Defeated revolutionary movements often self-destruct rather than self-correct
Evidence
After 1848, only the Moderates made a critique of the methods which had led up to the debacle. (Indeed the entire Moderate movement renewed itself: neo-Guelphism was liquidated, new men occupied the top positions of leadership.) No self-criticism, by contrast, on the part of the Mazzinians—or rather only a self-criticism by liquidation, in the sense that many elements abandoned Mazzini and came to form the left wing of the Piedmontese party. The only ” orthodox” attempt—i.e. from within—was Pisacane’s essays; but these never became the platform for a new organic policy, notwithstanding the fact that Mazzini himself recognised that Pisacane had a “strategic conception” of the Italian national revolution. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 565
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Avant-garde death followed the loss of the anticipated revolution — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 253; The left’s defeat may have been a slow disintegration rather than a battle — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 276; Failed socialization forces revolutionary alternatives into the vacuum — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 30 (+3 more)