Birth of Antonio Gramsci

Antonio Gramsci was born on 22 January 1891 in Ales. An Italian Marxist thinker and politician, Gramsci co-founded the Communist Party of Italy and led it for a time. He was arrested by Mussolini's regime in 1926 and spent the rest of his life in prison, where he wrote the Prison Notebooks, thirty-some notebooks of reflections on culture, politics and history. His concept of cultural hegemony, the idea that ruling classes maintain power through consent as well as force, influenced the study of politics, education and culture. He died shortly after his release, with failing health, and his writings became widely read after the war.

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