Bakunin in Naples: An AssessmentAuthor(s): T. R. RavindranathanSource: The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 53, No. 2 (Jun., 1981), pp. 189-212Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1877822Accessed: 14/12/2010 08:22

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Bakunin in Naples: An Assessment

T. R. Ravindranathan Simon Fraser University

The biographers of Mikhail Bakunin have paid insufficient attention to his crucial role in the development of early Italian socialism. E. H. Carr, for example, while acknowledging the importance of the Italian interlude in Bakunin's personal evolution, fails to examine the impact of these three and a half years on the thinking of the local radicals with whom Bakunin was in constant contact.' The seminal works of Max Nettlau and Nello Rosselli shed much light on the subject.2 However, since they wrote in the 1920s and were unaware of numer- ous archival and newspaper sources, many of their conclusions proved to be only tentative. Subsequently, Aldo Romano labeled their conclusions as baseless and built on fantasy.3 However, Romano's account often is distorted; he portrays Bakunin as a person of little consequence and seems compelled to take sides with Marx against him on every issue between the two great antagonists. The ideas he spread in Italy, Romano claims, were devoid of originality and were simply a rehash of those of Carlo Pisacane. Although still fashionable in certain quarters, this interpretation has come under increasing criticism from Italian historians in the past two decades. The purpose of this study is to focus on this debate and reevaluate the influence of Bakunin on the emergence of Italian socialism.

Bakunin had avidly followed the last phase of the Risorgimento from his far-off exile in Irkutsk in 1860.4 Although soon after his

1 E. H. Carr, Michael Bakunin (London, 1937; reissued in 1975), pp. 300-323.

2 Max Nettlau, Bakunin e l'Internazionale in Italia: dal 1864 al 1872 (Geneva, 1928); Nello Rosselli, Mazzini e Bakunin: dodici anni di movimento operaio in Italia (1860- 1872) (Turin, 1967; the Einaudi edition).

3 Aldo Romano, Storia Del Movimento Socialista In Italia (cited hereafter as Storia), 3 vols. (vol. I, L'Unita Italiana E La Prima Internazionale 1861-1871; vol. II, L'Egemonia Borghese E La Rivolta Libertaria 1871-1882; vol. III, Testi E Documenti 1861-1882) (Bari, 1966-67). The first edition of this work appeared during 1954-55. My citations are from the later edition.

4 The expedition of Garibaldi to Sicily and Naples had had a profound impact in Russia, not only among the educated but also among the lower classes. The peasants of Russian Poland expected the great liberator "Grzybolda" (Garibaldi) to assist them in bettering their lot. When a delegation of Ukrainian peasants went to Kiev with a request for further allotments of land and were told by an official in the Vice- Governor's office that neither the Emperor nor the Governor could satisfy their desires,

[Journal of Modern History 53 (June 1981): 189-212]

( 1981 by The University of Chicago. 0022-2801/81/5302-0002$00.00

190 Ravindranathan

arrival in London the following year he had contacted several Italian republicans, including Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Aurelio Saffi, with the proposal to forge an Italo-Slav radical alliance against the various European autocracies,5 his primary reason for moving to Italy was not political but personal. Given his meager pecuniary resources, Bakunin found the cheapness of Italy attractive, especially in com- parison to expensive London.

After various postponements, when he finally moved to Italy in January 1864, Bakunin chose Florence as his place of residence. This choice was motivated by no other reason than the existence of a foreign colony of political emigres, consisting of Russians, Poles, Hungarians, and others. During his fifteen-month stay in Florence, Bakunin led a dilettantish life, occasionally dabbling in radical poli- tics. He kept a regular salon at his house, tried to form a secret International Brotherhood, and made the acquaintance of various Risorgimento activists and foreign political exiles, including Giuseppe Mazzoni, Giuseppe Dolfi, Lodovico Frapolli, Alberto Mario, Antonio Martinati, Andrea Giannelli, Ludmilla Assing and Count Francis Pulszky. He also joined the Masonic Lodge II Progresso Sociale, with the intention of using its machinery for his own revolutionary purposes. However, the attempts to create a Brotherhood failed to bear fruit. The infiltration of the Masonic Lodges, a project which he also continued for a while in Naples, was finally abandoned as a useless endeavor.6 All in all, Bakunin achieved very little politically during his Florentine sojourn, although in his personal evolution this

they were supposed to have replied: "Very well then. Give us Garibaldi." See II Popolo d'Italia (Naples), July 28, 1862.

1 For Bakunin's relations with Italian radicals during 1862-63, see Pier Carlo Masini and Gianni Bosio, "Bakunin, Garibaldi e gli affari slavi 1862-1863", in Movimento operaio, Year IV, No. 1, Jan.-Feb. 1952, pp. 78-92; Mikhail Lemke, Ocherki os- v oboditel'nogo dv izheniia shestidesiatikh godov, St. Petersburg, 1908, pp. 84-8; G. Quagliotti, Aurelio Saffi, contributo alla storia del mazzinianesimo, Roma, 1944, pp. 155-6; Edizione nazionale degli scritti di Giuseppe Mazzini: Scritti editi ed inediti, (Imola, 1906- ), vol. 73, p. 76 and vol. 76, p. 187; Elio Conti, "Lettere inedite di Giuseppe Mazzini a Giuseppe Dolfi," Rassegna storica del Risorgimento, Year 36, Nos. 3-4, July-Dec. 1949, p. 175; Iu. M. Steklov, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin: ego zhizn' i deiatel'nost, 1814-1876, 4 vols. (Moscow and Leningrad, 1926-27), 2:8-9, 276-286. Cited hereafter as M. A. Bakunin. Also see Iu. M. Steklov, ed., "Pis'ma M. A. Bakunina k grafine E. V. Salias", in Letopisi Marksizma, No. 3, (Moscow, 1927), pp. 61-98, especially pp. 90-92.

6 On March 23, 1866, Bakunin explained his fleeting romance with Freemasonry to Herzen and Ogarev in the following manner: "I only pray to you, friends, not to think that I ever seriously occupied myself with Freemasonry. This can have its usefulness as a mask or as a passport-but to look for anything serious in Freemasonry is no better, if not worse, than to seek consolation in wine." See M. P. Dragomanov, ed., Pis'ma M. A. Bakunina k A. I. Gertsenu i N. P. Ogarevu (St. Petersburg, 1906), p. 271.

Bakunin in Naples 191

particular phase was of some significance. Among other things, en- veloped in the anticlerical environment of Italian radicalism, for the first time at the age of fifty he fervently embraced atheism as one of his cardinal principles.7

When he arrived in the Naples area in June 1865, Bakunin found the environment there more congenial than that of Florence. Naples had several characteristics that rendered it suitable for his revolutionary aspirations. To their dismay, the southerners had discovered that Savoyard maladministration differed little from the earlier Bourbon misrule in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The southern republicans referred to the rule of the new government as "conquista regia," "dominazione piemontese," and so on. The popu- lation at large defended itself by fiscal evasions, rural agitations, nonobservance of laws, and resistance to military conscription. Brigandage, that perennial problem of the Mezzogiorno, reached new heights. While the Neapolitan republicans, like their colleagues else- where in the country, were passionately committed to the cause of a united fatherland (by this time reduced to bringing Rome and Venice into the national fold), their hatred of the nothern government went much deeper, as they held the Piedmontese responsible for the in- creasingly widespread poverty and injustice in the south. Despite Mazzini's high prestige, due to the Apostle's habit of relegating social issues to a secondary level of significance, differences of opinion were beginning to appear in varying degrees among his republican disciples in the south. In the absence of a viable social program, it was also unclear to them how Mazzini proposed to arrest the prevailing chaos and bureaucratic oppression under his republic. The arrival of a

