Cultivadores de democracia. Politización campesina y sindicalismo agrario progresista en España, 1970-1980

Abstract

This article looks at the reasons why the agriculture became political in the 1970s; i.e. the demand for better agrarian prices, the decrease of unnecessary importations of agrarian products and the carrying out of structural measures or «complementariness" (epigraphs 1 & 2). Apart from these demands, progressive agricultural workers brought to light the urgent need of finding new formulas of trade-union and political representation (epigraph 3). Then the focus is more on the range of agrarian trade unions in the second half of the 70s, both with regards to the left-wing unionism and to the agrarian professional organisations, by emphasizing the close surveillance -and even the attempts of absorption- from some new parties, which were eager to obtain an important political status and to increase the membership. Lastly, it's dealt with the important role that the rural conflicts played in the formation of some regional parties and with their demands.