accomplishing the domination, the parvenus just made the “revolution” “passive”, that is, they carried out a counterrevolution.

"The important thing is to analyse more profoundly the significance of a 'Piedmont'-type function in passive revolutions---i.e. the fact that a State replaces the local social groups in leading a struggle of renewal. It is one of the cases in which these groups have the function of 'domination' without that of 'leadership': dictatorship without hegemony." (ibid, p.05/106) Obviously, Meiji Restoration is dictatorship without hegemony. Then, was it domination without leadership?

"The hegemony will be exercised by a part of the social group over the entire group, and not by the latter over other forces" (ibid, p.106). In this sense, Meiji Restoration lacked hegemony, and might have had no leadership.

We need some "changes which in fact progressively modify the pre-existing composition of forces, and hence become the matrix of new changes." (ibid, p.109) Such changes could be brought about with the strategy composed with "war of position” and “war of manoeuvre" (ibid, p.108). In one sense, I'm better at war of maneuver, while not so much at war of position. Or the other way around actually? It is always very difficult to be aware of one's role.