The Gandhian Mazzini: Democratic Nationalism, Self-rule, and Non-violence

This chapter explores Mahatma Gandhi's engagement with Mazzinian ideas. It seeks to address the ways in which Giuseppe Mazzini and his doctrine became ‘Gandhian’; that is, how they were appropriated by the Indian as he incorporated them in his own thought. It is argued that the Gandhian use of Mazzini does not point to a direct influence of the Italian on the Indian, but to a reworking of the Italian's ideas based on the impact they had already had on Indian nationalism prior to Gandhi's appearance. While building on the Mazzinian foundation of Indian liberalism, but in contrast to the extremists who had given prominence to the insurrectionist aspects of Mazzini's thought and practice, Gandhi erects his own non-violent form of democratic nationalism, thus providing a non-violent interpretation of the Italian's figure and doctrine, and framing Mazzini's ‘truth’ within Gandhi's project of self-rule.

Liberalism at Large: Mazzini and Nineteenth-century Indian Thought

This chapter considers the appropriation and deployment of the writings and image of Giuseppe Mazzini by the first generation of Indian liberal nationalists, notably the Bengali political leader Surendranath Banerjea. Mazzini's emphasis on the sympathetic union of the Italian people, manifested in popular festivals, proved attractive to Indian leaders struggling with issues of cultural and religious difference. His modernist appeal to the ‘religion of mankind’ resonated with writers and publicists committed to lauding the great Indian civilization of the past, yet arguing, publicly at least, for a break with ritual and caste hierarchy. Mazzini's emphasis on education, particularly women's education, and his suspicion of monarchy also spoke to Indian social and political reformers of this era. The chapter concludes by contrasting the affective, democratic nationalism espoused by Mazzini and Banerjea with ‘statistical liberalism’. The latter comprised the emerging critique of colonial rule, by writers such as Dadabhai Naoroji who reformulated contemporary political economy, to argue for protectionism and industrial development in India.

Esteban Echeverría’s Critique of Universal Suffrage: The Traumatic Development of Democracy in Argentina, 1821–52

Mazzini's Young Italy had a notable influence on the dissident youth of the River Plate region; one of their intellectual leaders, Esteban Echeverría (1805–51) – Romantic poet, socialist utopian, pioneer of Argentina's ‘Generation of 37’, and author of Dogma socialista – proclaimed a Young Argentina, as he firmly believed that it was necessary to establish Mazzinian-style associations to help reformulate the direction of political and literary culture in both Argentina and Uruguay. Both these nations were in those years suffering the consequences of the dictatorial regimes of Juan Manuel de Rosas and Manuel Oribe, respectively, which would later be confronted by Garibaldi and other European legionaries who had crossed the Atlantic to assist the local adversaries of these two governments. This chapter focuses on certain aspects of Echeverría's democratic thought, and particularly the criticism he directed towards the law of universal male suffrage decreed by the government of Buenos Aires in 1821 when he was a youngster. He claimed that this decree had been largely responsible for the rise to power in Buenos Aires of Rosas (in power 1829–32 and 1835–52), which he and other prominent members of Generation of 37 fiercely opposed.

The Moses of Italian Unity: Mazzini and Nationalism as Political Religion

This chapter examines the nature of Mazzini's nationalism by analysing it as a ‘political religion’: a system of myths, symbols, and rituals the subordinates the collectivity to the supreme entity of the nation. It studies Mazzinian nationalism both on the level of content – looking at how Mazzini defines the genesis of the nation – and on the level of form, looking at the ‘style’ of Mazzini's political thought. The chapter shows that this style is symbolic and ritual, based on single words that operate as symbols and are ritually repeated for the captivation of the followers. Finally, it explores the boundaries of Mazzini's liberalism, showing the limits of his republicanism and his paternalistic conception of democracy as ‘education’.

Introduction

This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of how Giuseppe Mazzini played a crucial role in popularizing the word ‘democracy’ in the 19th century, and how he remained an iconic figure whose memory was invoked as an analogical and conjunctural symbol by democrats, nationalists, humanitarians, and religious reformers from the River Plata to the River Ganges. It describes how Mazzini's deep, albeit ambiguous, unorthodox, and syncretistic religiosity was key to his success. The chapter also details the spread of Mazzini's influence, which followed the route of Italian political emigration and was later magnified through the British prism.

