Pan Xihua: A Comparative Study of Lenin's and Gramsci's Views on Socialist Revolution
Pan Xihua, A Comparative Study of Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Conceptions of Socialist Revolution, Encyclopedia of China Publishing House and Knowledge Press, May 2025 edition.
Content Profile and Value This book takes the socialist revolutionary views of Lenin and Gramsci as its object of study. It develops a deep comparative research into their respective conceptions of socialist revolution through the dimensions of theoretical origins, realistic basis, basic concepts and methodology, and core content and revolutionary practice. By sorting through and clarifying the essential meaning of Marx’s and Engels’s thoughts on "social revolution," the book establishes a solid foundation for the comparative thesis of the two thinkers' socialist revolutionary views. By comparing their realistic bases, it profoundly analyzes the practical sources of the differences in their explorations of the socialist path. Through a comparison of the basic concepts and methods in their socialist revolutionary views, the book highlights their inheritance and innovation of Marx’s and Engels’s thoughts and methods regarding social revolution. By comparing the differences in the explorations of the socialist revolutionary path led by their respective proletarian parties, it accentuates the specific characteristics of each thinker’s socialist revolutionary view. Finally, by elucidating the "changes" and "constants" [1] in Marxist theoretical innovation, socialist revolutionary practice, and the Great Social Revolution in the New Era, the book demonstrates the contemporary significance of both thinkers' socialist revolutionary views.
The publication of this book holds important theoretical value and practical significance. At the theoretical level, it systematically expounds on the theoretical origins, realistic basis, foundational arguments, and practical differences between Lenin’s and Gramsci’s socialist revolutionary views, striving to discover new perspectives and points of emphasis, provide new historical materials and threads of research, and introduce new research paradigms and methods for such domestic studies. At the practical level, the book seeks to provide a theoretical basis for deeply understanding the differences and diversity of socialist revolutionary theory and practice across different historical backgrounds, countries, and regions; it further provides a historical mirror for us to profoundly grasp the "changes" and "constants" of the Great Social Revolution [2] in the New Era.
About the Author Pan Xihua (female) is a native of Jinan, Shandong. She is the Director of the Research Office of the History of the International Communist Movement at the Department of International Communist Movement Studies, Institute of Marxism Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). She is an Associate Researcher, a Master’s Supervisor at the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and holds a PhD in Philosophy. Her primary research involves Scientific Socialism, the International Communist Movement, the history of Marxist development, and Western Marxism, with a particular specialization in the thought of Antonio Gramsci. She has presided over the completion of one National Social Science Fund project, led or participated in three major National Social Science Fund projects as a sub-project leader, and participated in eight CASS Innovation Program projects. She has published three monographs and co-authored five books, and has published over 50 articles in newspapers and journals such as Guangming Daily, World Socialism Studies, and Contemporary World and Socialism.
Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Section 1: Origins of the Problem and Research Significance Section 2: Current Status of Research on Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Socialist Revolutionary Views in Domestic and Foreign Theoretical Circles Section 3: Basic Content and Innovations of this Study
Chapter 2: Comparison of the Theoretical Origins of Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Socialist Revolutionary Views Section 1: Basic Connotations and Characteristics of Marx’s and Engels’s Thought on Social Revolution Section 2: Core Content of Marx’s and Engels’s Thought on Social Revolution and Revolutionary Practice Section 3: Relationship between Marx’s and Engels’s Thought on Social Revolution and Other Types of Revolutions Section 4: Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Learning and Dissemination of Marxism
Chapter 3: Comparison of the Realistic Basis of Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Socialist Revolutionary Views Section 1: Lenin’s Reflections on the Historical Particularity of Russia in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries Section 2: Gramsci’s Reflections on the Historical Particularity of Italy in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries Section 3: Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Analysis of European Bourgeois Governance Strategies Section 4: Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Struggles against Non-Marxist Trends of Thought regarding Social Revolution
Chapter 4: Comparison of the Basic Concepts and Methodology of Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Socialist Revolutionary Views Section 1: Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Inheritance and Innovation of Concepts Related to Social Revolution in Marx and Engels Section 2: Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Application and Manifestation of Marx’s and Engels’s Methodology of Social Revolution
Chapter 5: Comparison of the Core Content and Revolutionary Practice of Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Socialist Revolutionary Views Section 1: Comparison of Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Views on Socialist Revolutionary Paths, Strategies, and Tactics Section 2: Comparison of Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Thoughts on the Leading Forces of Socialist Revolution Section 3: Comparison of Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Views on the Motive Forces of Socialist Revolution
Chapter 6: A Contemporary Interpretation of the Comparison of Lenin’s and Gramsci’s Socialist Revolutionary Views Section 1: "Changes" and "Constants" in Marxist Theoretical Innovation Section 2: "Changes" and "Constants" in Socialist Revolutionary Practice Section 3: "Changes" and "Constants" of the Great Social Revolution in the New Era
Bibliography
Expert Recommendations This monograph by the young scholar Dr. Pan Xihua fills a gap in domestic research on Gramsci’s socialist revolutionary view. The data is detailed, the content is rich, the analysis is thorough, and the conclusions are unique. It both affirms the decisive influence of the October Revolution and Leninism on Gramsci’s socialist revolutionary view and emphasizes how, under different historical conditions and starting from different social structures, the hegemony theory and "war of position" strategy proposed by Gramsci are the inheritance and development of Lenin’s theories of proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. It is especially commendable that the author precisely grasps the relationship between the theoretical thought and revolutionary practice of different historical figures under different historical contexts. In short, this book remains a masterpiece of domestic Gramsci studies. — Tian Shigang, Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, CASS; Member of the International Gramsci Society
The roots of revolution in various countries lie both in the universal laws that must be followed and in their respective specific conditions. Revolution is a total process: one must recognize the decisive role of the objective situation caused by economic movements and political development in the occurrence of revolution, yet also see that revolution cannot become a reality without the exercise of the conscious subjective agency [3] of the revolutionary subject. All things and processes are socio-historical phenomena related to human activity; every phenomenon and process is concrete and historical. These basic principles constitute the scientific worldview and methodological foundation of this book.
This book is one of the results of the "Trilogy of Gramsci Thought Research" that Dr. Pan Xihua has been engaged in for a long time. It provides a new perspective, new thinking, new insights, and a new paradigm for academic research on such themes. It is a research achievement in Marxist theory, Scientific Socialism, and the history of the international communist movement with innovative value, particularly as a landmark achievement in the study of early "Western Marxism." — Liang Shufa, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Marxism, Renmin University of China; Honorary President of the China Association for the History of Marxist Philosophy