1.2.2 Tackling Agricultural Problems

• Initial 1931 Agrarian Reforms:

  1. A maximum 8 hour work day
  2. A legal right to overtime pay
  3. Law of Municipal Boundaries
• As many landowners ignored the initial reforms, agrarian labourers joined trade unions such as the FNTT and UGT
• The 1932 Agrarian Reform Law established the Institute of Agrarian Reform, which had the power to confiscate and redistribute land over 23 hectares to peasants
• Failures of the Institute of Agrarian Reform:

  1. It was slow and indecisive
  2. It lacked funding (received only 1% of the annual budget)
  3. The government had no way of enforcing the new rights
• Consequences of the Agrarian Reforms:

  1. They were criticised by the FNTT agricultural union
  2. Socialists and the UGT became more radical, demanding new reforms
  3. It led to the creation of CEDA
• Gil Robles toured the country arguing that the agrarian reforms would drive down the price of wheat and plunge small farms deeper into poverty