In an era of the socialisation of private debt, there are some serious questions being asked about the health of the global economic system and the distribution of power in society. As capitalism comes under increasing pressure with growing social inequality, there is also renewed interest in Gramscian scholarship, in particular the theory of hegemony. How exactly can democracies function with the appearance of public involvement, yet without threatening the economic base of capitalism? This new collection of essays on the life and ideas of Antonio Gramsci sheds light on these and other issues. Editor Mark McNally has arranged the material sensibly into four sections: the historical context of Gramsci’s life; key debates of the times; major conceptual issues arising from Gramsci’s work; and the application of Gramscian thought to current global and national political issues. The result is a first rate compilation by many of the world’s leading Gramsci scholars.

Mark McNally’s introduction and first chapter sets the stage for understanding Gramsci in his time, with particular emphasis on the evolution of the theory of hegemony. This essay contains interesting observations on how Gramsci teased out the tactics for achieving revolution. If the eventual aim of the capture of the state by communists was to be realised, popular support was required. The necessity of shifting from a war of manoeuvre (frontal assault) to a war of position (creation of national popular support to overthrow a regime) was clear to Gramsci. In tracing this aspect of hegemony back to the Comintern’s United Front period (1921-1926), McNally sheds light on Leninist influences that convince Gramsci of the importance of winning over a broad mass of people within social democracies. James Martin reviews Gramsci’s body of work within the crisis of Italian liberalism, observing that Gramsci is a theorist of transition between social orders, which is one of the main reasons why his work still resonates today. Those who seek to shift from capitalism would do well to read Gramsci’s insights, and the observations of Gramscian scholars on social transition.

In Part II: Key Debates, Benedetto Fontana further develops his ongoing analysis of the Machiavellian legacy in Gramsci’s writing, tackling the complex subject of the relationships between intellectuals and masses, elites and masses, and leaders and led. Fontana explores how Gramsci approached his central task, ‘the construction and development of the conscious and hegemonic subject capable of rule and self-rule’, and the question of how to replicate this subject in individuals placed within and among the popular masses that would be central to any revolution. As a Sardinian with an interest in Italy’s Albanian minority, Gramsci was also keenly aware of the need for ‘cultural-social’ unity in building a mass movement. Language and pluralism is the subject of Alessandro Carlucci’s insightful essay, which explores the origins of Gramsci’s interest in language and linguistics, and the accusations of political ‘totalitarianism’ levelled at Gramsci during debates in the 1970s.

Part III contains essays by Peter Thomas on the philosophy of praxis and Guido Liguori on subalternity. Both are tightly structured essays, the first taking issue with the notion that ‘praxis’ was some sort of code word for ‘Marxism’ more generally, (necessary to evade fascist censors), and exploring Gramsci’s thought progression toward the usage of the term. Gramsci, Thomas argues, sees the philosophy of praxis as a blending of thought and action. Liguori charts the emergence of interest in Gramsci’s writing on the subaltern social groups, and the way this concept was used by scholars of Subaltern Studies to mean something rather different from how Gramsci had developed the idea in his writing. As Liguori argues, class unity and leadership among the elites produce the state, while subaltern groups remain on the margins of power. Other notes on how ‘the subaltern’ shifts from a plural to an individual during Gramsci’s life are also of great interest to philologists and theorists alike.

For those who seek to create alternatives to capitalism, Part IV shows the engagement of Gramsci scholars with global issues. Andreas Bielar, Ian Bruff and Adam David Morton engage with international political economy and its relations to the national context. They remind us in this excellent essay which deals partly with the notion of ‘passive revolution’ that while there are clear crossovers in Gramsci’s work between the national and the international, how to overcome what appear as ‘natural’ features of our lives—‘state’, ‘market’, ‘globalization’—requires a willingness to engage in a critique of the constraints that exist when creating a new society, and then to work to build change through a mass movement. Marcus E. Green writes on Gramsci’s interest in Subaltern struggles in nineteenth and twentieth century Italy, and makes the valuable point that Gramsci well understood that spontaneous protest does not change the structures of power. Green then examines the contradictions thrown up by the Occupy Movement, which was both an immediate success and a short-term failure, but which has at least raised popular consciousness about inequality, and within that there is the seed for a new historical bloc. Darrow Schecter redresses the imbalance in Gramscian studies on the historical bloc, noting that more than other Marxists Gramsci theorises about states that lack legitimacy. For Schecter part of the insight offered by Gramsci comes from explaining how elites and intellectuals reshuffle power through passive revolution to maintain control over society. Finally David Howarth tackles the thorny issues of how Laclau and Mouffe engaged with Gramsci to move toward post-Marxism, in his spirited defence of their approach.

This is an excellent book for Gramsci students and aficionados alike. It is written in an approachable manner with strong links from the past to the present. It will be a valuable addition to the growing scholarship on Gramsci that has emerged recently.