Gramsci and Pareto: on the passivity of the masses

Abstract

By studying theoretical and political sources of Antonio Gramsci’s thought in the Prison Notebook we have identified in the elite theory and its assumption of the historical passivity of the masses one of the most important debates that underlies the Gramscian approach to the social revolution. It is known that Vilfredo Pareto is one of the systematizers of elitism in Italy and a very influential author in the culture of his time. However, the debate with elitism is indirect, being mediated by Niccolò Machiavelli, who is also a reference for Gramsci, and by the Italian culture of the first half of the twentieth century. In this article we propose to reconstruct and confront the authors’ arguments in order to bring to light two equally realistic but diametrically opposed views on the problems involved in the concrete possibilities of historical changes, especially those that refer to the political action - or inaction - of the popular masses.