Las detenciones de 1861 de los jornaleros de Villafranca de los Barros: origen del Movimiento Obrero Extremeño

During the 19th century, changes in the socioeconomic conditions of peasants, workers, and artisans — both cause and effect of the replacement of the Ancien Régime by incipient economic liberalism — sparked the beginning of the contemporary workers' movement throughout Europe. In Spain, the last third of the century saw the birth of the first workers' societies and notable worker agitation. In Extremadura, the beginning of organized peasant demands usually begins at the end of the century. These demands culminated in a call for a general strike in the province of Badajoz in 1901, as well as the celebration of workers' congresses in Torre de Miguel Sesmero in 1902 and 1903. However, forty years earlier, in 1861-1862, there was a notable episode of peasant organization: the creation of a republican workers' society in Villafranca de los Barros, followed by the arrest of its main promoters.