1 Week 5: Nations and Nationalisms Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872) The founder of Young Italy (1831) was perhaps the leading figure in liberal nationalism. He saw the creation of a democratic Italian state as crucial to Italy's development. Europe no longer possesses unity of faith, of mission, or of aim. Such unity is a necessity in the world. Here, then, is the secret of the crisis. It is the duty of every one to examine and analyse calmly and carefully the probable elements of this new unity. But those who persist in perpetuating, by violence or by Jesuitical compromise, the external observance of the old unity, only perpetuate the crisis, and render its issue more violent. There are in Europe two great questions; or, rather, the question of the transformation of authority, that is to say, of the Revolution, has assumed two forms; the question which all have agreed to call social, and the question of nationalities. The first is more exclusively agitated in France, the second in the heart of the other peoples of Europe. I say, which all have agreed to call social, because, generally speaking, every great revolution is so far social, that it cannot be accomplished either in the religious, political, or any other sphere, without affecting social relations, the sources and the distribution of wealth; but that which is only a secondary consequence in political revolutions is now the cause and the banner of the movement in France. The question there is now, above all, to establish better relations between labour and capital, between production and consumption, between the workman and the employer. It is probable that the European initiative, that which will give a new impulse to intelligence and to events, will spring from the question of nationalities. The social question may, in effect, although with difficulty, be partly resolved by a single people; it is an internal question for each, and the French Republicans of 1848 so understood it, when, determinately abandoning the European initiative, they placed Lamartine's [Note: A French poet and politician] manifesto by the side of their aspirations towards the organisation of labour. The question of nationality can only be resolved by destroying the treaties of 1815, and changing the map of Europe and its public Law. The question of Nationalities, rightly understood, is the Alliance of the Peoples; the balance of powers based upon new foundations; the organisation of the work that Europe has to accomplish. . . . It was not for a material interest that the people of Vienna fought in 1848; in weakening the empire they could only lose power. It was not for an increase of wealth that the people of Lombardy fought in the same year; the Austrian Government had endeavoured in the year preceding to excite the peasants against the landed proprietors, as they had done in Gallicia; but everywhere they had failed. They struggled, they stil.

1. 1
Week 5: Nations and Nationalisms
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872)
The founder of Young Italy (1831) was perhaps the leading
figure in liberal nationalism. He saw
the creation of a democratic Italian state as crucial to Italy's
development.
Europe no longer possesses unity of faith, of mission, or of aim.
Such unity is a necessity in the
world. Here, then, is the secret of the crisis. It is the duty of
every one to examine and analyse
calmly and carefully the probable elements of this new unity.
But those who persist in
perpetuating, by violence or by Jesuitical compromise, the
external observance of the old unity,
only perpetuate the crisis, and render its issue more violent.
There are in Europe two great questions; or, rather, the question
of the transformation of
authority, that is to say, of the Revolution, has assumed two

2. forms; the question which all have
agreed to call social, and the question of nationalities. The first
is more exclusively agitated in
France, the second in the heart of the other peoples of Europe. I
say, which all have
agreed to call social, because, generally speaking, every great
revolution is so far social, that it
cannot be accomplished either in the religious, political, or any
other sphere, without affecting
social relations, the sources and the distribution of wealth; but
that which is only a secondary
consequence in political revolutions is now the cause and the
banner of the movement in France.
The question there is now, above all, to establish better
relations between labour and capital,
between production and consumption, between the workman and
the employer.
It is probable that the European initiative, that which will give a
new impulse to intelligence and
to events, will spring from the question of nationalities. The
social question may, in effect,
although with difficulty, be partly resolved by a single people;
it is an internal question for each,
and the French Republicans of 1848 so understood it, when,

3. determinately abandoning the
European initiative, they placed Lamartine's [Note: A French
poet and politician] manifesto by
the side of their aspirations towards the organisation of labour.
The question of nationality can
only be resolved by destroying the treaties of 1815, and
changing the map of Europe and its
public Law. The question of Nationalities, rightly understood, is
the Alliance of the Peoples; the
balance of powers based upon new foundations; the organisation
of the work that Europe has to
accomplish.
. . .
It was not for a material interest that the people of Vienna
fought in 1848; in weakening the
empire they could only lose power. It was not for an increase of
wealth that the people of
Lombardy fought in the same year; the Austrian Government
had endeavoured in the year
preceding to excite the peasants against the landed proprietors,
as they had done in Gallicia; but
everywhere they had failed. They struggled, they still struggle,
as do Poland, Germany, and

