The sixtieth anniversary of Antonio Gramsci's death, in 1997, was marked by a number of conferences and symposia in various parts of Italy, as well as in Brazil, the United States and Japan. Many of the papers presented at those conferences have now been published in books and journals. (More information about them can be found in the book reviews and the bibliographical sections of this Newsletter.) The activities of 1997 provided occasions for many scholars, students, and political activists interested in Gramsci's life and work to get together, exchange views, and embark on new projects. At the first congress of the International Gramsci Society--held in Naples in October 1997--many IGS members stressed the need to make plans for future gatherings and collaborative activities on both the international as well on the national and regional level. The IGS-Italia, which emerged into existence precisely in the process of organizing the Naples congress, has since been very active in promoting new initiatives all over Italy. Likewise, the conference held in Tokyo in November 1997 resulted in the formation of Gramscian societies in Kyoto and Tokyo which, in addition to the lectures, symposia, and study-group meetings they regularly organize, have been preparing the ground for a truly ambitious undertaking--namely, the preparation of the complete critical edition in Japanese of the Quaderni del carcere.
Planning for the next IGS congress is still in its initial stages. The IGS does not have the financial resources to underwrite the costs of a conference that would entail substantial expenses for the use of an appropriate venue, translation services, accomodation, travel, and so on. For this reason, we depend on the support of other institutions willing to host an IGS conference and to bear some of the expenses it would necessarily entail. Nevertheless, thanks to the initiative of our most active Brazilian members and of the co-ordinating committee of IGS-Italia, an effort is under way to make the necessary arrangements that would enable the IGS to hold its second congress in Brazil (possibly in Rio de Janeiro) in the autumn of 2001--which would coincide with the 110th anniversary of Gramsci's birth.
Needless to say, the study and dissemination of Gramsci's thought are by no means dependent upon--although they are bolstered in many important ways by--activities and publications dedicated specifically to Gramscian studies. Indeed, Gramsci's ideas circulate in the most diverse venues and in the most disparate fields of inquiry and political activity. The forthcoming conference being organized by the journal Rethinking Marxism (see the details in the back pages of this Newsletter) and journals like Counter-Hegemony (see page 35) are just two examples of the broader contexts in which Gramscian ideas occupy a prominent place in discussions of the most pressing social, cultural, and political issues of our time.