El Siglo Futuro was a Spanishtraditionalist andintegrist daily newspaper, published inMadrid between 1875 and 1936.
It was founded by the Carlist politician and thinkerCándido Nocedal; the first issue came out on March 19, 1875. As the Carlists suffered a crushing defeat in theThird Carlist War, the initiative was supposed to shift focus to the long-term perspective of the literary war. The new newspaper was to disseminate the Carlist thought using the highest analytical and erudite standards. Following the death of its founder in 1885, the newspaper was taken over by his son,Ramón Nocedal. In 1889El Siglo Futuro departed from the mainstream Traditionalism as Nocedal and his followers set upPartido Católico Nacional, a breakaway group usually referred to as theIntegrists. After the death of Nocedal in 1907 the newspaper was inherited by his successor at the helm of the group,Juan Olazábal, whileManuel Senante became the editor-in-chief. In 1932, as the Integrists re-united with the mainstream Carlism, the daily followed suit. In 1935 it was fully incorporated into the Carlist propaganda machinery. Following the outbreak of theCivil War it was last issued on July 18, 1936; soon afterwards its premises were ransacked by theanarchists.
The principal objective ofEl Siglo Futuro remained the defence of Catholic faith and position of the Church in Spain. Ultraconservative, its primary foe wasliberalism, later to be paired with - viewed as more radical but somewhat lesser evils -democracy andsocialism. The paper propagated the theories ofLeo XIII and his successors, advocating a new social and political vision of amodern Catholic state. The daily remained strongly monarchical, though with less clear dynastical allegiances. Disseminated what it perceivedtraditional Spanish values. In the 20th century the paper led the venomous campaign against theJews and thefreemasonry, claiming thatJudaism is the head and the Freemasonry is the arms of the satanic monster; the Jews were alternately accused of alliance with the RussianBolshevism or with the capitalistplutocracy. In 1930sEl Siglo was a fairly typical Spanish party paper, excelling in bombastic, hyperbolical, inflammatory, intransigent, sectarian phraseology – very much like the republican or socialist press, let alone the anarchist or communist papers. The official Spanish digital archive describes the late daily asfanatically fundamentalist, consumed byapocalyptic obsession and dubbeda caveman.
El Siglo Futuro pronounced on every issue faced by Spain of its time. It fought theAlfonsist reinstatement, opposed militantly secularliberalism of the lateRestauración era, sided with theConservative Party against the modernizing designs of late 19th century, followed the1898 disaster in the war against the United States, cautiously endorsedCatalan andBasque rights if framed in the traditionalfueros, sympathized with theCentral Powers in course of theFirst World War, despised the emerginganarchist andSpanish Socialist Workers' Party, cheered thePrimo de Rivera dictatorship to be disillusioned later, had few regrets about the fallen monarchy ofAlfonso XIII but was almost explicitly hostile towards theRepublic, welcomed the rise ofBenito Mussolini andAdolf Hitler, to turn against the latter following the assassination ofEngelbert Dollfuss.
Throughout its lifetimeEl Siglo Futuro remained an ultraconservative, vehemently antiliberal and then fiercely antidemocratic vehicle of pursuing traditional values centered on the Catholic faith. The competitive position of the newspaper remained fairly stable, trailing far behind the mainstream dailies. On the Spanish national press market of the 20th century it maintained a circulation of 5,000, compared to 200,000 of the monarchistABC or 80,000 of the ChristianEl Debate in the late 1930s. The readership base remained mostly the same, composed of parish clergy and Traditionalist activists. The layout and design evolved. Initially it was composed of six pages seven columns each. Over the years, editorial segment was expanded with economic, sports and culture sections added. In 1920sEl Siglo Futuro started to include photography and cartoons, to change the design dramatically in 1935 and increasing to 32 pages.
There were many Traditionalist newspapers issued all over Spain throughout late 19th and early 20th century, though most of them short-lived and local. It is estimated that during the 1930s out of ca 300 dailies published across the country around 10% were Carlist, though only few gained some prominence. Compared to them,El Siglo Futuro was almost equaled in terms of circulation by theBarcelona-basedEl Correo Catalán ofMiguel Junyent and theSevilla-basedLa Unión ofDomingo Tejera, trailed by the smallerPamplona-basedEl Pensamiento Navarro and theVitoria-basedEl Pensamiento Álaves, both ca 3,000-4,000 copies each. Dynastical issues usually remained of lesser importance toEl Siglo Futuro. The paper presented a somewhat broader perspective, dedicating more space to foreign affairs; other Carlist titles remained focused mostly on the national, if not purely regional issues. It was not attached to the traditional,Navarrese leadership of the Carlist movement and was the first to hailManuel Fal Conde as the new head.El Siglo Futuro was definitely less news-dependent, with editorials remaining frequent pieces. Finally, the geographical coverage and the readers’ base was visibly broader; as a Madrid daily it was reaching national decision-makers with more ease. In terms of prestige within the Carlist community onlyEl Pensamiento Navarro could have compared toEl Siglo Futuro.
Following the merger with mainstream Carlism in 1932 the paper became a semi-official organ ofComunión Tradicionalista. Its ownership passed from the Olazábal circle to the Editorial Tradicionalista company (headed byConde Rodezno), which was in turn controlled by the Delegación Especial de Prensa (headed byManuel González Quevedo). In 1935 Senante lost his overwhelming influence on the paper line; thanks to the party fundsEl Siglo Futuro was dramatically enhanced, but at a price of forming part of the centralised and modernised Carlist press system. The daily had to follow strict discipline, publishing official material and giving approved treatment to most public issues. IfEl Siglo Futuro retained its Integrist core it was only because the ex-Integrist Manuel Fal Conde was heading the Carlist movement at that time and former Integrists like Senante orRuiz Muñoz remained key personalities in the editorial board. In fact,El Siglo Futuro was one of the principal means allowing the ex-Integrists to occupy central position in the Carlist movement.
Upon the outbreak of the Civil War the Madrid premises of the newspaper were ransacked and taken over by theanarchist militiamen. During the war the title was not re-created elsewhere in the Nationalist zone. Afterwards Senante was allegedly considering resuming his opus magnum, but afraid that it would be incorporated into thefrancoist propaganda machine he hesitated until finally abandoning the idea.
