Nacional-popular

Abstract: The article deals with the evolution of the concept of national-popular in Antonio Gramsci’s Quaderni del carcere. It is argued that it was through this work that the concept entered the Italian political vocabulary, consolidating itself. The national-popular adjective was preceded in the Quaderni’s wording by the noun compound people-nation, revealing a marked inspiration in the work of Vincenzo Gioberti. Interpreters insisted that the concept referred to the culture of Russian populism, but differed about the period of development of that culture that would have been most striking to the concept. The article considers this to be a false clue and develops an alternative hypothesis: that the concept of national-popular was primarily inspired by the debates held in the Soviet Union on the national question, which peaked in 1923.