A long ago Freeper(1998) named Coyote used to post and article attributed to “ACE”. It was called “Original Sin”. It dealt with this very issue of Gramsci. One of the most amazing things I ever read. Here you go:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2604199/posts
An excellent read.
IIRC, Gramsci was imprisoned by Mussolini, but not executed. Mussolini continued to use him as a backdoor political theroist.
That was excellent - thanks for posting it.