[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ntonio Francesco Gramsci was an Italian Marxist philosopher, linguist, journalist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics and was imprisoned by Bennito Mussolini's fascist regime in 1926, who saw his intellectual endeavours and his proactive role as a worker of Italian communist party a significant threat to the fascist order. During his 20 years imprisonment, despite deteriorating physical and mental health, Gramsci would go on to write his magnum opus, The Prison Notebooks, which formed the foundation of his position on hegemony, fascism and passive revolution; strengthening his intellectual position and revolutionary legacy.

In his prison notebooks, Gramsci explores the role of ideology and intellectuals in maintaining or challenging cultural hegemony. He proposes that Bourgeoisie maintain a cultural and economic dominance not only through coercion but also through consent. Power doesn't only use military and police repression to exert control on its subjects but tries to shape and many a times alter peoples’ belief to seem oppression as normal and perpetuate status quo as natural.

"The state is only an outer ditch, behind which there stands a powerful system of fortresses and earthworks." (Prison Notebooks)

Gramsci often refers to the superficial nature of force and posturing and suggests that the real factor in maintaining dominance comes from the fortress of institutions that shape ideas, the earthworks that constitute deeper elements of civil society: education, literature, media, and religion. These serve as tools to instill the ruling class ideology among the oppressed.This ensures not just physical control but also psychological and cultural submission.

"Every social group creates its own organic intellectuals, who give it homogeneity and an awareness of its function in the economic, social, and political fields." (Prison Notebooks)

Gramsci goes on further to blame what he calls traditional intellectuals; the professors, journalists and religious leaders legitimising ruling class ideas. The education system eulogises the dominant world view, schools teach languages and histories of the elite while the native traditions are dismissed as primitive, religious authority promotes moral superiority of authority as a part of divine order and books, newspapers and movies reinforce the morality of hegemony.

“The ruling class, through its intellectuals, not only justifies and maintains its dominance, but manages to win the consent of those over whom it rules.” (Prison Notebooks)

The shackles according to Gramsci can break only by anti-hegemonic intellectual forces, the poets and radical thinkers who question authority and capitalistic values. Gramsci calls them organic intellectuals, the ones who expose ruling class propaganda, articulate alternative visions of society and use art, literature and philosophy to awaken revolutionary consciousness.

"They must work with the masses, not just write for elites.” (Prison Notebooks)

Faiz Ahmad Faiz was imprisoned (1951–1955) by the Pakistani state during the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, accused of plotting to overthrow the government. Faiz, just like Gramsci saw incarceration not as a failure but an opportunity to understand and explicate power and resistance, their maintenance and perpetuation, both at political and a psychological level. Zindanama is a collection of poetry by Faiz which he composed during his imprisonment. The name Zindanama translates to "The prison Journal" and resonates the the themes of hope and resilience that permeate the collection.

shaam-e-firaq ab na pooch aayi aur aake tal gayi
dil tha ki phir behal gaya, jaan thi ki phot sambhal gayi

(Of that broken evening, don't ask
It came and it was gone
The heart finds distractions anew
Life finds a way to move on)

No matter how catastrophic a personal or collective event, it doesn't last forever and in the resilience of human spirit the change becomes inevitable. Human beings possess immense potential to reframe situations, find meaning in adversity and overtime rebuild, catalysed by an innate desire for survival. In the same poem Faiz writes:

bazm-e-khayaal mein tere husn ki shamaa jal gayii
dard kaa chaand bujh gayaa hizr kii raat Dhal gayii

(in the gathering of thoughts, the candle of your beauty was lighted
the ‘moon of pain’ extinguished itself, the night of separation ceased away)

While a purely aesthetic interpretation of “moon of pain” could be understood as a sorrowful illumination that fades away when one comes face to face with his beloveds illuminated countenance, a Marxist reading of the metaphor would refer to the existential anguish of people in authoritarian and capitalist societies; a ‘night of separation’ signifying a period of hardship and disconnect from one’s aspirations and fruits of labor.

ye gham jo is raat ne diya hai
ye gham sahar ka yaqin bana hai
Yaqin jo gham se karim tar hai
sahar jo shab se azim tar hai

(The sadness that the night has met out
The sadness has become a hope for dawn
Hope that is greater than sadness
Dawn that is brighter than night)

The Gramscian reading of these lines demonstrates the dialectic between suffering and transformation. The night in these couplets would represent an oppressive dominant system which imposes suffering on the subjugated. However, this suffering is not passive; it always fosters consciousness and resistance (yaqin). The dawn (sahar) signifies a counter-hegemonic force, where collective struggle turns pain into political certainty.

