Of Holy Disobedience

The quotation which follows is from Ignazio Silone's novel, Bread and Wine, which was a moving exposition of life under Fascism in Italy. The conversation between a young woman and an anti-Fascist priest takes place in a small Italian town at the end of the invasion of Ethiopia by Italy. During the night, anti-war and anti-Fascist slogans had been written on walls and steps in the town. Bianchina told Don Paolo she couldn't understand why there was such a lot of fuss about a few inscriptions on the wall. Don Paolo was surprised, too. He tried to explain it. "The Land of Propaganda is built on unanimity," he said. "If one man says, 'No,' the spell is broken and public order is endangered. The rebel voice must be stifled." "Even if the voice is that of a poor, solitary sick man?" "Even then." "Even if it belongs to a peaceful man who thinks in his own way, but does nothing evil apart from that?" "Even then." These thoughts served to sadden the girl, but gave the man new heart. He felt ashamed of his previous discouragement. "In the Land of Propaganda," he said, "a man, any man, any little man who goes on thinking with his own head, imperils public order. Tons of printed paper repeat the government slogans; thousands of loud-speakers, hundreds of thousands of manifestoes and leaflets, legions of orators in the squares and at the crossroads, thousands of priests from the pulpit repeat these slogans ad nauseam, to the point of collective stupefaction. But it is enough for one little man to say 'No!' in his neighbor's ear, or write 'No!' on the wall at night, and public order is endangered."

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