José María Arizmendiarrieta

Arizmendiarrieta, whose name is often shortened to "Arizmendi", was born in Barinaga, Markina-Xemein, Biscay, the eldest son of a family of modest means. He had lost an eye in a childhood accident so could not be a soldier. Instead he was a journalist for Basque language newspapers. His actions caused him to be arrested after the Spanish Civil War and he was sentenced to death for his activities; legend has it that he escaped the firing squad only through an administrative oversight. Released, he returned to his studies in Vitoria and went on to take holy orders.

Arizmendi wanted to continue his studies in Belgium but was assigned to a parish 30 miles from his own home town. He arrived in Arrasate (in Spanish, Mondragón) in February 1941, as a 26-year-old newly ordained priest to be assistant curate, to find a town still suffering from the aftermath of the Civil War and severe unemployment.

Arizmendi did not impress his new flock. Their one-eyed priest read badly; one parishioner described him thus: "He spoke in a monotone with intricate and repetitive phraseology difficult to understand. He hardly ever [read] with grace." They initially asked the Bishop to replace him. Nevertheless, he was determined to find a way to assist his congregation and realised that economic development - jobs - was the key to solutions to the town's other problems. Co-operatives appeared the best way to achieve this. Co-operatives, both consumer and worker, and self-help organisations had a long tradition in the Basque Country but had died away after the War.

In his quest for community welfare, he started to focus his efforts on vocational training, such as the school providing Unión Cerrajera, a flagship factory of Arrasate. However, his attempts to enhance and expand the school were not welcomed by the management. He focused instead on creating another school, for which he relied on donations and popular subscription. In 1943, Arizmendi set up a Polytechnic School,[1] now the Mondragón University, a democratically-administered educational centre open to all young people in the region.

The Polytechnic School provided the springboard for students of different backgrounds to new jobs apart from the Unión Cerrajera. Now Arizmendiarrieta was intent on creating a company catering to the positions required by the students graduating from the School. That took the name of Ulgor, after the initials of the entrepreneurs embarking on the venture. It transformed soon on into Fagor.

Arizmendi died in 1976 in Arrasate.

• Mondragon Corporation

• Joxe Azurmendi: El hombre cooperativo (in Spanish)
• Azurmendi, Joxe 2016: "Pertsona kooperatzaileaz" in Gizabere kooperatiboaz, Donostia: Jakin ISBN 978-84-95234-96-4 (in Basque)
• Iban Galletebeitia: "Ereiterik bada desertuan, J.M. Arizmendiarrieta" in Alaitz Aizpuru(koord.), Euskal Herriko pentsamenduaren gida, Bilbo, UEU 2012. ISBN 978-84-8438-435-9 (in Basque)

• Video: Joxe Azurmendi about Arizmendiarrieta (in Basque)
• José María Arizmendiarrieta: Archive, writings, photographs (Euskomedia) (in Spanish)