The intellectual legacy of the Ventotene Manifesto

This is the third lesson of the macro topic, “Ventotene Manifesto,” in the first module of EUPress Teacher Training.

The objective of this lesson, led by Prof. Fabio Masini, is to discuss the intellectual legacy of the Manifesto.

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The Ventotene Manifesto (1941) wasn’t just a call for a federal Europe — it was a sharp critique of the nation state as a political form that had outlived its usefulness. In a period marked by totalitarianism and war, the manifesto’s authors argued that states had stopped serving their citizens and instead became instruments of corporatist power and conflict. The intellectual force of this document still echoes in debates about European integration.

The decline of the nation state’s positive role

Historically, the state helped forge national unity and serve the collective good. But by the 20th century, the authors argued, it had turned into a self-serving “divine entity,” oblivious to the damage caused to others. No longer a “guardian of civil liberty,” the state had become a “master of vassals,” increasingly bound to specific economic or political lobbies.

As Altiero Spinelli wrote, the modern state is now “the will of those who hold the power,” not that of its citizens. The state, supposedly created to serve the public, was instead enabling monopolistic and militaristic elites — whether industrial, agricultural, or bureaucratic.

Citizens turned into subjects

In the manifesto’s analysis, the people had lost their role as authors of collective purpose. Instead, they were reduced to mere instruments of the state. Spinelli denounced this shift as a descent into authoritarian structures where citizens were expected “to obey without discussion,” culminating in the rise of leaders vested with near-sacred authority.

This perspective was deeply influenced by the wartime context — a Europe dominated by fascist regimes, propaganda, and repression. Yet the authors saw these dangers not as historical accidents, but as structural consequences of political fragmentation and unchecked nationalism.

The solution: a federal system beyond the nation state

For Spinelli and his co-authors, the way out of this degeneration was clear: federalism. Inspired by the American model and European thinkers like Luigi Einaudi, the manifesto proposed a supranational federation as the only political structure capable of:

• Resolving conflicts between nations
• Containing corporatist capture of state power
• Restoring citizens’ sovereignty over collective decisions

This anti-intergovernmental stance helps explain Spinelli’s lifelong opposition to European cooperation built solely on agreements between national governments — which he saw as inevitably self-serving and insufficiently democratic.

A critique that still resonates

Today, as Europe grapples with democratic deficits, technocratic policymaking, and rising nationalism, the Ventotene Manifesto’s intellectual legacy remains strikingly relevant. Its critique of the nation state — and its insistence on constitutional transformation through federalism — still challenge the limits of European integration.