Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will
In today’s world, it’s difficult for young people coming into adulthood to feel hopeful about their future. Scores of articles outline the scale of Gen-Z and Millennial dissolution, reporting feelings of social and economic alienation. These symptoms probably have a multitude of causes, but in any case, pessimism defines our generation’s outlook far better than optimism.
Enter Antonio Gramsci, a philosopher who wrote his famous Prison Notebooks from — you guessed it — a prison cell. As a prominent anti-fascist during the rise of the Mussolini regime, Gramsci was thrown in prison, with an ultimate sentence of 20 years. Along with a litany of theories and ideas Gramsci produced and smuggled out of his cell, one of the most inspiring was his oft-referenced “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will”.
The quote is popularly ascribed to Gramsci, but probably originated with French dramatist Romain Rolland. Nevertheless, Gramsci popularized the aphorism and idea that powers many movements today, whether organizers are aware of the phrase or not.
Pessimism of the Intellect
For anyone that grasps the power and momentum of the establishment, optimism seems especially naive. Our politicians parley with billionaires, real estate moguls and fossil fuel executives, yet many haven’t hosted town halls in years. Despite clear and unquestionable warnings of impending climate demise, few in power have the will to act, to fix even a fraction of what’s driving the collapse. In fact, our entire economy is built on this extraction from nature and human lives and seems impossible to dislodge.
And yet, pessimism while staring down the goliath ensures defeat. While it’s important to acknowledge the might of what we’re up against, cowering away from the challenge and giving up cedes the future out of our hands.
So, we must occupy a middle ground between optimism and pessimism. Blind optimism in the face of our challenges means we will never mentally grasp the stakes of what likes ahead. Meanwhile, pessimism means guaranteed defeat.
Gramsci explains this middle ground as to “live life without illusions and without becoming disillusioned”. We must realize what we’re up against, yet take solace in some given truth, without becoming unrealistic. Tricky place to be for activists.
Optimism of the Will
Gramsci says yes, the world is hell and the more we learn about its demons, the worse we feel about the state of it all. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed and depressed at this fact. But to build a sustainable movement and deliver ourselves the happiness we deserve, we should take refuge in the fact that we want things to change. We have the power to will change into reality.
Since our mind and willpower remain free, there’s no reason to resign ourselves to the world and powers that be; we have the capacity to move forward, especially over long periods of time as a species. The fall of feudalism proves this: an economic system that dominated most of Europe for 700 years crumbled during the Enlightenment thanks to the human ability to affect systems.
At its core, optimism of the will asserts that humans and humanity make and drive history. It’s an idea that is antithetical to most systems-oriented leftist thinking, but at its core recognizes the agency of the individual and collective. Humans created the abominable global-capitalist system that dominates other humans, and thus have the power to destroy it.
With the ever-worsening circumstances of our world, it’s important to note that our willpower for change intensifies. In his original letters, Gramsci writes:
“Whatever the situation, I imagine the worst that could happen in order to summon up all my reserves and will power to overcome every obstacle.”
So, with this aphorism in mind it’s especially important we do not give up the fight; the phrase should intensify it That we will always sooner or later prevail in the face of adversity, is not a given, we need to fight for it.
As long as humans exist and have will, the probability of victory against global capitalism, dictators, climate change, our own personal challenges, whatever challenge we as a species face, is never 0.
Originally published at https://highhopesfromhell.substack.com on January 24, 2022.
