Antonio Gramsci: Hegemony, Heroism and Domination

Abstract

The notion of the hero is often accompanied by myth; in Gramsci’s work we see the crushing of this theory because it is tied to a nationalist and, therefore, repressive horizon. In his Prison Notebooks, Gramsci tackles this problem with originality, critically defining the concept of heroism as anti-collective. The power of the struggling community acts incisively if it renounces charismatic leadership. This results in a leaderless collectivity made up of bodies and brains politically in action. The centrality of this aspect that is not dealt with in Gramsci’s work can shed new light on the work of the Sardinian thinker and philosopher, particularly from a contemporary point of view, partly due to the numerous nationalist regressions (the return of racist ideologies and formations in Europe and in the US). Gramsci’s work has an avant-garde meaning even in current events. The collectivity can become that specific universal-singular capable of instituting a real counter-power. The article investigates the rejection of heroism in a transversal reading of Prison Notebooks.