Landowners and agrarian associations in Catalunya (1850-1936)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the role of landowners in agrarian associations in Catalunya (Spain) from 1850 to 1936, when the Spanish Civil War started. Up to the nineteenth century they enjoyed a preeminent social position, but as industrialisation continued to grow their economic and social status declined, especially after the late nineteenth century crisis. Facing this situation, from the end of the nineteenth century they promoted important efforts for social mobilisation and tried to obtain control of the peasantry through agrarian cooperatives and other associations. Nevertheless, as a consequence of the increasing struggle with the peasantry, landowners changed their strategy, and in the 1930s concentrated their collective action on the defence of property.