The main testimony concerning Bakunin's activities in Florence comes from a single source and that too given by a man many years after the events, who considered his association with the Russian one of the greatest follies of his youth. As he was mainly interested in explaining away this shameful and embarrassing episode of his life, the author's work is only of limited use. See Angiolo De Gubernatis, Fibra: pagine di ricordi (Rome, 1900), pp. 219-247. For other memoir literature on Bakunin in Florence, see Lev Mechnikov, "M. A. Bakunin v itaii v 1864 godu," in Istoricheskii Vestnik, (March, 1897), 67:807-834; Nikolai Ge, "Vstrechi," in Severnyi Vestnik, (March, 1894), 3:233-240; V. Modestov, "Zagranichnyi vospominaniia," in Istoricheskii Vest- nik, part III (December, 1883), 12:103-124. For secondary treatments, see Elio Conti, Le origini del socialismo a Firenze (1860-1880) (Rome, 1950), pp. 69-83; Mikl6s Kun, "Bakunin and Hungary (1848-1865)," in Canadian-American Slavic Studies, (Winter, 1976), 10:522-533; Arthur Lehning, "Bakunin's Conceptions of Revolutionary Organi- sations and Their Role: A Study of His 'Secret Societies,' " in Essays in Honour of E. H. Carr, ed. Chimen Abramsky (London, 1974), pp. 61-2; Carr, Bakunin, pp. 300-311; Steklov, M. A. Bakunin, 2:288-302; Romano, Storia, 1:153-163; Nettlau, Bakunin e l'Internazionale, pp. 44-48 and passim; Rosselli, Mazzini e Bakunin, pp. 148-161.

192 Ravindranathan

famous conspirator and revolutionary of the stature of Bakunin was a great blessing for these Neapolitan radicals who, though dissatisfied with certain aspects of the Apostle's program, at the same time were unable on their own to produce any coherent alternative to the Mae- stro. Furthermore, they lacked the courage and conviction to initiate a frontal assault on Mazzini, whom they still revered for his sacrifices and singleness of purpose. This setting gave Bakunin the opportunity to use his very considerable polemical powers to undermine Mazzini's influence among the southern republicans.8

As soon as he arrived in Naples (furnished with introductions from Garibaldi and other Italian democrats), Bakunin established contacts with II Popolo d'Italia, the voice of southern republican discontent. He also received the hospitality of Princess Obolenskii, whose house was a meeting place for the assortment of Italian and foreign radicals and revolutionaries who had been let loose in the Neapolitan envi- ronment.9 As a result, Bakunin came to know a number of southern radicals. The most prominent among them were Giorgio Asproni, Carlo Gambuzzi, Silvio Verratti, Attanasio Dramis, Saverio Friscia, Giuseppe Fanelli, the Calabrian brothers Carlo and Raffaele Mileti, Concetto Procaccini, Alberto Tucci and Pier Vincenzo De Luca.i0 All were ardent republicans and active participants in the prior struggle for unification. Already before Bakunin's arrival, Dramis, Fanelli, Gambuzzi, Raffaele Mileti, Tucci, and Friscia constituted a close-knit nucleus among the republicans in Naples. Bakunin's relative effec- tiveness in the Naples area can be explained by the fact that he was able to establish close personal ties with these radicals.

Under the pseudonym of Un Francese (a Frenchman), Bakunin launched his Neapolitan political activities with a series of five articles in II Popolo d'Italia, published during September and October, 1865.11 The signature was reminiscent of his famous essay of 1842, Reaction in Germany: from the Note-books of a Frenchman, which had borne the name of the fictitious "Jules Elysard." The articles,

8 It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss the southern democratic trditions before Bakunin's arrival in Naples. Detailed accounts of various aspects of these are available in several works. For an example, see Giuseppe Berti, I democratici e l'iniziativa meridionale nel Risorgimento (Milan, 1962).

9 On Princess Obolenskii, see Steklov, M. A. Bakunin, 2:316-17, 354; Carr, Bakunin, pp. 313-316, 320-321.

10 For extensive biographical and bibliographical information on these individuals, see Romano, Storia, 1:165-169; my unpublished doctoral dissertation, Bakunin And The Italians (Oxford University: Oxford, U.K., 1978), pp. 408-410.

11 Il Popolo d'Italia, Sept. 22, 30; Oct. 4, 22, 26, 1865. Also collected in Pier Carlo Masini, ed., Michele Bakunin: Scritti napoletani (1865-1867) (Bergamo, 1963), pp. 13-29; Romano, Storia, 3 (Testi e Documenti): 5-23.

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written in the form of letters to the editor, showed certain similarities to the Reaction, especially in their tirades against reactionaries, polit- ical moderates, and parliamentarians, although these were devoid of the Hegelian idiom and jargon of the earlier work.'2 In these articles Bakunin extolled the virtues of labor, attacked the capitalists, de- fended atheism, denounced the state, and propounded a kind of vague federalism. A large part of them was devoted to attacks on the hypocrisy of the so-called genti oneste (honest people). With the Italian parliamentary Left and the Moderates in mind, Bakunin warned all "true democrats" that if they were stupid enough to follow behind the coattails of the genti oneste, the new triumphant reac- tion would turn out to be more reactionary than ever. He also de- nounced the "immoral alliances," which had become all too common in Italian politics.'3 Such alliances would only corrupt and disorient the democratic groups. Their task was to strive towards the complete political and social emancipation of the toiling masses, which pre- sumed the abolition of all monopolies as well as aristocratic and other privileges. According to Bakunin, without the masses there was no such thing as an enlightened democracy, and several thousand men spread across Europe did not constitute the material force sufficient for any action.14 Having been betrayed time and again by political swindlers, the masses had indeed grown apathetic. However, despite their lack of education and analytical skills, on those rare historical occasions when they had been aroused the masses had proven themselves to be omnipotent. Consequently it was the job of the democrats to instill revolutionary ideas in the people through constant propaganda. While the most ardent and serious democrats could only come from the ranks of the people, there were honorable exceptions to this general rule. Where one was lucky to find dedicated aristocratic and bourgeois democrats, they had to be treated with utmost respect, as they could be of great assistance in the battle against unjust laws and oppression:

As rare as the democrats belonging to the privileged classes are... ,they are most precious. Their number is not at all the measure of their future strength. The religion of Christ, directed equally against the privileged of his century, having again against it all the powers and almost all the rich, did not count at its birth those twelve defenders, twelve apostles, and among the twelve there

12 For the complete text of "Reaction in Germany," see Iu. M. Steklov, ed., Sobranie sochinenii i pisem 1828-1876, (in 4 vols. It goes only as far as 1861), (Moscow, 1934-36), 3:126-148.

n3II Popolo d'Italia, Oct. 4, 1865. 14 Ibid., Oct. 22, 1865.

194 Ravindranathan

was even a traitor, one might say a Mordini'5 or a Crispi 6, who yesterday were with you, today are against you. Well then, these twelve apostles were enough to conquer the world. They conquered it, not at all because of that much boasted wisdom and practical ability, but because of the heroic mad- ness, the absolute, indomitable, intractable character of their faith in the omnipotence of their principle and because, disdaining falsehood and trick- ery, they declared, without transactions and concessions, open war on all the opposed religions . . . They conquered because they had the courage to expel from their bosom all the Judases, all the uncertain ones.17

Bakunin concluded the series with a veiled attack on the Partito d'azione, that loose amalgam of Italian republicans consisting of Maz- zinians and Garibaldians, warning against its shameful politics and intrigues:

Is this not, signor Direttore, the history of your "honest people" of Italy in 1848 and 1849, before and after the expedition to Sicily and after the catas- trophe of Aspromonte? Are they not the honest people of yesterday, those disguised rogues, who today are selling Italy to Napoleon III and the Pope in the name of liberty and who are renouncing Rome and Venice in the name of patriotism? Do you not dread that those who call themselves "honest people" today, . . . the honest democrats of today, will sooner or later follow their example?18

In these articles in II Popolo d'Italia, Bakunin was aiming at a youth- ful Italian republican audience as well as the older members beginning to question the wisdom of the politics of the Partito d'azione. In using expressions such as "the militant church of democracy," the "twelve apostles," and so forth, he was employing a type of Mazzinian lan- guage dear to the hearts of the Neapolitan republicans. Maxims such as "the liberty of each necessarily assumes the liberty of all and the liberty of all cannot become possible without the liberty of each" and

universal liberty must proceed not from the top to the bottom, nor

lS During 1848-49, Antonio Mordini (1819-1902) saw action in the Republic of Ven- ice under Manin and was later a member of the Tuscan provisional government under Guerrazzi. In the following years, he was very close to Mazzini, but in 1859 he abruptly changed course, supporting the "Italy and Victor Emmanuel" program. In 1860, he succeeded Depretis as Garibaldi's Pro-Dictator in Sicily and, after the unification, joined the Right in Parliament.

