Proletarian Order: Antonio Gramsci, Factory Councils and the Origins of Italian Communism, 1911 - 1921

by Gwyn Alfred Williams

Proletrian Order is a study of the crisis in Italian Socialism between 1911 and 1921. It focuses on Antonio Gramsci and the factory council movement in Turin during the red two years of 1919 – 1920 (the biennio rosso), and ends with the foundation of the Communist Party of Italy.

Genres: History, Italy, Nonfiction

368 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 1975

About the author

Gwyn Alfred "Alf" Williams was a Welsh historian particularly known for his work on Antonio Gramsci and Francisco Goya as well as on Welsh history.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a long time to finish this study of Gramsci, the factory councils, and the creation of a revolutionary party in Italy, but I really enjoyed the book. I still cannot pronounce "Gramsci" to save my life.

The book is a great history of the huge mass movement in Turin that created factory councils and nearly ushered in a revolution after World War I.

Unlike other revolutionaries in Italy, Gramsci saw the creation of factory councils as the beginnings of a revolutionary, democratic workers' government in Italy.

(I was pleasantly surprised to see that Gramsci got a little inspiration from Daniel DeLeon. I got my first taste of politics reading old pamplets from DeLeon back in high school).

The author was a radio broadcaster and historian in Wales, and he writes with a stronger style than I expected.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of the early developments of Italian Marxism going into the PCdI, with a particular focus on both Gramsci's intellectual development within L'Ordine Nuovo and Bordiga's development leading abstentionist youth sections of the PSI. A lot of good information on Bordiga, more useful for him considering the lack of Enlish-language scholarship in comparison to Gramsci. Some good material more sympathetic to Serrati that contextualizes Lenin's preference for him over other Italian radicals despite his constant friction with the Comintern and dogged defense of the PSI.