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Antonio Gramsci 1891-1937
Outline Chronology, 1921-1926
Text from Antonio Gramsci “Selections from political writings (1921-1926)”;
Translated and edited by Quintin Hoare (Lawrence and Wishart), London 1978).
Transcribed to the www with the kind permission of Quintin Hoare.
1921
January: PSI Livorno Congress; party splits when Serrati leadership, organized as "unitary communist faction", refuses to expel reformists; PCI founded. L'Ordine Nuovo becomes a daily organ of the new party.
March: Märzaktion in Germany. Tenth Congress of Bolshevik Party.
April: Gramsci seeks a meeting with D'Annunzio. General elections, in which PCI wins 290,000 votes, PSI' over a million and a half. Arditi del Popolo begin to form, as fascist terror continues unabated.
June: Giolitti government falls, Bonomi becomes prime minister. Third World Congress of the Communist International.
August: Conciliation Pact signed between PSI deputies and Fascists in parliament.
September: Maffi and Lazzari form a "Third -internationalist" tendency, against the Serrati leadership of PSI.
October: PSI Milan Congress; Serrati majority for withdrawal of application to join IIIrd International.
December: Comintern Executive formulates the united front policy.
1922
February: Bonomi resigns, Facta becomes prime minister. Alleanza del Lavoro founded. First Enlarged Executive meeting of the Comintern; Italian delegates vote against leadership on the United Front.
March: USI Congress decides against joining the Red Tradeunion International. Second Congress of PCI at Rome; minority emerges, led by Tasca, to fight for acceptance of Comintern line.
April: Conference of the three Internationals in Berlin.
May: Gramsci goes to Moscow as delegate to Comintern.
June: Second Enlarged Executive meeting of Comintern.
July: Facta government falls; political crisis temporarily resolved by formation of new weak Facta administration.
August: Failure of the "legalitarian" general strike in Italy.
September: PSI holds Rome Congress, expels reformists who form Unitary Socialist Party (PSU), led by Turati, Momigliano and Matteotti.
October: March on Rome. Mussolini administration formed, with participation of individual right-wing popolari and Liberals.
November: Fourth World Congress of the Communist International; PCI delegates, under pressure from international leadership, accept principle of fusion with PSI.
1923
January: In PSI, former Republican Nenni forms National Committee of Socialist Defence, to fight against fusion with PCI, now favoured by Serrati as well as Maffi and Lazzari.
February: Bordiga arrested.
March: Comintern convenes European anti-fascist conference at Frankfurt.
April: Popular Party congress in Turin launches idea of "Freedom Blocs"; pro-fascist right wing breaks away. PSI congress in Milan produces a majority opposed to fusion. Twelfth Congress of the Bolshevik Party.
May: IInd and Two-and-a-half Internationals merge in Hamburg.
June: Third Enlarged Executive meeting of Comintern; this installs provisional "mixed" leadership of PCI majority and minority, following Bordiga's arrest.
July: PCI majority decides to form a faction.
September: Defeat in Bulgaria.
October: Platform of the Forty-Six issued in the Soviet Union. Defeat in Germany.
November: Gramsci moves to Vienna.
December: New Course discussion launched in Soviet Union.
1924
January: Lenin dies.
February: L'Unità founded.
March: L'Ordine Nuovo relaunched as a fortnightly.
April: General elections, in which the PCI wins 270,000 votes, the PSI 340,000 and the PSU 415,000.
May: Thirteenth Congress of Bolshevik Party. Gramsci returns to Italy. Consultative conference of PCI near Como.
June: PSU deputy Matteotti murdered by high-up fascists; opposition parties secede from parliament to meet in a separate assembly on Aventine Hill in Rome. Fifth World Congress of the Communist International calls for "Bolshevization" of the communist parties.
July: Fourth Enlarged Executive meeting of Comintern.
August: Third-internationalists from PSI fuse with PCI.
September: PCI launches slogan of "Workers' and Peasants' Committees".
October: Trotsky publishes "Lessons of October".
November: Communist deputies leave Aventine, after refusal of other opposition parties to convert assembly into permanent "anti-parliament", and return to parliament. Amendola creates National Union of Democrats and Liberals.
December: Stalin launches attack on the theory of "permanent revolution".
1925
January: Mussolini speech gives signal for fascist counter-attack which puts an end to the Matteotti crisis.
February: First discussion of the "Russian question" in the Central Committee of the PCI.
March: Fifth Enlarged Executive meeting of Comintern, which reviews the progress of the Bolshevization campaign.
April: PCI initiates correspondence school.
May: Anglo-Russian Trade-union Committee formed. Gramsci addresses parliament for the only time, on freemasonry. PCI opens pre-congress discussion.
June: Bordiga's supporters form the Comitato d'ntesa. National Union holds its only congress; pro-fascist right wing breaks away. Popular Party expels left wing led by Miglioli.
July: Comitato d'ntesa dissolved.
November: Attempt on Mussolini's life by former PSU deputy Zaniboni fails; fascist régime intensifies repression of opposition forces.
December: Fourteenth Congress of Bolshevik Party.
1926
January: Third Congress of PCI at Lyons.
February: Sixth Enlarged Executive meeting of Comintern; Bordiga main pole of opposition to leadership.
April: Joint Opposition begins to form in Soviet Union.
May: British General Strike. Pilsudski comes to power in Poland.
October: PCI Political Bureau sends letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU. Gramsci begins lengthy essay on "The Southern Question", but is arrested before it is completed. New attempt on Mussolini's life is taken as pretext for making fascist dictatorship total.