Editing Antonio Gramsci (section)

===Association football===
Like fellow Turinese and communist [[Palmiro Togliatti]], Gramsci took an interest in [[association football]], which was becoming a sport with massive following and was elected by the [[fascist regime in Italy]] as a national sport, and was said to have been a supporter of [[Juventus]], as were other notable communist and left-wing leaders.<ref>{{cite web|last=Romeo|first=Ilaria|date=7 February 2018|url=https://www.strisciarossa.it/tra-la-rivoluzione-e-la-juve-la-passione-dei-leader-pci-per-il-calcio/|title=Tra la rivoluzione e la Juve. La passione dei leader Pci per il calcio|website=Striscia Rossa|language=it|access-date=4 July 2023|quote=Affermava in proposito l'avvocato Agnelli su 'La Stampa': 'Ho mandato al giornale una foto di una partita della Juventus del 1948, dove mi trovavo accanto a Togliatti. Lui, come tutti i leader comunisti di una certa generazione e di una certa classe, era juventino. Non ho mai avuto modo di verificare se Berlinguer amasse la Juventus; ma da alcune sue reazioni, che ho avuto occasione di vedere allo stadio, mi pare che anche il suo cuore fosse bianconero' (dalla lettera aperta a Luciano Lama Agnelli risponde a Lama sulla Juve, 'La Stampa', 6 marzo 1991, p. 33).|trans-quote=In this regard, [Gianni] Agnelli stated in "La Stampa": "I sent the newspaper a photo of a Juventus match in 1948, where I was next to Togliatti. He, like all communist leaders of a certain generation and a certain class, was a Juventus fan. I've never had the opportunity to verify if Berlinguer loved Juventus, but from some of his reactions, which I had the opportunity to see at the stadium, it seems to me that his heart was Black and White too" (from the open letter to Luciano Lama, Agnelli replies to Lama on Juve, "La Stampa", 6 March 1991, p. 33).}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Coccia|first=Pasquale|date=25 September 2021|url=https://ilmanifesto.it/i-comunisti-scendono-in-campo|title=I comunisti scendono in campo|work=Il manifesto|language=it|access-date=4 July 2023|archive-date=8 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208024514/https://ilmanifesto.it/i-comunisti-scendono-in-campo|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Mainente|first=Andrea|date=3 August 2022|url=https://www.rivistacontrasti.it/juventus-comunismo-squadra-comunista-lama-berlinguer-togliatti-gramsci-bersani/|title=La Juventus comunista|magazine=Rivista Contrasti|language=it|access-date=4 July 2023|archive-date=4 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004031147/https://www.rivistacontrasti.it/juventus-comunismo-squadra-comunista-lama-berlinguer-togliatti-gramsci-bersani/|url-status=live}}</ref> On 16 December 1988, the PCI's newspaper ''[[l'Unità]]'' published an article on the front page titled "Gramsci Was Rooting for Juve". Signed by Giorgio Fabre, it contained some letters in which Gramsci asked [[Piero Sraffa]] for "news from our Juventus". Even though those letters later turned out to be false, the article remains part of the Gramscian bibliography and triggered numerous reactions, including from [[Giampiero Boniperti]], who on behalf of the club the following day told at ''[[La Stampa]]'': "We are pleased to know that among our fans there have been personalities who have marked an era from the political, economic, and intellectual point of view. This shows that Juventus truly have something special, a charm that has never lost strength over the years." Gramsci's interest in football dates back to a 16 August 1918 article for the PSI's newspaper ''[[Avanti! (newspaper)|Avanti!]]'', titled "Football and Scopone". Fifteen years later, he pointed at the degeneration of stadium cheering, which emerged with the advent of fascism and the consequent nationalisation of the sport that he said extinguished political and trade union commitment.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Magno|first=Michele|date=25 September 2021|url=https://www.startmag.it/mondo/gramsci-e-togliatti-la-rivoluzione-e-la-juventus/|title=Gramsci e Togliatti, la rivoluzione e la Juventus|magazine=Start Magazine|language=it|access-date=4 July 2023|quote='E tu pretendi di fare la rivoluzione senza conoscere i risultati della Juve?.' Come a dire, senza conoscere gli umori del popolo a cui chiedi di insorgere? Il capo del Partito comunista, tifoso della 'Vecchia Signora', rimproverava così al suo vice di misconoscere l'importanza di un fenomeno di massa come il calcio, eletto dal fascismo a sport nazionale, in grado di influenzare mentalità e costumi dei ceti popolari. Un punto, questo, che aveva catturato l'attenzione di Antonio Gramsci già all'alba Novecento. Lo testimonia 'Il foot-ball e lo scopone', un celebre articolo pubblicato il 16 agosto 1918 sull'Avanti!.|trans-quote="And you expect us to make the revolution without knowing the results of Juve?" As to say, without knowing the moods of the people, how do you ask [the people] to rise up? The head of the Communist Party, a fan of the "Old Lady", thus reproached his deputy for disregarding the importance of a mass phenomenon such as football, elected by fascism as a national sport, capable of influencing the mentality and customs of the working class. A point which had already captured the attention of Antonio Gramsci at the dawn of the twentieth century. Witness "Football and Scopone", a famous article published on 16 August 1918 on Avanti!|archive-date=8 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208024506/https://www.startmag.it/mondo/gramsci-e-togliatti-la-rivoluzione-e-la-juventus/|url-status=live}}</ref>