The Cry of Alcorta ( es, Grito de Alcorta) was an agrarian rebellion that took place in 1912 in

Alcorta Alcorta is a town (''comuna'') in the provinces of Argentina, province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe, Argentina. It has 7,450 inhabitants, according to the census, and lies in the south of the province, on National Route 178 (Argentina), Nation ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The rebels were primarily

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

or from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It began at the south of the

Santa Fe Province The Province of Santa Fe ( es, Provincia de Santa Fe, ) is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco Province, Chaco (divided by the 28th ...

, with requests of better working conditions and better contracts. Contracts were poor, due to land having already been claimed and staked out after the

Conquest of the Desert The Conquest of the Desert ( es, Conquista del desierto) was an Argentine military campaign directed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca in the 1870s with the intention of establishing dominance over the Patagonian Desert, inhabited primari ...

, leaving workers with no other choice than to accept contracts not as prosperous as would be liked. Ideologically, the protesters bore no similarity to the contemporary

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

. The protest achieved the desired goals, and the

Federación Agraria Argentina The Argentine Agrarian Federation (in Spanish, ''Federación Agraria Argentina'', FAA) is a private institution that serves as a business organization for small and medium agricultural owners of means of production (land, farms, etc.) or rural entr ...

was established on August 15.

Revolt

Protests began when a rally of 2,000 Italians under the Sociedad Italiana de Alcorta ( en, Italian Society of Alcorta) gathered on June 25. They refused to harvest crops until their demands were met. From there, the strike spread to Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Entre Ríos. Although the workers were discontent with the leasing system, they did not request the complete eradication of the system, only better terms. The few workers that proposed a radical goal did not prevail. On August 15, the protestors had their demands met and the

was founded to protect farmers.

References

History of Argentina (1880–1916) Protests in Argentina Economic history of Argentina Civil rights protests 1912 in Argentina History of Santa Fe Province {{Argentina-hist-stub