To the Heights: A Novel Based on the Life of Pier Giorgio Frassati by Brian Kennelly

Author:Brian Kennelly [Kennelly, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781618906342
Publisher: TAN Books
Published: 2014-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

19

Combating the Black Shirts

The final days of October, 1922 changed the fate of all Italians when the Fascists, led by Benito Mussolini, seized control of the government during their March on Rome. The reaction to this dramatic upheaval within their country varied among the people, from enthusiastic support, to indifference, to enraged defiance. There was one young man who considered himself a part of the latter, and his rising voice in the back of the train cart was becoming hard for the other passengers to ignore. Their heads turned and glanced at him.

“These Fascists will destroy what we all cherish about our country,” Pier Giorgio lamented to his friends. He didn’t realize the vigor with which he was speaking. “I will remember this day for the rest of my life. Mussolini and his cronies have marched upon Rome and seized control; do you not realize this, friends? Have you not heard the news?”

“Yes, Georgie,” his friend Antonio said, “how could we not know what has happened in Rome today, considering you spoke about it all throughout dinner? And now you continue to bore us with the topic on what would otherwise be a pleasant train ride to Santhia.”

Others in the train cart laughed. Pier Giorgio was frustrated by their disinterest in the topic.

“You must calm down,” another friend spoke up, “the Fascists will not be here for long. They’re merely a broom we can make use of to sweep the Communists away.”

“I must disagree,” Pier Giorgio quickly replied. “I don’t think each of you understands the gravity of what has happened with these ‘Black Shirts’ coming to power. Our country has had many issues since the end of the war—strikes and demonstrations, social injustice, even violence in the streets—but we must not cave in and give power to the first tyrant who comes along. Why will Mussolini be any better than the Communists who’ve caused so many problems for Italia in the last years?”

“You cannot deny that order seems to have been restored,” a girl named Gia turned from her seat and said. “Do you not give Mussolini credit for this?”

“The Fascists have used violent tactics to put down the Bolsheviks; therefore, he has restored order through the very means he was attempting to rid our streets of. And let us not forget that the Black Shirts’ aggression has been extended to many Catholic groups as well. I say again, none of you understand the sense of fear we should all have. Christianity, a religion of love, cannot come to terms with Fascism, a doctrine that exalts force and violence.”

For some time, in the presence of his friends, Pier Giorgio continued to illustrate his discontent over the developments that had come out of Rome. It seemed his future, of which he had looked towards with hope and wonder just days prior in the forests of Germany, would now be complicated by the ominous cloud of Fascism.

Living mostly in Germany over the last year, he had not seen firsthand the increased presence of Mussolini’s party throughout the streets of his homeland.

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