Gramsci in Bensussan and Labica’s Dictionnaire critique du marxisme (1982–1999)

Abstract

The three editions of the Dictionnaire critique du marxisme, edited by Gérard Bensussan and Georges Labica between the early 1980s and the late 1990s, can serve as an exemplary case study of Gramsci’s presence and interpretations following the critical edition of the Prison Notebooks edited by Valentino Gerratana (1975). Within this substantial collective work, we find entries related to typically Gramscian concepts like “historical bloc”, to issues where Gramsci’s fundamental contribution is recognized, such as “intellectuals” or “praxis”, and to topics that were subjects of discussion at the time, beginning with Althusser’s “State Ideological Apparatuses”. The work also includes an early recognition of aspects previously given little consideration, such as “translatability”. All of this refers to an extremely heterogeneous textual basis, which ranges from the 1975 critical edition and its (partial) French translation by Gallimard, to the Togliatti-Platone thematic edition and various French anthologies. Furthermore, it incorporates second-hand references drawn from an equally varied secondary literature, from the official historiography of the Italian Communist Party to the highly polemical writings of Perry Anderson.

The three editions of the Dictionnaire critique du marxisme, edited by Gérard Bensussan and Georges Labica between the early 1980s and the late 1990s, can serve as an exemplary case study of Gramsci’s presence and interpretations following the critical edition of the Prison Notebooks edited by Valentino Gerratana (1975). Within this substantial collective work, we find entries related to typically Gramscian concepts like “historical bloc”, to issues where Gramsci’s fundamental contribution is recognized, such as “intellectuals” or “praxis”, and to topics that were subjects of discussion at the time, beginning with Althusser’s “State Ideological Apparatuses”. The work also includes an early recognition of aspects previously given little consideration, such as “translatability”. All of this refers to an extremely heterogeneous textual basis, which ranges from the 1975 critical edition and its (partial) French translation by Gallimard, to the Togliatti-Platone thematic edition and various French anthologies. Furthermore, it incorporates second-hand references drawn from an equally varied secondary literature, from the official historiography of the Italian Communist Party to the highly polemical writings of Perry Anderson.