Luigi Razza
Luigi Razza (1892–1935) was an Italian journalist and fascist politician who died in an aviation accident in Cairo while serving as the minister of public works. A member of the National Fascist Party, he held several significant posts during the Fascist rule in Italy.
Luigi Razza | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Public Works | |
| In office January 1935 – August 1935 | |
| Prime Minister | Benito Mussolini |
| Preceded by | Araldo di Crollalanza |
| Succeeded by | Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 12 December 1892 Monteleone di Calabria, Kingdom of Italy |
| Died | 7 August 1935 (aged 42) Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt |
| Political party | National Fascist Party |
| Parent(s) | Leone Razza (father) Carmela De Luca (mother) |
| Occupation | Journalist |
Early life and education edit
Razza was born in Monteleone di Calabria on 12 December 1892.[1] His parents were Leone and Carmela De Luca, and Razza the eldest of three brothers (Domenico and Giuseppe).[2] Razza obtained a high school diploma in 1912.[2] He later received a law degree in Milan.[1]
Career edit
Moving to Apulia in 1912, Razza joined the trade union organization of peasants first in Lecce and then in Corato, Monopoli, and Cerignola.[2] He founded some newspapers and directed them, such as Il Tribuno Salentino, Il Risorgimento, and La Ragione.[2] In April 1914, following a violent general strike, Razza fled to Milan where he clandestinely continued to work for the Unione Sindacale Italiana.[2] Razza was the editor of Il Popolo d'Italia between 1914 and 1919.[1] He was a member of the central committee and then secretary of the Italian fascist revolutionary action from 1914 to 1916.[2] On 23 March 1919, he was appointed secretary of the fascist group in Trentino.[2] He participated in the March on Rome in 1922.[1] Razza joined Edmondo Rossoni's fascist trade union organization and became its secretary.[3] In 1923, he was appointed secretary of the local Federation of Fascist Trade Unions in Milan, and at the same time he was appointed its deputy secretary general.[4] In 1924, he was elected a deputy from Tuscany.[2]
Rossoni appointed Razza secretary of the National Fascist Agricultural Union, a position he held until 1932.[5] He was then made a member of the Fascist Grand Council.[1] In 1930, Razza was named first commissioner of the newly established Commissariat for Migration and Internal Colonization which he held until 1933.[2] Next he was appointed minister of public works to the Mussolini Cabinet in January 1935, but his term was short lived due to his death in August that year.[1][2]
Death and funeral edit
Razza was sent by Benito Mussolini to East Africa for a mission on 7 August 1935.[2] His plane exploded after taking off from Cairo to Asmara, and he died in the incident with four crews, his secretary, Vincenzo Minasi, and Baron Raimondo Franchetti.[1][2] A funeral ceremony was held in Rome with the attendance of Mussolini on 19 August for seven victims of the accident.[6]
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g Perry Willson (2014). Peasant Women and Politics in Fascist Italy: The Massaie Rurali. London; New York: Routledge. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-136-49704-9.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Razza, Luigi". Treccani (in Italian). 2016.
- ^ Paul H. Lewis (2002). Latin Fascist Elites: The Mussolini, Franco, and Salazar Regimes. Westport, CT: Praeger. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-275-97880-8.
- ^ Matteo Pasetti Pinto (2017). "The Fascist Labor Charter and its Transnational Spread". In Antonio Costa Pinto (ed.). Corporatism and Fascism: The Corporatist Wave in Europe. London; New York: Routledge. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-315-38889-2.
- ^ Mabel Berezin (2006). "The Festival State: Celebration and Commemoration in Fascist Italy". Journal of Modern European History. 4 (1): 62. doi:10.17104/1611-8944_2006_1_60. S2CID 146947042.
- ^ "Italy Holds Funeral of Airplane Victims; Highest Officials Pay Homage to Seven Who Died in Egypt". The New York Times. 20 August 1935. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
External links edit
- Media related to Luigi Razza at Wikimedia Commons