2022年11月7日月曜日

「知性のペシミズム（悲観主義）、意志のオプティミズム（楽観主義）」 アントニオ・グラムシ『獄中ノート』1929/12/19

 「知性のペシミズム（悲観主義）、意志のオプティミズム（楽観主義）」 アントニオ・グラムシ『獄中ノート』

https://freeassociations2020.blogspot.com/2022/11/19291219.html @

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/102781832752441205/25895469659381518




「知性のペシミズム（悲観主義）、意志のオプティミズム（楽観主義）」 アントニオ・グラムシ『獄中ノート』1929/12/19

https://motivation-up.com/motivation/pessimism.html

「グラムシ 1929 悲観 楽観 12月19日」の検索結果 - Yahoo!検索
https://search.yahoo.co.jp/search?p=グラムシ%201929%20悲観%20楽観%2012月19日&ei=UTF-8

己

労働総同盟は、プロレ （ definizione） 「世界観の悲観主義と気質の楽観主義」 ... さらに、1929 年 12 月 19 日に獄中から末弟のカ屠る虐殺者に呪詛をこめ、ふかく ...



(PDF) グラムシとロマン＝ロラン ――グラムシによるロマン思想の受容について―― 藤 岡 寛 己 | hiromi fujioka - Academia.edu
https://www.academia.edu/30960253/グラムシとロマン_ロラン_グラムシによるロマン思想の受容について_藤_岡_寛_己

はじめに　グラムシの「格言」問題21世紀に入ってもなお、現代世界の政治的・社会的・文化的な諸問題の分析や理解・解決への展望について多数のヒントをあたえているアントニオ＝グラムシだが、「受動的革命」や「知識人論（伝統的知識人・有機的知識人）」、「ヘゲモニー論」、「サバルタン論」、「アメリカニズム・フォーディズム」など、人文・社会の諸領域で使用・借用される単語や用語は多数にのぼるものの、箴言や銘句、警句のようなかたちで人口に膾炙している言葉は意外にすくない。　そのなかで、おそらくはもっとも知られ、もはや格言となっているといってよいグラムシの言葉に「知性の悲観主義、意志の楽観主義」（pessimismo  dell’intelligenza, ottimismo della volontà）がある。それは、広津和郎（あるいは広津の言をついだ平野謙）の散文精神「みだりに悲観せず、また楽観もせず」にみるごとく、諦観や達観を連想させるある種の精神の境域を語る人生訓ふうに了解されてはならないが、それでも、かつてのニューアカ世代の旗手だった浅田彰は、「ポストモダンの思想についての解説書で、大ベストセラーになるようなものではなかったのだが、中身が分からなくても本の名前に惹かれて買った人も多かったに違いない」*1  デビュー作にして出世作『構造と力』の「序に代えて」のなかで、おそらくはアルチュセールを経由したグラムシの言葉として、「英知においては悲観主義者、だが、意志においては楽観主義者」と引いている*2。だがこれまで、この格言44*3はオリジナルではなく、グラムシがロマン＝ロランの文章をヒントにこしらえたとみられてきた。グラムシ自身も1920年4月、トリーノ

