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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN EUROPEAN POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY

Democracy Without Politics

in EU Citizen Participation
From European Demoi to
Decolonial Multitude

Alvaro Oleart
Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology

Series Editors
Carlo Ruzza, School of International Studies, University of Trento,
Trento, Italy
Hans-Jörg Trenz, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola
Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy
Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology addresses contemporary
themes in the field of Political Sociology. Over recent years, attention has
turned increasingly to processes of Europeanization and globalization and
the social and political spaces that are opened by them. These processes
comprise both institutional-constitutional change and new dynamics of
social transnationalism. Europeanization and globalization are also about
changing power relations as they affect people’s lives, social networks and
forms of mobility.
The Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology series addresses
linkages between regulation, institution building and the full range of
societal repercussions at local, regional, national, European and global
level, and will sharpen understanding of changing patterns of attitudes
and behaviours of individuals and groups, the political use of new rights
and opportunities by citizens, new conflict lines and coalitions, societal
interactions and networking, and shifting loyalties and solidarity within
and across the European space.
We welcome proposals from across the spectrum of Political Sociology
and Political Science, on dimensions of citizenship; political attitudes and
values; political communication and public spheres; states, communities,
governance structure and political institutions; forms of political participa-
tion; populism and the radical right; and democracy and democratization.
 Alvaro Oleart

Democracy Without
Politics in EU Citizen
Participation
From European Demoi to Decolonial Multitude
Alvaro Oleart
Department of Political Science
and Institute for European studies
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Brussels, Belgium

Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology

ISBN 978-3-031-38582-7 ISBN 978-3-031-38583-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38583-4

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2023

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
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names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for
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The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and informa-
tion in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither
the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with
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The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Acknowledgements

The collective intelligence that emerged through the conversations with a

multitude of friends and colleagues is what has made this book possible. I
am grateful to everyone who I have crossed paths throughout this journey
in Bremen, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Ghent, Madrid, Florence, Brussels,
Paris, Strasbourg, Porto, Toulouse, Vienna, Prague or online. The process
of writing this book and the institutional and activist spaces in which I
am embedded have transformed my own subjectivity and positionality.
While academic work can be an individual process, this book has been an
enriching collective endeavour. The Conference on the Future of Europe
and the new mechanisms of citizen participation in the EU may not signif-
icantly shape the future of European integration, but writing this book has
certainly shaped my life.
Words cannot do real justice to express my profound gratitude to so
many people that have contributed to this adventure. This journey has
shaped my own thinking and trajectory in making sense of European
studies, and I am indebted to the many activists, friends and colleagues
with whom I have shared time, stories and ideas. Many central ideas
developed in this book are inspired by these discussions. In particular,
the insightful exchanges and the political inspiration that emerged within
Citizens Take Over Europe, European Alternatives and the EUROGLOT
networks have been fundamental. It has been a learning (and unlearning)
process of gaining further understanding of my own positionality, and
pushing me to connect closer together my work as an academic with that

v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

of an activist. As the popular feminist saying goes, ‘the personal is polit-

ical’. The book’s publication is not the end of this process, but part of a
broader collective reflection that hopefully contributes to building a more
decolonial, democratic, equal and feminist society. This entails knowl-
edge production processes that are sensitive to the material and epistemic
inequalities. Only by engaging closely with activists and movements we
will be able to (un)learn ‘Europe’ (and the world) through a decolo-
nial lens, and advance a transformational democratic project that has the
potential to bring about positive change in society.
I am lucky to have grown as an academic alongside Luis Bouza and
Ben Crum. They have encouraged me to pursue my own intellectual
curiosity, and challenge certain aspects of mainstream European studies
literature in both conceptual, empirical and normative ways. Luis and
Ben have critically engaged with my work, and their careful reading and
constructive feedback have heavily contributed to the improvement of the
book, as well as their personal encouragement and kindness. Similarly,
I thank François Foret for his unwavering support and enthusiastically
welcoming me back to the ULB, where my professional academic career
started. Thanks also to Ambra Finotello, Carlo Ruzza and Hans-Jörg
Trenz for their repeated critical advice and backing from the beginning
of the book project within the Palgrave Studies in European Polit-
ical Sociology series. The personal support and book endorsement by
Vivien Schmidt, Niccolò Milanese and Jan Orbie also mean a lot to
me, as their work has inspired much of my own and heavily contributed
to constructing ideational tools to critically and constructively scrutinise
European politics.
Democracy and decolonisation are collective endeavours that require
strong international solidarity networks. The support and joy brought
about by many friends and colleagues with whom I have shared the partic-
ipant observation and writing process have also inspired the book, and
their feedback has dramatically improved its substance. Many thanks to
Maarten de Groot, Perle Petit and Nicolás Palomo Hernández. I am
also thankful to Juan Domingo Sánchez Estop and Virginia Rodríguez,
who pushed me to be bold enough to engage more closely with political
philosophy, and whose intellectual and emotional support was funda-
mental to kick-start this book. I am also grateful to Astrid Van Weyen-
berg, Niels Gheyle, Tom Theuns and Jorge Tuñón, as our joint work has
been a source of inspiration. In fact, the notion of ‘democracy without
politics’ was first developed in an article with Tom.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii

Many friends and colleagues have also given their time and energy
to comment and discuss specific chapters, and the book has certainly
improved thanks to them. Thanks to Antonio Salvador M. Alcazar III,
Jan Pieter Beetz, Martin Deleixhe, Antoine Gaboriau, Elena García
Guitián, Taru Haapala, Rasmus Mäemees, Szilvia Nagy, Juan Roch
and Noah Schmitt. Furthermore, the many encounters throughout
the CoFoE have influenced my thinking on it. Thanks to Aliénor
Ballangé, Carsten Berg, Paul Blokker, Alessandra Cardaci, Andrey
Demidov, Kalypso Nicolaidis, Constantin Schäfer and Daniela Vancic,
among many others. I would also like to thank everyone who accepted to
be interviewed, including civil society and trade union members, activists,
citizen panel participants and organisers, elected representatives, EU offi-
cials and journalists, whose input has been precious. This book has not
only improved thanks to all these interactions, but in fact has ended
up being something substantially different. The shortcomings of the
book are my own responsibility.
Institutionally, I’d like to thank Maastricht University’s Studio Europa
Maastricht for supporting me throughout the first year of writing this
book, and was central to my institutional involvement in the Confer-
ence on the Future of Europe. I am also grateful for the support of the
Belgian French-speaking National Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-
FNRS), and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (especially my colleagues
at the Cevipol and the Institute for European Studies) for welcoming me
again as a postdoctoral researcher in 2022.
Last, and most importantly, I am grateful to my family and friends for
putting up with me during this time, filled with many joyful moments,
but also a challenging personal journey. Thanks to Mom, Dad, Nad’ka,
Ilie, Boris, Fran, Dani and Hasan.
 Contents

