ABSTRACT
The idea that nationalism is the ideology of an ascendant industrial bourgeoisie which tries to secure a market for its commodities is typical of traditional Marxism. The chapter argues that the link between civil society and nationalism stands or falls on the strength or weakness, respectively, of the case that can be made for it in the modern and contemporary periods. Nationalisms against the state present an even better case for exploring the link between civil society and nationalism. In such a context, nationalism has not only to be 'created' or 'awakened', but in its diffusion it has to compete against the existing state nationalism. The fact that conditions in Italia were different, meant that the nationalist movement followed an idiosyncratic path. It was only the question of spreading italianità by a minority group of intellectuals, artists, novelists, poets, musicians, journalists etc., but also challenging the reactionary and oppressive regimes of the different Italian states, and, more importantly, foreign rule.
