Separate Moderate and Action Party leaderships combined mechanically to unite Italy
Evidence
In 1859-60, this historico-political “mechanism” operated to maximum effect, since the North initiated the struggle, the Centre came over peacefully (or almost so), and in the South the Bourbon State collapsed under the (relatively weak) thrust of the Garibaldini. This happened because the Action Party (Garibaldi) intervened at the right time, after the Moderates (Cavour) had organised the North and Centre; i.e. it was not the same politico-military leadership (Moderates or Action Party) which organised the relative simultaneity, but the (mechanical) collaboration of the two leaderships, integrating successfully. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 530
Categorization
- XREF: Illustrates Gramsci’s point that unification without mass participation produced a passive, divided national state — relevant to imagined-community theory. — connects to: Two distinct leaderships collaborating mechanically produced Italian unification’s success
- yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Two distinct leaderships collaborating mechanically produced Italian unification’s success