Vincenzo Russo (1770 - 1799) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

patriot, who was a leading supporter of the short-lived

Parthenopean Republic The Parthenopean Republic ( it, Repubblica Partenopea, french: République Parthénopéenne) or Neapolitan Republic (''Repubblica Napoletana'') was a short-lived, semi-autonomous republic located within the Kingdom of Naples and supported by the ...

. Captured by the Sanfedista forces, he was soon executed along with many other rebels of the Bourbon rule of

Ferdinand IV of Naples Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand I ...

Biography

He obtained degrees in medicine from

Nola Nola is a town and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy. It lies on the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines. It is traditionally credited as the diocese that introduced bells to Christian worship. ...

and in law from Naples universities. Agreeing with the Jacobin principles of Robespierre, he joined two secret societies - the Club Rivoluzionario and the Società Patrottica - where he advocated the use of revolutionary, armed struggle against the

Bourbon Bourbon may refer to: Food and drink * Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash * Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels * Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit * A beer produced by Bras ...

state in favor of the weakest in society. He was exiled for holding such "proto-communist" ideas. Inspired by the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, Russo fled to Milan, then Switzerland, and then to Rome where he supported the French-supported

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

of 1798–9. During this period he took an active part in the cultural life of the republic, helping organise heated discussions in the democratic clubs and writing for the newly founded press. He was among those who pressed the French into declaring

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

a republic. In the newly proclaimed Neapolitan Republic (also known as the

) he contributed to the "Monitore Napolitano", the journal edited by

Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel Eleonora Anna Maria Felice de Fonseca Pimentel (born ''Leonor da Fonseca Pimentel Chaves''; 13 January 1752 – 20 August 1799) was an Italian poet and revolutionary connected with the Neapolitan revolution and subsequent short-lived Neapo ...

, and went down to speak among the people. However, the republic was short-lived: Cardinal

Fabrizio Ruffo Fabrizio Dionigi Ruffo (16 September 1744 – 13 December 1827) was an Italian cardinal and politician, who led the popular anti-republican ''Sanfedismo'' movement (whose members were known as the ''Sanfedisti''). Biography Ruffo was born at ...

soon counter-attacked with his army of

Sanfedisti Sanfedismo (from ''Santa Fede'', "Holy Faith" in Italian) was a popular anti- Jacobin movement, organized by Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo, which mobilized peasants of the Kingdom of Naples against the Pro-French Parthenopaean Republic in 1799, its ai ...

, fighting on the side of the Bourbon king (aided in this mainly by the British), and supported by an uprising of the royalist rabble, the

Naples Lazzaroni In the Age of Revolution, the Lazzaroni (or Lazzari) of Naples were the poorest of the lower class (Italian ''lazzaroni'' or ''lazzari'', singular: ''lazzarone'') in the city and Kingdom of Naples (in present-day Italy). Described as "street p ...

. With weapons in hand, Russo was taken prisoner on 13 June 1799. He became a martyr to the cause of Italian Jacobinism at the age of 29 when he was hanged in Piazza del Mercato, Naples, on 19 November 1799. He was buried, according to one source, on the seashore near the Ponte della Maddalena, Naples, for refusing to utter the required words just prior to execution. A later source gives his last resting place as the Church of San Matteo al Lavinaio, Naples.

Political thought

In his most important work, "Pensieri politici", published in Rome in 1798, Russo puts forward a socio-political theory of a peasant state, founded on justice and barbarism, where the degree of

egalitarianism Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...

was to exceed even that of Louis Saint-Just. An individual's freedom from want would be based on the tenancy of a piece of land belonging to the community, and not on hereditary property. Russo establishes a legitimate property limit at just the amount needed to satisfy a person's basic needs; such a limit would be "calculated" from a combination of the needs of each individual and the amount required to secure his or her economic freedom and equality to other members of the community. So, for Russo, economic equality is the essential precondition for genuine political equality. But such equality would only be possible in small communities, such as the Ancient Greek polis, as had been suggested by

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

and

Jean Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

. For both these thinkers, the city should be limited in size in order to guarantee the effective participation of all citizens in the political process. A public system of general education would be necessary in order for everyone to take part in the running of the community in an informed way. Given the close link between landed property and political awareness in Russo's ideal state, it could be likened to a "republic of peasant-philosophers". He therefore rejects industrial development and commercePagden, p.147 on the basis that they would create, respectively, unhealthy living conditions for workers, and a craving for ever more wealth to the detriment of an honest and simple life. Sections 23-5 of his "Pensieri politici" contain the fundamentals of his thought on the questions of commerce, agriculture and the city.

Bibliography

* Constance Giglioli, ''Naples in 1799'', London, Murray, 1903 *

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce (; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician, who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography and aesthetics. In most regards, Croce was a lib ...

, ''La rivoluzione napoletana del 1799. Biografie, racconti e ricerche'', Bari, Laterza, 1912, 1961 * Benedetto Croce, ''Anedotti di varia letteratura'', 2nd ed., Bari, Laterza, 1953 * Delio Cantimori (ed.), ''Giacobini italiani'', vol. I, Bari, Laterza, 1956 * Anthony Pagden, ''Francesco Mario Pagano's 'Republic of Virtue, in ''The Invention of the Modern Republic'', Biancamaria Fontana (ed.), Cambridge, CUP, 1994 * Cristina Passetti, ''Il giacobinismo radicale di Vincenzo Russo: gli elementi non utopici del suo pensiero politico'', Naples, La Città del Sole, 1999 * Luigi Sorrentino, ''Io muoio libero e per la repubblica. Vita ed opere di Vincenzo Russo ideologo e martire del 1799'', Naples, Istituto Grafico Editoriale Italiano – Gruppo Archeologico Terra di Palma, 1999 * Enzo Rega – Pasquale Gerardo Santella (eds.), ''Vincenzo Russo e la Rivoluzione napoletana del 1799. Atti del Convegno (22 gennaio – 19 novembre 1999)'', Comune di Palma Campania, Naples, 2000 *

Nico Perrone Nico Perrone (born April 27, 1935) is an Italian essayist, historian and journalist. He firstly discovered papers on the plot for killing Enrico Mattei, the Italian state tycoon for oil in the 1950s. He is the author of twenty books, and some f ...

, ''La Loggia della Philantropia. Un religioso danese a Napoli prima della rivoluzione. Con la corrispondenza massonica e altri documenti'', Palermo, Sellerio, 2000 * Enzo Rega, ''Nell'urgenza della storia gli interventi "giornalistici" di Vincenzo Russo'', in ''Il Contributo'', No.1-2, Roma, Edizioni Nuova Cultura, 2010 * Enzo Rega, ''La coscienza dell'utopia. Vincenzo Russo, giacobino napoletano'', Nola (Naples), L'arca e l'arco edizioni, 2011

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russo, Vincenzo 1770 births 1799 deaths 18th-century Neapolitan people Italian revolutionaries Jacobites People of the Parthenopean Republic