Overview

In theorizing on the causes, preconditions, dynamics and internal conflicts of the Greek Revolution of 1821, John Milios's analysis tackles the issue of bourgeois revolutions in general. This sweeping investigation of the historical emergence, and the limits of the Greek nation, calls forth the broader theoretical and historical question of the economic, political, and ideological presuppositions of nation-building. Nationalism as a Claim to a State illustrates how nationalism brings the masses to the political forefront, which the capitalist state then incorporates into its apparatuses as 'sovereign people'. Nationalism, being enmeshed within the political element, consists of the basis upon which irredentism develops, recruiting populations into the expansionist-imperialist strategies of the ruling classes.

Full Product Details

Author:   John Milios
Publisher:   Haymarket Books
Imprint:   Haymarket Books
ISBN:  

9798888902080

Pages:   272
Publication Date:   27 February 2024
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction Part 1 The Nation and the Revolution 1 The Revolution in Moldavia and Wallachia: Questions on the Borders of the Greek Nation  1 The Declarations of Alexandros Ypsilantis: Hellas in Serbia and Bulgaria  2 The Evolution and Failure of the Campaign in Moldavia and Wallachia  3 Questions for Consideration: Nation, State and Borders of Claimed Territory 2 The ‘Hellas’ of 1821: Initial Thoughts on the Dissemination of Greek National Politicisation  1 The Boundaries of ‘Hellas’, Beginning with Rigas Pheraios (1797) to 1821  2 Various Assessments of the ‘Transnational’ Element of the Revolution in the National Historiography  3 Language, Origins and the ‘Plans of the Friends’ 3 Approaches to the Nation: A General Theoretical Assessment  1 The Traditional Ethnocentric Approach  2 The ‘Objective’ Approach  3 The ‘Subjective’ Approach  4 The Priority of the Political Element: The Nation as State-Instituted ‘Popular Will’  5 The Nation of Capital: Further Points on a Theory of the Nation 4 Romans and Greeks in the Ottoman Empire: From Pre-national Social Cohesion to a Greek Nation  1 Introductory Remarks concerning the Birth of the Greek Nation  2 Remarks on the Structure of the Ottoman Empire  3 Language and the ‘Universalist Hermeneutics’ of Nationalism  4 The Chronicle of Galaxidi, or a Pre-national, ‘Roman’ Historical Narrative of the period 981–1703  5 Two Events Non-national in Character  6 The Ottoman Empire and the Birth of the Greek Nation Part 2 The Revolution and Its State 5 The First State of the Revolution: The Victorious Period (1821–1824)  1 Constitutions and Institutions: The Formation of a Bourgeois State  2 Lords, Politicians and Military Corps: The Political Uplifting of the Masses  3 Political Trends and Civil Wars  4 Regarding Class Antagonisms within the Revolutionary Forces 6 The Ebb of the Revolution, the Intervention of the ‘Great Powers’ and the End of Constitutional Republicanism (1825–1833)  1 The Unfavourable Turn in the War  2 International-Political Relations and Diplomatic Recognition of the Greek state  3 Internal Conflicts, Dead-Ends, and the End of Constitutional Republicanism 7 The Formation of a Capitalist State and Social Formation  1 The Revolution and Its State as a Point of No Return in the Process of Consolidating Capitalist Social Relations  2 Capital as a Relationship: Manufacture, Shipping, Trade and Financial aAtivities  3 Agricultural Production, Rural Property Relations and ‘National Lands’  4 Remnants and Resistance of the ‘ancien régime’ Part 3 The Revolution as the ‘Grand Idea’ and as the ‘Present’ 8 ‘Hellenisation of the East’: The Vision and the Reality  1 A Partial Review: A Genuine Bourgeois Revolution  2 The Grand Idea of the Revolution  3 Greek and the Greek-Speaking Populations of the Ottoman Empire  4 The Economic Dimension of the Grand Idea  5 Contraction and the ‘Stability’ of the Grand Idea Following the Development of Balkan Nationalisms  6 After the Grand Idea: ‘A Rupture within Continuity’ 9 1821 ‘in the Present’: On the Ideological Uses of the Revolution  1 Introduction: on the Ideological Uses of History  2 The Tradition of the ‘Continuity of Hellenism’ and Its Transformations in the Nineteenth Century  3 The Ideology of ‘National Continuity’ as a Devaluation of the Revolution and as a Self-Contradiction  4 ‘National Continuity’ and Racism  5 Historical Approaches in the Context of the Left (1907–1946): From Attempts at Scientific Analysis for the Documentation of a Socialist Strategy to Ideological Uses of History  6 Does History Unite a Nation? References Index

