“Through his detailed exploration of Gramscian theory, Schneider sought to apply Gramsci’s concepts to the reality facing contemporary British society and, how the Left could utilise Gramscian theory to rebuild and challenge the crises we face.”
By Logan Williams, Arise Festival
On Friday 2nd June, Arise Festival in conjunction with Labour Outlook held the first discussion in a series of Socialist sessions held every Friday lunchtime throughout this year’s Arise Festival.
The first of these sessions was led by James Schneider, former advisor to Jeremy Corbyn and author of “Our Bloc: How We Win” on Antonio Gramsci’s ideas and how the Left can utilise them to understand the global crisis today and how we can use them to combat the contemporary crises facing the British working class.
You can read the report-back or watch it back in full below:
James Schneider began his discussion by examining why the global hard right is obsessed with the ideas of Gramsci. To do this, he utilised a quote from an opinion piece written by Allister Heath: editor of the Sunday Telegraph, who concluded by stating that “in a world where the followers of Gramsci have seized control of virtually all institutions. Winning elections and Referenda are not enough, the blob must be defeated” which marked a clear departure from the reality facing contemporary British society. He noted that Heath was not alone in his beliefs on the hard right and pointed to the countless references to both Gramsci and his supposed ideals by speakers at the recent National Conservatism conference which featured major players from across the British and American hard right.
However, Schneider was quick to highlight that the weaponisation of ‘Gramscian ideals’ by the global hard right was not founded upon an accurate reflection of his ideals. Instead, he argues that the Right’s references represent a ‘meme’ of Gramsci’s ideals and highlighted that it is pivotal for the Left to understand the actuality of Gramscian theory and for it to be utilised as a tool to rebuild the left.
Following his discussion on the Right’s perception of Gramsci and the impact of its ‘followers’, Schneider sought to examine the actuality of Gramscian theory beginning with an explanation of the codes utilised by Gramsci; in the construction of his Marxist political theory, to avoid prison censors following his imprisonment by the Mussolini government in 1926. Schneider then discussed the key area of Gramsci’s political writings namely how the ruling class actually rule. Schneider argues that Gramsci’s thinking “moved beyond ownership of the means of production or the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie” to the idea of hegemony which “is the rule through the combined effects of consent and coercion” which enable one group’s interests to replace the general interests of the population.
James Schneider continued to explore and expand upon various Gramscian concepts ranging from the historical ruling class bloc, the war of position which Gramsci describes as being a consolidation of forces on either side of the political or class divide and the war of manoeuvre which is described as being a direct assault by the working class and, the difference between organic crises as opposed to ordinary crises.
Through his detailed exploration of Gramscian theory, Schneider sought to apply Gramsci’s concepts to the reality facing contemporary British society and, how the Left could utilise Gramscian theory to rebuild and challenge the crises we face. Schneider began this section of his talk by re-examining the Right’s obsession with Gramsci as being an attempt to move the topic of debate away from the organic crisis; namely the mammoth cost of living crisis still effecting millions of working class households across Britain, to allow the ruling class bloc to restrengthen itself from its current state of weakness.
Following this, James went on to offer the Left key pieces of advice which were firstly the Left must not attempt to fight the Right on its culture war instead we must seek to focus on the emerging organic crisis. Secondly, he argues the Left’s strategy must change in the post-Corbyn period to one which seeks to unite all progressive forces into a counter bloc to the ruling class which he argues must include the trade unions, the growing climate movement, the Labour left both in and out parliament and, the grassroots left which has now left the Labour Party.
- “What can Gramsci teach us about the crisis today – and what can we do about it?” with James Schneider took place on June 2nd, 2023 as part of Arise Festival 2023. You can watch the session here; and listen on the Arise Festival podcast here or on most major podcast platforms.
- You can see what else is coming up at Arise Festival 2023 here; book your tickets to help support the people-powered political festival here; or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
- Logan Williams is a National Education Union (NEU) activist and an organiser for Arise Festival, you can follow him on twitter here.
