Ezio Maria Gray (born 9 October 1885 in Novara, Piedmont – died 8 February 1969 in Rome) was an Italian fascist politician and journalist. Gray was the architect of the Grand Design for a Mediterranean Confederation dominated by a Latin Alliance.[1] His geopolitical ideas influenced the development of Mussolini's expansionist strategies.
On his return to Italy he became a supporter of fascism and set up the Novara fascio in 1920.[2] Gray was elected to parliament for the fascists in 1921 and was appointed to the National Directorate in 1924.[2] The following year he was appointed to the Grand Council of Fascism and in 1927 he took over the editorship of the fascist journal Il Pensiero di Benito Mussolini.[4] Away from his party duties he was a leading figure in the Società Dante Alighieri, President of the Ente Autonomo della Stampa and a businessman with a reputation for shady dealings.[4]
Gray served in the army during the Second World War before returning to civilian life as a radio broadcaster. His broadcasts were especially noted for their anti-Semitic content.[5] His position grew towards the end of the Italian fascists period and on 23 July 1943 he was appointed vice-president of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations.[4] Gray continued to be an important figure in the Italian Social Republic and was appointed head of the Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche during the republic's brief existence.[6] Following the collapse of this regime he was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for his leading role in the fascist government.[4]
Post-war
Soon after being sent to prison however Gray was amnestied and in 1947 he launched his own journal, La Rivolta Ideale, which pressed a neo-fascist line.[4] He then edited Il Nazionale, the paper of the Italian Social Movement and became a leading figure on the hard-line tendency, supporting Giorgio Almirante in his struggles with the more moderate Arturo Michelini.[4] In the MSI he became noted for his support for seeking an accommodation with political Catholicism, seeing this as a way to rehabilitate fascism, and to this end held a number of surreptitious meeting with Azione Cattolica leader Dr. Luigi Gedda.[7] Gray returned to parliament, serving the MSI as a deputy from 1953 to 1958 and in the Senate from 1963 to 1968.[4]
^Quartermaine, Luisa (2000). Mussolini's Last Republic: Propaganda and Politics in the Italian Social Republic (R.S.I.) 1943-45. Intellect Books. p. 63.
^Webster, Richard A. (1960). The Cross and the Fasces: Christian Democracy and Fascism in Italy. Stanford University Press. p. 213.
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