16 Francesco Crispi was also an intransigent republican, a close follower of Mazzini and Garibaldi's adviser and secretary in 1860. Later, in the 1880s and 1890s, he served as the Prime Minister of Italy. Just prior to Bakunin's arrival in Naples, Crispi's famous open letter, dated March 18, 1865, was published in various Italian newspapers, includ- ing II Popolo d'Italia, where, renouncing republicanism, he joined the monarchist side with the utterance that "the Monarchy unites us, the Republic would divide us." From this point onwards, for the revolutionaries, the name of Crispi became the synonym for opportunism and there was no love lost between the latter and his former friends.

'7II Popolo d'Italia, Oct. 22, 1865. 18 Ibid., Oct. 26, 1865.

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from the center to the circumference, but from the bottom to the top and from the circumference to the center,"19 introduced here, subse- quently became the most cherished slogans of the anarchist move- ment. In the articles, Bakunin also anticipated the leading tenets behind his later revolutionary activities in Italy and Russia: that with a faithful and committed band of revolutionaries believing strongly in the libertarian ideal, they could reach out to the peasants in the countryside, providing them with the needed impetus to revolt against the oppressive state apparatus.

The main problem with the articles is that, because of the veiled language Bakunin uses, one is sometimes not clear as to who his enemies are. In many places, when Bakunin attacks his adversaries as false democrats or genti oneste, he gives the impression of includ- ing Mazzini and Garibaldi among them. Yet nowhere does he de- nounce them personally as in the cases of Crispi and Mordini, al- though his attacks on private property, the bourgeoisie, the state, and so on are definitely in this direction, especially since Mazzini and Garibaldi did not object to the existence of these elements in society. The reason for Bakunin's restraint is evident. As the prestige of the two Risorgimento heroes was still very high in 1865, he obviously wanted to postpone a frontal assault on them to a more propitious time in the future, given the fact that his recruits had to come from the ranks of their disciples.20

Although Bakunin's articles brought forth no response from any faction of the Neapolitan political world, the more sophisticated among his readers must have recognized the novel and advanced nature of his ideas within the Italian context.21 The next two impor- tant landmarks in his Neapolitan sojourn were his involvement with the publication of the important pamphlet La Situazione Italiana in the fall of 1866 and the establishment of the newspaper Liberta e Giustizia the following summer.22 In publishing La Situazione, Baku-

19 Ibid., Sept. 22, 1865. 20 For a more detailed analysis of the articles, see my Bakunin And The Italians, pp.

66-73. 21 For example, the editorial board of II Popolo d'Italia, one of the most radical

newspapers in Italy at the time, expressed reservations about publishing the articles. It justified the publication of Bakunin's writings only in the name of free thought and the freedom of the press. See the issue of Sept. 2, 1865.

22 During the first half of 1866, Bakunin tried to reactivate his Florentine experiment at establishing an International Brotherhood. Under the auspices of Bakunin, three documents-Principles and Organization of the International Brotherhood, Societd dei Legionari della Rivoluzione Sociale Italiana, and an abbreviated version of the latter without official or organizational title-were published clandestinely. It was perhaps these efforts which prompted Bakunin to claim in a letter to Herzen and Ogarev on July

196 Rai'indranathan

nin chose the right psychological moment for an assault on Mazzini and Garibaldi. The recently concluded war between Austria and Italy had opened the eyes of many southern republicans to the futility of a politics based on patriotic passion and wild nationalism. Bakunin now stood vindicated in the eyes of such individuals, thus opening up new possibilities for him. Garibaldi had discredited himself through his " obbedisco" telegram to La Marmora23 at the time of the withdrawal of his volunteers from Austrian territory, while many Italian republi- cans realized that it was Louis Napoleon and Bismarck, not Mazzini or Garibaldi, who were responsible for the transfer of the Veneto to Italy.

The pamphlet La Situazione Italiana was printed clandestinely and published in Naples in October 1866. In 1857 on the eve of Carlo Pisacane's Sapri expedition Mazzini had written a celebrated article under the same title and his disciple, Federico Campanella, had also recently published an article with a similar title.24 Hence, perhaps, the choice of this particular title by Bakunin and his friends. The docu- ment is of great significance in Italian socialist history. It has been discussed in detail elsewhere,25 but a brief examination of the pam- phlet is necessary in order to deal later with certain controversies that have resulted from its publication.

19, 1866 that his activities were making rapid progress "against this detestable theory of bourgeois patriotism spread by Mazzini and Garibaldi" and that "the majority of Mazzinian organizations of southern Italy, the Falangia Sacra [sic], have passed over to us." The immediate practical effects of these International and Italian Brotherhoods are difficult to assess due to poor documentation. However, one cannot help the sneaking suspicion that Bakunin's claims to his friends were highly exaggerated. For the details on the above, see Dragomanov, Pis'ma M. A. Bakunina, pp. 277-279; Arthur Lehning, ed., Michael Bakunin: Selected Writings (New York, 1974), pp. 64-93; Masini, Scritti napoletani, pp. 85-98. For a detailed discussion of the Brotherhood phenomenon, see Steklov, M. A. Bakunin, 2:326-352. In Sicily, under the stewardship of Saverio Friscia, Bakunin did succeed briefly in establishing branches of the secret society, but, in the aftermath of the war which broke out between Austria and Italy in June, 1866, his Sicilian supporters deserted him. The Sicilians had been unable earlier to distinguish between the social revolution proposed by Bakunin and the national revolution as personified by Mazzini. Even Bakunin's disciples such as Raffaele Mileti, Gambuzzi, and Fanelli dashed off to join Garibaldi in the Tyrol, although after the disastrous Italian defeats they rejoined the Bakuninist fold. See Gino Cerrito, "Saverio Friscia nel primo periodo di attiviti dell' internazionale in Sicilia," extract from MoOimento Operaio, Year 5 (New Series), No. 3 (May-June 1953), 12 pp; the same author's Radicalismo e Socialismo in Sicilia 1860-1882 (Messina, 1958), pp. 94-102; Nettlau, Bakunin e l'Internazionale, pp. 70-74.

23 For details, see Jasper Ridley, Garibaldi (London, 1974), p. 570. 24I1 Dovere, Jan. 6, 1866; Romano, Storia, 1:224, note 29. 25 For the complete pamphlet, see Pier Carlo Masini, ed., Michele Bakunin: Ritratto

dell'Italia borghese (1866-1871) (Bergamo, 1961), pp. 17-34; Nettlau, Bakunin e l'Inter- nazionale, pp. 77-93. For critical analyses of the pamphlet, see Romano, Storia, 1:224- 232; Richard Hostetter, The Italian Socialist Moiement I: Origins (1860-1882), (To- ronto, New York, and London, 1958), pp. 99-103.

