Antonio Gramsci and the Jewish question

The aim of this chapter is to investigate Antonio Gramsci’s interest in the so-called Jewish question, and more specifically to explore whether the founder of what would become the biggest Communist Party in the West, had reflected on the topic beyond the epistolary comments he exchanged with Tatiana Schucht and Pietro Sraffa. The chapter considers if Gramsci’s thoughts on the matter went beyond the mere historical commentary, offering instead a deeper theorisation of the Jewish experience. Discovering the absence of such theorisation might in fact highlight not just the little interest that one of the Left’s most sig- nificant thinkers had on the topic, but also the impossibility—or incapac- ity—of a universally-oriented ideology to truly engage with the specific. Although the Jewish Question is not one of the main topics in Gramsci’s work, nor one of the most studied, the analysis of the way he handle with this very theme is useful on different levels. On one hand the proximal relation he hold with the Jewish environment—his wife Iulca and his sister-in-law Tatiana came from a mixed family—is evident in some of his Letters from Prison, but the Jewish question happens to vanish in other points. But also for the role of cultural guide of the Italian Communist Party Gramsci will keep even during his detention. On the other hand, we cannot help but appreciate Gramsci’s reflection on the Jewish world about a wide variety of nuances, from the traditional Catholic anti-Judaism, to the Marxian analysis of the Jewish question, to end with the lack of con- frontation with the new problems posed by the advent of fascist antisemi- tism. All of these aspects must be kept in mind. We must consider how, in Gramsci’s reflection, interpretative options stemming both from the Marxist tradition and from classic liberal positions—widespread in the Italian intelligentsia—are at work. Gramsci’s thought on Jewish question is actually deeply influenced by Marx as well as by Arnaldo Momigliano and also by Benedetto Croce. Therefore, we will primarily have to analyse Gramsci’s dealing with tra- ditional anti-Judaism, referring in particular to the correspondence with Tatiana about Two Worlds and emphasising the influence of Marx and Feuerbach on the development of Gramsci’s thought on the theme. In a second phase, we will focus on Gramsci’s lack of understanding of the antisemitic issue that was emerging within Fascism. It will thus become clear how Gramsci is involved not only in the Marxist cultural milieu, but also in typical positions of the Italian liberal intelligentsia. Finally, we will get through this very last aspect.