Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T08:50:47.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cooperation, technical education and politics in early agricultural policy in Catalonia (1914–24)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Jordi Planas
Jordi Planas*
Affiliation:
University of Barcelona
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

After the crisis of the late nineteenth century, the role of the state in European agriculture expanded to many new areas: education and technical innovation; commercial policies and market regulations; farm support policies, and sometimes interventions in property rights. The development of these policies was a difficult and costly process, without the intervention of intermediary organisations like agricultural cooperatives and farmers’ associations. This article analyses the early agricultural policy in Catalonia (Spain) and the role of cooperatives in its implementation. It argues that this regional case was quite exceptional in the early twentieth-century Spanish context, where state intervention in agriculture was extremely limited. In 1914, an autonomous government was set up in Catalonia, and a modern agricultural policy was introduced in which technical education and cooperatives played a crucial role, as well as politics. The agricultural policy promoted and developed by the Catalan government was part of a state-building project based on a regionalist ideology.

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , October 2020 , pp. 211 - 222
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1 Tracy, M., Government and Agriculture in Western Europe, 1880–1988 (New York, 1989)Google Scholar; Koning, N., The Failure of Agrarian Capitalism: Agrarian Politics in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA, 1846–1919 (London and New York, 1994)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Moser, P. and Varley, T., ‘The State and Agricultural Modernisation in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries in Europe’, in Moser, P. and Varley, T., eds, Integration through Subordination: The Politics of Agricultural Modernisation in Industrial Europe (Turnhout, 2013), pp. 13–39 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 On the process of politicisation, see R. Hubscher, ‘Syndicalisme agricole et politisation paysanne’, in La politisation des campagnes au XIXe siècle: France, Italie, Espagne, Portugal. Actes du Colloque international de Rome des 20-21-22 février 1997 (Rome, 2000), pp. 135–52, and Cabo, M. and Veiga, X. R., ‘La politización del campesinado en la época de la Restauración: una perspectiva europea’, in Ortega López, T. M. and Cobo Romero, F., eds, La España rural, siglos XIX y XX: Aspectos políticos, sociales y culturales (Granada, 2011), pp. 21–58 Google Scholar.

3 Fernández Prieto, L., ‘La política agraria del estado español contemporáneo hasta 1936: del propietario innovador al fomento de la innovación en la pequeña explotación’, Historia Contemporánea, 17 (1998), 237–86Google Scholar; Pan-Montojo, J., ‘Landowners, Technicians and Associations: The Formation of the Agricultural Public Institutions in Spain, 1847–1936’, in Vivier, N., ed., The State and Rural Societies: Policy and Education in Europe 1750–2000 (Turnhout, 2008), pp. 111–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Robledo, R., ed., Historia del Ministerio de Agricultura, 1900–2008: política agraria y pesquera de España (Madrid, 2011)Google Scholar; Planas, J., ‘State intervention in wine markets in the early twentieth century: why was it so different in France and Spain?’, Revista de Historia Económica – Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, 35:2 (2017), 175–206 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 Garrido, S., ‘Alentar y obstruir: las vacilaciones de la política estatal sobre cooperativismo en los inicios del siglo XX’, Noticiario de Historia Agraria, 7 (1994), 131–54Google Scholar; Garrido, S., Treballar en comú: El cooperativisme agrari a España (1900–1936) (València, 1996)Google Scholar; J. Simpson and J. Carmona, ‘Explaining the Presence and Absence of Spanish Farm Cooperatives before 1936: A Political Economy Approach’, Working Paper 17-09 (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 2017).

5 Simpson, J., ‘Cooperation and cooperatives in southern European wine production’, Advances in Agricultural Economic History, 1 (2000), 95–126 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Garrido, S., ‘Why did most cooperatives fail? Spanish agricultural cooperation in the early twentieth century’, Rural History, 18:2 (2007), 183–200 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fernández, E., ‘Trust, religion, and cooperation in western agriculture, 1880–1930’, Economic History Review, 67:3 (2014), 678–98Google Scholar; F. J. Medina-Albaladejo, M. D. Añón-Higón, A. Díez-Minguela and J. M. Lana-Berasain, ‘Local Constraints and Knowledge Transfer in the Formation and Development of Cooperatives: Catalonia, 1860–1939’, DT-AEHE 1838 (2018).

6 Garrido, Treballar en comú; Planas, J., ‘Cooperativismo y difusión del cambio técnico en la agricultura: la contribución de las cámaras agrícolas (Cataluña, 1890–1930)’, Historia Agraria, 30 (2003), 87–117 Google Scholar; Beltrán, F. J., ‘Commons, social capital and the emergence of agricultural cooperatives in the early twentieth century Spain’, European Review of Economic History, 16:4 (2012), 511–28Google Scholar; Simpson and Carmona, ‘Explaining the presence’; Medina-Albaladejo et al., ‘Local Constraints’.

