Las uvas de la unión. Organización y movilización campesina en la vitivinicultura gallega: el Ribeiro ourensano, 1880-1936

The article qualitatively approaches the involvement of socio-political stakeholders in the land-reform movement in the most representative vineyard region of Galicia. The economic scenario was characterized by the existence of expensive investments in inputs, due to the phylloxera crisis, as well as to the wide-scale migration overseas, considered by local peasantry as a complementary reproductive strategy. Focus is placed on the collective answers implemented by vineyard peasants, organized in agrarian associations and Catholic trade-unions. These organizations were led at the beginning by well-off landowners, who focused on defending the Ribeiro wine market against competition from adulterated wine from outside. The peasant associations challenged the political monopoly of local elites and became privileged middlemen between the peasantry and the parliamentarians elected by the local districts. Emphasis is also placed on the manifold difficulties suffered by small-holding peasants, as well as on the sources of social and political power of landowners, who kept control of resources at the micro-social level, including privileges, credits and day labourers.