1874 Bologna insurrection plot

Failed anarchist insurrection in Italy March 2023 March 2023 In August 1874, the Italian government foiled an insurrectionary plot by Bakuninist anarchists in Bologna, Italy. Planning Anarchist Mikhail Bakunin plotted an insurrection in Italy to hasten an uprising that he and his adherents felt was already imminent with declining economic conditions. Carlo Cafiero purchased 250 rifles and pistols in preparation for the uprising. Bakunin and Cafiero created a national plan of action with Andrea Còsta and Errico Malatesta. They envisioned spontaneous revolutionary uprisings across the country, extending from Bologna. Cafiero wrote a propaganda statement heralding redemption for Italian peasants.Drake 2009 35 Còsta was the head organizer and Bakunin would lead the Bologna insurrection.Drake 2009 36 In preparation, Costa and Cafiero created the Comitato Italiano per la Rivoluzione Sociale (CIRS) in December 1873 as an extension of the Bakunin Revolutionary Socialist Alliance.Pernicone 1993 85 Arrest and aftermath The Italian government, with advance notice from peasants who rejected the Bakuninists, easily arrested Còsta before the insurrection could begin. Bakunin, disguised as a priest, fled Italy, and the other leaders were jailed. It was a major setback for the Italian anarchist movement.Drake 2009 36 Cafiero missed the failed insurrection, having been in Russia arranging to marry the revolutionary Olimpia Kutuzova since earlier in the year. While the marriage was to grant her Western asylum, rather than for love, her detention as a subversive complicated his action. The failure of the insurrection strained his otherwise highly favorable relationship with Bakunin.Drake 2009 36 References Bibliography Drake Richard Apostles and Agitators: Italy's Marxist Revolutionary Tradition 2009 en 978-0-674-03432-7 Harvard University Press mdy-all Pernicone Nunzio Insurrection and Repression, 1874-1876 Italian Anarchism, 1864–1892 1993 en 978-0-691-05692-0 Princeton University Press 27267053 mdy-all 82-105 Category:August 1874 in Europe Category:1874 conflicts Category:1874 in Italy Category:Mikhail Bakunin Category:Anarchism in Italy Category:Military history of Bologna