4. Hungary, for country and liberty; for a word inscribed upon a
banner, proclaiming to the world
that they also live, think, love, and labour for the benefit of all.
They speak the same language,
they bear about them the impress of consanguinity, they kneel
beside the same tombs, they glory
in the same tradition; and they demand to associate freely,
without obstacles, without foreign
2
domination, in order to elaborate and express their idea; to
contribute their stone also to the great
pyramid of history. It is something moral which they are
seeking; and this moral something is in
fact, even politically speaking, the most important question in
the present state of things. It is the
organisation of the European task. It is no longer the savage,
hostile, quarrelsome nationality of
two hundred years ago which is invoked by these peoples. The
nationality . . . founded upon the
following principle:-Whichever people, by its superiority of
strength, and by its geographical
position, can do us an injury, is our natural enemy; whichever

5. cannot do us an injury, but can by
the amount of its force and by its position injure our enemy, is
our natural ally, -is the princely
nationality of aristocracies or royal races. The nationality of the
peoples has not these dangers; it
can only be founded by a common effort and a common
movement; sympathy and alliance will
be its result. In principle, as in the ideas formerly laid down by
the men influencing every
national party, nationality ought only to be to humanity that
which the division of labour is in a
workshop-the recognised symbol of association; the assertion of
the individuality of a human
group called by its geographical position, its traditions, and its
language, to fulfil a special
function in the European work of civilisation.
The map of Europe has to be remade. This is the key to the
present movement; herein lies the
initiative. Before acting, the instrument for action must be
organized; before building, the ground
must be one's own. The social idea cannot be realised under any
form whatsoever before this
reorganisation of Europe is effected; before the peoples are free
to interrogate themselves; to

6. express their vocation, and to assure its accomplishment by an
alliance capable of substituting
itself for the absolutist league which now reigns supreme.
Giuseppe Mazzini, "Europe: Its Condition and Prospects,"
Essays: Selected from the Writings,
Literary, Political and Religious of Joseph Mazzini, ed. William
Clark (London: Walter Scott,
1880), pp. 266, 27778, 29192.
Sándor Petőfi (1823-1849)
The National Song of Hungary, 1848
RISE, Magyar! is the country's call!
The time has come, say one and all:
Shall we be slaves, shall we be free?
This is the question, now agree!
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke

7. No more to bear!
Alas! till now we were but slaves;
Our fathers resting in their graves
3
Sleep not in freedom's soil. In vain
They fought and died free homes to gain.
But by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
A miserable wretch is he
Who fears to die, my land, for thee!
His worthless life who thinks to be
Worth more than thou, sweet liberty!
Now by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,

8. We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
The sword is brighter than the chain,
Men cannot nobler gems attain;
And yet the chain we wore, oh, shame!
Unsheath the sword of ancient fame!
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
The Magyar's name will soon once more
Be honored as it was before!
The shame and dust of ages past
Our valor shall wipe out at last.
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!

9. And where our graves in verdure rise,
Our children's children to the skies
Shall speak the grateful joy they feel,
And bless our names the while they kneel.
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
4
Carl Schurz (1829-1906)
Reminiscences
One morning, toward the end of February 1848, I sat quietly in
my attic chamber, working hard
at my tragedy of Ulrich von Hutten, when suddenly a friend
rushed breathlessly into the room,

10. exclaiming: "What, you sitting here! Do you not know what has
happened?"
"No; what?"
"The French have driven away Louis Philippe and proclaimed
the Republic!"
I threw down my pen---and that was the end of Ulrich von
Hutten. I never touched the
manuscript again. We tore down the stair, into the street, to the
market square, the accustomed
meeting place for all the student societies after their midday
dinner. Although it was still
forenoon, the market was already crowded with young men
talking excitedly. There was no
shouting, no noise, only agitated conversation. What did we
want there? This probably no one
knew. But since the French had driven away Louis Philippe and
proclaimed the republic,
something of course must happen here, too. Some of the
students had brought their rapiers along,
as if it were necessary to make an attack or to defend
themselves. We were dominated by a
vague feeling as if a great outbreak of elemental forces had
begun, as if an earthquake was

