Abstract

The primary purpose of this article is to discuss the theoretical and political role of the hegemony and political alternatives seminar, organised by the Institute of Social Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Morelia Michoacán in February 1980. The meeting is considered to be a high point in the synthesis of the discussion on the Gramscian concept of hegemony in Latin America, concept destined to be a central to the profound process of political and cultural renewal of the Left in Latin America. Secondly, among the historical set of events and theoretical discussions condensed in the seminar, the article highlights the strategic importance of the text "The Uses of Gramsci" by Juan Carlos Portantiero, forty years after its publication. The essay of this Argentinean Gramscian sociologist is considered, in the paper set before the reader, as a basic text for the renewal of the theoretical foundations for a revolutionary project in Latin America, based on the consideration that socialism means an expansion and radicalisation of democratic practices in all spheres of social life.