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It is in La Situazione that the Left Republicans dared to attack Mazzini and Garibaldi for the first time in a vehement language. While acknowledging Mazzini's greatness and past contributions to the na- tion, Bakunin and his friends assailed his doctrines on religion, the special national mission of Italy, and the social question, concluding that Mazzini had "always wanted the people for Italy and not Italy for the people." They also questioned the common republican notion that the Maestro's disciples were the heirs to a new Italy, as Mazzini's gradualist approach to the social problem had only forced him into alliances with social conservatives, to the point of making pacts with the King of Italy. Mazzini's greatest desire, the unity of Italy and her historic greatness, had been partially achieved under the Savoyard monarchy and consequently the differences between his Republic and the present government were only in form and not in content, espe- cially since the substitution of a president for the king would alter nothing. A Mazzinian government, because of its program of cen- tralization and lack of genuine interest in liberty and justice, would preserve all the despised elements of tyranny in society, including the church, state, and class privileges. According to La Situazione, while Garibaldianism might continue as a source of patriotic legend for some time longer, it had now lost its influence among the Italian people: "Garibaldianism has fallen, and it must fall, because, being the sword of Mazzinianism, it separated itself from him; then without a proper concept it moved from one thing to the other, always going from bad to worse; after Mazzini it was gathered by Manin and Trivulzio; from them it fell into the hands of La Marmora and Cavour, who cast it in the arms of the Monarchy, which solicited and wel- comed it like a mother . . . in order to kill and dishonour it. "26 The policies of the Partito d'azione had created confusion and ignorance among the common people, making them easy victims for the decep- tions of the privileged classes:

During and after every revolution the People have always done the same thing: they have suffered and paid. They have suffered and paid [for]: the Government and Justice, the Church and the Police, the Crown and Proprietor, the luxury of citizenship, the army and the navy. They have paid for everything they do. For going and coming, buying and selling drinking, eating, breathing, warming themselves in the sun, getting born and dying. They have paid for permission to work. What should, therefore, the Parthenopean Republic and the republics of Genoa and Venice mean to these people? Why should the Roman Republic of

26 Masini, Michele Bakunin: Ritratto, pp. 27-8.

198 Ravindranathan

1849 and the crusade against the foreigner as well as the wars of 1859 and the self-styled plebiscite of 1860 interest them?27

La Situazione Italiana concluded with the words "we have faith only in the revolution made by the people for their positive and complete emancipation; [a] Revolution that will make Italy a free republic of free communes in the free Nation, freely united among them- selves. " 28

The pamphlet La Situazione is significant on a number of counts. Apart from the bold attacks on Mazzini and Garibaldi, it introduced other new elements onto the Italian political and social scene. By pointing out that the interests of the masses-i.e., the workers and peasants-were always opposed to the rest of society under bourgeois governments, the theme of classes in conflict could no longer be avoided, thus making a formal break with the gradualist social views of the Maestro. Although the rush from the Mazzinian camp did not begin until the period of the Paris Commune, the ideas developed in La Situazione turned out to be the precursor of that fundamental break in Italian republicanism.29

The main controversy about La Situazione has to do with the authorship of the pamphlet and not with its great significance, a question on which all are agreed. The debate began soon after the publication of the first edition of Aldo Romano's three-volume history of the origins of modem Italian socialism. Romano claims that La Situazione is solely the work of Alberto Tucci, the Bakunin intimate of the 1860s and early 1870s. According to him, being outside "the general climate of Italian democracy," Bakunin could not have influenced the writing of the pamphlet.30 Since the national spirit, the love of the fatherland, and the ideals of the Risorgimento are neither abandoned nor denied by the author of La Situazione, it is impossible that Bakunin, always ready to mock bourgeois patriotism, could have inspired or approved these pages.31 Furthermore, the vibrant and impetuous prose as well as the nationalistic fervor of the pamphlet points to a person who has followed the events of Italian unification with a trembling heart. From here it logically follows that the author of La Situazione, who has taken a decisive political stand, is a

27 Ibid., pp. 29-30. 28 Ibid., p. 34. 29 For the immediate effects of La Situazione in the Neapolitan environment, see the

Prefect-Questore correspondence in Archivio di Stato di Napoli (cited hereafter as A.S.N.), Questura, Gabinetto, fascio 24.

30 Romano, Storia, 1:224. 31 Ibid., p. 225.

- Bakunin in Naples 199

member of a clearly-defined political group and as such could be nothing but a convinced and fervent Mazzinian, even if he is prepared to look critically at certain aspects of his Mazzinianism.32

There are a number of discrepancies in the way in which Romano has used his sources. By Tucci's own testimony, the pamphlet was written by him only after consulting Bakunin, who also reviewed and approved the text. Tucci provided this information to Max Nettlau in person during the latter's visit to Italy in 1899, when he was collecting material for Bakunin's biography. If Tucci is the sole author of La Situazione (as Romano insists, without providing a shred of evi- dence), one cannot see the rationale behind the former's statement to Nettlau that Bakunin had helped in preparing it for publication. As Pier Carlo Masini has astutely observed, Romano, who makes sweep- ing generalizations about Tucci, knows practically nothing about the man, including his place of birth and death; nor is he in a position to provide new evidence on Tucci from a comparison of his writings, as no one, including Romano, knows anything of his other writings.33

Romano asserts that the dominant themes of La Situazione are patriotic passion and the ideals of the Risorgimento. Yet in reality, these are completely in variance to the spirit in which the pamphlet is written. La Situazione is critical of bourgeois patriotism and many aspects of the Risorgimento. The process of evolution from left democracy to socialism is apparent everywhere in the pamphlet. Romano's interpretation of this scathing anti-Mazzinian piece as the work of an ardent Mazzinian makes no sense whatsoever. It should be stressed that, after more than two years in Italy, Bakunin had become conversant with the political situation in the country; his consequent willingness to make allowances for local conditions where necessary and to modify some of his most extreme views explains the prevalence of "bourgeois-patriotic" notions in a few places in the pamphlet. Similar to Bakunin's later writings on Mazzini, such as Risposta d'un Internazionale a Giuseppe Mazzini and La Theologie Politique de Mazzini et L'Internationale,34 La Situazione pays hom- age to the moral qualities and past contributions of the Maestro and attacks him only for the mystical and theological aspects of his doc- trines as well as his backward social views. As Masini has noted, many of the themes developed in La Situazione resemble several of Bakunin's favorite ideas: the division of Italian society into classes of

32 Ibid., p. 226. 33 Masini, Michele Bakunin: Ritratto, p. 10. 34 For these, see Arthur Lehning, ed., Archives Bakounine, vol. I (Michel Bakounine

et l'Italie, 1871-72), part 1 (Leiden, 1961), pp. 21-77, 108-275, 283-292.

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nobility, upper and petty bourgeoisie, workers, peasants, patriotic and revolutionary youth, as well as the contrasting of social revolu- tion to political revolution, the criticisms of imperial nostalgia, and the nationalists' dream of Italian greatness.35 Add to these his views on atheism, federalism, and socialism, and one cannot but conclude that Bakunin was instrumental in the writing of the pamphlet.36

Perhaps the most plausible explanation is again the one provided by Pier Carlo Masini: that La Situazione is the combined effort of Baku- nin and his Neapolitan friends such as Fanelli, Gambuzzi, Friscia, Tucci, and others, with the Russian playing the dominant role. Tucci must have then been assigned to translate the pamphlet into Italian. This also explains some of the stylistic excesses of the manuscript, which give it a shrill tone of oratorical vehemence characteristic of Italian pamphleteers of the period.37

The next important aspect of Bakunin's stay in Naples was the founding of the newspaper Liberta e Giustizia.38 Aldo Romano is also responsible for this controversy. According to him, Bakunin had absolutely no influence in the founding of the Liberta e Giustizia

35Masini, Michele Bakunin: Ritratto, p. 11. 36 Richard Hostetter, perhaps influenced by Romano, has stated that "in one vital

respect, however, the content of La Situazione denies the Russian's authorship: the social revolutionism of the piece is imbedded in the general context of a fervent and unrelenting concern for national unity as envisaged by Carlo Pisacane." (The Italian Socialist Movement, p. 99). While discussing the newspaper Liberta e Giustizia, based on important recent Italian scholarship, the author shall attempt to show that there was hardly any Pisacanian influence in Italy during the period under examination.

