University of Galway History Seminar: Empires, Workers, and Saints: ‘Progressive Imperialism’, Working Class Radicalism, and the Rise of New Millennial Cults in the 1870s

Professor Enrico Dal Lago 

(University of Galway)

Empires, Workers, and Saints:

‘Progressive Imperialism’, Working Class Radicalism, and the Rise of New Millennial Cults in the 1870s 

Abstract

This paper argues that, by the late 1860s-early 1870s, the previously widespread Euro-American worldview that had combined the cause of nation-building with the cause of progress had morphed into a novel and complex Euro-American ideology of «progressive imperialism», which justified the rule of empires with the extension of progressive institutions and progressive technological advancements. Yet, behind this veneer of optimism associated with the achievements of «progressive imperialism», the shrinking of the world caused by the spread of empires also led to a great deal of anxiety for those who saw them as powerful instruments in the global expansion of capitalism as a system of imperial exploitation. In 1873, the worldwide economic crisis showed the limits of the project of economic and political globalization pursued by the Euro-American powers according to the ideology of «progressive imperialism». At the same time, as a result of the worsening of the conditions of workers worldwide, this turn of events also led to a radicalization of worker movements with the rise of global anarcho-syndicalism. It also heralded the start of a new wave of millennial cults, chief among them the Jehova’s Witnesses in the United States. Less known, but well worth studying, is the movement led in Italy by Davide Lazzaretti, the ‘Christ of Mount Amiata’, which combined Socialism and Christianity in a powerful syncretistic protest in 1870s Tuscany. 

Biography

Enrico Dal Lago is Established Professor of History at the University of Galway. He is the author or editor of 14 books, 6 of which authored monographs, including, most recently, Civil War and Agrarian Unrest: The Confederate South and Southern Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2018), the first comparative history of the American Civil War and Italy’s Great Brigandage, and Lincoln (Salerno Editrice, 2022), one of only two biographies of Lincoln written by an Italian historian. In 2016, he received a D.Litt. on Published Work in History by the National University of Ireland, and in 2020 he became a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. 

Registration

This is a hybrid event. The paper will be delivered, in-person, in Room G010, Hardiman Research Building, University of Galway and streamed simultaneously on Zoom: https://nuigalway-ie.zoom.us/j/97525861257.

I‘m very pleased to say that this talk will also be preceded by a social event – join us from 3.30pm for tea, coffee, snacks, and an end-of-semester chat.  

To attend via Zoom, please register at: https://forms.office.com/e/8tu82d33aR.

This talk is part of the University of Galway History Seminar series.