Mata-e-loh-o-qalam chhin gayi to kya ghum hai
Ke khoon-e-dil mein dubo li hain ungliyan maine

(What if they have snatched my pen and tablet?
I have dipped my fingers in my heart’s blood.)
Source: Daste Saba

Faiz alludes to the Gramscian idea of authoritarianism maintaining its grip through fear and censorship. He stresses the importance of poetic struggle against the ideological framework of autocracy. He asserts that while the physical tools of writing may be taken away, ideas and revolutionary spirit can’t be erased. In a sublime poetic tenor he calls for the poets to dip their fingers in their own blood and challenge the constants of tyranny.

This is in close conformation to what Gramscian viewpoint of “Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.”—the belief that even in dark times, the intellectual struggle will prevail.

"Qafas udaas hai yaaron, sabaa se kuch to kaho"

(The cage is sorrowful, O friends, say something to the breeze.)

Qafas or cage refers to the fetters of a prison but also means a tersely regulated political environment to which Faiz refers through Gramscian metaphors and symbolism.

The couplet also refers to what Gramsci believed was "prison of mind". The physical prison limits movement and prison of mind limits a persons agency to understand and question the allegories of domination. Therefore, the  prison, both in physical and metaphorical sense, becomes a battle ground; a multi-pronged suppression of individuals and ideas of a particular section, a shameless execution systemic racism and class control. However, in zindanama, Faiz with his un-bludgeoning poetry maintains hope; an act of defiance. Gramsci in his Prison Notebooks shows that even when the body is confined, the mind can resist—but only if it recognises the hidden prisons of ideology. Authoritarianism suppresses not only praxis but even the slightest the hope for a change, which Faiz fights in a Gramscian rhythm by keeping revolutionary hope alive.

Phir apne lahu ki khaad bharo

Phir mitti seencho ashkon se

Phir agli rut ki phikr karo

Jab phir ek baar ujadna hai

Ek fasl paki to bhar paaya

Jab tak to yehi kuch karna hai



(Quench the earth with your tears again

before you worry about the next season.

Worry about the next season

that will return to be devastated.

But we can wait— for one good harvest

and until then, do what we keep doing.)

Faiz addresses Gramci’s organic intellectuals and urges them to reconsider their priorities in the ongoing cycle of destruction. He asks to take small, steady actions despite the lack of immediate results. Intellectuals may be caught up in idealistic visions or disconnected theories, Faiz asks them to consider the very real, ongoing struggles of the oppressed and focus on alleviating those rather than waiting for some future moment to act. These lines closely resonate with Gramci’s own advice to the people of pen:

“The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions, and without becoming disillusioned."

For him hope isn’t blind optimism, but an active pursuit, a persevering force that drives the will to change conditions.

"Lazim hai ke hum bhi dekhenge"

(Inevitably, we shall also witness [the day of justice].

(from: mere dil mere musafir)

Faiz questions the "eternal dominance of oppression". Both Faiz and Gramsci reject the idea that oppression is everlasting. In the lives of individuals the subjugation may seem deeply entrenched and natural however in the lives of nations and histories of people, oppression is neither unchallenged nor permanent, it is as precarious a brittle glass sculpture, bound to crumble under a collective hope.

“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born.” (Prison Notebooks)

"Dil na umeed nahi nakaam hi to hai
Lambi hai gham ki shaam par shaam hi to hai"

(The heart has just failed but is not hopeless
The night is long but is just another night)
Source: Daste Saba

Faiz's and Gramsci's writings become a battle cry for change, an anthem that shows despair is not the end of struggle and that optimism is, in itself, an act of resistance.

Faiz as Gramsci's Organic Intellectual

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]aiz was an intellectual whose ideas were in intimate proximity with the needs of oppressed and marginalised people. He challenged the status quo, both in praxis and metaphor, rather than remaining a distant and detached observer. Engaging with the masses, especially in Pakistani and larger South Asian context, he was involved in sociopolitical struggles of the marginalised including peasants, workers and other oppressed communities. As an editor of Pakistan times he championed workers' rights and equitable labour practices. In his poem 'Intisab' (dedication) Faiz pays tributes to the struggles of proletariat: the clerks, postmen, railway coachmen and factory workers, whose bodies have been reduced to shreds by the capitalist henchmen and who yearn to enjoy a bare minuscule of the colossal fruit of their hard work that gets factories, industries and governments going.

In 1962, Faiz was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union, recognising his efforts towards peace and his advocacy for social equity. His work was not only theoretical but his poetry, rich in revolutionary themes, inspired action and bridged gaps between intellectual thought and every day experiences.