1 Passive Revolutions and the Future of the EU:

Democratic Theorising and the ‘Decolonial Multitude’ 1
1 Introduction 1
2 Gramsci’s Passive Revolution: From the Italian
Risorgimento to Sortition-Based ‘Descriptive
Representation’ in the EU 3
3 A Politically Engaged Conceptual, Normative
and Empirical Perspective: Democratic Theorising
and the ‘Decolonial Multitude’ 10
4 Challenging the “coloniality of power” in mainstream
conceptions of ‘citizen participation’: decolonising
the ‘we’ in democracy 16
5 Summary of the Book Through the Articulation
of the Different Chapters 19
Bibliography 22
2 From European Demoi to the Decolonial Multitude:
Democratising the EU’s Political Imaginary 25
1 EU Democracy, Decolonisation and the Agonistic Public
Sphere 25
1.1 Democratic Legitimacy in the EU: The Opportunity
of Politicisation to Bring Agonism 28
2 Multitude Over Peoplehood: The Tension Between
Sovereignty and Democracy 30

ix
x CONTENTS

2.1 The ‘Decolonial Multitude’ as the ‘We’ of Democracy 33

2.2 Decolonial Multitude vs Sovereignty:
A Non-Contractualist Conception of EU Democracy 38
2.3 The ‘Decolonial Multitude’ in the EU:
Democratising Traditional Notions
of ‘Representation’ Through Mediation 44
2.4 Articulating the Decolonial Multitude
in Opposition to Existing Material Structures
and Coloniality 48
3 Why the Decolonial Multitude Now? New
Intergovernmentalism and Populism in the EU 52
3.1 Democracy, Sovereignty and ‘the People’
in the EU: The Revolution from Above of New
Intergovernmentalism 53
3.2 The Decolonial Multitude as a Transnational
and Pluralist Alternative to Populism 56
4 Conclusion: Stimulating Agonistic EU Politicisation
Through a Decolonial Multitude Perspective 59
Bibliography 61
3 The Genealogy of the ‘Citizen Turn’ in the EU: The
European Citizen Consultations, the Citizen Dialogues
and the Antipolitical Imaginary 69
1 From the ‘Participatory’ to the ‘Citizen Turn’
in the European Union 69
2 The Relationship Between Deliberative and Agonistic
Democracy: The Antipolitical Imaginary vs Mediation 73
3 From the EP agoras, Citizen Dialogues and the European
Citizen Consultations (2008–2018) to the Conference
on the Future of Europe (2019–2022) 75
4 ‘Citizenism’ as an Alternative to an Agonistic European
Public Sphere in the EU’s ‘Citizen Turn’ 79
4.1 The Missing Micro–macro Link: EU ‘Citizen
Participation’ as ‘Democracy Without Politics’ 79
4.2 Disintermediation as Another Form of (Private)
Mediation: The Social Construction of ‘Everyday
People’ and the Commodification of Democracy 82
5 Conclusion: The ‘Citizen Turn’ Reinforces the Preexistent
Depoliticised EU Political Dynamics 85
Bibliography 88
 CONTENTS xi

4 Democracy Without Politics in the Conference

on the Future of Europe: The Political Architecture,
Process and Recommendations 93
1 Introduction: An Interpretivist Approach to the CoFoE 93
2 The Conference on the Future of Europe: A Response
to a Legitimacy Gap 95
3 The Political Architecture of the Conference 97
3.1 The Multilingual Digital Platform 98
3.2 Decentralised Events and the European
and National Citizens’ Panels 101
3.3 The CoFoE Plenary and the Working Groups 103
4 Democracy Without Politics in the CoFoE: The Missing
Connection with Mediators and the Public Sphere 106
4.1 Civil Society and Trade Unions 106
4.2 National Parliaments and the Media 111
5 The CoFoE Proposals: A Consensual and Catch-All Wish
List 113
6 Conclusion: The Reproduction of Democracy Without
Politics in the CoFoE 117
Bibliography 118
5 Individualised Technodeliberation in the CoFoE
European Citizens’ Panels: The Presence of the Absence
of the European Demoi 121
1 Introduction: The European Citizens’ Panels in the CoFoE 121
2 Organisation of the European Citizens’ Panels 123
2.1 The Mediators of Disintermediation and Its
Relation to the CoFoE Secretariat 123
2.2 Who is Taking Part in the European Citizens’
Panels? The Individualistic and Antipolitical
Imaginary of ‘Everyday Citizens’ 125
3 The Functioning of the European Citizens’ Panels 127
3.1 Agenda, Framing of the Panels and Information
Background 127
3.2 Mechanics of the Panels 131
3.3 The Role of Facilitators (and Note-Takers):
Technical and Political Challenges 139
3.4 The ‘Neutral’ Role of (Academic) Experts
and Fact-Checkers 142
xii CONTENTS

