Arrese y Magra, José Luis

b. 1905, Bilbao; d. 1986, Corella

   (Navarre)

   Politician

   A founder member of Falange in 1933, Arrese distinguished himself by his emphatically pro- Nazi stance before and during WWII, even advocating in 1943 that Spain declare war on the side of the Axis. As Secretary-General of the National Movement (1941), he helped to absorb and emasculate the old, socially radical Falange and subordinate it to the political needs of the Franco regime. When Director of Press and Propaganda in the 1940s, he was responsible for setting up both Radio Nacional and the No- Do (Noticias y Documentos—News and Documentaries), the sole permitted supplier of cinema newsreels, which cinema-owners were compelled to project, on pain of heavy fines (see also censorship). In 1956, Arrese tried to institutionalize the National Movement and give it more clearly-defined role within the state, intending that it should continue to be the dominant political force after Franco's retirement or death. This plan, however, provoked determined opposition among monarchists and the military, who persuaded Franco that the succession problem would be better dealt with by an authoritarian monarchy. Another factor in the defeat of Arrese's plan was Franco's unwillingness to allow the creation of a powerbase which might threaten his personal rule. Though Franco sympathized with Arrese, he moved him sideways into the politically less sensitive post of Minister of Housing. Arrese later resigned in 1960 in protest at restrictions on public spending.

   Arrese's career illustrates the tensions among the various interests and factions in the Franco regime, often wrongly supposed to have been a rigidly monolithic structure.

   See also: Franco Bahamonde, Francisco; Francoist culture; history

   Further reading

   - Preston, P. (1993) Franco, London: Harper Collins (an outstanding biography, which gives a profound insight into every aspect of the Franco period).

   EAMONN RODGERS