Napoleone Colajanni
Encyclopedia
Napoleone Colajanni was an Italian writer, journalist, criminologist, socialist and politician. In the 1880s he abandoned republicanism
for socialism
, and became Italy’s leading theoretical writer on the issue for a time. He has been called the father of Sicilian socialism.
). At a young age he was inspired by Giuseppe Garibaldi
and attempted to join the Redshirts in the Expedition of the Thousand
for the unification of Italy
in 1860 escaping to Palermo at the age of 13, but without success. Two years later, in 1862, when Garibaldi passed by Castrogiovanni in his Expedition against Rome, Colajanni joined the partisans. He reached the Aspromonte
, where he was captured by government troops and deported to Palmaria
.
In 1866, again free, he joined the police in Genoa, and took part in the clashes of the Third Italian War of Independence
in an attempt to capture Rome
, the main centre of the peninsula still outside of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy
. In 1867 he again joined Garibaldi in his second attempt to capture Rome, but the papal army, strengthened with a new French auxiliary force, defeated the badly armed volunteers at Mentana
.
On February 26, 1869, while a medical student, he was arrested in Naples, for taking part in a Republican conspiracy. He remained in prison until November 20, when an amnesty was declared because of the birth of the future king of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
.
for the first time. After having played the role of de facto leader of the Republicans in Parliament, moving to sponsor initiatives such as the parliamentary inquiry on Eritrea (1891) and the reporting of the Banca Romana scandal
(1892), which caused the fall of Giovanni Giolitti
.
In 1892 he was appointed Professor of Statistics at the University of Palermo
. He published many books and essays on social and political problems, and exposed the unscientific theories of Cesare Lombroso
and Enrico Ferri
on criminology
. Colajanni was particularly critical of Lombroso’s biological determinism
and he put a much greater emphasis on social conditions as a cause of offending. Lombroso and his disciples, however, remained dominant in Italy.
For many years he edited the Rivista popolare, by means of which he strove to improve the moral and intellectual standard of the masses and combated all forms of intolerance and hypocrisy.
a popular movement of democratic and socialist inspiration, which arose in Sicily
in the years between 1891 and 1893. The demands of the movement were fair land rents, higher wages, lower local taxes and distribution of misappropriated common land. He took the Fasci under his political protection, defending them in parliament and in the press.
Francesco Crispi
, who took over after the fall of Giolitti in December 1893, promised important measures of land reform for the near future. Crispi was not blind to the misery and the need for social reform. Before 1891 he had been the patron of the Sicilian working-class and many of their associations had been named after him. Colajanni, the chief architect of Giolitti’s fall, was first offered the Ministry of Agriculture, which he refused, then sent to Sicily on a mission of appeasement.
Crispi’s good intentions were soon drowned in the clamour for strong measures. In the three weeks of uncertainty before the government was formed, the rapid spread of violence drove many local authorities to defy Giolitti’s ban on the use of firearms. During December 1893 peasants lost their lives in clashes with the police and army. These disorders were not the product of a revolutionary plot, but Crispi believed otherwise. On the strength of dubious documents and reports, Crispi decided there was an organised conspiracy to detach his own Sicily from Italy; the leaders of the fasci were in league with the clerics and financed by French gold, and war and invasion were imminent.
On January 3, 1894, only four days after Crispi had promised Colajanni there would be no state of siege, martial law was declared in the island. General Roberto Morra di Lavriano was dispatched with 40,000 troops to restore order. Colajanni, disillusioned by the spread of violence in Sicily, to which he believed the Socialist party’s discourse of the class war had contributed, reverted in 1894 to his original republicanism
. Within a few days of the declaration of martial law, however, he broke with Crispi and wrote the book Gli avvenimenti di Sicila e le loro cause on the events in Sicily, which placed the main blame on Crispi. He condemned the Fasci leaders for lacking to keep the peace.
.
The Italian government, Colajanni wrote, has done everything to consolidate the Mafia and render it omnipotent. “To fight and destroy the reign of the Mafia, it is necessary that the Italian government ceases to be the king of the Mafia,” he said in his book Nel regno della mafia (In the realm of the Mafia). The government, he said, needed to wipe the slate clean in Sicily and institute a fair and practical administration.
. He remained a social-Darwinist throughout his life, convicted that socialism would be a product of a natural process of evolution and social selection. On April 12, 1895, he took part in the founding congress of the Italian Republican Party
(Partito Repubblicano Italiano).
He did not consider himself a materialist: the social question was not only an economic issue but also an ethical one. He rejected the concept of class struggle
: there was struggle there, sure, but it was only the first stage of evolution, which was not be encouraged, but passed in favour of a greater spread of altruism. A position that proved irreconcilable with Marxism, which led him to adhere to the newborn Republican Party.
At the outbreak of World War I, despite its anti-militarist ideas, he became an ardent supporter of the interventionist camp on the side of the Triple Entente
. He launched a vigorous campaign against Avanti
, the organ of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), when Benito Mussolini
was removed as chief editor, and openly criticized the PSI for what he considered Bolshevik
sympathies. He felt a certain sympathy for fascism
in its initial phase. But his death in 1921, saved him in a sense from this embarrassing adhesion.