3.5 ‘Polluting’ the Citizen Deliberations? The CoFoE

Secretariat’s Forceful Control Over ‘Undue
Influence’ 149
3.6 Recommendations and (Non)deliberative Voting:
A Wish List Exercise 152
4 ‘Citizen Ambassadors’ in the Plenary 154
5 A Normative Critique of the European Citizen
Panels: Isolated and Atomised Aggregation
and an Individualised European Demoi 158
6 The Antipolitical Construction of the European Demoi
in the European Citizens’ Panels 160
Bibliography 161
6 The Institutional ‘Success’ of the CoFoE via the ‘New
Generation’ Citizen Panels: The European Commission
Leads the Public-Private ‘Citizen Turn’ 163
1 ‘Citizen Participation’ after the CoFoE 163
2 ‘Lessons Learnt’ and Follow-Up of EU Institutions
to the CoFoE 164
3 The Public-Private Institutionalisation of ‘Citizen
Participation’: Internal Advocacy to Embed Processes
across the European Commission 169
4 Inter-institutional Competition to ‘Own’ Citizen
Participation at the EU Level 172
4.1 The Clash Between Parliament and Commission
to Lead EU ‘Citizen Participation’ 172
4.2 The CoFoE Feedback Event and the Commission’s
‘Global Leadership’: Public Relations
over Contestation in the Public Sphere 175
5 The ‘New Generation’ of European Citizens’ Panels
Organised by the European Commission 178
5.1 The Corporate Framing of ‘Food Waste’
and ‘Virtual Worlds’ 182
5.2 The Lack of a Public Sphere Perspective
and the (Neo)liberal Ideology Embedded
in European Citizens’ Panels 189
6 The Post-CoFoE Logic of ‘Citizen Participation’:
Turning ‘Everyday Citizens’ into EU ‘Technocrats’
Within the Process, and ‘Ambassadors’ Outside of It 193
 CONTENTS xiii

7 Conclusion: The Depoliticised ‘Citizen Participation’

Led by the European Commission and Its Underlying
Ideology 199
Bibliography 200
7 “The Lost Art of Organising Solidarity”: Articulating
the Decolonial Multitude in the EU (and Beyond) 205
1 A Politically Engaged Perspective: Theorising
with and as Activists 205
2 The Decolonial Multitude Imaginary in Ongoing
Transnational Struggles: Infrastructures of Dissent
to Build a ‘Movement of Movements’ 209
2.1 The Construction of Transnational Political Action
by European Alternatives 212
3 “The Lost Art of Organising Solidarity”: Embracing
the Differences but Also the Shared Purposes 215
3.1 The 2022 TransEuropa Festival: Decolonize!
Decarbonize! Democratize! 215
3.2 The Transnational Workers’ Organizing Summit
in Bremen 217
3.3 The Decolonial Multitude and the Case
Against Class Reductionism: The Long Road
to Decolonisation Within Social Movements 220
4 The Challenges to Articulate the Decolonial Multitude
in the EU 224
4.1 Beyond the Social Forum and Project-based
Cooperation: Building Transnational, Decolonial,
Feminist and Democratic Movement Structures 227
5 Conclusion 230
Bibliography 232
8 The Contrast Between the EU’s Technocratic
Conception of ‘Citizen Participation’
and the Democratic Pluralism of the Decolonial
Multitude 235
1 The European Citizens’ Panels and the ‘Passive
Revolution’: The EU’s Technocratic ‘Citizen Turn’ 235
2 Fostering the Intersectional Power of the Multitude:
Reframing the Democracy Debate from a Decolonial
Perspective 242
xiv CONTENTS

3 The Political Implications of the Decolonial Multitude:

The EU as a Political Playing Field 245
3.1 Changing the Organisational Rules of the Game
in the EU: Filling the Void with (Transnational)
Mass Organisations 248
3.2 Embedding Democratic and Deliberative
Innovations to Foster Mass Politics
and a Transnational Agonistic Public
Sphere 251
4 Contribution to the Literature, Shortcomings of the Book
and Avenues for Future Political Action and Research 256
5 The Democratisation and Decolonisation of Academia:
Shifting the Ideological Borders of European Studies 259
Bibliography 261

Index 265
 List of Figures

Chapter 5
Fig. 1 Breakdown of Session 2 of the ECPs (Source CoFoE [2022:
16]) 133
Fig. 2 Breakdown of Session 3 of the ECPs (Source CoFoE [2022:
17]) 134

xv
 List of Tables

Chapter 4
Table 1 Members of the CoFoE plenary by institution 104
Table 2 List of the seven CoFoE plenary sessions and the dates
in which they took place 105
Table 3 Selected final proposals from the CoFoE 114

Chapter 5
Table 1 Dates of the three sessions of the four ECPs of the CoFoE 122
Table 2 Agenda of Session 1 of Panel 2 132
Table 3 Background of the experts during the first session
of the four CoFoE European citizen panels 143
Table 4 Background of the experts during the second session
of the four CoFoE European citizen panels 144
Table 5 Background of the experts during the third session
of the four CoFoE European citizen panels 144

Chapter 6
Table 1 Dates of the three sessions of the three ‘new generation’
of European Citizens’ panels 178

xvii
 CHAPTER 1

Passive Revolutions and the Future

of the EU: Democratic Theorising
and the ‘Decolonial Multitude’

1 Introduction
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce, Marx argued in
‘The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte’. When Garibaldi’s ‘Red-
shirts’ were threatening the Italian peninsula states’ aristocracy in Italy’s
post-1848 revolutionary scenario, there was a politically skilled move by
the dominant aristocratic groups to unify Italy politically through a coali-
tion between Garibaldi and the then King of Sardinia, and later first king
of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II. The outcome of such an arrangement
was the foundation of the Italian Kingdom in 1861. This is well repre-
sented in the Italian town of Fiesole, in the outskirts of Florence,1 where
a statue commemorates the encounter between Garibaldi and Vittorio
Emmanuelle II on 26 October 1860 in Teano (Campania, Southern
Italy), shortly before the latter became officially King of Italy in March
1861. After such meeting, the leader of the ‘Redshirts’ supported Vittorio
Emanuele II as king of a unified Italy that would extend from the Alps

