Small Rural Ownership, Subsistence Agriculture, and Peasant Protest in Interwar Greece: the Agrarian Question Recast

Abstract

In 1928, 67% of the Greek population resided in villages and small provin-cial towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants, while 53.2% of the economically active were employed in agriculture and animal husbandry. It is not surprising, then, that the "agrarian question" should constitute the cornerstone of modern Greek historiography and social science. Despite all the attention Greek agriculture has attracted, however, the exact nature of the adversities faced by the peasant smallholder still escapes us. Indeed, in recent years, earlier schematic accounts portraying Greek peasants as invariably tyrannized at the hands of "feudal landlords" have been replaced by what can be construed as the "rosy image of the countryside." Both approaches, however, are misleading. Contrary to a widespread view, the Greek countryside was far from peaceful. Rural contention involved occupations of Church lands, hunger marches, and, above all, the full-fledged rebellion of the Peloponnesian currant growers in 1934-1935. In an attempt to trace the roots of peasant unrest to prevailing material conditions, the argument is advanced that the interwar agrarian reform was not equitable; nor did it guarantee the majority of smallholders a minimum of purchasing power. The article includes an appendix listing rural mobilizations in the period 1919-1936 and a quantifi-cation of peasant militancy.