Passive revolution
Passive revolution is a transformation of the political and institutional structures without strong social processes by ruling classes for their own self-preservation. The phrase was coined by the Marxist politician and philosopher Antonio Gramsci during the interwar period in Italy.
Gramsci's use of the term
Passive revolution describes a gradual but continuous reorganization of the state and economy in order to preserve the power of the elite by incorporating or neutralizing the power of adversarial groups through transforming them into partners, all without overcoming the fundamental social contradictions.
Gramsci uses "passive revolution" in a variety of contexts with slightly different meanings. The primary usage is to contrast the passive transformation of
In addition to his comparison of the French Revolution versus the Italian case, Gramsci also associates Italian fascism with the notion of passive revolution.[citation needed]
Gramsci also used the term for the mutations of the structures of
Usage since Gramsci
'Passive revolution has been characterized by the quote from Prince Don Fabrizio Corbera of Salina in
Professor Yiching Wu writes that China's post-Mao reforms were an example of passive revolution.[1] The Chinese Communist Party under Deng Xiaoping coped with socioeconomic woes through consolidating its power, using market mechanisms and commodification to create controlled openings "to buy precious time in relation to both global capitalist competition and domestic popular discontent."[1] Through the "passive revolution" of the reforms, party bureaucrats and intellectuals created a new technocratic elite that won the support of rural peasants who wanted personal control of land and urban people who wanted more consumer goods and a higher living standard.[1]
See also
References
Further reading
- Gramsci, Antonio; Forgacs, David (1988). An Antonio Gramsci Reader: Selected Writings, 1916–1935. New York: Schocken.