La Defensa del Comunal y de los Usos Colectivos, León (1800-1936): Una 'Economía Moral'?

Abstract

"In the province of León (Spain), common lands were the foundations of peasant’s economy, due to its manifold functionalities: as arable land, cattle grazing areas and as a source of forest products, contributing also to sustain local finances. With the arrival of liberalism, communal properties and collective forms of organization were attacked, but peasant communities preserved a vast area of common lands and continued exploiting them according to the traditional model. One of the reasons fro this, was the defence carried out by the people over their properties and their collective way of life. In this essay it is argued that behind the survival of the common lands and collective organization, there is an explanation related to 'moral economy' and culture."