Black Shirts

Black Shirts colloquial term originally used to refer to the members of the Fasci di combattimento, units of the Fascist organization founded in Italy in Mar., 1919, by Benito Mussolini . A black shirt was the most distinctive part of their uniform. The Black Shirts were mainly discontented ex-soldiers. Ultranationalist, they posed as champions of law and order and violently attacked Communists, socialists, and other radical and progressive groups. They broke up strikes, destroyed trade union headquarters, and drove socialist and Communist officials from office. In Oct., 1922, their activities culminated in the famous march on Rome, which brought Mussolini to power. Afterward, while the term "Black Shirts" continued to be used to refer to party militants in general, the name Fasci di combattimento designated the local party units.

Blackshirt The colloquial name given to the Squadre d'Azione (Action Squad), the national combat groups, founded in Italy in 1919. Organized along paramilitary lines, they wore black shirts and patrolled cities to fight socialism and communism by violent means. In 1921 they were incorporated into the Fascist Party (see FASCISM) as a national militia. The SS in Nazi Germany and the followers of Oswald MOSLEY's British Union of Fascists in the 1930s were also known as Blackshirts.