3 Masini, Michele Bakunin: Ritratto, p. 12. In a letter to Herzen dated May 7, 1867, Bakunin mentioned that a second nu-mber of La Situazione had been prepared and asked Herzen's permission to use his press in Geneva to print it (the second number did appear during October-November, 1868). Bakunin also informed his friend that the pamphlet "is a complete refutation of the politics of Mazzini and Garibaldi in still clearer and more violent terms than those used by me in the first number [italics mine], but with all the discretion and esteem due to these two illustrious Italians, who today have become really fatal to their country." In a subsequent letter of May 23, Bakunin refused Herzen's request "to spare the two Giuseppes" and said that Mazzini and Garibaldi deserved to be attacked, not as some juvenile insolence, but for their negative influence on Italy's present and future. While the nature of this evidence is only testimonial, and not documentary, there is no reason to suspect Bakunin of having lied to Herzen, since he could scarcely have foreseen the controversies that were to surround La Situazione in the twentieth century. See Dragomanov, Pis'ma M. A. Bakunina, pp. 302, 312.

38 For the background to the founding of the newspaper, see Romano, Storia, 1:237-247. This newspaper, crucial to any study of early Italian socialism, is difficult to find. An incomplete collection (photocopies only) is preserved at the Istituto Gian- giacomo Feltrinelli in Milan. The entire collection is available between the Biblioteca Provinciale di Avellino and the private library of Lelio Basso in Rome. Starting August 17, sixteen issues of the newspaper came out and it ceased publication with the last issue of December 24, 1867.

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Association39 and its newspaper, since "when this nucleus was con- stituted, Bakunin was not in Naples, but . . . on the island of Ischia and when it had its most important manifestations and published its newspaper, he had already left Italy or was preparing to leave."40 The first contention is absurd, as Ischia is only a stone's throw from Naples.41 As to the second, while it is true that in late August or early September Bakunin did leave Italy to attend the Congress of Peace and Liberty in Geneva (he was never to return, except on a single occasion to Florence immediately after the outbreak of the Paris Commune in 1871), five of his articles-the first series entitled La questione slava 42 and the second entitled Essenza della religion e43- appeared in various issues of the newspaper. As these articles must have been prepared before his depature from Italy, it is not unreason- able to argue that the editors of Liberta e Giustizia could have ar- ranged many other articles ahead of time as well, in which they could also have sought Bakunin's advice. We have the testimony of individ- uals like the positivist Vyrubov and the documentary evidence in the Neapolitan Police Archives to support the contention that there was a constant traffic between Naples and Ischia and that Bakunin's friends frequently came over to the island to consult him on issues concern- ing the paper.44 Moreover, several unsigned articles which appeared in Liberta e Giustizia have the stamp of Bakunin's collaboration.

In the very first issue, in an article entitled "Le associazione

39 The decision to found the Association, which preceded the newspaper, was taken in early 1867 and its members published a signed manifesto two months later. See II Popolo d'Italia, Mar. 5, 1867.

40 Romano, Storia, 1:235-6. 41 When Hostetter, who is in general agreement with Romano in denying Bakunin's

influence in Liberta e Giustizia, raised the same objection along with several others, Romano, in the second edition of his book, brushed him aside with the declaration that "Ischia, like Procida and Capri, is an island, and in those times one could not go there by helicopter," leaving the unsuspecting reader with the impression that Hostetter's observations were sheer banalities, thus avoiding a thoughtful rebuttal of the American historian's serious criticisms. See Hostetter, The Italian Socialist Movement, pp. 106-7; Romano, Storia, 1:236, note 35.

42 Liberta e Giustizia, Aug. 31 and Sept. 7, 1867. It was Bakunin's first signed article to appear in the Italian press and it was also the first occasion on which he proclaimed his political position as ''anarchist." The series was part of a continuing discussion with Herzen on the slav question.

43 Liberta e Giustizia, Nov. 3, 24; Dec. 1, 1867. This was a stridently anti-religious series in which Bakunin anticipated some of the ideas of his famous incomplete work Federalism, socialism and anti-theologism.

44 See Vyrubov's article in Vestnik Evropy, February, 1913; An unsigned letter, Naples, July 6, 1867, in A.S.N., Questura, fascio 27. Although Vyrubov's article is written in a lighthearted vein, his description of the visits of "strange, [and] mysterious personages" to Bakunin's residence is sufficient proof that the Russian was not living in isolation in Ischia.

202 Ravindranathan

operaie," Libertd e Giustizia warned the workers against parasitic capitalists, bankers, and landlords, and urged them to cast away their shackles by emulating the June insurrectionists of Paris. The sole purpose of the Italian government, it said, was to conscript them into the army and burden them with taxes.45 In subsequent issues, the editors of the newspaper devoted a considerable amount of space to socialist and workers' themes.46 In an excellent series entitled "II Contadino, "47 attempts were made to analyze the role of the peasantry in Italian history and to ascertain its contemporary relevance. After describing the tragic vicissitudes of the peasants during the past centuries, the articles reasserted the point raised in La Situazione Italiana that the peasantry had always been extraneous to Italian political and social life. Hungry, ignorant, and reduced to the level of animals, the peasants had never been able to participate in the impor- tant events of the nation. Although every revolution in Italy had its origins in social issues, until recently the peasantry had lacked a political or a theoretical framework with which to fight its oppressors. Now, with the advancement of socialist ideas, it had the weapons to combat its adversaries. The peasants were slowly coming to recognize the grievous injuries inflicted on them by society and to realize that their interests were in total opposition to those of the bourgeoisie. The articles, while written specifically for an Italian readership, show a great deal of similarity to ideas expressed by Bakunin in his Appeal to the Slavs, especially its preliminary drafts.48 In another article entitled Badiamo alle masse, the peasants were exhorted to throw off their shackles and the banner of il vero popolo italiano, raised first in La Situazione, was again hoisted: "Arise, all of you who hate traitors and tyranny, priests, rogues and vampires of society. Come on now, those of you who do have a heart . . . Only a Hercules can rid us from the weight of tyranny and society from its age-old filth-it [Hercules] is the people, the plebes."49 During the course of a series on the Roman question, the editors of Libertd e Giustizia made their break with Mazzini final and official. The substance of the arguments was essentially the same as those developed in La Situazione and the style, tone, and spirit of certain sections of the

45 Liberti e Giustizia, Aug. 17, 1867. 46 Ibid., Aug. 31, Oct. 27, 1867. 47 Ibid., Sept. 21, Oct. 27, Nov. 24, 1867. 48 See Steklov, Sobranie, 3:345-366; J. Pfitzner, Bakuninstudien (Prague, 1932), pp.

78-106. 49 Liberta e Giustizia, Nov. 3, 1867.

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series corresponded very closely to Bakunin's later writings on Maz- zini:

The equivocation of the program, the emptiness and abstractness of [the Mazzinian] republic, the continual political transactions of Mazzini, have always generated among his followers an unawareness of principles, uncer- tainty in action, pusillanimous attempts, sterile efforts and incessant and blameworthy desertions. Without a firm concept in mind, their hearts closed to the popular spirit ... the Mazzinians did not form and therefore shall never form a serious and powerful party, loving best to lend their strength to the inane mysteries of conspiracy rather than to the omnipotent arm of the people. The immortal victims which this party has given are to be counted in the tens, the perured and the traitorous in the hundreds.50

Richard Hostetter's contention, that "In my opinion the scarce influence of Bakunin on the thinking of the Liberty and Justice group finds its proof in the patriotic spirit of its program, not in whether the Russian was living in Naples or Ischia,"5' is not borne out by a careful reading of the newspaper. Hostetter seems not to have con- sulted the paper and this is part of the problem, since he has de- pended heavily on Romano for his raw material. Nowhere in the newspaper does one find the type of patriotic passion implied by Hostetter. Instead, even while supporting the Garibaldian efforts to capture Rome in the hope that it would lead to a revolutionary transformation of Italian society the editors of Liberta e Giustizia continued their attacks on the old style Partito d'azione democrats, claiming that the masses were indifferent to the Roman question, since their primary concern was relief from starvation and the attain- ment of a free and just society.2 After the Mentana fiasco of early November, the newspaper violently denounced both Mazzini and

50 Ibid., Aug. 24, 1867. Marx was delighted with this critique of Mazzini. He wrote to Engels on Sept. 4, 1867: "I have received from Naples the first two issues of a newspaper, Libertdi e Giustizia. In the first issue they have declared themselves as our organ . . . I will send you the second issue, which contains a very fine attack against Mazzini. I presume that it is the work of Bakunin." (See Carteggio Marx-Engels, 6 vols., (Rome, 1950-53), 5:62. The Libertd e Giustizia nucleus was the first political group in Italy to openly adhere to the aims of the First International. See Libertdi e Giustizia, Aug. 17, 1867. Marx's name would become known in Italy only after the Commune period, and slowly even then, because of the predominance of Bakuninists in the Italian sections of the International during the first decade of socialism in Italy. On Marx and early Italian socialism, see Gianni Bosio, "La fama di Marx in Italia dal 1871 al 1883," Movimento Operaio, Year 3, Nos. 15-16, March-April-May 1951, pp. 517- 525; Volker Hunecke, "La diffusione dell' indirizzo inaugurale e degli statui dell'As- sociazione Internazionale dei Lavoratori in Italia prima del 1871," Movimento Operaio e Socialista, Year 17, Nos. 2-3, April-September 1971, pp. 115-130.

