Asturias 1898-1914. El final de un campesinado amable

Abstract

In contrast with the combative and insurrectionary model of the landless peasant in the south of Spain, a counter-model was developed in the Atlantic coast, an image of the peaceful, conservative and conformist small landholder. A variety of legal, historical and folkloric elements contributed to the forging of this image, in addition to literary sources in which the work of Palacio Valdés stands out for a variety of reasons. The image of Asturias depicted by this author —coinciding with similar portrayal of the Basque Country, Santander and Galicia—, in part reflected the social reality of small property-holding and «patriarchal» traditions. The commercialisation of this economy had made agrarian holdings more viable and profitable. However, the patriarchal image of the countryside was entirely false. The peasant, despite resorting occasionally to very traditional forms of community and collective action, sought to defend and relocate himself in a world increasingly penetrated by capitalist relations of production that generated new conflict over land.