There aren't too many streets in London named after Italian communists, but in Bellingham SE6 there is a little slice of Lewisham dedicated to Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), who died following eight years in jail as a prisoner of Mussolini. Gramsci Way is a cul-de-sac off Randlesdown Road.
I understand that 'Red Rector' Father Paul Butler, now of St Pauls Church in Deptford, was instrumental in getting the road so-named when he was Vicar at St Dunstans in Bellingham - the vicarage of which is in Gramsci Way.
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| Antonio Gramsci |
Any other ideas for Italian communist street names - Malatesta Mansions perhaps, or Bordiga Boulevard?
4 comments:
Thanks, I had often wondered whether and why there was a linkage - it is a road I quite often pass.
Thank you for the story behind the name. It always makes me smile to think of Gramsci commemorated here, and I used to wonder how the road got its name. I thought perhaps a radical town planner sneaked it past a dozing committee. Somehow the modesty of the road is appropriate to the man - even as he transports the mind far from prison/Bellingham/the present political system.
There was a good radio programme about Gramsci not long ago http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04fz6ky
I just discovered Gramsci Way, having published a recent biography. I stopped off in Bellingham on my way out to a country walk, and asked a sunbathing geezer in the garden of 1 Gramsci Way how he pronounced the name. Sure enough it was "Gramski Way". He went on "He was a naughty monk..." Priceless, especially since child Antonio seriously considered the priesthood. Andrew Pearmain
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