51 Hostetter, The Italian Socialist Movement, p. 107. 52 Libertdi e Giustizia, October 5, 13, 1867.

204 Ravindranathan

Garibaldi."3 In other words, one is left with the distinct impression that the men behind Libertd e Giustizia, if not already socialists, were well on their way to socialism and, to a substantial degree, had accepted Bakunin's political and social program as it stood then.

Romano cites the paucity of archival material concerning Bakunin as further evidence of his lack of influence within the Liberta e Giustizia circle. He says that there is not the slightest trace in the Neapolitan Police Archives of any reference to Bakunin or his con- spiratorial activity. He claims that only in 1869, when Bakunin had already left and the organization had disappeared, did the police speak of his participation in the Libertd e Giustizia group.54 The recent publication of two significant documents from the Naples State Archives by Alfonso Scirocco has demolished Romano's argument. On July 24, 1867, the Questore wrote to the Prefect:

The idea which informs the association entitled Liberta e Giustizia in Naples had been inspired by the Russian Bakunin. He first advised that this associa- tion must group itself around all those who truly intended to raise the Popular Majesty, which neither the doctrine of Mazzini nor that of Garibaldi were capable of producing, since the quasi-theological Dio e Popolo theory of Mazzini had already considerably arrested the popular progress. According to him, it is necessary for the people to understand that revolutions are made by the people for the people: the wars that are fought by the King are always disadvantageous to it, whether in defeat or in victory. Ultimately, the cul- minating idea of Bakunin and his apostolate is for pure socialism. This association of Liberta e Giustizia had begun with such ideas at the beginning of April, but Bakunin, knowing himself to be under surveillance, wished to remain hidden; therefore it was inaugurated under the presidency of the political friends of Bakunin-Friscia, Fanelli, De Luca and Gambuzzi.55

This document clearly shows that Bakunin was under surveillance and that the police squarely placed him at the head of the Liberta e Giustizia circle. Another police document reports:

In April 1867 a new political association emerged: Liberta e Giustizia. The founder of this Association, whose objective is the Social Republic, was the Russian exile Michael Bakunin. The members of the association [consisted of] shopkeepers, landowners, doctors, lawyers, businessmen, clerks, parliamen- tary deputies, workers, students, artists, private teachers, Garibaldian officials . . . This association had a namesake weekly newspaper for defending socialist ideas; the newspaper was edited almost exclusively by Prof. Pier Vincenzo De Luca and [it] lived [only] a few months due to the insufficiency

53 Ibid., November 24, Dec. 15, 1867. 54 Romano, Storia, 1:236-237. 55 Alfonso Scirocco, Democrazia e Socialismo a Napoli dopo l'Unita (1860-1878)

(Naples, 1973), Document No. 10, pp. 336-38.

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of pecuniary means. The most influential of the association, Gambuzzi, Fanelli and Dramis, were at one time angry Mazzinians.56

The two documents provide incontestable evidence that Bakunin's influence in the formation of this early socialist group in Naples was considerable.57

Finally, Romano attributes the ideas expressed in Liberta e Gius- tizia to the thought of Carlo Pisacane58 and we shall now devote the next few pages to an examination of this thesis as well as several other of Romano's assertions concerning Pisacane. As Scirocco has observed, in the sixteen issues of Liberta e Giustizia, the editors, while publishing five articles by Bakunin and finding space to intro- duce the writings of Marx and Proudhon, never printed a single line of Carlo Pisacane.59 Nor was he ever cited, save the single occasion when he was selected as one of the unfortunate victims of Mazzini's misguided enterprises.60

56 Ibid., Document No. 12, pp. 339-43. 5 There are contemporary testimonies by both partisans and adversaries, acclaiming

Bakunin as the driving force behind early Italian socialism. And these sources also give him credit as the brain behind the founding of the Liberta e Giustizia Association. For details, see the Filopanti-Gambuzzi polemics in Resto del Carlino, May 1, 1892, and Gazzetta di Napoli, May 15, 29, 1892; Carmelo Palladino to Andrea Costa, Oct. 1, 1876, in Franco Della Peruta, Democrazia e Socialismo nel Risorgimento (Rome, 1973), pp. 406-407 (appendix III); Enrico Malatesta, "I mio primo incontro con Bakunin," Pensiero e Volonta', July 1, 1926, pp. 244-245; Benoit Malon's series entitled

II Partito Socialista in Italia," in La Plebe (Lodi-Milan), Jan. 22, 29; Feb. 5, 12, 18, 26, 1878. For further testimonies, also see Masini, Michele Bakunin: Scritti napoletani, pp. 101-106.

58 Romano, Storia, 1:252-258, 264-265, note 99. 59 Scirocco, Democrazia e Socialismo, p. 207. 60 Liberti e Giustizia, Aug. 24, 1867. A detailed examination of the ideas of Pisacane

is beyond the scope of this article. Briefly, influenced by the writings of Carlo Cattaneo and Giuseppe Ferrari, Pisacane came to the novel conclusion that the development of national unity and liberty in Italy was impossible without two simultaneous revolutions-the democratic national revolution and the social revolution. Like Baku- nin, he was also influenced by the writings of Proudhon and to that extent there were some similarities in their thinking. For example, Pisacane, like the Russian, was a federalist, detested private property, and believed in the spontaneity of the masses, which were reflected in his support of the so-called "material revolution" as exem- plified by conspiracies, plots and insurrections. However, certain historical and eco- nomic views of Pisacane also show a resemblance to Marx, although, as far as our records go, the Neapolitan knew of neither Marx nor his writings. For Pisacane's own writings, see the following volumes edited by Aldo Romano: Epistolario (Rome, 1937); Carlo Pisacane: Saggi storici-politici-militari sull'Italia, 4 vols. (Milan and Rome, 1957); Carlo Pisacane: Scritti vari, inediti o rari, 3 vols. (Milan, 1964). For biographies of Pisacane, among several others, see Nello Rosselli, Carlo Pisacane nel risorgimento italiano, (Milan: C. M. Lerici editore, 1958); Oreste Mosca, Vita di Pisacane: L'Uomo e L'Impresa, Rome, 1953. Also see the relevant sections of Berti's I democratici e l'iniziativa meridionale and Franco Della Peruta's brilliant study I democratici e la rivoluzione italiana (Milan: Feltrinelli [paperback ed.]), 1974.

