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 Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt | (aged 42)
Political party | National Fascist Party |
Parent(s) | Leone Razza (father) Carmela De Luca (mother) |
Occupation | Journalist |
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.
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]
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]
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]