Antonio Gramsci, born on this day in 1891, was an Italian Marxist philosopher and communist politician. His works touch on a variety of topics, including political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics.

Gramsci was a founding member and leader of the Communist Party of Italy and was imprisoned by Benito Mussolini's fascist regime. Gramsci wrote more than 30 notebooks and 3,000 pages of history and analysis during his imprisonment. His "Prison Notebooks" are considered a highly original contribution to 20th-century political theory.

Today, Gramsci is perhaps best known for his concept of cultural hegemony, which describes how the state and ruling capitalist class use cultural institutions to maintain power in capitalist societies without resorting to force. Hegemonic culture promotes capitalist values and norms such that they become the "common sense" values of all and reinforce the status quo.

"The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born."

- Antonio Gramsci