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Romano also claims that during his stay in Naples, Bakunin experi- enced the great turning point in his life, absorbing the vital blood of Mazzinianism, which convinced him that revolution was the most effective method of resolving social problems.61 It matured further through his assimilation of the ideas of Pisacane, passed on to him by his new democratic friends in the Popolo d'Italia nucleus. Both these views are fallacious. When Bakunin arrived in Naples, he was not an old-style nationalist as Romano contends. As noted earlier, Bakunin's Appeal to the Slavs, together with its preparatory drafts, forms a comprehensive statement of his views as they emerged from the disappointments of the 1848 revolution.62 In the Appeal he clearly portrayed the bourgeoisie as a counterrevolutionary force and de- clared that the future hopes of revolution lay with the proletariat. Bakunin also believed that the peasantry would prove a decisive force in all future revolutions and that their success would depend on the extent of peasant participation. The social question was also given its rightful place in the Appeal. As Boris Nicolaevsky has aptly pointed out, the key to understanding Bakunin's activities during 1864-1876 lies in the period 1848-49.63 Romano's misinterpretation of Bakunin's ideological evolution has primarily grown out of his lack of under- standing of nineteenth-century Russia, which has prompted him to compare the revolutionary pan-Slavism of Bakunin with the nation- alistic slavophilism of Aksakov and Khomyakov.64 As Venturi has said, "[Bakunin's] policy . . . has its Machiavellian element in the desire to use, without much belief in its value, the banner of nation- alism for revolutionary ends. The expression 'Revolutionary Panslavism' [of the years 1848-49] can be accepted as a description of his policy, only if it is remembered that Bakunin himself put the emphasis on the adjective and not on the noun. "65 Between January and May, 1849, Bakunin collaborated with the radical newspaper Dresdner Zeitung66 and many of his ideas (which Romano attributes to a later period) were developed in the columns of that paper. The transformation which occurred in Bakunin's outlook in 1848-49 was one from political to social revolution and during that period he stood at the extreme left wing of European democracy. In other words,

61 Romano, Storia, 1: 192. 62 Carr, Bakunin, p. 170. 63 Boris Nicolaevsky, M.A. Bakunin in der 'Dresdner Zeitung,' " International

Review of Social History [Leiden], (1936), 1:121-216. This important article was trans- lated for the author from the German by Raymond Cronrath of Essen, West Germany.

64 Romano, Storia, 1:122-3. 65 Franco Venturi, Roots of Revolution (New York, 1966), pp. 54-5. 66 Steklov, Sobranie, 3:399-426.

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Bakunin's thought had developed parallel to his revolutionary ac- tivities during his first emigration. He was intellectually indebted to Hegel, Proudhon, and perhaps, to some extent, to Karl Marx. Carlo Pisacane had nothing to do with this development.

There is, moreover, no evidence to indicate the influence of Pisaca- nian ideas in Naples during the time in question.67 Fanelli, Dramis, and others who knew Pisacane well and revered his memory never spoke of his writings, let alone his socialist ideas. Hence, one can only conclude that prior to Bakunin's arrival in Naples these individ- uals had really no understanding of Pisacane's writings or ideas. It is not surprising since Fanelli, Dramis, Friscia, Gambuzzi, and others still largely thought in traditional republican terms. The view of Pisacane held by such republicans was succinctly expressed in the Partito d'azione debate of 1864. Hoping to put an end to the Sapri polemics, its authoritative representatives declared that "Sapri foreshadowed Marsala. The sacrifice has opened the way to triumph. The twenty became [the] thousand and then legions. The sun of Marsala, of Calatafimi, of Palermo, of Milazzo, of Naples, rose in the dawn of Sapri."68 The southern democrats, including our pro- tagonists, largely accepted this interpretation of Pisacane's historical role.

It is true, as Romano says, that many individuals connected with In Popolo d'Italia were friends and acquaintances of Pisacane. How- ever, during the newspaper's early years, the most important figures on the editorial board were Aurelio Saffi and Filippo De Boni, both staunch Mazzinians. Between 1860 and the end of 1865, an equally important director of II Popolo d'Italia was Giovanni Nicotera, a future Italian minister of the interior and the scourge of socialists during the 1870s. Nicotera held a powerful position within II Popolo d'Italia as well as the Neapolitan Partito d'azione and was Mazzini's alter ego in the Parthenopean city. As Pisacane's lieutenant in the Sapri expedition, he manipulated the Sapri myth for his own political ends and, while still a pure Mazzinian, had strong inclinations to compromise with the moderates.69 Nicotera was no democrat in any true sense and his lack of concern for social issues was reflected in his newspaper.

In 1860 Pisacane's Saggi was published in Genoa and Romano

67 The following discussion is based on the already cited work of Scirocco and the excellent article of Alfredo Capone, "Carlo Pisacane e il Mezzogiomo", in II Veltro, (August-December, 1973), 17:707-722.

68 Capone, "Carlo Pisacane e il Mezzogiorno," p. 709. 69 Ibid., pp. 708-9.

208 Ravindranathan

speculates that it must have been read attentively by the editors of II Popolo d'Italia, especially because of their earlier political collabora- tion with him.70 He finds further proof in the fact that from the second issue of II Popolo d'Italia71 until the end of the year the administra- tion of the paper advertised the Saggi, stating that it was in charge of sales. But Romano provides no documentary evidence. In fact, one finds no such preoccupation with Pisacane's thoughts in II Popolo d'Italia in 1860. He was almost never cited and the one complete article devoted to him, published as a commemoration of Sapri, de- picted Pisacane as a martyr in the Mazzinian tradition and not as a thinker.72 In this article II Popolo d'Italia showed no understanding of Pisacane's social views and it dealt with him as a patriotic unitarian, a precursor of Garibaldi, stripped of his radical and social revolutionary views.73 Furthermore, as Scirocco has observed, the sale of the Saggi by the administration proves nothing. Along with the Saggi, it also advertised for sale Mazzinian and bourgeois works and Romano's notion that the advertisement for sale, or the actual sale, of the book was identical to the acceptance of its ideas is unsustainable. It should also be noted that after 1860 the Saggi disappeared from view in the advertisement sections of II Popolo d'Italia and Nettlau attributed this rapid disappearance to the "perfidious machinations of authori- tarian patriots and anti-socialists" or to the sinister maneuvers of Nicotera. Perhaps the answer once again, as Scirocco has acutely observed, is more simple. The Saggi was published between 1858 and 1860, the years in which Italian unity was achieved, in a manner completely different from the way in which Pisacane outlined it, thus giving it the appearance of a dated and old-fashioned work. In the immediate aftermath of unity in 1860, the Mazzinians became the guiding spirits behind Neapolitan democracy and, until Aspromonte, they showed great reluctance in fomenting new uprisings. Conse- quently, it would be safe to assume that the few copies of the Saggi dispatched to Naples stayed unsold or languished in some forgotten back room.74

In a number of commemorative articles published on Pisacane during the next few years, II Popolo d'Italia continued to portray him as a martyr and Garibaldi's precursor, with still no attempt to analyze his role as a thinker.75 In all these articles, the unfortunate episode of

70 Romano, Storia, 1:41. 71 n Popolo d'Italia, Oct. 19, 1860. 72 Ibid., Oct. 26, 1860. 73 Capone, "Carlo Pisacane e il Mezzogiomo," p. 710. 74 Scirocco, Democrazia e Socialismo, pp. 180-2. 75 See the issues of July 2, 1861; July 2, 1862; and July 3, 1864.

Bakunin in Naples 209

Sapri continued to be depicted as the culmination of Pisacane's thought and action, the essence of his life. It was a splendid and heroic enterprise in the traditions of 1820, 1848, and 1860 and, since the "victory" of Sanza gave birth to the victory of Calatafimi, the efforts of the Neapolitan were not in vain.76 Romano's thesis of the Pisacanian influence in the south could have been given some cre- dence if there had been even minimal discussion of Pisacane's social ideas in the columns of II Popolo d'Italia following these articles. In fact, quite the opposite occurred. In 1866, after Custoza, the anniver- sary of the Pisacanian effort was forgotten and, even during the successive years of 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, and 1872, when anarchist and Marxist ideas had found an audience in the Naples area, there was no discussion of Pisacane in II Popolo d'Italia.77 When the odd reference was made to him after 1865, he continued to be presented as a Mazzinian and the man who anticipated Garibaldi.

