Zimbabwe 1995–2000: rereading Gramsci’s organic intellectual in contemporary working-class struggles

Abstract

This article applies Antonio Gramsci’s understanding of organic and specialised intellectuals in the context of the struggles of the Zimbabwean working class between 1995 and 2000, including the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). It explores Gramsci’s work on intellectuals in his Prison Notebooks with an interpretation of his notes on specialised intellectuals and organic intellectuals. New evidence about the period is introduced, drawn mainly from interviews with key rank-and-file workers’ leaders. Through their deep involvement in this period of intense class struggle, they established themselves as working-class leaders. Based on this, the article characterises them as organic intellectuals. Building on Zimbabwe’s labour history and the suffering stemming from the government’s neoliberal Economic Structural Adjustment Programme, these individuals are shown to have played a critical role in challenging ESAP and the government and calling for a workers’ party. The article’s originality lies in its reinterpretation of this important moment in Zimbabwe’s history using Gramsci’s discussion of the role of intellectuals, highlighting the important role organic intellectuals played in this history. A key lesson from this period is the need to guard against the risk of a working-class movement for radical change being outmanoeuvred again in future.