Italian Anarchism, 1864-1892

✍ Scribed by Nunzio Pernicone

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2014
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 340
• Series: Princeton Legacy Library; 271
• Edition: Course Book
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Historians have frequently portrayed Italian anarchism as a marginal social movement that was doomed to succumb to its own ideological contradictions once Italian society modernized. Challenging such conventional interpretations, Nunzio Pernicone provides a sympathetic but critical treatment of Italian anarchism that traces the movement's rise, transformation, and decline from 1864 to 1892. Based on original archival research, his book depicts the anarchists as unique and fascinating revolutionaries who were an important component of the Italian socialist left throughout the nineteenth century and beyond.

Anarchism in Italy arose under the influence of the Russian revolutionary Bakunin, triumphed over Marxism as the dominant form of early Italian socialism, and supplanted Mazzinianism as Italy's revolutionary vanguard. After forming a national federation of the Anti-Authoritarian International in 1872, the Italian anarchists attempted several insurrections, but their organization was suppressed. By the 1880s the movement had become atomized, ideologically extreme, and increasingly isolated from the masses. Its foremost leader, Errico Malatesta, attempted repeatedly to revitalize the anarchists as a revolutionary force, but internal dissension and government repression stifled every resurgence and plunged the movement into decline. Even after their exclusion from the Italian Socialist Party in 1892, the anarchists remained an intermittently active and influential element on the Italian socialist left. As such, they continued to be feared and persecuted by every Italian government.

Originally published in 1993.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

✦ Table of Contents

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
PART ONE: Bakunin and the Origins of Italian Anarchism
CHAPTER ONE. Bakunin and the Italians, 1864-1870
CHAPTER TWO. The Rise of the International in Italy, 1870-1872
PART TWO: The Italian International
CHAPTER THREE. The Italian Federation of the IWA, 1872-1874
CHAPTER FOUR. Insurrection and Repression, 1874-1876
CHAPTER FIVE. Resurgence and Insurrection, 1876-1877
CHAPTER SIX. The Twilight of the Italian International, 1877-1878
CHAPTER SEVEN. The Suppression of the Italian International, 1878-1880
PART THREE: Crisis, Transformation, and Decline
CHAPTER EIGHT. The Defection of Andrea Costa, 1879-1882
CHAPTER NINE. Crisis and Metamorphosis, 1879-1883
CHAPTER TEN. Struggling to Survive, 1883-1885
CHAPTER ELEVEN. Too Little, Too Late, 1885-1890
CHAPTER TWELVE. Malatesta and Resurgence, 1889-1891
CHAPTER THIRTEEN. Descent into Isolation, 1891-1892
Epilogue: 1892-1900
Bibliography
Index