1 Florence also partially defines the conceptual and historical perspective upon which
this book departs from. Intellectually, much of the book departs from Florentine Niccolò
Machiavelli, who put forward the concept of the ‘multitude’. Furthermore, the European
University Institute’s Badia Fiesolana hosted one of the key events of the Conference on
the Future of Europe, the final session of the European citizen panel on EU Democracy.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2023
A. Oleart, Democracy Without Politics in EU Citizen Participation,
Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38583-4_1
2 A. OLEART

all the way down to Sicily, providing the new Italian kingdom with
its symbolic revolutionary capital and popular legitimacy. Giuseppe di
Lampedusa best conceptualised this process in his novel ‘Il Gattopardo’.
Focused on the Italian aristocracy, Lampedusa describes how Prince of
Salina’s nephew, Tancredi Falconieri, warned his uncle that “if we want
things to stay as they are, everything has to change”. After Garibaldi’s
military and popular success, the support given to the new Italian
kingdom only reinforced the existing power structures (in which the
Italian aristocracy remained untouched), but added a layer of democratic
legitimacy. A passive revolution was underway.
How is the Italian unification process related to the recent ‘citizen
participation’ processes organised by the European Union? In short,
while there is an increasingly dominant discourse around ‘citizen partic-
ipation’ accompanied by ‘innovative’ political practices, this process is
not matched with an actual democratisation. In consequence, there is
a risk that new forms of sortition-based representation ultimately might
operate as a passive revolution. This dynamic is best illustrated by the
inclusion of a ‘descriptive representation’ of the ‘European people(s)’
in the CoFoE (and beyond) that cuts the traditional intermediation of
civil society actors by establishing a more ‘direct’, ‘pure’ and ‘unfiltered’
relation with EU citizens through the European citizen panels. In this
legitimation process, the already dominant (depoliticised) dynamics of the
EU have been reinforced, yet with a shifting claim for a citizens-centred
legitimacy.
The book advances a critical analysis of the ongoing ‘citizen partici-
pation’ innovations in the EU, and strives to open up ideational avenues
for the democratisation of the EU. Additionally, the book provides an
agonistic alternative to ‘the people’ as the ‘we’ of democracy in the EU,
which is based on the idea of the ‘decolonial multitude’, an account that
detaches ‘sovereignty’ from democracy in the EU. This dual message
is precisely what the cover image of the book illustrates: a European
Union flag with a lock. The Conference on the Future of Europe was
designed and implemented in a way that primarily reproduced the already
hegemonic dynamics conceived as ‘democracy without politics’ through
‘innovative citizen participation’ processes. In doing so, it largely made
invisible the postcolonial material and ideological structures upon which
the EU is built and sidelined activist organisations, while appearing to
‘open up’ to ‘everyday citizens’. This type of sortition-based processes,
 1 PASSIVE REVOLUTIONS AND THE FUTURE OF THE EU … 3

conceived recently by Landemore (2020) as a new “paradigm of democ-

racy”, reflects more continuity than change in its understanding of
democracy and representation in the EU context. In this way, the book
argues that the EU is ‘locking in’ the status quo by creating new mech-
anisms that fail to meaningfully accommodate agonistic conflict and a
decolonial multitude perspective. At the same time, the book puts forward
conceptual tools to imagine how to open the lock and democratise the
EU from a transnational democracy and decolonial perspective.
More concretely, the book addresses two research questions. First, how
does the dominant understanding(s) of the demo(i)cratic subject in the EU,
and of democracy more broadly, shape the EU’s democratic innovations on
‘citizen participation’? Second, what are the politically and normatively
preferable alternatives, both in terms of the conceptualisation of the demo-
cratic subject in the EU and in the ensuing political practices? These two
research questions will allow to both develop a theory-driven alternative
to the traditional understanding of demo(i)cracy in the EU context based
on the idea of the ‘decolonial multitude’, as well as an empirical applica-
tion of the way in which the different understandings of EU democracy
are reflected in concrete political practices. Thus, the book puts forward
a diagnosis of current debates on EU democratic legitimacy as well as
proposing an alternative.

2 Gramsci’s Passive Revolution: From

the Italian Risorgimento to Sortition-Based
‘Descriptive Representation’ in the EU
Bringing a parallel between the post-1848 revolutionary moment in
Europe with the post-2008 context, the book’s argument builds on
Antonio Gramsci’s interpretation of the Italian Risorgimento and unifi-
cation during the second half of the nineteenth century, which he
interpreted as a ‘passive revolution’. This term is originally coined by
the Neapolitan conservative thinker Vincenzo Cuoco in his 1799 Saggio
storico sulla Rivoluzione di Napoli. Resignified and given a negative
meaning by Gramsci, a passive revolution is a top-down process by which
a political system appears to change by shifting its democratic legitimacy
claims, while maintaining intact its existing power structures. In doing so,
the passive revolution only reinforces and preserves the preexistent power
dynamics, yet with a renewed sense of democratic legitimacy. This is best
4 A. OLEART

represented by Gramsci when describing the Italian unification during the

early 1860s, in which an elite-driven ‘revolution without a revolution’
took place to form the Italian kingdom, bringing together the different
kingdoms within the Italian peninsula but without questioning the deeper
power structures of the Italian peninsula aristocracies.
While Gramsci uses the term “passive revolution” in a variety of
contexts with slightly different meanings, the primary usage is to contrast
the passive transformation of bourgeois society in nineteenth-century
Italy with the active revolutionary process of the bourgeoisie in France
post-1789. Whereas the French case is seen by Gramsci as an authentic
revolution guided by diverse social forces, the Italian case was a ‘non-
change’, insofar it meant elites disrupted the institutions only to enable
an alternative social arrangement that preserved their own position in it.
Thus, while there are multiple interpretations of the meaning of a ‘passive
revolution’, the book conceives it as a way “to capture how a revolu-
tionary form of political transformation is pressed into a conservative
project of restoration while lacking a radical national–popular ‘Jacobin’
moment” (Morton, 2010: 317). More concretely, a passive revolution is
a transformation of the political and institutional structures that preserves
the preexisting power relations, yet with a renewed sense of popular legiti-
macy.2 This process requires the social skill of elite actors to manoeuvre in
such a way that there is an appearance of change, given that the legitimacy
of the new structure largely depends on it. Facing winds of change, polit-
ical elites have agency to shape the way in which such change takes place.
As described by Gramsci, a ‘passive revolution’ is a moderate transforma-
tion of the political system in order to maintain the structural foundations
of such system. In Gramsci’s own words:

