^1. Sharecropping is certainly one of the largest issues in Italian agrarian economics, sociology and history, discussed not only by Italians but also by a larger number of foreign scholars. Serpieri, A., La struttura sociale dell'agricoltura Italiano (Rome, 1947)Google Scholar is to be regarded as a classic; see also Sereni, E., Storia del paessagio agrario Italiano. (Rome, 1962)Google Scholar. Among studies by foreign scholars the work by the French geographer, Desplanques, H., Campagnes Ombriennes (Paris, 1969) constitutes a good example of competent scholarship.Google Scholar

^2. Mitrany, D., The Land and the Peasant in Rumania (London, 1930)Google Scholar. Chirot, D., Social Change in a Peripheral Society. The Creation of a Balkan Colony (New York, 1976)Google Scholar. Eidelberg, P.G., The Great Rumanian Peasant Revolt of 1907. Origins of a Modern Jacquerie (Leiden, 1974).Google Scholar

^3. For a broad review of Asian sharecropping see Byres, T., ‘Historical perspectives on sharecropping’, Journal of Peasant Studies 10, 1983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^4. Ranson, R.L., Sutch, R., One Kind of Freedom. The Economic Consequences of Emancipation (Cambridge, 1977).Google Scholar

^5. Wells, M., ‘The resurgence of sharecropping: Historical anomaly or political strategy?’ American Journal of Sociology 90, 1984.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^6. Miller, S., ‘The Mexican hacienda between insurgency and revolution: Maize production and commercial triumph on the Temporal’, Journal of Latin American Studies 16, 1985.Google Scholar

^7. For an interesting discussion of sharecropping among social equals see Lehman, D., ‘La mediería y la transición capitalista. Una investigación en la sierra ecutoriana’, Estudios Rurales Latina-mericanos 9, 1986.Google Scholar

^8. Most of the valuable recent contributions have been produced by economic anthropologists. They have had a very limited impact on historical studies. Robertson, A.F., The Dynamics of Productive Relationships. African Share Contracts in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge, 1986)Google Scholar, constitutes a significant progress revealing the complexities of different African share tenancy regimes. See also Lehmann, , ‘La mediería’.Google Scholar

^9. For a systematic discussion of important dimensions of the internal organisation of share tenancy systems see Silverman, S., ‘Agricultural organization, social structures and values in Italy: Amoral familism reconsidered’, American Anthropologist 20, 1968.Google Scholar

^10. Robertson, A.F., ‘On sharecropping’, Man 15, 1980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^11. For a representative example of the traditional historical point of view on share tenancy see, Ladurie, E. Le Roy, ‘Réflection d'un historien’, Etudes Rurales, 27, 1967Google Scholar. In many respects although they seldom discussed the problem explicitly, classical and older neoclassical writers analyse the basic conditions for the existence of sharecropping in a way very close to the traditional historical one. For Adam Smith as well as for Alfred Marshall share tenancy represented an inefficient form of tenure. They were particularly stressing the disincentives for an optimal use of the factors of production, especially labour. See Smith, A., The Wealth of Nations (New York, 1937), p. 366Google Scholar. Marshall, A., Principles of Economics (London, 1964), pp. 535–6.Google Scholar

^12. It is worth noting that observers closer to the actual practice were less prone to categorise share tenancy as a brake on agricultural progress. In the early fifties the economic council of the French government carried out an extensive inquiry into the diverse forms of sharecropping in France. One of the questions addressed to different representatives of the rural world was whether share tenancy constituted a brake on agricultural progress. Unfortunately in most departments the question was left unanswered. However in no less than 13 of the 35 departments where sharecropping was most important the answer was a firm no. In one of the major share tenancy departments, Allier, it was classified as significantly more technically progressive than fixed cash tenancy. See Les Diverses formes du métayage II. Monographies departmentales. Conseil economique. Etudes et travaux (Paris, 1953) p. 20.Google Scholar

^13. See Marx's famous discussion in part 3 of Das Kapital on the genesis of capitalist ground rent.

^14. Friedman, H., ‘Household production and the national economy: concepts for the analysis of agrarian formations’, Journal of Peasant Studies 7, 1980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^15. Pearce, R., ‘Sharecropping towards a marxist view’, Journal of Peasant Studies 10, 1983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^16. For a critical discussion of the view of capitalism as a highly homogenising force radically transforming the agrarian structures see, Jonsson, U., and Pettersson, R., ‘Friends or Foes? Peasants, Capitalists, and Markets in West European Agriculture, 1850–1939’, Review, 12, 1989.Google Scholar

^17. Steven Cheung's work represents a relatively early summing up of the main arguments for a revision of the conception of share tenancy within the neoclassical tradition. See Cheung, S.N.C., The Theory of Share Tenancy (Chicago, 1969).Google Scholar

