Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher. While not necessarily a “member” of the school of the early critical theory, he was certainly a fellow traveler of the critical theorists. The last eleven years or so of his life he served in prison (1926–1937). He founded, and for a while led, the Italian Communist Party. In his Prison Notebooks, he spoke at length about the place of “intellectuals” in the society as a whole. The Prison Notebooks begins with a section titled “Intellectuals,” followed by the section “On Education.” One of Gramsci’s key points is that each socioeconomic class produces its own set of intellectuals. So every group of intellectuals is essentially class specific. Gramsci was trying to work out what is the role of education. He desired a change from the older “Jesuitical school” of Italy, but in some ways Gramsci was strikingly traditional. He advocated hard work, traditional (in a sense) philosophy, the importance of logic, and other related ideas. He almost advocated what is often today called “classical education.” But he was in fact wanting to see a change from the traditional understanding of schooling: “It was right to struggle against the old school.” But then Gramsci wrote, “Reforming it was not so simple as it seemed.” While somewhat muted in his two reflections on education in Prison Notebooks, his ultimate goal gradually became clear: The revolutionary movement must produce its own“intellectuals” if it is going to be successful.
…Though one might hear the phrase “the long march through the institutions” attributed to Gramsci, this phrase was actually uttered by Rudi Dutschke (1940–1979). The concept, however, is certainly consistent with the thought of Gramsci. Dutschke was a German activist who uttered this classic slogan in the late 1960s. Interestingly, the critical theorist Herbert Marcuse wrote to Dutschke a number of times, affirming this notion of the “long march.” Marcuse wrote, “I regard your notion of the ‘long march through the institutions’ as the only effective way, now more than ever.” The importance of marching through institutions—including educational institutions—developed naturally within the wake of critical theory, and again, the influence of Marcuse is particularly clear. In trying to determine the best way to fight capitalism and the oppression that is (ostensibly) endemic to capitalism, Marcuse pointed especially to education. Read more»Bradley G. Green | “How Critical Theory Has Affected Modern Education” | September 12, 2026 (HT: Gary Johnson)
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