の工場評議会運動で社会主義系労働者とアナーキズム労働者との共闘をめざしアナーキストに呼びかけた論説「アナーキストたちへの発言」のなかで*4、「革命過程での社会主義概念は、ロマン＝ロランが自らの座右の銘（motto dʼordine）として要約した『知性の悲観主義、意志の楽観主義』という二つの基本的な要素（note）によって特徴づけられる」と記し、「ところが、アナーキズムのイデオローグは、カール＝マルクスの知性の悲観主義を否認することは『利益となる』と明言するが（L. Fabbri,  Lettere  ad  un  socialista,  Firenze  1914,  p.  134を参照）、それは、『窮乏や抑圧の過剰により発生した革命は、権威主義的な独裁体制を必要として、おそらくは（！）われわれを無政府主義的社会主義ではなく国家社会主義に（！？）至らしめるからである』。社会主義の悲観主義は諸々のできごとから絶対的な確証をつかんだ。つまりプロレタリアートは、人間の頭脳がこれまで想像できなかった最悪の窮乏と抑圧の奈落へ沈み込んだのである。アナーキズムのイデオロギーはこのような情況に、愚かで通俗的な楽観主義のもっとも古くさい動機から企まれた表面的で空虚な似非革命的言辞しか対置させることができない。他方、社会主義者は、最良かつもっとも自覚した労働者による精力的な組織活動を対置する。そして社会主義者は、あらゆる手段を講じて奮闘努力し、この労働前衛分子によってきわめて広大な大衆が自由をつかみその自由そのものを保証できる権力を自己のものとするよう準備させるのである」とつづけた*5。グラムシはまた、自派の新聞『オルディネ＝ヌオーヴォ』（LʼOrdine  Nuovo、以下ONと略記）*6に1921年3月に掲載した論説「官僚主義」のなかで、イタリア最大の労働組合ナショナルセンターである労働総同盟（CGdL＝Confederazione  generale  del  lavoro）の総会にみられた政治的・組織的・倫理的な無能力と停滞などの問題点を指弾し、前年1920年9月の工場占拠闘争敗北後、急激に擡頭してきたファシズム勢力にも多分に援護された企業側からの、種々におよぶ組合つぶしの策動にさいなまれる工場労働者たちを激励した。そして、論説の最終段落で、「われわれの悲観主義は増大したが、われわれの意志はしぼまない。組合幹部は大衆を代表していない。専制国家とはまさに役人たちの国家、官僚国家であった。専制国家は国民を代表していなかったために議会制国家にとって代わられた。労働総同盟は、プロレタリアートの歴史的発展において、専制国家がブルジョワ階級の歴史的発展において演じてきたことをやっている。労働総同盟は評議会（Consigli）の組織化にとって代わられるだろう。評議会は労働者の議会であり、官僚主義の堆積を浸食し、古い組織関係を変更する機能をもつ。われわれの悲観主義は増大したが、われわれの銘句（nostra  divisa）はいつも生きてある。すなわち、『知性の悲観主義、意志の楽観主義』」*7。44　以上にすこし垣間みたように、ロマン＝ロランの文章に示唆されたといわれる格言は、たんなるその場しのぎの呼びかけや挨拶がわりの合い言葉で使われたわけではなかった。グラムシにとって、それは、厳しい現実を打破するために発せられた同志と自分自身へのエールであった。　さて、この格言はロマン＝ロランのどの小説・日記・エセーから引きだされたものなのか。あるいは格言へのインスピレーションはロランの文章のどこに見いだすことができるのであろうか。この問いにたいし、イタリアで1975年に出版され、他諸国でのグラムシ獄中ノート刊行のモデルテキストとなった決定版ともいえるジェッラターナ版『獄中ノート』の第1ノートに付された編集者の注記が詳しい説明を用意している。その大略を以下、紹介しよう。

　〈この格言［銘句］はグラムシの著作全体でしばしば見ることができるが、1920年4月3日-10日のON誌の記事［前出「アナーキストたちへの発言」］でロマン＝ロランのものであるとされている。つづく1920年7月10日の記事*8でグラムシは、「この格言は、労働者階級の隊列にあって自発的に活動家の地位をひきうけた者にもとめられている努力と犠牲とを自覚したすべての共産主義者の合い言葉（parola  dʼordine）とならなければならない」というものであった。この格言の起源についてはレオネッティ記事をみよ（Alfonso  Leonetti,  Pagine inedite  di  Romain  Rolland  sul  martirio  di  Gramsci,  in《Rinascita》, 20 giugno 1969, a. XXVI, n. 25.）。ロマン＝ロランがこの格言を使ったはっきりとした場所がこれまで見つかっていないにしても、「グラムシが1920年4月以降に用いた表現がロランの作品のなかに実際に存在する可能性はある」というレオネッティの見解は根拠がありそうだ。また、おそらくロマン＝ロランの着想源としてたどりつける先例もある。ロランが親交・協力の関係にあったマルヴィーダ＝フォン＝マイゼンブークの回顧録のなかで、ギリシャ人の性格にかんするブルクハルトの定義（definizione）「世界観の悲観主義と気質の楽観主義」（Pessimismus  der  Weltanschauung  und  Ottimismus des  Temperaments）への言及がある（Malwida  von Meysenbug,  Lebensabend  einer  Idealistin,  Schutter  u. Loeffler,  Berlin-leipzig  1898,  p.  50.）。グラムシの格言と似たものがF・S・ニッティとB・マロンの著作にもみられる。前者については、Sergio  Caprioglio,  Gramsci,  Rolland  e  F.  S.  Nitti,  in《Rinascita》,  22  novembre  1974,  a.  XXXI,  n.  46,  p. 31を、後者については、Maurizio  Torini,  Gramsci, Rolland  e  Benoît  Malon,  ivi,  17  gennaio  1975,  a. XXXII, n. 3, p. 31を参照〉*9。

