Antonio Gramsci (1891?1937)

Born in Ales in the province of Cagliari in Sardinia in 1891, Antonio Gramsci was a Marxist theorist and militant, who made a lasting theoretical contribution to Marxist and non-Marxist political thought. Having completed his education at Turin University in 1915, Gramsci joined the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and turned his hand to journalism. In the spring of 1919, along with Palmiro Togliatti and others, Gramsci helped found the New Order (L'Ordine Nuovo), which gave expression to the Council Movement that had taken root in the industrial cities of northern Italy. Two years later he and others broke with the PSI to found the Italian Communist Party (PCI), with Gramsci becoming its general secretary in 1924. As a result of his continuing political activities, Gramsci was arrested in Rome in November 1926. In accordance with a series of ?exceptional laws? enacted by the fascist-dominated Italian legislature, he was committed to solitary confinement at the Regina Coeli prison. Suffering almost continuous physical pain and psychic torment, he endured a ten-year term of imprisonment. He died in April 1937 from a cerebral hemorrhage, only a few days after he was released from prison.