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
for socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, and became Italy’s leading theoretical writer on the issue for a time. He has been called the father of Sicilian socialism.
Redshirt
He was born in Castrogiovanni (now EnnaEnna
Enna is a city and comune located roughly at the center of Sicily, southern Italy, in the province of Enna, towering above the surrounding countryside...
). At a young age he was inspired by Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
and attempted to join the Redshirts in the Expedition of the Thousand
Expedition of the Thousand
The Expedition of the Thousand was a military campaign led by the revolutionary general Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860. A force of volunteers defeated the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, leading to its dissolution and annexation by the Kingdom of Sardinia, an important step in the creation of a newly...
for the unification of Italy
Italian unification
Italian unification was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century...
in 1860 escaping to Palermo at the age of 13, but without success. Two years later, in 1862, when Garibaldi passed by Castrogiovanni in his Expedition against Rome, Colajanni joined the partisans. He reached the Aspromonte
Battle of Aspromonte
The Battle of Aspromonte, named for the mountain near Reggio Calabria in southern Italy and fought August 29, 1862, is an inconclusive episode of the Italian unification process....
, where he was captured by government troops and deported to Palmaria
Palmaria (island)
Palmaria is an Italian island situated in the Ligurian Sea, at the westernmost end of the Gulf of La Spezia. Measuring 1.6 km², it is the largest island of an archipelago of three closely spaced islands jutting out south from the mainland at Portovenere...
.
In 1866, again free, he joined the police in Genoa, and took part in the clashes of the Third Italian War of Independence
Third Italian War of Independence
The Third Italian War of Independence was a conflict which paralleled the Austro-Prussian War, and was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austrian Empire.-Background:...
in an attempt to capture Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, the main centre of the peninsula still outside of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
. In 1867 he again joined Garibaldi in his second attempt to capture Rome, but the papal army, strengthened with a new French auxiliary force, defeated the badly armed volunteers at Mentana
Battle of Mentana
The Battle of Mentana was fought on November 3, 1867 between French-Papal troops and the Italian volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who were attempting to capture Rome, then the main centre of the peninsula still outside of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy....
.
On February 26, 1869, while a medical student, he was arrested in Naples, for taking part in a Republican conspiracy. He remained in prison until November 20, when an amnesty was declared because of the birth of the future king of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Victor Emmanuel III was a member of the House of Savoy and King of Italy . In addition, he claimed the crowns of Ethiopia and Albania and claimed the titles Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Albania , which were unrecognised by the Great Powers...
.
In Parliament
After graduating in Medicine in 1871, he went to South America before returning to Italy to devote himself to the study of sociology and continue his political activities. In 1872 he was elected as city councilor in Castrogiovanni, and in 1882 as a provincial councilor. In 1890 he was elected in the national Italian Chamber of DeputiesItalian Chamber of Deputies
The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
for the first time. After having played the role of de facto leader of the Republicans in Parliament, moving to sponsor initiatives such as the parliamentary inquiry on Eritrea (1891) and the reporting of the Banca Romana scandal
Banca Romana scandal
The Banca Romana scandal surfaced January 1893. The scandal was the first of many Italian corruption scandals, and, like the others, it discredited the whole political system....
(1892), which caused the fall of Giovanni Giolitti
Giovanni Giolitti
Giovanni Giolitti was an Italian statesman. He was the 19th, 25th, 29th, 32nd and 37th Prime Minister of Italy between 1892 and 1921. A left-wing liberal, Giolitti's periods in office were notable for the passage of a wide range of progressive social reforms which improved the living standards of...
.
In 1892 he was appointed Professor of Statistics at the University of Palermo
University of Palermo
The University of Palermo is a university located in Palermo, Italy, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties.-History:The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although its earliest roots date back to 1498 when medicine and law were taught there...
. He published many books and essays on social and political problems, and exposed the unscientific theories of Cesare Lombroso
Cesare Lombroso
Cesare Lombroso, born Ezechia Marco Lombroso was an Italian criminologist and founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology. Lombroso rejected the established Classical School, which held that crime was a characteristic trait of human nature...
and Enrico Ferri
Enrico Ferri
Enrico Ferri was an Italian criminologist, socialist, and student of Cesare Lombroso. However, whereas Lombroso researched the physiological factors that motivated criminals, Ferri investigated social and economic factors. Ferri was the author of Criminal Sociology in 1884 and the editor for...
on criminology
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
. Colajanni was particularly critical of Lombroso’s biological determinism
Biological determinism
Biological determination is the interpretation of humans and human life from a strictly biological point of view, and it is closely related to genetic determinism...
and he put a much greater emphasis on social conditions as a cause of offending. Lombroso and his disciples, however, remained dominant in Italy.
For many years he edited the Rivista popolare, by means of which he strove to improve the moral and intellectual standard of the masses and combated all forms of intolerance and hypocrisy.