以上、詳細かつ丁寧な記述だが、残念ながら「格言」の出所を結局あきらかにすることができないために肝腎の「解答」は予測の域をでていない。したがって、核心が見えぬままにその周囲を旋回するだけの隔靴掻痒の感がある。



「知性のペシミズム（悲観主義）、意志のオプティミズム（楽観主義）」
アントニオ・グラムシ『獄中ノート』


 sono pessimista con l'intelligenza, ma ottimista per la volontà.　グラムシ1929/12/19



http://le-citazioni.it/frasi/154348-antonio-gramsci-sono-pessimista-con-lintelligenza-ma-ottimista-p/
„Sono pessimista con l'intelligenza, ma ottimista per la volontà." —  Antonio Gramsci, libro Lettere dal carcere 19 dicembre 1929 Lettere dal carcere ORIGINALE I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will. Letter from Prison (19 December 1929); also attributed to Romain Rolland. Origine: Gramsci's Prison Letters

Fonte: https://le-citazioni.it/frasi/154348-antonio-gramsci-sono-pessimista-con-lintelligenza-ma-ottimista-p/


愛よ知よ永遠なれ 2―グラムシ獄中からの手紙 Tankobon Hardcover – May 1, 1982


https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191843730.001.0001/q-oro-ed5-00018416

Antonio Gramsci 1891–1937
Italian political theorist and activist 

  1. Our motto is still alive and to the point: Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.
    the motto of the periodical L'Ordine Nuovo was borrowed from the French writer Romain Rolland
    in L'Ordine Nuovo 4 March 1921
    新秩序
    グラムシ
  2. The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.
    in 1930, Selections from the Prison Notebooks (1971)


Sono pessimista con l'intelligenza, ma ottimista per la volontà 
139.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Lettere_dal_carcere.html?hl=ja&id=RHJTDwAAQBAJ





139.



