The Gandhian Mazzini: Democratic Nationalism, Self-rule, and Non-violence

This chapter explores Mahatma Gandhi's engagement with Mazzinian ideas. It seeks to address the ways in which Giuseppe Mazzini and his doctrine became ‘Gandhian’; that is, how they were appropriated by the Indian as he incorporated them in his own thought. It is argued that the Gandhian use of Mazzini does not point to a direct influence of the Italian on the Indian, but to a reworking of the Italian's ideas based on the impact they had already had on Indian nationalism prior to Gandhi's appearance. While building on the Mazzinian foundation of Indian liberalism, but in contrast to the extremists who had given prominence to the insurrectionist aspects of Mazzini's thought and practice, Gandhi erects his own non-violent form of democratic nationalism, thus providing a non-violent interpretation of the Italian's figure and doctrine, and framing Mazzini's ‘truth’ within Gandhi's project of self-rule.