City and countryside as historical categories in the works of Antonio Gramsci

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to identify the evolution and strategic potential of the conceptual opposition “city – countryside” in Antonio Gramsci’s “Prison Notebooks” as an instrument of historical analysis and political strategy. The article proposes a new interpretation of the Italian thinker’s intellectual transformation: unlike the works of F. Contadini, which emphasize linear evolution, this study demonstrates for the first time that Gramsci’s transition from a mechanistic to a dialectical model is accompanied by a problematization of the very way in which he links politics with space. The paper examines three cases – Machiavelli’s conception, the French Revolution, and the Italian Risorgimento – and shows that this connection in Gramsci takes two forms. The first type is termed a “vertical” connection: it is built upon hierarchy and subordination. The second is a “horizontal” connection: it is dialectical and proceeds from the premise that society is internally heterogeneous. To explain why certain hegemonic projects fail, the concept of a “deficit of horizontal articulation” is introduced. This explains, in particular, why the Action Party (Partito d’Azione) failed during the Risorgimento. The novelty of the work lies in synthesizing Gramsci’s mature views into a coherent picture. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that Gramsci offers a fully operational theory of the space-time relationship, which provides a fresh perspective on why the contemporary world develops unevenly. As a result of the study, it was established that despite the theoretical evolution of his views, Gramsci remains within the boundaries of the Marxist tradition without revising the categories of “city” and “countryside” themselves as theoretical constructs; this, however, does not diminish his analysis, but rather opens up space for its actualization in line with contemporary urban theories.

Research materials

1. Gramsci A. La questione meridionale. Roma: Editori Riuniti, 1995.
2. Gramsci A. Lettere dal carcere / a cura di S. Caprioglio e E. Fubini. Torino: Einaudi, 1965.
3. Gramsci A. Operai e contadini // L’Ordine Nuovo. 1919. 2 agosto.
4. Gramsci A. Quaderni del carcere. Edizione critica dell’Istituto Gramsci / a cura di V. Gerratana. Torino: Einaudi, 2014а.
5. Gramsci A. Quaderni del carcere. Edizione critica dell’Istituto Gramsci / a cura di V. Gerratana. Torino: Einaudi, 2014b.

References

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Author information

About this article

Publication history

• Received: September 1, 2026.
• Published: September 28, 2026.

Keywords

• Антонио Грамши
• марксистская традиция
• анализ пространства
• связь пространства и времени
• горизонтальные связи
• Antonio Gramsci
• Marxist tradition
• spatial analysis
• space-time relationship
• horizontal connections

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© 2026 The Author(s)
© 2026 Gramota Publishing, LLC

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)