The Cry of Alcorta () was an agrarian rebellion that took place in 1912 in

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

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. The rebels were primarily

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

or from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It began at the south of the

Santa Fe Province The Invincible Province of Santa Fe (, , lit. "Holy Faith") 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 2 ...

, 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 () was an Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, Argentine military campaign directed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca during the 1870s and 1880s with the intention of establishing dominance over Patagonia, inh ...

, 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 seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...

. 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 entre ...

was established on August 15.

Revolt

Protests began when a rally of 2,000 Italians under the Sociedad Italiana de 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