 19 dicembre 1929 
Carissimo Carlo,
 ho ricevuto la lettera del 4 dicembre della mamma e la tua del 13. Ti ringrazio per la sollecitudine con cui hai eseguito le mie commissioni. Tra gli oggetti di vestiario che avevo a Roma non ti fu consegnato anche un soprabito? Mi pare che fosse ancora passabile, se anche non piú di primo pelo. Voglio parlare di un soprabito da inverno, perché un altro, di gabardine, era ormai diventato uno straccio. Ma forse l'hai ricevuto e ti sei dimenticato di scrivermene. – Delle due paia di scarpe non ricordo piú: credo però che debbano essere molto malandate e ormai inservibili. – Naturalmente ti prego di non mettere piú in testa a mammà che possa fare un viaggio fino a Turi: solo il pensiero di una simile eventualità mi spaventa. Mi pare che ella già abusi troppo della sua fibbra eccezionale lavorando cosí accanitamente alla sua età: avrebbe ormai diritto alla pensione, se esistessero pensioni per le madri di famiglia. Penso che il primo contatto col carcere abbia fatto persino una gravissima impressione a te: immagina quale impressione farebbe a lei. Non si tratta tanto del lungo viaggio, con tutti i suoi disagi, per una donna anziana che non ha mai fatto piú di 40 km. in ferrovia e non ha attraversato il mare (forse il viaggio in sé la divertirebbe): si tratta di un tale viaggio fatto per visitare un figlio in carcere. Mi pare che occorra evitarlo a tutti i costi. – Che cosa le hai poi raccontato? Spero che non abbia esagerato in nessun senso: del resto tu stesso hai visto che io non sono né abbattuto, né scoraggiato, né depresso. Il mio stato d'animo è tale che se anche fossi condannato a morte, continuerei a essere tranquillo e anche la sera prima dell'esecuzione magari studierei una lezione di lingua cinese. La tua lettera e ciò che mi scrivi di Nannaro mi hanno interessato molto, ma anche maravigliato. Voi due avete fatto la guerra: specialmente Nannaro ha fatto la guerra in condizioni eccezionali, da minatore, sotto terra, sentendo attraverso il diaframma che separava la sua galleria dalla galleria austriaca il lavoro del nemico per affrettare lo scoppio della mina propria e mandarlo per aria. Mi pare che in tali condizioni, prolungate per anni, con tali esperienze psicologiche, l'uomo dovrebbe aver raggiunto il grado massimo di serenità stoica, e aver acquistato una tale convinzione profonda che l'uomo ha in se stesso la sorgente delle proprie forze morali, che tutto dipende da lui, dalla sua energia, dalla sua volontà, dalla ferrea coerenza dei fini che si propone e dei mezzi che esplica per attuarli – da non disperare mai piú e non cadere piú in quegli stati d'animo volgari e banali che si chiamano pessimismo e ottimismo. Il mio stato d'animo sintetizza questi due sentimenti e li supera: sono pessimista con l'intelligenza, ma ottimista per la volontà. Penso, in ogni circostanza, alla ipotesi peggiore, per mettere in movimento tutte le riserve di volontà ed essere in grado di abbattere l'ostacolo. Non mi sono fatto mai illusioni e non ho avuto mai ma ce ne sono state nel passato di molto piú gravi e c'è una differenza tra oggi e il passato. [...] Perciò sono anche un po' indulgente e ti prego di essere anche tu indulgente con Nannaro, che, ho visto io stesso, sa anche essere forte. Solo quando è isolato, perde la testa e si accascia. Forse gli scriverò la prossima volta.
Caro Carlo, ti ho fatto un sermone in piena regola. Intanto dimenticavo di raccomandarti di fare tanti complimenti e tanti auguri a Teresina e anche a Paolo naturalmente, per la loro nuova figlietta. Poi devo fare gli auguri generali per il Natale e per tutte le altre feste che succederanno. Io farò il natale alla meglio, un po' come il famoso signor Chiu, di cui ci parlava la mamma quando eravamo bambini.
Abbraccia tutti affettuosamente e specialmente la mamma.
tuo Antonio



 

139.
 1929年12月19日 
最愛のカルロ、
 12月4日の母の手紙と13日のあなたの手紙を受け取りました。あなたが私の用事を迅速に実行してくれてありがとう。私がローマで持っていた衣類の中で、オーバーコートはあなたに与えられませんでしたか？それ以上の最初のコートではないにしても、それはまだ無難だったように私には思えます。冬のコートについてお話ししたいと思います。ギャバジンの別のコートがぼろきれになっていたからです。しかし、多分あなたはそれを手に入れて、それについて私に書くのを忘れました。-二足の靴のうち、もう覚えていません。しかし、それらは非常にぼろぼろで、今では役に立たないに違いないと思います。-もちろん、彼女がトゥリに旅行できることを心に留めないでください。そのような不測の事態を考えるだけで私は怖がります。彼女はすでに彼女の年齢で執拗に働いて、彼女の並外れた繊維を乱用しすぎているように私には思えます。母親のための年金があれば、彼は年金を受け取る資格があります。刑務所との最初の接触はあなたに非常に深刻な印象を与えたと思います。それが彼女にどのような印象を与えるか想像してみてください。40 km以上移動したことのない年配の女性にとっては、不便を伴う長い旅はそれほど重要ではありません。鉄道で海を渡らなかった（おそらく旅自体が彼女を楽しませるだろう）：それは刑務所にいる息子を訪ねるために作られたそのような旅です。絶対に避けるべきだと私には思えます。-それからあなたは彼女に何と言いましたか？彼がいかなる意味でも誇張していないことを願っています。結局のところ、あなたは私が落胆したり、落胆したり、落ち込んだりしていないことをあなた自身が見てきたのです。私の心の状態は、死刑を宣告されたとしても、私は落ち着きを保ち、前夜も落ち着くでしょう。多分私は中国語のレッスンを勉強するでしょう。あなたの手紙とあなたがナンナロについて私に書いたものは私にとても興味を持っただけでなく、私を驚かせました。あなた2人は戦争を戦いました：特にナンナロは、鉱山労働者として、地下で、彼のトンネルをオーストリアのトンネルから分離したダイアフラムを通して感じて、敵の仕事を感じて、彼自身の鉱山の爆発を早め、それを空気。。そのような状況で、何年にもわたって、そのような心理的経験をもって、人は最大のストイックな静けさに達し、人が自分自身の道徳的な力の源を持っているという深い信念を獲得したはずです。すべてが彼、彼のエネルギー、彼の意志に依存していること、それが提案する目的とそれを実行するために表現する手段の鉄の一貫性から-二度と絶望することはなく、悲観主義や楽観主義と呼ばれる下品で平凡な気分に陥ることは決してありません。私の心の状態は、これら2つの感情を要約し、それらを克服します。私は知性については悲観的ですが、意志については楽観的です。私は、あらゆる状況において、最悪の仮説について、意志のすべての準備を開始し、障害を打ち破ることができると思います。私は幻想を一度も経験したことがありませんし、一度も経験したことはありませんが、過去にはもっと深刻なものがあり、今日と過去には違いがあります。[...]ですから、私も少し甘やかされており、私自身も強くなることができるナンナロに甘んじていただきたいと思います。それが孤立しているときだけ、彼は頭を失って倒れます。次回は彼に手紙を書くかもしれません。
親愛なるカルロ、私はあなたに本格的な説教をしました。その間、私はあなたがテレジナともちろんパオロに彼らの新しい娘のために多くの褒め言葉と最高の願いをすることを勧めるのを忘れました。それから私はクリスマスと起こる他のすべての休日のために一般的な願いをしなければなりません。子供の頃、お母さんが話してくれた有名なチウさんのように、頑張ってクリスマスをやります。
みんな、特にお母さんを愛情を込めて抱きしめてください。
あなたのアントニオ





