Piero Gobetti and the Politics of Liberal Revolution

Piero Gobetti was a radical liberal and critic of Italian politics in the years after World War I, he proposed 'revolutionary liberalism', which guided his opposition to Fascism and inspired key figures in the Italian Resistance. Accessible but critical, this volume is offers a balanced assessment of his enduring significance.

'James Martin's book is an excellent English-language introduction to Gobetti and places the ideas of this 'revolutionary liberal' who has, controversially, been both claimed and rejected by the liberal, socialist, communist and republican traditions in Italy in the 95 years since his death within the context of the broader liberal tradition for the first time. In doing so, Martin shows how Gobetti's ideas have implications that go beyond the Italian context, and that of the turbulent post-war climate in which they were developed.' Modern Italy

"An excellent exploration of the life, the thought, and the heritage of Piero Gobetti in the political cultures of the twentieth century." - Journal of Modern Italian Studies

"Martin's book is a comprehensive yet concise introduction to the figure of Gobetti and particularly to the concept of 'liberal revolution' and its repercussions and implications for contemporary thinkers . . . Martin has rendered a service in setting Gobetti's liberalism firmly in the context of European liberal thinking, both historic and more recent, rather than just in the Italian context in which he is usually considered. Readers may find that they have much to learn from both the life and the ideas of this twentieth century heretic who managed to reconcile the apparent paradox of revolutionary liberalism." - Dublin Review of Books

"This well-written and erudite book performs a valuable service for Anglophone readers in beingthe first full-length study of Gobetti in English. But its merits are far greater than that: this is an important assessment of a political thinker from a contemporary methodological viewpoint, one that employs various parallel techniques and perspectives in order to draw out maximum interpretative advantage. James Martin skillfully blends intellectual biography with attention to various contexts - some historical, some ideational, and some relating to the future reception of Gobetti's writings and his personal impact. This is an excellent study that will assist in giving some subtle aspects of early twentieth-century Italian thought the prominence they have not hitherto received outside Italy." - Michael Freeden, Mansfield College, University of Oxford

JAMES MARTIN teaches political theory at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.