The Relevance of Giuseppe Mazzini’s Ideas of Insurgency to the American Slavery Crisis of the 1850s

This chapter discusses Mazzini's influence in the context of the slavery crisis of the 1850s in the United States. That decade, which saw a crisis erupt in Kansas over the question of whether slavery should be allowed to expand, ended dramatically at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, where the violent abolitionist John Brown led a doomed attempt to arm and liberate slaves. Mazzini studied, wrote about, and on occasion attempted to enact popular insurrection and guerilla warfare. His ideas became essential to Brown's ideology and actions, which precipitated the Civil War. The chapter suggests an under-appreciated aspect of Mazzini's influence in America, invites a reassessment of the American sectional crisis of the 1850s for its transatlantic dimensions, and proposes a sobering but important dimension to the historical path of the spread of democratic nationalism.

Carlo Cattaneo and the Swiss Idea of Liberty

Carlo Cattaneo (1801–69), who belonged to Mazzini's generation, took an active part in the Risorgimento, wrote important works in many fields, and became a leader of the national rising in his native Milan in 1848. Like Mazzini he had to flee, and settled in Lugano in Italian Switzerland. Unlike Mazzini, Cattaneo preferred to see a federal, not a unitary Italy. A principled republican, no less pure in his belief in democracy than Mazzini, he thought a federal and decentralized structure more appropriate for Italy, and opposed Mazzini's vision of a centralized democracy of individual citizens. Though Cattaneo lived the rest of his life in Switzerland and in 1858 was granted honorary Swiss nationality, this chapter argues that he never accepted the Swiss concept of liberty, Gemeindefreiheit (communal liberty). This communal democracy frustrated his reform schemes and exasperated him personally.

Giuseppe Mazzini and Irish Nationalism, 1845–70

This chapter focuses on Mazzini's profound effect on Irish political life. As elsewhere in Europe, Mazzini, with his vision of Italian nationalism, was influential in Ireland, despite his own doubts about the reality of Irish nationality. At least some Irish nationalists found in Mazzini's account of Italy under foreign rule echoes of Ireland's own experience in the United Kingdom. In 1848, for example, a group called Young Ireland attempted a rebellion against British rule. Despite the apparent similarity with other parts of Europe that also experienced nationalist revolts more or less influenced by Mazzinian ideas and models, in Ireland Mazzini's influence took a radically different turn from 1848. In Irish circumstances, no nationalist movement could hope for long-term success without the support of the Roman Catholic Church. The paradox was that that Church was both Irish and transnational; it had direct experience of Mazzini and the consequences (for the Church) of Mazzinian ideas in Italy. The course – and essential failure – of Irish nationalism in the mid-Victorian period can be traced to the influence of Mazzini on the minds of Catholic bishops who saw Irish events through Italian eyes.

Mazzini’s International League and the Politics of the London Democratic Manifestos, 1837–50

This chapter focuses on Mazzini's first exile in England. Writing in English after 1839, Mazzini discussed the socio-political implications of democracy, in a debate conducted mainly through the Chartist press (both newspapers and pamphlets). Mazzini's interlocutors were a number of other democrats – including both British radicals and Chartists, and other European exiles (mainly Polish, German, and French). They spanned the whole political spectrum, from liberals to communists, involving men belonging to different generations, including Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In the course of such debate a number of ‘Manifestos’, ‘Addresses’, and ‘Appeals’ were published by different and sometimes competing organizations. Several of these social and political programmes were signed by refugees from continental Europe.

Mazzini’s Internationalism in Context: From the Cosmopolitan Patriotism of the Italian Carbonari to Mazzini’s Europe of the Nations

This chapter discusses the relationship between Mazzini's vision of international relations and that of the Carbonari, who represented the previous generation of Italian patriots. It argues that, in spite of Mazzini's contempt for the Carboneria's cosmopolitanism, his ideas were heavily indebted to their views. While rejecting 18th-century notions of cosmopolitanism, the Carbonari believed that the independence of nations represented a step towards the universal expansion of freedom. They advanced a universal idea of civilization, which they identified with constitutionalism and free circulation of ideas and goods. Finally, they advocated the establishment of a new international order, based on the recovery of the balance of power destroyed by the Napoleonic wars, and the introduction of a new international legal system and supranational institutions. Like the Carbonari, Mazzini supported the idea of an international system alternative to the Vienna settlement, their notion of universal civilization, and the right of intervention to defend another country's freedom. However, his internationalism ignored the Carbonari's Kantian concern for international law as it was based on the belief that the establishment of republics would ‘naturally’ result in a peaceful European order.