In 1929, writing from his prison cell, Gramsci tried to put his youngest brother Carlo's fears to rest with these words:

You must realize that I am far from feeling beaten…it seems to me that… a man out to be deeply convinced that the source of his own moral forceis in himself — his very energy and will, the iron coherence of ends and means — thathe never falls into those vulgar, banal moods, pessimism and optimism. My own stateof mind synthesizes these two feelings and transcends them: my mind is pessimistic,but my will is optimistic. Whatever the situation, I imagine the worst that could happen in order to summon up all my reserves and will power to overcome every obstacle. [1]


https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/05/pessimism-optimism-and-the-role-of-intellectuals/

Pessimism, Optimism and the Role of Intellectuals

The challenge of modernity is to live life without illusions and without becoming disillusioned… I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but am an optimist because of will.

— Antonio Gramsci (1891- 1937)

Back on December 10, 2016, after 45 years of college teaching, I met my last class. The course was Intro to International Politics: How the World Works. After twelve weeks of exposing countless myths, fables, and misinformation the odds of changing the world seemed daunting at best. If ignorance is bliss, there were few blissful days in the course and early on I mentioned that my mother not infrequently referred to her oldest son as "Dr. Gloom and Doom!" Per usual, I felt responsible to leave my students with some sense of hope but it had to be honest and not mawkish, anemic, liberal bromides.

Although my classes were invariably discussion oriented, on that occasion I chanced the students would tolerate a mini lecture. After waiting a full minute to get their attention, I wrote Gramsci's aphorism on the board and took it as my point of departure. Here's a synopsis of my comments for your possible interest:

British historian E.J. Hobsbawm described Antonio Gramsci as "an extraordinary philosopher, perhaps a genius, probably the most original communist thinker of the 20th century in Western Europe." Born on the island of Sardinia into a recently impoverished family, Gramsci had experienced the conditions he was to write about. As a revolutionary socialist and co-founder of the Italian Communist Party, his effectiveness as a radical thinker, journalist, agitator and organizer led to his arrest and imprisonment by Benito Mussolini's fascist regime in 1926. The charge was treason — attempting to "undermine the Italian state."

Mussolini had once referred to Gramsci as "this Sardinian hunchback and professor of economics and philosophy" who possessed "an unquestionably powerful brain." At his trial the government prosecutor pointed directly at Gramsci and famously proclaimed, "For twenty years we must stop this brain from functioning" and that was sentence. The serious health problems that plagued Gramsci's entire life continued as he spent most of the remainder of his life in prison.

