In hindsight, the political and social developments of the Interwar Period (1918-1939) in Europe seem obvious and inevitable. However, for a brief period following the end of the First World War, it appeared to many that the socialist revolution Karl Marx had promised was about to take place. In 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Tsar and established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In Germany, mass strikes took place, with Rosa Luxemburg leading the Spartacist Uprising in an attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic (BBC). And in Italy, the First World War was followed by the Biennio Rosso (Two Red Years) and the establishment of workers councils throughout the north of Italy (Schwarzmantel 1). 

However, the revolution that many socialists thought was on the horizon never occurred. Across Western Europe, strikes were suppressed, socialists were arrested, and eventually, the fascists and national socialists came to power in Italy and Germany, respectively. Gramsci's Prison Notebooks is in part, an attempt to explain why the socialist movement failed and how a future socialist movement could succeed. Through his analysis of the Interwar Period, Gramsci develops his theory of "war of position" versus "war of maneuver." This theory explains why the Russian Revolution succeeded and why the attempts to replicate it in Western Europe failed. Furthermore, this theory connects to Gramsci's concept of hegemony to outline how a future socialist movement could succeed.

The Importance of Civil Society 

As explained in the article on hegemony, Antonio Gramsci believed that the state was made up of not just the political apparatus, but the institutions of civil society (churches, schools, trade unions) as well. In Gramsci's view, the ruling class does not establish hegemony primarily through force, but through consent. This consent is achieved through the institutions of civil society, which create a culture that frames the existing order as "common sense." In Gramsci's conception of the state, this cultural hegemony was far more important than the state apparatus of violence in establishing and maintaining the dominance of the ruling class. In attempting to explain why the Russian Revolution succeeded and why the uprisings of Western Europe failed, Gramsci points to the central importance of civil society. 

War of Maneuver 

Gramsci's analysis of the Russian Revolution depicts the Russian Empire as a state completely different from those of Western Europe. At the turn of the century, the Russian Empire was, in comparison to the rest of Europe, a feudal backwater. All political power was concentrated in the hands of the Tsar, the working class was an incredibly small percentage of the population, and peasantry, which made up 70 percent of the population, was conservative, Orthodox, and superstitious (Kellner 2025). A consequence of the underdevelopment of Russia was the weakness of Russian civil society in comparison to the West. In Gramsci's view, civil society are the "trenches" of the state that protect it from a direct attack. Because civil society in Russia was so weak, Lenin and the Bolsheviks were able to overthrow the existing order by direct action. This direct assault upon the state is what Gramsci calls a "war of maneuver." By contrast, civil society in Western European states such as Italy and Germany were highly developed. Because of this, attempts to replicate the Russian Revolution failed, as the trenches of civil society were able to protect the state (Schwarzmantel 2015, 206). Because civil society was so strong in Western Europe, a war of maneuver was not possible. A new strategy would have to be created. 

War of Position 

For Antonio Gramsci, this new strategy was what he called the "war of position." Rather than engage in a direct attack upon the institutions of the state, socialists should engage in a prolonged battle within the institutions of civil society. This would be done by creating what could almost be described as an alternative civil society, with institutions introducing and promoting the ideas and values of the socialist movement. Eventually, these values would become the new "common sense," and socialists would be able to achieve hegemony over civil society as a whole (Schwarzmantel 2015, 208). For Gramscians, because a dominant group rules primarily by consent created through the channels of civil society, it is essential that political hegemony must be preceded by cultural hegemony. The war of position was Gramsci's strategy to achieve this cultural hegemony. 

Works Cited 

BBC. n.d. “The Spartacist Revolt - Weimar Germany - National 5 History Revision.” 

Kellner, Joey. 2025 "Nicholas the Last." History of the Soviet Union. University of Georgia, Athens Georgia 

Schwarzmantel, John. 2015. The Routledge Guidebook to Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks. London, England: Routledge.