ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the notion of hegemony in relation to socialist revolutionary praxis, and then deepen the philosophical meaning of Gramsci's concept of hegemony. The twin concepts of structure and superstructure are the cornerstone of Marxist analysis. The way people organize society's productive forces gives shape to all social, cultural, legal and political institutions. The ruling ideas of a given society and a historical epoch, Marx wrote, are those of ruling groups. The principle of hegemony was Lenin's greatest theoretical contribution to the philosophy of praxis. However, as we shall presently see, Gramsci is to be credited more than Lenin for refining the concept of hegemony and laying a solid theoretical foundation to the Marxist analysis of hegemony. Despite the attribution of the notion of hegemony to Lenin by Gramsci, almost all commentators agree that its elaboration is Gramsci's creation and represents his major contribution to theoretical Marxism.