When his health deteriorated to a life-threatening situation he was moved to prison clinics in1933 and 1937. Just prior to gaining his freedom in April, 1937 he succumbed to a stroke at age 46. While in prison he wrote his justly famous Prison Notebooks (34 volumes) and 3,000 pages of handwritten notes.

In 1929, writing from his prison cell, Gramsci tried to put his youngest brother Carlo's fears to rest with these words:

You must realize that I am far from feeling beaten…it seems to me that… a man out to be deeply convinced that the source of his own moral forceis in himself — his very energy and will, the iron coherence of ends and means — thathe never falls into those vulgar, banal moods, pessimism and optimism. My own stateof mind synthesizes these two feelings and transcends them: my mind is pessimistic,but my will is optimistic. Whatever the situation, I imagine the worst that could happen in order to summon up all my reserves and will power to overcome every obstacle. [1]

For Gramsci "the crisis" of his time and by extension our own, arises from the fact that the old order is expiring but the new one cannot be born. In the intervening period, certain "morbid symptoms" emerge. Most importantly, there is no guarantee the new order will be better or worse than the present one and it could be catastrophically worse.

One need not look far today to justify pessimism of the intellect, for Gramsci's "morbid symptoms." Decision-making in the U.S. remains in the hands of massive private tyrannies; the systematic undoing of reformist concessions wrung from capitalists has accelerated; endless wars; millions of plant and animal extinctions; four decades of neoliberal ideology has produced an empathy deficit disorder of epic proportions; a record number of desparate refugees around the world; ecocide, euphemistically called "climate change" looms; the populist right is gaining political ascendency around the globe; political manipulation and manufacture of consent has attained unprecedented levels; the U.S. empire is in decline and therefore its incomparable power is even more dangerous; and with the world seemingly in its death throes, the minuscule radical left in this country shows unmistakable signs of ossification.

On a personal level, claiming to face things as they really exist mandates looking into the abyss and acknowledging that my life's work may have been extraneous, perhaps doomed to irrelevancy. Put another way, being right about so many things hasn't counted for nearly as much as I'd assumed when much younger. The awareness that my own government is responsible for most of the world's overt and structural violence is a background thrum in my life and often leaves me feeling like a stranger in my own country.

Based on extensive exchanges with Facebook friends I know I'm hardly alone in this respect. I should quickly add that these numerous, far-flung contacts remain an essential source of sustenance for me and I encouraged my students to seek out friends and associations with shared commitments. If memory serves, I said that living life without illusions means being liberated from the brain-washing worldview imposed (and conveniently believed) by our rulers. That's life affirming and no small achievement. Finally, participating in struggles for justice brings rewards that simply can't be experienced anywhere else.

What then, is pessimism of the intellect? It's seeing the world as it actually exists, not some fantasy about how we'd like it to be. It means not accepting things at face value and doubting what we've heard since childhood in the absence of evidence. In short, it's pretty much what they'd heard before taking the class. In terms of optimism of the will, Gramsci means that humans have the capacity to overcome new challenges, to courageously move forward and create a better world in the face of very long odds. We can't predict the course of history but human agency is paramount and history is made by human will.

Here I hesitate to introduce the troublesome term "intellectual" but it bears directly on our subject. A major focus of Gramsci's work was on the role of intellectuals in organizing culture. Pessimism of the intellect requires discerning the truth about politics. However, Gramsci knew that "to say truth is revolutionary" but the reality is that most intellectuals speak untruths to the powerless. In his time, Gramsci observed this was so effective that "when truth is actually spoken, no one believes it." [2]

According to Gramsci it would be a grievous error to believe such matters are somehow only within the purview of individuals commonly referred to as "intellectuals." Gramsci wrote about what he called "organic intellectuals" who emerge out of their socioeconomic milieu. For the working class, arriving at a pessimism of the intellect and engaging in critical thinking are activities that can be performed by many different people depending on the occasion. It's not about pedigrees, those possessing 'superior powers of intellect,' certain writing skills or eloquence or special vocations. To be sure, affluence, leisure time and opportunity all factor in but "working class intellectual" is not an oxymoron.

