"His contribution to the cause of Italian unification was negligible." How valid is this assessment of Mazzini.

Mazzini’s opposition to the Catholic Church also damaged his image. Mazzini preached that Christianity should be replaced by democracy and that God was no longer speaking through the scriptures of the Church, but through the people of Italy. Thus, God’s will was what the people wanted, which was national independence and unity and is the reason Giuseppe founded “Young Italy.”

Mazzini’s main weakness was the lack of support for his secret society, “Young Italy” which was mainly due to his lack of understanding of the peasants’ needs. The peasants, making up 80-90% of the population of Italy would have turned Mazzini’s “Young Italy” movement from a minority support based revolutionary party, to a popularly supported political party. As Mazzini did not regard the peasants of much importance, it is little wonder why he was widely regarded by many as an anti-revolutionary by the general population of Italians. Mazzini’s primary problem in communicating with the peasants was that he was overly intellectual which meant that the peasants could not understand what he was preaching through “Young Italy.” “Mazzini’s ideas were too intellectual, too idealistic and too impractical to be a real basis for revolution. His writings were appreciated only by a small number of well-educated revolutionaries and even they did not always understand what he meant.” (Page 18)

Giuseppe Mazzini can also be considered a terrible judge of character. For example, Mazzini was betrayed in 1833 when a revolt took place in the Piedmontese army and as a result the revolt was crushed by the authorities. Mazzini’s faith in the wrong people is once again epitomized when he trusted General Ramorino from Genoa with money to raise and organize an army. Ramorino lost all the money gambling in Paris and returned to Mazzini without the money and more importantly without an army. Mazzini’s terrible errors in choosing associates played a large role in marring his image to the general public.

Perhaps the only consolation Mazzini has of his fruitless efforts to supposedly unite Italy, is that he identified the reason why no Italian revolutions had succeeded. Unity and cooperation amongst the Italian revolutionary parties. “Young Italy is Unitarian because without unity there is no true nation.” (Page 15) Mazzini identified the point of weakness in the failed attempts of Italian revolutionaries however he was never once successful in his own efforts, which is why his motives and actions are a topic of debate amongst historians.

Mazzini’s tendency to contradict himself, for instance by opposing the Monarchy yet requesting to work in collaboration with the Monarch, justifies certain views that Mazzini was a nuisance to the bid for Italian Unification. Giuseppe Mazzini can be considered a “dangerous enemy of free and united Italy” (page 17) whom had made “frantic efforts to keep the country divided,” (page 17) and his contributions to the cause of Italian unification can be considered negligible.