7 Planas, J., ‘The emergence of winemaking cooperatives in Catalonia’, Business History, 58 (2016), 264–82CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Planas, J., ‘El Instituto Agrícola Catalán de San Isidro y la organización de los intereses agrarios (1880–1936)’, Revista española de estudios agrosociales y pesqueros, 217 (2008), 13–48 Google Scholar.

9 Ucelay-Da Cal, E., ‘La Diputació i la Mancomunitat: 1914–1923’, in de Riquer, B., ed., Història de la Diputació de Barcelona, 2nd edn (1987, Barcelona, 2007), Vol. II, pp. 37–213 Google Scholar; Balcells, A. et al., La Mancomunitat de Catalunya i l’autonomia (Barcelona, 1996)Google Scholar.

10 Roca, F., Política econòmica i territori a Catalunya, 1901–1939 (Barcelona, 1979), pp. 85–102 Google Scholar.

11 J. Puig i Cadafalch, ‘Una tasca de civilització a realitzar per la Mancomunitat de Catalunya’, Dues conferències (Barcelona, undated), p. 21.

12 Mancomunitat de Catalunya, L’obra a fer (Barcelona, 1919), p. 110 Google Scholar. Author’s translation in this and following citations.

13 About the rabassaire struggle, see Pomés, J., La Unió de Rabassaires (Barcelona, 2000)Google Scholar and Colomé, J. et al., ‘The rabassaire struggle: long-term analysis of a social and political movement’, International Review of Social History, 63:1 (2018), 1–27 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 Maspons, J., ‘Agricultura’, in Carreras Candi, F., ed., Geografia General de Catalunya, Vol. Catalunya (Barcelona, undated), p. 573 Google Scholar. About the two oenological centres in Catalonia, see Saumell, A., Arnabat, R. and Romeu, J., Estació de viticultura i enologia de Vilafranca del Penedès, 1903–2003: Cent anys d’història (Vilafranca del Penedès, 2003)Google Scholar, and Arnavat, A., ‘L’Estació Enològica de Reus’, in Giralt, E., ed., Vinyes i vins: Mil anys d’història (Barcelona, 1993), Vol. I, pp. 213–23Google Scholar.

15 Casanovas, J., ‘L’ensenyament agrícola a Catalunya (1912–1939)’, Recerques, 37 (1998), 81–108 Google Scholar.

16 From 1919 to 1923 it carried out a total number of 3,386 analyses. See Balcells et al., La Mancomunitat, p. 391.

17 From 1915 to 1917, about 8,000 farmers had participated in forty-seven courses organised by the Upper School of Agriculture. See Casanovas, ‘L’ensenyament agrícola’, p. 93.

18 Mancomunitat de Catalunya, Report del Consell Permanent a l’Assemblea (Barcelona, 1917), p. 29 Google Scholar.

19 Balcells et al., La Mancomunitat, p. 386.

20 Mancomunitat, L’obra a fer, pp. 17–18; Puig i Cadafalch, ‘Una tasca’, p. 25.

21 Mancomunitat de Catalunya, Els concursos de bestiar: Per què es van fer, per què s’han suprimit (Barcelona, 1922), pp. 5, 14Google Scholar.

22 Casanovas, J., ‘La intervenció de les institucions públiques en la formació de la ramaderia catalana (1912–1939)’, Estudis d’Història Agrària, 14 (2001), 209–28Google Scholar.

23 Galí, A., Història de les institucions i del moviment cultural a Catalunya (1900 a 1936) (Barcelona, 1982), Vol. VI, p. 7 Google Scholar.

24 Ibid. Alexandre Galí (1886–1969) was a prestigious teaching expert who participated in the Mancomunitat’s educational services of and later, in the 1930s, in the new regional Catalan government.

25 Three hundred agricultural associations and nearly two hundred municipalities from all over Catalonia had supported the Conference, many of them sending two or three delegates (Agricultura, 20th May 1919).

26 Agricultura, 5th May 1919.

27 Rendé, J. M., Pla d’organització social agrària de Catalunya (Barcelona, 1924), p. 5 Google Scholar.

28 Ibid., p. 8.

29 Ibid., p. 10.

30 In 1924, this was the case in Berga, Manresa, Martorell, Girona, Vilajuïga, Banyoles, la Bisbal, Cervera, Tortosa, Conca de Barberà, Alt Camp. The last two were created in 1916 and 1919 with Rendé’s direct intervention. See Rendé, Pla d’organització.

31 Ibid., p. 10.

32 In his view, the motto of the Catalan farmers should be ‘Association, Federation and Confederation’ (Agricultura, 20th June 1919).

33 When it was founded, on 12th July 1931, the Union of Agricultural Syndicates of Catalonia grouped together most of the existing agricultural cooperatives: that is, more than five hundred out of the eight hundred in operation at that time (Agricultura i Ramaderia, 15th July 1931). On this confederation, see Ribas Banús, M., La U.S.A. de Catalunya (Universitat de Barcelona, 1974 Google Scholar).

