CULTURAL HEGEMONY AND FREEDOM. THE CONFUSED IDEAS OF LEFT AND RIGHT

The Left deploys its leading intellectuals and journalists to reproach the Right for not being able to build a cultural hegemony...Crazy stuff!!!

Instead of rejoicing, they complain about it.....

So let's clarify once and for all that this famous "cultural hegemony" is not a good thing to be pursued but an evil to be avoided.Oh, yes.That's right.Whether from the Right or the Left.

The concept of "cultural hegemony " goes back to Gramsci and is the Western variant of the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat, a cornerstone of Marxism-Leninism.

The great intellectual ,communist, described the famous cultural hegemony as a form of domination resulting from assent, persuasion and proximity by the intellectuals organic to the people-nation.

So it is about DOMINATION i.e., the ability to control and not just condition consciences through the skillful action of intellectuals (today we would also add influencers, sdhowmen, TV program hosts, journalists etc...)who are inextricably linked to the party of reference. This is not a modern conception of pluralist democracy.

Gramsci was a giant of Marxist-Leninist culture because he obliterated the violent conception of the seizure of power (dictatorship of the proletariat) and replaced it with a less truculent and more subtle vision : the proletariat through the Communist Party must not impose a bloody dictatorship but must be able to conquer ideas and consciences and dominate them.

Democracy born after the fight against fascists and Nazis has nothing to do with cultural hegemony .

Liberal pluralism rejects the idea that anyone should be "hegemonic" in the Gramscian sense.

And so if the Left creates a cultural hegemony this is bad for democracy .

If the Right creates cultural hegemony this is bad for democracy.

We do not need hegemonies but confrontation of ideas: free, transparent, respectful of those who think differently.And may Gramsci rest in peace, he deserves it.