Indeed one might say that the entire State life of Italy from 1848 onwards
has been characterised by transformism—in other words by the formation
of an ever more extensive ruling class, within the framework established by
the Moderates after 1848 and the collapse of the neo-Guelph and federalist
utopias.3 The formation of this class involved the gradual but continuous

2 Italian fascism was also interpreted by Gramsci as a ‘passive revolution’, in the sense
that there was an ‘appearance of change’, yet the fundamental power structures that
organised society remained in place. However, the use of this concept in this book is
specifically targeted to the Italian Risorgimento historical context.
3 Neo-Guelphism was an Italian catholic movement during the nineteenth century that
aimed at uniting Italy under the leadership of the Papacy. The Italian federalists were
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 LOS ATAUIOS DE LOS
CAPITANES D'ARMAS,
SOLO DE LAS ARMAS
Los adereços de los capitanes
solamente contaremos los de los
cauallos de armas e los de sus
personas para las armas, de los
quales el primero que aqui se
cuenta es el duque de Termens,
el qual entre otros cauallos
muchos que lleuaua vimos quatro
atauiados señaladamente, los dos
con dos pares de sobreuardas de
brocado e sus sayones de lo
mismo, otro con vnas
sobreuardas de terciopelo
carmesi e sayon con faxas de
raso carmesi, el principal con
vnas sobreuardas de terciopelo
morado y el sayon de lo mismo,
con vnos troncos bordados de oro
de martillo muy releuados con
vnos fuegos que salian por los
concauos dellos, de manera que
los troncos e las flamas henchian
el campo de los paramentos e del
sayon, con vnas cortapisas en lo
uno y en lo otro de letras grandes
del mismo oro bordadas en que
blasonaua la fantesia de la
inuencion.
El señor Prospero Colona hizo
seys atavios aunque entonces no
partio. El vno era de carmesi
vellutado, los dos eran el vno de
brocado rico, el otro de brocado
raso; los tres eran bordados, vno
de terciopelo negro con vnos
toros de oro en cada pieça o en
cada quarto del sayo muy
releuados; estaua el toro puesto
sobre vn fuego de troncos del
mismo oro de manera que se
henchia todo el campo. Era el toro
que dizen de Nero. En las
cortapisas hauia bordada vna
letra de letras de oro que dezia:
Non es questo simil al nuestro.
El otro atauio de raso azul con
vnos soles en cada canton de las
pieças en lo alto y en lo baxo,
vnos espejos en que dauan los
rayos del sol de do salian flamas
que sembrauan los campos de las
pieças. En las cortapisas estauan
como en lo otro, las letras de la
inuencion. El otro atauio e mas
rico, era de raso carmesi con vna
viña bordada por todas las pieças,
con sus sarmientos e hojas e
razimos maduros e por madurar,
hecho todo de oro tirado e plata e
matizes de seda de relieue, de
manera que la obra allende de ser
muy galana era muy rica.
El señor Fabricio lleuó cinco
cauallos de su persona; los dos
con atauios de sedas de colores,
el vno con vnas sobreuardas de
sayo carmesi e brocado hecho a
quartos, otro de brocado raso,
otro de brocado rico.
El marques de la Padula no hizo
alli ningun atauio por el luto que
lleuaua de su cuñada, pero lleuó
oro de martillo texido escacado
para vn sayo e sobre cubiertas e
brocados para otros atauios; su
hijo don Juan no lleuó otra cosa
sino paño negro por el luto de su
muger.
El conde de Populo lleuó sus
cauallos atauiados de brocados e
sedas, pero su persona no
llevaua mas que vna jornea a la
usanza antigua; mas lleuó su
sobrino don Antonio Cantelmo
que yua por su lugar teniente, tres
cauallos con tres atauios, uno de
brocado, otro de raso azul e
brocado a puntas, otro de raso
azul chapado de vnas matas de
siempre viuas muy releuadas.
El conde de Potencia lleuó dos
cauallos con sobre cubiertas e
sayones de sedas de colores e vn
otro atauio de brocado, y el
principal de raso azul con vnas
estrellas, en cada campo vna, que
los rayos della henchian toda la
pieça, eran de oro texido
bordadas muy releuadas, en las
cortapisas yua bordada la letra de
la inuencion.
El prior de Mesina hizo quatro
atauios para quatro cauallos; el
vno era de brocadelo e de
brocado rico a mitades; otro de
raso pardillo e terciopelo leonado
a puntas; otro de terciopelo
leonado e raso encarnado a
centellas con vnas tiras de tafetan
blanco sueltas por encima las
costuras como vnas lazadas de lo
mismo que las atauan a las juntas
de los centelles. El principal
atauio era de raso carmesi e
brocado rico de pelo hecho a
ondas a puntas. Hauia por medio
de la tira del raso vnos fresos de
oro que hazian la misma onda a
puntas, e de la vna parte e de la
otra dos tiras de margaritas de
perlas. Estauan juntado el
brocado e el raso con pestañas
blancas.
Antonio de Leyua lleuó quatro
cauallos de su persona,
atauiados, vno de raso naranjado
e raso blanco á puntas; otro con
vnas sobrecaidas e sazon de
brocado e damasco blanco hecho
a escaques, assentadas vnas
tiras angostas en torno del
escaque del brocado en el de la
seda, e de la seda en el brocado
e dos cees encanadas de lo vno
en lo otro, bordado todo de
cordon de oro. El principal cauallo
con vnas sobre cubiertas de
brocado blanco e terciopelo
carmesi hecho assimesmo a
escaques, e dos barras
travessadas en cada escaque de
lo vno en lo otro sentadas sobre
raso blanco, e en las barras de
brocado hauia en cada vna tres
candeleros de plata estampados y
en las de carmesi otros tres
dorados.
Don Jeronimo Lloriz lleuó quatro
cauallos de su persona; vno con
vnas cubiertas de azero, otro con
sobre cubiertas e sayo de azeituni
negro e de brocado hecho a
puntas. Otro con sobre cubiertas
e sayo de raso blanco e terciopelo
carmesi hecho a centelles con
vnas tiras de brocado de otro
tirado, assentadas encima las
costuras como vna reja, e vnos
lazos dentro en cada centelle del
mismo brocado, bordado todo de
cordon de oro. El otro cauallo
lleuó con vnas cubiertas de
carmesi raso de la manera de las
ricas del visrey.
Aluarado lleuó tres cauallos de su
persona; el vno con vnas sobre
cubiertas de terciopelo negro con
vnas tiras de raso amarillo; el otro
con vnas sobre cubiertas e sayo
de terciopelo morado e raso
amarillo a meatades, cubierto de
escaques de tres en tres tiras de
la vna seda en la otra, sentadas
sobre raso blanco. El otro con
vnas sobre cubiertas e sayo la
mitad de brocado rico e raso
carmesi, la mitad de brocado raso
e terciopelo carmesi, hecho todo
a escaques con vnas cruzes de
Jerusalen, de lo vno en lo otro,
bordadas de cordon de plata.
El capitan Pomar lleuó tres
cauallos de su persona; vno con
vnas sobre cubiertas e sayo de
raso carmesi con vnos entornos
de puntas de raso blanco; otro
con vnas sobre cubiertas e sayo
de raso blanco e terciopelo
carmesi e brocado hecho a
puntas de manera de vna venera;
el otro con vnas sobre cubiertas
de raso azul con vna reja de tiras
de brocado con vnas pieças de
plata estampadas, en cada
quadro eran vnas aes goticas.
Diego de Quiñones lleuó tres
cauallos de su persona; el vno
con vnas sobre cubiertas e sayo
de terciopelo negro e raso
amarillo hecho a puntas; otro de
terciopelo morado con vnas faxas
de brocado entorno; otro con vnas
sobre cubiertas e sayon de
brocado.
Carauajal lleuó cinco cauallos de
su persona adereçados los dos
de brocado con sus sayones, dos
de sedas de colores con sus
sayos, vno con vnas sobreuardas
e sayos de terciopelo carmesi
guarnecido de fresos de oro, con
vnas rosas de plata sembradas
por encima.
Los capitanes que nueuamente
con Carauajal yuan fueron bien
en orden; no los contamos porque
en nuestro tratado no estan
nombrados e no queremos turbar
los nombres para los que querran
sacar por los vnos nombres los
otros.
Rafael de Pacis se partió ante
deste porque se fue a viuir con el
papa e houo una conducta de
setenta lanças, pero lleuó tres
adereços fechos de Napoles para
su persona e tres cauallos. El vno
era vnas ricas cubiertas pintadas
con vn braço en cada pieça que
tenia vna palma en la mano, con
vn retulo reuuelto en ella con vna
letra que dezia:

