Historical Views of Antonio Gramsci: the Influence of Idealism and Materialism

The article examines the formation of Antonio Gramsci's historical conception within the context of the dialectical synthesis of two early 20th-century intellectual traditions – Italian idealism (B. Croce, G. Gentile) and classical Marxism. The central focus of the analysis is Gramsci's overcoming of economic determinism through the development of a «philosophy of praxis», in which the materialist understanding of history is enriched by an idealist emphasis on the active role of consciousness, culture, and intellectuals. Using the method of historical-philosophical reconstruction, the author traces the evolution of Gramsci's views – from his early fascination with idealism and critique of positivist fatalism to his mature theory of hegemony and «passive revolution» in the Prison Notebooks. It is argued that Gramscian categories constitute a coherent toolkit for analyzing long-term historical processes, where the struggle for cultural dominance is a key mechanism of social change. The study contributes to historiography by clarifying Gramsci's place as a thinker who combined a materialist analysis of structures with an idealist understanding of the subjective factor in history.