^18. For a brief overview of the debate within ‘the new school’ of neoclassical economists see, Reid, J.D., ‘Sharecropping in history and theory’, Agricultural History 49, 1975Google Scholar and Hsiao, J.C., ‘The theory of share tenancy revisited’, Journal of Political Economy 83, 1975.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^19. Alston, L.J., and Higgs, R., ‘Contractual mix in Southern agriculture since the civil war: facts, hypotheses, and tests’ Journal of Economic History 42, 1982.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^20. Robertson, , ‘The dynamics’, pp. 18–19.Google Scholar

^21. For example, in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century France a large number of treatises concering share tenancy appeared. With few exceptions they produced a very idyllic picture of social relations and strongly underlined the advantages of share tenancy in creating a harmonious and cooperative atmosphere among landlords and tenants. See for example, Marié, G., Le métayage dans l'arrondissement de Laval (Laval, 1909)Google Scholar, or Venaison, P., Le métayage en France. Thèse pour le doctorat (Paris, 1902).Google Scholar

^22. Statistique agricole de la France. Résultats généraux de l'enquête de 1929 and 1946.

^23. In table 5, I have used Serpieri's figures, where he has classified mixed tenures in one of three main categories: owner cultivation, renting or sharecropping, according to the dominant form, so as not to misrepresent sharecropping in southern Italy.

^24. Dovring, F., Land and Labour in Europe 1900–1950 (The Hauge, 1960). p. 456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^25. Histoire économique et sociale de la France t. 3/1 p. 657.Google Scholar

^26. See for example Stinchcombe, A., Economic Sociology (New York, 1983), pp. 153–5.Google Scholar

^27. Laurent, R., Les vignerons de la “Côte-d'Or” (Dijon, 1957) pp. 259–84Google Scholar. Garrier, G., Paysans du Beaujolais et du Lyonnais (Grenoble, 1973) pp. 151–3.Google Scholar

^28. Brunet, R., Les campagnes toulousaines (Toulouse, 1965) pp. 207–17, 386–94.Google Scholar

^29. Ibid. pp. 365–9.

^30. Ibid. pp. 323–37.

^31. Labrousse, E., Romano, F.G., Dreyfus, F.G., (eds.), Les prix de froment en France au temps de la monnaie stable 1726–1913 (Paris, 1970).Google Scholar

^32. Brunet, , Les campagnes toulousaines pp. 386–400Google Scholar. For a discussion on foreign sharecroppers see also, La question de métayage. Compte-rendu complet du Congrès organisé par la Société des Agriculteurs de France les 20 et 21 février 1939 (Paris, 1939) pp. 162–73.Google Scholar

^33. Statistique agricole de la France. Résultats généraux de l'enquête de 1929.

^34. Les diverses formes du métayage, p. 209.Google Scholar

^35. Brunet, , Les campagnes toulousaines pp. 65–82.Google Scholar

^36. Les diverses formes du métayage, pp. 204, 332–4, 484–5.Google Scholar

^37. Leibowitz, J.J., ‘Tenants, Sharecroppers and the French Agricultural Depression of the Late Nineteenth Century’, Journal of Interdisciplinary History 19, 1989.Google Scholar

^38. The statement of Bolard is cited in Mace, G., Un départment rural de l'Ouest: La Mayenne, (Mayenne, 1982) p. 56.Google Scholar

^39. Marié, G., Le métayage, pp. 164–5.Google Scholar

^40. Rivera, R., ‘Desarollo capitalista y medierías en Chile’, Estudios rurales lantinoamericanos, 10, 1987.Google Scholar

^41. Shaffer, J.W., Family and farm. Agrarian Change and Household Organization in the Loire Valley 1500–1900, (Albany, 1982) pp. 170–98.Google Scholar

^42. Archives Nationales, Serie F10, box 1788.

^43. Archives Nationales, Serie F10, box 1793.

^44. In fact regional disparities were narrowing from the 1880s until ihe middle of the 1930s. That does not mean that disadvantaged regions ever reached the same level as the more favoured parts. Still, it was an important process of equalisation that was connected to the dominant pattern of change during this period, intensification based on biological and easily divisible chemical rather than expensive indivisible mechanical technology. See Pautard, J., Les disparités régionales dans la croissance agricole de l'agriculture française (Paris, 1965)Google Scholar. Guigou, J.L., Théorie économique et la transformation de l'espace agricole, tome 2 (Paris, 1972), pp. 196–277.Google Scholar

^45. Corbin, A., Arcaisme et modernité en Limousin, (Paris, 1975).Google Scholar

^46. Statistique agricole de la France. Annex à l'enquête de 1929. Monographie agricole de la Haute Vienne (Paris, 1936), pp. 118–21, 226–27.Google Scholar

^47. Another share tenancy protagonist, Clappier, discussing primarily Limousin referred to an investigation by Barral covering 200 share tenancy properties showing in average a doubling of the revenues between the middle of the 1870s and the turn of the century, Clappier, B., ‘Le métayage. Particulièrement en Limousin. Des rapports entre propriétaire et métayer’, Thèse pour le doctorat (Poitier, 1899). p. 94.Google Scholar

