| Founder | José Antonio Primo de Rivera |
|---|---|
| Founded | 21 March 1935 (1935-03-21) |
| Ceased publication | 16 June 1979 |
| Political alignment | Falangism |
| Language | Spanish |
| Headquarters | Madrid,Spain |
Arriba (Spanish for "up") was a Spanishdaily newspaper published in Madrid between 1935 and 1979. It was the official organ of theFalange, and also of the regime during theFranco rule in the country.
Arriba was first published inMadrid 21 March 1935 byJosé Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange Española.[1] The paper soon became the official weekly newspaper of the SpanishFalange.[1] On 5 March 1936 it was suspended by the government of theSecond Spanish Republic. The suspension continued through theSpanish Civil War. After nearly three years of fighting, Madrid was captured by Nationalist troops underFrancisco Franco. The Falangists seized the facilities of the newspaperEl Sol and, beginning 29 March 1939, published a revivedArriba as the daily newspaper of theMovimiento Nacional. It soon became the official newspaper of theSpanish State under Franco.[1][2]
During theSpanish transition to democracy after Franco's death, the SpanishCouncil of Ministers ordered the closure ofArriba, on 15 June 1979. Its final issue was published the following day.[3]
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Franco believed in theinternational Judeo-Masonic-Communist conspiracy theory. He believed thatJews,Freemasons andCommunists were conspiring to destroyChristianity in general and Spain in particular. Franco's Antisemitism was not racialised, as was that of theNazis: it was more along the lines of historicCatholic anti-Judaism.[4]Arriba's Antisemitism, in line with Franco's own, was virulent, and was followed in some cases by incidents of anti-Jewish violence.
Sepu (Sociedad Española de Precios Únicos), Spain's firstdepartment store, was founded inBarcelona on 9 January 1934 bySwiss citizens of Jewish origin, Henry Reisembach and Edouard Wormsde, who also opened a second store inMadrid. In the 1930s they were the subject of a vigorous campaign on the part of the Falange.Arriba directly accused the company of exploiting its employees while taking advantage of links to political power:
These Jews of SEPU provide grounds to deal with them daily, by their relations with the employees they exploit. If their mere presence suffices to produce indignation, if the outrages committed by their staff suffice to rouse the most tranquil. We ask, does SEPU enjoycarte blanche? Who covers for SEPU? Does the director of [the Ministry of] Labor know the cases of SEPU?[5]
This campaign began with the first issue of the newspaper and was systematic.[6] It was contemporaneous with, and inspired by, the Nazi assaults on Jewish-owned businesses inGermany. In 1935, the Sepu department store in Madrid was assaulted by Falangist militants; the store's windows were broken on several occasions.[7] That same year,Arriba wrote:
The international Jewish-Masonic conspiracy is the creator of the great evils that have arrived for humanity: such arecapitalism andMarxism.[8]
Arriba carried a series of articles by Franco himself (compiled in 1952 under the titleMasonería, "(Free)Masonry"). The series began on 14 December 1946 and was signed with thepseudonymJakin Boor. The articles rant against Freemasonry, Communism, Jews, and (later in the series) the State ofIsrael. Israel had voted against admitting Spain into theUnited Nations and accused Franco's government of being complicit with and supportive of the formerNazi regime ofAdolf Hitler in Germany and the former Fascist regime ofBenito Mussolini inItaly. On 9 August 1949 Franco wrote an article inArriba entitled"Alta masonería" ("High Masonry"):
The recognition of Israel, its entry into the UN, the hypocritical and unjust conduct toward Spain, the enmity against Argentina, the systematic opposition in the government of the state, the great decisions about the national order, obey exclusively the dictates of (Free)Masonry.[9]
On 11 December 1949 he wrote:
To so extend (Free)Masonry through various nations faced with a people deeply entrenched in the society we live, who see an ideal field for machinations in the sect that comes dragging a secular complex of inferiority and of rancor from their dispersion: they are the Jews of the world, the army of speculators accustomed to break or skirt the law, which benefits the sect to be considered powerful. Judaism, atheism and Catholic dissidence feed thence the continental lodges.[10]
The articles by Franco also made reference tocriminal rituals and to theProtocols of the Elders of Zion.[4]