La primera letra desta

tengo yo en las otras puesta.

Para este atauio lleuó vn sayo de

brocado negro; lleuó otro atauio
de brocado con vnas cruzes
coloradas de sant Jorge
sembradas por encima; otro
atauio lleuó de terciopelo negro
cubierto de lazos de brocado
sentados sobre raso blanco e
todos los vazios llenos de vnas
palmas pequeñas de plata a
manera de batientes.
El marques de Pescara lleuó
quatro cauallos con cuatro
adereços; los tres con
sobreuardas e sayos de brocado;
los dos de rico, el vno de raso. El
principal era de raso carmesi con
vnos fresos de oro entorneados,
vna mano vno de otro e de freso a
freso estaua cubierto el carmesi
de hilo de oro que cubria la seda,
saluo que de tres a tres dedos se
ataua el oro con vn cordoncico
pequeño fecha vna lazada e
quedaua entre vno e otro hecho
vn centelle de la seda y el oro
hecho dos medio centelles.
El conde Atorran Farramosca
entre otros atauios que lleuó, el
principal fue vnas sobreuardas e
vn sayon de raso carmesi con
vnas agudas de oro bordadas en
las pieças, de las quales salian
vnos fuegos que ocupauan todos
los vazíos. Era tan rico que se
cree que fuesse el atauio que
más avía costado vno por vno.
Su hermano Guidon Farramosca
lleuó el principal atauio de su
persona de brocado e terciopelo
carmesi hecho a triangulos, con
vnos triangulos del brocado en el
carmesi; del carmesi en el
brocado pequeños, con pestañas
de raso blanco.
Don Luys de Hiscar hizo dos
atauios de su persona; vno de
brocado de oro tirado,
sobreuardas e sayos, otras
sobreuardas e sayo de raso
amarillo e raso blanco a
meatades; el raso amarillo
cubierto de una red de plata con
vnos batientes de plata en los
nudos, y en lo vazio sobre el raso
vna cifra de plata estampada;
sobre el raso blanco la misma red
de oro con los batientes e pieças
doradas. Pero este murio ante de
la partida de Napoles.
Mossen Torel hauia hecho sin otro
atauio vnas sobreuardas e sayo
de terciopelo carmesi e raso
carmesi a meatades cubierto todo
de vnas tortugas de plata, saluo
que en las uardas eran grandes y
en el sayo pequeñas; pero este
tambien murio antes del partir e
llevólo su hijo.
El marques de Bitonto sin otros
atauios de brocado que lleuó hizo
vnas sobrecubiertas e vn sayo de
terciopelo negro con vnas
epigramas de oro bordadas por
él, muy ricas.
El prior de Roma hizo vn atauio
de brocado azul e terciopelo
carmesi hecho a triangulos con
pestañas de raso blanco, sobre
los triangulos de carmesi hauia
vnas pieças de oro estampadas
tan espessas que a penas se
descubria la seda.
Don Jeronimo Fenollet lleuó dos
atauios vno de terciopelo morado
e raso encarnado hecho a
centellas con tiras e lazadas de
tafetan blanco, como el del prior
de Mesina; lleuó otras uardas de
terciopelo negro con vna reja de
fresos de oro sobre tafetan
encarnado hecho a centelles; en
las juntas de los fresos hauia
vnas puntas de plata bien
releuadas e vn batiente en cada
punta; en los vazios del terciopelo
hauia vn centelle de plata
estampado tan grande que de
terciopelo se descubria tanto
como era el freso de ancho. Lleuó
con ellas vn sayo de raso blanco
e raso encarnado a meatades,
con vnos lazos de brocado por
medio de los girones e cortapisa
sentados sobre lo encarnado con
pestañas blancas, sobre lo blanco
con pestañas encarnadas Hauia
en los vazios de los lazos vnas
villetas de plata estampadas, en
lo blanco doradas, en lo
encarnado blancas, con muchos
batientes de la misma manera. El
cuerpo del sayo estaua forrado de
brocado muy rico acuchillado el
raso de encima e muy
guarnecido.
Mossen Coruaran fue por alferez
real; lleuó vn rico atauio bordado.
El duque de Grauina, el duque de
Trayeto, el marques de la Tela, el
marques Gaspar de Toralto, el
conde de Montelion destos no
especifica la escriptura
particularmente lo que lleuauan,
porque segun estos otros quien
quiera lo puede considerar e
porque sus atauios eran de
brocados e de sedas, sin manera
de deuisas ni inuenciones.
De Cicilia vinieron algunos
caualleros; aqui no se nombra
sino el conde de Golisano y el
lugar teniente de Cicilia que se
llamaua Don Juan de Veyntemilla.
Cualquier destos caualleros
napolitanos e cecilianos que no
tenian cargos, fueron tan
complidamente en orden, que
ninguno lleuó menos de veynte
gentiles hombres de cadenas de
oro de su nacion. De manera que
se estima que sin las mill e
dozientas lanças de ordenança e
capitanes, lleuó el visrey con los
cincuenta continos del rey y estos
señores e los italianos que con
ellos yuan e muchos otros
caualleros Españoles que viuian
con el rey, e otros que de nueuo
alli se llegaron delos otros
campos de Francia e venecianos
e del papa e de Ferrara,
trezientos caualleros de cadenas
de oro entre hombres de titulo e
varones e caualleros.
Agora hablaremos del dia qu'el
virrey partió; las damas que en
tres o quatro partes se juntaron,
porque por su nombre propio las
nombraremos, mas como
hauemos hecho los caualleros,
para quien quiera especular o
escaruar por los vnos nombres
los otros, pues que se podran
hallar vnos por el principio de los
nombres o titulos fengidos, otros
por las deuisas e colores; assi
que mire bien cada vno que no es
esto nada falso ni fengido.