^48. Serpieri, A., La struttura sociale pp. 71–5.Google Scholar

^49. See for example, Sereni, E., Il capitalismo nelle campagne (Torino, 1968) pp. 145–200Google Scholar. Gill, D., ‘Tuscan Sharecropping in United Italy: The Myth of Class Collaboration Destroyedy’, Journal of Peasant Studies 10, 1983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^50. Desplanques, , Campagnes Ombriennes, pp. 523–7.Google Scholar

^51. Sabelberg, E., Der Zerfall der Mezzadria in der Toscana urbana. Entstehung, Bedeutung und gegenwärtige Auflösung eines agraren Betriebssystems in Mittelitalien, (Köln, 1975) pp. 116–39Google Scholar; see also, Desplanques, , Campagnes Ombriennes, pp. 517–33.Google Scholar

^52. Gill, , ‘Tuscan Sharecropping’.Google Scholar

^53. Sabelberg, , Der Zerfall, pp. 128–34Google Scholar. See also, Pereni, D., ‘L'imigrazione di contadini siciliani nell'Italia Centrale e Settentrional’, Rivista di Economica Agraria 3, 1950.Google Scholar

^54. See for example, Mori, G., ‘La mezzadria in Toscana alla fine del XIX secolo’, Movimento operario 7, 1955.Google Scholar

^55. Serpieri, , La Struttura Sociale, pp. 64–85.Google Scholar

^56. Marazotto, V.E., La mezzadria e diventa l'ottavo capitale (Rome, 1964) pp. 6–9.Google Scholar

^57. Ibid.

^58. Nenci, G., ‘Proprietari e contadini nell'Umbria mezzadrile’, in Covino, R. and Gallo, G. (eds.), Storia d'Italia. Le regioni dall'Unità a oggi. L'Umbria (Torino, 1989), pp. 21–226.Google Scholar

^59. For a discussion along these lines see, Bonazzoli, V., Moroni, M., ‘Economia dell'azienda agraria: il podere’, in Anselmi, S. (ed.), Storia d'Italia. Le regioni dall'Unità a oggi. Le Marche (Torino, 1987), pp. 551–60.Google Scholar

^60. The difference is however almost insignificant; sharecroppers had on average 0.8 bovine units per hectare and tenants 0.7. In Creuse the difference was larger but the number of cases (only 3 tenants) is too small to permit firm conclusions.

^61. Bonazzoli, and Moroni, , ‘Economia dell'azienda agrania’, pp. 546–51Google Scholar; Nenci, , ‘Proprietari e contodini’, pp. 219–25.Google Scholar

^62. Marié, Le métayage pp. 180–81Google Scholar. See also his contribution to La Question du métayage, pp. 20–1.Google Scholar

^63. La Question du métayage, p. 18.Google Scholar

^64. An often cited text vividly expressing the resentment of the close surveillance is the autobiographical novel by Guillaumin, Emile, La vie simple (Mémoires d'un métayer) (Paris, 1920).Google Scholar

^65. For an illuminating discussion of the character of peaceful forms of social struggle in the central Italian share tenancy system see, Silverman, S., ‘Agricultural Organizations, Social Structure and Values in Italy: Amoral familism reconsidered’ American Anthropologist 10, 1968.Google Scholar

^66. For an overview of this development see, Jonsson, and Pettersson, , Specialization and Diversification.Google Scholar

^67. For a discussion of the strength of xenophobic sentiments in southern France see, Noiriel, G., Le creuset français. Histoire de l'immigrantion XIXe-XXe siècles (Paris, 1988), pp. 257–77Google Scholar. A very rosy picture of the integration of Italian sharecroppers in the South East was expressed by H. Bonnet director for government office in charge of agricultural labour, see La Question du métayage, pp. 162–73.Google Scholar

^68. Rouveroux, P., Le métayage. Ce qu'il en faut savoir (Paris, 1935), pp. 59; 222.Google Scholar

^69. Wells, , ‘Resurgence’, pp. 20–5.Google Scholar

^70. Wells, , ‘Resurgence’, p. 12–5Google Scholar. The Provencal case was commented on by among others the conservative legal scholar Seulliet, ‘… c'est surtout dans le Midi que la necessisité d'adopter le métayage se fait sentir actuellment afin de mettre en terme aux grèves qui desolent ce pays. Le métayage, en faisant contracter des engagements plus longs et en faisant participer le cultivateur aux produits de son travail, permettra d'assurer la main d'ouvre nécessaire à une bonne culture et faire renaitre la concord’. Seulliet, F., Le métayage, Thèse pour le doctorat. Faculté de droit de l'université de Paris 1905. p. 142.Google Scholar

^71. This phenomenon has been noted by a large number of scholars. Wells indicates that this is the case in California, Wells, , ‘Resurgence’, p.18.Google Scholar