IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2018i1p34-d192257.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strikes and Rural Unrest during the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1936): A Geographic Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Javier Puche

    (Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, University of Zaragoza, Ciudad Escolar s/n, 44003 Teruel, Spain)

  • Carmen González Martínez

    (Faculty of Letters, University of Murcia, Campus de la Merced, 30071 Murcia, Spain)

Abstract

This article analyses the evolution and geographic distribution of the rural unrest that prevailed during the years of the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1936), a period characterised by political instability and social conflict. The number of provincial strikes recorded in the forestry and agricultural industries and complied by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare constitute the primary source of the study. Based on this information, maps of the regional and provincial distribution of the agricultural unrest have been created for the republican period. The results reveal that, contrary to the traditional belief which confines the rural unrest of this period to the geographic areas of the latifundios (large estates), Spanish agriculture, in all its diversity, was hit by collective disputes. Although the areas of the latifundios were most affected by the agricultural reform of 1932, the data show that the extension of the unrest in the Spanish countryside was also the result of the refusal of the landowners to accept and apply the new republican collective bargaining agreement. The number of strikes increased during the period 1931–1933, fell between 1934 and 1935, and increased again during the months of the Popular Front (February to July 1936).

Suggested Citation

  • Javier Puche & Carmen González Martínez, 2018. "Strikes and Rural Unrest during the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1936): A Geographic Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-26, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2018:i:1:p:34-:d:192257
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/1/34/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/1/34/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Domenech, Jordi & Herreros, Francisco, 2017. "Land reform and peasant revolution. Evidence from 1930s Spain," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 82-103.
    2. James Simpson & Juan Carmona, 2015. "Too many workers or not enough land? Why land reform fails in Spain during the 1930s," Documentos de Trabajo de la Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria 1509, Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria.
    3. Jordi Domenech, 2013. "Rural labour markets and rural conflict in Spain before the Civil War (1931–6)," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(1), pages 86-108, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Basco, Sergi & Domènech, Jordi & Maravall, Laura, 2023. "Land reform and rural conflict. Evidence from 1930s Spain," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Uribe-Castro, Mateo, 2019. "Expropriation of church wealth and political conflict in 19th century Colombia," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Maria Paula Saffon & Fabio Sánchez, 2019. "Historical grievances and war dynamics: Old land conflicts as a cause of current forced displacements in Colombia," Documentos CEDE 17320, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    4. Domènech Feliu, Jordi, 2013. "Land tenure inequality, harvests, and rural conflict ; evidence from Southern Spain in the 1930s," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp13-06, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    5. Roses, Joan R., 2015. "Spanish land reform in the 1930s: economic necessity or political opportunism?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64498, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Jordi Domenech & Francisco Herreros, 2018. "Land reform and conflict before the Civil War: landowner response to tenancy reform in 1930s Catalonia," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(4), pages 1322-1348, November.
    7. Jaimovich, Dany & Toledo, Felipe, 2021. "The grievances of a failed reform: Chilean land reform and conflict with indigenous communities," MPRA Paper 109136, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Daniel Oto-Peralías & Diego Romero-Ávila, 2016. "The economic consequences of the Spanish Reconquest: the long-term effects of Medieval conquest and colonization," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 409-464, December.
    9. Leandro Prados de la Escosura & Blanca Sánchez-Alonso, 2019. "Economic Development in Spain, 1815-2017," Working Papers 0163, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    10. Javier Silvestre & María Isabel Ayuda & Vicente Pinilla, 2015. "The occupational attainment of migrants and natives in Barcelona, 1930," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(3), pages 985-1015, August.
    11. Theresa Finley & Raphaël Franck & Noel D. Johnson, 2021. "The Effects of Land Redistribution: Evidence from the French Revolution," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(2), pages 233-267.
    12. Samuel Garrido, 2017. "The fruit of inequality: wine, efficiency, agrarian contracts and property rights in Catalonia (1898-1935)," Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) 1701, Asociación Española de Historia Económica.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2018:i:1:p:34-:d:192257. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.