LA PARTIDA DEL VISREY

El señor visrey partio de Napoles,
domingo a medio dia, ocho de
nouiembre, acompañado de todos
estos caualleros e otros muchos
principales e perlados e señores
que en la tierra quedaron, entre
los quales, fue el cardenal de
Sorrento, el arzobispo de
Napoles, el principe de Visiñano,
el príncipe de Melfa, el duque de
Ferrandino, el señor Prospero, el
duque de Bisella, el duque de
Atria, el conde de Soriano, el
conde de Matera, el conde de
Chariata, el conde de Trauento, el
almirante Villamarin, el marques
de Layno, el conde de Marco e
muchos otros caualleros. En
estos que aqui se nombran que
quedaron hay muchos de los que
en el tratado hallemos continuado
en las fiestas nombradas; los
quales son el marques de
Nochito, el duque de Bisella, el
duque de Ferrandina, el conde de
Marco, el conde de Sarno, el
conde de Trauento, el almirante,
el cardenal don Carlos de Aragon.
En las casas del principe de
Salerno estauan las señoras
reynas de Napoles con sus
damas, doña Juana Castriote, la
duquesa de Grauina, doña Maria
Enriquez, doña Maria Cantelmo,
doña Porfida, doña Angela
Villaragut, doña Juana Carroz,
doña Violante Celles, la señora
Diana Gambacorta, la señora
Maruxa, la marquesa de Layno, la
marquesa de Toralto e otras
muchas damas.
En Castel Novo estaua la
visreyna e su hermana, la
condesa de Capacho muger del
almirante, su hermana la muger
de don Alonso de Aragon, e otras
muchas señoras.
En casa del conde de Trauento
estaua la condessa e su hermana
la condessa de Terranoua e sus
hijas, la marquesa de Nochito, la
condessa de Soriano, la
condessa de Matera e otras
muchas señoras.
En casa de la señora duquesa de
Milan la señora su hija doña
Bona, la duquesa de Trayeto, la
señora Isabel, la señora doña
Maria de Aragon, la Griega e las
otras damas de la señora
duquesa e la condessa de Marco.
En casa de la marquessa de
Pescara estaua la marquesa, e la
marquesa del Guasto, la
marquesa de la Padula, la
condessa de Benafra, doña
Castellana muger de Antonio de
Leyua, la marquesa de Vitonto, la
duquesa de Franca Vila.
En casa de madame Andriana
estaua ella e su hija e doña Maria
Dalise e las hijas de Cario de
Fango.

