Towards the War of Position: Gramsci in Continuity and Rupture with Marxism-Leninism

“Towards the War of Position,” published in mid 2013, was originally intended to be the first part in a two-part series on Gramsci and Mao. I had originally intended Part II to be called “Protracted People’s War and the War of Position: Parallel Ruptures of Mao and Gramsci with Leninism?” and I was looking to explore what I believed to be striking parallels between Gramsci and Mao on questions of the revolutionary Party, the protracted nature of revolutionary strategy building towards a dual power, and other related questions.  Alas, this project had to be put on hold in the interest of other important theoretical work required of our organization.

I want to continue to acknowledge an old comrade, Maxwell, who first made me aware of the striking parallels between Gramsci and Mao, as well as the tremendous importance of studying Gramsci in our effort to reconceptualize communist strategy in the imperialist centers today.

Because of its length, Part I was published in four sections in serial form on our website, with each section hyperlinked below.

-Comrade Amil K., August 2015

Section I: It’s Time to Jailbreak Gramsci

Section 2: The Strengths and Limitations of Lenin’s State and Revolution

Section 3: The Historical Context of Gramsci’s Political Work Prior to the Prison Notebooks

Section 4: Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks: Towards the War of Position