Apostles and agitators : Italy's Marxist revolutionary tradition / Richard Drake.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Drake, Richard, 1942-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Socialism--Italy--History.

Socialism.

Communism--Italy--History.

Communism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 273 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

One of the most controversial questions in Italy today concerns the origins of the political terror that ravaged the country from 1969 to 1984, when the Red Brigades, a Marxist revolutionary organization, intimidated, maimed, and murdered on a wide scale. In this timely study of the ways in which an ideology of terror becomes rooted in society, Richard Drake explains the historical character of the revolutionary tradition to which so many ordinary Italians professed allegiance, examining its origins and internal tensions, the men who shaped it, and its impact and legacy in Italy. He illuminates the defining figures who grounded the revolutionary tradition, including Carlo Cafiero, Antonio Labriola, Benito Mussolini, and Antonio Gramsci, and explores the connections between the social disasters of Italy, particularly in the south, and the country's intellectual politics; the brand of "anarchist communism" that surfaced; and the role of violence in the ideology. Though arising from a legitimate sense of moral outrage at desperate conditions, the ideology failed to find the political institutions and ethical values that would end inequalities created by capitalism. In a chilling coda, Drake recounts the recent murders of the economists Massimo D'Antona and Marco Biagi by the new Red Brigades, whose Internet justification for the killings is steeped in the Marxist revolutionary tradition.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 Karl Marx: The Word

Chapter 2 Carlo Cafiero: Prophet of Anarchist Communism

Chapter 3 Antonio Labriola: The Philosopher of Praxis

Chapter 4 Arturo Labriola: The Revolutionary Betrayed

Chapter 5 Benito Mussolini: The Indispensable Revolutionary

Chapter 6 Amadeo Bordiga: The Revolutionary as Anti-Realpolitiker

Chapter 7 Antonio Gramsci: The Revolutionary as Centrist

Chapter 8 Palmiro Togliatti: The Revolutionary as Cultural Impresario

Coda: Revolution and Terrorism in Contemporary Italy

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674034327

0674034325

OCLC:

456207707