LO QUE DESPUES DE PARTIDO

EL VISREY SE SIGUIO E LO
QUE FLAMIANO HABLÓ A
VASQUIRAN
DESPIDIENDOSE DEL.—
DONDE EL AUTOR TORNA A
USAR EL ESTILO PRIMERO
DE LOS NOMBRES
FENGIDOS.
Las otras damas que en aquel dia
houo no se nombran aunque
fueron muchas, mas no hazen al
proposito de nuestro tratado
porque en él no se han hallado.
Partido el visrey quedaron alli
algunos caualleros por algunos
negocios que les cumplian o
satisfazian, entre los quales
quedó Flamiano por poderse
despedir de Vasquiran más a su
plazer, él queriéndose partir
començo a hablar con Vasquiran
desta manera:
Agora, Vasquiran, conozco que mi
vida es poco o durará poco,
porque dos cosas que viua la
sostenian agora la acaben; la vna
era tener yo esperança de ver a
mi señora Belisena que della era
señora, la otra era tu compañia e
conuersacion que a los males
della ponia consuelo. Pues agora
el ausencia apartandome dos
bienes tan grandes no puede sino
encausarme dos mill males
mayores, por donde conozco en
mi que me acerco a la muerte,
apartandome de ti. Una cosa te
suplico, que no te enojes de
escriuirme, por que yo sé que
poco te durará tal fatiga. E si de
mi fuere lo que pienso que será,
ruegote que este amor tan grande
que agora nos sostiene e
conserua en tanto estremo de
bien querer, que de tus entrañas
no lo dexes amenguar ni venir a
menos, como muchas vezes
acontece, segun yo te lo he
escripto contradiciendote; mas
ante te suplico que en el pligo de
tus lastimas lo envueluas, para
que con aquellas, de mi te duelas
como dellas hazes. Esto te pido
no por darte a ti fatiga como dello
recibiras, mas por el consuelo que
mi alma recebira de ver la
memoria que de mi tienes, e
plega a nuestro Señor que en ti
dé tanto consuelo e alegria
quanto yo desseo e tú has
menester. No me cuentes esto a
pobreza de animo, porque
parecen palabras en algo
mugeriles, ante lo atribuye a lo
qu'es razon, porque lo mucho que
tu ausencia me lastima, la poca
esperança que de vida tengo me
lo haze dezir. Suplicote que en
tanto que aqui estaras no dexes
de visitar a mi señora Belisena,
porque sola esta esperança me
dara esfuerço para lo que me
quitará la vida, que será poder
caminar donde de su presencia
me alexase. No quiero más
enojarte con mis fatigas, pues que
siempre desseé complazerte con
mis seruicios, sino que me
encomiendo a ti, e te encomiendo
a Dios.

RESPUESTA DE VASQUIRAN A
FLAMIANO
Todo el bien que la muerte me
pudo quitar me quitó; todo el
consuelo e descanso que la
fortuna me podia apartar para mis
trabajos, me apartó en tu partida,
y esta lastima te deue bastar,
Flamiano, viendo con tu ausencia
quál me dexas, sin que con tal
pronostico más triste me dexes
como hazes. No son tus virtudes,
siendo tantas, para que tus dias
sean tan breues, porque muy
fuera andaria la razon e la justicia
de sus quicios si tal consintiesse.
Tu viuiras e plega a Dios que tan
contento e alegre como yo agora
triste e descontento viuo. Lo que
a mi memoria encomiendas, por
dos cosas es escusado; la una
por lo que he dicho, la otra porque
si otro fuesse lo que no será,
quien a tus dias daria fin a los
mios daria cabo, por muchas
razones que escusar no lo
podrian; mas en esto no se hable
más porque parece feo. Mandas
me que a la señora Belisena
visite; tambien es escusado
mandarmelo, porque quando tu
amistad no me obligara a hazerlo,
su merecimiento me forçara. Lo
que me pides que te escriua, te
suplico que hagas como es razon.
Yo me partire lo mas presto que
pudiere para Felernisa, negociado
que alli haya algunas cosas que
me conuienen, trabajaré de ser
muy presto contigo si algun graue
impedimento no me lo estorua, lo
que Dios no quiera. Entre tanto
viue alegre como es razon, pues
que vas en tal camino que por
muchas causas a ello te obliga.
La una yr en seruicio de la yglesia
como todos ys. La otra en el de tu
rey como todos deuen. La otra
por que vas a usar de aquello
para que Dios te hizo, qu'es el
habito militar donde los que tales
son como tú, ganan lo que tú
mereces e ganarás. La otra e
principal que lleuas en tu
pensamiento a la señora Belisena
e dexas tu coraçon en su poder,
qu'esto solo basta para fazerte
ganar quantas vitorias alcançar se
podrian. Una cosa temo, que la
gloria de verte su seruidor e las
fuerças que su seruicio te
ofreceran, no te pongan en mas
peligro de lo que haurias
menester. Yo te ruego que pues la
honrra es la prenda deste juego,
que dexes donde menester fuere
la voluntad e te gouiernes con la
discrecion. E assi te encomiendo
a Dios hasta que nos veamos e
siempre.

LA PARTIDA DE FLAMIANO
Acauados sus razonamientos
hablaron en otras muchas cosas
todo aquel dia, hasta la tarde que
Flamiano fue a besar las manos a
la señora duquesa e despedirse
della e de su señora con la vista.
A la qual embió estas coplas que
hizo por la partida, despues de
haberse despedido.

Poco es el mal que

m'aquexa
estando en vuestra presencia
en respecto del que ausencia
dentro en el alma me dexa
y en la vida,
porque siento en la partida
tanta pena e tal tormento
que no hallo a lo que siento
ya medida
ni me basta el suffrimiento.
E siendo mi pena tal,
no me quexo ni hay de quién
que quien nunca tuvo bien
no se ha de quexar de mal,
ni yo lo hago
porque con la pena pago
aunque me sea cruel
mi pensamiento, pues dél
me satisfago
con que no hay remedio en él.
Callo porque siempre crece
mi dolor que nunca mengua
pues ha callado mi lengua
lo que mi alma padece,
con tal pena,
mas agora me condena
este mal deste partir
para que os ose dezir:
aun no suena
que se acaba mi viuir.
Acabase porque veros
me mata con dessear
y el desseo con pesar
de verme no mereceros,
pues presente
de tal bien tan mal se siente
el triste que no os verá,
dezidme qué sentirá
siendo ausente,
claro esta que morirá.
Assi que, señora mia,
lo que siempre desseé
fue morir en vuestra fee
como agora se me guia,
si mi suerte
alcançasse con la muerte
tanto bien en pago della
qu'os pesasse a vos con ella,
menos fuerte
me seria padecella.
Mas nunca vos hareys tal
porque vuestro merecer
no lo consiente hazer
viendo que es pequeño mal
morir por ello,
assi que si me querello
será, señora, de mi,
porque nunca os mereci
e sin merecello
tantos males padeci.
E podeys ser cierta desto
qu'en veros supe juzgar
que no se podia pagar
tanto bien con menos qu'esto,
de manera,
que conocera quien quiera
pues que se muestra tan claro
que a muy poco mal me paro
aunque muera
e que no me cuesta caro.