Reviews

"""John Milios offers us a timely and important intervention in the discussions on the character and role of the 1821 Greek Revolution, a necessary antidote to the nationalist consensus which seems to have prevailed in the bicentenary celebrations of that event. Through the lens of political economy, he critically analyses the role of the emerging middle classes in the formation of the nation state of Greece. At the same time, he shows that the protagonists of the national struggle had imperial (I would prefer to call them colonial) ambitions from the very start, ambitions that were burnt in the ashes of Smyrna a century later. The book not only helps us understand the emergence and the fates of Greece as a national and political phenomenon, and its continuing role as a buffer state in global geopolitics, but it also constitutes a valuable contribution to the contemporary discussions on (and struggles towards) ideological, economic, and political decolonisation"". —Yannis Hamilakis, Brown University, co-author of Archaeology, Nation, and Race: Confronting the Past, Decolonizing the Future. ""Nationalism as a Claim to a State provides a groundbreaking account of the Greek Revolution and its aftermath. Opposing the myth of Hellenic continuity, Milios analyses the Greek nationalist movement in terms of capitalist interests within – and at odds with – the Ottoman Empire. He emphasises that early proclamations of Hellenic independence also included Albanians, Serbs, and Bulgars; later, the Greek state defined itself against those groups and pursued territorial expansion. Part of a broader historical movement, the emergent Greek state reveals how nationalist ideologies get twisted this way and that to avoid confronting the realities of capitalism. Carefully researched and persuasively argued, Milios's study takes us deep into the Greek Revolution and beyond, offering crucial lessons for the contemporary world."" —Rush Rehm, Professor Theater and Performance Studies, and Classics, Stanford University, Artistic Director, Stanford Repertory Theater (SRT) ""Who were the Greeks whom the Revolution of 1821 sought to liberate into a national-constitutional state? In this fascinating book, distinguished political economist John Milios investigates the processes of economic, social, and political-ideological unification through which, from the second half of the eighteenth century, Greek-speaking and other Orthodox capitalists promoted a broad national politicisation of large Orthodox Christian populations in the Ottoman Empire and turned them into Greek freedom fighters. He shows how the revolution of the masses demanding representative institutions led to the formation of a constitutional bourgeois state and a national capitalist social formation (1821–27) before taking a Bonapartist and, later, monarchist turn. This is the first book to consider the role of capitalism, nationalism, republicanism, racism, and imperialism in the formation of modern Greece"". —Vassilios Lambropoulos, C. P. Cavafy Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan"

"""John Milios offers us a timely and important intervention in the discussions on the character and role of the 1821 Greek Revolution, a necessary antidote to the nationalist consensus which seems to have prevailed in the bicentenary celebrations of that event. Through the lens of political economy, he critically analyses the role of the emerging middle classes in the formation of the nation state of Greece. At the same time, he shows that the protagonists of the national struggle had imperial (I would prefer to call them colonial) ambitions from the very start, ambitions that were burnt in the ashes of Smyrna a century later. The book not only helps us understand the emergence and the fates of Greece as a national and political phenomenon, and its continuing role as a buffer state in global geopolitics, but it also constitutes a valuable contribution to the contemporary discussions on (and struggles towards) ideological, economic, and political decolonisation"". --Yannis Hamilakis, Brown University, co-author of Archaeology, Nation, and Race: Confronting the Past, Decolonizing the Future. ""Nationalism as a Claim to a State provides a groundbreaking account of the Greek Revolution and its aftermath. Opposing the myth of Hellenic continuity, Milios analyses the Greek nationalist movement in terms of capitalist interests within - and at odds with - the Ottoman Empire. He emphasises that early proclamations of Hellenic independence also included Albanians, Serbs, and Bulgars; later, the Greek state defined itself against those groups and pursued territorial expansion. Part of a broader historical movement, the emergent Greek state reveals how nationalist ideologies get twisted this way and that to avoid confronting the realities of capitalism. Carefully researched and persuasively argued, Milios's study takes us deep into the Greek Revolution and beyond, offering crucial lessons for the contemporary world."" --Rush Rehm, Professor Theater and Performance Studies, and Classics, Stanford University, Artistic Director, Stanford Repertory Theater (SRT) ""Who were the Greeks whom the Revolution of 1821 sought to liberate into a national-constitutional state? In this fascinating book, distinguished political economist John Milios investigates the processes of economic, social, and political-ideological unification through which, from the second half of the eighteenth century, Greek-speaking and other Orthodox capitalists promoted a broad national politicisation of large Orthodox Christian populations in the Ottoman Empire and turned them into Greek freedom fighters. He shows how the revolution of the masses demanding representative institutions led to the formation of a constitutional bourgeois state and a national capitalist social formation (1821-27) before taking a Bonapartist and, later, monarchist turn. This is the first book to consider the role of capitalism, nationalism, republicanism, racism, and imperialism in the formation of modern Greece"". --Vassilios Lambropoulos, C. P. Cavafy Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan"

Author Information

John Milios is Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at the National Technical University of Athens. He has published many articles and monographs on Marxist economic theory and history, including The Origins of Capitalism as a Social System.

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