June 22, 1805 – March 10, 1872
Giuseppe Mazzini was born in Genoa, to Giacomo and Maria Mazzini. Italy, at the time of his birth, was torn apart, ruled by no singular power, and in some areas, ruled by foreigners. Mazzini’s parents were both strong supporters of democracy (Hinkley, 2013), which quite evidently had an impact on his personal philosophy. The legal system in Italy was based heavily upon the Napoleonic code (Falchi, 2012). He became a Doctor of Law at the University of Genoa later in life, and following his completion of his education, became a proponent of democracy in a monarchist Italian state. It was this love of democracy that lead him to join the Secret Organization of Carbonari. He was subsequently arrested because of his views opposing the monarchy, but the government justified his arrest was because “the Government did not approve of young men of talent, fond of solitary walks, the subject of whose musings was unknown to them” (Hinkley, 2013). In was during his time in prison, and following time in exile that Mazzini developed much of his beliefs of Italian Unification, under a republican state through the concepts of nationalism and fraternity (Ridolfi, 2008). Arguably, the state Italy was in during his child had a strong impact on his opinions on unification, as the Italian states had been brought together by Napoleon, and then fell back into individual states afterwards. Mazzini then became one of the largest voices advocating for a democratic and unified Italy, and is credited by many for starting the Italian reformation (Ridolfi, 2008). He also defined nationalism in a new way, in stark contrast to the German definition of nationalism as cultural unity, as the Italian states shared no common culture. Instead, Mazzini defined nationalism as unifying together to complete a national mission, that was every person’s responsibility to accomplish (McMenamin, 1998). His philosophy is also credited with being used as a doctrine to help for the Indian Nationalist movement, with Bipin Chandra Pal, a popular politician of that period, citing Mazzini as in inspiration of his movement (Das Gupta, 1956). This is a single example of how, although Mazzini’s writings are directed towards unifying Italy, they have a broad application with the ability to work to inspire and help many other movements the doctrines they need for a democratic republic. Mazzini’s views on democracy appealed to many women writers who believed there was inequality between the sexes, such as Margret Fuller, Emilie Ashurst and Jessie White Mario (Falchi, 2015). However, Mazzini’s philosophy is also criticized by some to have enabled totalitarianism in Europe, and advocated for the unification of all similar states, such as the Germans, the Slavs, the Baltics and so forth (McMenamin, 1998). The notion of totalitarian applications of Mazzini’s philosophies are still prevalent in modern contexts. Today, many nations are struggling with far-right nationalism, which bears a resemblance to his idea that free individuals are responsible to help achieve a national goal of progression. Mazzini has influenced a plethora of nationalist movements because the foundations of the nationalism rely on united countrymates. Giuseppe Mazzini was the man with the idea that brought Italy together, but those principles have a wide variety of applications.
Jake Woodcroft
Works Cited
Falchi, F. (2012). Democracy and the rights of women in the thinking of Giuseppe Mazzini. Modern Italy, 17(1), 15-30. doi:10.1080/13532944.2012.640084
Falchi, F. (2015). Beyond National Borders; ‘Italian’ Patriots United in the Name of Giuseppe Mazzini: Emilie Ashurst, Margaret Fuller and Jessie White Mario. Women’s History Review, 24(1), 23-36. doi:10.1080/09612025.2014.920672
Hinkley, E. (2013). Mazzini: the story of a great italian. S.l.: Wildside Press.
McMenamin, I. (1997). ‘Self-choosing’ and ‘right-acting’ in the nationalism of giuseppe Mazzini. History of European Ideas, 23(5-6), 221-234. doi:10.1016/s0191-6599(98)00003-5
Ridolfi, M. (2008). Visions of republicanism in the writings of Giuseppe Mazzini. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 13(4), 468-479. doi:10.1080/13545710802407493
Sarti, R. (1997). Mazzini: A life for the religion of politics. Westport, Conn: Praeger.
Other Relevant Reading
Ghisalberti, C. (1999). THE UNITARY STATE AND FEDERALISM IN ITALY. Parliaments, Estates & Representation, 19173-181.
Lago, E. D. (2012). “We Cherished the Same Hostility to Every Form of Tyranny”: Transatlantic Parallels and Contacts between William Lloyd Garrison and Giuseppe Mazzini, 1846–1872. American Nineteenth Century History, 13(3), 293-319. doi:10.1080/14664658.2012.729663
Urbinati, N. (2012). Mazzini and the making of the republican ideology. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 17(2), 183-204. doi:10.1080/1354571x.2012.641412
Cosmos|Hearth 