Postwar hegemony had to be rebuilt around masses newly stirred into chaotic movement.

Evidence

The problem was to reconstruct a hegemonic apparatus for these formerly passive and apolitical elements. It was impossible to achieve this without the use of force—which could not be “legal” force, etc. Since the complex of social relations was different in each state, the political methods of using force and the ways in which legal and illegal forces were combined had to be equally diverse. The greater the mass of the apolitical, the greater the part played by illegal forces has to be. The greater the politically organised and educated forces, the more it is necessary to “cover” the legal State, etc. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 876

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies how Gramsci’s hegemony requires managing formerly apolitical masses through a calibrated mix of legal and illegal force.
• XREF: Connects to Gramsci’s core distinction between force and consent, and to the foundations being built for how ruling groups secure domination. — connects to: Postwar economic crises had a political basis and were crises of legitimacy for capital.; Postwar welfare expansion served to pacify potentially rebellious displaced groups. — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 39