Elite volunteer action substitutes for, rather than expresses, popular mass participation
Evidence
The assertion that modern Italy was characterised by volunteer action is correct (commandos in the war could be added to the list), but it must be stressed that this volunteer action, despite its undeniable historical merit, has been a surrogate for popular intervention, and in this sense is a solution of compromise with the passivity of the masses of the nation. … The solution involving volunteer action is a solution of authority, from the top down, formally legitimised by the consent, it is claimed, of the ‘best’ elements. … But to construct a lasting history the ‘best elements’ are not enough; the vaster and more numerous national-popular energies are needed. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2234
Categorization
- XREF: This is the mechanism the reader will carry into the Islamophobia module’s ‘hegemony’ and ‘common sense’ readings: rule by consent manufactured from above, not organic adhesion of the masses. — connects to: Elite volunteer action substitutes for mass popular participation in national history; Volunteer vanguard action masks rather than replaces mass political passivity — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2234; A passive revolution is elite-led change without mass participation — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1879 (+2 more)
- DEFINE: Gramsci coins the pairing of ‘voluntarism’ with ‘passivity of the masses’ as an intermediate, equivocal political form.
Broader Connections
- Elite volunteer action substitutes for mass popular participation in national history
#expands(1.00) - Volunteer vanguard action masks rather than replaces mass political passivity
#contradicts(0.90) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2234 - Organic elites express their social mass while volunteers detach themselves from it
#corroborates(0.85) - Civic voluntarism substitutes feeling effective for actually changing institutions.
#expands(0.85) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 82 - A passive revolution is elite-led change without mass participation
#exemplifies(0.80) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1879