AGRARIAN TENDENCIES IN EUROPE 51 



industrial workers, is the strike. The strike has 

 been used to compel the employers to provide mod- 

 ern contracts for these day laborers which are drawn 

 up and approved by the unions. These contracts 

 involve shorter working hours and better labor con- 

 ditions. In 1919 and 1920 the unions in Apulia 

 attempted to limit the use of machines operated 

 by horse or steam power. Since 1919 the farm 

 laborers have forced upon employing farmers a 

 contract agreement that there shall be a certain 

 ratio between the area of the farm and the number 

 of men who cultivate it. A refusal of the land- 

 owner to comply with these conditions resulted in 

 the costly agricultural laborers' strike in the prov- 

 ince of Bologna in the harvest season of 1920. 



Rural syndicalism has manifested itself in Spain 

 in about the same way that it has in Italy. The 

 land workers in Spain are organized in two parties. 

 One party, known as the Whites or Catholics, advo- 

 cates an agrarian policy that will make it easier 

 for the landless man to acquire a farm home. The 

 other party, known as the Reds or Socialists, is much 

 more radical and looks to land nationalization as 

 its ultimate accomplishment. The Catholic agra- 

 rian organization proposes to subdivide the lati- 

 fundia, or large estates, and sell them on liberal 

 terms to peasant farmers. The General Union of 

 Workers of Spain, which is the name of the socialist 

 organization, has undertaken to secure compensa- 

 tion from the landlords to tenants for the improve- 



