A former left revolutionary turned monarchist pioneered colonial expansion and brutal suppression
Evidence
Francesco Crispi (1818-1901). At first a Sicilian autonomist, he became linked with Mazzini and converted to the aim of a unitary post-Risorgimento Italian state. In 1859 he organised an insurrection in Sicily, and played an important part in Garibaldi’s expedition of 1860. After the achievement of national unity, he became a parliamentary deputy of the Left. In 1865 he broke with Mazzini and rallied to the monarchy. He was Minister of the Interior and Prime Minister on various occasions between 1876 and 1896, and was the most consistent advocate of Italian colonial expansion, notably into Ethiopia. In 1893-94 he repressed the Sicilian Fasci (see following note) with extreme savagery. In many ways he can be seen as a precursor of the nationalist and fascist movements of the twentieth century. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1901
Categorization
- XREF: A left-to-nationalist trajectory echoes themes in Gramsci’s own analysis of how liberalism’s failure paved the way for fascism, and connects to the shape of 20th-century colonial violence against populations. — connects to: Permanent occupation transformed a temporary warlord into absolute monarch — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 168; A committed revolutionary can later reverse his moral disengagement — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2217; The staged theory of history was used to delegitimize anti-colonial revolt as premature
- yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Permanent occupation transformed a temporary warlord into absolute monarch — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 168; A committed revolutionary can later reverse his moral disengagement — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2217; The staged theory of history was used to delegitimize anti-colonial revolt as premature