"These organic intellectuals are distinguished less by their profession, which may be any job characteristic of their class, than by their function in directing the ideas and aspirations of the class to which they rightly belong." [3] This is what Gramsci meant by stating "all men are philosophers" or all individuals are intellectuals, in capacity if not always function. Different classes midwife their own intellectuals and the working class is fully capable of generating its own organic intellectuals in this broad sense of the term. The anthropologist Cate Crehan, a close student of Gramsci's work, reminds those of us intent on radical change must be mindful that counter narratives "emerge out of the lived realities of oppressed people's day-to-day living." [4]

I also reviewed Noam Chomsky's position that most people we call 'intellectuals' are a special class of people who are lavishly rewarded for imposing the ideas of those in power on the rest of us. And that "…the population should be anti-intellectual in that respect. I think that's a healthy reaction." He's suggesting that people need to develop an "intellectual self defense" against these 'intellectuals.' Chomsky goes on to assert, "My suspicion is that plenty of people in the crafts, auto mechanics and so on, probably do as much or more intellectual work than people in the universities…if by 'intellectual' you mean people who are using their minds, then it's all over society." [6]

For me, Paul Baran, the late Marxist professor of economics at Stanford University, adds to this more nuanced, more inclusive view when he asserts that to be an intellectual is to be a social critic, someone who identifies, analyzes and helps "to overcome the obstacles barring the way to the attainment of a better more humane, and more rational social order." [7] To be sure, such a person will be treated as a nuisance and a troublemaker by those in power and it takes courage and commitment to withstand the social pressure. However, echoing Gramsci, Baron makes the essential point that this understanding of "intellectual" includes all sorts of people from many walks of life.

What happens in the absence of optimism of the will? We already see it. Some people adopt a breezy, banal optimism that Gramsci describes as "nothing but a way to defend one's laziness, irresponsibility, and unwillingness to do anything." (Prison Notebooks, Number 9). More common is an enveloping of sense of impotence, fatalism, and withdrawing into oneself to fend off further despair, a voluntary disengagement that University of Texas journalism professor Robert Jensen identifies as "the ultimate exercise of privilege." [5]

Toward the end of the last session I said that during my career I'd tried to help students see through all the bullshit and grasp how the world works. I would not have remained a teacher if I hadn't wagered it should and could work much better. I reminded them of our first week's discussion that human nature has revealed a continuum of behaviors from the most wretched and cruel to the most compassionate and empathetic. At a minimum this means, in the words of Amin Maalouf, "There is a Mr. Hyde inside each of us. What we have to do is prevent the conditions that bring the monster forth." Call it optimism of the will or of the heart but to try to live life as we think humans should live —as the world should work — is a choice.

Chomsky put it this way: "You basically have two choices. You can say 'Nothing is going to change, so I am going to do nothing.' You can therefore guarantee that the worst possible outcome will come about. Or, you can take the other position. You can say: 'Look, maybe something will work. Therefore I will engage myself in trying to make it work and maybe there's a chance things can get better.' That is your choice. Nobody can tell you how right it is to be optimistic. Nothing can be predicted about human affairs…nothing." [8] It doesn't contradict Chomsky's assertion to conclude that failure to engage today will provide a definitive answer to Rosa Luxemburg's famous question: Will we be transitioning to socialism or barbarism?

(Thanks to Kathleen Kelly, my comrade and in-house editor, for her tough love critiques)

Notes

[1] Antonio Gramsci, Letters from Prison (New York: Harper & Row, 1973) pp.158-59.

[2] Prison Notebooks, Edited by V. Gerratano, Turin, 1975, p. 699.

[3] Selections From The Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, edited and translated by Quentin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith. (London: Eloc Books, 1991), p 131.

[4] Cate Crehan, Gramsci, Culture and Anthropology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), p.5.

[5] Although written fifteen years ago, there's arguably no more succinct and more accessible source for 'pessimist of the intellect but optimist of the will' than to consult Robert Jensen's Citizens o the Empire. (San Franciso: City Lights, 2004).

[6] Both quotes from Noam Chomsky, Understanding Power, Edited by Peter R. Mitchell and John Schoeffel, (New York: Harper & Row, 2002) p.96.

[7] Paul Baran, "The Commitment of the Intellectual," Monthly Review (May, 1961)

[8]Face to Face with a Polymath, Frontline, November, 2001.



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