Initial reforms: 1931

• • agricultural reforms produced by Largo Caballero
  • April - July 1931 : a series of decrees were passed to support agrarian workers who faced appalling working conditions, especially in southern Spain
• • maximum 8 hour working days for agricultural laborer's
  • a legal right to overtime pay
  • wage disputes would be settled by committees which consisted of representatives from both the landowners and workers
  • small tenant farmers could no longer be evicted from their farms
• • Law of Municipal Boundaries (April 1931): landowners had to recruit workers from surrounding areas instead of recruiting cheaper migrant workers
• • Law of Obligatory Cultivation (May 1931): increase employment by forcing landlords to use their land for arable purposes - landlords who failed to comply risked having their land confiscated
• • reforms had a significant impact on landowners and agrarian workers
  • Agricultural workers = legal rights ad this strengthened their position relative to that of landowners
  • reforms = unpopular with landowners - many ignored than
• • agricultural labourers could join the Socialist Landowner's Federation (FNTT), which was affiliated to the UGT socialist trade union
  • FNTT - helped farm laborer's defend their rights
• • some landowners joined r/w groups that opposed the Second Republic