Organización y movilización campesina en el Ribeiro ourensano, 1880-1936

Abstract

In this article, an attempt is made to approach the economic scenarios and sociopolitical actors which gave rise to the emergence of farmer unions in the most representative wineyard region of Galicia, from a qualitative point of view. The point of departure was the agricultural crisis of the end of the 19th century, which was paralIel to the expansion offiloxera. This implied the increasing overseas migration as an alternative strategy put in practice by local peasantry in order to preserve its social reproduction. In this sense, special attention is paid to the peasants' organised response in the form of farmer unions, which fiercely opposed the taxes imposed upon them by local elites representing the State, and which put in practice active mobilisation against the introduction of adulterated wine (matute) which was sold out as being original Ribeiro. Mobilisation against foral taxes and concurrence with catholic-oriented peasant unions will be also dealed with. The sources employed were conventional written sources (particularly newspapers), as well as oral eyewittness accounts of ancient wineyard labourers who keep in their memory the echoes of past peasant mobilisations. This source proves also to be particularly useful when approaching the topic ofthe increasing peasants' difficulties in getting access to the labour market, as they had to confront the social networks implemented by locallandlords by making use of abusive methods of political clientelism.