A non-political cooperative organization of Catholic farmers in Spain. It was founded in 1914 to combat the exactions of the capitalists who controlled small farms and within a few years it included over 500,000 members and 4000 local societies. It has cooperative banks, insurance systems, etc. In its program it encourages the establishment of a small farm system on the ideas contained in Pope Leo XIII's encyclical on labor conditions; and it declares for the maintaining of the high religious and moral principles of its members. It is under the active patronage of the Catholic clergy.