The National Federation of Agricultural Workers ( it, Federazione Nazionale fra i Lavoratori della Terra, Federterra) was a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

representing rural workers in Italy. The union was founded in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

on 23 November 1901, and brought together 758 local unions, with a total of 152,000 members, the vast majority in the north of Italy. It grew quickly, having 220,000 members by the end of 1902, and 900,000 by the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In the north of the country, it mostly recruited agricultural labourers, but in the central areas, most of its members were

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

s, and in the south, it recruited all workers in rural areas and smaller towns. In 1905, Argentina Altobelli was appointed as the union's national secretary, an almost unique example of a woman leading a major trade union open to both men and women in this period. Under her leadership, the union affiliated to the new General Confederation of Labour. The National Federation of Agricultural Co-operatives was founded in 1908, and Federterra worked closely with it. The growth of local agricultural co-operatives played a major role in the growth of the union, as did contracts provided by sympathetic local authorities controlled by the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892, ...

. The union held a major conference in Bologna in 1913, which decided to campaign for agricultural workers to have a clearer employer-employee relationship with farmers. This position led to numerous major struggles by sharecroppers in the 1920s. The union was banned by the fascist government in 1926, but it was revived at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and affiliated to the new

Italian General Confederation of Labour The Italian General Confederation of Labour (; CGIL) is a national trade union based in Italy. It was formed by agreement between socialists, communists, and Christian democrats in the "Pact of Rome" of June 1944. In 1950, socialists and Christi ...

(CGIL). Membership reached a new peak of around 1,500,000, and in 1947, it led a largely successful campaign for better working rights, which achieved a maximum eight-hour working day and wage increases linked to inflation. However, social and Christian democrats soon left to form their own, rival, unions. CGIL decided that Federterra should be split into unions tied to workers' relationship with their employer, so in 1947, the National Federation of Sharecroppers (Federmezzadri) was split out, then in 1948, the remaining members transferred to the new National Federation of Italian Agricultural Labourers and Employees (Federbraccianti).{{cite book , last1=Ginsborg , first1=Paul , title=A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics, 1943-1988 , date=2003 , publisher=Palgrave Macmillan , isbn=1403961530 , page=114 After 1948, the union was renamed as the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers (Confederterra). Now an umbrella organisation, it brought together Federmezzadri and Federbraccianti with smaller organisations not affiliated to CGIL: the National Association of Direct Growers, and later, also the Association of Southern Peasants, the Union of Sicilian Farmers, the Union of Sardinian Peasants and Shepherds and the National Coordination Committee. In 1955, all these unions other than those representing workers in co-operatives formed the National Alliance of Peasants. Federterra was dissolved in 1977, when CGIL decided to focus on representing employees, the other organisations forming Confcoltivatori.

General Secretaries

:1905: Argentina Altobelli :1926: ''Union banned'' :1944: Raffaele Pastore :1946: Ilio Bosi

References

Agriculture and forestry trade unions Trade unions established in 1901 Trade unions disestablished in 1977 Trade unions in Italy