Gramsci and democracy in Prison Notebooks: Criticism of elite theory

Abstract

The main interest of this article is, first the problem raised initially by G. Mosca and V. Pareto, introducers of the Theory of Elitism, elaborated in relation to the Italian parliamentary crises in the late nineteenth century and secondly, the critique formulated by A. Gramsci in the historical context of the Italian Risorgimento. Gramsci develops an important analysis concerning the bourgeois revolution in Italy as a case of Passive Revolution, a concept that acquires enormous relevance for the study of the formation of capitalist states after the French Revolution. Gramsci’s analysis of these processes discusses limits and impediments in the pace to consolidate democracy. In this sense, the problem of the historical division between leaders and masses, scarce political participation and the critic of the Italian parliamentary democracy are a central matter of discussion.