Fasci Siciliani
Though never a member of the Socialist Party, Colajanni was Sicily’s leading political radical. He supported the Fasci SicilianiFasci Siciliani
The Fasci Siciliani, short for Fasci Siciliani dei Lavoratori , were a popular movement of democratic and socialist inspiration, which arose in Sicily in the years between 1889 and 1894...
a popular movement of democratic and socialist inspiration, which arose in Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
in the years between 1891 and 1893. The demands of the movement were fair land rents, higher wages, lower local taxes and distribution of misappropriated common land. He took the Fasci under his political protection, defending them in parliament and in the press.
Francesco Crispi
Francesco Crispi
Francesco Crispi was a 19th-century Italian politician of Arbëreshë ancestry. He was instrumental in the unification of Italy and was its 17th and 20th Prime Minister from 1887 until 1891 and again from 1893 until 1896.-Sicily:Crispi’s paternal family came originally from the small agricultural...
, who took over after the fall of Giolitti in December 1893, promised important measures of land reform for the near future. Crispi was not blind to the misery and the need for social reform. Before 1891 he had been the patron of the Sicilian working-class and many of their associations had been named after him. Colajanni, the chief architect of Giolitti’s fall, was first offered the Ministry of Agriculture, which he refused, then sent to Sicily on a mission of appeasement.
Crispi’s good intentions were soon drowned in the clamour for strong measures. In the three weeks of uncertainty before the government was formed, the rapid spread of violence drove many local authorities to defy Giolitti’s ban on the use of firearms. During December 1893 peasants lost their lives in clashes with the police and army. These disorders were not the product of a revolutionary plot, but Crispi believed otherwise. On the strength of dubious documents and reports, Crispi decided there was an organised conspiracy to detach his own Sicily from Italy; the leaders of the fasci were in league with the clerics and financed by French gold, and war and invasion were imminent.
On January 3, 1894, only four days after Crispi had promised Colajanni there would be no state of siege, martial law was declared in the island. General Roberto Morra di Lavriano was dispatched with 40,000 troops to restore order. Colajanni, disillusioned by the spread of violence in Sicily, to which he believed the Socialist party’s discourse of the class war had contributed, reverted in 1894 to his original republicanism
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
. Within a few days of the declaration of martial law, however, he broke with Crispi and wrote the book Gli avvenimenti di Sicila e le loro cause on the events in Sicily, which placed the main blame on Crispi. He condemned the Fasci leaders for lacking to keep the peace.
Against the Mafia
In 1900, Colajanni wrote a j’accuse directed at the magistracy, the police, and the government in relation to the trial about the 1893 murder of Emanuele Notarbartolo, the ex-mayor of Palermo and ex-governor of the Bank of Sicily. Notarbartolo had been killed on the instruction of Raffaele Palizzolo, a member of parliament and a director of the Bank of Sicily, in revenge for exposing a swindle using the bank's money. Palizzolo was allegedly involved with the Sicilian MafiaMafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
.
The Italian government, Colajanni wrote, has done everything to consolidate the Mafia and render it omnipotent. “To fight and destroy the reign of the Mafia, it is necessary that the Italian government ceases to be the king of the Mafia,” he said in his book Nel regno della mafia (In the realm of the Mafia). The government, he said, needed to wipe the slate clean in Sicily and institute a fair and practical administration.
Anti Marxist
Colajanni who counted himself a socialist, continued to reject in substance the ideological importunings of classical MarxismMarxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
. He remained a social-Darwinist throughout his life, convicted that socialism would be a product of a natural process of evolution and social selection. On April 12, 1895, he took part in the founding congress of the Italian Republican Party
Italian Republican Party
The Italian Republican Party is a liberal political party in Italy.The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini...
(Partito Repubblicano Italiano).
He did not consider himself a materialist: the social question was not only an economic issue but also an ethical one. He rejected the concept of class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
: there was struggle there, sure, but it was only the first stage of evolution, which was not be encouraged, but passed in favour of a greater spread of altruism. A position that proved irreconcilable with Marxism, which led him to adhere to the newborn Republican Party.
At the outbreak of World War I, despite its anti-militarist ideas, he became an ardent supporter of the interventionist camp on the side of the Triple Entente
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....
. He launched a vigorous campaign against Avanti
Avanti! (Italian newspaper)
Avanti! is an Italian daily newspaper, born as the official voice of the Italian Socialist Party, published since December 25, 1896. It took its name from its German counterpart Vorwärts.-History:...
, the organ of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), when Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
was removed as chief editor, and openly criticized the PSI for what he considered Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
sympathies. He felt a certain sympathy for fascism
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
in its initial phase. But his death in 1921, saved him in a sense from this embarrassing adhesion.
Books
- La sociologia criminale. (Catania: Tropea, 1889)
- Gli avvenimenti di Sicilia e le loro cause. (Palermo: Remo Sandron, 1895)
- Nel regno della mafia, dai Borboni ai Sabaudi. (Palermo: Remo Sandron, 1900)