# Antonio Labriola

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Italian Marxist theoretician and philosopher (1843–1904)

Not to be confused with [Arturo Labriola](/source/Arturo_Labriola).

Antonio Labriola Antonio Labriola Born Antonio Maria Marziale Labriòla (1843-07-02)2 July 1843 Cassino, Papal States Died 12 February 1904(1904-02-12) (aged 60) Rome, Kingdom of Italy Family Teresa Labriola (daughter) Education Alma mater University of Naples Federico II Philosophical work Era 19th-century philosophy Region Western philosophy School Marxism Notable ideas Marxist theory as a theory critical of ideology Marxism as a philosophy of praxis

**Antonio Labriola** (Italian: [\[anˈtɔːnjo labriˈɔːla\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Italian); 2 July 1843 – 12 February 1904) was an Italian [Marxist theoretician](/source/Theoretician_(Marxism)) and [philosopher](/source/Philosopher). Although an academic philosopher and never an active member of any [Marxist](/source/Marxist) political party, his thought exerted influence on many political theorists in Italy during the early 20th century, including the founder of the [Italian Liberal Party](/source/Italian_Liberal_Party_(1943)), [Benedetto Croce](/source/Benedetto_Croce), as well as the leaders of the [Italian Communist Party](/source/Italian_Communist_Party), [Antonio Gramsci](/source/Antonio_Gramsci) and [Amadeo Bordiga](/source/Amadeo_Bordiga). He also influenced the Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician [Leon Trotsky](/source/Leon_Trotsky).[1]

## Biography

Labriola was born in [Cassino](/source/Cassino%2C_Italy) (then in the [Papal States](/source/Papal_States)), the son of a schoolteacher. In 1861, he entered the [University of Naples](/source/University_of_Naples). Upon graduating, he remained in [Naples](/source/Naples) and became a schoolteacher. During this period, he pursued an interest in philosophy, [history](/source/History) and [ethnography](/source/Ethnography). The early 1870s saw Labriola take up [journalism](/source/Journalism), and his writings from this time expressed [liberal](/source/Liberalism) and [anticlerical](/source/Anti-clericalism) views.

In 1874, Labriola was appointed as a [professor](/source/Professor) in [Rome](/source/Rome), where he would spend the rest of his life teaching, writing, and debating. Although he had been critical of liberalism since 1873, his move towards [Marxism](/source/Marxism) was gradual, and he did not explicitly express a [socialist](/source/Socialism) viewpoint until 1889. He died in Rome on 2 February 1904.[2]

## Philosophical work

Heavily influenced by [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](/source/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel) and [Johann Friedrich Herbart](/source/Johann_Friedrich_Herbart), Labriola's approach to Marxist theory was more open-ended than that of theorists such as [Karl Kautsky](/source/Karl_Kautsky). He saw Marxism not as a final, self-sufficient schematisation of history, but rather as a collection of pointers to the understanding of human affairs.

These pointers needed to be somewhat imprecise if Marxism was to take into account the complicated social processes and variety of forces at work in history. Marxist theory was to be understood as a theory [critical](/source/Critical_theory) of [ideology](/source/Ideology),[3] in that it sees no truths as everlasting, and was ready to drop its own ideas if experience should so dictate. His description of Marxism as a "philosophy of [praxis](/source/Praxis_(process))" would appear again in Gramsci's *[Prison Notebooks](/source/Prison_Notebooks)*.[4]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Trotsky, Leon](/source/Leon_Trotsky). [*My Life*](https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/mylife/1930-lif.pdf) (PDF). p. 91. Retrieved March 23, 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Antonio Labriola e la sua Università"](http://www.cultureducazione.it/antoniolabriola/cartearchivio.htm). 10 December 2006.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Jan Rehmann, *Theories of Ideology: The Powers of Alienation and Subjection*, BRILL, 2013, p. 62.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Petrovic_4-0)** [Petrovic, Gajo](/source/Gajo_Petrovic) (1991). "Praxis". In [Bottomore, Tom](/source/Tom_Bottomore); Harris, Laurence; [Kiernan, V.G.](/source/V._G._Kiernan); [Miliband, Ralph](/source/Ralph_Miliband) (eds.). *The Dictionary of Marxist Thought* (Second ed.). Blackwell Publishers Ltd. p. 438. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-631-16481-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-631-16481-2).

## External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to ***[Antonio Labriola](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:Search/Antonio_Labriola)***.

- [*Antonio Labriola Archive*](https://www.marxists.org/archive/labriola/index.htm) at [Marxists Internet Archive](/source/Marxists_Internet_Archive)

- [Works by Antonio Labriola](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/35957) at [Project Gutenberg](/source/Project_Gutenberg)

- [Works by or about Antonio Labriola](https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22Labriola%2C%20Antonio%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Antonio%20Labriola%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Labriola%2C%20Antonio%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Antonio%20Labriola%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Labriola%2C%20A%2E%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Antonio%20Labriola%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Labriola%2C%20Antonio%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Antonio%20Labriola%22%29%20OR%20%28%221843-1904%22%20AND%20Labriola%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)

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