11. impending of which we had felt the first shock, and we
instinctively crowded together. Thus we
wandered about in numerous bands---to the Kneipe, where our
restlessness, however, would not
suffer us long to stay; then to other pleasure resorts, where we
fell into conversation with all
manner of strangers, to find in them the same confused,
astonished, and expectant state of mind;
then back to the market square, to see what might be going on
there; then again somewhere else,
without aim and end, until finally late in the night fatigue
compelled us to find the way home….
now we had something more important to do---to devote
ourselves to the affairs of the
fatherland. And this we did by seeking again as quickly as
possible the company of our friends,
in order to discuss what had happened and what was to come. In
these conversations, excited as
they were, certain ideas and catchwords worked themselves to
the surface, which expressed more
or less the feelings of the people. Now had arrived in Germany
the day for the establishment of
"German Unity," and the founding of a great, powerful, national
German empire. First in line the

12. convocation of a national parliament. Then the demands for
civil rights and liberties, free speech,
free press, the right of free assembly, equality before the law, a
freely elected representation of
the people with legislative power, responsibility of ministers,
self-government of the communes,
the right of the people to carry arms, the formation of a civic
guard with elective officers and so
on---in short, that which was called a "Constitutional form of
government on a broad democratic
basis."
Republican ideas were at first only sparingly expressed. But the
word democracy was soon on all
tongues, and many, too, thought it a matter of course that if the
princes should try to withhold
from the people the rights and liberties demanded, force would
take the place of mere petition.
Of course the regeneration of the country must, if possible, be
accomplished by peaceable
means. A few days after the outbreak of this commotion I
reached my nineteenth birthday. I
5

13. remember to have been so entirely absorbed by what was
happening that I could hardly turn my
thoughts to anything else. Like many of my friends, I was
dominated by the feeling that at last
the great opportunity had arrived for giving to the German
people the liberty which was their
birthright and to the German fatherland its unity and greatness,
and that it was now the first duty
of every German to do and to sacrifice everything for this
sacred object. We were profoundly,
solemnly, in earnest.
Great news came from Vienna! There the students of the
university were the first to assail the
Emperor of Austria with the cry for liberty and citizens' rights.
Blood flowed in the streets, and
the downfall of Prince Metternich was the result. The students
organized themselves as the
armed guard of liberty. In the great cities of Prussia there was a
mighty commotion. Not only
Cologne, Coblenz, and Trier, but also Breslau, Königsberg, and
Frankfurt-am-der-Oder, sent
deputations to Berlin to entreat the king. In the Prussian capital
the masses surged upon the

14. streets, and everybody looked for events of great import.
While such tidings rushed in upon us from all sides like a
roaring hurricane, we in the little
university town of Bonn were also busy preparing addresses to
the sovereign, to circulate them
for signature, and to send them to Berlin. On the 18th of March
we too had our mass
demonstration. A great multitude gathered for a solemn
procession through the streets of the
town. The most respectable citizens, not a few professors, and a
great number of students and
people of all grades marched in close ranks. At the head of the
procession Professor Kunkel bore
the tricolor---black, red, and gold---which so long had been
prohibited as the revolutionary flag.
Arrived in the market square, he mounted the steps of the city
hall and spoke to the assembled
throng. He spoke with wonderful eloquence, his voice ringing
out in its most powerful tones as
he depicted a resurrection of German unity and greatness and
new liberties and rights of the
German people, which now must be conceded by the princes or
won by force by the people. And
when at last he waved the black-red-gold banner, and predicted

15. to a free German nation a
magnificent future, enthusiasm without bounds broke forth.
People clapped their hands; they
shouted; they embraced one another; they shed tears. In a
moment the city was covered with
black, red, and gold flags, and not only the Burschenschaft, but
almost everybody wore a black-
red-gold cockade on his hat.