did not get up, greet, or offer the slightest sign of deference towards you, who are their Director, when we passed through the room where several were sitting and others were changing their shoes”. Arizmendiarrieta, after apologizing, replied “I don't allow them to treat me as a Director, because I am at the School as one more. It has been a procedure that has given me good results so far.” In fact, Arizmendiarrieta was never listed as Director. In 1965 the Minister of Labor arrived to award him the gold medal for Merit at Work, and in the speeches, the President of the Mondragon Education League highlighted the desire of the curate to detach his work from any personal interest, “He is still as poor as when he arrived 25 years ago, and just like then, his mother continues to send him beans and potatoes from the farmhouse.” To conclude, he said, “He has created a mentality, a way of doing things. He has been turned to for everything, and he always has a free moment, a word of encouragement, an idea to solve a problem.” The answer of the honoree did not surprise anyone. He had no merit, he always spoke in the plural, diluting himself in the anonymous work of the hundreds of people who had worked with him in the activities for which he was awarded: “I say without modesty that these merits that have been counted for official purposes in my box, they are due to each and every one of those who have worked during these past years”. Sowing years From the time Arizmendiarrieta arrived in Mondragon in 1941 with his wooden suitcase, until the first industrial cooperative ULGOR began operating, 15 years of preparation passed. The cycle began with the creation of the precarious Professional School in 1943, where the children of all the workers could study, unlike the Locksmith Union Apprentice School. Arizmendiarrieta did not yet have a defined cooperative model, but he did have a clear idea: that the worker can only emancipate himself through education and his own work. Therefore, he encouraged the spirit of responsibility and cooperation. Other actions of Arizmendiarrieta were the organization of a library for youth, the organization of study circles for older people, and the foundation in June 1943 under his direction of a Social or Sociology Academy with the inspiration of the Catholic Action. The