Gramsci derives his passive revolution concept from Cuoco but transforms it

Evidence

The point of departure for the study will be Vincenzo Cuoco’s work on the subject; but it is obvious that Cuoco’s phrase for the Neapolitan revolution of 1799 can be no more than a cue, since the concept has been completely modified and enriched. … Can the concept of “passive revolution”, in the sense attributed by Vincenzo Cuoco to the first period of the Italian Risorgimento, be related to the concept of “war of position” in contrast to war of manoeuvre? … In other words, did these concepts have a meaning after the French Revolution, and can the twin figures of Proudhon and Gioberti be explained in terms of the panic created by the Terror of 1793, as Sorellism can be in terms of the panic following the Paris massacres of 1871? … In other words, does there exist an absolute identity between war of position and passive revolution? — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 556

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes that ‘passive revolution’ originates in Cuoco’s treatment of the Neapolitan 1799 revolution but means something enriched and different in Gramsci.
• QUESTION: The tentative identification of passive revolution with war of position is posed as a question; worth tracking how Gramsci resolves it.