34 In fact, the conferences and courses organised by the agricultural technical services across Catalonia were often arranged at the request of agricultural cooperatives. See Mancomunitat de Catalunya, L’Obra Realitzada: Anys 1914–1923 (Barcelona, 1923), p. 441 Google Scholar.

35 Mancomunitat de Catalunya, Projectes d’acord presentats a la quinta reunió ordinària de l’assemblea (Barcelona, 1916), pp. 66–7Google Scholar.

36 Galí, Història de les institucions, Vol. IV, p. 132.

37 Gavaldà, A., Josep M. Rendé i Ventosa (Valls, 2005)Google Scholar.

38 Rendé, Pla d’organització, p. 9.

39 Rendé, J. M., Organització i guiatge de sindicats agrícoles (Barcelona, 1923), p. 56 Google Scholar.

40 Mancomunitat, L’Obra Realitzada, pp. 475–7.

41 Planas, ‘The emergence’.

42 For instance, in 1922 the Viticulture and Oenology Service provided assistance to seven cooperative wineries (Falset, Guiamets, Bellmunt, Ripollet, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Rubí and Igualada), which produced fifty thousand hectolitres. See Mancomunitat, L’Obra Realitzada, p. 467.

43 Ibid., pp. 477–8.

44 Mancomunité de Catalogne, Les Syndicats Agricoles de Catalogne à l’Exposition de la Coopération et Oeuvres Sociales de Gand (Barcelona, 1924)Google Scholar.

45 Mancomunitat de Catalunya, Caixa de Crèdit Comunal: Reglamentació provisional de les condicions amb què es podran fer les concessions de préstecs als ajuntaments i sindicats agrícoles de Catalunya, i dels requisits que llurs sol·licituds hauran de reunir (Barcelona, 1917), pp. 13–14 Google Scholar.

46 Rendé, Organització i guiatge, p. 131.

47 Barcelona Provincial Archive (hereafter AHPB), Mancomunitat, Assembly acts, 2nd session of the 14th meeting, 24th February 1921, pp. 31–7.

48 AHPB, Mancomunitat, Assembly acts, 4th session of the 14th meeting, 26th February 1921, p. 83.

49 Casanovas, J., ‘La Mancomunitat de Catalunya i el foment del sindicalisme agrari (1919–1923)’, in Barrull, J., Busqueta, J. J. and Vicedo, E., eds, Solidaritats pageses, sindicalisme i cooperativisme (Lleida, 1998), p. 407 Google Scholar.

50 Ibid., p. 415; Planas, ‘The emergence’.

51 Martinell, C., Construccions agràries (Barcelona, 1923)Google Scholar.

52 Pomés, La Unió; Colomé et al., ‘The rabassaire struggle’.

53 AHPB, Mancomunitat, Assembly acts, 2nd session of the 14th meeting, 24th February 1921, p. 35.

54 La Terra, 30th April 1923 and 1st March 1924.

55 La Terra, 5th July 1924. See Pomés, J., La Unió de Rabassaires (Barcelona, 2000)Google Scholar and J. Planas, ‘La Unión de Rabassaires y el cooperativismo’, Ayer (forthcoming).

56 Molas, I., Lliga Catalana: Un estudi d’estasiologia, 2 vols (Barcelona, 1972)Google Scholar; de Riquer, B., Lliga Regionalista: la burgesia catalana i el nacionalisme (1898–1904) (Barcelona, 1977)Google Scholar.

57 Ehrlich, Ch. E., ‘The Lliga Regionalista and the Catalan Industrial Bourgeoisie’, Journal of Contemporary History, 33:3 (1998), 399–417 Google Scholar.

58 Lliga Regionalista, El pensament català davant del conflicte europeu (Barcelona, 1915), pp. 225–63Google Scholar.

59 Balcells et al., La Mancomunitat.

60 Josep Mestres was head of the department of agriculture from 1914 to 1919 and Pere Mias from 1919 to 1924. Mestres, a doctor, was born to a well-off farming family, and participated in the organisation of several agricultural cooperatives; Mias was a lawyer as well as the largest landowner in his municipality, and he personally managed his agricultural estates. See also Balcells et al., La Mancomunitat, p. 389.

61 Mancomunitat de Catalunya, Projectes d’acord presentats a la tretzena reunió ordinària de l’assemblea i acords que recaigueren (Barcelona, 1920), p. 15 Google Scholar.

62 AHPB, Mancomunitat, Assembly acts, 4th session of the 14th meeting, 26th February 1921, p. 79.

63 Colomé et al., ‘The rabassaire struggle’.

64 In 1933 Pere Mias was appointed head of the Department of Agriculture and Economy, and Josep Mestres also had responsibilities in this department.