Of course, there was an independent erosion of Mazzinian ideology in the Mezzogiorno. This trend had begun before the arrival of Baku- nin in the Naples area, but there was no such thing as a concerted and coherent left critique-still less one of the Pisacanian variety-of the existing social order. The general disenchantment (which was not simply confined to the Mazzinians) sprang from the gravity of the social and economic conditions prevailing in the south. The dis- illusioned consisted of a varied mixture: Mazzinians, Neapolitan au- tonomists, Camorristi, landowners, Bourbon restorationists, and Muratists. There was one common factor which bound them together-their hatred of the liberal Italian state. Hence the relative success of Bakunin in Naples could be partially explained by the fact that his thinking presented some of the discontented elements with an alternative to these contrasting positions and motivations.78

By ascribing a pivotal significance to Bakunin's Neapolitan phase, Nettlau and Rosselli have not erred. While the evidence they produce is of a speculative nature (since neither had access to many important sources, including II Popolo d'Italia and Liberta e Giustizia), in the final analysis the intuitions of Nettlau and Rosselli have proven to be more accurate than Romano's theses. Without the external factor of Bakunin's intrusion, it is not possible to give a logical explanation of the transformations which occurred within left republicanism in

76 Capone, "Carlo Pisacane e il Mezzogiomo", pp. 710-12. 77 Scirocco, Democrazia e Socialismo, p. 181. In 1871, from May to November II

Popolo d'Italia temporarily suspended publication and it ceased publication altogether in 1873.

78 Capone, "Carlo Pisacane e il Mezzogiorno," p. 718.

210 Rai'indranathan

Naples during the 1865-67 period: the manner of its attacks in the radical press of bourgeois society, the church, the centralized state and its institutions, as well as the preoccupation with federalism and the cause of the oppressed workers and peasants. It is also undeniable that Bakunin played a crucial role in undermining Mazzini's undis- puted position as the leader of the Neapolitan republicans and the reduction of Garibaldi to human proportions, whereby he ceased to be considered as the permanent flame in an otherwise dark Italian hori- zon. In the process the patriotic ideals of the two Risorgimento heroes were unmasked as bourgeois prejudices. Without the clique of agitators he recruited in Naples and the subsequent diffusion of his libertarian ideas among Italian radicals, it would not have been possi- ble for Bakunin, in the aftermath of the Paris Commune, to exploit the declining fortunes of Mazzini, when the Maestro's former disciples were persuaded to leave him in droves to join the Bakuninist camp. In other words, if Bakunin's Neapolitan sojourn is of no consequence in the development of early Italian socialism, the events of the 1870s can only be seen as a series of accidents, an interpretation which is diametrically opposed to Romano's stated historical approach.

Rather than being a random series of accidents, the events of the 1870s were significantly influenced by Bakunin's thought and earlier activities. Through his articles and journalistic collaboration with Ital- ian republicans, Bakunin succeeded in introducing his anti-state, atheist, and federalist notions to the Neapolitan political scene. The Russian's ideas were a far cry from the passionately patriotic and republican political line adopted by the Partito d'azione, which was dominated by the followers of Mazzini and Garibaldi. In preaching his doctrine of republicanism, Mazzini had always held on steadfastly to the view that social justice and a republic were one and the same thing. Due to Bakunin's exertions, the soundness of this thesis began to come under closer scrutiny within the republican rank itself. While it was to take a few more years after his departure from Naples before the effects of his efforts became apparent, by the time the Paris Commune erupted in 1871 Bakunin already had a sufficiently ap- preciative audience-not only in Naples, but elsewhere in the country as well-who were prepared to welcome him as the latest oracle on Italian problems. When Mazzini condemned the Commune in a series of articles and pamphlets, Bakunin denounced the Maestro and the ultimate result of the year-long struggle was the demise of Italian republicanism as envisaged by the Apostle. Such an outcome was possible because, during the intervening years of 1867-71, many Ital- ian left republicans were to be exposed to the libertarian ideas of the

Bakunin in Naples 211

Russian. Bakunin's friends from his Naples days-Fanelli, Friscia, Gambuzzi, and others-played a significant role in the diffusion of these ideas.

Bakunin's activities in the South are significant on other counts as well. During his sojourn in the Naples area, he was mainly respon- sible for bringing the Italians into the international arena, thus expos- ing them to a wider cosmopolitan world, as opposed to the narrow provincial confines of Naples. Through Bakunin's influence, Gam- buzzi, Fanelli, Tucci, and Friscia participated in the proceedings of the First and Second Congresses of the League for Peace and Liberty in 1867 and 1868 respectively. Partly due to this exposure to the international arena and partly due to Bakunin's blandishments, Gambuzzi was persuaded to establish the first official Italian section of the I.W.A. in Naples in early 1869. This section, despite constant police repressions and other misfortunes, continued to exist until 1877, when it was finally destroyed in the aftermath of the aborted uprising on the Matese mountains. It was also through Bakunin's influence that Saverio Friscia began his unceasing efforts to form sections of the International in Sicily. While his attempts during 1868-69 met with only minimal success, Friscia did manage to spread socialist ideas (of the Bakuninist variety) to various centers on the island, including Catania, Sciacca, Girgenti, and Palermo. Similarly, Giuseppe Fanelli, who was dispatched to Spain at the initiative of Bakunin, was largely responsible for the formation of the first sections of the I.W.A. in the Iberian peninsula. The efforts of Friscia in Sicily and Fanelli in Spain were directly linked to Bakunin. Without the Russian's close friendship and collaboration with them during his stay in Naples it is difficult to see how these convinced Mazzinians could have been converted to the cause of socialism in so short a period. Malatesta has testified that the members of Bakunin's Neapolitan nucleus-Gambuzzi, Fanelli, Friscia, Tucci, and others-were the first socialists, the first internationalists, and the first anarchists, not only of Naples but also of Italy.79

Finally the impact of Bakunin on the thought of the Italian left regarding the problem of brigandage remains to be assessed. This is a complicated question which cannot be dealt with fully here, but its importance can be established. Long before his arrival in Italy Baku- nin was an admirer of the brigands, but in the aftermath of his sojourn in the country he came to place increasing emphasis on the brigand-

79Errico Malatesta, "II mio primo incontro con Bakunin," in Pensiero e Volonta, (July 1, 1926), pp. 244-247.

212 Ravindranathan

age theme. One of the persistent themes in his appeals and declara- tions of the late 1860s and early 1870s was that of the brigand as a revolutionary agent and the great significance for the revolutionary cause of the union of the brigand's revolt with that of the peasant. Such declarations usually referred to the Russian situation, but the Italian internationalists later tried to translate Bakunin's analysis of Russian banditry as a revolutionary force into the context of the Mezzogiorno. Before the Russian's arrival in Naples, the Italian re- publicans, without exception, had looked upon southern brigandage as an evil to be rooted out speedily. In the immediate post-unity years, many republicans, including Fanelli and Dramis, had actively participated in the Savoyard government's fight against brigandage. However, before his departure from Naples, Bakunin seemed to have succeeded in converting his closest collaborators to identifying brigandage with social revolution. The testimony of the Matese insur- rectionists of 1877, both before and after the collapse of the undertak- ing, make it abundantly clear that their plan of action was conceived purely in Bakuninist terms. The general consensus among the Italian anarchists tended to be that it was unnecessary to create socialist sentiment among the masses before embarking on the revolutionary road. Instead, it was felt that insurrectionary shock waves would be more effective in achieving the desired result. They set out on the Matese adventure fully aware that the enterprise had little chance of success and this was also consistent with the teachings of the master. Bakunin had often said that "we must ceaselessly make revolutionary attempts, even if we were to be defeated and routed completely, one, two, ten, even twenty times: but, if on the twenty-first time, the people support us and take part in our initiative, we shall have been repaid for all the sacrifices we supported.' '80 While the Matese insur- rection occurred ten years after Bakunin had left Naples, internal evidence suggests that it was during his sojourn in the Parthenopean city that the Russian became an absolute believer in the revolutionary potential of brigandage.

Without the base he built during his Neapolitan years, small though it was, it would not have been possible for Bakunin to emerge in the 1870s as the unofficial leader and spiritual godfather of the Italian socialist movement. Because of Bakunin's physical presence and ac- tions in Italy at a crucial stage in that nation's social and political development, the history of the first fifteen years of modern Italian socialism largely constitutes the history of the Bakuninist movement.

80 Romano, Storia, 2:578.